Twilight and I walked back through the hallways of the majestic palace in relative silence, both of us still silently processing the events of the past day. Deciding that the silence was getting a bit oppressive, I decided to speak up. “So…” I began, grabbing her attention, “You mentioned you lived in a library?” She nodded an affirmative, so I continued, “What’s that like? Do you also curate the library, or does someone else do that?”
“Somepony.” Twilight corrected me, “And yes, I curate the library with Spike, my younger brother.”
I rolled my eyebrows at the correction before speaking, “You have a younger brother? I don’t think I remember seeing him.”
We approached the doors to the party hall as Twilight responded, “He was the one who gave the rings to Shining and Cadence earlier.”
An image of the purple and green reptilian being from before shot itself across my mind, “He’s your brother?” I asked, slightly surprised, “I’m going to assume that he isn’t related by blood.”
Twilight smiled, shaking her head as she opened the door, “No. It’s a long story. I’ll explain it to you on the train home.”
That last part hit me harder than she had meant. I stopped short as she walked into the room. ’Well… I guess home is where ever you make it.’ I reasoned to myself, ’If I can’t find a way to my old home… I might as well make a new one.’ With that, I walked through the doors into the party hall.
It was almost completely deserted. Apparently, the party was almost over when I had left it, because the only people in the entire hall were the Bride, Groom, and Twilight’s friends. Twilight was making her way over to them, and I made haste to follow her.
As I moved closer to the table, Cadence and Shining Armor both rose and made their way towards me. Cadence spoke up as they finally reached me, “We would both like to thank you for you saving our wedding.” She told me gratefully.
Shining nodded his head in agreement, “You did great today.” His face took a sorrowful look, “Much better than I should’ve been doing.”
Instantly, Cadence was comforting him. “Shining, Chrysalis was affecting you with mind control magic. You shouldn’t feel so bad about this.”
Shining sighed, “I know. I just feel I should’ve done something more. I’m the captain of the guard for a reason, and yet, I couldn’t protect Canterlot when it was needed.”
I felt slightly uncomfortable just standing there, so I cleared my throat and spoke up, “Well, it wasn’t a big deal.” I said, rubbing the back of my head with my hand, “I just did what anyone would do if they could.” I smiled, “Plus, it was actually kind of fun. Terrifying, but being in a life or death fight like that was kind of thrilling.” I saw everyone’s disbelieving expression and shrugged, “Fighting isn’t for everyone.”
Shaking her head, Twilight spoke up, “Well, anyway, Jack is going to come back with us to Ponyville tomorrow, barring any unforeseen complications.”
“Unforeseen complications, Twi?” Applejack said skeptically, “Our lives for the last year or two have been the definition of unforeseen complications.” She looked at me, “Well, let me be the first to welcome ya to Ponyville, partner.” She leaned back in her chair, “I work at Sweet Apple Acres with mah family: Apple Bloom, who ya met earlier, Big McIntosh, my older brother, and Granny Smith, our granny.”
I nodded, tucking that little bit of information away, “What do you farm?” I asked her, “I’m assuming apples are a part of it at least.”
She smiled, “Yep. Sweet Apple Acres makes some of the best apples in Equestria, but we also grow corn, squash and a few other crops.”
“And the cider is to die for!” Rainbow Dash cut in, a look of pure bliss on her face as she-I guessed-recalled the aforementioned cider.
I chuckled at Rainbow’s reaction to the cider, “I’m imagining it isn’t easy to work the farm with just the four of you.” I said, “Unless you’ve got some workhands that you aren’t mentioning.”
“Workhooves,” Applejack corrected, which caused another eyeroll, “And no, we ain’t got any of them. Plus, Apple Bloom is too young to help out with anything major, and Granny is getting too old.”
I digested that piece of information, “Maybe once I’m settled in, I could help out a little bit more, bring the workload down a bit.”
Applejack smiled, “Well, I’d be right thankful for that, if you’d be willing to do that. Twilight can help ya get to the farm if you need help.”
I nodded, finally taking a seat at the table, only for a rush of pink to fill my vision. Jerking backwards, the pink changed into… Well, still pink hair and face, but with light blue eyes and a smile that would look too big for The Joker himself.
“Hi! Do you like parties? What’s your favorite flavor of cake?! Can you see through my clothes with that special eye of yours?! Do you have any hobbies?!” She said to me with a single breath.
I blinked, glancing over to Twilight, who gave me a ‘just go with it’ kind of look. “Uh…” I began, “I’m not the biggest when it comes to parties, but I don’t hate them. I like chocolate cake.” I paused for a second when I got to the next question, “No… No, it can't. That would be rather perverted… and yeah, I enjoy reading, playing video games, and building things.” I gave her a look, “Why did you ask me about cakes and parties?”
Her smile continued to put The Joker’s to shame, “Well, I’m one of the main bakers at Sugarcube Corner and the main party planner of Ponyville!” She exclaimed excitedly. “And I wanted to throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party’ when we get back to Ponyville tomorrow!”
I nodded, somewhat wary of this overly pink woman. “Alright then… I look forward to it?” I said, not really sure of what to think.
A noise from my side drew my attention. I turned to see the white woman with the well maintained hair smiling at me, Rarity. “Darling, when you were saying your hobbies before, you said… Video Games?” She said the two words like she had never heard them together before, which I suppose she never had. “Can you tell us what those are?”
Like I did with Twilight and Celestia before, I explained to them the concept of an RPG genre game. Most of them seemed less interested than Twilight did, though Rainbow Dash in particular showing an interest. Most of what I said seemed to go over Rarity’s head, but she smiled nonetheless as I finished my description. “That sounds… Interesting, darling.” She said to me, “But I also had another topic that I would like to discuss with you.”
I motioned for her to continue. “Well, as you may or may not know, I am the premier fashionista of Ponyville, and as a small token of thanks for your help during this troubling time.” I raised an eyebrow as she continued, “I would like to make you an ensemble outfit for any formal outing that you may have to go to in the future. Not that your current look isn’t…” She struggled to find a word that probably didn’t seem insulting, “...unique, but formal outings just about everywhere require you to wear a more formal tuxedo or something of a sort.”
I was caught unawares to say the least. “Well, I wouldn’t want to impose…” I said, “Not to mention that the suit would have to be strong enough not to tear on my body itself, and be good enough to fight in, or take off at a moment's notice.”
Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but Rainbow Dash interrupted her, “Why would you need to fight in a suit?” She asked me, leaning back in her chair with her feet on the table. “If you’re at a formal party, wouldn’t you let someone who isn’t at the party handle it?”
I frowned, before motioning for Rarity to continue. “W-well, yes, those are very good points that you bring up, but I always enjoy a good challenge, and yours might be one of my greatest yet!”
I thought for a moment, before sighing. “Alright. If you really want to, sure. But I’ll pay you back eventually.” I looked back at Rainbow Dash, “And in response to your question, if I see anything going wrong, no matter what I’m doing, I’ll do something about it.” I told her, “Hell, earlier today, I basically proclaimed to the freaking heavens that I fight for justice. It’d be really hypocritical if I went back on that. Plus,” I gestured to the room, “they invaded on a wedding. An outing where you normally wear dresses or tuxedos. I can’t fight very well in restrictive clothing.”
Rainbow Dash thought about that for a moment, before shrugging, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She paused, as if remembering something, “Speaking of the wedding, did you see my sonic rainboom from earlier?”
I thought back to the wedding ceremony. I vaguely remembered a dulled explosion, but my fermenting panic made me have more things to worry about. “Must’ve missed it.” I told her, “What is it exactly?”
Rainbow opened her mouth excitedly, but Twilight beat her to it. “A sonic rainboom is something normally only heard about in legends, until Rainbow here. The pony who does it goes from Mach one to Mach ten in less than a second, and combined with a little bit of Rainbow’s Pegasus magic, lets her break the sound barrier and the visible light spectrum simultaneously.”
I stared at Twilight. I knew I shouldn’t be so shocked, seeing as how this was a different world that ran on magic, but what Twilight just said flew in the face of everything I learned in any engineering or physics class that I had ever taken. Rainbow Dash’s slightly despondent voice broke me from my shock, “Well, yeah. If you want to sound like an egghead,” she quipped, “But, being the only mare alive who can do the Sonic Rainboom doesn’t pay the bills very well, so I work as a weather manager in Ponyville.”
I nodded, “Twilight told me that you control the weather here,” I said, “Back home, we can’t control it. The weather does what it does, and we can track it to some degree, but not much more than that.”
Rainbow actually shuddered, “That sounds… Horrible. What happens if some massive out of control storm hits a populated area?”
I sighed, “We warn the people as best we can, get them ready, and then after the storm hits, we send in relief workers to try to fix things up as best we can.”
Rainbow fell silent, apparently trying to imagine such a thing. A small almost imperceptible cough hit my ears. I turned to face Fluttershy, who had remained silent all this time. She shrank away from my gaze momentarily before sitting straight up again. “I would like to ask you something, if that’s alright with you…” she said, trailing off.
I gave her what I hoped was a comforting smile, “Go ahead.”
She gulped, before her eyes filled with determination, “I was wondering how your sword was able to slice into the floor of the wedding hall,” she asked me, “I’ve never heard of a sword that was able to do that.”
I drew the murasama after a moment, admiring it idly in the bright light of the banquet hall. The iridescent red of the blade gleamed brightly, and not a speck of green changeling blood remained on it. “This sword is known as the Murasama. It was named after a famous swordsmith in the late 14th to 16th centuries.” I had no idea where this was coming from, but at least it wasn’t coming out like a robot. “The sword maker was known as Muramasa. Slightly different, I know, but this sword was from a game, they probably didn’t want to get copyrighted.”
I shook my head briefly, “Anyway, Muramasa was a brilliant swordsmith, but was incredibly violent, verging on madness, and that was supposed to be passed into his blades. They were believed to hunger for blood, to the point that they drove their wielders to murder and suicide.” I paused, letting that sink in. “This sword supposedly came from the same time. Recently, the sword was converted from a normal blade to what is known as a High-Frequency Blade.”
“A High-Frequency Blade is a sword reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonated at extremely high frequencies.” I told them. “This oscillation weakened the molecular bonds of anything it cut, thereby increasing its cutting ability. Striking, cutting, and thrusting attacks were performed with the blade, with the sharpened edge and point used for lethal attacks, and the blunt edge used as a clubbing weapon.”
I saw the blank looks on most of their faces and sighed, “The blade vibrates so quickly that it cuts through almost anything, the vibrations breaking apart the force that holds materials together.” A chorus of understanding noises greeted my ears. “Proficient users were also able to wield the blade with such accuracy and speed that they were able to deflect projectiles, even ones that travelled passed the speed of sound.”
I gazed at the sword for a moment longer before re-sheathing it, “Of course, while I wield the Murasama, it will be my instrument of justice where it is needed.” I let out a yawn, “And now, I think it’s time for bed.” I stood up, everyone else following my example. “I suppose I’ll see you all tomorrow on the train?” I round of nods greeted me, but a niggling thought hit me. “Uh… Would anyone know where the room Celestia gave me is?”
Twilight walked forward. “I know the general area. There should be spare rooms near mine, if the past trips are anything like this.”
I nodded, moving next to Twilight. “Goodnight, everyone.” I said to the rest of the group, who said their goodnights to me in turn. Twilight and I walked out of the banquet hall and through the maze of hallways that made up Canterlot Palace.
We walked in silence for the most part, the quiet of the night only interrupted by the occasional patrolling guard or maid cleaning a statue. Eventually, we came to a hallway filled with doors. Twilight stopped at one. “This one is mine. Yours is right next door,” she said, “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I said with a smile as I moved to my door.
Twilight smiled as she opened the door and revealed the sounds of snoring. “Aww, he’s fast asleep…” She cooed at something as she walked in and closed the door behind her.
I shook my head as I opened mine, revealing a queen sized bed, a medium sized dresser and a balcony with a view over Canterlot. Taking off the sheath, I placed it in the dresser where it barely just fit. Next, I opened the pocket that held my keys, wallet and cellphone, and placed them in a smaller shelf. Finally, I laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. ’Well, shit could be worse.’ I thought to myself. ’I could’ve been seen as an enemy from the start and hunted with the changelings.’ I thought with a small smile as I finally closed my eye.