//------------------------------// // It Begins // Story: Friendship, Love, and Shenanigans // by Lightning Spear //------------------------------// "Um, Nate? Is everything okay?" Luna asked, snapping me out of my trance when I heard Jenny's voice called from outside of the door. "W-what?" I asked with a dumbfounded look on my face "Er, that will be *ahem* depending on the circumstances." "Why? It will be fun to meet your friends!" Twilight said with great optimism in her voice. "Well, you see... I don't think my friends are ready to see you yet." I replied. "Why not?" Cadance asked. "Nate! Hurry the fuck up!" Michael's voice echoed from the other side of the door. "I will explain everything later. But now, I need you to stay out of sight." I said. With that, the Princesses' horns glowed with their signature auras and slowly but surely they became more and more translucent until finally became invisible. "I will never get used to that...real life active camouflage." I thought as I walked towards the door and opened it. And there, in front of me; stood my long-time best friends, wearing that cheeky smile of theirs. Jenny was wearing a long blue jeans, a white t-shirt, her red Nike running shoes, and finally her sunglasses. Michael was wearing a long brown jeans, a black t-shirt, and his blue and white Reebok running shoes. They were also carrying backpacks on their backs which I assumed containing their sport wears. "Hey guys." I replied weakly, masking my face with the best expression of a sick person I could muster. "Nate? What's wrong?" Jenny asked, stepping forward "You don't look so good." "Yeah man, you don't look so hot." Mike said. "Yeah, actually...I don't think I can train with you guys today." I said "I feel so weak. Nothing bad really, I just need some sleep, and I'll be good as new." I said reassuringly. "Are you sure? I can make you a bowl of chicken soup if you want." Jenny said with a hint of concern in her voice "Heck, I am gonna stay with you. I Don't want anything happen to you." Well there you have it, Jenny is the type of girl who is seemingly though as nails on the outside; but once you know her and have her trust; she is probably the sweetest and the most caring person you've ever met. And her cooking are just...goddamn smashing. "No, Jenny. I'll be fine." I said with a smile. "Alright, just take it easy okay?" Jenny said, putting her hand on my shoulder. I nodded with a smile. "Hey if you need anything, call us okay?" Mike said, giving me a pat on my shoulder. "Sure Mike." I said with a smile. After saying our goodbyes, Jenny and Michael returned to their houses. I immediately went back inside my house and locked the door behind me. "Okay, you girls can come out now." I said. "Your friends seems very nice." Celestia commented as she and the rest of the Princesses reappeared before me. "I have to agree with my sister there." Luna added. "Oh you have no idea how important they are to me." I said with a smile. "But if they are that important to you, why did you lie to them?" Twilight asked. Cadance also nodded in approval. "I don't know about Jenny, but it's just that Michael tends to...explode." I told them "His reaction may cause us more trouble than good if he is going to meet you girls unprepared." "I see." Celestia said "We understand." The Princesses nodded in agreement. "But could you perhaps tell us more about them?" Twilight asked in an almost begging tone. "No problem." I smiled. Then, I started telling the Princesses about Jenny and Mike; their identities, backgrounds, how I met them for the first time, and practically things we've been through together. The Princesses seemed to be amused with my stories; specifically when it came to our ridiculous experiences. Especially after I told them of a certain experience where Mike decided to empty his bladder on a sleeping Grizzly Bear in the Yellowstone National Park, which resulted in me, Mike, and Jenny running for our lives. The Princesses were laughing their flanks off, in a manner where you will hardly believe they were royals. However, I was not surprised...I assumed this was their own terms of expressing themselves. Running a country must be a hell of a demanding work for them. "Um, excuse me...girls?" I asked between their gaps of laughter. "May I ask you something?" "Sure, Nate." Celestia said "Ask away." "How's it feel? To be a Princess I mean, running a country and that kind of stuff." I asked. "Hmm, that would be rather difficult to explain..." Celestia said, putting a hoof on her chin "Aside from politics which definitely cause a lot of stress, we have to deal with strange and dangerous situations at certain times." She told me "Ranging from friendship problems to rampaging villains." "But at the end of the day, the Elements of Harmony always save the day." Twilight said with pride. "Elements of Harmony?" I asked. "The most powerful magical artifacts in Equestria." Twilight said "They are Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, and Magic." She told me. "A place of wonder and magic indeed." I thought sarcastically "Oh, I see...so basically you can cancel an apocalyptic event, planned by a dangerous rampaging villain by making friends with them?" I asked with an unconvinced tone. The Princesses nodded. "You sound like you are quite unsure of this." Cadance said. "*sigh* You see, in here...that's another different story." I told them "Here, when nations start to blame one another; they resort to diplomacy. That can work, yes, but when things do get better.... Accidents will happen, for example a bomb explode in one of those countries. Then everybody start blaming each other again, and before diplomacy could play it's part...boom! World War Three!" I said "So, yeah I am quite unsure." "World War Three?" Celestia asked "How many times has your world engulfed itself in war?" "Two times. I definitely hope there would be no more world wars in the future." I told her "But I can't hide the fact that war, bloodshed, and violence are commonplace in human history." "I understand." Luna said "Me and my sister are not strangers to war, bloodshed, and violence...especially when you have been living for thousands of years." "Even I wasn't born yet." Cadance said. Okay, I was dumbstruck by her statement. "There were so many tyrant rulers who had tried to take over Equestria in the past, the war against the Griffins and Minotaurs just to name a few." Celestia said. "We always managed to stop them and now, we are at good terms with each other." "I see, now that's good." I said "Excuse me in case I didn't hear you correctly, but you said you lived for thousands of years?" "Yes you are correct." Celestia smiled "Me and Luna are at least five thousand years old. Niece Cadance there is fifty years old, and Twilight is only twenty three years old." "But do you all stop aging or something?" I asked them "Because to my point of view, you girls seem to be at least on your early to mid twenties." I stated. "If you are just guessing, you are a good one." Cadance said with a smile "Unlike other ponies, we Alicorns stop aging at twenty five years old." "And why the hell that sounds so familiar to me? Oh I remember, but that movie says that after people stops aging, they only have one year left to live." I mused to myself as I remembered a certain movie I've watched. "Nate, are you there?" Twilight said, waving her hoofs in front of my eyes. "Oh yeah sorry, I spaced out a little." I replied with a sheepish chuckle "I have a lot to take in you know." I said while getting up from my seat. "So, lets get you girls settled in." I smiled. "Lead the way Nate." Cadance said as we walked upstairs. "So, is this room okay with you girls?" I asked as I stood outside of the guest room directly in front of my own. The guest room has the largest bed of all the beds in my house, enough to have four adults to sleep on and the third most well decorated bedroom aside from my parents' and my sister's. "This is more than enough Nate." Celestia smiled "Thank you." The others nodded in approval. "You are welcome, anything for my guests." I smiled "Oh, just for your information you can use the other bedroom downstairs in case if any of you want to have a private chamber." The Princesses nodded again; smiling. "So, what do you girls want for lunch? It's already three p.m." I declared. 3 p.m? Damn today just went so fast. "I don't know, we are not really hungry." Luna said, earning nods from her companions. "Yeah, me too actually." I said "Oh, lets have something light then. How about tomato and cheese sandwich?" "That sounds good!" The girls said all together. I nodded and once again I headed towards the kitchen with the Princesses in tow. Twenty minutes later, we sat on the dining table and finished our sandwiches. We took the plates back to the kitchen to wash them. "So what do you girls wanna do now?" I asked as I dried my hands with a nearby hand towel "Come on, don't be shy. Make yourselves at home." I smiled. "I think...we are going to take a nap." Celestia said with a yawn. Shocking. But well, they looked tired. I guess they didn't really get much sleep last night. "Okay then, you know the way right?" "Of course we know the way." Celestia smiled. "Alright, see you girls later then." I said. With that, the girls smiled and went upstairs. "Janet, inside the cage. Now." I said. Then, she instantly returned to her cage on the kitchen. "Well that was that..." I thought as I heard the bedroom's door being shut "Housework, here I come." Two hours later... "So what do you think of Nate so far?" Celestia asked her closest friends with a half-sleepy voice. Still lying on on the large bed, the Princesses just woke up from their afternoon nap; chatting. "In my opinion, he is wise for a person of his age." "He is very friendly and nice obviously." Twilight said immediately "I mean, come on. He treat us with great hospitality despite Princess Luna's attempt to 'blow his head off' last night, shared his food with us, he let us stay with him, and all of that stuff. He is also very intelligent." "Lulu? What do you think?" Celestia asked, only to caught her sister snickering with her eyes closed;she could've even sworn there was a slight blush on her face. "Lulu? are you using that farseeing ability of yours again?" Celestia asked; Luna didn't respond. "Oh yes..." Luna trailed off with a seductive tone, until Celestia shook her from her trance "Wha-what?!" she retorted. But she was speechless as she knew she was caught red handed. "Alright Luna." Celestia crossed her hoofs "What did you see?" "You...don't want to know." Luna said, lowering her head to conceal her blushing face. A few moments later she regained her composure and spoke up "He is very strong willed and independent." she said "He is also handsome and robust."Luna said spontaneously. This caused Celestia, Cadance, and Twilight to stare at them with a 'er, what?' kind of looks. "What?" Luna asked "That's my opinion. He also seems very capable of combat, the way he dodged my attack last night, his physique is akin to that of our royal guard's, those swords in his training room...you get the idea Tia." she said. "Okay..." Celestia said "What do you think Niece Cadance? Any thoughts on his emotion perhaps?" "Well, when I looked into his eyes...I can tell he is a caring, selfless, and a compassionate person. He will do anything to keep his friends and his loved ones out of harm's way. He also has a will of steel." Cadance explained "But despite his qualities, I can also tell he is a hothead and could be crushing if he is provoked. He has experienced a lot of things. And I have to say, a lot of them are quite unpleasant." She said "His scars explains a lot." "Do you think we should talk to him about that?" Luna asked. "Maybe not now Lulu..." Celestia said "Once we know him better." "Yes, once we know him better." Luna smiled. *knock* *knock* *knock* So here I was, knocking on the Princesses' bedroom door after finishing my housework and practicing a little bit just to keep me sharp. "Just a minute!" Cadance's voice could be heard from the other side. A few moments later, the door swung open; revealing the four Princesses staring down at me with a somewhat sheepish smile and frazzled mane. They certainly just woke up. "Oh sorry to interrupt, but I heard chatters from your room and I assumed that you are awake." I said. "No it's okay Nate, we are awake. Why are you so sweaty?" Cadance asked. "Well, I finished housework and practiced a little bit to keep me sharp." I told her. "May I ask you something?" Cadance asked again. "Ookay? What is it?" I asked with a bit of hesitation, expecting some sort of serious question. "Can we perhaps, take a bath?" "Oh for the love of God." I thought "You don't have to ask for that Cadance, of course you can." I smiled "Besides, in my family; bathing is mandatory." I said as I took four towels from my wardrobe. They were white, dark blue, pink, and lavender. "Here you girls go." I said as I handed them the towels. "Hey these matches our coats!" Twilight stated. "Er any problems with that?" I asked "Oh no no, absolutely no problem." Twilight said with a sheepish smile. "You girls know how to use the shower and bathroom appliances right?" I asked. "Sure, just like how you showed us." Twilight said. "Okay then, you girls go first." I smiled "Before you go, this may sound weird but..." "You girls weren't using that invisibility spell to spy on me, right?" Suddenly, they became very nervous. Especially a certain Princess of the Night. "Gotcha, Luna." I smirked "Er hahaha never mind girls! go ahead and do your thing!" I said as I went inside my room and shut the door. But I kept listening to see if I could catch somethig intresting. "Well that was interesting." Twilight said. With that, they entered the bathroom and shut the door. "Might as well save the time and use my parents' bathroom." I thought as I grabbed my brown towel and headed towards my parents' bathroom. Twenty minutes later, Third Person P.O.V "Ah that bath surely was refreshing." Luna said as she and the rest of the Princesses walked out from the bathroom with steam coming out from the bathroom. "I agree Princess Luna!" Twilight said with a cheery tone. "By the way, where's Nate?" Cadance asked. "Maybe, he is in his room?" Celestia suggested. "I'll knock the door." Luna said while moving towards Nate's room and knocked the door. "Come in!" Nate answered from the other side. As Luna opened the door, her eyes widened on the sight before her. Nate was not wearing anything except for his black training pants, exposing his large but proportional muscular body and even more collection of scars: one on his chest, two on his shoulders, and even one on his stomach. Despite the number of scars, Luna's cheeks began to burn with such heat that they began to turn red. "Hey Luna." Nate smiled "What is it?" "I-I w-we er uhm *ahem* w-was just looking f-for you *nervous chuckle*" Luna stuttered with a sheepish smile. Her cheeks still covered in a deep shade of red, much to Nate's amusement. "Well I am here." Nate said while putting on a simple grey camo t-shirt "What's up?" "Er uhm I-I was wondering i-if we could play y-your *ahem* PS4 f-for the rest of the evening?" Luna stuttered as she tried to search for an excuse to leave the room as she was flustered and blushing. "Of course!" Nate said with a happy tone. With that Luna flashed a smile at Nate before quickly exiting the room. "This is going to be an interesting evening after all." Nate smirked.