//------------------------------//
// Act 1: Hero-Storm The Castle 
// Story: The Winds of Redemption 
// by RagingPonyRider 
//------------------------------//

	Eventually, Twilight and everypony made it to Ponyville, the former struggling to stay awake. Her friends were just as energetic and when they saw a large mob gathered in the town from afar, they were further roused with vigor. 

All but one.

Fluttershy was the most anxious. Twilight said she sent a letter to Princess Celestia, and if Twilight informed her of how dangerous the monster was, surely she would have sent guards to absolve the issue? So what could she and her friends do to help? That was what worried her.

When they reached the town, they realized most of the ponies were Royal Guards, and Fluttershy lightened up a little. Have they gotten the situation under control already?

"C'mon, everypony! We're almost there!" Applejack urged them. They nodded and sped up for a last sprint. Fluttershy tried to remain optimistic and catch up with them, the desire to help her friends overriding her doubts.

"Yeah, if that monster's giving the guards any trouble, everypony will be expecting me to help them out!" Rainbow shouted confidently. What could she say? She was a loyal pony, but boastful nevertheless.

Another minute of running, and they found the group of guards encircling the town hall. Most ponies moved to the side to make way for their princess, but it still took considerable time wading through the crowd to get a good view.

"Come on! Out of the way! Elements of Harmony coming through with your very own, Princess Sparkle!" Rainbow screamed over the crowd's murmurs. 

"Rainbow Dash! Don't impose on other ponies!" Rarity chastised next to her. "We mustn't abuse our position like that! We must keep calm, and handle the situation-"

"WAIT!"

A loud explosion from the midst of ponies immediately cleared them away from a pink pony pushing a pink cannon. Confetti was strewn about her as she kept firing her cannon, finally giving a clear path for Twilight and the others.

"Wait just a moment!" Pinkie screamed again, infuriated by the sight. She easily identified the monster, him being the only two-legged animal in the encircled area. However, she was far from afraid. As weird as the creature was, nopony, or in this case no monster was going to leave without a "Welcome to Ponyville" party from Pinkie Pie!

The monster was about to board the chariot when she made herself known, and stopped to take a look at the weird pony. He kept quiet, no wanting to alarm the new ponies.

I don't think cannons work that way, but in a world with unicorns and pegasi, who am I to judge?

As Pinkie eyed him, her friends walked next to her, gawking along. It had some kind of light green suit over its body, leaving its light brown face as the only evidence of skin color. Its right arm and chest area seemed to me made of black metal. To its hip, a long metal stick hung from it, for the lack of a better description. Its black hair was tied into a ponytail, exposing an intimidating scar over its left eye. It reflexively scratched the stubble of hair on its chin, suggesting it was a male. 

Everypony had a different reaction. Twilight was fascinated and tried to conjure a notebook and quill to no avail. Applejack's eyes widened at the size of him but stayed her ground. Rarity gasped a little, shocked by his scraggly hair and poorly-kept face. Rainbow Dash glared at the creature, flying above and checking him over. Fluttershy stayed behind and as close to the guardsponies as possible. Pinkie rotated her head to the side, not sure what to make of him.

Sam intervened before the pink pony's neck snapped. "And who are you?"

Everypony, including the guards, blinked when the creature broke the silence and Pinkie's head retracted to its original position. Twilight recovered the quickest. Whatever this thing was, as a princess, she felt the need to take responsibility. "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and who are you?"

The creature let out what appeared to be groan, but it sounded more like a growl. "Seriously? That's your name?" He scanned over the purple pony, and saw both a pair of wings and a horn on her head. "A horn and wings? What does that make you, a pega-corn?"

Pinkie immediately broke out laughing. "Hahahaha! That's a good one! A pega-corn! Ahahaha!" She fell to the side rolling on the ground. 

"Pinkie Pie, this is serious!" Twilight yelled at her. She did not want to ruin their first impressions like this! "No, I am an alicorn, and the pony that's rolling on the ground is Pinkie Pie, an earth pony. Please, I'll ask again, who are you?"

"Princess Sparkle!" The town hall door burst open to reveal Mayor Mare galloping towards her. "Princess Sparkle!" 

"Miss Mayor? What's tha matter?" Applejack walked to her, worried she might faint at any minute.

After a minute or so, she calmed down enough to stop shaking and spoke in a more dignified manner. "His name is Minuano, and he's a traveler. He's not dangerous!"

"Even if not," Sky High interrupted, looking sternly at Twilight and Mayor. "we have orders from Princess Celestia to bring him, to Canterlot. She wants a personal and private meeting with him."

"Well, let's go already then," Sam called out. He was already on the chariot, leaning against the side. "Bad idea to keep royalty waiting, isn't it?"

Sky High scoffed, but not in ill-taste. This strange creature knew its priorities. "I can't believe it, but I agree completely. We need to move."

"Wait," Twilight interrupted, placing on hoof on the chariot. "Can I come with you? My friends as well, if possible?" She looked back at her friends, smiling confidently. 

The pegasus pondered but nodded in approval. "I suppose. We have enough carriages as well, so you may board them along with the guards. But please do not try to intervene with this creature or us, princess. My orders were from Princess Celestia herself and I will not fail her."

"I assure you I will not interfere with your work, and my friends will not either. But I also want a meeting with this creature regarding its appearance in the Everfree Forest. My friends Fluttershy, the Bearer of Kindness, is an eye-witness, and I think the Princess would like to hear both of them out." Twilight pointed a hoof at the mare hiding her face behind her mane. 

Sam stared directly at her and frowned. He did not remember seeing her, but the memory of a squeak before he left the forest  was enough of a hint. He cursed his luck.

That mare looks like she's going to faint, and she saw me kill that wolf? No wonder she's so terrified.

Sky High saluted to Twilight, and turned to his fellow guards. "We leave now! Everypony in your formations!"

Twilight sighed in relief. She knew she had some control over the Royal Guards, but this was the first time she had ever given a command to one! She could barely contain her nervousness.

"Alright, girls. we'll board a carriage together. Come on!" She needed to get this over with as soon as possible if she wanted time to observe this new creature up close! "Miss Mayor," She turned to her, who was still looking anxiously at Twilight. "don't worry about...Minuano, you said? Once we cleared the issue with Princess Celestia, I'm sure everything will be fine."

Mayor, despite her complete confidence in Twilight's capability and honesty, was not reassured. If Minuano really was going to be fine, what was the reason for the princess to send so many guards to assure his arrest? 

I still don't like where this is going. Minuano seems nice, but his crassness could rub the princesses the wrong way, and he's got the sarcasm to prove it!

As the Bearers marched to the nearest empty carriage, chatting up what they thought about the creature, Sam kept his eyes on the yellow pegasus, who was especially crowed by her fellow ponies.

"Hey, are we going to go or-"

Before he could finish, the two pegasi on the chariot's reins spread out their wings.

"Take off!" Sky High's command was audible enough to ring Sam's ears. Before he knew it, the pegasi flew into the air with the flapping of their wings, taking the chariot and Sam with them. 

"Gah!" Sam never expected it to be so sudden and clung to edge of his ride as hard as he could. Within seconds, he was already too high in the air for comfort. He could feel the pegasi rising incessantly and he knew if he fell, he would suffer at least a couple fractures.

Shit! For a bunch of ponies, they fly fast! And how the hell did I not fall off yet?! Does this chariot defy physics or something?!

He risked a peek over the edge, and felt his stomach drop, almost causing him to throw up.

Urp...never mind. Why did I bother?





Fluttershy, despite her eagerness to go to the castle, was still shying away. As the sole witness of the creature in the forest, everypony was largely focusing on her retell of the situation to find their answers. Due to the privacy of the carriage and the company of her companions, she had calmed down, but the questioning was unnerving to say the least.

"...and after that, I just...ran back home as fast as I could. That's when you came in Twilight." She pointed to the alicorn beside her and leaned against her, tired from her recollection.

"Ah don't believe it," Applejack scoffed. "That thing, Minuano, you said he's called? Ah can't, for tha life of me, imagine him takin' a giant timberwolf down like that! I told y'all about the one Spike rescued me from, remember? And you think something small as him could stop something bigger than that?"

"But he must have. Fluttershy and I heard the timberwolf scream. You must have heard it too, right?" Twlight asked everypony.

"Yeah!" Rainbow clopped her hooves together in anger. "It totally cut into my nap time!" 

Rarity narrowed her eyes. "Well, while you were busy napping, the noise scared me so much it made me ruin the dress I was working on!" 

Ignoring her friends' complaints, Twilight asked another question. "But besides that, how did Minuano arrive in the forest in the first place? Mayor Mare said he was a traveler, so it's likely he's not from Equestria at all, but if so, where? And why was the timberwolf there in the first place?"

"Twilight, darling, I know you must be curious about a lot of things, but that's exactly why we're here on this trip, remember?" Rarity raised a hoof to calm her friend. "Besides, we're wondering more about this Minuano character."

Fluttershy spoke up at this point. "Sorry, but I've never seen any animal like him in my life! I was hoping you would know what kind of animal he was when you saw him, Twilight."

"No, I've never read about anything like him." She smacked her at this. "Oh, why didn't I ask Mayor Mare to come with me! She could have told me more about him!"

"Better yet, why couldn't the guards let him ride with us?" Rainbow crossed her hoofs across her chest. a light smile on her face. "If he's in the same carriage with me, he would know not to mess with any of us!"

"What about Fluttershy?" Applejack pointed at her pegasus, who squirmed at her seat. "Ya think it's a good idea to let him in the same ride as her? After what he did?"

"Um, well, I was kind of hiding in the bushes, so maybe he just wanted to fend for himself against the timberwolf? I don't think he knew I was there in the first place, so he didn't mean to scare me-"

"That's hardly tha point!" Applejack's edginess was fully evident by this point. "Whatever he is, he's definitely dangerous, and Twilight was right in telling tha princess 'bout this."

"Well, then it's a good thing I did, but...wait a sec." Twilight looked around the carriage. "Where's Pinkie Pie?"





Sam kept his sightseeing to a minimal, but he could not ignore the Canterlot approaching. He was caught off-guard by how colorful and intricate it was, and even spotted several waterfalls leading to and from the city.

Damn, this whole world is in its medieval stages if it still uses castles. But still, could they have made this place any more frivolous? Flowers and flags on ridiculously tall towers, low fortification, and everything's too extravagant to serve any purpose besides as aesthetics.

However, his tourism was over quickly. The tallest, grandest tower came into view. Other than the silhouettes of more pony guards, size, and the more appropriate wall for defense, it blended in with the rest of the city. 

Well, that must be where the "princess" must be. But couldn't they make my arrival a bit more inconspicuous?

Sam took a last gander around him. The two earth ponies were still at attention, but he could tell they were as bored as him. Closer inspection showed the pegasi pulling his chariot was audibly panting. 

Hoping to break the dull silence, he called out to his pilots for an icebreaker. "Hey, fellas, are we there yet?"

When nopony answered. he felt his stomach flip again. "Any chance of flying a bit smoother?"

Nopony answered and the pegasi showed no sign of slowing down.

That's it, If I stay here for another minute, I'm going to hurl.

Sam noticed out the corner of his eye a watchtower, coincidentally lacking guards around it. It was close enough for him to jump to it without hurting himself and in short, the perfect place to ditch his ride.

Having had enough of the flying chariot, he jumped off the ride 

"Hey! Stop!"

That was all he heard before focusing on landing.

Like a cat, he silently landed onto the brick tower. Immediately, the nausea faded away, and he was glad there were no ponies surrounding him. The ponies in the sky looked like they were talking, but now was not the time for distractions.

"Oooh, why did you do that, Minuany? Weren't you supposed to meet the Princess?"

Sam turned to see a pink pony smiling curiously. He recognized her as one of the six ponies that gawked at him. 

What the hell is this thing? Wasn't she in the carriage ahead?

"Oh oh! Let me guess! You must be shy around so many other ponies, aren't you? That's why you jumped off! Well, don't worry now. We're all alone, and I know you must be new around here, so let me introduce myself! I'm Pinkie Pie, and you see, when I heard you were coming to Ponyville, I never got the chance to throw you a "Welcome to Ponyville!" party, and before I could even get the chance to prepare, I saw all the guards taking you away, but-" 

Her rambling was getting more annoying by the second. He desperately wanted to gag her before she notified a nearby guard, but he could not waste time shutting up a pony when everypony knew he was now missing.

Sam shook his head and turned away. "Never mind. I need to get in there ASAP."

As he started to run to the nearest entrance, the pony hopped her way alongside him, surprising him even further. No matter how hard he sprinted, the pink blob bounced and caught up like a loyal dog. He tried to ignored her for now, hoping she would lose interest in him soon.

However, Pinkie Pie was not an impatient nor weak mare. Equally stubborn ponies like Rainbow Dash tried, but she always caught up to them. After that, she would sing a random song out of nowhere, and they would be instant best friends!

"Why are you following me?!"

Her mental image of a felt cut-out of Minuano and her was popped by the real Minuano's angry voice. 

"Well, duh, because you're new here!" she explained as if it was the most obvious answer, which it was. "And if you're new here, that means you don't have any friends, and you don't know where you are or where you're supposed to go!"

He growled at the truth of those words. "And what? You do?"

"Well, yeah! There's Twilight, I mentioned her, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy-"

"No, not that." Sam slapped his forehead. "I mean you know where to go?"

"Yep! I was here for my first Grand Galloping Gala, I also threw Twilight's birthday party-"

"So you know your way around," Sam muttered. It would save time for her to lead the way, but with her overly jovial personality, he was not sure he could handle her incessant rambling for long.

Nevertheless, he was willing to try. "Alright listen."

She immediately stopped talking and chirped "Listening!" 

He sighed before continuing. "I need to find your Princess Celestia, whoever she is, as fast as possible. The less time I spend here, the better. So if you could lead me to her, no detours or sidetracks or anything, I might not have to interrogate you for directions." 

Pinkie was not sure what Minuano wanted to do with the princess, but she did not want to let down a possible new friend. "Of course, Minuany! What are we doing here, then? Let's go!" Without another word, she hopped past him faster than ever. Sam was gobsmacked; it was as if the pony was on fast-forwards constantly.

Why do I get the feeling she had way too much coffee in the morning?





"You lost him!?"

Sky High remained stoic as ever. The young alicorn had long ways to go before she could even come close to the Royal Canterlot Voice. "No, It is most likely he ditched the chariot of his own accord." Nevertheless, he turned to the two pegasi and earth ponies, making them bow in shame. "But he has to be here somewhere,"

While Sky High barked orders to every guardspony, Twilight was trying to avoid another breakdown. "Oh, what to do, what to do...he could be anywhere in the castle, or even far away from here!"

"Not to disagree with you, Twilight," Rarity walked out of the carriage, looking around the castle warily. "but I would be more worried about ourselves in the meantime. Minuano could be anywhere."

"An' if the princess sent so many guards after him, he has somethin' up with him." Applejack looked at the walls for any sign of him. "An' where's Pinkie? She was just with us, wasn't she? Ah swear, the things that pony gets into..."

"You don't think..." Fluttershy gulped as she followed suit. "...she's with him?"

"Then what are we waiting here for?" Dash rocketed from the carriage. "We need to find her fast!" 

Before she could dash off, a white aura surround her, freezing her in place.

"Please remain where you are. You too, Princess Sparkle!" A loud voice rung the air, causing everypony to look at the speaker. A unicorn in purple armor was besides Sky High, who saluted him. His white mane turned with his head as he saluted back, contrasting with his black coat. "Princess Celestia predicted you would arrive, so she assigned me to protect you and your friends while escorting you to her."

Twilight blinked at the formal tone. She was still not used to guards calling her "Princess". "And you are?"

"Captain Bright Shield of the Royal Guard, at your service." he saluted, and faced Sky High who had finished sending the guards. "First Lieutenant, these are the Elements of Harmony?"

"Yes Captain!"

"But weren't there supposed to be six of them? Either I'm going blind or we're missing one." He released his hold on Rainbow and she plummeted to the ground, extracting a muffled "Oof!"

Sky High, however, frowned at his candor. "Captain, I am certain we had all six Elements in our carriage before we left Ponyville."

"Uh, don't bother trying to explain Pinkie Pie," Twilight chimed. "I personally tried to understand her...strange abilities, but it's better if you just save yourselves the trouble." She remembered her research of Pinkius pieicus, and shivered. "Right now, we need to find her fast."

"Forgive me Princess Sparkle, but Princess Celestia specifically ordered me to bring you to her as soon as possible," Bright Shield tried to look apologetic, but Rainbow Dash would have none of it.

"Oh come on! This is our friend we're talking about! The Element of Laughter, remember? Now that she's lost, what if Minuano's got her?!" The sudden realization of a hostage situation shook everypony. "Twilight, you understand, right?"

The alicorn hesitated. She took a panicked gander at the castle before coming up with a compromise. 

"Captain, how's this? We will come with you to Princess Celestia, and Mr. Sky High will find Pinkie Pie. Please?" she added for good measure.

After a moment of silence and gazes from everypony, Bright Shield relented. "Yes, Princess Sparkle. First Lieutenant!"

"Sir!"

"Gather as many ponies as you can to search for Ms. Pie without interfering with the search for the creature. Once she's been found, bring her to the throne room."

"Yes sir!" With a salute, Sky High galloped into the castle,

Bright Shield smiled and lead the mares to the same entrance. "Right, now we need to get going. Princess, if you and your friends will follow me, we're heading to the throne room." 





Does this pony ever stop talking!?

Throughout his tour of the castle, Pinkie Pie has babble non-stop about the various rooms and layout of the castle. It was a wonder how she seemingly did not run out of breath.

"So Minuany, where are you from?"

After introductions, she opted for more personal questions to get to know him better. So far, she has only been answered with silence, but how will she know more about her new possible friends if she does not ask?

However, even when they were all alone, Minuano still seemed shy because he refused to look her way nor answer her. Whenever he talked, it was only for questions of his own, such as "Are we there yet?" or "You sure you know where we're going?"

"Not gonna answer eh?" Pinkie grin turned mischievous. If he refused to answer, she had to be aggressive. "Okay...what's your favorite food? How old are you? What kind of animal are you anyways?"

Sam sighed and faced the bouncing pony, but kept running. He has ran out of patience and could no longer block out her droning, squeaky voice. "You're not going to shut up until I answer you, aren't  you?"

"Nope!"

"Fine. I'll answer your questions as soon as you get me to this princess of yours. How's that?" If this mare was so childish, maybe he could fool her like one.

"Okay! Come on, the throne room's right above us anyways!" Pinkie smiled the largest smile she could and rocketed through the hallway, turning right at the end. Maybe if she did this right, she would be one step closer to befriending him!

Before she could get too far, however, she crashed headfirst into one of the Royal Sisters: Princess Luna.

After rolling back from the collision, the princess easily identified the pony as Pinkie Pie. They had a rickety relationship at first, but she grew to like the pink mare.

"Pinkie Pie? What art thou doing here? Everypony is searching the castle for thee!" 

"Princess Luna! Oh boy, am I glad you're here!" Pinkie shook the last of her dizziness away before continuing. "Wait, why are you here?"

Luna frowned. "We are looking for this creature our sister informed Princess Sparkle. I've heard the guards scramble and I volunteered to help with the search myself. I'm sure you have heard of him as well if you are here."

"You mean Minuany? Yeah, I know him!" Pinkie nodded vigorously. 

"Minuany? Is that the human's name?"

"Yep! Well, not really, I learned from Twilight who learned from Mayor Mare that his name is Minuano, but I shortened it to Minuany!" It took a brief moment of silence before the full question registered in her mind. "A human? Is that what he's called? Because I've been following him and asking him for a looooong time, and he's never told me what he-"

"Thou was with this creature!?" Luna grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "When? Where? How?"

Pinkie frowned in concentration as to how to answer her fully. She did not know why she was so serious about finding him, but Minuano seemed nice enough. "Well, as for how, I just hopped down to the castle wall and followed him. As for when, I guess it was ever since he and I jumped onto the castle wall. As for where, he's right in that hall I just came from!"

"The human is behind you? Stand behind us, Pinkie Pie!" Luna remembered her sister's words of caution when confronting this human. From Twilight's letter, it was powerful enough to destroy a giant timberwolf. As an alicorn, she was extremely powerful herself, but her warning to Pinkie demonstrated even her reluctance to fight. "Human Minuano! We do not wish to harm thee! Please show thyself!" She walked slowly toward the intersection, priming her horn in case the human felt combative.

Pinkie Pie, being her usual bubbly self, neglected her warnings and galloped to the intersection. "Don't worry about a thing, Princess! Minuany's just really shy! Shyer than Fluttershy, even. Minuany! I want to show you somepony important!" Walking ahead of her, Pinkie peeked into the hallway. "What I tell ya, Princess! He's so shy that he ran away again!"

"WHAT!?" Luna temporarily reverted to using her Royal Canterlot voice and dashed to the hallway. As Pinkie said, it was void of any pony or human.

"Come on, Princess!" This time, Pinkie took Luna by her hoof and dragged her alongside her. "Minuany's probably waiting for us at the throne room! He said he wants to meet with Princess Celestia, after all!"





As soon as he heard another voice in the hallway, Sam immediately scarpered to the nearest stairwell. He heard a booming "What!?" and sped up his pace. 

She said the throne room's just upstairs. I'm almost there!

The new hallway was soon visible. When he entered it, he was not happy at what he saw.

A team of no less than ten ponies armed with spears ran directly at the stairwell and most importantly, him. 

"There he is! Freeze!"

While a weaker man would have done so, he only smirked at their command. "You'll have to catch me first." With him so close to his goal, he could not stop now.

Before the guardsponies could stop him, he jumped high into the air to avoid their spears and landed on the other side. The ponies gasped at the impressive display, but they resumed the chase. "Come back! Halt! In the name of Her Majesty!" 

As ponies, they were accustomed to running full-tilt, but Sam, with his longer legs and exoskeleton, could sprint for hours if necessary. However, no matter how far he ran, the ponies would follow him, and judging from the loudness of their voices, they have arrived with back up. 

Damn it! I need to hurry! I can't fight all of them and explain the new paint job to the Princess! Now where's that throne room!?

He stopped running and inspected his surroundings. He lost the mob of guardsponies and could afford a minute of rest. The throne room was on this floor and the castle itself was not that big, so where could it be?

Let's see...I'm in a children's fantasy land filled with pastel ponies and princesses. How would their most important room that hosts the princess look like?

He turned around and looked at a giant pair of golden, elaborately patterned doors

"Well, duh." He scanned the area one last time and heard distance horse hooves coming closer. He was running out of time and with his objective right in front of him, he took the most obvious course of action: knocking.

After heatedly tapping his feet, the guardsponies returned, but this time with a strange dark winged unicorn like the purple one from before. She was leading the group, evident by the booming "HALT HUMAN!", but she was not the only recognizable pony. He spotted Sky High next to her, but there was another pony beside him.

"Ooh! Hey, Minuany! See Princess Luna? I told you he would meet us up!"

Oh God, not you again!

Growing more and more feisty, he knocked again, harder. Admittedly, he could have pushed the door open, kicked in down, or preferably cut it down, but he came this far and the last thing he needed was a reputation as a vandal. 

Soon, he heard a click behind the giant doors. He pushed as hard as he could. They opened easily and he almost tripped due to his haste but he managed to close the door behind him. 

"Ah, Sam, you're just in time!"

Alarmed by the sudden voice, he forgot his chasers and looked at the end of the room. A large white winged unicorn, bigger than any pony he's seen was sitting on an equally large red throne with golden decorations, looking positively enraged. But Princess Celestia, was not looking at him at all, but the smiling draconequus next to her.