The fillies and colts of Ponyville Elementary chatted idly amongst each other as they waited for their teacher. Said magenta mare walked in quietly, standing at the front of the class and clearing her throat. The room began to ebb in volume, until each of the children were waiting for Ms. Cherilee to speak.
"Good morning, class!" Cherilee smiled.
"Good morning, Ms. Cherilee," the class replied monotonously.
Cherilee smiled, moving to the stack of papers on her desk. "As you know, today is Friday, and every Friday we have a test on this week's subject…"
The class let out a unified groan, which was to be expected from them.
"But."
The fillies and colts' ears perked up as they looked back to their teacher.
"Today we have a special guest!" Cherilee announced. "I'm sure most of you have seen him around Ponyville."
She waved towards the door, and it openedas Twilight entered in front of Tony. "Tony!" Applebloom exclaimed. She galloped over to give him a hug, while the other two Crusaders waved happily at him. "Yer the guest?"
"Yup," he smiled, scratching her ear gently. "That is okay, right?"
"As long as we don't have to do the te- I mean… yeah!" Scootaloo laughed nervously.
"Why are you here, Twilight?" Sweetie asked.
"Me and Cherilee thought it would be a good idea to have everypony learn a bit about Tony's world," Twilight smiled. "There are quite a few things I want to ask as well."
"So more learning?" Scootaloo groaned.
"It's okay, Scoots," Tony chuckled. "If you don't ask anything it might hurry along. So, ask away."
"What should we ask?" Featherweight said to their teacher.
"Anything you might want to know about," Cherilee smiled. "But be respectful with your questions."
Almost every hoof rose immediately, some more eager than others. Tony hummed nervously as he looked around the class, pointing to a filly leaning forward in her seat. "What's your name?" Tony asked.
"Twistht!" She said past her braces. "You sthaid you were a printh?"
Tony held back the urge to snicker, exhaling quietly so as to not be rude. "Excuse me?"
"She asked if you were a prince," Sweetie clarified. "Were you really?"
Tony crossed his arms and looked to the ceiling in thought. "Well, 'prince' would be a term for everypony to understand," he said. "I'm the next ruler of my world, and the one who used to be was my father. There's a whole ritual that I'm supposed to go through that makes me 'king.' On my world, it's Makti, and the prince is called Doshu'um."
"One pony ruled the world?!" Sweetie exclaimed.
"Sort of," Tony smiled. "The Makti made the laws with the help of the Doshu'um, but it wouldn't be possible to watch over the entire planet. So, we had help from a group of warriors called the Council of Thirteen."
"Ohhh, like the princess' royal council?" Sweetie asked.
"No," Tony said. "They were the best of their ability, and they ruled over the other thirteen continents. They were in charge of making sure everything was alright in their part of the kingdom."
Another hoof went into the air, this one belonging to a spotted colt. "Yes?"
"Featherweight, sir. I came from Trottingham recently." The accent reminded him about some English contacts of his. "Did you have any brothers?"
Twilight glanced worriedly at him, but he only smiled. "Yep. Five in fact. Agner, Fermot, Derekosh, Jaqeluu, and Jerosh. I'm the youngest, and Jerosh is the oldest."
"Aw, you don't have a sister?" Sweetie asked. "I wonder what a alien princess would look like."
"Hey, where are your brothers?" Rumble called from the back. Tony scratched the back of his head, leaning against the table.
"They're uh… not around," he sighed. "And Jerosh is… busy."
"Are they princes too?" Applebloom asked.
"Well, they were royalty, but not princes," Tony smiled. "Like I said, there was only one that my people considered a prince, since he was the one that would rule after his father. They were all respected just like him, but they were only part of the royal family."
A pink hoof near the middle of the class went up. Tony pointed to the small filly with a dull, two-toned mane. "You can't be royalty," she snickered. "Where are your guards? And how come you don't have nice clothes like Celestia?"
Tony had heard of this filly from the Crusaders. Diamond Tiara, and he assumed the grey filly next to her, who was snickering as well, was Silver Spoon. He disliked bullies of any age, but he held his tongue.
"What's wrong with my clothes?" Tony laughed softly, looking over the outfit Rarity had made. "They're clean and ironed."
"But they aren't even like the ones my daddy wears. They look like you bought them from a corner shop!" she giggled. "And what about the guards?"
"Well, even if my people were here, there wouldn't be any," he shrugged. "The Makti and the Doshu'um are the strongest of my kind, and to guard them was like saying they needed it. I'm not saying Celestia is weak, or Luna. It's more of a culture thing."
"Or maybe it's a liar thing," Silver Spoon giggled. "You don't even have a crown! And look at your cutie mark!"
"He doesn't even have one!" Scootaloo argued.
"And he ain't a pony, so he can't have one," Applebloom added, locking glares with the school bullies.
"Um, tail for brains, it's on his hoof," Diamond sneered as she pointed to his insignia.
Tony pulled up the rest of his sleeve, showing the black running up his arm. "This?" Tony asked. "This isn't a cutie mark."
Sweetie tilted her head to see the strange symbol. "It looks like a dragon," Sweetie said, scratching the side of her head. "Are you good with dragons?"
Tony laughed softly as he showed them his palm. "Sort of. But this mark is my family's insignia," he explained.
"What's a, insigania?" Scootaloo asked.
"Ooh! An insthignia isth a mark or sthymbol! Like a flag or banner!" Twist explained. "Stho that'sth what your flag looksth like?"
"Close, but no. This mark is my clan's insignia," Tony explained. "There are two of my kind. I'm one of the stronger ones. We all have different marks, except for family. It shows what clan we're from, and what we are known for. My family is expert in swordsmanship and dragon riding."
"Dragon riding?!" Pipsqueak exclaimed. "Isn't that dangerous?!"
"And awesome!" Rumble shouted. "Do you have a dragon?"
"Is it a boy or a girl?!" Scootaloo questioned. "Can we see it?!"
Tony laughed as he waved for them to settle down. "She, is probably sleeping right now, and it's not very nice to wake up a dragon," he chuckled.
"So it is a girl!" Applebloom said. "What's her name?"
"Her name is Nyla. She's… protective, but once she warms up to you she can be very friendly." He gave Twilight a knowing look, reminding her of her last visit to Nyla.
"You don't have a dragon," Diamond scoffed. "They, like, live in the mountains east of Equestria. There's no way you went there without getting burned."
"You're right, I didn't go to the Dragon Kingdom," Tony smiled.
"But didn't ya say-"
"See? He's a big liar," Diamond continued.
Tony placed a hand out to his side, stopping Cherilee before she yelled. He only had to feel the negative change in her energy, or magic property as Twilight said, to tell she was fuming. Discipline came later, because now, he was giving her the greatest insult he could think of.
"Twilight, could you tell her where dragon's come from?" Tony smirked. Twilight smiled with a shake of her head and stepped forward.
"Dragons come from Tony's planet, Loki'ir," she announced. Each of the fillies and colts jaw dropped, even Diamond and Silver's.
"B-But, that's not true! You need magic to hatch a dragon egg!" Silver pointed out. Twilight laughed weakly, surprised that she was saying this.
"On Tony's planet, they use energy to hatch the eggs, and since they were the first to do so, unicorn, pegasi, and earth pony magic is energy," Twilight explained. "We just use it differently."
"Ha!" Scootaloo shouted victoriously at the bullies. "Where is she, anyway?"
"Can we see 'er?" Applebloom asked.
Tony shook his head, a unison of disappointed 'aw's' reaching his ears. "Why not?" Featherweight questioned.
"Now class, you have to respect Tony's decisions about his dragon," Cherilee reminded them.
He took notice of their disappointed frowns, but a smile formed when a still excited colt in the back waved his hoof frantickly. "Rumble?"
"Can you do magic?" Rumble questioned.
Tony glanced to Twilight, showing his mark. "Don't blow anything up," she warned, a bit seriously. Laughing lightly, Tony put his palm flat and facing the ceiling.
"What is he doing?" Cherilee asked Twilight.
"Remember when I said energy is magic?" Cherilee nodded, turning to the class as they gasped in awe.
A small sphere of his cerulean aura floated in his palm. He moved it towards the class, a faint humming sound echoing through the room as it passed the fillies and colts. It split into two smaller orbs, going around Diamond Tiara's head and regrouping on the other side.
"That's so cool!" Silver exclaimed. Diamond glared harshly at her, which made the grey filly frown with her head down.
"So that's what magic looks like?" Sweetie questioned, trying to poke the ball of energy. Tony moved it to the side, making her giggle in her vain attempts to touch it.
"Not magic. Energy. We just use it differently," he laughed. "And you might not wanna touch it. Pure energy is really, really hot… and explosive."
The audience gasped as the sphere moved back to his hand, dissipating easily. "I-It can e-explode?" Featherweight shakily asked.
"If I want it to," Tony shrugged. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna blow up the-"
The bell started ringing, and the class jumped out of their seats as recess began. "Would you like to continue in the yard?" Cherilee asked.
Tony laughed lightly, absorbing the energy and following the group of children into the schoolyard. "Tony! Over here!" Applebloom waved.
He walked over to the three Crusaders who were all hopping around excitedly. "Where's your dragon?" Sweetie questioned quickly.
"Can we see 'er?" Applebloom followed.
"Yeah! Please, Tony!" Scootaloo begged.
Tony shook his head and knelt down. "Hey, I don't wanna freak out a whole town," he chuckled. "From what I've heard, a lot of ponies aren't too comfortable with enormous dragons."
"But you tame dragons! Maybe we could learn too!" Scootaloo chirped. "C'mon! We promise not to tell anypony else!"
Sweetie was distracted by a butterfly, which drew her away while Applebloom continued with the orange filly. "I could get Granny Smith t' make ya some apple fritters!"
Granny Smith's apple fritters were one of the most delicious things he'd ever had, aside from corn muffins that is. "Sorry girls," he said. "Nope."
Realizing words wouldn't work, the two Crusaders pulled out their secret weapon. Applebloom pulled Sweetie and Scootaloo close, whispered a few words, then the three turned to him with…
…the eyes.
Minira chose the wrong, manipulative fillies to possess such a tactful weapon. The amount of cuteness and utter adorableness would he too much for any human, or pony perhaps. Their trembling pouts, the enormous puppy dog eyes that grew gradually by the second. Armies could have rebelled against their leaders on the order of attacking them. And the longer he looked, the less he thought of how bad it would be to tell them.
Tony thought of hordes of soldiers trying to attack him, and as he cut each of the lines down they sent more. Then his thoughts went to the battle in the desert, then to the fights with the Signa. But knowing those eyes were bearing down on him was enough to make him glance back. The only thing stronger than their stare would have to be Fluttershy's stare.
Just as he went to speak, he glimpsed behind the two. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were laughing at Pipsqueak, who was in a puddle of mud. "Hold on," Tony said. "I'll be right back."
The fillies turned to the scene, realizing what he was doing. They trailed behind as Tony walked closer. "I'm not playing in the mud!" Pipsqueak fumed.
"Sure you aren't," Diamond snickered. "I thought ponies from Trottingham were dirty, but not this dirty!"
"Yeah! I bet they, like, have a holiday to roll around in the mud!" Silver added.
Tony knelt beside Pipsqueak, wiping some mud off his coat and from his mane. "You alright?" he asked. Pip nodded, reaching behind his ear and flicking some wet dirt away.
"Oh look! It's the bigger pig!" Diamond snickered. "Come to rescue little pig?"
"I wasn't playing in the mud!" Pip insisted, his voice cracking near the end.
Tony turned to Pip and nudged him away. "Just be careful where you're playing, okay?"
"Alright. Thanks, Tony!" Pip galloped off to the swings, and Tony turned back to the bullies.
"Why were you so hard on him?" Tony asked. Really, he wanted to know.
Silver seemed to rely on Diamond as she scoffed. "I can do what I want," she said snootily. "It's not like you can do anything."
Silver didn't say anything again. "No, I can't," he said softly. "Please, just try to be nice."
"Whatever." He could see this wouldn't lead anywhere, and so he made his way back to the building. "I mean, you think just because you're a big, smelly, dirty prince you can tell anypony what to do. I bet your brothers are even dirtier! And probably your dad too! I wonder why your mom even married a slob! Then had a slob!"
Tony stopped mid-stride.
"Now yer goin' too far, Diamond!" Applebloom snorted, going up to the bully. "You ain't even met 'em!"
"So? If he's anything like them I bet they're all dumb bozos, right, Silver?" The grey filly gulped in fear as she watched the giant keep still, but she nodded forcefully.
"Shut up, Diamond!" Scootaloo warned. "Or else!"
"Or else what? You're gonna make me? As if," she scoffed.
"D-Diamond. M-Maybe-"
"At least you blank flanks can add another blank flank to your dumb club!" Diamond snickered.
The three fillies were fuming, and Scootaloo was tired of hearing the snob talk. She pulled her hoof back, but a hand stopped its descent. Scootaloo looked up at Tony with a guilty stare, but at the same time confused and frustrated.
"Come on girls, recess is almost over."
"But… but…"
"Come on," Tony insisted, tugging on Applebloom's bow playfully. The Crusaders glared harshly at the pair, then shuffled along with Tony to the slide.
"Why didn't ya say anything?!" Applebloom exclaimed. "She trotted all over ya!"
"Did she?"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo said.
Tony smirked as he rose a brow. "Did she?" he repeated.
Sweetie tilted her head to the side. "I don't get it," she said.
"Speak Equestrian, Tony," Scootaloo said slowly.
"You know what bullies hate the most?" Tony asked.
"Celery?"
"Broccoli?"
"Happiness?" The other two fillies and Tony looked questioningly at Sweetie. "Don't they?"
"Maybe," Tony chuckled. "But what a bully hates most…" They leaned in closer, the suspense taking them to the tips of their hooves. "…is to be ignored."
"That's it? Just ignore them?" Scootaloo questioned. "That sounds pretty lame."
"Ah have to agree with Scoots on this one," Applebloom nodded. "Ignorin' don't work."
"Have you ever tried it?" They went to respond, but the realization hit them. "I'm guessing…"
"No… we haven't," Scootaloo huffed. "Maybe some other time."
The door to the school opened, and Ms. Cherilee smiled as the bell rang once more. "Class time! Everypony inside!"
"Alright, see you three after school," Tony smiled as he waved to them.
"See ya, Tony!" Applebloom called.
Tony and Twilight waited across the street from the school, idly chatting as they waited for the final bell. "So you were freaking out over nothing?" Tony laughed.
"If you came to yourself in the past, said you have an important message, looking like the end times were coming, and you didn't get to finish your message, what would you do?" Twilight smirked. Tony scratched his neck and laughed weakly.
"Point taken," he chuckled. "So you can actually go back in time?"
"Just about a week or so," Twilight said. "It takes up a lot of magic to do, and from what I've seen it's incomplete."
"I thought this was a Star Swirled the Bearded original?" Tony smiled.
"Even he didn't complete most of his spells," Twilight giggled. "But he has made over a thousand of them."
The bell rang loudly, and the two searched through the crowd for the Crusaders. Said fillies galloped towards the towering man and proceeded to climb onto him.
"Hey! What am I a jungle gym?" Tony laughed as their small hooves tickled him.
"No, but there's a great view!" Sweetie giggled from his shoulder. Applebloom climbed onto his head while Scootaloo clung to his other arm. "Come on! We've got Crusading to get done!"
"After your homework, right?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, yeah, that's easy!" Scootaloo said with a wave of her hoof. "We have another list to get done this week."
"Which means hustle yer bustles Tony!" Applebloom laughed with a shove of his head.
"Just hang on!" Tony chuckled as he caught Scootaloo.
Twilight giggled as they walked to the Acres, seeing how Tony was having so much fun. They walked along the Ponyville outskirts, so reaching the clubhouse would be easier. The fillies yammered on about dozens of failed attempts at finding their cutie marks and about their new ideas about one. Applebloom was the one who most talked to him, since he worked with her and her family in the Acres. She was pretty well-educated for a farmpony, not that he was judging. Big Mac was pretty well versed with numbers as well.
The five familiar scents invaded the pack's nostrils. The mutated abominations weaved through the forest's underbrush until they were at the edge of their territory. They quickly scanned the perimeter and spotted their targets. The alpha of the monsters, as they could no longer be called animals, growled as memory warned of the largest's abilities. Even in their new, stronger forms they were powerless against him. And he was a big one, maybe being able to feed the entire pack. But their gazes shifted to the purple unicorn.
Flashes of spells and conversations of magic made her another possible threat. The pack snarled impatiently, but their leader silenced them with a louder growl. The only other prey were the small, hyper fillies atop the large man. Memories of the white and orange ones were low, but the yellow one with a red bow was somepony their original host had much knowledge on. The main thing that concerned them was that they were weak, slow, and young. They would be a small meal, but it would be enough for a day. Should they travel alone, that is.
The pack retreated back into the corrupt forest, their howls warning a nearby manticore.
"Here we are," Tony groaned playfully. "Everypony off!"
The fillies giggled as he stretched his arms out for them to slide down. "You three stay out of trouble ya hear?"
"Aw, can't ya stay a little longer, Tony?" Applebloom pleaded.
"I would but-" Tony's ear perked up at a faint, almost nonexistent, howl. Along with it came negative energy readings. Timberwolf? Manticore? Cockatrice?
Twilight thought he was speaking to Nyla, but in reality, he was frightened by the number of energy signatures he was feeling. "Tony? Tony!" Sweetie called. "Please, maybe we could learn something!"
Tony shook from his stare and turned to the fillies. "Uh, sure. Just don't go too far with things, okay?"
"We promise!" the trio said in unison.
"C'mon!" Tony chuckled as they pushed him from behind.
"I'll be at the tree house later, Twi!" Tony called. She nodded with a giggle and trotted off to the library.
He spent the next few hours helping them with their little 'experiments.' They attempted hoofball, or soccer, which ended in Scootaloo and Applebloom getting tangled in her bow. Sweetie, somehow, got tangled in the net after Applebloom's clumsy shot. Then they tried making potions with some 'borrowed' ingredients. Sweetie ended up blowing up a potion when she mixed two sulfur concoctions. Scootaloo then came up with the idea of lumberjacking, which Tony had to bribe them a trip to Sugarcube Corner to get them to not try it.
Applejack called them in for some dinner, giving him a chance to talk to her about next year's harvest. Granny Smith was also happy to serve him a meal equal to Macintosh's weight. Said stallion was also at the table, listening but not speaking much. Tony liked that about him. He didn't need to talk to have his thoughts spoken. Even so, they rarely talked when he worked in the fields, but he could gauge a respectable amount of trust that Mac had for him. Most likely because of the fact he was willing to help on the farm, but it could have also been the fact that he saved Luna a few months back. Still, they were good pals.
The Crusaders, however, were still energized for a bit of play time in the fields. He played tag with them throughout the leafless fields, which was fairly easy given their distinct smells. Still, they were fillies so he barely jogged after them. The sun had long fallen over the horizon by the time he wore them out. He sat with them in their tree house, which also served as their Crusaders club and Rainbow Dash club. He looked at their drawings and pictures with amusement as the fillies did their homework. One in particular caught his attention: A drawing of Applejack, him (he assumed) and Big Macintosh out picking apples.
"So two times eight is sixteen?" Sweetie asked.
"Yeah, see, eight plus eight is sixteen," Applebloom explained. "It's like addin' two eight times."
"There's gotta be an easier way," Scootaloo groaned, her legs kicking behind her.
"Multiplication isn't too hard," Tony smiled. "Let me see."
He took her worksheet and went over it. The simple problems were solved instantly, the answers filling his vision before fading into his memory. "Ah kinda understand," Applebloom smiled. "Number five's kinda tricky."
Most of the problems were two-number multiplication problems, but he could see that Cherilee was trying to get them to understand three number problems. The problem was two times two times four.
"So which one goes first?" Scootaloo questioned, laying her head in frustration on his lap.
"It really doesn't matter," Tony smiled. "See, two times four is eight. Then multiply it by two and it's sixteen. Now two times two is four, so times four it's-"
"Sixteen!" Sweetie exclaimed. She laughed weakly and scratched her head. "Sorry!"
"It's fine, but you girls get it. The order doesn't matter, unless," he wrote the acronym PEMDAS on the pegasus filly's page.
"Pemdas? Is that a snack?" Scootaloo wondered aloud.
"The kids I learned with went by this rule. Parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction." The three of them looked at him questioningly. "Oh… well… there's an easier way to remember. Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally."
"What?" Sweetie giggled. "But we don't have an Aunt Sally… do I? Maybe Rarity-"
"No, not like that!" Tony laughed. "It's just to help you remember. Get it? Please is parentheses, excuse is for exponents and yadda yadda."
"What is that anyway?" Scootaloo asked. Tony drew out a simple problem depicting each math term.
"Okay, so you start with parentheses-"
One hour later…
Applejack yawned loudly as she threw herself into bed, ready to snooze for the night. But even though her light was off, her eyes were covered in brightness. She sat up and glanced out the window, looking at the dimly lit clubhouse.
"Ah thought ah told 'em t' hit the hay an hour ago," she murmured, standing up sleepily.
Trotting into the hall, she slowly descended the steps and went into the cool open air. She made her way to the clubhouse some dozen meters away and peeked inside. A warm smile replaced the grumpy frown when she saw the four sound asleep. Scootaloo was curled up on his lap, Sweetie under his arm, and her little sis' snuggled up on his side. Applejack went in and glanced at the paper he was holding, which had a number of problems written out by him. Shaking her head softly, she went into one of the chests the fillies had and tossed a blanket over the four of them. Scootaloo mumbled vigorously as she twisted onto her back, her head drooping to the floor.
Applejack kissed her little sister goodnight and nodded to Tony with a smile. Applebloom cracked her eye open to watch her big sister leave, then she fixed her head's position onto Tony's firm side. The blanket was nice, but his body temperature felt like a furnace. It was a good warmth in the chilly night, and it was even better as she drifted off to sleep, snoring softly with her friends.
The pack of deformed creatures snarled as they circled the small wooden structure. Just the smell of the Loki'irian warned them to stay away. Their memory failed them for this hunt, and they would have to go back for the manticore they kept in their den. The alpha male planned for a fallout, and so he kept the beast barely alive. Now that their midnight meal was unavailable, they would need a source of food before the multi-headed demon went out for it's hunt. The alpha watched it tear apart a group of manticore's that were fighting over territory.
Now though, survival was their only option. Survival to pass on the power that would build within their species from the dark demon within each of them.