“Captain please, we don’t know what we did but We’re SORRY!” A private gasped. The Crystal guard had a mandatory hell week once a year and was usually less than a week. For some reason Rockhoof the captain of the guard had begun hell week early, and not only early but for longer than a week.
“It is no longer a punishment, this is a matter of principle” Rockhoof stated, his gaze not wavering. He was watching the human drag 2 of his guards up the hill. The rules for hell week were simple really. Unicorns no magic unless sanctioned, Pegasus no flight unless sanctioned. As the human didn’t have wings the only rules that applied to him were magic.
“Hah, jeez, hah. Rocky this is way worse than my gyms at home. Jeez” Jai managed to get out in between breaths. The armory, and tailors fashioned him a set of half armor. He had a purple chest piece, and metal boots and thigh plates.
“You are welcome to quit anytime human.” Rockhoof quipped smirking at the human. Jai rolled his eyes and released the ponies he was dragging and stretched out his arms and legs.
“And leave you without my presence I think the hell not!” The human retorted glaring down at the orange crystal pony. Only looking away because why the hell were these ponies so shiny? The sun beat down on the remaining guard as they attempted to trudge up the hill, the last obstacle in their marathon.
“After this, we have a 5 minute break, into sparring. Then you will run around the castle until sundown,” Rockhoof announced. Groans and grunts of disapproval came from the guard as they sat exhausted.
“Well, shit I was gonna give up but Rocky wants to be an ass,” Jai muttered to himself.
“Oh, and those who finish top 4 in sparring do not have to run and will have the evening off. DISMISSED,” Rockhoof shouted smugly before heading towards the sparring field. Rockhoof figured if he couldn’t get the human to quit during exercise, then he would rig the sparring. Colts going against my best poor bucker, he thought.
“Aight lads, lets get on over there lest we have to run for being late!” Jai exclaimed. This elicited more grunts and groans but the ponies all got up and followed the human. How the heck is he still fine after all of this? A majority of ponies thought; a small sliver of admiration forming in their minds.
“ATTENTION!” Rockhoof yells. The crystal guard all scramble from the messy group they jogged in, to a neat line. The sparring center was about half the size of a football field and was split into 4 quarters from there. Jai looked around and saw bleachers, lining the area around each section.
“You will be divided as you can see, Undefeated or first place in each block does not have to run. Put on a show for our citizens. Let them see we are strong!” Rockhoof proclaims. The guard stomp their hooves and Rockhoof starts going down the line assigning sections.
“So what are the rules here? No magic still?” Jai asked when Rockhoof got to him. The captain smiled at the human.
“Use whatever you need to do to win, just don’t kill anypony. Now go to block 1 and uh, good luck” Rockhoof responded moving down the line once again to assign the rest of the guard. There was no way this hairless thing, albeit nice, was going to avoid running, Rockhoof thought laughing to himself.
“Aight Rocky, thanks” Jai said happily. He finally got to use magic practically during training. Granted he could have quit training a while ago. He had a good workout plan from the guards, and magic from QuillHeart to practice. However for some reason, he felt the need to go until he couldn’t. Whether he was crazy or determined it didn’t matter too much to him. Arriving at his block he looked around and saw the stands around his block filling up more than the others.
“Woah, this side seems a little stacked eh?” Jai mumbled. Not expecting a response he jumped when a soft voice spoke behind him.
“W-w-w-we have all of the winners f-f-from last year,” the meek voice sputtered. Jai looked down to his right and saw AquaBolt, a teal earth crystal pony. He was in all honesty one of the nicer ponies to him. Even if he was an extreme pacifist and even more skittish than everyone else was.
“That’ll do it, well looking at the schedule, I’m up second so Imma go warm up. Later Aqua~!” Jai sang as he began to walk towards the ring before Aqua ran in front of him and stopped.
“I-I like you so I'll tell you. Forfeit if you c-can” the teal pony stammered, unable to look Jai in the eye.
“And why would I do that, hmm?” Jai asked, turning around to face the bundle of nerves. AquaBolt closed his eyes and took a few moments to gather his thoughts. Opening his eyes he met Jai’s own for the first time since they had met 2 weeks ago.
“Because, these guys are cruel. They send other guards to the infirmary just because they are in a bad mood. It’s just-” Aqua stops as Jai puts his hand up to stop him.
“I get that but as of now, they have done nothing to me. I’m no hero or altruist but I also have the itch to use my magic.” Jai said, shrugging his shoulders.
“But what if-” Aqua whined. Only stopping due to the petting he was receiving from the human.
“Thanks for the concern. It’s…new to me” Jai stated, laughing at the confused ponies facial expression. Hearing dull thuds and the cheering getting louder Jai figured the first match was almost done. Looking into the stands he saw a familiar face in the crowd trying to not be noticed. A disguise he had been the victim of a few times in the castle, Amore using magic to appear as a shorter paler maid. Waving to get her attention she freezes and holds up her hoof locking eyes with him. Amore then slowly draws her hoof across her neck and shakes her head.
“Don’t rat me out or you’re dead” the princess mouths before walking off and finding a seat. Jai rolls his eyes and heads to the edge of the ring. As he approaches the match ends as one of the guards is thrown over the edge.
“BY RULE OF OUT OF BOUNDS, THE WINNER IS JADECOMET!” The announcer bellows. Cheers erupt as he waves to the crowd smiling from ear to ear.
“NEXT UP, THE GUEST HUMAN, JAI YOUNG” The announcer states. As Jai hops into the ring, whispers flood the stadium.
“What is that thing?” A mare asks.
“The princess had it in the dungeon last month I heard” Another chimes in.
“I think it’s her pet right?” A stallion snorting.
“WIN THIS JADECOMET!” A voice screams from the back of the stands. More ponies start chanting as the human gets closer to the center of the ring to start the match.
“So the reason we’re in hell week is here. Sorry about this I’m just really angry about that, don't give up too soon ya hear?” JadeComet mocks. Jai had been subject to a lot during his time on earth. From abusive parents, fake friends and family, being homeless and worst of all being torn from his new start at life.
“Ya know…no hard feelings. I’m not in a good mood either” Jai responded coldly. The judge backs up and counts down. JadeComet had this whole thing planned out; rush him, tackle him and throw him out. No sweat since he was so skinny that he’d probably just break, the stallion thought snickering to himself.
3…2..1. TWEEEET. The referee’s whistle goes off. JadeComet rushes Jai and makes contact with the human.
“Too easy like the.. wait a minute-”The dark green stallion is stopped inches before he made contact with Jai. Looking up, his eyes meet the humans gaze. Jai’s grey eyes boring into the stallion's soul making him shiver and back up immediately.
“You already lost dude” Jai stated, slowly walking towards the stallion. JadeComet sneered at the comment and braced himself for a heavy impact. He waited, and waited as Jai drew closer and closer. Until Jade is lifted up slowly in Jai’s magic and dropped out of the ring. Comet just looked around and then to the announcer who was just as shocked.
“IN AN ANTICLIMACTIC WIN, JAI THE HUMAN HAS WON VIA OUT OF BOUNDS” The announcer states to a silent crowd.
“Next, I got what…seventy to seventy-five of you to beat. I need practice.” Jai announces.
“BOOO!” Several voices echo.
“Fight like a stallion, give us a show!” A stallion screams. Several screams of approval follow soon after. Sighing the human shrugs and turns to the next stallion entering the arena.
“Fine if they want a goddamn show, REF starts this shit. Now.” Jai commanded as the referee jumped back and blew his whistle.
“You wont get me like Jade you cheater!” the unicorn says confidently. Jai smiles, sticking his right hand out to his side. His magic taking the form of a golden short sword.
“Don’t need too, Limit testing time!” The human says rushing the guard, throwing the sword. The guard dodges and shoots a beam of magic at the human. He falls to the dirt and sees his magic stuck in the ground behind the guard.
“You’re done now!” The guard charges up another magic shot and aims at the prone human. Smiling Jai sticks out his left hand and the sword comes flying back towards him hitting the unicorn in the back of the head. The spell fizzling out as the guard yelped. Taking the opportunity Jai gets up as fast as he can. Sprinting towards the Unicorn he throws a punch.
THUMP! The punch connects square in the side of the guard's face.
“Jesus Christ, why is your skull so hard?” Jai complains holding his hand.
“JAI THE HUMAN WINS BY KO!” The announcer yells. Looking at the guard on the ground Jai smirks. He turns to see the disguised Amore in the crowd with her hooves over her mouth. He gives a thumbs which causes the mare to giggle. Taking a deep breath he turns back to see the next guard raring to go.
“Ooh boy this might be harder than I thought” The human admits taking a ready stance before the next match begins.
“WHY DIDN’T YOU GIVE UP WHEN THEY BROKE YOUR ARM??!!” Amore scolded.
“I uh, don’t have an answer for that. Not yet anyway” Jai responds looking up at the ceiling of the infirmary. He’d done pretty well for himself despite breaking his left arm in half. He’d really made the ponies watching his matches plot on his demise. They all stood in solidarity when the last 15 matches rolled around. He had tried to slide and got stuck in a mud spell and in defense from a follow up spell. Although he did win by throwing some small but dense magic at the unicorn. He had to retire from sparring with his injuries.
“For Celestia's sake you were going to keep going if I did not intervene-” Amore yelled before stopping. Jai, using his spare hand, reached out and gently pet Amore.
“This is the first time anyone err… anypony, has cared enough to scold me. Thank you” Jai said happily. The mare didn’t say anything, she just blushed lightly and leaned into his hand. It felt nice to say the least, and he seemed to have learned his lesson so there was no harm. Although there was something bothering her.
“The first time? What about when you were home?” Amore inquired. This made Jai tense up and stop petting her. Did she say something wrong? Her worries were put to rest as soon as they surfaced as he continued to rub her head.
“I uh, didn’t have the greatest time at home. I argued with my mom and dad a lot. They wanted me to be just like my siblings. Perfect grades, best at their sport, and a lot of friends.” Jai explained. Amore just sat next to him listening to him talk.
“Every time I didn’t meet their expectations, they’d yell and tell me I wasn’t their son. I was a failure. They’d ask why I couldn’t be more like my older siblings. So I was relieved to finally move out” He finished.
“Well, you certainly did ‘Move out’ that is for certain” Amore quipped. The human laughed until tears formed in his eyes. What she said wasn’t all that funny, but the sheer absurdity of being in another world in a relatively comfortable situation with someone else. It was nice to say the absolute least.
“I’ve taken enough of your time Amore, Don’t you have other things to do?” Jai asked. Amore shook her head and looked at Jai smiling.
“Nope! You are stuck with me until the doctor gets here, and she has other patients around the empire. So get comfortable~!” Amore sang. Jai groaned in mock annoyance at her words. Well maybe taking a break from training wouldn’t be so bad right?
"Whatever, enough about my childhood tell me about yours" Jai demanded. The mare feigning ignorance held a hoof over her mouth.
"My my, I never would have thought you were interested in hearing those pointless stories" Amore said, holding back a giggle.
"Well if YOU don't you have a nanny somewhere in the castle that just looooves tea at 2pm?" Jai asked sarcastically. Now it was Amore's turn to groan in annoyance.
"Fine. I'll tell you where do I begin?" She mused thinking about where to start. Jai laughed as her face scrunched up trying as she thought. Yea I could get used to this he thought as he listened to Amore begin her stories.