I don't know how long I was in that tub for. All I know is that when I was woken up from my nap in the tub I was a little pruny. I Was jolted awake by the sound of knocking coming from the bathroom door. I lazily looked around trying to find the towel and making my way out of the tub. It was at this moment that I realized I was now standing in the bathroom, completely naked, dripping wet, without responding to whoever knocked. I was also facing the door at the moment the door swung open.
"Sir are you ok in he...." The Maid from before stopped in her tracks, a perfectly folded towel on her back. A brilliant blush making itself known through her fur.
She quietly put the towel on the counter next to the door and slowly backed out of the room while closing the door, not once taking her eyes off of my...."region". I Face palmed as I grabbed the towel and dried myself off before getting dressed with the new clothes Rarity made me.
There were three sets of clothing that Rarity made me. Three pants and three shirts. There was a dark navy blue shirt with three embroidered diamonds on the left shoulder. The other two shirts were similar with only the color being different and one of them had long sleeves, one was a nice burgundy color and was the one with long sleeves. The last one was a straight black shirt and only its V neck collar differentiated it from the others. Each pair of pants were the same however. All three of them were done up like my jeans but with slightly different feeling material. They were all a dark navy blue color and were equipped with a pocket on either hip.
I donned the black shirt and pulled on a pair of pants, it was a bit uncomfortable at first since I was going boxer less at the moment. I'd have to figure out a way to ask rarity to make me some with out embarrassing myself out of existence. They also fit so perfectly, not too loose any where but also not restricting at all. I looked myself in the mirror above the sink and gave myself an admiring nod as I folded up the rest of my clothes, relocated my Iphone, and headed out.
As I walked out of the bathroom I spotted the maid from earlier sitting a little ways away from the door, facing away from it.
"Hey..." I said a little awkwardly.
"I see you are finished sir, I'll bring you back to the throne room. Her majesty and the element bearers are waiting for you." She continued to avert her eyes and what little glimpses I caught of her face seemed to be red with a bright blush.
"Alright, lead the way." I opted not to bring up anything to further the awkward tension hanging in the air like the aftermath of a burrito supreme.
After a very awkward walk through the halls we arrived back at the throne room doors. The two guards nodded at the maid and opened the doors with their magic. I thanked her for being my guide as she moved to the side to allow me entrance before walking off, most likely to do maid things or tell every living thing that could understand her about her "encounter" with the strange visitor to the castle. Yea.....maid stuff.
I slowly walked towards the throne still enthralled by the sheer brilliance of the room I was in. As I approached the throne proper I finally diverted my gaze from the architecture and saw Twilight, her friends, Celestia, and Luna. Also amongst them was a unicorn I had yet to meet. I assumed it was a male due to it's larger build in comparison to the six ponies who weren't princesses. He wore armor similar to the guards I had seen previously, only his was purple and much more ornate, probably a pony of high rank to get custom armor.
"Ah, Damien darling, I see the clothes fit perfectly, and might I say you look rather dashing in them if I do say so myself." I blushed a little from Raritys compliment. I'd never been called dashing before, many other...not so nice names... but not dashing.
"Thank you Rarity, these clothes are amazing. They fit just right and feel great, though how'd you get them to fit so perfectly." It was Raritys turn to blush as she divulged this information.
"Well you see darling, while you were unconscious at the hospital, I may have snuck in to take... your measurements." She backed away shyly.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I simply couldn't wait for you to wake up before I could start making your clothes, it was such a tantalizing challenge to design clothes for one such as your self and I deeply apologize for breaching your privacy like that." She looked like she felt downright awful about it, so I naturally forgave her.
"It's ok Rarity, I got some really great apparel out of it so I suppose it's ok." I patted her on the head and at first thought I fucked up but the pleased and content look on her face told me otherwise.
"Besides all that though, I don't believe we've met. I am Damien Wilson." I said with a slight bow as I addressed the armor clad unicorn.
"No we haven't, I am Shining Armor, captain of the royal guard." He took off his helmet and extended his hoof, which I accepted and shook no less than three times.
"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Shining Armor." I gave a light bow as we released our shake.
"Like wise, I have heard a lot about your abilities and have to say I'm kinda interested in seeing them for myself." He placed his helmet on a small hook on his side letting hang.
"Well I'm not against showing off, but don't you guys have some questions for me?" I turned to Princess Celestia.
"Actually, I am most interested in your abilities as well. I would like to see a demonstration myself if you don't mind." She looked genuinely interested so who was I to deny the lady.
"Ok then, I don't see the harm in it. How you wanna do this?" I turned back to Shining.
"We have a chamber near the barracks for the guards that we use for testing new spells and training the new recruits with magical illusions. As I understand it you are immune to magic so the illusions would just disappear so we will use something a little more...intense." He held a slight smirk as he began to lead the way out of the throne room through a door behind the throne.
It took us maybe fifteen minutes to walk to the chamber Shining spoke of. The walk was accompanied by light conversation. I found out Twilight was Shinings little sister. I also got into a discussion with pinkie about the diversity and perfection of pie and how nothing bad happens when there's pie around. I have a feeling I'm gonna get along just fine with this mare.
As we finally arrived at the chamber I was, to be honest, a little underwhelmed. For,what I understood was essentially a magical version of the danger room, it was kinda bland looking. It was just a large blank white building with a massive set of doors at the front. Next to these, big enough to fit a fighter jet, doors was a smaller door, which is the door Shining led me to while the others went up a flight of stairs on the opposite side of the giant doors.
The moment I stepped through the door my feeling of under whelment disappeared. The phrase "It's bigger on the inside" was an understatement. It looked big on the outside but on the inside it was quite a bit bigger. The building I saw was just the top half of the full size to the chamber, it was still a bland white and mostly blank but the sheer size of the room I was in was quite impressive. You could've easily fit one of those cargo ships that carries other boats in here.
"Whoa..." Was all I could say as my voice echoed epically in the empty room.
"Don't get excited just yet." Shining led me to what looked like a control panel to our left and pulled a series of levers and pressed a large red button.
As the button was pressed the sound of gears and machinery coming to life whirred throughout the room. I was speechless as the floor disassembled itself and opened up as panels realigned and connected to re-shape the simple room. As the sound of the gears and machinery came to a stop I no longer saw the simple empty room, it was now re-assembled into a coliseum the likes of which would make the Romans proud.
"That...was...so...cool." I let out in a near whisper as Shining led me down a set of stairs that were built during the transformation that led straight to the coliseum.
"Yeah, even after all my time spent in here I still love seeing this stuff." Shining opened a door and moved to the side as I thoughtlessly walked through into the coliseum.
I turned around quickly as I heard the door shut. I looked around and saw that I was now alone. I looked up at where the seats of the coliseum were and saw Shining along with the rest sitting in the V.I.P. booth thing.
"Alright now Damien." Shining spoke into a microphone.
"This is gonna be a very simple demonstration, we use this method to train our more seasoned guards but I think you'll be fine. Don't worry though if anything looks like it gets too hairy I'll pull the plug." He looked like he was fiddling with more controls as I heard the screech of metal on metal and turned around to see a gate being lifted.
"Just defeat the targets. I will be sending a small group of three autonomous golems after you, your goal is to disable them, simple right?" It sounded simple enough I suppose.
"Alright, here they come. Get ready big guy." Shinings voice echoed before a gate to my left slowly opened.
As the gate dropped I could see a trio of shadows slowly move their way out of the darkness. As they stepped into the light I finally got a good look at them. These "golems" looked like blank featureless dolls that stood on four legs. That is they stood on four legs before they looked at me and stood up to an upright stance, their bodies shifting slightly to more resemble a humans build.
"What the hell?" I looked up to where Shining and the others were looking for answers.
"These golems are designed to fight on par with their opponents, they normally take on the appearance of ponies but they changed to match your physique so as to better match you in combat." I was actually getting a bit excited as Shining explained the golems. I was finally going to see what I could do. Didn't hurt to show off a bit in front of my new friends either.
I turned back towards the golems and took off my shirt, it was brand new and I didn't want it to get torn up. I folded the piece of clothing, tucking my Iphone into it for safe keeping, and placed it near the entrance door before returning to the center of the arena. I cracked my knuckles and did a few stretching exercises before giving Shining the thumbs up. He nodded at me and pressed a button switching a light that was in the golems eyes from blue to red.
The first golem to charge came at me from the front reeling back its right arm and bringing it forward like a bullet where my head would've been had I not ducked. I quickly tensed my right arm as I sprung up delivering an uppercut to the construct. It went flying backwards landing at the feet of its two comrades. I thought it was a pretty good punch, until it got back up. It turned around eyeing me eerily before snapping its neck with a teeth grinding sound like metal on stone.
'Well than' I thought to myself as I got into an offensive stance.
'These things are tougher than I thought, better try going on the aggressive offensive.
I shot forward far faster than I thought possible, closing the distance between me and the golems in mere seconds. The golem standing in the center stood its ground as the two on its side bolted out to flank me. I launched a quick jab to the golem before me with my left, which it easily dodged. I quickly brought my right hand into the golems face sending it skidding into the ground. My victory was short lived however as I got all the wind knocked out of me as one golem leg connected with my back as another leg caught me right in the abdomen, as the two other golems attacked with a syncronization that would have been cool to watch. Experiencing it though was another story entirely. I fell to my knees clutching my stomach with my left hand while my right supported me.
I was given little time to recover as both golems leapt into the air intending to stomp me into the ground. I was just barely able to jump out of the way as they left a crater in the ground. I didn't get far though as a powerful clothesline caught the back of my neck before a cold hand gripped the back of my head and slammed it into the ground.
I slowly pulled my head out of the ground, a trickle of blood from my forehead staining my vision. I could feel my injuries recovering but like before I was feeling weaker. I shakily got to my feet just in time to see the third golem that planted me join its brothers.
This was not going as I had first planned. I glanced up at the booth and saw what looked like Twilight arguing with Shining, probably telling him to call off the golems. I locked eyes with Shining and shook my head. His eyes widened a bit, before he nodded. I turned back towards my foes and tried to assess the situation.
Three quick and powerful foes that operated as one cohesive machine and could move in nearly complete synchronization. I closed my eyes as I concentrated trying to figure out on the spot how to manipulate magic. I shook my head as nothing came to me and just decided to wing it. I shook my body as I finished healing and took a defensive stance.
The three golems rushed me, together this time. The one in the middle shot forward with a right jab as the ones on its sides swept a leg each towards my midsection. I dodged the jab by moving my head to the left while bringing my arms down to intercept the incoming legs. I caught each leg with my hands, my right hand catching the leg coming from my left and vice versa. I gripped them tightly as I brought them to my center intent on crushing the one in the middle with its buddies. It jumped back however and was sparred as I crashed the two golems in my hands together shattering a good portion of their bodies upon impact. That was two down and only one to go.
I could feel myself getting tired so I rushed the last golem. It brought its arms up in a defensive posture but instead of hitting it in any way I planted my left foot right before it as I brought my right fist around catching it in the side sending it to my left where I met it with a blow from my left fist sending it back to my right. I continued the pattern for a good eight hits from each arm respectively as I dempsey rolled the stony bastard before delivering one final blow to its now exposed face. My fist impacted the golems face with everything I had creating a small shockwave, like you see in anime, sending the construct flying before skidding to a halt on the floor twitching.
I was breathing heavily as I let my stance drop. I looked around at the scraps of the first two and the now un-moving body of the last golem...wait... was it getting back up?
I backed up a bit as the pieces of golem at my sides slowly gravitated towards the still intact golem. It began standing up as the pieces from its fallen comrades merged with its body, its red eyes blinking out of existence only to be replaced with violently glowing purple orbs morphed into what looked like a scowl. The parts changed shape as they attatched themselves to the main body warping it into a golem that was more than twice my height. It was similar looking to the original three only instead of looking like Sunny from I-Robot, it looked like Sunny from I-Robot...on steroids and injected with "fuck you up" juice.
I audibly gulped as I backed away from the monstrosity. I looked towards Shining actually hoping for some intervention and saw him frantically pressing buttons and pulling levers. I dreaded the answer but I still asked.
"Shining? What's the matter?" I almost whimpered as I heard his frantic voice from the microphone.
"I have no idea! For some reason the golem's not responding! It's raised its danger level to 30, the ones you fought before were only at 20!" Well that's reassuring.
"Well.....this blows..." I was cut off as a massive back-hand sent me flying into a wall.
I coughed up some blood as I impacted the wall, leaving a sizable crater. I winced in pain as I forced my eyes open just in time to see the super golem charging me with its fist coming right at me. I quickly pulled my legs up to my chest and kicked myself out of the wall before dodge rolling to the side avoiding the blow and ignoring the pain that shot through my body like electricity, only there was something else I noticed in my adrenaline induced senses.
It felt warm and comforting. I could also feel it spreading, as if the warmth was alive. I was moving from my legs to my back. As it hit my back I could feel the damage done be healed. I dodged out of the way of a massive foot springing away like a cricket. yet again I felt the warmth move, this time to my legs. I stood still for a sec and focused on that feeling. I could feel it become intense as I jumped but die down and spread through out my body as I relaxed.
'This must be the magic in my body!' I thought to myself as I jumped out of the way again out of the way of a heavy fist. When I felt the warmth intensify in my legs yet again I was pretty much convinced.
I looked towards the booth again and saw the ponies' terrified expressions and Celestia getting up from her seat, most likely to intervene. I looked right at her though shaking my head, stopping her in her tracks earning me a surprised look from her. I just offered a smile before I spoke up.
"Don't worry Princess." I eyed the large golem. "I got this."
I closed my eyes feeling the warmth in my body, I also heard the stomping of the golem but ignored it as I focused solely on what I was about to do. I concentrated on the most intense part of the heat, in my heart, and willed it to move. Which it did, almost effortlessly. I felt it move from my chest to my right arm, just where I wanted it. The stomping got louder and I could feel the ground shake, but I continued to focus. I concentrated on the warmth throughout the rest of my body channeling it to my right arm. As the heat migrated from my body to my arm I could feel a distinct difference in strength between my left and right arm. Finally when I felt the last of my magic flow into my arm I opened my eyes just in time to see the golem almost within striking distance. If this was gonna work it had to work now or I'll be seeing death again very soon.
I planted my feet into the ground and looked at my arm that I channeled all my magic into. To my surprise it was glowing a bright vibrant orange in color, the heat coming off of it was so intense I could see steam rising from it as it distorted the air. I grinned widely as I knew exactly how I was gonna do this.
The golem closed the distance and I ran to meet it as I shouted out something I have always wanted to shout since my childhood, a particular tune playing in my head.
"Here I go!" I sectioned my fingers off to look like a tri claw, my middle and index together, ring and pinkie, and thumb.
"This hand of mine if burning red!!!" I looked the golem right in its eyes.
"It's loud roar tells me to grasp victory!!!" My hand makes contact with the golems face bringing it in the direction I was running knocking off its feet as I held its face.
"Erupting!!!" I squealed on the inside as I began crushing its head in my grasp, still running.
"Burning!!!" I slammed its head into the opposite wall and crushed it, releasing all of my magic in that final blow.
"FINGEEEERRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!" I was so happy I could taste it.
"And now!!! Heat! End!" The golems head exploded spectacularly as well as its entire upper half and a good portion of the coliseums wall.
I panted heavily, clutching my knees to steady myself, as I looked at the destroyed remains of the golem and the wall. Apparently I shot a beam of energy because I could see a hole in the main wall as well, that a pair of familiar looking guards were shaking like leaves as they peered inside.
"That...was...AWESOME!!!" I heard Rainbow cheer before the cheers of the others joined her.
"That was incredible!" Twilight was already by my side as I began wakling towards the exit door.
"I mean the way your arm glowed like that! As if it were made oiut of raw magic! And when you shot out that beam! I still can't believe you did that!" She was breathing almost as heavily as I was.
"Meh *wheeze* it was *huff* nothing *cough* oh god." I leaned against the wall and slumped down next to my shirt trying to catch my breath.
"Oh this is just SO fascinating! I can't wait to study you."
"What was that?" I asked not completely hearing her.
"Uh...nothing" She smiled sheepishly.
"So....questions huh?" Sweet harmless questions, how bad could that be after the golems?