//------------------------------// // 27. Canterlot // Story: Ponyville Police Department // by Omega6047 //------------------------------// --Chapter 27-- Canterlot It didn’t take Twilight long to get ready. All she needed to get was some money, few books she was in a middle of reading, her ID and keys to her old chamber in the academy where they’ll be staying. She has also written a message for Spike, who didn’t appear to have any intentions on waking up anytime soon, in which she has reminded him about things she has already spent over an hour on drilling into his head some time ago, and some info about Owlowiscious. She came downstairs where Revan was waiting for her, levitating her stuff in the air. She moved all of it to her saddle bag, which hanged on the wall. “Alright, I think that’s all.” She stated as she placed the message for Spike next to his basket. “Good, so are we ready to go?” Revan asked. She nodded and he turned around, slowly walking towards the exit. Twilight quickly caught up to him, a smile appearing on her face along with a devious idea in her head. She increased her speed and run over to Revan from behind, going straight between his legs again and pressing herself against his crotch like she did before. She was already getting ready to celebrate her little victory, but suddenly she was stopped in place when Revan closed his legs around her midsection. She felt her face grow red as she turned her head around to face him. The human was looking down at her with arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. “I-I…I…” She felt words leave her. “Oh, don’t worry. I don’t mind if you keep doing that.” He said, surprising her as well as deepening her blush. She was about to try saying something again, but suddenly she felt Revan’s hand making contact with her flack, and all that left her mouth was a yelp of surprise mixed with a moan. “Just keep in mind that I can play that game too.” Seeing that she didn’t really seem to mind that, Revan gave her other cheek a light spank. Does she like it? A question popped into his head as he watched Twilight’s reaction. He bent over and gave her a deep passionate kiss, only to end it prematurely and walk downstairs, leaving the red faced unicorn behind. A smile started to grow on her face as she felt more blood rushing into her face. I’m looking forward to it… She thought and followed the human, still with a dreamy smile on her face. The saddlebag flew towards her and landed on her hips, where she still felt Revan’s payback. And she quickly put together her own payback plan. She slowly walked over to the edge the stairs. She saw Revan waiting there for her, a smirk appearing on his face the moment he saw her still reddened face. However, she quickly returned the smirk as she lit up her horn disappearing from sight in a flash of light. Revan quickly figured out that she just teleported behind him, but he didn’t react fast enough to prevent her plan. His backpack suddenly disappeared from his back, instead being replaced by Twilight, who jumped at him, wrapping her front hooves around his neck while her rear hooves were wrapped around his midsection. He turned his head to face her, only to have her give him a quick kiss. “You don’t mind if we go like that, do you?” She said playfully, licking his neck. Revan stayed still for a second, looking into her eyes, only to suddenly smirk, surprising Twilight with his reaction. “You know…” He begun. “You should have thought this through…” He picked up his backpack -which Twilight have moved to the ground- and started to regulate shoulder straps. “I mean, you’re kinda putting yourself at my mercy, you know?” He put the bag on and placed one hand under Twilight’s rear, effectively keeping her from jumping off of him. “But then again…” He put his hand into his pocket, and quickly pulled it out along with his magic inhabiting ring, placing it on Twilight’s horn before she could react. “I don’t think you’re going to complain, are you?” She suddenly realized how badly her plan backfired. Revan then grabbed the back of her head, and pulled her surprised, red face to his, giving her a deep kiss. Twilight came to her senses when she felt Revan squeezing her rear with his hand, making her yelp into his mouth. Still, she felt the corners of her mouth rising up to form a smile. Yes… I don’t mind. She thought as she melted into the kiss. Revan didn’t let her go when they left, and he was now holding Twilight’s rear with both hands. She didn’t seem to mind all the glares they were getting, in fact she seemed to be quite happy about it in some way (doesn’t mean she didn’t look like a embarrassed school girl). She had her hooves wrapped tightly around him through the entire walk, and her face was lying on his shoulder. From time to time she would give his neck a lick or a kiss, only to be rewarded by a tug on her tail, or a pinch. And that seemed to encourage her to keep doing that. “You know, you still haven’t thought me how to swim… and speak your language…” She said, not moving from her position. “Well, it’s not like we had much time for either of those.” He replied. “But if you still want to, we can start with swimming after we’re back. There’s a small lake next to Fluttershy’s cottage, you can stay there with me and we can start in the morning. What do you think?” “Great.” She said happily and started to rub her face against his neck. “You know, I’ve noticed that you’ve gotten really affectionate, really fast. You’re acting as if we were together since I got here, while we only started this yesterday night.” He said. “Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against you being so huggy and stuff. I’m just wondering why?” He silently lifted her head off of his shoulder, a small blush appearing on her face, small enough to be hidden by her fur. “Because I…” She fell silent again. “I… I know that you care…” She finally said. “I’ve gotten to know you so well since you came to Equestria and… I just know that you’re not pretending. And I want to show that I care too…” “And since you don’t really know how to put it in words, you’re doing it the only other way you know.” He finished for her, slowing down with his walk. “Yes. Well, that and the fact that I just like it…” She said, now blushing visibly. “I… I just...” Words left her again. She eventually took a deep breath, as Revan started to feel her heart beating against his back. ”I just want you to know that…I l-love you…” “I know.” She heard Revan say without a moment of hesitation, immediately deepening her blush. She was about to say something, but suddenly, she felt Revan taking off one of his backpack’s shoulder straps before he suddenly moved her from his back to his front, lining her face up with his own. “You don’t have to prove anything to me Twilight.” He said, holding her close and looking into her eyes. “I know how you feel about me, in fact I know about it for a while now. I just regret that I haven’t tried to act on it sooner. I am not going to give you some sappy speech about how beautiful you are, or about how smart and funny you are, even though I could. All I’m going to say is that I love you too.” And with that said, he immediately pressed his mouth against hers, kissing her lightly. At first she was just looking forward, repeating his words in her head. She eventually came to her senses and returned the kiss. She was quick to press her tongue against Revan’s mouth, and thanks to it being so thin, it slipped between his lips with no issue, giving her free access to his mouth which she used to deepen the kiss. However, her attempt at gaining control was quickly turned against her as Revan trapped her tongue in place with his teeth. She gasped, opening her eyes wide and trying to get her tongue out from initial fear of hurting herself, only to find herself unable to. Revan smiled deviously as he looked at her. He pulled more of her long tongue in, starting to play with it with his own tongue while still keeping it in place. She quickly found herself enjoying the feeling as shown by her tightening her grasp on Revan’s neck. He moved one hands from her hips to her ears, playing with them too. It wasn’t long before he let her tongue go, quickly sliding his own into her mouth where he stayed for a bit before letting her gain some foothold and catch up to him. They kept their eyes closed and bodies pressed tightly against one another as they kissed slowly. There were some cheers from ponies that were watching, but neither of them cared. Revan barely even reacted when somepony threw a banana at them. All he did was grab it midair before it hit Twilight in the back, and throw it back at the pony who threw it, not bothering himself with who it even was (though from the voice, he guessed that it was Diamond Tiara). Neither of them cared about the time at that point, muting out everything but themselves. But despite how nice the feeling was for them, they eventually had to stop. They then proceeded to stare into each other’s eyes, panting slightly, and most likely would go back to kissing if they didn’t notice a sound of someone making a photo, along with a flash of light. Both of them immediately turned towards the source of the sound, only to see Pinkie standing next to them with a large smile on her face, but with no camera. “Damn, you guys were really into it.” She said. “Pinkie!?” They both yelled. Twilight jumped down from Revan’s arms to face her friend better. “Yup, it was me all along!” “Were you making photos of us?” Revan asked her. “Noooooo…” She said, obviously lying. “But Fat Chance was here and made few.” “Oh fuck…” He facepalmed and sighed deeply. “Dealing with that idiot is really getting annoying as fuck. I mean, for fucks sake! She should be grateful I didn’t report that fat ass of hers, and I could totally do that. There was more than enough evidence to prove everything.” “Well, if it makes you happy, after she started to yell some things about you two, everypony else started to yell at her until she had to go away. Shame you two didn’t hear that, it was priceless! Ditzy gave her the second biggest verbal lashing I’ve heard!” “The second? And what was the first one?” Twilight asked. “The first one was Revan yelling at Golden Ingot’s sons.” “Ah, so that’s who they were… makes me even more glad I did it, that fucker was being a major pain in my ass for a while now. Second only to Fattie and Filthy Shit, obviously.” Revan said, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction. “Filthy Shit? You know his name Filthy Rich, right?” He shrugged his shoulders. “Picked it up From Vinyl.” “Yeah, that would make sense, she gets really passionate about him… Well anyways! Here you go Revan! You forgot to take it from cottage.” She threw him a wooden sword he’s spent half a day making at Princess’ request. She claimed that there are no training swords for someone his size and the pony that was taking care of making training swords for Guard Academy in Canterlot was sick, and since he was her friend she didn’t wanted to ask anyone else to do it. Apparently, in Canterlot that would be interpreted as Princess saying that he’s not creating a quality products, and thus she’s asked him to get one himself. She even sent him some money to buy one, but Revan decided to do it himself. “I hope you’ll have a good time in Canterlot! See ya!” She bounced away. The two were just about to move on, but suddenly, Pinkie came back. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that the train leaves in 5 minutes. See ya!” And she run off again. Twilight and Revan immediately opened their eyes wide and looked at each other. “Five minutes!?” They simultaneously turned towards the down’s clock tower. “We were standing here for half an hour!?” They said, and in a blink of an eye begun to sprint towards the train station. Twilight and Revan sat down in the train, panting heavily after their mad dash to the train station. “Damn it, that was close.” Revan said as he leaned against the wagon’s side. The train started to move out. “Way too close.” Twilight breathed out before giving in and falling on Revan’s stomach. Ignoring the stares from other passengers, Revan moved her a bit up, so that she was resting against his chest and started to lightly embrace her with one hand. She scooted a bit closer herself, finding herself too tired to do anything else. Suddenly, they heard a voice of a conductor. “I’m sorry ma’am, but I must ask you to take your pets to the luggage wagon.” He said. Revan opened his eyes and looked at the earth pony in front of him. “Do I look like a pet to you?” He asked, surprising the pony “You can always become one if you’ll ask nicely.” Twilight said with a smile, still not moving from her new pillow. Her horn lit up and she levitated two tickets to the conductor. “We’ll see about that.” He moved his hand up to her ears to start scratching them. In response, she started to purr like a cat while her ears went a bit stiffer, asking for more attention. “Anyways, If you want to try moving these two out of here… well, good luck with that.” “W-what do you mean?” The conductor almost took a step back when Mischief got up from the floor and looked at him, showing him his full size. “I mean, that if you will try to take the dog away, he’s not going to be happy about it. And if you try to take the cat away from him… well, he might be even less happy, he took the whole parent thing rather seriously.” Revan explained. Meanwhile, Twilight looked up at him with a half lifted eyes and a goofy smile on her face. “And even if you somehow managed to take them away, you’re going to have an entire train full of ponies complaining about the dog making a noise.” “I… I see…” He said. “In that case, I’m going to have to make an exception for them. Have a nice ride god sir,” He bowed slightly. “ma’am.” He bowed again, but Twilight didn’t even reacted, being way too concerned with keeping Revan’s fingers occupied with scratching her ears. “Mmmmm… That feels nice…” She muttered. “You still think you’re going to turn me into a good pet?” Revan asked her, looking directly into her barely opened eyes. “Maybe…” She mused. Revan smiled and moved his free hand up to her ears, rubbing them both at the same time. The response was immediate. Twilight closed her eyes entirely and a silent moan escaped her mouth as she started to press her head against his hands. “So far it looks like you’re the pet here.” She didn’t respond, instead continuing to enjoy the feeling of getting the best ear rub Equestria has ever seen. “Tell me, why were you acting like that since I woke you up?” “What do you mean?” She managed to slightly open her eyes. “Since then, you’ve been acting like you were trying to get me to have sex with you, to put it bluntly. Especially when we were walking to the station, your tail was even touching my balls few times, and I know you what that means in you culture.” “And what if I was?” She smiled widely, though still with that goofy expression on her face. Revan returned the smile. “Then I think it would be fair to suggest… a game.” He said. Despite the ear rub, she managed to rise her head up to his level. “I’m listening.” “It’s simple, really. The point of the game, is to get the other one to throw themselves at you. We can both do pretty much every trick in the book, save for things that are outright sexual, for example grabbing our… more sensitive parts. So no morning surprises like the one I gave you today, but everything else we’ve been doing is fair game. How does it sound? Think you’re up for it?” Her smile widened and she placed her hooves on his shoulders. “I think I might be...” “Good…” Suddenly, she felt Revan’s hands sliding down her body, until they reached her hips. Only now realizing that there were at least ten ponies sitting around them -most of whom were watching them- she felt blood rushing to her face. Still, despite that realization, she couldn’t help it but release a light moan, heard only by those who were sitting the closest. “Especially since you’re already at a disadvantage.” He gave her a quick, teasing kiss. “Actually, how about we make this a bit more interesting?” “W-what do you mean?” “Let’s add a little bet into it.” He started to slowly move his fingers around her hips. “If I manage to break you before we are back in Ponyville, you’re going to tell me about all of your kinks.” “And if you don’t?” “Then I’ll tell all of mine. Deal?” “Deal.” She said without thinking. “You know you have no way to win this, right? I mean, we’re going back tomorrow night, there’s no way you can do it.” “You think so?” He dug his fingers into her flanks, pressing them tightly against his body. A yelp of surprise escaped her mouth as her face grew redder. “Keep in mind that this is not the first time I’m playing that little game. You really have no idea what I have in store for you.” He started to massage her flanks, making her grow more and more vocal with each move. Eventually she tried to press her lips against Revan’s to silence herself, but he quickly moved his face away and she ended up lying her head on his shoulder. He then pressed his chin against the back of her head, keeping her in place. “Sorry, but you’ll have to silence yourself.” He said, not bothering himself with an entire wagon looking at them. Twilight quickly decided that she won’t just sit there and take it without a fight, moving her mouth towards the back of his neck in order to give it a few bites… only to find herself being the subject of such treatment. Sweet Celestia… what have I gotten myself into? The ride took a bit over one and a half hour. Canterlot wasn’t really far away from Ponyville, but it was built on the mountain edge, and most of the ride they’ve been going through tunes dug within the mountain, or on its edge. Twilight didn’t got to move from her position through the entire way, with Revan constantly making sure she won’t be able to get the blush off of her face. She would probably teleport herself off of him if it wasn’t for the fact that she still had the magic inhibitor on her horn, which was luckily hidden by her hair (she wasn’t sure if the embarrassment of ponies being able to see it would make it better or not). She was technically capable of breaking it off, the thing wasn’t a high quality work after all. She would have to simply keep pushing high enough amounts magic against it, until it broke (which would still take some time). The problem was Revan, who kept distracting her from using enough magic to do it, as he knew very well how the ring worked and how to break out of it. For an average unicorn that would be impossible, as you need a lot of energy in reserve to do it, and know how to overrule the limitations of having the horn’s ‘venting system’ at the base locked away, which in most cases is equal to full lockdown of magic abilities. And even despite Twilight knowing how to do it, she would still have to spend a lot of time and energy into breaking the ring. Someone like Princess Celestia would be easily able to do it almost instantly, but Twilight has not even nearly as big magic reserves as she does. When they’ve finally stopped at the Canterlot Train Station, Revan finally allowed her to go. At first she just lied on him, slightly panting into his shoulder. “Don’t tell me you want me to carry you again. Though, I guess that would make things easier for me, so…” “No, I… I-I’ll get up.” She raised her head from his shoulder, and got up on her somewhat shaky legs. Revan immediately noticed a small wet spot in place where she was sitting, making him smile a bit. The smile widened when Twilight jumped down on the floor and he noticed that she was pressing her tail down. “C-can we go now?” “Of course.” He got up, not rising to his full height as it would make him hit his head against the ceiling. She was the first to move towards the exit, wanting to get a hold on herself before Revan will get another chance to continue what he’s been doing (though part of her was willing to just let him go on). He quickly caught up to her, but not before she has left the train. And the moment when he left the train, every activity that was happening around the station stopped, and everypony begun staring at him. “Yes, yes, a big monkey’s on a loose. Snap a photo and go back to doing your shit.” He said and walked over to Twilight. “R-Revan!”She whispered to him as they started to walk side by side. “I told you not to swear around here!” “I know. You don’t seem to mind yourself though.” “That’s because I grew up sneaking out to rock concerts with my brother and got used to it. Even that isn’t widely acceptable around here, not to mention swearing. Just… please, keep that tongue of yours in check.” “Are you sure you want it?” He said. “I can do some nice tricks with it, you know?” “Y-yes I’m sure.” Revan chuckled under his nose and the two continued to walk through the streets of Canterlot. Revan’s presence alone was enough to make ponies turn their heads towards them, but what really seemed to be on the nobles’ mouth, was the way they were walking together. Pressed against each, with Revan’s hand placed on Twilight’s neck and her head leaning against him. Interspecies couples in Canterlot weren’t as non-existent as they were in Ponyville (until the previous day) since there are in fact more than a few non-ponies living around, but they live only in ‘The Main City’, while Revan and Twilight were walking through ‘The Higher City’, where the nobles lived. Seeing a couple walking around here was a rarity in itself, as Canterlot nobles were the only group in Equestria that still widely practiced political marriages among themselves. The nobles around here are considered to be the most socially backwater in all of Equs, even trumping Minotaurs, who mostly live in wondering tribes. The fact that Revan isn’t exactly a part of widely known race also helped to bring in some stares from the ponies. That of course didn’t escape Revan’s attention, and as he thought back to the events in the train, he smiled and started to rub Twilight’s ear again. Before that, she already had a blush on her face from all the glazes they were getting, but now, it was increased tenfold as she struggled to not give off any signs of feeling pleasure. Failing at it miserably. She didn’t protest though. At all. The city itself Revan could describe with three words: beautiful but boring. It was truly a wonderful place to look at, even the less wealthy parts of it. But at the same time, it just had that strange aura that made everything appear boring. Especially when it comes to the nobles. Their part of the city was probably one of the most lifeless places Revan has ever seen in his entire life. Not to mention the way they were carrying themselves around, each of them acting as if they were some mighty, untouchable royals. How the hell is Twilight who she is now after living in a place like that? He thought and immediately something she has said earlier popped into his head. “Wait, you said you were sneaking out to see rock concerts?” He asked her. Her eyes immediately snapped wide open and she looked at him “*SHHHH* Don’t say it out loud!” She whispered. “Why?” He also lowered his voice. “First of all, rock music isn’t very popular in Equestria in the first place. And second, in Canterlot listening to it is equal to social suicide. I had to sneak out because the moment my parents found out I got grounded.” “Alright… That’s interesting… What about metal?” “That’s even more looked down upon. From what I noticed, the more heavy music is, the less popular it gets.” “And I assume you’re into that too.” She took a deep breath. “Yes.” She said after she made sure nopony was listening. “You don’t mind do you? I mean, I know it’s strange and all, a pony like me listening to music like that… but-“ “You’re kidding, right?” He cut her off. “You seriously think I might have something against that?” He suddenly stepped in front of her and stopped. He then lifter her up, until they were face to face. “Well, you were wrong.” He gave her a loud kiss. “R-Revan! You shouldn’t act like that around here!” She said when he pulled away. “I don’t give a fuck.” He kissed her again. “You’re going to tell me all about how you got into it when we’re alone.” He pressed her against his body and pulled her into one more kiss. This time, she didn’t protest and simply kissed back, wrapping her hooves around him. However, just as she was about to close her eyes, she suddenly gasped and pulled away. “We have to hide. NOW!” She jumped out of Revan’s arms and before he got to say anything, she started to push him towards the alley between houses. She obviously wasn’t strong enough to move him at all, but seeing her sudden outburst, Revan decided to go along. She hid herself behind a pile of boxes there, before slightly poking her head out and looking at the passing ponies. Especially on two of them. Mare and a stallion, both of them unicorns. The stallion had both his mane and coat blue with no special features to his looks. Mare on the other hand had light grey coat and her mane was in purple and white streaks, and the style looked just like Twilight’s. They were walking through the streets in silence, both looking just as boring as the rest of the ponies in the city. Looking at the mare’s mane, Revan quickly made the connection. “Your parents?” He asked Twilight. “Y-yes…” She said. “Well, then why don’t go talk with them? Might as well have that out of the way.” “NO!” She suddenly yelled out, quickly looking towards the street to make sure that nopony noticed. “I mean, no. I-I don’t think I’m ready to introduce you to my family…” “Are you sure? Someone might just tell them about it, a lot of ponies have seen us just now.” “I’m pretty sure they won’t tell a thing. I know how this town works, and trust me, they’ll probably forget about even seeing us soon enough.” “Alright then.” He walked out of the alley and looked in a direction where Twilight’s parents went. “They’re far enough, we can go now.” Twilight nodded and followed him out of the alley. They returned to their previous position as they walked towards the Academy, which wasn’t far away. They’ve reached it in few minutes, and after Twilight took care of some business in secretariat, the two went to her old room. Ignoring the mess inside, they placed their stuff on next to the bed and sat on it. “So, tell me how did it happen that someone who lived in a place like this ended up as a metal fan?” “There really isn’t all that much to talk about, at first I just wanted to piss off my parents, but I found myself enjoying it enough to not tell them anything and go few more times.” “Okay, I figured as much. But what did they do to make you do that? And how does your brother play along?” His arm was now wrapped around her and pulling her closer. “Honestly, there were a lot of things.” She moved closer to him herself, and lied her head against his shoulder. “But the most important one was that they wanted to decide who I was going to marry. They’ve found some influential noble, and thought that if I’ll marry his son it’s going to be good for our family. Obviously, when I heard about it I refused despite them trying to convince me. And that’s when this started for me for real. Even before that I sometimes had my rebellious moments, but after that? I was ready to do anything to piss them off. And as for my brother… well, he was the one who gave me an idea to go to a rock concert that was going to take place in some small pub, then come back home dressed like a punk, singing some songs on the street to get some attention from ponies before I come into the house and piss my parents off to no end. But as I said, I found myself liking it so much I decided to sneak out few more time, and made sure my parents won’t know anything to make it easier.” “And how did you brother get into it?” “He told me that he was supposed to be guarding the same pub he’s send me to when he started as a guard and then started to go there on his own.” “Oh, you didn’t tell be he’s a guard. Maybe I’ll meet his someday on a job, who know?” “Yeah… maybe…” Probably… “Anyways, how much time do we have before you’ll be going?” He looked at the clock. “About forty minutes. Forty-five top. Why do you ask?” She smiled deviously as she got up and sat on Revan’s lap, looking him at him with half lifted eyes. “Oh, nothing. I just thought some payback was in order…” She placed her hooves against human’s shoulders and started to push him downwards onto the bed. She was surprised when it actually worked, and how easily Revan allowed her to do it. She didn’t complained though, feeling happy for finally getting a chance to pay the human back for the wonderful torments he’s been putting her through. And that chance was suddenly flipped upside down. Literally. Just as Revan was about to lie down on the bed, he suddenly grabbed her with both arms and rolled back, taking her with him. She quickly found herself pinned down to the bed, with Revan keeping her in place as he looked down at her with a smirk. “Have you seriously thought that will work?” He said, pressing himself closer to her. “You really have to learn to wait for the right opportunity to strike. Without your magic you have no change in one-on-one against me. And speaking of it...” He pulled out a small bottle from his pocket and poured few drops of the liquid inside of it on her horn. “W-what was that?” “Extract from eqadrake.” Her eyes opened wide. Eqadrake was known for its strong effect against any kind of unicorn magic. When it’s applied directly into the blood, it can effectively cut off magic for hours, sometimes even days. Pouring it onto the horn won’t do much more than be a small problem when casting, but when it’s combined with a magic inhabiting ring, it makes removing the ring impossible without help, even for a unicorn of her level. The liquid gets under the ring and then completely blocks off the horn from venting the heat out in any way, and then tricks the horn into thinking it’s overheated, thus locking the horn in endless spiral that can only be stopped by someone else removing the ring. “Y-you’ve planned this, didn’t you?” She asked, dazed a bit and with a blush raging on her face. “Nah, this thing goes along with my medicine. Makes it a bit more easy to ignore the taste.” “B-but how did you know that I-“ She cut herself off before she said anything more. “How did I know that you’re into that stuff?” He finished with a smirk, still looking into her shocked eyes. “Well, first of all you didn’t object to anything I’ve been doing today. And second, I’ve read your diary.” “W-What!?” “You’ve left it open on your desk few days ago. Don’t worry though, I’ve only red few sentences in the last entry, ending on ‘I want him to make me…’” She bit her lip. “And then I stopped to not spoil the fun of finding this out on my own.” He moved his hand up her back. “Now, let’s get started shall we?” Without waiting for the response, he pressed his lips against hers. Revan was quick to leave once he was done with Twilight, as he has stayed there for too long, forcing him to run towards the Guard Academy. Though he still found some time to pour some more of his extract on the unicorn’s horn (she didn’t protest, but to be fair she wasn’t all that aware of what was going on in the first place after 20 minutes). He has also put on his Police Uniform along with backpack with some food, and attached the wooden sword to a belt strapped to Mischief so that it won’t be a problem for him during other parts of the test. The Guard Academy wasn’t all that far away, being placed right next to the Castle like the School for Gifted Unicorns (SGF), only on the opposite side of it. Despite the delay, Revan have made it in time. He run inside, only to be greeted by a mostly empty hallway. Mostly, because there were two ponies waiting for him. Princess Celestia and orange-coated stallion with light-orange mane and a wooden shield as his cutie mark. “One minute.” Celestia said. “That’s how much time you’ve had left. What stopped you might I ask?” “Business of utmost importance.” Revan replied with a smile. “Nice to see you again Sunbutt.” Princess smiled back. “It’s good to see you too my little monkey.” They exchanged a friendly pats on the back. “Can we go now? I don’t want to keep the rest waiting.” Mischief started to wave his tail around in happiness as he quickly run over to the Princess, trying to sniff her out as much as he could. He was however quickly put back in pace by Revan. “I see he haven’t changed one bit. Except for that that little fellow on his back.” She said as they started to walk through the hallway. “And you still haven’t lost weight. Your ass is just ass big ass it was when I first saw you. And speaking of butts, how’s Moonbutt doing? Did she take my lesson to heart?” “Mhm, now she’s throwing ‘kurwa’s around like nothing.” The two chuckled. “But honestly, no. She’s still using archaic Royal Speech.” “Well, then maybe I should go to her and teach her some modern vocabulary.” “As long as it doesn’t involve putting ‘kurwa’ in every sentence, go for it. But where are my manners, I haven’t introduced my companion yet!” They stopped and she cleared her throat. “I introduce to you, Orange Shield. He’s going to go through the testing along with you.” Revan reached out his hand to the orange pony. “Revan. Nice to meet you.” The stallion shook his hand, but said nothing. Orange Shield, huh? Strange name, even for a pony. “Is he always quiet like that?” Revan said after spending a moment in silence. “Yes, he’s quite a silent type. But that’s not important now, we have to move on.” Princess answered. They continued to walk, until they’ve reached the door marked with number ‘132’. “We’re here.” She said and opened the door with magic. They all walked into the room, where they were greeted by eleven more ponies, ten of whom were sitting behind desks like students, while one visibly older stallion with a stetson hat on his head was standing next to the entrance. “I’m sorry for the wait, Professor. We had some complications.” Princess said to the older pony. “My princess.” The stallion bowed, and so did all other ponies in the room. “I presume those are the two wannabes you decided to drop to me?” “Indeed. These two are her for today’s tests.” The stallion nodded and motioned Revan and Orange Shield towards two empty sits on the back of the room, while the princess left. “Hey, wait a second!” One of the ponies in the room spoke out. “Why are they allowed to just come here for the final tests, while we had to go through the entire academy to get here!?” “Princess decided that they already have the knowledge and skills required to take the tests, and requested that we skip the normal proceedings. And don’t even think about doing it, Flint. That monkey boy managed to kill a manticore on his own and withstood a beating from our dear Princess Luna for over three minutes, so I don’t think your usual approach to newcomers will do much good here.” The professor said, making all ponies grab onto the various parts of their bodies when he mentioned Luna. He then levitated a set of papers to everyone in the room. “All of you have 5 minutes to read the first page along with all questions and then you will have 60 minutes complete the test. Nopony can leave until everyone is finished, so if you have to go to the toilet I suggest going now. Anypony?” Everyone stays silent. “Good. After finishing this test place your pens on the side of the desks along with the sheet and wait for the rest to finish, I will then take you to the gym, where you will be passing physical tests. That is all.” The professor sat behind his desk. “And before somepony asks about monkey-boy’s dog, Princess has also asked for us to keep them together, but I didn’t ask why.” “Shame, I like sappy love stories.” Someone in the room said, making others chuckle. “Then I should tell you about my previous night with your mom, you’re going to love it.” Revan shot back, not bothering himself to look at whoever have said that. Instead he finished reading the instructions on the first page. Soon enough the test started and Revan started to write down the answers. The test was rather easy, and the only obstacle was the small chair and desk. But then again, he’s spent hours going through the material the rest of people here had to go through during their time in the Academy. He finished the test in about 45 minutes and in a bit over 7 minutes, the last pony completed the test. The results will be given to them after the physical tests are over. The professor who was overseeing the written test has led them to the gym, though everyone except of him and probably the second guest knew the way around the academy. None of them have talked to them, most seeming offended by the idea of them being allowed to go through the exams without first having to attend the academy. “Hey, Orange.” Revan said to the pony as the two of them walked behind the rest. “Why exactly are you here?” “Princess’ wish.” He answered simply. “Oh, so you can talk after all. But what I meant is why are you allowed to skip the academy part.” “I could ask the same question.” “Well, I got to skip it because I have already passed through a similar academy before I was transported here, and since I have helped to bring Princess Moonbutt back, Sunbutt thought she might do me a favor. Now come on, speak up.” He sighed. “Why don’t you just go on and mind your own business?” “’Cause I’m a friendly guy, and you have a funny name. I mean, Orange Shield? I’ve heard some strange names around here but yours sounds like something my old friend would have put in his fan fiction, a bad one I might add. But don’t try changing the subject. Why are you here?” He sighed again, more deeply this time. “Because like you, I’ve already passed through proper training but was unable to attend the exams last year due to an injury.” “See? It didn’t hurt, did it? Now make me a sandwich.” Orange sighed and shook his head, but Revan spotted a small smile on his lips. They’ve reached the gym soon after that, and that’s where the elder professor have left them, and a much younger pony wearing a baseball cap took his place. “Alright, everyone in line, I want to get this done quick.” Everyone followed his command. “My name is Tracker, from academy in Fillydelphia. I’m going to oversee your entire physical testing. As you were already informed, it is divided into 4 tests: your endurance, speed, strength and fighting skills. We will start with endurance. Now, here’s what you will be doing. Each of you will be given a separate track to run on, and when I’ll give you a signal with that little timer I have here, you will have ten seconds to run over to the other side, and after that time you will be given you another signal and you will run back here. You will repeat this exercise six times, and then the difficulty level will be increased, removing 1 second from the time you have. To pass this test, you have to complete at least 4 levels. Each of you is allowed to make 4 mistakes. Every time you won’t make it to the other side in time, start running before the signal, will not go over the red line with your hoof or leave your track, you will get one strike. My friend there is going to help me with keeping an eye on all of you.” He pointed at another pony standing on the opposite side of the gym. “Two more things before we start. After finishing the fourth level of the test, it becomes a competition between those who want to participate. The one who goes through the highest number of runs before running out of strikes is the winner, and will maybe make it onto the list of top performances. With the top place currently taken by the current Capitan of Royal Guard - Shinning Armor. There are also magic inhibitors set around the gym, so you’re going to be depending on your physical strengths only. Now, enough of this talking, Everypony take a position behind the red line.” Revan led Mischief towards the wall, where he hanged the leash on the nearby pipe. “Sit.” The dog did as he said, placing Sennav on the ground next to him. Revan then turned around and stood behind the red line on the only free track left. Their overseer walked over to the timer he mentioned earlier, placing his hoof on a button. “3… 2… 1, go!” He pressed the button and a ‘beep’ sound rang from the timer. Everyone started to run towards the other end of the gym, with ponies going noticeably faster than Revan, who chose to save strength for later. He had enough time to slowly get there in time anyway. Ponies actually had a biological reason for preferring to run faster than they had to. That reason being their natural instincts, that would always make them go faster when they are afraid or stressed. And for most, this test was surely a stressful experience. First level of runs wasn’t hard for anyone. The only pony that seemed a bit tired after that was a orange coated stallion with blue spiky hair, who was rushing it from the beginning as if he was trying to impress someone. This quickly came back to bite him in the butt at the end of the second round, when he forgot to step over the red line. “Flash Sentry, first strike.” This seemed to get him motivated to put more effort into it. At the beginning of round three, Revan could see few ponies starting to show signs of slowly getting tired, but it was at the end of it that few of them made mistakes. Including Flash Sentry, who got himself one more strike and got close to getting the third one. At the final round, Revan got his first strike for forgetting to step past the red line, but he still wasn’t showing signs of tiredness as much as other ponies around. During the last run, Flash made his third mistake, but while five of most tired ponies decided to not continue to run any more since they didn’t have to in order to pass, Sentry decided to keep running. Only to get the final strike when he didn’t made it to the red line in time. Revan was still in relatively good condition, but he was starting to feel tired as the time went on. More ponies started to drop out from the competition, too tired to continue, or simply getting too much strikes. Soon, Revan found himself to one of two people still running. The second one being Orange Shield, who despite being visibly tired kept running with all he had. Neither of them allowed themselves to slip up for some time, both feeling that they need to prove who’s better. Orange was the first one to get a strike, quickly followed by another one. Revan wasn’t about to let himself celebrate just yet, and he kept pushing himself as hard as he could. It paid off, as his rival got the third strike while he stayed with one. It wasn’t long before the final strike was delivered and he dropped out from the competition, leaving Revan to run alone. Revan got his second strike few more runs after that, encouraging him to run faster, despite his legs wanting otherwise. This didn’t help much as after two more runs he got his third strike. He managed to make one more run to the other side before he fell over after passing the red line. “Forth strike!” He heard Tracker yell as few other ponies rushed towards him to help him get up. He did it himself, panting like mad. “Holy shit!” Tracker yelled again as he looked at the timer. “I can’t believe it! You just beat Capitan’s record!” After their overseer calmed down, he gave them half an hour of rest before the next test started. The next test in line, was strength test. The task they were given was simply, make as many push us as you can. They had to do at least thirty to pass, save for two mares in the group, they only had to do twenty. There was no time limit here, so they could take their time, as long as they didn’t rest their knees or ankles on the floor. Ponies also had to keep balancing their rear hooves on edges, not standing on the bottom of the hoof. Doing this would equal ending the test for them. This test was also a competition like the previous one -all of them are in fact- and again, the top score belonged to Royal Guard’s Capitan, who have made 263 push-ups. Revan was of course interested in taking that record down as well, as his life record is 300 push-ups in a row. Now however, he was still using the medicine that helped him to get the stubborn manticore venom out of his system. He was taking half the dose he was taking when he got out of the hospital, but he still could feel the weakening side effects of the medicine. Still, he was sure that he will at least make it to one hundred. About some of the others, he wasn’t so sure though. Especially Flash Sentry, who looked like he was ready to breath out his spirit (ponies have those) from the effort he was putting into the 30th push-up, which was his last one before he fell on the ground. Even the two mares in group got better of him, and they didn’t look all that strong in the first place. One of them in fact looked like she was on the edge of anorexia. They both fell out next though, both giving up on the 38th push-up. When one hundredth push-up came, there were only three ponies going at it along with Revan, one of them being Orange Shield. Another pony gave up after fifty more push-ups, leaving Revan, Orange and one more stallion in the competition. Said stallion, was doing quite well with keeping up with Revan and Orange, at least up until he got to 235th push up, when he gave up. By now, both Revan and Orange were nearing the edge of their strengths. Their movements were slow, but both of them kept on fighting against their muscles. Both of them made it to number 260, where Orange nearly fell on the ground, but managed to push himself back up. Revan wasn’t in a great situation either, with arms barely allowing him to move, the only thing that kept him moving was determination to get a better of that Royal Guard Capitan (his name reminded him of some bad characters from few books, that was enough of a reason for him to try proving that he’s better). Orange made it to 263, only to finally let go. Revan was about to do the same, but seeing the stallion lie down on the ground, gave him sudden motivation to push himself up one more time. Which doesn’t mean that he had enough strengths left to just do it. He struggled not to fall on the ground, barely keeping himself rising up. He was half way through the final push-up, when he heard ponies from the group cheering for him to ‘just do it!’. And he did it. Just before all strengths left his arms and he fell on the ground, he pushed himself all the way up, completing 264th push-up. They again got some time to rest before the next test started. At some point, Revan caught Orange Shied looking towards him, seemingly thinking about something. He immediately turned away when he realized that Revan is looking at him as well. Orange then picked up his saddle bag and placed it on his back. Revan noticed something falling from it, but he didn’t managed to call out to Orange before he walked outside. The human got up and walked over to the dropped object. Said object was Orange’s ID, and something immediately caught Revan’s eye when he looked at it. The name written on it. Revan smirked as he slid the card into his pocket and looked towards the door through which ‘Orange’ got out. That explains a lot… The third test went different than two previous ones. First of all, it took place outside, instead of the gym. Second, the record didn’t belong to Capitan Shining Armor, who was described by Tracker as ‘always a slowpoke’. And the third thing about the test, was that Revan hadn’t even tried to beat the current record, and was in fact one of the last ones finish the test. To be fair though, it’s not like he had much of a chance in a short distance sprint when his opponents are quadrupeds with bodies made for short bursts of speed. If it was a long distance run, then he was sure to obliterate the current record, as ponies don’t do well in those, but long distance running has more to do with endurance than speed, so it only makes sense that the test was focused on sprinting. One thing didn’t change though. Flash Sentry still barely matched the minimal requirements. Like before, they had some time to rest before the final test, which was going to be a test of their fighting skills. “Alright, rest time’s over! Everypony to the ring!” Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and followed Tracker to the round ring. “Now, listen to me. So far none of you have fell out and I expect this patter to keep up. This is the last test you will be put through today, and if you will pass it, you will have physical part behind you. And if your score in written test was good as well, you will officially join the Guard Force. But you all know that, so let’s get this over with. Each of you is going to have a sparring match against a guest invited here by Princess Celestia herself, while I will be standing here, taking notes on how well you’re doing and granting points for how well you did. Obviously, afterwards you will be able to do a little competition between yourselves to see who’s the best, but I will explain it in more details later.” He pointed his hoof at a pile of swords. “Here are training swords for you, take one and we can start.” Everyone walked over to the pile, save for Revan. He took his self-made wooden sword from Mischief, unwrapping it from a cloth that covered it. Now that I think about it, I could have made it a bit longer… well, too late for it now. And it’s not like it’s short anyway. That was truth. This sword was longer than what he’s been using so far, much closer to human-size long sword, but not quite there as far as Revan knew (he didn’t). He could freely grab it with both hands, unlike in case of a griffon-size long sword Octavia gave him. “Wow… that’s a pretty big thing you have there…” He heard Flash say. “Overcompensating for something?” “Mhm, your dick.” Suddenly, the skinnier of the mares burst out laughing as the rest of the group followed. “Oh, trust me. That sword of yours wouldn’t even come close to overcompensating for that!” Revan and Tracker started to chuckle as well, making the orange pegasus blush from the embarrassment. “Alright, enough with the laughs.” A new voice called out. A voice that Revan knew all too well. He quickly stopped laughing and turned towards the source of the sound. Sure enough, he saw the one and only Octavia standing in front of the entrance to the Academy. “Besides, we should let the ‘little guy’ calm down before his test comes.” Everyone started to chuckle again, save for Revan and Tracker. “Oh, miss Octavia. Pleased to see that you were able to come here.” Tracker said. “Don’t get used to it. I’m here only because my student’s here.” She looked at Revan, causing more than a few whispers in the rest of the group. “After all, I can’t let such a occasion slip by…” Revan crossed his arms and sighted. “I swear to god, if Vinyl’s hiding in a bush somewhere around here with that fucking crossbow, I’m going to-“ “Don’t worry, she stayed in Ponyville with Bulk. I don’t know, and don’t want to know what these two are doing as we speak.” I can think of a few things… Revan commented in his mind. Things that I wouldn’t mind doing myself… “Alright, enough with the cheat-chat, Mr. Tracker, take that little notebook you have there and write all you want. As for you,” She turned to the group. “You’re going to be sparring with me one by one, starting with you.” She pointed at a random pony. The chosen pony stepped into the ring where Octavia already waited with her training sword (she hoped to use a real thing but they didn’t let her) at her side. “Each match will be divided into two parts: when you’re attacking me, and when you’re defending against me. We’re both allowed to freely implement hoof-to-hoof -or hand-to-hoof- combat into the fight. In case of an injury, we have doctor waiting behind that door. That is all I have to say. Let’s begin. She reached for her weapon first, resting it on her back after spinning it once around her hoof. The pony that was going to face her also took his weapon, quickly strapping the gauntlet-like handle to his hoof before quickly charging Octavia. Swords with that kind of handles are mostly used as stabbing weapons as it’s the easiest way to use it. That doesn’t mean they can’t be used for other things though, it just takes some training. Octavia redirected the strike away from her with ease, not even moving from place as the other pony run past her. The pony quickly turned around and attacked again, but Octavia spun her weapon around her hoof again and the attack was moved aside again. Another one was quick to follow, only to be effortlessly moved away yet again. The final test was coming to a close, with Revan being left as the last. Everyone else have passed, save for one. And that one was obviously Flash Sentry. The stallion gave the most pathetic display of having no skill whatsoever Octavia has ever seen in her entire life. Even Revan was doing better during his first sparring match with her, and she took him down in 5 seconds. Here she was holding back to give anyone a chance, and despite this she has made him drop the sword five times (once he dropped it himself), made him fall over four times, hit him upside the head ten times and that’s not counting all the other times he got hit in other parts of his body. In short, Flash didn’t pass the test for the third time now. Revan grabbed his sword in both hands as he stepped into the ring. He took one deeper breath before closing the distance between them and striking Octavia with full force. One of things that allowed him to hold up against her once he got a hold on some basics, was his strength. Despite being earth pony, Octavia was still much weaker than him and at first she had some slight problems with keeping up with his superior strength combined with much bigger reach, but she quickly got used to it and started to wipe the floor with him (sometimes literally). Now she was experiencing a somewhat similar thing. So far Revan was only using what for him was a one-handed sword, but now he was able to strike with both hands and when she attempted to block his first strike, she quickly found out that tying to meet his strength with her own will be counterproductive. This was however too late for her to react and Revan managed to pin her sword’s tip to the ground. He then pressed his shoulder against her and started to push her towards the wall with full speed. She quickly climbed on top of his back before he had a chance to immobilize her and jumped off of him, immediately rotating around midair to strike the human in the back. She hit his arm just before he turned around to strike again. Revan didn’t let that bother him, and not wasting any time, he continued to attack. Now knowing how much strength the human can put in a strike when using both hands, Octavia started to slightly redirect his aside, or simply sidestep when she could. He never got a chance to gain an advantage again, and within two minutes, the first part of the test was over. Now it was Revan’s turn to defend himself, and that was the part he was more afraid of. Defense was never Octavia’s specialty, though she was still good at it. What she was really good at, was attacking, and the smirk she had on her face could only mean that she’s about to make sure Revan won’t forget about it. She quickly delivered the first barrage of strikes, spinning her weapon around so fast that Revan was barely able to keep up. He managed to do it though, but as soon as the first wave of attacks came to a close, he was met with another one. Octavia’s sword made contact with his, only provide her with opportunity to close the distance between then. He tried to push her back with his knee, but she slipped behind him and with pressed her weapon’s tip against his back. Feeling this, Revan quickly tried to kick her as he turned around, only for her to sidestep and strike his exposed leg. He then managed to keep her from striking again by locking her sword against the cross-guard of his weapon, though only for a while, as she was able to quickly go back to constantly pressing Revan with her endless barrage of swings and stabs. He wasn’t able to stop them all as Octavia was simply moving too fast for him, forcing him to move back as she kept striking. Few times he attempted to force her into an unarmed fight, where he had a huge advantage, but no matter what he would do, she always seemed to have an answer to it. It wasn’t long before he was overwhelmed by her and fell on the ground. He tried to get up, but he quickly noticed a wooden tip of Octavia’s weapon pointed at his throat. He was just about to attempt to kick her away, but then Tracker spoke out. “Alright, that’s enough.” Octavia withdrew her weapon and helped Revan get up. “So, here’s mu verdict: As far as I can tell, you are familiar only with basics of swordsmanship, but you are clearly able to make up for that with strength and reach. Most ponies would probably be unable to keep up with you just because of it, and since Miss Octavia told us that you’re learning from her, I’m certain that you will get your skills up. Still, as of now I can’t let that slide and will have to remove few points, which that leaves you with… 8 out of 10 points. Meaning you’ve passed. Congratulations.” Revan sighed with relief after hearing that. “See? I told you will make it.” Octavia said to him. “Just don’t expect me to go easier on you now.” “Never even thought about it.” He responded. “Alright everypony, now that we’re through with physical tests, we have to wait for results of your written tests.” Tracker begun. “And as we wait, we’re going to start somewhat of a competition to see which one of you is the best. Of course, since it’s not official or anything, you don’t have to do it, but it might make the time go faster. Anyone in?” It was that moment when he realized that everypony save for Revan and ‘Orange Shield’ was lying on the ground, holding onto their bodies while groaning in pain. Suddenly all eyes were set on Octavia. “Why, don’t thank me all at once.” She said. “Well… I guess that lives you two…” They looked at each other, exchanging a slight nod of agreement before picking up their weapons and standing in the middle of the ring. “So, before you begin, I’ll explain some rues first. You are both allowed to use wooden swords as well as your hooves, or hands, but can’t punch each other’s balls, obviously, and Mr. Orange’s horn is also off limits. You have to win two rounds. A victory counts when you’ll hit your opponent with your sword or in case it will end in a brawl, when he won’t be able to get up for 10 seconds. Magic inhibitors are turned off, but you are not allowed to directly use magic against one another. You can only use passive spells Mr. Orange, and as for you Mr. Revan… I have no idea what can you do with magic.” “Hmm… I would say that by skill with magic is… somewhere between ‘can’t do shit’ and ‘pierdolone zero ((fucking zero))’.” He said. “Yeah… well, that’s about it. If anything happens we have a doctor waiting, let the best win.” He placed his whistle in his mouth and blew air through it. Revan and ‘Orange’ immediately held their respective weapons at ready and waited for the first move as they circled around each other. ‘Orange’ was equipped with gauntlet-handled sword, and was the first one to thrust it forward. Revan jumped aside and was already about to strike back, only to find his opponent already striking again. He jumped on top of Revan’s weapon and then stroke him from above. Revan grabbed his hoof before it made contact, immediately smashing his knee into stallion’s stomach. This forced him to retreat, but not before being forced to block a strike from Revan. He barely jumped away when Revan brought his weapon down at him with full force, instantly starting a counter attack. The human managed to block the strike with cross guard, but he heard a silent cracking sound coming from it. That was to be expected actually. This was his first attempt at making a wooden sword, and even though successful, it was still not a professional job (not to say that he couldn’t find anyone to do the job right, they just asked for too much money - for such a cute race, ponies sure can get greedy if they want to). Revan knew that it was going to be a matter of time before the sword breaks. The stallion facing him was quite strong. Knowing that he should end this fast, Revan pressed offence. ‘Orange’ was able to either dodge or block all of his attacks and was quick to repay in kind. He used Revan’s inexperience with a sword and managed to close in enough to get a clear strike on Revan’s side. The human however, managed to react quick enough to sidestep and immediately strike back at stallions’ now exposed back. But suddenly, his sword bounced off of a shield that his opponent suddenly rose. Surprised by the sudden appearance of it, Revan failed to react when ‘Orange’ turned around and with one quick swing, hit Revan’s side. “I win.” He said. “Only the first round.” The human forcefully moved stallion’s sword away from his side with his own weapon, quickly thrusting it forward to surprise his opponent. ‘Orange’ sidestepped, trying to counterattack, only to have his sword locked against Revan sword’s cross-guard. To his surprise, Revan then grabbed his sword by the blade, and forcibly removed his weapon from his hoof, using cross-guard to hook it. He quickly rose up the shield to block an incoming strike from Revan’s hand, only for it to simply go through it like nothing was there in the first place. ‘Orange’ didn’t have time to do anything that would prevent Revan’s hand from hitting the back of his head with enough force to interrupt his concentration. He still managed to dodge a incoming swing from Revan’s weapon and tried to run over to his lost weapon. He knew that without it, the human will quickly get a good hit, but he didn’t realize just how quickly it was going to happen. Before he realized, Revan threw his sword under his legs, making him trip over. He then quickly jumped on top of him, pinning him down to the ground. No matter how hard ‘Orange’ tried to get out, it was impossible for him to overpower Revan. While they are almost equally strong, Revan was simply much heavier than almost every pony. He could think of three ponies that would be able to get out of a situation like that without teleporting, and two of them were princesses who were about his size. The third one was Big Mackintosh. With his shear strength combined with earth pony magic, the stallion was able to overpower Revan on several occasions, save for endurance involving activities. “Point for me…” Revan said with a mocking tone. “Shiny…” Stallion’s eyes widened as Revan said that, but the human only smirked and got up. He then picked up both swords from the ground and threw his opponent’s sword to him. They both quickly went back to the fight, locking their weapons against each other. “After this is over, I want to meet you outside of the academy.” He whispered. They separated, exchanging several quick strikes before locking blades again. “And don’t call me ‘Shiny’.” Revan suddenly wrapped his hand around stallion’s neck and pushed both of them on the ground, where he kicked him into the air and rolled back himself. He quickly turned around with sword ready to thrust it forward, but his opponent was able to quickly stand up and redirect his attack downwards. The tip of Revan’s weapon was buried in the ground, giving the stallion enough time to strike. However, he didn’t expect to be met with Revan’s boot just before he attacked. Revan was quick to throw his own strike at the stallion, bringing the sword down at him with as much strength as he could muster. ‘Orange’ blocked it, but his sword was brought down to the ground. Using the opportunity, Revan attempted to strike the stallion with his knee. ‘Orange’ lowered his head just before Revan’s knee hit his muzzle, but wasn’t able to stop the human from stomping on his back. He was quickly pinned down to the ground by Revan’s sheer mass, but this time he wasn’t going let the human take a win. He struggled to free himself, managing to kick Revan’s other leg, making him ease the pressure on the stallion’s back. This allowed him to push himself up and jump away from the human just before he got his with his sword. He was quick to return to the confrontation, thrusting his weapon forward. Revan jumped over the stallion just before he was hit in the stomach. As he was midair, he attempted to kick ‘Orange’ with his boot, but the stallion dodged. The moment he landed back on the ground, he immediately thrust his sword toward his opponent, hitting him in the chest. And at the same moment he felt ‘Orange’s’ sword making contact with his own chest. They stood still, looking at each other while panting. “Who would have thought this will end in a draw.” They heard a voice of the professor that was overseeing the written test, turning towards him. “But that will be enough, I have copies of your tests with me.” A pile of papers flew out of his saddlebag. “Shame, I was planning on starting another round. This was really entertaining.” Tracker said “And informative. Now that I got to simply watch Revan fight, I have a quite clear image of what I should work on with him.” Octavia added. “Well, sorry to say that, but we need to close the academy. It’s getting late already.” He pointed at the sun setting behind the horizon. The professor then gave everyone their tests (except of Flash Sentry, who have left after hearing that he didn’t pass). Revan of course made it with almost perfect score (Twilight will kill him if she finds out), and everyone else have passed as well. They were given a choice of either being publicly given their badges, during a ceremony tomorrow, or if they didn’t want to they could just receive them from assigned official. Revan decided to not go to any ceremony, as he wasn’t really fond of things like that. He was instructed to go to Ponyville’s head prosecutor, who will give him the badge along with all the papers and officially make him Ponyville head guard. In Equestria, every major city and town has a head prosecutor along with the head guard, and Ponyvillle is no exception, even though it barely qualifies as big enough to not be taken into Canterlot’s system. However, while Revan have met Ponyville’s currant head guard (though it were mostly one sided conversations), he has never met the head prosecutor. Most likely because she lives in Canterlot, despite being assigned to Ponyville. Why it was like that, Revan didn’t know, but he will probably get the answer tomorrow. Right now, he was more interested in meeting with ‘Orange Shield’. He noticed that the stallion has walked away immediately after receiving the test, not even looking at it. Revan followed him once he has red his test, noticing ‘Orange’s’ test in a trash can as he walked towards the Academy’s front door. Sure enough, ‘Orange Shield’ was waiting for him. Except, he wasn’t ‘Orange Shield’. His orange coat was now almost as white as Princess Celestia’s, and his mane was now blue, with a single lighter streak. He also had an armor on. Revan wasn’t surprised though, and simply walked over to him. “You dropped this.” He gave him his lost ID. He picked it up from Revan’s hand with magic and looked at it. “So that’s how you knew who I am.” He said. “Yeah, but I’m still wondering why Capitan of Royal Guard would want to take a test he has probably passed several years ago. Mind telling me why.” He nodded. “This is actually connected to why I have called you here. You see, I’ve been going to those tests for the fifth year now, and the purpose was always the same. Finding potential recruits for Royal Guard. As you probably know, Royal Guard is a branch of Guard created to serve directly under the Princesses, and accepts only the best Guards from Equestria. Every year I go here during the end of the classes in the academy in random cities in Equestria, to be able to personally look at the guards that are passing the tests, always pretending to be somepony else. But I’ll go straight to the point. From the class we were in, you were hoofs down the best, despite your relative inexperience in using a sword, but that can be corrected with some training. What I’m saying, is that I would like to propose you a position as a Royal Guard.” “No.” Revan answered with a shrug, not waiting with the answer. “What? Why? You didn’t even think about it.” “I didn’t have to. Since I got here I’ve already made some strong friendships in Ponyville, and that’s where I plan to stay. The fact that joining Royal Guard would mean moving here, to the most boring cities I have seen in my entire life is also not very attractive for me. Also, I have a marefrend who used to live here, and I don’t see her coming back here either. No matter how I look at it, there’s no way that I’ll accept that offer. Sorry to disappoint you.” “You know, most ponies would give up much to serve under the Princess. Do you really want to lose that opportunity?” He tried to convince him. “I’m not the most, I find relationships with others to be more important than career. That is all I have to say.” And with that said, Revan walked away. “Have a good night… Shiny.” Shiny growled at hearing that. “Don’t call me Shiny!” Revan calmly returned back to the Room he and Twilight were staying in. He and Mischief were again being eyed by everypony around, but neither of them cared, they simply kept walking. It took about 10 minutes before they entered the room. Mischief was first to run in and lie Sennav down in Spike’s old basket after letting him eat some food and drink water. Revan on the other hand, walked towards the bedroom’s opened door. He found Twilight lying there on the bed, with a book in front of her. She had her back turned towards him, and was completely unaware that he has came back already. Revan of course was not about to let that opportunity slip by. He silently sneaked his way towards her, and when he was standing next to the bed he leaned over her, looking at what she was reading, all the while smelling an interesting smell coming out of her. He quickly recognized the title of the book, it was one of the books she has brought him when he was lying in the hospital after Nightmare Moon has turned him into a bloody pile of broken bones and took one of Mischief’s eyes, the one about pegasus warrior looking for an ancient sword during a war between pegasus and unicorn tribes. The book gave him a very nostalgic feeling, as it reminded him of an old TV show he used to watch - ‘Four Tank-Man And a Dog’. Both the show and the book shared a lot of similarities. For starters, they were both partly a work of propaganda, the show being Soviet propaganda meant to show polish people that Red Army wasn’t all that bad and that Russians absolutely never left Polish people when they could use help (*COUGH*Warsaw uprising*COUGH*), and the book was meant to show how great pegasus race is and how evil unicorns are. There are also many similarities in characters and story. Even the beginning is mostly the same, save for few details, like the main character of the book going for a walk in the forest in a middle of winter instead of going for a hunt. That, and they were both simply good. Very good. Twilight was still not noticing him, as she was simply too preoccupied with the great book in front of her. Revan placed both of his hands on the bed, at each of her sides, but she still paid him no mind. He then lowered his head to her neck and bit it lightly. This did the job, as she suddenly gasped and tried to jump away from him. He didn’t allowed her for that however, wrapping his arms around her and lying on top of her while he started to place small bites along her neck. She managed to look at him, but before she got to say anything, she was already pulled into a deep kiss. Without a protest, she kissed back and wrapped her hoof around Revan’s arm. “Hi.” He said when he pulled back. “Hi… How did the tests go? Is everything fine?” She asked, getting up when Revan let her go. “Everything’s fine, I passed.” She sighed with relief. “I even met the Royal Guard’s Capitan.” “O-Oh! A-and did he say anything?” Revan raised an eyebrow at her reaction, but didn’t say anything. “He proposed me to join the Royal Guard, but I declined the offer.” “You did what!?” She yelled. “Do you know how many ponies would-!“ He silenced her by squeezing her nose with two fingers. “I’ll give you a tip as to why.” He said, moving his face closer to her again. “There’s that one cute little pony who is a great kisser -though somewhat sloppy, lives in the town of Ponyville, and is overall the closest pony to me. Care to guess who that is?” “Hmm…” She got closer to him herself. “Would that be Fluttershy?” “No…“ Their noses touched, and in that moment they both decided to press their lips together for a short kiss. “Now, tell me what you’ve been doing when I was gone. From the smell I can feel in that room, you must have been having a lot of fun with yourself…” She looked away with a blush. “Y-you can smell that?” “Of course. My smell sense isn’t that weak. You smell like you just went through a damn lesbian orgy.” She almost burst into flames from the embarrassment. “But anyways! Tell me what were you doing today.” He got up from the bed and with red-faced Twilight behind him, he walked out of the bedroom. “W-well… I was mostly just reading, but I also packed some things Spike forgot to take when he was here.” She said. “I’ve also made you a sandwich…” She said after a moment, with a small smile on the edges of her lips. “Why?” He said confused. “I thought that I should finally start to get my cooking skills developed, and I decided to make something for you… you don’t mind do you?” “No, but making a sandwich hardly qualifies as cooking…” “Well, I have to start somewhere.” “Alright, just let me take a bath. I hope you don’t mind if I just go to sleep afterwards. That whole testing has taken a lot out of me.” He said. “You could use a bath too, you know.” She sniffed herself. ”Yeah, probably… I’ll go after you, and get some sleep too. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She released a cute, quiet yawn, emphasizing her point. “Just wait for me before eating that sandwich, I want to hear your opinion!” “Um… yeah sure…” And with that said he walked into the bathroom and got washed. Luckily, the bathtub was large enough for him to comfortably fit in. He didn’t stay there long, as nice as it was to take a bath in hot water after sparring against Octavia (and earning more than a few bruises), he simply preferred to get into bed more than that. He walked out of the bathroom wearing only his pants, with the rest of his clothes held under his arm. Twilight told him to wait for her in the bedroom, and that’s what he did. He lied on the bed, with arms under his head. The bed was rather small, and his legs were hanging outside. It wasn’t long before Twilight came in, a sandwich held in her magic. “Here you go.” She gave it to him as she jumped on the bed, immediately going under blankets and snuggling close to the human. Revan ate it, still confused about why was she so keen on getting him to eat a simple sandwich. “Well, how was it?” She asked when he ate it all. “Good but… there was something strange about it, I just can’t put my finger on it. What did you put in there?” “Oh nothing, really. Just some cheese, tomato, cucumber, onion, a bit of salt… …and Viagra.”