The three little fillies packed all sorts of things in their bags and saddled up. They were prepared for a hike through hell. Each one carried different things that could be used in all different scenarios. They had an old map, a compass, a few canteens, and much more.
"Girls, we aren't going to be gone long, we're just looking for some ponies and we'll be back within two hours." I chuckled at their excitement.
"You never know what we might find in the Everfree forest!" Scootaloo yelled.
"Yeah, somethin' bad could happen and we'll be stuck out there for days!" Apple Bloom frowned at the thought.
"My sister Rarity told me about the goblins wandering around the woods these days! It's best that we're prepared for anything to happen." Sweetie Bell tightened the saddle carrying her things.
"Alright, bring whatever you need, but if we run into any goblins out there on our trek, I'll be giving them a buck that they probably won't recall when they hit the ground." I smirked at the thought.
And so we left the tree house in the direction of the boom. Julie opened up her map view of Equestria and focused into the Ponyville area. She marked the approximate location of the arrival point that the 3 new ponies have landed at. We set off down the orchard towards the Everfree forest at a walking pace. I was telling the crusaders about each pony that might be there and their personalities. After a good distance of walking, we reached the edge of the Everfree forest.
"Alright, best to keep quiet and just walk from here, I don't want too much attention drawn to us." I said with a serious tone.
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"Ah man! That trip better have been worth it! My head is spinning like a ballerina!" Silver Dust said, shaking his head until his view came into focus.
Silver Dust was my good friend, Nick. He was a unicorn, slim build for a body, but well toned, similar to myself. He had a light brown, sandy coat, with a yellow tint to it. It's new entry to the world left it looking brand new and gleaming off of the afternoon sun. He had a wavy, moderate brown, semi-long mane, which was thicker than mine, considerably. Although it was thick and dark it flowed with the wind and had a light bounce to it as he walked around. His eyes took after his name, with a silver shine to them, they glistened in the sunlight, as if they were truly silver. Being a unicorn, he put his power to use as a special skill for healing. He wasn't always interested in this area of expertise, not that I knew of. His cutie mark was a silver tourniquet, tied in a loop, understanding that it meant he was skilled in many different uses, good for playing medic on the spot if needed. The entry exams that Julie had provided him took considerably longer than the other two. Magic was the opposite of an easy skill to pick up, coming from a world where the idea only existed in fantasy. He got a basic feeling for the power, and learned a few healing tricks on the spot, such as how to mend broken bones and how to stop bleeding and seal open wounds. He also got the feeling for more common uses, mostly levitating objects and using magic as if he had hands again.
"Yes, sir. You're right 'bout the whole head spinnin' thing, mah eyes are still botherin' me from those colors on the way in!" Bronze Hammer said, trying to adjust his eyes to the light of the sun.
Bronze Hammer was a good friend of mine named Eli. I met him through another friend online and the rest went from there. We never really met each other in person until today, but we knew what each other looked like and our personalities well enough, you wouldn't have been able to guess it. Bronze Hammer was an earth pony such as me, but had a larger build, more brawny than the rest of us. His body wasn't as defined as Silver Dust's or my body, but he still had a lot of strength in his hooves. He had a coat similar to silver dust's coat, it was a light brown, slightly dark in tone, without the sandy yellow tint. His mane was a deep black and was shorter and straight somewhat like my own mane. It came down about half way on his neck, but wasn't curled around his shoulder such as mine. His cutie mark was an anvil, there was a glowing hot piece of metal set upon it. The hunk of metal took shape as a horseshoe as everything started to materialize. His cutie mark not only represented skill in metal-working, but strength in a combination with finesse and creativity, resembling his rowdy country personality. He had a knack for the ladies, and they certainly took interest in him. I guess he just had the look, combined with a charming personality. It probably had something to do with his gorgeous deep blue eyes. He was in luck, since Ponyville had an excessively large difference in the colt to mare ratio. I'll keep a close eye on him for now...
"Oh, sweet! I've got wings! I can go wherever the BUCK I want!" Tiki exclaimed, he burst into the air with his newly fledged set of wings.
Tiki was my friend Alex. I met him around the same time I met Nick, in fact, I remember back to the day when Nick and I met, he was the one who introduced me to Alex and many others. Tiki was a very lax pegasus. He was also a bit queer at times, he refused that he was gay, its just a way he talked. When his character was being generated, he insisted on the whole "beach theme" even though there weren't any waves in sight around Ponyville. His coat was a very bright red, save few spots, such as his muzzle, which faded from red to orange, and then to a golden yellow. He had defined freckles along his snout leading up to his light green eyes. His hooves also took on the yellow color from the tip of his nose and mouth. He had a sweet chocolate-colored brown mane, which flowed freely along his head and around his ears, almost into his face. He kept it short from the back, not allowing much to escape down his neck. A golden yellow streak ran down from the base of each wing to the tip, almost looking like a golden rod flowing from each wing, with intricate design in each feather. It was very detailed and simply mesmerizing. His cutie mark was a white longboard with a blue line going through the center of the board, separating it into two equal sections. Of course, Julie and I recognized this was missing something, something with meaning. As tiki flew through the clouds, a small sea of flowing plumes of clouds generated onto his flank, around his surf board. Tiki returned to the ground to join his friends and to figure the way out of the mess they're in.
"Alright y'guys, we've gotta get to Ponyville and meet up with Ian!" Bronze started trotting off.
"Hold up, dude. We don't know which way is which here, and we also have to start addressing each other by pony names, Julie said." Silver re-informed the other two.
"This is going to take some getting used to..." Tiki moaned.
"Actually, if we just wait here for a bit, Ironclad should come looking for us, he's probably on his way right now." Silver said.
"Ahhhh yesssss... But he wasn't as close as WE were when you arrived!" A gnarled voice grunted.
Little green monsters had seized the 3 ponies as they turned towards the voice. There was initial struggle by each of them, but Silver Dust stopped and let them fasten his legs without a fight.
"Don't bother fighting this guys, we'll be out of this soon enough, and I don't want to have to use any healing spells the first day." Silver gave a smirk, he knew how this would play out.
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It was starting to get late, the sun was getting lower in the sky as we walked along a trail following the edge of the Everfree forest. The crusaders were still walking along strong, just as I was, we were making good time. I noticed a clearing coming up straying from the path, this was the clearing that apple bloom had found me in. I felt we were getting close to the area that was marked by Julie, but as we arrived, there was nopony to be found.
"Hey, this was where ah found you a couple days ago, Ironclad!" Apple Bloom said, running into the clearing.
"That's odd, I knew they would've wandered off, but I didn't think they would abandon the area I told them to wait at." I scanned the area for anything unusual, and there it was.
"Right here, they've been taken prisoner by goblins, I suppose." I started observing and explaining.
"Judging by hoof marks and uprooted grass patches, there was a slight struggle made by a few ponies here, and looking at the trail made out by broken branches and stubby footprints, they went through here." I started off on the trail, followed soon by the crusaders.
"Oh man, we're gonna go in there and kick some major flank!" Scootaloo burst with excitement at the idea.
"Now hold up, if it were just a few rogue goblins running around, I wouldn't stop you on the idea." I explained, "these goblins are clearly working as a team, somewhat."
"He's right! They were able to overtake three strong stallions, so they must be dangerous." Sweetie Bell hesitated down the trail.
"That's right, I want to see where this trail leads us to, so lets keep quiet and see if we can track down these barbarians." I kept on the rough trail.
We kept walking, stepping around roots and branches, as the trail was only roughly made by small creatures for a quick way back to wherever they were hiding. It was now starting to get dark, the sun was setting and the vegetation was getting thicker. After another minute of trekking though the forest, we came to a clearing. It was a camp, with a central fire and a few roughly made tents set up around the edges. I told the crusaders to stay around the edges and avoid being spotted. We circled the makeshift camp and began to map out the area. After meeting up on the other side from the loop, Scootaloo came to a conclusion.
"I think I know where they are." She motioned towards a tent, guarded by two goblins.
"Alright good, the guard they have posted is almost nothing, I should be able to buck them in and break the guys free." I started off towards the tent Scootaloo described.
The two goblins posted at the camp were at the fire grumbling in some sort of goblin tongue that I didn't know how to speak. They noticed me casually walking towards the tent and started running for me, hollering like mad-men. The first one got a good buck to the chest, which knocked the wind from him and he didn't bother to get up. The other one wasn't so lucky. I gave him a harder buck to the head, not very pleasant. I heard something crack and had greenish goo on my left hoof. He was dead on contact. His lifeless body flew into the flames of the camp fire and started to give off a thick grey smoke. Funny, I thought the smoke would be green, too. I heard familiar voices coming from the tent I cleared.
"I'll bet you guys thats him right now, you've got no chance, you gremlin." Silver Dust was talking to another guard.
"Did you hear that crack? I bet that was your friend's face getting kicked in by him!" Tiki was yelling, just trying to threaten the goblin on watch.
"Alright, where's my next victim!" I laughed as I entered the tent.
"It's time to finish this!" A gnarled voice said, coming towards me.
"The guards out there were nothing of a challenge! I'm gonna show you..." He paused and gazed into my evil green eyes.
"It's you! Please, no more, not again!" He cowered as he dropped his blunt weapon.
"Oh, I remember you! Walking the streets of Ponyville last night, eh?" I laughed.
He didn't have any reply, as he didn't even know what to do. He just stood there, frozen. I'm still surprised he survived the impact I gave him last night. The bandaging around his chest showed he didn't survive by much. I gave a smirk and went to go untie the bonds around my friends' hooves. Before I could reach them, they all stood up and the ropes "tied" around their hooves fell to the floor.
"Alright let's go home, ah'm ready for that party Julie was talkin' about earlier." Bronze smiled.
"Yeah, I can't wait to see what Pinkie has planned tonight, its going to be FAB-U-LOUS!" Tiki exclaimed.
"Well I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I haven't even told Pinkie about your arrival, I guess it'll have to wait for tomorrow." I sighed and began to walk out of the tent.
"Alright, lets just get home, I can't wait to see where we're staying tonight." Silver said.
And as we walked out from the tent, there were goblins everywhere. The cutie mark crusaders were being held by a group of three in the back, with two more groups of about six at each of our sides. But the fillies, they were being held by goblins, handled in a rough fashion that made me uncomfortable. My eyes flared the evil green color they were. I glared at the creatures handling the crusaders in such a manner, they released their hands from the fillies and slowly backed away. My body lurched at the opportunity as it somehow managed to cover a leap across the camp and into the face of one of the goblins. With one kick from a frontal hoof, he was sent flying into a tree and slid into a bush below. The other two goblins tried to run but I grabbed them by their weapon slings and threw them as far as I could away from Ponyville. At the sight of my attack, the other 3 stallions sprang into action dealing with the aroused crowd of little green warriors. Bronze Hammer had sheer strength and could buck a goblin unconscious within a blink of an eye. Silver dust couldn't buck as hard to be efficient enough against some of the tougher ruffians that assaulted the group. He wasn't a unicorn of direct assault, but he did know some magic to protect him and the ponies around him, plus he had a new, sharp horn that he could swing if needed. Tiki didn't strike with power, he used his aerial capability to pick off any attackers that got too close to one of his friends, coming down like a steel bolt, disabling the target in an instant and returning to the air within a moments notice. It was a technique he would come to call "sniping." After all of the goblins were finished, the camp ground looked more like a battlefield. The cutie mark crusaders have seen more in one day than they should have in the rest of their time growing up.
"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen! You got that one goblin's brain all over the place! And he landed right in the fire!" Scootaloo was burning with excitement.
"Well so much for preserving any of your innocence... Your sisters are probably going to scold me for this, big time." I chuckled at the idea.
"Yeah, that don't matter right now though, we gotta get home before sundown!" Apple bloom frowned.
"We can get y'all home before the sun gets half way below that there horizon!" Bronze Hammer looked at me with a big grin.
"You're right, lets see how strong you guys really are, after being in Equestria for a day now!" I yelled.
And at that, I scooped Apple Bloom over my head and onto my back, and we were off. I slowed down a bit after running the trail for a while, only to be accompanied at my sides by Bronze with Scootaloo on his back, and Silver Dust with Sweetie Bell on his. Tiki wasn't quick enough to grab a filly and fly, he wasn't complaining either. I'm not sure how strong he is on his wings yet, and tripping over was a lot better than crashing into a tree, speeding through the air. I hadn't underestimated my crew, they could gallop as fast as I could, although I was pacing myself and didn't quite lose my breath a they did. Tiki had no problem getting home, of course. He wasn't carrying a filly or was using his legs, he just had to glide home after us, keeping up wasn't so hard for him. As we got to the mansion we slowed down and finally came to a stop. Silver and Bronze were over at the river near by getting water, and tiki was busy fooling with the clouds above. I waited for them to all gather at the door so I could show them their new home. As we opened the door, we all stumbled back and went crashing down at the doorstep. The lights were flicked on and everypony I had met in the past two days were in my living room. It was a surprise party.
"Pinkie?! How did you know that they would be here today!" I was really confused.
"Well it's not like you were the ONLY one to hear your friends this afternoon, silly!" Pinkie was bouncing with energy.
"I heard that sonic boom and remembered it from when you came into town! I immediately got to work on getting the party ready and sending out invitations!" Pinkie had a large grin on her face.
"I told you! I told you it would be fabulous!" Tiki was yelling at me, as a joke I think.
"Well, no time to waste! Lets get partying!" Silver said, heading right for the music.
"Just as soon as we get one thing settled." Somepony was behind us, I knew that voice.
Princess Celestia was standing behind us. In all her grace, everypony bowed to her presence. All but the new ponies. Even I forgot to bow my head. But what was the Princess doing here? Did Pinkie seriously send an invite to somepony who was always so busy with royal duty?
"I'm here to meet your new friends, Ironclad." She smiled. "From the way you mentioned them yesterday, I made a little note that I would have to introduce myself to them personally!"
"But, you're such a busy pony, with royal duties and all. How did you manage to show up to the party?" I asked.
"It just so happens, this is the only free day I have this month! I would never miss such a party thrown by Pinkie Pie!" She replied.
"It's an honor to meet you, your majesty." All three of the newest arrivals said in unison.
"I also have a proposition for you and your friends. Because of the recent goblin problems that Twilight reported to me." She gave a quick glance to Twilight and smiled. "I've decided to recruit your squad as the official Ponyville watchponies."
"I couldn't say no to that offer, and I think my friends would gladly agree!" I gave a big smile.
"Good! I'll assign Rarity to the task of designing your uniform, I know she'll do a wonderful job."
"Oh my gosh! I'll help! The uniforms will be FABULOUS!" Tiki outwardly offered.
"Of course, we will start tomorrow morning!" Rarity winked at Tiki.
"Do y'all have a forge in Ponyville, 'cause ah know we'll need some metal work done, weapons or not. Ah can put mah forgin' skills to the test for Ponyville!" Bronze Hammer gave a determined grin.
"There's a good plot of land in the field near Ponyville. Nopony's using it, me and Big Mac can raise a roof and get a forge goin' in no time, if y'all wanna help with it." Applejack offered.
"Sure thing, lets get to it tomorrow, the crack of dawn!" Bronze said.
"I guess I can hang around Ironclad tomorrow, we'll be around to check out what everypony is doing tomorrow, incase assistance is needed." Silver Dust said.
"Alright, that sounds like a plan, we can visit any pony who isn't busy, also." I thought about tomorrow and how glorious it was going to be.
After the main part of the night, everyone immersed in the party Pinkie Pie worked so hard on. Everyone had fun, the guys got to mingle with anypony else they haven't spoken to yet, and all was well. I even got to speak to Twilight privately for a bit. We went into my room and she thanked me for protecting the crusaders and stomping out the goblin camp. After a bit of talking I avoided any awkward moment by kissing the next minute away. It could've been two or three minutes, I wasn't keeping track. I told her I'd be there to protect her from now on, nothing would harm her or the ones we loved. We went back downstairs for the rest of the party and silver dust gave me a knowing nudge, paired with a wink. After we partied hard for half the night. Everypony finally left. We were clearly exhausted from all the fun, and I showed each of them to their dorms. They all crashed onto their beds and fell asleep right away. As soon as I reached my bed, I laid my head down and found myself back in the other world, with all of my friends there to greet me.
"Ian! It's been so long!" Nick grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug.
"It's been too long!" Alex joined the hugging session.
"Ah'm not sure what to say, considerin' ah've never met ya in person, but what the hay, lemme in there!" Eli joined the hug.
After our little reunion, Nick, Alex, and Eli were all escorted to their own rooms where they will be bunking from now on. I followed them to a certain point, but took a left turn down my own wing of the hall to my dorm. I landed in bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Good days were to come.