Unanswered questions

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I was in the lab waiting, anxious beyond belief. At least I was pulled from school to do this. The scientists beyond the glass door were debating over certain things, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. My nerves were starting to get the better of me when one of the scientist's voices broke the silence over an intercom, "Ian, its time for the moment of truth, enter through the glass door so we can begin!" She definitely showed the excitement that I felt.

I politely asked, "now, when I enter the world, I'll be such a pony as you described?"

"Yes of course, your pony has been defined exactly to the description you provided us with, down to the point, but we've also given you a certain power." The scientist became increasingly excited. "Since you're our first test subject, we want to give you a certain advantage in this dimension, incase we have to administrate over anything outside of our own capability."

"Really?" I pondered... "What is this certain 'power' that you speak of?"

She brushed the curly brown hair behind her ear and fixed her glasses. "We've given you a genetic modification. Your veins carry dragon blood, you understand how dragons work in this new dimension, I presume?"

"Of course I do, it should grant physical and magical capability to my body and mind, correct?"

"Correct, but this power can only come from a state of mind. You need a collection of some sort, you need a hoard to guard. And only when it becomes endangered will your power be fully granted."

I looked up with an eyebrow raised, "fully? Are you saying I'll have the strength of a dragon at my command whenever I need?"

She chuckled at my excited remark. "Not exactly, you'll definitely be well built and a stronger stallion from the dragon's blood, but to unlock full potential, you will need the motivation like I described."

I gave a bland reply, "so what, you generate a stash of treasure and I protect it to gain power?" I didn't understand how this was going to work.

She gave a stern reply, "how do we record data from your surroundings in a new dimension if you just sit in one place?"

Then she laughed, "you'll understand soon enough, just get to ponyville in one piece, in fact, you'll be able to hear me communicating to you through your conscience."

And at that, the journey began. She walked me to the machine and I stood before it. It was a large cylinder with a sliding glass door. Inside was a small seat with a helmet hanging from cords coming from the roof. As I stepped in and sat down, another scientist positioned the helmet onto my head, and a tingling sensation ran down my spine. I could hear the female voice in my head. "Ian, can you hear me clearly?" Her voice ringing gently through my mind. I spoke out but could not hear or feel myself making sound.

Her voice rang out once more, "Do not speak, but think the words you want to say, it'll take some getting used to."

I let my thoughts run free. "Can you hear me now?"

"Yes, I hear you perfectly!" She was clearly shocked at the results. "This is amazing! Mental communication has been achieved!"

"Alright, what's the next step?" I asked impatiently.

"Well, you should address my as Julie now, since we'll be conversing much more now"

"Alright Julie, my vision is black, when do I enter the world of ponies?" I was growing more excited, yet very impatient.

"Please, calm down, I'm going to put you through some tests before sending you into the real thing."

I groaned in frustration, "alright lets get this over with."

All of the sudden, vivid colors and crystal clear sounds warped through the machine into my head. The colors were bright enough to blind me, and the sounds were going to make me deaf, but then I realized that I wasn't seeing or hearing, I was thinking. After a moment I got used to the extremities and enjoyed such an amazing and vivid trip through space and time, at least I think this is what was happening. I heard Julie's voice chime in as the sounds died down, "it's ok, you're probably going to be a bit overwhelmed at the start, your brain is syncing with the machine." I couldn't come to make a reply, as she was correct, I was completely overwhelmed by the feelings going through my body and mind. I've completely lost track of time, but it felt like minutes have gone by as the colors and sounds begin to die down and take form. Soon everything was white, but I could see a faint shape of myself taking form, it was one of the single, most strange feelings I will ever experience in my life. I was a pony! I saw my cutie mark, it was a gleaming iron fist locked in a grip. The feeling of being on four legs and hooves at my feet was confusing at first, but then I started walking, then trotting. I soon broke out into a full on gallop into the never-ending white world. It was unbelievable, I couldn't describe my emotion.

Julie's voice rang out softly, "slow down pony boy! You still have to pass some tests, but you've clearly passed the locomotive examination."

"Ok, what's my next test, Julie?" I said confidently.

"I just need to make sure your 5 senses are working properly, then I'll progressively generate the world, and you'll be off to Ponyville!"

"Alright lets do this!" I blurted out in my endless white world.

The first test was sight. Julie generated a series of shapes, letters, and numbers, all of them different colors. I passed the test with no errors. The next test was smell, which wasn't as easy to examine in depth, since there was no precise confirmation as to if I was correct or not. Nevertheless, I made it through with a general description of each smell, thank God she didn't generate anything bad. Next was sound. She rang different noises in each of my ears and sometimes in both, I passed yet again flawlessly. We moved on to taste. She actually generated vague shapes in front of me to consume and I gave detailed descriptions of what they tasted like, I passed again. We then moved onto touch, we were almost done. Julie actually generated a portion of Equestria itself around me. I could feel the warm glow of sun on my deep blue coat, and suddenly felt the tingle of my shorter, thin, sandy brown mane behind my ear. I became excited and started to touch everything I saw with my nose. Everything felt so realistic and detailed, I was almost overwhelmed again with the idea of, well, everything! The world kept generating, I could see more and more into the world and what was around me. I was in a small clearing next to a cliff on the edge of the Everfree forest. There were no trails to my left or right, or through the forest in front of me.

I thought to myself, "great, I spawned in the middle of no where..."

Julie's voice broke the silence, "don't worry Ian, or should I say, Ironclad!" She chuckled.

"Great, I guess there's no privacy in my thoughts, then." I smirked at the idea.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to watch you like a hawk, but I'll answer to your call if you ever need me."

I started, "so I just call to you through thought..."

"... And I'll try to answer in the shortest amount of time." She said.

"Alright," I sighed. "I supposed you know the way to Ponyville then?"

"Don't worry, I'll keep you out of trouble the best I can trying to navigate through this forest."

"Thanks, I don't want to have to fight off any timber wolves while I'm out here." I cringed at the thought.

"Oh, you wouldn't be interested in a test of strength in a battle, then?" She said happily.

I was about to reply, when I heard footsteps, and a rustling through the bushes coming closer to my location. Julie started to panic, "prepare yourself! I haven't had time to load any scanning programs or over watch systems into the world yet! We have no idea what could be coming through those bushes!" I took a defensive stance, with an eager smirk on my face, ready to face whatever came into the clearing. Neither of us were prepared for what tumbled into the clearing, but we were clearly relieved. Apple Bloom stumbled up and stared at me curiously, and clearly out of breath.

"Ah heard a loud boom while ah was on mah way to Zecora's hut, is everythin' all right?" She continued to stare at me with her head slightly tilted.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but, what are you talking about? What boom?" I asked.

"There was a really loud boom, so ah came runnin' as fast as ah could to see what happened." She said, still breathing hard.

"Alright slow down and breathe," I said. "I've got all day, I'm not going any where."

Apple bloom saw my cutie mark and asked, "who're you? Ah haven't seen a pony with that kinda cutie mark around town."

Julie echoed through my head, "don't tell her what really happened! She wouldn't even comprehend what has happened and would just consume more time."

I replied calmly, "I was just on my way to ponyville, I took a wrong turn and ended up here in this clearing."

Apple bloom still had plenty of unanswered questions. "Where'd ya come from? What was that boom all about? Why are ya headin' to Ponyville? And what kinda cutie mark is that? Ah've never seen anythin' like it before."

I just took a deep breath and said, "how about we get out of here, I've got to get to Ponyville as soon as I can, once we get there I'll answer all of your questions, Apple Bloom."

Apple Bloom smiled and almost made a reply, when a timber wolf crawled through the bushes and took off in a sprint towards our direction. Before Apple Bloom could even turn around, I was past her and in the timber wolf's twisted wooden face. With a reflexive turnaround I gave a forceful buck so strong, it knocked the green glow from it's eyes and shattered the poor thing to pieces. Apple Bloom looked at me in disbelief. I gave her a look of agreement.

"What in the world just happened?" Apple Bloom still had the same look of disbelief on her face.

"That boom you described, you weren't the only one to hear it." I quickly replied, "we need to leave, now!"
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After 3 more timber wolves tried to pick a fight with me, I got a taste of the strength that Julie mentioned in the lab. I had speed, power, and quick wits. Apple Bloom only had more questions for me when we returned to sweet apple acres. This was going to be tough, I was going to have to explain everything to Apple Bloom, or as much as I could. It was a good run back to the barn, but we both made it without being hurt. And then the questioning began.

"OK, who are you and how did ya know mah name back there in the clearin'!?" Apple Bloom yelled frantically.

"I know, I have a lot of explaining to do..." I lowered my head and tried not to make eye contact with the furious little filly.

"Ah'm waitin' for some answers, mister!" She glared at me.

"Alright... That boom you heard, I'm guessing, was the sound of inter dimensional travel." I said softly.

Apple Bloom looked confused. "Inter dimentawhat? Just tell me your name, stranger."

I sighed with relief. "Alright, my name is Ironclad."

"Alrighty then, that's a start." Apple Bloom calmed down. "What were ya doin' in the Everfree forest all the way out there?"

"Well... That's where things become complicated. It's very hard to explain, I'm not sure if anypony around here could even grasp the idea... Let's just say I'm not exactly from this world..." I grimaced and looked for her reaction...

"What? Not from this world?!" She initially looked very confused, but soon had a frown across her face. "You don't have anywhere to stay, do ya?"

"No, in fact, you're the first pony I've spoken to since I came here." I felt relieved now that the topic has been changed.

"Lemme go talk to mah sister! Maybe you can stay the night in our empty barn!" Her face lit up with a smile.

"That's very kind of you, I'll just wait out here until you come back."

I stood out there for a minute, kicking at the dirt, waiting for Applejack to come and speak with me. Then my face lit up. I was going to meet Applejack! I never thought it would happen. Me, meeting the element of honesty! I need to keep calm in a situation like this, I'll probably see the other 5 elements within 48 hours, given the circumstances. Applejack came out with Apple Bloom and greeted me with a big, warm smile on her face. "Howdy partner!"

"Greetings Applejack! It's a pleasure to meet you! I just hope I'm not intruding."

Apple Bloom had a strange look on her face, "how did ya know mah sister's name? Ah never told you who she was!"

"I told you Apple Bloom, its very hard to explain..." I started getting nervous again.

"No matter, its gettin' late, and you need some place to stay!" Applejack offered, "it'll be mighty fine for you to bunk in our old barn for the night, tomorrow we'll sort things out."

"I'll gladly accept the offer, I'm definitely exhausted from all that running and fighting, I can explain it all tomorrow."

Applejack looked surprised and worried at the same time, "fightin? With who? Apple Bloom, where were y'all this afternoon?"

"Just like he said, explain it all tomorrow!" Apple Bloom rushed into the house and quickly jumped into bed.

"Alrighty then, ah trust everythin' was alright, since ya both made it back in one piece from wherever."

"Yep, we definitely had an adventure! I'll see you tomorrow, I need to get some sleep." I said as I yawned.

Applejack walked me to the barn and supplied me with a good place to sleep. I thanked her for everything and she left for her own bed. As I lay down I close my eyes and begin to fade into a slumber, but then everything changed. The bright colors and confusing noise came back and I soon found myself in the real world again.

Julie just looked at me, "you've got a lot of explaining to do tomorrow."

I sighed, "yeah, don't remind me..."

"Well all in good time, just tell them exactly what's going on and hope for the best. I'm sure they'll all understand." Julie smiled.

"You're probably right, what time is it, by the way?" I wondered how long I was actually in.

"You were gone for about 4 hours, the time scale for different dimensions don't correlate, apparently."

"Alright, I'll be in my dorm for the night then, I'm gonna try and get a good night's rest for tomorrow."

I returned to the dorm, my cot was in the corner of my room next to a small table. On the table was an alarm clock, a wallet, and a picture of family members. I lay my head on my pillow and drift into a deep sleep, my mind was worked hard from being in that machine.

Answers of Peace

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The next morning was rough. I definitely had a good, deep sleep, but the time I've spent in the machine has given me a lasting migraine. Julie explained to me that the amount of brain capacity used in the machine is more than someone uses in every day life, so it'll take time to get used to it. I got out of bed and went down to the cafeteria, greeted in the hallways with smiles and words of encouragement from the white-coated staff of the laboratory. They must all know what happened, and I'm guessing they're all really excited with their work. So I sat down at my usual spot with the breakfast that the chef had prepared for me. "You eat it all now, see? You have a long day of fun ahead of you in that doohickey and your brain needs the energy!" I gave him a silent nod of approval and began to eat immediately. Julie snuck up to the table unnoticed and sat down at my table, with a mile-wide grin on her face.

"What's the good news you've got for me?" I shared her smile of excitement.

"Well, I've examined the results of yesterday's trial and submitted them to the administration!" Her face was beaming with excitement. "They were so amazed at the results, we've been approved for a full operation onto the matter!"

"And what does this mean for me?" I had my usual smirk on my face.

"Not for you, but for anyone else you want to invite to your ponyville adventures! We've just placed an order for a shipment of more simulators to be shipped to us in the next few days!"

"So, I could call up some friends and see if they'll join me in the fun?"

"Of course! With the appropriate consent from parent/guardians if needed, but they have to be of significantly developed age, 16 or above." She looked at me seriously.

"Alright, I know exactly the people I need to contact, can you pay the travel fees?"

"Of course we can, the administration has approved a more generous budget for us to increase and maintain the operation."

"Alright, but before we start warping in new ponies to another dimension, I have a lot of explaining to do with the residents already living there." I sighed.

"Good point, meet me in the lab when you're ready to begin."

I finished eating the special meal that was prepared for my big day. As I meandered down the hall I thought about how I was to approach this delicate situation. My only thought was to go directly to the one in charge of Equestria. I need to speak to Princess Celestia. That was my plan, and I was ready to explain the whole story, I know she would understand, and that we would be welcomed to the new world, but that wasn't what was stuck in my mind. I was thinking about what happens after that, what I would do that day. My first goal would be to meet the elements of harmony, and maybe find a place to stay while I'm in Ponyville. Of course I'll also need a job, I need to do my part in the town, I can't just be a pampered tourist, taking free food and wandering around all day. All in good time, I guess.

After minutes of wandering through the halls, I finally approach my designated room. The cold steel door stood tall in front of me, seemingly impenetrable. There was a single barred window in the center of the door, surrounded my yellow and black caution tape. There was no handle or groove to open the door from. Safety precautions taken to help guard these delicate machines and files of study. I pulled a small white card from my pocket and flashed it to a camera in the corner of the hallway. The door automatically slid open and I entered the room.

"Alright lets get straight into this, I have a lot to do today..." I took a deep breath and walked toward the machine.

"Of course I'll just sit back and record and examine all of the data you create with every single step you take throughout the world, nothing much." Julie giggled at her remark.

"Oh, of course, you can have the hard part, I'll take the fun stuff any day." I gave her my usual smirk. I haven't been smiling this much in years.

"Ok, I'm booting up all of the systems right now, just so I don't leave you blind in there like last time." She frowned.

"Don't sweat the small stuff, I got myself out of there untouched, lets focus on today."

Before another comment was made, my vision went black and the world went silent once more, as the helmet positioned itself onto my head and synced to my nervous system. The colors and sound shot out once more, but this time I was ready, I sat through the "show" again, this time it didn't take as long to come into focus and generate the world, I guess first is the worst in this case. Everything around me was once again vividly animated as Equestria, and just in time too. Apple Bloom came through the barn door with a basket of apple goodies and said, "here ya go! Eat up! Ya have a big day today ahead of ya, right?" I nodded and enjoyed myself on all the deliciously baked goods in the small basket, finishing in a short time.

"That sure ended fast! Those apple fritters didn't stand a chance!" Apple Bloom giggled.

"You're correct! They were deliciously vulnerable to my morning munchies!" I laughed in return. "Now I thought about some things last night, and a came to the conclusion that... I need to speak to Princess Celestia as soon as possible."

"The Princess? Is it really such a big emergency?" Apple Bloom looked worried.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, can you take me to Twilight Sparkle? I know she can send a message to the Princess immediately with Spike's help."

"Alrighty, ah'm not gonna even ask how ya know who they are. ah'll tell Applejack and we'll be off. But ya can't go around knowin' who everypony is without reason!" Apple Bloom glared at me. "It's mighty strange, ya know."

"Of course, I'll try to remain anonymous." I gave a smirk and started walking towards the house.

Applejack was out apple bucking with Big Mac, so Apple Bloom told Granny Smith where she was going and when she may be back. She didn't mention me because she didn't want to explain everything to somepony all over again. So we started in a gallop to Twilight's library, passing everyone in town with a quick excuse before galloping off again. We finally arrived at Twilight's library, completely out of breath.

"Ah'm glad that nopony stopped us along the way, ah didn't need to do any extra explainin' as to who you are and where you're from, since ah barely understand it mahself." Her breathing started to normalize now.

"Trust me, everything will be explained once I talk to the Princess, I'm hoping she'll understand at least some of it." I said as I knocked on the front door.

A few moments passed and twilight finally answered the door with a smile on her face. "Oh, hello apple bloom! Who's your new friend here?"

"Twilight, I don't have time to explain everything, but I need to get a message to the Princess." I said.

"Who are you? And why do you need to speak to the Princess?" Twilight replied, very confused.

"Alright, I might as well start explaining now. My name is Ironclad, and I come from another dimension." I stated.

"Oh, that's funny," she giggled. "Please, come in and explain what you mean?"

I put a serious look on. "I just explained everything right there. I'm not from this world, I'm from a different dimension and I'm here as an ambassador, if you want to call it that."

"Another dimension?! You can't be serious! Isn't that impossible?!" I thought she was going to lose it.

"This could explain so many things! You could answer so many of my questions! I could learn so much from you!" Her face lit up like a light bulb.

"Twilight, now is NOT the time for this, I need to speak with the Princess!" I argued.

"Of course, let me call Spike, I'll have him take a note and mark it as urgent."

Spike fumbled down the stairs, "it's alright, I heard everything, after the knock on the door woke me up..."

As he approached us he looked up at me and made eye contact. He froze. "Those eyes. Those EYES! Where have I seen that before?"

Spike continued to gaze into my eyes, and my vision was locked with his. His thoughts kept going back deeper and deeper, he kept thinking, trying to remember. I could see my own eyes in his gaze. They were a deep, vibrant green, almost glowing. They were a spectacular sight, even greater than a large, polished emerald. They had an ominous, hypnotic effect on the people who stared into them... Before I was locked into a trance with Spike, Twilight broke the silence.

"Spike, take a note, this is urgent!" She stomped her hoof to bring spike out of his day dream.

"Yes! Of course!" He immediately grabbed a quill and paper, and sat at a nearby desk.

Dear Princess Celestia,
I have a message of utmost importance. A strange pony had appeared at my house a short while ago, claiming he is from another dimension, I'm not sure if he would be telling the truth, but I don't understand why he would be lying. He clearly shows strange characteristics and has an upsetting mental capacity of knowledge about Ponyville and its residents. The evidence is becoming overwhelming, and apple bloom's story correlates perfectly with the sonic boom that shattered across Equestria yesterday evening. I wish to bring the subject at hand to you in person as soon as possible.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

"Alright, I'll send it right away!" Spike opened a window and set the letter aflame into the wind.

Twilight sighed, "Alright, I guess we just wait..."

And at that, Spike burped a letter onto the floor before Twilight could finish her sentence. She levitated the letter and opened it up. As she read, a smile grew on her face, and she said, "great! We'll catch the next train to Canterlot at noon!"

"We don't have time for that!" Julie's voice echoed in my mind. "Take hold of twilight and I'll get you to Canterlot immediately!"

I started moving towards Twilight, and she started to back up when she took notice.

"What are you doing?!" She was clearly panicking.

"Trust me, I'll get us to Canterlot immediately!" I had a grin on my face.

"What?! How? You're not even a..."

And as she said that, I made contact with her fore hooves. Her eyes glowed white and an aura surrounded us, a split second later everyone in the room was warped in front of the palace. Everyone had a look of disbelief on their faces except for me, I had a wide, cheesy grin across my muzzle.

"But how did you do that?! You aren't even a unicorn!" Twilight was becoming agitated.

"I'll explain everything very soon, but now I need to talk to the Princess." I trotted down the stone path.

As everyone followed, clearly confused, we reached the main gates. They were wide open, a very welcoming feeling. I walked down the path to the door and was soon blocked by two guards in golden gleaming armor.

"Halt, nopony is to enter without order from the Princess." The guard said sternly.

"Twilight? I would appreciate some assistance!" I stood there waiting.

"It's ok boys, he's clear for entry!" She flashed them the letter sent by the Princess.

The two guards soon moved to the side and allowed us to enter. As we walked down the red-carpeted hallway, my eyes brightened with excitement. Spike also saw it in my eyes. He definitely saw something in my grievously green eyes, I knew what it was. I was happily examining all of the stained glass windows and gleaming sets of armor on display in the castle halls. It was simply amazing being here, in Equestria. We reached the main room, the throne of Celestia. She was gracefully sitting in her throne, surprised to see everypony here, very surprised.

"Twilight? What are you doing here so soon, how did you manage to get here in such time?" The Princess had a shocked frown upon her face.

"I'm here to explain everything. All of it, and to make a proposition." I stated.

"Alright, you must be Ironclad, the pony of mystery."

"Correct, your majesty!" I smiled.

"Guards. Escort our guest to the interrogation room."

Twilight spoke out, "but Princess! He hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Who ever said I was going to do anything bad?" The princess chuckled.

Two hours passed by, twilight treated Spike and Apple Bloom to lunch at the nearby cafe. They sat and talked about me, the pony of mystery.

"So what do you think is going to happen?" Twilight worried.

"Ah don't know, but he seemed awful calm for bein' escorted out by guards to an interrogatin' room." Apple Bloom said curiously.

"I don't know about you two, but there's something about him that really bothers me..." Spike was still thinking about the heinous look of my eyes.

"Well, back when ah found him in the Everfree forest, we were attacked by timber wolves! He's really strong, strong enough to buck the fight outta a timber wolf with one mighty kick!" Apple bloom bucked in the air rambunctiously.

"The only thing that really bothers me is how he warped ALL of us ALL THE WAY to Canterlot! He's not even a unicorn!" Twilight was very puzzled now.

"I guess we'll all know what's going on in time, the Princess will sort everything out." Twilight looked over both of them, "we should really get back to the castle anyways."

Twilight, Apple Bloom, and Spike all entered Princess Celestia's throne room after a short walk from the cafe. I was finishing my proposition with Celestia when they walked in. The princess was very kind in the idea of letting our dimensions mingle to learn more from each other, and that I could bring friends into the world, as long as I do so responsibly.

"So, how did everything go?" Twilight asked.

"Very well! Your friend here is a very interesting pony, he explained everything to me about where he's from and the human race."

"That doesn't explain how he knows so much about all of us for no reason!" Apple Bloom stated.

"I only know so much about everypony because this dimension was... Studied by certain people of my homeland." I smiled. "I was one of the people who studied enough to be elected to travel here." I knew this wasn't the right story, but it'll save me a lot of explaining and defining to do.

"All I need now is a place to stay, but I can't live in that old barn of yours, Apple Bloom, not if I'm going to have others join me in this dimension."

"I've already had a large property assigned for you and your friends, Ironclad. Twilight will show you the way to your new estate." The Princess winked at Twilight.

"I know exactly where it is, let's not waste any more time and head back to Ponyville immediately!" Twilight asked, "can you warp us back to my library again, Ironclad?"

"That's quite alright, I'll do the honors myself this time." The princess smiled again.

And with a wave of her horn, there was a bright flash. We were sent back to the area in front of Twilight's library. Apple Bloom was gone for a seriously long time, longer than she had anticipated. She ran home for the day and was probably being scolded by Granny Smith for being absent so long. Twilight then proceeded to walk me to the edge of Ponyville, where a large, empty mansion stood. It was very roomy inside and had all the needed appliances to support a large family, or, in this case, a group of rambunctious stallions soon to be moving in. After I settled into my new house, I asked if we could go meet the rest of the elements of harmony, since it was going to happen one way or another.

"Who would you like to meet first?" Twilight asked, with a smile.

"Let me think... Well I never did get to eat lunch like you did, maybe start at Sugar Cube Corner and meet Pinkie Pie?" My stomach started to growl.

"Count me in!" Said Spike. "I could go for a treat there any time!"

"Really? Are you sure you want to start with Pinkie Pie? Have you thought about it much?" Twilight had an unpleased look on her face.

"We might as well get it over with. I'm ready for anything right now. Especially a sweet treat!" I smiled.

And so we were off to sugar cube corner. Twilight was very informative, giving me a detailed description of everything around me and introducing me to anypony who stopped to say hi. As we arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, we were greeted at the door by, the one and only, Pinkie Pie!

"Hi Twilight! I heard that there was a new pony in town and that he was really..." She stopped mid sentence.

"Is everything alright, Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

"Oh no! My pinkie senses are tingling, it's driving me crazzzzy!"

"I wonder who might be causing it..." I muttered.

"It's you, silly! There really IS something special about you! Something REALLY GOOD!!!" Pinkie had the biggest smile.

"That's great, maybe we could sit down and have a..." I was cut off.

"A party?! That's a great idea!" Pinkie had her party cannon ready.

"No, no, not yet at least! Save the party for when my friends arrive!" I little lightbulb went over my head. "We can have it later at my new home, when my friends get here." I hoped for approval.

"That sounds like a super-duper idea! When do they get here?"

"I'm not sure yet, tonight I'll make a point of getting in touch with them and bringing them here as soon as possible, but for now, I'm just really hungry."

"Oki-doki-loki! I'll get you all some snacks from the back! It's on me, for our new guest!" Pinkie Pie started to bounce back into the kitchen.

We all enjoyed ourself on Pinkie Pie's cupcakes and had a great time. Pinkie Pie couldn't sit still in her seat as she had a barrage of questions for me to answer. I felt the magic of friendship at work, I felt like I was home, where I belonged. After we finished, we said our goodbyes and moved onto the next pony to visit. Rarity's boutique was the closest, so we took a short walk over to visit the fashionista. A quick knock on her door was all it took. Rarity opened the door, and so it began...

"Hello Twilight, what brings you to my boutique at such a time like this?" She opened the door a bit more, to reveal myself standing next to her. "And who is your friend?! He is just gorgeous! Those emerald green eyes are so mysterious and his deep blue coat is just gleaming! You sir! You must model for me, you must do something! You must!"

"I'll do what ever you need me to do miss Rarity, but I'm afraid it will have to wait another day, we're on a schedule here." I took her hoof and gazed into her eyes.

"Oh my Celestia! Those eyes are to die for! I can't even find an emerald that looked so lustrous!" She squealed in delight.

"Yes, Rarity, this is Ironclad, he's a new pony in town, he just moved in today." Twilight gave an unamused look, from Rarity's display.

"Did you say Ironclad? THE Ironclad stated in the letter from Princess Celestia?" Rarity questioned us.

"Yes, that Ironclad, but I had no idea that the Princess was sending out letters, I guess it's for the best of the town."

"Oh yes, of course, she sent out a letter to Ponyville explaining how he's from a different world and will be staying among us for the time being." Rarity said informatively.

"Ok, well I wasn't sure if you were busy or not, so we'll be leaving if we troubled you." Twilight smiled.

"Oh nonsense, please come in! I just have a few things I would like to try on for our new guest of Ponyville!"

So after about half an hour of suits and designs, plus the wonderful conversation and questions asked by Rarity, we were ready to move on once again.

"Alright, how about rainbow dash next?" Twilight suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea, I've been looking forward to this for a while."

"Now, to find her... This might be a slight problem." Twilight frowned.

"Oh no, there is no problem, she's been following us all day." I stated as I looked towards a particular stray cloud on a sunny day.

"Rainbow Dash! You know how rude it is to spy on people, that and to wait all day before introducing yourself?" Twilight was clearly unhappy.

The cloud burst and dissipated into the sky. The rainbow pony giggled, circling Twilight and I, before coming to the ground to give her "spectacular entrance."

"Yours truly!" Rainbow Dash gave a smirk. "And I was totally going to introduce myself, until you all magically flashed to Canterlot and didn't come back!"

"Well now I'm right here, so you can introduce yourself properly to me, of course there's no need, I know who you are and what you're about." I smirked back.

Rainbow Dash's smirk turned into an awkward smile. "Not that its weird or anything, but that's cool, there's nothing much to do now, I guess I'll be on my way."

"Why not just walk with us? Or fly at least, our next stop is Fluttershy, you can talk along the way while we go to her cottage, I know that you have questions that you want answers to." I smiled warmly.

Her signature smirk returned, "alright, but only if you insist!"

And at that note, we were off, walking to Fluttershy's cottage. Rainbow Dash had many questions, as I predicted. As I answered them, the topic arose. How was I going to approach Fluttershy? She's more than likely to hide from me behind her mane, not able to speak loud enough for me to hear.

"Don't worry, I'll get her warmed up, make it easier for you to talk to her and all." Rainbow offered.

"That would be great, I would like to make a half-decent first impression, even though first approaches don't go well with Fluttershy." I said.

As we approached her cottage, Rainbow Dash stopped me at her mailbox and said for me to wait here. After a minute had passed by, the three ponies walked down the path and approached me. I waited for Fluttershy to make the first move, bad idea.

"Oh... Hello, I'm Fluttershy..." She appeared calmer than what I've witnessed before.

"Hello Fluttershy, I guess you don't know exactly who I am, since you haven't been able to read this." I showed her the note sent out by the Princess earlier today.

As she read the note, she started to back away. "A different universe? That means that you're sort of like... An alien..."

I thought about it for a second. "Well, yes, you could say that, but I'm not here to harm, I just wanted to fit in."

She backed away more, hiding behind her mane. "Oh no... Of course not... Your story is... Very amazing..."

I took that opportunity, I didn't waste time to even think about my words. "Not as amazing as you are." I didn't turn my head away for a single second.

She stopped backing away and blushed. "That's very kind of you, but..." She made eye contact with me, gazing into my deep green eyes, and screamed.

"DRAGON!!!!" She immediately jumped back and cowered away further.

"Dragon? Where?!" Rainbow Dash flew in a frantic circle.

Fluttershy looked up and made eye contact once again. "Oh my! Your eyes a such an evil green color... Just like a scary dragon!" She stopped hiding and finally came within our group.

"Oh my Celestia! That explains why Spike took up such an interest into the gaze you gave him." Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh of course, I'm multi-blooded, how could I have forgotten!" I sighed with relief.

"What?!" Each of the ponies yelled in unison.

"Of course, I'm a regular pony, just like anypony else could be, but I have dragon blood running through my body. It was a modification made for my own good when I entered this world."

"Well this easily explains your raw strength and speed that Apple Bloom explained during lunch." Twilight started to process the days events. "Of course, this explains so many things that went unnoticed today!"

"Well I'm glad that we've finally answered all the questions that have occurred today. And just in time too, it's getting late!" I looked at the stars beginning to show in the sky.

"We don't really need to stop by for Applejack, I've already spent yesterday at sweet apple acres, and with the message and Apple Bloom, she'll piece everything together easily!"

Twilight and I walked back to the old mansion, the sky getting darker every minute. We talked some more, meandering the streets. We were nearing the edge of town, to the location of the mansion. Something caught both of our attention, as a short green little figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Oh no, it's another goblin! This problem is becoming worse every day."

"Hello pretty pony. Come 'ere, I got somethin' for ya..." His voice was gnarled and twisted.

"Don't worry, they aren't the most organized or intelligent creatures, they just cause trouble throughout the town." Twilight stated with a troubled look.

The goblin pulled out a blunt, knife-shaped weapon. It could easily do damage to any regular pony.

"Oh my! He means business!" Twilight jumped at the sight of the weapon.

"Come get your present, ponies! I worked hard on it for ya!" He started walking hastily towards us.

I looked over at Twilight, who was readied to cast some sort of spell to defend us. I looked back over at the nasty little mongrel running at us with the blunt weapon, and what happened stopped both of them from doing anything. Twilight lost her focus on the spell and just stared at me. My eyes glowed a deep, evil green and my deep blue coat shimmered and glistened with a scaly texture in this glimmer. I felt myself becoming angry, no, protective. I had the urge to defend my friend from this attacker. I gave a snort of thick, black smoke from my nostrils and took a step for the goblin. He slowed down majorly, but not enough. He was right in front of me. I turned around and loosed a powerful buck to his short, yet broad chest. Something cracked and the force sent him flying, flying so far that we couldn't see him anymore when he presumably landed somewhere in the Everfree. As I calmed down, I regained my train of thought and looked at twilight, she had a mix between surprise and true horror written across her face. I thought of myself and what I've just done.

"Sweet Celestia... I'm a monster..." I dropped my head gloomily.

"You aren't a monster, you're a protector. Your dragon blood erupted your protective side over me, your friend, and the energy you had was exerted on the sad soul that chose to charge you."

She smiled and blushed. "Thank you for being there to protect us. I know you'll do a good job." She leaned in and kissed my cheek.

"Nobody is going to lay a hoof, or goblin finger, on my treasure..." I leaned and kissed her back gently. Her face turned the most glorious shade of red.

"I think I'll walk you home, just in case any other goblins want to pick a fight with us again." I started walking with Twilight at my side.

She could've just flashed home, we both knew it, but the moon was full, and the princess of the night was looking down upon us. Spike was inside waiting for Twilight to return home. There was no trouble after the goblin incident. And I casually walked home, admiring my surroundings. I reached the mansion, ready to sleep the rest if the night away. I walked in, went up the stairs, and went to bed. As my head hit my pillow I immediately started drifting to sleep and desynchronized from the world.

Meet the Crusaders

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Last night was truly amazing. I woke up in my cot thinking about the dream I had of Twilight Sparkle. That feeling that I had in the simulator... I've never had such an urge to protect someone or something like that. Then again, I've never really cared for people or items like I do now. I looked over onto the desk next to my cot, there was a cell phone with a note near it.

Ian,

Get in contact with some of your friends! Call them up and invite them to the lab. The order of simulators arrived last night and we need more people join you in ponyville, I wouldn't want you to be all alone in that mansion! The phone has some of your old registered contacts, incase you forgot anyone's number. Get to it and meet me in the lab after you've eaten breakfast!

Julie.

I took the phone and looked through the contact list, recognizing certain names as I scrolled through the list. I found the people I wanted to contact and informed all of them as to what was happening. Almost all of them were able to pick up their phones and all were able to join me on my adventures, we just had to wait for any paperwork to be signed and the jet to bring them to the lab. Of course the jet was a company owned jet, it was about twice as fast as commercial transportation and would have them all here by today. I hopped out of bed ready to begin my day with a good breakfast. I waltzed down to the cafeteria to receive my special breakfast made by the large, jolly chef with a glamorous, black mustache. His Italian accent always put a smile on my face and I wondered where the company found such a man. After I got my tray of goodies I went back to my usual spot, a corner table with exceptionally comfortable seats and plenty of room for a group to enjoy themselves, but there was only me, and Julie was sitting there again. She was probably waiting for me to brief me on any news she had from last night or this morning.

"Ah, there you are!" She had a bright smile on her face. "Did you contact your friends? How many will be here by tonight?"

"I've contacted the best of the best, and they should all be here in time to warp into Ponyville with enough daylight to find them in."

I took a large bite of toast and eggs, washed down by orange juice. "We'll have three new members of the crew by tonight."

"Wonderful news! They're each sending me a detail description of how they're going to be animated, right?" She looked at me sternly.

"Of course, in fact, I've given them guidelines on what roles I need played by different ponies, and with your help, we'll be able to make the perfect crew for Ponyville." I looked up at her.

"Oh my, your eyes are a vibrant green color! I'd be able to see them from down the hall!" She was surprised, but not upset. "I'll be keeping a record on physical records from now on."

I looked into the reflection of my spoon, and saw the emerald green glow of my eyes. I also noticed that my hair was becoming sandy light brown. Both of these were improvements to my appearance and looked good on me.

"Alright, meet me in the lab when you're ready." Julie got up and walked out of the cafeteria.

I finished my breakfast and stood up. After clearing my tray and returning it to the line, I walked down the hall slowly, thinking about what I was going to do today. I needed a form of work, something to do while waiting for my friends to arrive. Maybe Applejack would let me assist her in some apple bucking. That sounded like a good plan, I'll go talk to her first. I guess after that I'll see whose in town and hopefully the guys will have arrived at the lab by then. I flashed my card in front of the camera and entered the lab room. The simulator was still in its usual place, but there were 4 extra pods in the room, everything was ready. I walked up to my usual pod while Julie was preparing the systems and checking over everything once again, just to be safe. I sat down in the pod as the helmet lowered onto my head once again. My vision went black and everything went quiet. The image of my glowing green eyes materialized into my dark world, and faded away as I was transported into Ponyville. There was the bright vivid colors and the loud, confusing sounds, but it lasted only a fraction of the time it did when I first entered the dimension of Equestria.

I woke up in my bed just as I had fallen asleep, as if I slept so soundly through the night that nothing moved out of place. I got out of bed and went down stairs into the kitchen, the cabinets had been stocked with basic supplies I would need for casual living. I grabbed a mouthful of oats just to keep me running for the day, but I'm pretty sure Applejack would have something at sweet apple acres, in case this wasn't enough. As I opened the door, I noticed that the sun was still low in the sky and the air was cool and damp, it was still early morning here in Ponyville, a glorious summer day was scheduled for today. I walked down the cobblestone road and into the streets of town, following the sign that pointed to sweet apple acres. I broke into a gallop and felt the wind through my mane and in my face, the air rolled easily through my tail, as it was shorter than most ponies tails and had a rough, natural look to it. As I was galloping, I saw Apple Bloom walking down the road from sweet apple acres. I had a big, welcoming smile on my face at the sight of the little filly.

"Hello Apple Bloom! Where are you off to on such a nice day?" I asked contently.

"Ah was just on mah way to the market, ah'm runnin' errands for Granny Smith!" She said.

"It's better to get there early to pick out all the good stuff first." She had a pack on her back with a list hanging from one of the pockets.

"That's true, I was wondering if your sister, Applejack, was apple bucking this morning? I would enjoy assisting her on the job." I asked.

"Of course! Her and Big Mac are in the kitchen right now, they're eatin' a good breakfast before a hard day of work!" She smiled. "You're welcome to help buck the orchard!"

"Alright, I'll go speak with her and Big Mac. Maybe I could join them in breakfast, since I haven't had the time to eat a real breakfast."

I started galloping off towards the main house of sweet apple acres. I came up to the front door and gave a good knock. I heard Applejack saying something, it sounded like I was invited in. I went to go open the door when it was opened by Big Mac, just before my hoof reached the door.

"Big Mac! I came by to see if I could help out with the apple bucking." I had a big grin on my face.

"Eeyup, come on in." He said with his famous phrase and smile.

"Alright! I hope it isn't troubling anyone, but I didn't have a proper apple bucking breakfast, I rushed out the door and didn't think about it." I frowned.

"That's alright sugar cube, Granny Smith made her usual workin' day meal, there's plenty to go around." Applejack said from the kitchen.

"That's great, I'm pretty hungry after yesterday." I smirked and thought back to yesterday's events.

Applejack didn't lie when she said there was plenty to go around, there were apple goodies set all along the table in the kitchen. I went right over and joined Big Mac and Applejack in a glorious meal. I really couldn't believe myself, I was eating breakfast with Applejack and Big Macintosh! I was going to be bucking apples in a short while, I always thought this was just going to be a fantasy until now. I know I signed up for a job, hard work, but this was going to be too much fun to seem like work.

"You alright there, sugar?" Applejack looked at me funny.

"Yeah, I'm just really happy to be here." My eyes were glowing with excitement.

"Eeyup, ah know the look when ah see it." I felt like Big Mac was sharing my excitement, even though he didn't show the look.

"Well then, ah guess we can get out there and start right away!" Applejack said.

She lead us out the door, down a path going back into the orchard. We walked silently for a few minutes, my eyes just lit up from my surroundings. The apple orchard was such a magnificent sanctuary. Animals thrived all around and had the apples as a plentiful food supply. We kept walking and finally came to an area with baskets under the trees and big, red apples hanging from the trees, ready to fall. Applejack ran up and gave a tree a buck, apples falling right into the baskets beneath them. She ran to another and did the same thing, apples falling into the baskets. Big Mac handled some of the larger trees, giving them a big buck, clearing each of them from the big, lustrous fruits dangling so tantalizingly. Applejack came up to me, sweat on her forehead.

"Alright, it's your turn, sugar cube." Applejack looked over to a tree ripe with apples.

"Now, don't feel bad if ya don't clear the whole tree, its not easy apple buckin' and all." She gave a smile.

"Oh, it must take a lot of muscle to clear off an entire tree, am I right?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

"Eeyup." Big Mac grunted as he cleared another massive apple tree with one buck.

"Alrighty, let's see how much pony power ya really got with them guns of yours!" Applejack looked at my hind legs, surprisingly nimble, but well-toned.

"I've kinda got an idea on how much power I've got here, but lets get to it!"

I started off in a charge towards the tree of interest. I reached the tree and used the speed I picked up to swing around and get my hind legs in the air. I gave a smirk and locked my jaw, getting ready for a big kick, I wanted to impress for a first try. And so I impressed, very much. My eyes gave a green glimmer off of the rising sun as my hooves made contact with the trunk. The whole tree shuddered, apples fell all over, but they weren't the only things to fall. The tree bent back, came forward, and bent back once more before the roots started to unearth and give way. The sound of my back hooves hitting the bark echoed through the orchard a good distance, and the tree came crashing down. They both stared at me, Applejack and Big Mac. Applejack had her jaw dropped at the sight. She hadn't seen anything like this since Rainbow Dash cleared a section of the orchard flat with a sonic rainboom. Big Mac just stood there with his usual calm mannered look and nodded his head.

"Eeyup, you got some good kickers on ya." He came over and took a look at the tree.

"Yeehaw! Ya sure are packin' some power on them hind legs ya got there! The first time ah saw ya i thought you're just built for runnin fast! I sure misjudged ya!" Applejack kicked her front hooves in the air.

"Don't worry, I definitely misjudged my own strength myself." I frowned and looked at the tree.

"It'll live, the tree. Ah just need help proppin' it up again." Big Mac looked at me.

"Alright, I'll give it a big push the other way." I said.

"Sure thing, ah really wanna see a rodeo like that again!" Applejack smiled.

Big Mac propped the tree up a bit, so I could fit myself under and get my hind legs into position. With another good push the tree went back up, slowing down near the top. Applejack got around the base and pushed from her shoulder until the tree was planted down on the ground again. She began to stomp the roots back to where they were and tried to cover them up again.

"Sweet Celestia! Would ya look at that!" Applejack gave a shocked expression.

The tree had been propped up and secured into position, but the place of impact had a splintered hole, about 4 inches deep into the side. It would definitely affect the tree later in life, but it wouldn't kill it. The hole looked like Pinkie had shot a brick out of her party cannon, the bark was scraped clean and there were splinters everywhere. I apologized once again, but Applejack told me not to worry about it. We all kept bucking for about another few hours, judging by the sun's position in the sky. We definitely made progress throughout the orchard, since they had an extra set of legs to work with. After bucking for about a few minutes, I got the feel of how hard of a buck was needed to clear a tree, sometimes I didn't buck hard enough, but anything was better than another casualty in the orchard. We stopped up to a certain point and Applejack turned around.

"We sure did get some buckin' done, with you here and all, Ironclad!" Applejack was running out of breath.

"I'm not the one you need to be crediting, we've all worked hard today, and I'm just happy to be here doing such work with you two." I smiled.

"Only problem is, we all just gotta get these apples back to the barn, we'll need a second wagon for these many apples." Applejack said.

"Eeyup, we got a spare in the old shed somewhere." Big Mac looked at me.

"Alright, I'd be happy to pull a wagon, it shouldn't be too hard." I glanced back at all of the apples we've bucked.

After a long gallop back to the barn, Big Mac and I hitched up the wagons and started off to gather everything we've bucked ourselves into. We followed the trail of baskets we left after all the bucking was done, applejack skillfully kicking the baskets and flipping the apples in the general direction of the cart. This didn't take such strength, but control and aim. Thank Celestia she was there to do the picking up, or this might've taken a lot longer than it could've. As we kept along the trail, applejack kicking apples into each of the carts, we were nearing the end of our work. We came up over the hill we stopped at and I noticed a faint dirt trail leading back to somewhere in the orchard.

"Applejack, where does that trail lead to?" I thought about it for a minute.

"That's the trail leadin' back to the HQ of the one and only!" She winked at me.

"Are the cutie mark crusaders usually back there around this time?" I asked.

"O' course they are, the only time they ain't back there is when they're out adventurin!" She smiled.

"I'll have to go back there after we get back to the barn, I might as well go introduce myself and see if I can partake in any 'adventuring'." I laughed.

"That's a swell idea, y'all could help keep them outta trouble when they go on their more dangerous quests." She gave a troubled look.

"Great! I won't let anything lay their paws on them!" I gave a mean grin and clashed my front hooves together.

"That's a good idea, givin' all of us peace of mind, with all these goblins crawlin' around these days." She looked even more troubled.

"I'm starting to think they might have a camp back in the Everfree somewhere. Since they keep coming from that direction every night." I thought to myself.

"Ah wouldn't doubt that idea, y'all be careful out in them woods, ah don't trust them to this day, but ah do trust you." Applejack smiled.

"Eeyup." Big Mac added in agreement.

"Thanks, you two, I really appreciate everything you've done today, its hard to come across people like this in my home world." I frowned, but thought about my friends.

We returned to the estate and unloaded the apples into storage, as they would be used for many things in the near future. We entered the house through the back door, and Granny Smith was in the kitchen with Apple Bloom, ready for our return with refreshments. We enjoyed the apple snack prepared by Granny Smith, in appreciation of our hard work. Apple Bloom had made some fresh apple juice from last trip's remaining apples. We all sat down and Applejack told the story of this morning's events while relaxing. Granny Smith and Apple Bloom didn't react to the idea of me bucking a tree over as I expected, they were much more calm about it, probably because Granny Smith had seen something like it before in her days, and apple bloom witnessed my strength only days ago.

Everyone finished off the last of the refreshments, it was high noon. Apple Bloom was heading off to the treehouse out in the orchard. I asked if I could come along for a short while, and she was particularly happy I asked, I could understand why. We were walking through the orchard and down the path, all along the way she was asking questions about things like the human world and how I was fitting into the new one. She brought up questions about my cutie mark and I told her I'll explain it to her when the cutie mark crusaders have gathered. We arrived at the treehouse and Apple Bloom gave a shout out to the other excited fillies in the tree house.

"Sweetie Bell! Scootaloo! Ah have somepony for y'all to meet!" Apple Bloom yelled.

"No way! How did you get such a pony to come out here? I would've thought that you were WAY too busy to bother with us!" Scootaloo looked down with a large grin.

"Oh wow! So you're really from another world? And you're really strong too, so I've heard." Sweetie Bell joined scootaloo in peering out the window.

"Of course, I'm dragon blooded, I didn't have to work for this power like some ponies do. And I couldn't wait to meet the cutie mark crusaders!" I had an equally large grin on my face.

We were soon all in the tree house, the cutie mark crusaders asking plenty of questions for me to answer. Apple bloom and I told them about some of my recent adventures, and I explained the encounter I had with a goblin the other night, leaving out the part with Twilight, for good reason. These stories only made the crusaders more pumped for an adventure, as I promised them a trek through the Everfree forest, or anywhere else my companions may spawn, as I know they won't be in the easiest locations to locate. But then the real question appeared, one I was anxiously awaiting from the crusaders themselves.

"So, what exactly does your cutie mark mean?" Sweetie Bell asked, admiring the gleaming fist upon my flank.

"Well of course, it represents my name, Ironclad, but also is a metaphor for what I stand for in life." I explained, "the fist of Ironclad stands for my iron grip on what I love and protect, I'll hold onto friends with my life, and won't let the things I love slip away so easily!"

"That's so cool!" Scootaloo said. "It's so amazing to think that you got a cutie mark for something so..."

"Abstract?" Sweetie bell suggested.

"Yes, that makes perfect sense!" I said.

"That's not what I was meaning, but ok." Scootaloo said.

"Ah wish ah could get a cutie mark for somethin' so amazin'." Apple Bloom sighed.

"That's another thing I should mention to you fillies." I explained, "instead of trying something new every single day, you should focus on something you really shine with."

"That's an idea that could work! But what are our true talents? What are each of us good at?" Sweetie Bell thought.

"I don't know, but one thing for a long time sounds boring, I'd rather stick to adventuring to find what we're good at." Scootaloo was not amused by my idea.

"Yeah, besides, we're gonna go adventurin' later today, when Ironclad calls us up." Apple Bloom said excitedly.

"That's right crusaders!" I started, "I'm going to have 3 ponies generated into the world from my original universe, but they won't just appear right in front of me when I want!"

"We're gonna have to hunt em down when we hear the signal!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"What's the signal? What are we looking for?" Scootaloo questioned.

"Do any of you remember the sonic boom from 2 days ago?" I asked.

"Oh yeah! I remember hearing that while I was in Rarity's boutique, eating breakfast!" Sweetie Bell remembered.

"Well that's going to be the signal. That's when we meet up at the edge of the Everfree, near Fluttershy's house! We'll go from there to where the sound was coming from." I explained.

"And don't worry, I'll have a guideline if we get lost." I smirked and thought of Julie as her laughter traveled though my head.

Just as the laughter died down, a ringing boom shook the treehouse and echoed through the mountains. The cutie mark crusaders jumped to their feet and were ready for a hunt.

"You could've warned me at least..." I thought to Julie.

Hunt for a Party

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The three little fillies packed all sorts of things in their bags and saddled up. They were prepared for a hike through hell. Each one carried different things that could be used in all different scenarios. They had an old map, a compass, a few canteens, and much more.

"Girls, we aren't going to be gone long, we're just looking for some ponies and we'll be back within two hours." I chuckled at their excitement.

"You never know what we might find in the Everfree forest!" Scootaloo yelled.

"Yeah, somethin' bad could happen and we'll be stuck out there for days!" Apple Bloom frowned at the thought.

"My sister Rarity told me about the goblins wandering around the woods these days! It's best that we're prepared for anything to happen." Sweetie Bell tightened the saddle carrying her things.

"Alright, bring whatever you need, but if we run into any goblins out there on our trek, I'll be giving them a buck that they probably won't recall when they hit the ground." I smirked at the thought.

And so we left the tree house in the direction of the boom. Julie opened up her map view of Equestria and focused into the Ponyville area. She marked the approximate location of the arrival point that the 3 new ponies have landed at. We set off down the orchard towards the Everfree forest at a walking pace. I was telling the crusaders about each pony that might be there and their personalities. After a good distance of walking, we reached the edge of the Everfree forest.

"Alright, best to keep quiet and just walk from here, I don't want too much attention drawn to us." I said with a serious tone.

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"Ah man! That trip better have been worth it! My head is spinning like a ballerina!" Silver Dust said, shaking his head until his view came into focus.

Silver Dust was my good friend, Nick. He was a unicorn, slim build for a body, but well toned, similar to myself. He had a light brown, sandy coat, with a yellow tint to it. It's new entry to the world left it looking brand new and gleaming off of the afternoon sun. He had a wavy, moderate brown, semi-long mane, which was thicker than mine, considerably. Although it was thick and dark it flowed with the wind and had a light bounce to it as he walked around. His eyes took after his name, with a silver shine to them, they glistened in the sunlight, as if they were truly silver. Being a unicorn, he put his power to use as a special skill for healing. He wasn't always interested in this area of expertise, not that I knew of. His cutie mark was a silver tourniquet, tied in a loop, understanding that it meant he was skilled in many different uses, good for playing medic on the spot if needed. The entry exams that Julie had provided him took considerably longer than the other two. Magic was the opposite of an easy skill to pick up, coming from a world where the idea only existed in fantasy. He got a basic feeling for the power, and learned a few healing tricks on the spot, such as how to mend broken bones and how to stop bleeding and seal open wounds. He also got the feeling for more common uses, mostly levitating objects and using magic as if he had hands again.

"Yes, sir. You're right 'bout the whole head spinnin' thing, mah eyes are still botherin' me from those colors on the way in!" Bronze Hammer said, trying to adjust his eyes to the light of the sun.

Bronze Hammer was a good friend of mine named Eli. I met him through another friend online and the rest went from there. We never really met each other in person until today, but we knew what each other looked like and our personalities well enough, you wouldn't have been able to guess it. Bronze Hammer was an earth pony such as me, but had a larger build, more brawny than the rest of us. His body wasn't as defined as Silver Dust's or my body, but he still had a lot of strength in his hooves. He had a coat similar to silver dust's coat, it was a light brown, slightly dark in tone, without the sandy yellow tint. His mane was a deep black and was shorter and straight somewhat like my own mane. It came down about half way on his neck, but wasn't curled around his shoulder such as mine. His cutie mark was an anvil, there was a glowing hot piece of metal set upon it. The hunk of metal took shape as a horseshoe as everything started to materialize. His cutie mark not only represented skill in metal-working, but strength in a combination with finesse and creativity, resembling his rowdy country personality. He had a knack for the ladies, and they certainly took interest in him. I guess he just had the look, combined with a charming personality. It probably had something to do with his gorgeous deep blue eyes. He was in luck, since Ponyville had an excessively large difference in the colt to mare ratio. I'll keep a close eye on him for now...

"Oh, sweet! I've got wings! I can go wherever the BUCK I want!" Tiki exclaimed, he burst into the air with his newly fledged set of wings.

Tiki was my friend Alex. I met him around the same time I met Nick, in fact, I remember back to the day when Nick and I met, he was the one who introduced me to Alex and many others. Tiki was a very lax pegasus. He was also a bit queer at times, he refused that he was gay, its just a way he talked. When his character was being generated, he insisted on the whole "beach theme" even though there weren't any waves in sight around Ponyville. His coat was a very bright red, save few spots, such as his muzzle, which faded from red to orange, and then to a golden yellow. He had defined freckles along his snout leading up to his light green eyes. His hooves also took on the yellow color from the tip of his nose and mouth. He had a sweet chocolate-colored brown mane, which flowed freely along his head and around his ears, almost into his face. He kept it short from the back, not allowing much to escape down his neck. A golden yellow streak ran down from the base of each wing to the tip, almost looking like a golden rod flowing from each wing, with intricate design in each feather. It was very detailed and simply mesmerizing. His cutie mark was a white longboard with a blue line going through the center of the board, separating it into two equal sections. Of course, Julie and I recognized this was missing something, something with meaning. As tiki flew through the clouds, a small sea of flowing plumes of clouds generated onto his flank, around his surf board. Tiki returned to the ground to join his friends and to figure the way out of the mess they're in.

"Alright y'guys, we've gotta get to Ponyville and meet up with Ian!" Bronze started trotting off.

"Hold up, dude. We don't know which way is which here, and we also have to start addressing each other by pony names, Julie said." Silver re-informed the other two.

"This is going to take some getting used to..." Tiki moaned.

"Actually, if we just wait here for a bit, Ironclad should come looking for us, he's probably on his way right now." Silver said.

"Ahhhh yesssss... But he wasn't as close as WE were when you arrived!" A gnarled voice grunted.

Little green monsters had seized the 3 ponies as they turned towards the voice. There was initial struggle by each of them, but Silver Dust stopped and let them fasten his legs without a fight.

"Don't bother fighting this guys, we'll be out of this soon enough, and I don't want to have to use any healing spells the first day." Silver gave a smirk, he knew how this would play out.

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It was starting to get late, the sun was getting lower in the sky as we walked along a trail following the edge of the Everfree forest. The crusaders were still walking along strong, just as I was, we were making good time. I noticed a clearing coming up straying from the path, this was the clearing that apple bloom had found me in. I felt we were getting close to the area that was marked by Julie, but as we arrived, there was nopony to be found.

"Hey, this was where ah found you a couple days ago, Ironclad!" Apple Bloom said, running into the clearing.

"That's odd, I knew they would've wandered off, but I didn't think they would abandon the area I told them to wait at." I scanned the area for anything unusual, and there it was.

"Right here, they've been taken prisoner by goblins, I suppose." I started observing and explaining.

"Judging by hoof marks and uprooted grass patches, there was a slight struggle made by a few ponies here, and looking at the trail made out by broken branches and stubby footprints, they went through here." I started off on the trail, followed soon by the crusaders.

"Oh man, we're gonna go in there and kick some major flank!" Scootaloo burst with excitement at the idea.

"Now hold up, if it were just a few rogue goblins running around, I wouldn't stop you on the idea." I explained, "these goblins are clearly working as a team, somewhat."

"He's right! They were able to overtake three strong stallions, so they must be dangerous." Sweetie Bell hesitated down the trail.

"That's right, I want to see where this trail leads us to, so lets keep quiet and see if we can track down these barbarians." I kept on the rough trail.

We kept walking, stepping around roots and branches, as the trail was only roughly made by small creatures for a quick way back to wherever they were hiding. It was now starting to get dark, the sun was setting and the vegetation was getting thicker. After another minute of trekking though the forest, we came to a clearing. It was a camp, with a central fire and a few roughly made tents set up around the edges. I told the crusaders to stay around the edges and avoid being spotted. We circled the makeshift camp and began to map out the area. After meeting up on the other side from the loop, Scootaloo came to a conclusion.

"I think I know where they are." She motioned towards a tent, guarded by two goblins.

"Alright good, the guard they have posted is almost nothing, I should be able to buck them in and break the guys free." I started off towards the tent Scootaloo described.

The two goblins posted at the camp were at the fire grumbling in some sort of goblin tongue that I didn't know how to speak. They noticed me casually walking towards the tent and started running for me, hollering like mad-men. The first one got a good buck to the chest, which knocked the wind from him and he didn't bother to get up. The other one wasn't so lucky. I gave him a harder buck to the head, not very pleasant. I heard something crack and had greenish goo on my left hoof. He was dead on contact. His lifeless body flew into the flames of the camp fire and started to give off a thick grey smoke. Funny, I thought the smoke would be green, too. I heard familiar voices coming from the tent I cleared.

"I'll bet you guys thats him right now, you've got no chance, you gremlin." Silver Dust was talking to another guard.

"Did you hear that crack? I bet that was your friend's face getting kicked in by him!" Tiki was yelling, just trying to threaten the goblin on watch.

"Alright, where's my next victim!" I laughed as I entered the tent.

"It's time to finish this!" A gnarled voice said, coming towards me.

"The guards out there were nothing of a challenge! I'm gonna show you..." He paused and gazed into my evil green eyes.

"It's you! Please, no more, not again!" He cowered as he dropped his blunt weapon.

"Oh, I remember you! Walking the streets of Ponyville last night, eh?" I laughed.

He didn't have any reply, as he didn't even know what to do. He just stood there, frozen. I'm still surprised he survived the impact I gave him last night. The bandaging around his chest showed he didn't survive by much. I gave a smirk and went to go untie the bonds around my friends' hooves. Before I could reach them, they all stood up and the ropes "tied" around their hooves fell to the floor.

"Alright let's go home, ah'm ready for that party Julie was talkin' about earlier." Bronze smiled.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see what Pinkie has planned tonight, its going to be FAB-U-LOUS!" Tiki exclaimed.

"Well I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I haven't even told Pinkie about your arrival, I guess it'll have to wait for tomorrow." I sighed and began to walk out of the tent.

"Alright, lets just get home, I can't wait to see where we're staying tonight." Silver said.

And as we walked out from the tent, there were goblins everywhere. The cutie mark crusaders were being held by a group of three in the back, with two more groups of about six at each of our sides. But the fillies, they were being held by goblins, handled in a rough fashion that made me uncomfortable. My eyes flared the evil green color they were. I glared at the creatures handling the crusaders in such a manner, they released their hands from the fillies and slowly backed away. My body lurched at the opportunity as it somehow managed to cover a leap across the camp and into the face of one of the goblins. With one kick from a frontal hoof, he was sent flying into a tree and slid into a bush below. The other two goblins tried to run but I grabbed them by their weapon slings and threw them as far as I could away from Ponyville. At the sight of my attack, the other 3 stallions sprang into action dealing with the aroused crowd of little green warriors. Bronze Hammer had sheer strength and could buck a goblin unconscious within a blink of an eye. Silver dust couldn't buck as hard to be efficient enough against some of the tougher ruffians that assaulted the group. He wasn't a unicorn of direct assault, but he did know some magic to protect him and the ponies around him, plus he had a new, sharp horn that he could swing if needed. Tiki didn't strike with power, he used his aerial capability to pick off any attackers that got too close to one of his friends, coming down like a steel bolt, disabling the target in an instant and returning to the air within a moments notice. It was a technique he would come to call "sniping." After all of the goblins were finished, the camp ground looked more like a battlefield. The cutie mark crusaders have seen more in one day than they should have in the rest of their time growing up.

"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen! You got that one goblin's brain all over the place! And he landed right in the fire!" Scootaloo was burning with excitement.

"Well so much for preserving any of your innocence... Your sisters are probably going to scold me for this, big time." I chuckled at the idea.

"Yeah, that don't matter right now though, we gotta get home before sundown!" Apple bloom frowned.

"We can get y'all home before the sun gets half way below that there horizon!" Bronze Hammer looked at me with a big grin.

"You're right, lets see how strong you guys really are, after being in Equestria for a day now!" I yelled.

And at that, I scooped Apple Bloom over my head and onto my back, and we were off. I slowed down a bit after running the trail for a while, only to be accompanied at my sides by Bronze with Scootaloo on his back, and Silver Dust with Sweetie Bell on his. Tiki wasn't quick enough to grab a filly and fly, he wasn't complaining either. I'm not sure how strong he is on his wings yet, and tripping over was a lot better than crashing into a tree, speeding through the air. I hadn't underestimated my crew, they could gallop as fast as I could, although I was pacing myself and didn't quite lose my breath a they did. Tiki had no problem getting home, of course. He wasn't carrying a filly or was using his legs, he just had to glide home after us, keeping up wasn't so hard for him. As we got to the mansion we slowed down and finally came to a stop. Silver and Bronze were over at the river near by getting water, and tiki was busy fooling with the clouds above. I waited for them to all gather at the door so I could show them their new home. As we opened the door, we all stumbled back and went crashing down at the doorstep. The lights were flicked on and everypony I had met in the past two days were in my living room. It was a surprise party.

"Pinkie?! How did you know that they would be here today!" I was really confused.

"Well it's not like you were the ONLY one to hear your friends this afternoon, silly!" Pinkie was bouncing with energy.

"I heard that sonic boom and remembered it from when you came into town! I immediately got to work on getting the party ready and sending out invitations!" Pinkie had a large grin on her face.

"I told you! I told you it would be fabulous!" Tiki was yelling at me, as a joke I think.

"Well, no time to waste! Lets get partying!" Silver said, heading right for the music.

"Just as soon as we get one thing settled." Somepony was behind us, I knew that voice.

Princess Celestia was standing behind us. In all her grace, everypony bowed to her presence. All but the new ponies. Even I forgot to bow my head. But what was the Princess doing here? Did Pinkie seriously send an invite to somepony who was always so busy with royal duty?

"I'm here to meet your new friends, Ironclad." She smiled. "From the way you mentioned them yesterday, I made a little note that I would have to introduce myself to them personally!"

"But, you're such a busy pony, with royal duties and all. How did you manage to show up to the party?" I asked.

"It just so happens, this is the only free day I have this month! I would never miss such a party thrown by Pinkie Pie!" She replied.

"It's an honor to meet you, your majesty." All three of the newest arrivals said in unison.

"I also have a proposition for you and your friends. Because of the recent goblin problems that Twilight reported to me." She gave a quick glance to Twilight and smiled. "I've decided to recruit your squad as the official Ponyville watchponies."

"I couldn't say no to that offer, and I think my friends would gladly agree!" I gave a big smile.

"Good! I'll assign Rarity to the task of designing your uniform, I know she'll do a wonderful job."

"Oh my gosh! I'll help! The uniforms will be FABULOUS!" Tiki outwardly offered.

"Of course, we will start tomorrow morning!" Rarity winked at Tiki.

"Do y'all have a forge in Ponyville, 'cause ah know we'll need some metal work done, weapons or not. Ah can put mah forgin' skills to the test for Ponyville!" Bronze Hammer gave a determined grin.

"There's a good plot of land in the field near Ponyville. Nopony's using it, me and Big Mac can raise a roof and get a forge goin' in no time, if y'all wanna help with it." Applejack offered.

"Sure thing, lets get to it tomorrow, the crack of dawn!" Bronze said.

"I guess I can hang around Ironclad tomorrow, we'll be around to check out what everypony is doing tomorrow, incase assistance is needed." Silver Dust said.

"Alright, that sounds like a plan, we can visit any pony who isn't busy, also." I thought about tomorrow and how glorious it was going to be.

After the main part of the night, everyone immersed in the party Pinkie Pie worked so hard on. Everyone had fun, the guys got to mingle with anypony else they haven't spoken to yet, and all was well. I even got to speak to Twilight privately for a bit. We went into my room and she thanked me for protecting the crusaders and stomping out the goblin camp. After a bit of talking I avoided any awkward moment by kissing the next minute away. It could've been two or three minutes, I wasn't keeping track. I told her I'd be there to protect her from now on, nothing would harm her or the ones we loved. We went back downstairs for the rest of the party and silver dust gave me a knowing nudge, paired with a wink. After we partied hard for half the night. Everypony finally left. We were clearly exhausted from all the fun, and I showed each of them to their dorms. They all crashed onto their beds and fell asleep right away. As soon as I reached my bed, I laid my head down and found myself back in the other world, with all of my friends there to greet me.

"Ian! It's been so long!" Nick grabbed my hand and pulled me in for a hug.

"It's been too long!" Alex joined the hugging session.

"Ah'm not sure what to say, considerin' ah've never met ya in person, but what the hay, lemme in there!" Eli joined the hug.

After our little reunion, Nick, Alex, and Eli were all escorted to their own rooms where they will be bunking from now on. I followed them to a certain point, but took a left turn down my own wing of the hall to my dorm. I landed in bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Good days were to come.

Getting settled

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We all woke up around the same time. Our brains had gotten the sleep that they wanted and made us arise from bed. I stopped at the main hallway towards the cafeteria so I could wait for the guys to come down the hallway. I could hear them talking faintly, they were probably getting ready for the day. I didn't usually do that, I was always ready as soon as I hopped out of bed. I didn't change out of PJs because I never wore them, and I didn't fix my bed because I never overturned anything except for my pillow. The only thing needed to start my day was a breakfast. There they were, coming down the hallway. They really looked like a group of teenage tourists walking down the hall and admiring everything around them. Nick took notice of me standing there in the hall and brought the other two over shortly.

"Welcome to the lab guys, lets go get breakfast." I lead the way down the hall towards the cafeteria.

"Aw yeah, ah'm stavin' from last night." Eli mumbled.

"Hell yeah, that party was insane! Nobody in this world could ever throw a party like a Pinkie Pie party." Alex was thinking back to whatever he could remember from last night.

"Yeah, but I think Ian had the most fun out of us all! It only lasted a couple minutes but I get it was amazing!" Nick chuckled as I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow.

"It was nothing much, I was there practically all night with you guys." I smiled at the thought of Nick's remark.

"That's so strange though, how your eyes are all green and stuff, just from bein' in that pod for a bit." Eli looked at my changed features.

"Yeah, that would suck for me." Alex said, "I'm gonna be a ginger if my coat color affects my hair."

I laughed at the thought. "No, your mane color would affect your hair, I'm not sure what your coat color would do, it hasn't changed anything on me yet."

"Maybe it will change your OTHER hair blue! That would be so strange." Alex laughed at the remark.

"You sicken us all with the most amazing ideas, Alex." Nick said with a horrified look on his face.

We reached the cafeteria, and the big Italian chef was there to greet us all with a buffet of delectable breakfast meals to choose from. He insisted on not choosing, just eat everything. Eli and Alex jumped at the idea and filled their trays. I grabbed my usual selection of breakfast and Nick picked out a similar selection. We went over to my table in the corner, it now had its own group to sustain. Julie was waiting for us there, like she had for the last few days. Everyone sat down and began eating. The food was very enjoyable, like always. Julie laughed at the lack of manners everyone had, but it was expectable, since nobody had eaten a real meal since they arrived here. As everyone continued to eat, I looked up a Julie, wondering when she was going to inform us about whatever she was here for.

"So Julie, whats the news for today?" I asked.

"News? I'm just here to eat breakfast and enjoy the company." She winked.

"But if you insist. Today you all have a lot of work to do, incase your memory was blurred somewhat by last night, I have a list in the lab of what you all are going to do today." She smiled and stood up.

"Ian, escort everyone there when you're all ready." She waved goodbye and was off towards the lab.

We all sat there, finishing our glorious breakfast and discussing over what we would all be doing today. As we finished we went up to return our trays and started off towards the lab. We were all still talking, getting more and more excited for the day. Nick still made a few more remarks about Twilight and I, although I didn't mind the offer to stop by her library for a bit while we were out and about. We reached the lab and I flashed my card at the camera in the corner, we all entered the room and took position.

"Alright, lets get some work done today, boys!" Julie said with determination.

"I'm going to generate a checklist for each of you and what you have to do today. Just bring up a checklist in your head, it'll pop up at the thought of what you need done." She informed.

"Alright, sounds like a good idea, lets get in there and start working! I have uniforms to design!" Alex jumped at the idea.

We all entered the pods and were off to Ponyville.

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Everypony woke up in their beds at the same time. It was like nothing had moved, nothing had changed since the party last night. We all went down stairs to eat something for our pony bodies to work off of. There was plenty of food left over from the party, lots of sweets. Everypony grabbed something good to eat, Silver Dust and I cleaned up a bit from last night's party. Pinkie Pie had cleaned up most of her decorations and things, but some of the furniture was out of place or just needed to be moved somewhere else. After a bit of fixing up, we were all ready and walked out the front door. Bronze Hammer took a dip in the river behind the mansion and Tiki went straight into the clouds, heading in the direction of Rarity's boutique. Silver Dust and I went into town to speak with some of the local ponies and hang around for a while.

Tiki was the first to get to his destination, since he had wings at his advantage and Rarity's boutique was right in town. After enjoying himself in the clouds, he came down to a halt on the ground and approached the front door. As he reached to knock, Rarity was there and opened the door, she seemed to be going somewhere.

"Hey! Lets get down to designing!" Tiki said eagerly.

"Oh, darling, you aren't serious are you? It's so early to begin on such a project!" She laughed.

"Oh, I see, where are you off to so early then?" Tiki observed the way she was dressed.

"Oh me? I was going to the spa with Fluttershy! Would you care to join us? There's always room for more on days like these." She offered kindly.

"Hell yeah! Spa day with my two favorite ponies! Lets get going!" Tiki darted off in some direction, and immediately came back.

"It's ok darling, I'll lead the way." Rarity smiled.

Tiki and Rarity began towards the Ponyville spa. Rarity walked through the town with a cheerful look, as always, with Tiki hovering close behind. Ponies glanced over and greeted rarity with a smile, but some continued to look and wonder who the pegasus she was with was. It didn't matter, despite the lasting attention that was drawn to them, there was only one pony who was worried about Rarity's accompaniment, it was a pegasus named Fluttershy. Rarity and Tiki arrived at the spa doors and were greeted by the attendants working there.

"Hello Rarity! You're right on time for your usual treatment!" The mare at the desk looked over at the red pegasus, "but who is your friend that you have brought?"

"Oh, please excuse me! This is Tiki, he is one of the new ponies that came to our world from another dimension! It's so exciting!" Rarity squeaked.

"Ah, yes! I remember the letter that the princess had sent out, I would like to welcome you to Equestria, and the Ponyville spa!" The attendant gave a warm smile.

"Alright, we just have to wait for Fluttershy to arrive, and we can all get started!" Rarity said.

"Sweet! I can't wait to have my wings done! It's going to be so amazing!" Tiki extended both wings and gave a small flap back into place.

"Oh, all of you were going to be treated today?" The attendant asked with a nervous smile.

"Of course, is there a problem? Can you not get to us all at once?" Rarity was worried.

"Oh no! We're not busy today, all of you will be treated with no trouble at all! We just don't see very many stallions walk through these doors." The attendant looked at Tiki again.

"Well, not many stallions know how to maintain themselves like I do." Tiki flipped his tail to the side and raised his head.

"I hope I'm not interrupting... But I'm ready to begin..." Fluttershy was standing in the doorway.

"Rarity, you never told me that there was going to be somepony else with us today..." Fluttershy started to shy away at Tiki's glance.

"Fluttershy, darling, I'm sorry. Tiki arrived at my door this morning before I left and I didn't want to leave him with nothing else to do!" Rarity started to become melodramatic.

"Oh... Of course not, I guess it's ok then. Lets get to the works." Fluttershy seemed to be getting more and more nervous.

"Oh, girl, you need to lighten up! Lets all have a wonderful day at the spa! I promise not to interfere between you and Rarity." He smirked at an idea he had gotten.

Tiki invited Fluttershy to walk with them by wrapping his wing around her shoulder and brought her down the hall at his side. This act of open courtesy, made by a pony that had never met her before, was somewhat calming, almost as if he knew what to do. They approached the first room and began their day, finally. The first room was a large, open-roofed area with a large pool of steaming bubbly water in the center. It was a large hot tub, set to the perfect temperature in preparation for Rarity's usual arrival. Each pony slowly submersed themselves into the wondrous waters of the hot tub, submersed all the way up to their necks. They sat there for what could've been half an hour. Rarity immediately started her usual gossip and Fluttershy sat there listening with a smile on her face. Tiki eventually chimed in with gossip from the human world, which intrigued Rarity just as much as pony gossip. There was even time for small talk between Fluttershy and Tiki. The shyest pony in Ponyville eventually lightened up to Tiki's presence.

The next area was the mud bath. There was a large room with pools of mud, slightly steaming from a heater below with a thick consistency. Each of the ponies were wrapped in seaweed wrapping, to treat the coat and skin. For ten minutes, there was no noise, just the sound of relaxed breathing of each pony and pure enjoyment. After the treatment, tiki of course bartered for another minute in the mud, Rarity and Fluttershy laughed, but insisted that they moved to the next room.

The next room was a massage room. Everypony was assigned to a different table, and the masseuse ponies came out and began to work. Tiki insisted on focusing more on his wings, and the masseuse gladly agreed. There was a bit of talk about certain things, but that soon died down as they got further into the massage. Once that was over, each pony was given a towel and sent off to the sauna room. The sauna was a better place for chatting and not so much pure enjoyment and relaxation. Each pony began to talk, but as Rarity realized the spa treatment was going to be over soon, she started discussing ideas with tiki. They continued to discuss the plans for the outfit, and what should become of the uniforms. The rest of their spa day was very enjoyable, and they were ready to get down to work once they returned to the boutique.

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It was early morning, Bronze Hammer was swimming through the river for a refreshing bath. Tiki was just flying off to Rarity's boutique. Silver Dust and Ironclad were walking off to town for the day, they would be back later to see the progress made by everypony today. The sun was still low in the sky, just above the horizon. Bronze had a feeling that Applejack and Big Mac would be up and ready, preparing for the task today. They were going to put up a forge for Ponyville. Bronze Hammer knew it was needed, and he could do a lot of good for the guard and the citizens of Ponyville. He came out on the other side of the river, just a quick swim. He shook himself off and headed in the direction of sweet apple acres. It was a long gallop along the river, but after a few minutes he reached the orchard and followed it to the estate. The smell of the sweet outdoor air, with a scent of apple lofting through the air. The warm sun shining down in the early morning, giving your back a mellow warm feeling to it. It was the countryside of Equestria.

"It's just like home." Bronze said as he smiled and walked to the estate.

"Bronze Hammer! Get your flank over here!" Applejack was around the back of the barn with a big smile on her face.

"I'll be up real quick!" Bronze dashed off towards the barn.

"We've got all the supplies ready! The first thing we need to do is haul it off to the field. Big Mac is gonna help y'all with the haulin' while ah get to buildin', while y'all are haulin' more to the field." Applejack explained.

"We'll be done and relaxin' by tonight." Applejack said eagerly.

"Sounds like a good plan, lets get to work!" And at that note, they started hauling.

Applejack helped Bronze Hammer get hitched up to the cart and get going to the field with Big Mac. It was a quick ten minute trot to the field on the outskirts of Ponyville. It was a perfect place to have a forge, to avoid fire hazards and things within the actual town. After the first load was dropped, Applejack started with the lighter work, and arranging the supplies into order. After an hour of hauling, and 4 round trips of supplies and things, everything was in order and Applejack had a good start on the base of the structure. Bronze insisted that grass and dirt was a good foundation, so after a bit of flattening, the area was ready to prop a roof up. Sweet apple acres had a large supply of old apple wood to use for the building, it may be old, but its still strong. A large roof was raised in no time, with the combined strength of Big Mac and Bronze Hammer. Bronze wasn't as large and bulky as Big Mac was, from all the work he's been doing on sweet apple acres. Although Bronze Hammer was a larger build than the rest of us, tiki, silver dust, and I. This was because he was a metal worker, a hammer swinging horse. He didn't actually work on a forge until now, but when he was generated into the world, his body was prepared for hard work such as forging. The roof was probably the fastest and easiest part of the job, was raising the walls, with all of the appropriate shelves and storage units. This took longer than the roof, but went considerably fast. The next step was to build the actual forge, and the system of how it worked. The river was still close by, which was nice incase any water was needed for the forge. That wasn't the benefit of now, though. The river had stones, good stones that you couldn't find in very many places. These stones were taken from the riverside and cemented together for a strong, hot pool of fire. The only thing that wouldn't melt in such hot circumstances: rocks. It took a lot of cementing and gathering, even Apple Bloom was called in to help with the gathering of the stones. The working group had finished the base and were going to start the chimney up, when Silver Dust and Ironclad had shown up.

"Boy am ah glad to see you and that magic horn of yours!" Bronze Hammer wiped the sweat from his forehead.

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Silver Dust and I had walked out the front door of our mansion. Tiki had taken off for Rarity's boutique and Bronze Hammer was in the river swimming. Silver and I had planned what we were going to do, roughly. Since we got the short end of the party food for good reason, we were going to get some brunch at sugar cube corner. It was a great idea, Silver gets to see Pinkie Pie and we all get freshly baked goodies. We were walking down the cobblestone road into Ponyville, talking about the days events. We were getting pretty pumped for today and just the fact that we were in Equestria as ponies. We kept walking down the road, into town now. Lots of the local ponies had recognized our faces and warmly greeted us with a smile and a hello. We were then informed that an article had made the front page of Ponyville's newspaper about the new guard posted and where we've come from. There were ponies who were skeptical on making us Ponyville's new guard, but none were skeptical of our strength. Word got out about our victory over a small goblin camp, nothing much to brag about, I mean, they're goblins for Luna's sake! That didn't matter though, we were prepared to stand up to dragons if thats what it took. Almost prepared at least, we still needed a forge and uniform. Of course, with a bit of modification, the mansion would be a good barrack for keeping some weapons and things if needed. As we were walking through town, we noticed an unusual sound coming from one of the estates near the town square. It sounded almost like... A bass sequence! I knew exactly who that pony was, so did Silver Dust. We decided to introduce ourselves. As we got up to the door we could tell the music was particularly loud, so I made sure to give a strong knock. I didn't think she even noticed the knocking at first, but the music became quieter, and a white unicorn with a crazy blue mane answered the door.

"Woah! You're the new guard in Ponyville!" She looked surprised.

"I'm sorry, were there any noise complaints? I'll lower the volume if I need to." She frowned.

"Actually it's the opposite of a complaint." Silver smiled.

"Ok, so whats up? What brings high class ponies like you to our doorstep?" She put her hoof at her hip and leaned on the door.

"High class? Nah, we just wanted to see if you and Octavia would join us for brunch down at sugar cube corner." Silver Dust had a smile that just read "please say yes!"

"Sure, let me go talk to Tavi and see what she thinks. I'll go even if she doesn't want to." Vinyl left for a moment and came back with Octavia.

"Alright lets go, boys! I could really use a bit of a change from the usual wubs every morning." She said, walking out the door.

We all went to sugar cube corner, which was only a block away from their estate. Pinkie Pie was there to greet all of us and serve everyone in an energetic form. She had given us a group dish of warm chocolate chip cookies, freshly made that morning. We each had different flavored milkshakes, all freshly made by Pinkie Pie herself.

"So, boys, explain to me why you wanted us here?" Vinyl had a flirty grin on her face.

"No real reason, I've just been making a point to introduce myself to all of the ponies in Ponyville as best I can." I said, drinking my shake.

"Yeah, and we heard somepony playing a crazy track from down the street, we knew exactly who it was and wanted to introduce ourselves." Silver Dust got up and sat between the two mares.

"I especially wanted to introduce myself to my favorite ponies!" He put his arm around vinyl and Octavia.

"That's right, Silver Dust has taken a liking to your style of music from our original universe." I said with a smirk.

I took a drink of my shake, "that's odd... I thought there were only bananas in this shake."

"Nope! I added something special to your shake!" Pinkie Pie popped up, seemingly from no where.

"I trust you didn't poison me by any chance?" I asked with a straight face.

"Oh no! I would never do that! I just remembered that you were part dragon! So I put some topaz in your shake, because topaz is yellow, like bananas!" She gave a large, innocent smile.

"Oh, that explains everything, I never thought of a taste for gems." I thought about Spike and how he eats gems like candy.

"I usually put sapphire in Spike's shake, but you seemed like a topaz dragon-pony when you ordered banana!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Hmm. That's pretty thoughtful, and I'm really enjoying the taste with the texture. You'll have to do this for me again, Pinkie!" I thanked her.

"Okie-dokie-loki!" She bounced off into the kitchen to serve more ponies.

Everyone finished the platter of cookies and drank their shakes. After a bit more conversation and some flirting between Vinyl and Silver Dust, and a bit between Octavia and the two, I decided to give Silver the rest of the morning with the two mares. I looked at the sun and thought about what the other stallions were doing right now. Tiki was probably working hard on the uniforms (at the spa...) and Bronze was still raising the forge. I had some time on my hands, so I went down to the library. Of course I wasn't there for books, I didn't have reason for any at the time, but I would eventually, when everything calms down. Right now I just wanted to see one pony, and that was why I was going to visit Twilight Sparkle. I started walking towards the library, but it was so far away, so I started galloping. Within 30 seconds I reached the library without breaking a sweat. I went to approach the door when I thought to myself, what reason do I have for being here? I don't know if I should make a fool of myself by knocking without reason. I was knocking on the door, I wasn't even thinking about it, not paying attention to myself or my actions. Since I've already knocked my excuse was to ask her if she needed assistance for anything. It was good enough. The door opened and Spike was there.

"Hello Spike, my draconian friend!" I said with a smile, "I stopped by to see if..."

"Don't worry, I know exactly why you're here." He winked at me.

"Oh, has she been gossiping about us?" I blushed.

"Oh no, I just know the look in her eyes, I get that look when I'm around Rarity, although her expression isn't as obvious as mine." He smiled at the remarks Twilight has made about it.

"Ok, I guess you aren't going to be overprotective about this whole thing then, are you?" I hoped for a good answer.

"Of course not! Twilight deserves to have somepony special in her life, with all the hard work she's done, she deserves it. But I'll be keeping my eye on you, just until I know you have good intentions." He glared at me.

"Alright, I'll let you watch me all you want, but I'm not sure if Twilight would appreciate the spying." I smiled.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Just get in there and do your thing." He smiled and let me through the door.

"Spike? Who was at the door? Whats taking so..." She stopped and saw me.

"Oh, you're here, Ironclad. What brings you to the library on such a morning?" She asked.

"I came here to assist you in anything you might need help with." I smiled and waited for a reply.

"Of course, there's something I need you to do for me in the other room of the library. I'll show you where." She started walking to another room of the treehouse.

"Spike, you can go back to bed, upstairs. You've worked hard last night and need your rest." She said and went into the other room.

Spike started up the stairs, and turned around before I entered the room. "You two have fun, but I'm still watching you."

I entered the room and Twilight was standing there, looking the other way. It was a small room, a section of the treehouse I've never seen before. It was considerably darker in this room, since there was only one small window and a wall slot for lighting a candle in. I sat there for a moment, observing my surroundings, looking for why I was here to help. I found that reason for why she brought me here, it was the dreamy look in her eyes that told me.

"I want to make this official. I want to make US official, our relationship..." She looked into my eyes.

"That night when I kissed you, the very night that I had first met you, I didn't know of any other way to thank you for such bravery and courtesy..." She continued.

"But when you kissed me back... I didn't expect such a thing. You took my heart with that kiss, you ignited such a fire with your dragon-blooded spirit!" She looked down to her hooves...

"I knew I did, I felt that fire ignite. The original flame stayed with me, and it grew unbelievably strong. You've given me reason to fight in this world. You've given me ultimate power in this world. You've given me something more than friendship could ever do..."

I walked up to her, tilted her head back up, and shared that flaming passionate kiss with her once again. I went to pull away after a bit but she pulled me in, continuing the fiery love we shared and kissed me back. We both fell to the ground and lay there, gazing into each others eyes. I could feel that she wanted me, more than anyone. My eyes flashed green once again, and Twilight saw it. It was a different green, it was lighter and more vivid. It showed the bubbly feeling of love. I felt that feeling burning in my heart, as if a flame was lit by Celestia herself. I went back in once again and kissed her, this time, feeling the flame within our kiss. It wasn't really a fire, it was actually her tongue, and when I realized this I allowed my own to explore. After a few minutes of laying on the floor, caught in each others gaze, lips locked tighter than... Well, anything, I sat up and helped her to her hooves.

"It just became official." I said with a dreamy smile on my face.

"Indeed..." She said, sounding as if she was still caught in a dream.

"Well, I guess all we have to do now is let the cat out of the bag." I said with a practical tone.

"Don't worry about that, there's no need to let the world know right away!" She said nervously.

"You're right, I'll just make sure to mention it whenever it seems like a good time to do so." I said.

"That's perfect, I'll be sure to do the same." She said, her usual smile returning to her face.

"Although, you should probably tell Spike as soon as you can, if you catch my drift." I winked.

"How does he know about us? Has he given you any trouble?" She looked worried.

"Well he totally saw the look in your eyes and knew what was going on. And he hasn't given me any trouble, but he should probably be the one to get an idea of what just happened." I smiled.

"Alright, but we both know that Spike can have his jealous and protective days, so tell me if there are any problems." She said.

"Alright. No secrets shall be kept from those eyes." I looked into her lustrous purple eyes and gave her another quick kiss, right as Spike walked down the stairs.

"I'm guessing things went well then?" Spike asked with a cheesy grin on his face.

"Spike!" She jumped. "Yes. Everything went great." She blushed.

"Alright! I'm on a schedule, I have other ponies to see! I'll see you two later. Maybe we'll gather everyone at the mansion at the end of the day." I smiled.

"It's definitely roomy enough to find some private time during a party." I winked at Twilight, which made her blush again.

After that I went outside to see that the sun was high in the sky, probably an hour after noon, maybe two. I went back to the house of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, there was no music playing so I had an idea of what was happening. I knocked on the door and Octavia answered the door.

"Ah, Ironclad. Come to join us? We were almost finished, but there's room for one more!" She winked at me.

"Oh my, I hope you're talking about a board game." I smiled awkwardly.

"Come on now! You know what I'm talking about. Your friend is quite the magic man with that horn of his!" She blushed.

"Alright, well I don't really have time for that, we're on a schedule and I'm going to need Silver's company on our next few stops." I gave the best smile I could.

"Alright, I'll tell him to meet you in the centre of town when we're finished. It won't take much longer." She giggled and went back upstairs.

I never would've guessed Octavia to be so... Naughty. I guess we all have sides of ourselves that don't show very often. I guess Silver will explain what happened later. I walked out to the square in to center. There were various shops open, giving choice to many goodies available to purchase. There were various food items, such as spices, ingredients, and apples! Apple Bloom was helping Granny Smith run the old apple stand for sweet apple acres. I went up to the little filly and greeted her.

"Hello Apple Bloom! How are your sales going?" I asked.

"They're alright, but its startin' to slow down around here, not very many ponies have stopped over in a while." She had a bored expression on her face.

"Well, maybe you could go to the field where the forge is being raised. Applejack might need some help with something." I suggested.

"Ah thought about it this mornin, helpin' out with the forge, but ah had mah own job to do. Granny Smith can't run the stand like she used to." She looked up at the old mare, who was sleeping in her chair in the shade of the cart.

"Alright, well after you're finished selling apples, you should go there and check up on everypony. They might need help with smaller things by then." I said.

"Alright, ah'll go up there when ah'm done runnin' this here apple stand!" She said eagerly.

And at that, Silver Dust showed up and greeted everypony with a groggy smile on his face. Just as he greeted, we said our goodbyes and went off to Rarity's boutique to check up on the uniform design. As we walked down the street, Silver was explaining the whole story as to what happened, but not too much explaining. I also mentioned what I had done during that time.

"Yeah, I knew where things were going with Vinyl, but when Octavia joined the fun, I couldn't believe it. I guess some of Vinyl's personality rubbed off at some point." He thought about it.

"Yeah, that was crazy when she invited me to join the 'fun'." I smirked. "I was never expecting that to happen."

"Well, enough of that, we know what I did. Where did you go during that time?" Silver asked.

"Oh. I went down to the library for a bit, just to see if somepony needed any help." I went into a daydream about what had happened.

"Oh I got what you mean!" He smiled. "Did you 'help' her with what she needed?"

"Not exactly like you did, but I definitely helped her. She helped me, too." My eyes gave a glimmer of fiery green.

We kept walking for a while to the boutique. Silver Dust asked me for more description, but I told him it wasn't needed. I changed the topic to the uniform that Tiki was making. I asked Silver Dust what he thought it would be like, but none of us had a clue as to what Tiki and Rarity could be planning for us. Although, with the combination of the two working together, it was going to be stylish, practical, useful, and fabulous. It was going to be extremely fabulous. We arrived at the boutique and Silver gave a knock on the door. Tiki answered and invited us in immediately.

"You went to the spa?!" Silver Dust was laughing.

"Sweet Celestia! Yes! It was amazing!" Tiki gave a glare to silver, which turned into a smirk shortly.

"Well, at least you were ready to design the outfit we would be wearing for a very long time." I said, "it's how we're going to be seen as the Ponyville guard."

"Oh yeah, it's perfect! I know that everypony will love it! We've been working hard through the morning and we won't be done until later tonight." He said with determination.

"Oh, but the wait is definitely worth it! It looks wondrous already!" Rarity said from the work room in the back.

"Alright, we'll leave you to your work. Lets go see how Bronze is handling with the forge." I suggested to Silver Dust.

"Sounds good, I bet they'll need some help with something." Silver said, opening the front door with his magic.

We started walking to the field where the forge would be raised. It started off as a casual walk, but as we both realized how long that would take, I broke into a gallop. Silver Dust was soon behind me at an equal pace. It was about a seven minute run to the other side of Ponyville, where the field that was assigned to the forge was. As we walked up, everypony was there, cementing stones as a base for a large fire pit. A chimney was starting to take form when Bronze Hammer approached us in the field.

"Boy am ah glad to see you and that magic horn of yours!" He said.

"Why, do you need any assistance with raising anything particularly heavy?" Silver Dust's horn started to glow.

"Actually, its just the opposite, ah need you to levitate these stones into place for the chimney! It would save us a lot of time, cementin' and all." Bronze said.

"Sure thing, this shouldn't be too hard." Silver said with a determined look.

Silver dust walked up to the pile of stones to choose from for the roof. He levitated them all into a different spot in the air above him. He carefully examined each rock and how they could fit in different places. He then levitated each stone into perfect position for a chimney out the hole in the center of the roof. Applejack went for the cement to get working while the stones were in place, but Silver Dust levitated all the cement needed into the appropriate places needed. There was only one problem. The cement needed to dry while the structure was built progressively, not all at once. Silver dust would need to levitate everything in place for a good hour until it all dried in place. But it wasn't needed. With a small sneeze of blazing fire, I baked the cement into place so that silver could stop the magic. He was exhausted. Silver dust hadn't worked that hard, magically, since he had warped into the world. The apple wood charred from the blaze, but didn't catch fire. This was definitely a good sign of quality. After a cool jump into the flowing river, the apple crew, along with Bronze, went back to more work on the forge. Silver and I continued our roundabouts once more and were off to... Well, somewhere.

After walking aimlessly through town, I decided to assign Silver to help out at the Ponyville clinic, if help was needed, and it was. His basic healing skills helped out throughout the rest of the day for the clinic. Bones were mended flawlessly, cuts and gashes could be sealed without scarring, and many other basic things that Silver Dust had mastered while practicing in the forest with Julie the other day. I was by myself the rest of the day, until later tonight, for our gathering. I decided to head back to the mansion and get ready for the dinner I would be having for everypony. It wasn't going to be a party, just a get-together for everypony's hard work today. I was walking down the cobblestone road when a rainbow maned pegasus caught my eye over head.

"Greetings Rainbow Dash!" I yelled up to her, "I haven't seen you all day! What have you been up to?"

"I had my usual weather duties for today, but knowing myself, I slept in this morning and cleared my section of the sky at the last moment." She gloated.

"Of course you did, I was wondering why my morning was so gloomy." I smirked

"Yeah, I heard you and your friends were up early this morning. What gives?" She asked.

"Bronze Hammer and Tiki have been working all day," I said. "And I've been patrolling with Silver Dust through the morning."

"I guess you don't have anything to do with why Twilight was daydreaming like that on her balcony at noon?" She smiled.

"Is it really that obvious?" I was starting to worry. "But yes, I stopped by the library and set everything straight with Twilight."

"Well that's really nice, she deserves it, with all the studying she does." Rainbow had an irritated look on her face.

"Well I have to get home to fix something for dinner tonight, we're all gathering at the mansion to award ourselves for a day of hard work. You might as well come too." I said.

"Sure, and you've got the uniform ready to present?" Rainbow asked eagerly.

"Rarity and Tiki should be done with the design by tonight." I said.

"And the new forge was raised today in the field, too?" She asked again.

"Yeah, they're adding the final touches." I said, "you should go see what they've done with the place."

"Alright, I'll go do that right now." And before I could reply, she was off. Into the direction of the field.

The sun was now getting lower in the sky. Everypony was finishing with their jobs and getting ready for a night of fun. I was at the mansion, in the front yard. As I went to approach the front door, I noticed a silhouette of a pony through the window in the kitchen. He was a large, more rounded pony. He wasn't as toned as Bronze Hammer, so it couldn't have been him. The head of the pony faced a different angle, and I noticed he had a large, black mustache. I've seen that mustache before. I walked through the front door, the pony of question not seeming to be worried by my arrival. I walked into the kitchen, and I was greeted by a gruff voice with an Italian accent. It was the chef from the lab cafe!

"Hey! Its'a me, Mario!" He exclaimed, kissing both of my cheeks and giving a large hug.

"I remember you! I would never forget such a mustache such as that!" I laughed and hugged him back.

"Please, you can call'a me Crisco! Its'a mah name, in this new pony world!" He laughed.

"It's a very fitting name for somepony with such a personality!" I said.

"Yes, yes! But I've got a lot of work to be doing! Imm'a serve you and your guests tonight, see?" He got right to work.

I looked him down for a bit, taking a description down of his appearance. He had a caramel coat with a greasy black, curly mane. His eyes were a deep hazel color, which goes with his mustache, complimentarily. His tail was short, just as mine was, but it was a deep black like his mane and mustache. He was a tall pony, but had a round and plump complexion. His cutie mark was a large, curved french knife, which he was using right now to prepare a large salad, enough to feed an entire party.

"Ya know, Julie had me give'a you a message. She wants me to tell you that you won't leave this world tonight. She's a'gonna put you into a hibernation state for long term usage." His deep, gruff voice was very charming and comforting.

"Ok, thanks for the message, I'll be sure to relay it to the rest of the group." I said.

After that, I helped Crisco prepare a fine meal of garlic bread, green leaf salad, spaghetti, and other delectable home made Italian dishes. We talked for a while, getting to know each other. The Mario of the human world had a very sad life. He was disowned by his family for unclear reasons, and was sent to America in search of a job. His wife was killed by a branch of the new Italian Mafia, and he didn't know where his son was. He had lost faith in his son, because he was either dead, or brainwashed into the Mafia, turned against his own father. He found a job at the lab, which promised to keep him and his location anonymous to anyone who asked. His days were brightened, serving meals to a hard working staff, and was even happier to see me every morning, because I reminded him so much of his nephew, who helped him get to America safely and find this job. He also told me about how he was gay, which didn't bother me one bit, since I was bisexual. I didn't tell this to him, because he didn't need to know. He explained that his sexual interests wouldn't become a problem in our household, since he was a jolly man alone, and past his prime. But I shared his joys and his sorrows through his story, and had gained another friend this night.

It was now dark out, everypony had gone home and came back prepared to feast on an excellent meal in the company of all their hard working companions. Even anypony who didn't exactly work today still showed up to enjoy the company and the food.

"Everypony, may we have your attention?" Rarity stood up.

"After a long day of work, the official design for the new Ponyville guard has been finalized!" Tiki announced.

Tiki removed his cloak and Silver Dust came out from one of the rooms on the second floor, looking over the indoor balcony to the living room. As he came down, the glorious emerald and navy blue camo uniforms were revealed. They were very lightweight, loose uniforms, and offered significant protection. Rarity explained that the stitching, suggested by Fluttershy, provided guard against incoming blows from sharp objects and were fire resistant and water proof, thanks to the fabrics used. Tiki showed all the numerous hidden pockets within the uniform that had enough storage to equal a full sized saddle bag. The color scheme was explained to give camouflage in changing environments, the navy blue areas for urban and aqua environment, and the dark emerald reflected light as if it were a leaf. It was perfect, the most advanced design ponies have seen yet. Everypony was truly amazing and gave an inspiring cheer for the hard work put into such a design. Now that the most important part was over, the better part started. Everypony sat around the glorious, rounded dining table, enough to fit the group that showed up. There was also plenty of food to go around, there was even left overs for tomorrow, for the new soldiers to wake up to and enjoy. Crisco also was introduced by myself to the group and how he arrived. He gave the sad speech about how he ended up here. All of the ponies in the room were touched by his journey and horrified at the true nature of some human beings from the original world. After the dinner everyone was able to mingle a bit more, and leave off from last nights party if they had to. After a long night of partying, since Pinkie Pie couldn't resist blowing the party cannon, and Twilight showing me how proud she was of our hard work, more intense kissing. everyone left for home and went straight to bed. I fell asleep as soon as I hit a pillow, but it wasn't mine, I was at the library that night.

Reality of Danger

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I woke up, hugging Twilight Sparkle in a spooning position. She had brought me back to her library after the party because she didn't want to leave me. I didn't want to leave her either, not after such a good day. I had promised her that I would not leave her side after that fateful afternoon, but I had a station to uphold back at the mansion, being on the guard and all. I could not be absent from my post very often, and Twilight also knew that. I had been assigned commanding position by Princess Celestia, but Silver Dust had the capability to command on the spot if I was absent for any reason. I snapped from my thought and came back to Twilight. I was laying in her bed, with her close to my body, locked in my forearms. Spike was actually sleeping in his bed across the room by a small bookshelf, I wouldn't want to make a love scene in front of him. Twilight was sound asleep, I didn't want to move from my position, snug against her backside, with my head resting on her mane. Her body was so close to mine, I've never felt anything like it. I could feel her soft breathing, along with her steady heartbeat faintly pulsing through my chest. Her coat was soft, and there was a central warmth I could feel from within her, probably her source of magical energy in her spirit. I knew the similar feeling of my own, its what keeps me warm during a cold, misty night down by the river. It wasn't exactly magical energy, but a fiery charge within myself, which gave me my power and fire capabilities. This fire grew stronger when I was with Twilight, as if our two central powers were bonded into a magical flame, one to reflect our fiery passion, hidden behind a mortal body, so nopony else could see its beauty. This wasn't the case for our relationship, at least, it didn't have to be. I told the other ponies about Twilight and I, and made a point to let Pinkie know about it. I didn't know what ponies were going to think about us, being together and all. I had just come from a different world, it seems a bit rushed. Then I remembered that it didn't matter. All that did matter was within my grasp at the moment, as long as she was happy.

At that moment Twilight broke my train of thought. She had started to move about, slowly coming from her slumber and back to the real world. She turned over, still locked in my grip, my iron grip. Her eyes looked into mine, and I brought in for a single kiss, to say good morning. She didn't argue, letting me do so as she lay in bed, still half asleep, wandering through the dream world lightly. A single spark flew from her horn, a spark of fire, dancing through the air. I thought back to my metaphor and how this spark resonated the idea of what I had stated.

"Good morning, gorgeous." I had said, rolling out of bed.

"Good morning to you, too! I don't think I've ever slept like that in years!" Twilight yawned and got out of bed also, fixing the sheets with her magic.

"That's all you needed was a bit of comfort, I feel well rested, too." I smiled.

"You should come by more often, whenever you aren't on duty." She frowned.

"Yeah, I know. I'll make a point of putting you to sleep in my arms whenever I get notice that you've over worked yourself!" I smiled and went down the stairs after Twilight.

"That shouldn't be your only reason to see me!" She laughed. "We could always just go out for an actual date, whenever you aren't on duty, of course."

"Alright, before I head back to the mansion, lets go out somewhere together for breakfast, just you and I." I suggested.

"Let's go, I'll leave Spike a note and we can go down to a quiet cafe at the edge of Ponyville." Twilight said, as she wrote a note for Spike to see.

We had left the library fairly early, nopony was up and working at sunrise on a Saturday morning such as this, we would practically be to ourselves at this simple diner at the edge of Ponyville. It would be perfect. We were walking down the cobblestone road, side by side. The sun was just coming out from the hillside, warming Ponyville with its rays of light. Twilight stared into my eyes, mesmerized by the vivid colors of green shining in the sun. I could see the outside of town, the cobblestone road leading into a field and through a forest. The diner was sort of a welcoming stop for anypony coming into Ponyville. This wasn't exactly the Equestria portrayed from a show in my own world, this world had its flaws and dangers as its own. This included rogue, dangerous ponies coming into Ponyville for trouble. I might have to keep an eye out for this stop, in case I find anything out of the ordinary around here.

"Oh good, there it is!" Twilight started off for the diner.

"Wait for me! I don't know if I could exactly trust a place so close to the edge of Ponyville." I had a troubled look.

"Don't worry, not many bad ponies come wandering down this side of town. We should be fine this morning." She tried to calm me.

"Alright, if you say so, but nopony in my town is going to cause any trouble, I'll have my eye open on this way in, along with some of the other roads into Ponyville." I said.

"Well you aren't on duty right now, so enjoy yourself while it lasts! Enjoy it with me." She smiled, trying to cheer me up.

"Well, it doesn't look like a bad place, but looks are deceiving sometimes." I said.

"Yes, I know, but you need to stop worrying! Save it for when you're on guard!" She walked into the diner, there was nopony there like we guessed.

"Huh, this place has changed quite a bit, last time I remember being here." Twilight examined the room.

"It looks like it was fitted to serve ponies coming from the outside, not leaving the inside." I looked around.

The place looked like a casual diner, booths around on the sides of the walls, with a bar sat up along the kitchen side of the room. There was a single waitress serving the diner, it was small enough for her to handle, even on a busy day. There was a bartender behind the counter, a small, fit young stallion. He had a welcome smile as he greeted us to his diner, asking us to take a seat at one of the smaller booths. It wasn't exactly the most romantic location for breakfast, I could've done much better myself, but it was a start. The one thing that really added to the room was the quiet, shady stallion sitting at a booth, eating pancakes and drinking a hot cup of coffee. He was reading the head article of the paper, the head article about the new Ponyville guard. He gave a glance my way and back to his pancakes. I didn't like the look of this large, shady stallion, but like I said, looks are deceiving. Twilight and I took a seat at the smaller table near the corner of the room. The waitress came over to us and took our orders.

"Now what are a couple of nice ponies like you doing in a quiet little diner like this?" She asked.

"Well it's sort of a first date, we just wanted to go somewhere that wouldn't be so crowded." Twilight said.

"You've come to the right place, there's almost nopony here except for the stallion at the bar." She said, motioning to the big pony drinking his coffee.

"Does he come here often? I'm not to fond of his look." I said nervously.

"Yeah, I'm with you, mister. He doesn't seem too friendly by Jim's experience talking with the guy." She said. Jim must've been the bartender.

"Well, if he causes any trouble, call me up and I'll have somepony take care of it, if not myself." I winked at the waitress.

"So that's where I've seen that face before, your the new Ponyville guard!" She smiled.

"Yeah, this is a nice diner, I'm not going to stand for any trouble being caused here." I said.

After a bit more talking our food finally came out. We enjoyed a good breakfast and a bit of small talk, with a cute remark and a small kiss at the end. The only thing that bothered me was that the strange stallion was still at the booth, just sitting there. I was watching him like a hawk now. We got up to leave and walk out the door. Twilight was going back to her library to check on Spike, while I was going to the mansion to suit up for today's work. I saw the shady stallion walking towards the door, so I told Twilight to come with me, down the trail out of Ponyville and towards the forest. She didn't question my motive when she saw the look in my eyes, and we did so. We walked through the pasture at a leisurely pace, the stallion coming up behind us.

"Oh my Celestia! He's coming right for us! What do we do?" Twilight was getting increasingly nervous.

"Just prepare for the worst. I'm not sure what's going to happen." I said

I would've turned around and bucked the stallion into oblivion, but he hasn't committed any crime yet. As we got close to the forest, the shady character broke into a trot for us, then a silent gallop, which wasn't going to end well. He knocked me to the ground with a takedown that threw me off the trail and into the field. He grabbed Twilight. I was going to rip him in half.

"Now whats a pretty little unicorn like yourself doing out here with such a scrawny little stallion?" He chuckled and held his hoof over Twilight's muzzle.

"Don't worry darling, lets go into the forest, I'll show you how a REAL stallion treats a mare!" He laughed.

He started to drag Twilight towards the forest, with an evil grin on his face. He didn't go very far, when a hoof was placed on his shoulder. He didn't have time to speak when he turned around, because my other free hoof was thrust into his face. Twilight was dropped free and the stallion slide a good two meters across the field. He immediately got back up and charged for us again. This wasn't a very good idea, because I kicked his front hooves from under him and held his head against the ground, on the cobblestone.

"Listen, pal." I whispered into his ear, "if I see you again, anywhere near Ponyville, I'll take from you something you tried to take from Twilight. I'll take every single bit of your pride away and throw it down the river."

His eyes widened at the thought, but he didn't feel threatened that his own life was in my hoof. "What're you gonna do, punk? Lock me up? Banish me from Ponyville? You couldn't do anything to keep me from doing what I want!"

"I'll come right back to Ponyville when you ain't lookin' and cause as much trouble as I want!" He chuckled.

"Not when you're dead." I grinned at the thought, my merciless draconian side shining in my eyes.

"Ironclad, it doesn't have to come down to that." Twilight said, "just send him to the Canterlot dungeon!"

"Alright, but only if you insist on such a simple punishment." I resisted my urge to snap his neck and burn his body to a crisp. I didn't want Twilight to witness such a thing.

After I knocked his head unconscious against the cobblestone, I took him back our holding room in the mansion, waiting for royal guards to escort him to Canterlot. I had recently found a basement room in the mansion. There was an old trap door leading down to a very roomy storage room, it would be perfect for holding criminals, Bronze Hammer would be at the forge to smith some bars, to help hold down anypony who resisted or tried to escape while the royal guard came by to escort them out. The stallion that I encountered at the diner did not resist, he was unconscious for the entire wait. The guards arrived shortly and took him to the Canterlot dungeon on the next train out. Now that breakfast was over and the stallion was taken care of, I suited up with Tiki and prepared for the first roundabout of the town. Tiki would patrol the town from the air, I would make a roundabout through the entire town, exploring Ponyville's strong points and weak points of entry.

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Bronze Hammer was at the forge, preparing for a long day of work. One of the ponies lent him a certain metal, metal he mentioned to only use once, for the strongest weapons he was going to create. It was a large rock, it took a cart to escort it to the forge. With one skilled smash of a hammer, Bronze broke the ore into sections, with the core still perfectly in tact. The core had maintained a roughly circle shape, and guessing from its glossy appearance, it should be used for a smaller craft, for more strength and endurance, and he knew exactly the pony to use it for. The other fragments were laying on the ground, each seemed to have slightly different properties from the other. The first to start on were short swords, Tiki had requested two short swords as his weapon of choice. The piece of ore chosen was melted down into long bars of glossy metal, with an orange tint, sort of a copper color, but resembled a gold shine to it also. The main color of the metal was a dark grey, silver color. This didn't matter, as long as the metal was strong as promised. Bronze began right away, pounding out the shape of the two swords. The fire was extremely hot, but wasn't unbearable. It had a certain characteristic. Of course I lit the fire with a spark from my central flame, this may have something to do with it. The fire burnt hotter than anything, the glow of the embers was almost a greenish yellow glow, a certain characteristic of a dragon's flame. The ore melted fine, and allowed for good flexibility when it was heated. With the pounding of the hammer, sparks flew and the swords took shape. Next was the grind stone. Spike suggested layering it lightly with some of his dragon scales. Of course, he outgrew them a while back, but they were still stronger than any metal and wouldn't wear down from any of the constant grinding that was going to be done. It was a very good idea, and so the grindstone was plated with small dragon scales. It showed in Bronze Hammer's work too, the scales had brought the two short swords down to a fine point, the double bladed edges good enough to cut through many things, wood, softer metal, even certain rocks. The metal was extremely strong, as tested by Bronze himself. The sword did not show any sign of dulling against cutting through wood, severing metal chunks, or cracking through rocks. This metal was truly a valuable, and powerful material.

Next was a design that he had thought of for Silver Dust. He may be a combat medic for us, but he needed some form of weaponry when everything else goes wrong. Bronze was designing a retractable blade to bond the the end of Silver's tail, incase a whip-around slash was needed. A smaller fragment of metal ore was selected. It was melted down in the blazing pit of flame of the forge. This next part took skill and concentration. This wasn't a broad sword being pounded out into shape, this was a thin, needle-like blade that needed to be in perfect shape to fit the rest of the contraption. Bronze switched out his hammer for a different shaping tool. This was used to form the bar into a sleek blade, double edged for effective puncturing capability. It was such a unique design, the blade was thin like a knife, but the width of the blade made it look like a needle, a long, deadly needle that could pierce through a small creature, due to its impressive length. The blade had a hook and groove at the end, allowing it to prop in place in the sash that had been designed to allow a flick of the tail to whip the blade out and into the target effectively. Rarity had supplied a durable, yet comfortable fabric for such a design, even though the color scheme was just "horrendous" as she described. It didn't matter, it was designed to be concealable and portable for all purposes out on the field. The sleek design of the blade itself allowed for quick retraction with little or no trouble, it could pierce bone without fracturing or locking in the bone itself. It was finished, a genius design that will certainly come in handy for many uses. It could even pick locks, or cut rope out of a sticky situation.

The next design was a hammer, for Bronze Hammer himself. The larger, more oddly colored piece had been saved for the hammer, since it was going to be a full-metal hammer, to prevent breakage of the shaft. Of course there would be a wooden or fabric grip at the bottom, but the entire hammer would be metal based. As Bronze heated the fire back up to melting capability, Applejack showed up at the back of the forge, near the river.

"That sure is a mighty blaze you got goin' on there!" She said.

"Sure is, Ironclad insisted lightin' the fire for me. He claims it won't burn out as easily and burns hotter than wood fires." Bronze shielded his face from the blaze.

"Well he sure was right about the blaze! It's hotter than the sun in here!" She frowned.

"Yeah, ah think ah might go take a dip in the river to cool down." Bronze walked towards the river.

"That sounds like a swell idea, ah might as well join ya!" Applejack darted for the river.

Both the ponies jumped into the river and took a dive out into the middle. As Bronze broke the surface of the water, the back of his neck was steaming. It was a fairly cool day out, but the forge was blazing hot inside from the fire. Both the ponies swam up and down the riverside, enjoying the fresh flow of cool water on their coats. After a while, each of them started talking.

"AJ, aren't you busy this time of day? Workin' the farm and all?" Bronze asked.

"Sure am, ah just came down to check up on the forge, and to see if ya needed any help." She smiled.

"Well if you wanted, ah was just about to start workin' on a mighty big hammer. Ah could always use an extra pair of hooves." Bronze said.

"Sure thing! Ah'm glad we gave ya more than one pair of gloves. It's gonna get mighty hot on a big hammer like that." Applejack smiled.

"Sure is, lets get to it right now, ah have plenty more to do after it." Bronze said.

"Alrighty then, maybe after this, ah might go get somethin' to drink, y'all should take a break and come back to the orchard with me." Applejack offered.

"Sounds like a good idea." Bronze left the river and started back to the forge.

Applejack and Bronze Hammer started melting down the ore right away. The fire grew extremely hot, with such an amount of metal to refine. Bronze Hammer kept a hoof over Applejack's eyes and face, to keep her from getting burnt by the heat. Bronze didn't think much of it, as far as a friendly gesture went, but Applejack appreciated what he did. Bronze brought the metal bar from the fire pit and laid it out on the table. As the shaft cooled, it took form from Bronze Hammer, guiding it into shape. As the metal cooled, it became darker silver, almost to a black color. The different metals in the ore were just separating and cooling. After a dip into a cold bucket of water, the shaft had a smooth feel to it. A gripping material would be needed at the end, since the material was so slick. The rest of the metal was swimming around in a group in the fire pit. Bronze took Applejack's hooves and guided them over the bar to remove the metal from the flames. She hesitated at first, but Bronze's grip was strangely calming and reassuring. The metal was removed from the flame and immediately started taking shape. Bronze selected another unique tool, to shape the hammer's head into a more square form. Before the metal cooled and set, bronze set the head into the shaft, letting the metals melt together and solidify with a dip in the water bucket. The head of the hammer turned to a deep copper color with a golden gloss to it.

"Thanks AJ, I'll remember us now when ah'm out there crackin' heads with this baby!" Bronze took the hammer in his grip and gave it a good swing.

"Aw, it was nothin'! But ya really don't have to remember me by that." She smiled awkwardly

"Lets just go back to the orchard, ah'll get us some cold apple juice to cool down on." Applejack suggested.

"That sounds mighty fine, lets get going!" Bronze said.

The two ponies went off towards the orchard after another cool down in the river. At first it was just a trot down the field, which turned into a gallop when Bronze started to break ahead of Applejack. The two country ponies galloped all the way to the estate of sweet apple acres. Both were out of breath when they arrived, but they calmed down after a bit when Big Mac brought out freshly made apple juice on ice. They all had a cool drink and sat in the shade. Applejack fell asleep with her hat shading her face. Bronze Hammer went into the kitchen with Big Mac to take the platter inside and cool down. Big Mac stopped Bronze from leaving the kitchen, he had a serious look on his face.

"Ah wanna talk to you 'bout Applejack." He said with a serious look.

"Yep. Ah see where this is going." Bronze smiled.

"Nothin' bad or such, but ah know whats goin' on. Ah've seen the looks in both of y'all's faces." Big Mac chuckled.

"Ah don't mean any harm, but if Applejack is really that happy bein' with me and all, I'll make her a happy mare." Bronze winked.

"That's what ah'm afraid of." He frowned, "ah don't want y'all to go hurtin' her, just keep your hooves where they should be, we won't have a problem." Big Mac said sternly.

"That's mighty fine with me, ah'll let her make the first move." Bronze said.

"Mighty fine with me, as long as she's the one makin' the move." Big Mac stepped out of the way, and proceeded back to the tree they were under.

Applejack woke up shortly after the two stallions came back from the kitchen. Bronze Hammer went back to the forge with Applejack and continued to craft with the strange metal he received from the stranger in the town square.

"Alright, last bit of work for our armory, then ah can start on more conventional things." Bronze said, relieved.

"Sounds dandy. Let's get to work." Applejack went over to the ore on the ground.

"Yep, ah'm gettin' the fire heated up. Toss that hunk of metal in when you're ready." Bronze said.

And at that, Applejack gave the orb of metal ore a buck into the fiery pit, right into the mold in the middle. The fire became increasingly hot, and the orb started to glisten. There was a problem though, it wouldn't melt down, the fire couldn't get hot enough. Only one pony in town could get this fire blazing hot enough for the orb to melt down, and that was the dragon blooded stallion who made the fire himself. Lucky for the two ponies, I had finished dealing with the rapist from the diner and made my roundabouts of the town, starting from the mansion, going to the forge.

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Tiki was flying through the skies, looking over the houses and through the streets filled with ponies, doing everyday things. He was supposed to be keeping an eye through Ponyville from the sky, but he couldn't see anything other than ponies and streets from the sky, not with the detail he would like. If only he had a scope of some sort, or an amazing eye trick that would let him see fine detail from high altitudes. He was trying his best to pick up on every detail, not looking where he was flying, and crashed into Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was sitting on a cloud, taking a nap in the afternoon sun.

"Hey! What gives! I'm trying to get some rest here!" Rainbow Dash looked up and saw Tiki, who was trying to recover from the crash.

"Yeah. Sorry about that, I'm trying to focus on the ground right now, I'm on patrol." Tiki returned to his original altitude.

"Oh, I guess you figured out the old Pegasus trick then?" Rainbow smirked.

"What trick? Will it help me see from all the way up here?" Tiki asked.

"Yup, its an old trick I picked up off of an eagle, Fluttershy helped translate for the eagle and it taught me how to see detail from anywhere I want." Rainbow gloated.

"Well, can you teach me? It would definitely be helpful at a job like this." Tiki asked.

"I don't remember the EXACT process it took to learn the trick, but I bet Fluttershy has a falcon or something that would be willing to help." Rainbow said.

"Ok, sweet, off to Fluttershy's house then." Tiki flew off in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage, soon followed by Rainbow Dash.

After a short flight, the two pegasi arrived at Fluttershy's cottage. There was no answer after Tiki had knocked on the door. After a bit of waiting, a soft voice could be heard from the back of the cottage. Fluttershy was tending her chickens in the back, and wasn't there to answer the door. Tiki and Rainbow flew back to the chicken coop and waited for Fluttershy to walk out.

"Fluttershy! We need you to do us a favor." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh, of course, anything." The pink maned Pegasus replied.

"Great! I was wondering if you had a falcon that could teach me how to see from far away?" Tiki asked.

"Yes, I have just what you're looking for, I'll be right back." Fluttershy went into the woods behind her house and brought out a falcon on her back.

"He can teach you how to see from great distances." Fluttershy said.

"Well that isn't all, I need your animal skills to help with the process, since I don't understand falcon." Tiki said.

"Alright, I'll walk you though the steps, as the falcon explains it." Fluttershy was ready.

After a half hour of different processes and training, Tiki was able to focus his vision to whatever he needed, even from 300 feet from the ground. Everything was crystal clear now, its like he had a new pair of eyes, which he sort of did have. His eye color darkened considerably. They were still his green eyes, but the outer ring of green was almost black, turning lighter green towards the center. This effect was natural, and would wear off after a while. Rainbow's eyes had the same effect when they first adjusted to this new skill. After the training, Tiki thanked everypony for the hard work, and the falcon for such a skill taught. For the rest of the afternoon, Tiki was observing Ponyville through new eyes.

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Silver Dust was the doctor of the group. He was the helper, the support. That isn't enough for him though, he wanted to protect so he didn't have to fix so much. He had suited up this morning and went out on his first patrol, like the rest of us. As he made a roundabout of Ponyville early in the morning, Octavia stopped him in the garden of Ponyville. Of course who could resist the invitation to join two mares in a morning wake up of coffee and kink. After that he had continued his day at the clinic, where his services were asked of by Dr. Hoof again. The time he spent in the hospital, healing other ponies after their mishaps. Silver Dust didn't want to do this after a while. He enjoyed helping others feel better and all, but if he were able to prevent such things from happening to his friends... One of the patients overheard Silver muttering this to himself, an old mare being treated for a sickness that just came with old age. She told him about an old antique shop that might have a special amulet that could help him with his problems. Silver Dust jumped at the idea and went straight to the small antique shop that the mare had described, after finishing his shift at the clinic. It was close to the center of Ponyville, but nobody ever really went in to shop. The sign on the door said open, and Silver Dust entered with caution. There was an old stallion sitting in a rocking chair, dozing off into the afternoon.

"Excuse me, sir. I'm wondering if you could help me with something?" Silver Dust politely asked.

"Sure thing, son. Just tell me what you're lookin' for." He said in a gruff, quiet voice.

"I'm looking for an amulet, used by unicorns to boost magic capability." He hoped for a good answer.

"Of course, I got what ya need." He smiled.

"Go behind the counter and grab a dark wooden box from the shelf on the bottom." The old stallion said.

"Alright, I've got it right here. It's pretty light, whats in it?" Silver asked.

"It's an amulet, just like the one you wanted. Go ahead, open it." The old stallion closed his eyes and started to doze off again.

Silver Dust opened the box and found a small amulet, golden chained with a small diamond in the middle. The gold chaining was gleaming with bright magic capability, as if the power was circuiting through the chains. The diamond was a clear color, but within the center, colors and shapes flowed in a small pool of visions. The amulet was extremely light, but was emulating magical power, you could feel it in the room. When the box was opened a pulse of light-hearted energy filled the room, everything was brightened and refreshed. The old stallion looked as if he was young and abled, like Silver Dust himself. Everything faded back to normal and the old stallion jumped at the sight of the box.

"Ah, ya got it! Go ahead, put it on!" He looked on anxiously.

Silver Dust guided the amulet around his neck with his magic. The gem made contact with his coat and locked around his neck, like it wanted to be with him. It then glowed a white aura and absorbed within him. Silver didn't panic, he couldn't. There was so much light and happiness within him, it was better than anything he had done since he arrived in Ponyville. Everything calmed down, and the amulet appeared on his neck once more, it shined silver within the diamond, matching the color of his glossy eyes.

"What just happened? I feel so enlightened!" Silver Dust had an amazing smile on.

"The amulet, it likes you and your intentions, it wants to be with you." The old stallion said.

"Alright, what's the cache with this thing? What do I have to watch out for?" Silver Dust asked, seeming concerned.

"The only cache is its power limitation, there is none, but you can't use it as a weapon, only a method of protection. You can conjure protective spells, you can create illusions to fool your foes, but you cannot harm with such an amulet of happiness." The stallion smiled.

"No wonder it enjoys my intentions, because those are my exact intentions." Silver smiled.

"Alright, I could never charge you for such a destined object that you posses. You can leave if that's all, I won't keep you any longer." The stallion smiled and dozed off to dreamland again.

Silver Dust walked through the door with the small amulet around his neck. He felt so light hearted and joyful with such an object. He needed to test the object. He went to a quiet field near the edge of the Everfree forest. Silver Dust stood there for a moment, meditating to focus the power of the amulet. After a minute of focus, he released the energy felt within the amulet, he wanted a barrier between him and the forest. When his eyes opened, there was a crystallized barrier surrounding him half way from the Everfree forest. It was amazing, massive, and impenetrable. The crystal wall was clear and beauteous, as his intentions to protect and serve were the same way. Silver Dust needed to show his friends his new capabilities. The barrier retracted into the gem within the center of the diamond, and he was off to the forge.

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I was making my roundabout through town, it was late in the afternoon, the sky tinted a golden orange, and I was coming up on the forge where Bronze Hammer was at. He'd been working all day so I thought he might've finished all of the weaponry we asked for, maybe he was working on the bars we needed for the cell room in the basement. I had walked up to the forge, but something was wrong. Nopony was anywhere to be found, and everything was jumbled or out of place, it looked as if Bronze had worked his tail off. I went into the back near the river to find Bronze Hammer with Applejack, kissing in the river. I didn't want to interrupt, and since Bronze had filled in all the orders we needed for today, I let them have their reward. About 5 minutes later, Silver Dust showed up at the forge with amazing news, and an amulet that reacted strangely to me and my glowing eyes. I didn't like this amulet, and it didn't like me. After about another 5 minutes, Bronze Hammer came around to the front of the forge with Applejack leaned against his side.

"It's about time, you two. I certainly enjoyed the show." I winked at Bronze.

"Oh, yeah, ah guess we were a bit busy with each other to notice you walkin' up and all." He sighed and then smiled.

"Don't worry about it, I came around to the front and waited it out with Silver." I laughed.

"Yeah, but that's not important right now!" Silver exclaimed.

Bronze Hammer went in to sock Silver in the face for saying such a thing, but a crystallized barrier came between them and threw Bronze back to the ground. Everyone was in shock to see such a spontaneous act of powerful magic. Silver Dust was gleaming with excitement for his new power.

"I can definitely play a stronger defensive role for you guys on the field now!" Silver said.

"Yeah, you can bet your flank! That'll be useful against a group of dull goblins running around." I laughed at the idea of goblins poking at a crystal barrier with sticks and stones.

"Ah don't know about this. Ah mean, it's nice and all, but where'd you get the power from?" Bronze was skeptical, as was I.

Silver Dust explained the story of the old mare in the clinic and the antique shop where he found the amulet. I thought it was a great addition to the team, and that it didn't seem bad one bit. I guess the amulet itself reacted to my dragon blooded side and didn't like it. I guess this makes me the evil artifact. Now that everything was explained, there was one thing that needed to be done. That core of ore needed to be smelted in order for my weapon of choice to be crafted. I walked over to the fire pit with the glistening ore still smoldering the fire. I brought a flame from within my central power, and let loose a spark onto the ore. One spark turned into two, two into four, and so on, until flames danced across the orb and it started to liquidate. This flame was extremely hot, everypony had to leave the room, even Bronze Hammer himself. I took the mold in which the liquid core was pooled in. I took my front hooves and placed them in the molten metal. Anypony who did this would have to be hospitalized for such extreme burn wounds, but I was dragon-blooded, I felt no heat when I was in the forge and no pain in the liquid metal, I only felt warmth. The metal started to cool and take form around my hooves, I went to work quickly, shaping grooves and cuffs into the knuckles of the glowing hot horse shoes. I soon made clamps after reheating the leftover metal to make clamps, to secure the knuckled horseshoes I was creating. The design gave me a blunt side to neutralize a target unconscious, and not harmed severely. Around the edges and base though, were grooves and pointed edges, which made contact with a face or head lethal if I applied enough force. The knuckles were for taking down targets that I didn't want to kill or injure severely, just disable them or knock unconscious. I still had my hind legs for a lethal buck to he upper body if I wanted to really get some work done on goblins.

The metal had cooled into place and taken shape perfectly, they couldn't have fit myself better than now. Everypony was excited to see their new weapons, except for Tiki, who was missing out on all of the action, somewhere in Ponyville. Beside that, we were all excited to see the force of the knuckles I had crafted from the most solid material in Ponyville. Bronze showed me the way to a large grounded rock in the river bed. It needed to be cleared in order to continue making a water pool on the side of the river. I took the knuckles without worry, and brought down a front hoof on the rock, shattering it half way down into little pieces, the pieces rolled down the river with the current. I came down once more on the large half of rock still showing from the ground and fragmented the rest of the rock down the river, no more was needed because the pool would be deep enough for a bathing area and water collecting area. Silver Dust fastened his whip blade to his tail, easily being able to accurately penetrate the targets set up before him, and retracted the blade without any trouble from the tough oak wood targets.

Silver Dust and I left after receiving our new toys, off for the rest of the day. Silver left to go practice with his new power at the mansion, while I went to see Twilight once again, while there was still daylight out. I should've been there for her, even if my duties called for me to be on guard. After what happened this morning at the diner, I should've been there to comfort her. I don't want to leave her alone any longer, but I have to remember that she's a strong independent mare. Even a mare such as her would be upset and panicked after such an experience, though. I had to be there for her, and before I knew it I was at the front door of the library, my hoof ready to knock at the door. Before I ruined the wood on the door, I stuck the metallic hoof knuckles into one of the pockets of my uniform. I knocked on the door and Spike was there to answer the door.

"Oh, Ironclad, I heard about what happened this morning. Twilight is upstairs writing a note to a friend." He opened the door and allowed me in.

"Twilight, how are you doing, after this morning at Ponyville's edge?" I asked.

"I'm fine, that was crazy this morning, I'm really glad we got rid of him before he had the chance to get to any other mare without protection like you around." She smiled and continued to write.

"I told you, nothing would ever lay a hoof on you... Even though that stallion had the privilege of grabbing you, I repaid the favor, and hard." I smirked.

"So, are you off duty yet? Or do I still have waiting to do before I have you to myself?" She smiled, waiting for a reply.

"I'm not off the hook yet, I've still got some land to cover, but tonight I want you to come down to the mansion, I have a surprise for you." I smiled and walked toward her.

I wrapped my hooves around her shoulders and gave a kiss on the cheek before leaving to finish my roundabout of the town. She was quiet when I went down the stairs, a good sign on the kiss goodbye. As Spike closed the door behind me, I heard Twilight sigh and immediately start talking to Spike. I chuckled at what she might be saying. I continued my patrol of Ponyville, even stopping at sugar cube corner for a banana-topaz milkshake that I like so much. After that, it started becoming dusk out, so I went back to the mansion to talk to Crisco. I needed his help for the surprise.

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Earlier that day, Tiki was at Fluttershy's cottage with Rainbow Dash, learning the old Pegasus spotting trick from a falcon's perspective. Of course, it only took so long for Tiki to learn the skill, and when he did he took off instantly. Tiki went on observing the world with such great detail and clarity, he didn't bother noticing Rainbow Dash tailing him for a good while. She could've caught right up to him and dragged him back, but he seemed like he was having such a good time and all. After finally catching up to Tiki and his new vision, Rainbow Dash told him that Fluttershy was going to prepare a simple lunch for them all, and that they should head back soon. While they were eating lunch in Fluttershy's cottage, a certain object caught Tiki's interest and he had to ask about it.

"Fluttershy, could you tell me more about that bow you have mounted on your wall?" Tiki asked, eyeing the longbow.

"Oh, yes... That was just a gift I received from a friend a long time ago... I never use it though, I just have it mounted for display." She said.

"Well if you aren't using it, I could always put it to good use on the guard, unless it really means a lot to you or something." Tiki took a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh no, it was a long time ago, it would be nice to see it being used again." She smiled, thinking back to the original owner of the bow.

After each Pegasus finished their meal, Tiki removed the bow from its mount and grabbed a single arrow to test it with. The group walked out the front door and started to the old target mounted on the tree out in the field across the bridge leading to Fluttershy's cottage. Without hesitation, Tiki enhanced his vision and took a single, faithful shot with the one arrow he had selected from the sling. The bolt traveled through the air and struck the target right on the bullseye. If it had been a tad higher, it would've re-entered the last hole an arrow had made on the target. Both girls applauded his achievement, as Rainbow Dash bolted over to retrieve the arrow from the tree.

Tiki had thanked Fluttershy for such a gift as a longbow and sling of arrows, along with a wonderful lunch and a new skill learned from her falcon. The pink maned Pegasus waved goodbye as her two friends flew off into the clouds, each going in different directions. Tiki was off to patrol over Ponyville, now that he was equipped with a weapon and a useful skill for the job. He spent the afternoon gliding overhead leisurely. He even spotted Silver Dust near the center of town, Applejack and Bronze Hammer working at the forge, and even me at the door of the library. He spent the afternoon honing his new skills in the air, and even spent time at dusk and as the moon rose. There was a glowing light coming from the Everfree forest, maybe a large fire. Now that it was night, this light source could be identified easily. Tiki flew to the source, making sure there wasn't a large fire hazard that could threaten the town. It was a large fire, but it wasn't a forest fire, it was a camp. Located deep into the Everfree, the goblin camp was well hidden from ponies, unless you could identify it from a birds-eye view. The central fire was huge, surrounded by many creatures feasting on a roasting body in the center. It might've been a pony, but the body couldn't be identified. What was identified threatened everything and everypony in Ponyville. The camp was massive, an army of goblins was being raised. There were countless numbers of them, probably in the hundreds. The scariest part was not the numbers, but the organization, something had brought them to order. The squadrons of green monsters marched in organized groups, each with their own pair of armor and weapon of choice. Tiki could make out one large tent near the back of the camp, probably housing the leader of the organization. This job was about to get risky. Tiki had to get down there and investigate who was behind this army.

It was dark out, which gave a sense of cover and secrecy to Tiki's position. The Pegasus came down outside the camp, in a small opening of the tree line. After a bit of struggle through the vegetation, he was able to move into a position of the tent of interest. Tiki removed one of his arrows from his sash and slashed a small hole into the side of the tent, allowing him to see through to one of the main rooms. He identified a larger, green goblin, who spoke English fluently and seemed very advanced for his race.

"Commander... Everything is ready to start your plan into action..." A smaller goblin grunted.

"Oh no, not yet. I am training these men to their finest capability. We will be up against something far more powerful than an army of ponies." The leader seemed displeased.

"This one pony. Ironclad. He doesn't know what he is fully capable of. He doesn't understand that combining friendship with a dragon's greed is a weapon of mass destruction." The leader laughed.

"If we can strike and kill this single pony, none of the others will question my strength. I will make the dragon blooded warrior fall to his knees. I'll slaughter his men and his mare, crushing his spirits and making him a walking stick of sorrow." He continued.

"With such a display, Ponyville will fall under our control. Nothing will question our grasp on the town, not even Celestia herself." He laughed at the thought.

"Oh man... If Ironclad was here... He would've just flattened everything within a two mile radius..." Tiki said, resisting the urge to assassinate the marauder in front of him.

"I'm gonna save this bastard for Ironclad. He needs to suffer and a dragon blooded pony is the only one who could do it." Tiki whispered, now gritting his teeth together.

"Commander Blunt..." The goblin addressed him.

"Please, my highest and most loyal assistant, call me by my name, Blunt Will." He chuckled.

"Yes... Blunt Will, why do we not strike now? Finish the Draco pony while he is still weaker?" The assistant asked.

"I have seen most of your men perform well in the field, but not all of them are ready, some still have potential." He explained, "I want our fullest capability when we go up against the most powerful weapon in Equestria."

"Of course, commander. I will assign the lowest performing soldiers to a training session, whip them into shape..." The assistant grumbled.

"Now, we just wait. As long as we have the element of surprise, victory is inevitable..." Blunt grumbled in a booming deep voice.

The goblins started to chuckle, which turned into a heinous laugh, loud enough to echo through the tent and keep them from hearing Tiki's take off for the mansion, everypony had to know about this.

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It was now dark out, stars were shining and the moon was a glorious pearl white color. There was a small wooden table set out back on a wooden platform near the river, lanterns were set around to slightly illuminate the area. Twilight and I were sitting out there, to ourselves, enjoying a special dinner prepared by Crisco himself. He had prepared a light steamed spinach plate with a bowl of sweet, creamy tomato soup to go with the delicacy. I initially questioned him on the choice of food, but he knew exactly what he was doing for two lovers on a summer night. He was right, the spinach didn't taste like spinach, it was sweet and leafy, with a soft moist touch from the steamer. The tomato soup was really wonderful with the spinach. It was quite thick and creamy, complementing the spinach in such a strange, but perfect way. This was the surprise that I mentioned to Twilight at the library. The breakfast date went well, but was mostly spoiled by the stallion who attacked us on the road side. Twilight enjoyed the setting I created and the dish prepared by Crisco, but we both enjoyed each others company the most. We were able to talk a bit, and the table was short enough for me to reach over and kiss Twilight if I needed. Of course, Bronze Hammer and Applejack were in the living room alone, getting to know each other better. This only meant explaining each others lives and why they liked the other so much, the rest was exploring each others bodies, like the dirty country stallion I had come to love and know. After they were done with the lot of that, they would peer out a window on the second floor with Silver Dust and check up on Twilight and I. This was interrupted by Tiki, who bolted home in such a hurry, he needed time to cool down so he could even talk, but he only kept trying to say something. Something about goblins and danger.

"Tiki. I'm telling you right now, if you don't let your body catch up with you, I'm gonna knock you down and let it before you hurt yourself." I said sternly, worryingly.

"It's... It's ok... I just need some water..." He panted.

"Alright, I want a report, tell me what happened, but not all at once." I said, handing him a glass of water.

"Ok, there's an army being raised in the Everfree." Tiki said.

"How large is the army you're explainin' to us?" Bronze asked.

"It's hundreds of goblins, I'm not afraid about the numbers, but something has them organized, trained for combat!" Tiki had an outburst.

"This isn't good, did you see who the leader was?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, big guy, goes by the name of Blunt Will." Tiki informed

"I'll write to the Princess when I get home, see if she knows anything about this goblin." Twilight flashed home.

"Ok, here ya go, Tiki, ah had these incase ya came home tonight." Bronze Hammer said, giving Tiki his requested short swords.

"Oh... My babies... We're going to kick so much flank as a team..." Tiki said, taking his hoof down each of the blades.

"Alright, now all we need to do is..." Everyone stopped.

It was Julie, panicking about something, saying that there's nothing to fear, and that we can't leave the simulators. She tried to keep calm and explain everything, but all that went through was white noise. At the start of the white sound fuzzing through our brains, each of us felt something snap, a bond broken. We felt free now, in this world, as if we weren't visitors any more. Our heads weren't flooded with pictures and lists created by Julie, there was no more connection to the lab, or the human world for that matter. Something terrible happened and I didn't know what. Silver Dust had gotten white noise after we did, and mentioned something about an explosion at the last second. There was a timed explosion that went off in the lab, a bad experiment of some sort. Whatever this explosion was, it killed our physical bodies and trapped our conscious minds in another universe, which only meant one thing. This wasn't a simulator, it was truly another dimension, a dimension of ponies, it was all real. The only problem now is that we were stuck in Ponyville forever, with a dangerous threat on our hands, and no external support from Julie on the other side. This was the reality of our danger.

Prepare For the Worst

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It's been a few weeks since we were trapped in Equestria, and it hasn't been as detrimental as I would've guessed. Even though our family and friends are locked out from us, we have new friends and have each other as family. Our group is small, five ponies and one big house, only problem is that its all men. Crisco found a job cooking in Canterlot because of his wonderful Italian dishes, I'm surprised the princess hasn't reserved him as a personal chef yet. With such a high class job, he's been able to make quite a bit of cash to bring home on the weekends to help support us and Ponyville.

Bronze Hammer was correct when he said the forge would be a good idea in Ponyville. He's been able to redo all of the iron working in the town, melting down all the old stuff and refining it into new metal. He doesn't charge a thing for renewal of old items in Ponyville and any of his other costs are extremely low. The forge has been able to rejuvenate the town in certain ways not possible before. We finally were able to get holding cells in the basement of the mansion, like I had requested. All the bits he's made from the forge has gone to the house, after a token of appreciation was paid to the Apple family for assisted construction of the forge. Bronze and Applejack have been coming along nicely in their relationship, Applejack assisting at the forge whenever possible, and Bronze working the orchard on his off time. They've also been able to sneak in a few dates when neither of them had to work. Aside from that they've been spending a lot of time in bed, either AJ at the mansion or Bronze Hammer at the orchard after a long day of bucking.

Silver Dust has been able to help at the clinic and other places when needed, that and visiting Vinyl and Octavia. The amulet he's been wearing is becoming stronger, too. His practices in his spare time are honing the energy of the amulet, that and his overall joy from daily life in Ponyville has fueled it immensely. I never really knew Silver Dust as a man of relationship in the human world. Then again, I never knew he was so kinky, it was probably Vinyl's attitude giving him change. I'm not exactly sure how it'll work out with three ponies in one relationship, it might just stay the same, dating and sex if I know Silver Dust correct.

Tiki has been working with Rarity, modeling and designing, at first he had to pick up the skill to work with Rarity's skill level of finesse and design, but after a while they both started to work in perfect unison. Aside from every morning at the spa, Tiki has been doing his regular patrol, usually speaking with Rainbow Dash and Cloud Kicker on their morning jobs. After he had patrolled every aspect of Ponyville, investigating suspicious activity and whatnot, he would dash to Rarity's boutique in the afternoon and begin working with the fabulous unicorn. I know that they've become very fond of each other, aside from their differences, wings and horn. Tiki isn't a stallion of intense romance and all, but he knows his way with ladies. My best guess is that they're both taking things very slow and relaxed.

Aside from that, Tiki's eagle eye had been able to pick out two dangerous ponies from the sky. After he'd spotted their suspicious look from the sky, he would interrogate when he landed. The first pony was lucky enough to had just ran and be tackled by the red Pegasus. The second criminal was not so lucky. It was a nice day in town square, everypony was in the market at the time. Tiki had spotted a cloaked stallion moving through the crowd at an uneasy pace. He had come down for a landing in uniform and was spotted by the caped pony. The stallion then rushed for a mare running a food stand in the center with a dagger. Tiki had continued at a trot for the stallion, now drawing his swords with his wings. The criminal took the mare by the mane and held the dagger to her throat, he was a fool though. Tiki had been right behind him with one flap of his wings as the stallion drew the dagger. Since there was no time to ask questions, Tiki had ran one of the swords into the back of the stallions neck without further question. Hitting the spinal cord, the sword locked the stallion in place and the dagger fell to the ground with his body. Everypony in the crowd had cleared into a circle of bystanders. Silver Dust had soon showed up to take the body away to the clinic and everyone resumed their regular activities the best they could, after seeing somepony die just then.

I had been doing my regular activities throughout the weeks going by. I had my usual guard duty throughout town, usually concentrating more on the outer borders of town, while Tiki had most of the inside covered. I had stopped many bad ponies from entering Ponyville, most I gave a warning to. Some of the ponies proceeded to enter the town, either because they meant no harm or they were going to be caught by Tiki. Some of the ponies I confronted just attacked me blindly, most were in the bar at the edge of town, drunk. Some of the ponies were trained killers, mercenaries, sent into Ponyville to assassinate me or somepony else in town, but this doesn't happen often. Only one pony was brave and stupid enough to confront me with a weapon.

It was getting dusk out, I had started my nightly patrol after stopping at Twilight's library to say hi, and for a kiss to give me some strength for the night. A kiss of my love powered my emotional strength from my dragon blood, far more than a hoard of items could. I entered the bar to order a cup of cider and to speak with the local ponies coming in or leaving Ponyville. One of them was a dark purple mare with lighter purple eyes and a blue, messed, long wavy mane. I sometimes questioned why mares were in such a bar filled with dangerous stallions, but she looked like a tough cookie, with the blade at her side and her well built complexion, not to mention the scars on her neck and chest. After, say, ten minutes of having a laugh with an interesting stranger playing billiards at the other end of the bar, I went back and sat down next to the mare. We talked for a while and she didn't say much, so I told her who I was and left the bar. When I spoke my name her expression changed and her hoof leaned for the weapon at her side. I went out the door of the bar into the night, with the mare following me out.

"Hey! You! You think you're so tough and all? Being commander of the Ponyville 'guard'? I'm here to show you what a real warrior is like!" She smirked and charged me with the knife in her grasp.

I said nothing, almost laughing as she charged me. Over the weeks my complexion started to change, my coat becoming much tougher, my mane becoming thicker, and most noticeably my teeth sharpened slightly and the diamond pattern of my coat had appeared. This transformation happened on few occasions, most memorably the night when I stopped the goblin attacker from hurting Twilight. Now these changes have become permanent and are starting to worsen, but I know what it is, something related to the dragon blood mixing and overtaking the pony blood in my body. I snapped from the thought as the thick, razored knife hit my shoulder. The mare sat there with a satisfied look on her face, when I looked down at the blade laying on my shoulder. She hadn't noticed what had happened, and I laughed mockingly. The blade had bent in half from contact with my coat.

"What?! That's impossible! This is my best blade! This is my STRONGEST blade!" She looked into my eyes in horror, they were a deep, glowing, ominous green.

"Alright, lets make this quick, don't bother outrunning me, because you can't. Oh, and don't fight back if you want to live." I smiled and clanked my metal knuckles on my hooves and smashed them together.

"Please, no! Don't hurt me! Take the money, I was only payed to do this..." She dropped a sack of gems at her feet, horror and defeat sweeping over her face.

"The diamond dogs in the Ponyville gem mines told me to get rid of you, one way or another, so I accepted the deal and took the gems." She frowned.

"Hurt you? Well I was really going to hurt you very badly, but now I don't feel like doing this." I said with a smirk.

"So I'm free to go? We can forget about it all?" She asked.

"Oh no, of course not, you broke your knife on my shoulder! You're going to need a new one!" I laughed at the remark.

The mare looked at me with a dumbfounded face and just sat there. At first she thought this was a joke to stall her escape, then she thought that I was going to do something unspeakably horrid. I finally explained to her that she was going to help me put an end to the diamond dogs, once and for all. She agreed to the task to repay her debt she owed to Ponyville for her committed crime. We then walked back to the mansion, her telling me about her life and such. Her name was Glimmer, Glimmer Hunt. She had a cutie mark of a sealed document with a dagger going through the center vertically. She explained to me that she only had a sword on her flank when she was a filly, but when she started taking up contracts from rich ponies to do devious things with her talent, it became a way of life. The sealed contract was represented as a death warrant, the document she has ponies fill out when they want somepony else dead. Never in her life had she failed to assassinate somepony with their name under the document, this streak could continue because the diamond dogs hadn't filled any document for my death, just a sack of gems were given. We kept talking, and I explained my story of where I was really from and how I was fitting in for Ponyville. She didn't seem too surprised when I said I came from another universe, I guess word got around and its not such a big deal to some ponies, in fact, she remained professional when I told her a lot of things, she must be well trained. We then got into small talk, like what we like and some more of our personal lives. She was a single mare who traveled a lot because of her job and was used to getting into trouble in each town, since she only filled a contract and moved onto the next. I didn't have much to explain, I was a dragon blooded stallion who just entered the world of Equestria, I explained how I was trapped here until further notice, and I mentioned I was dating Twilight.

We arrived at the mansion, so the choice came up. Do I lock her in the holding cell or have her as a guest? I've only just met her after she tried to kill me. I took her to the holding cell for the night and she knew it was only expected. I didn't want to leave her there with nothing, so I had given her a snack and a mat for her to sleep on with a blanket. She thanked me for being unusually generous and went to bed that night, as did I.

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I woke up this morning after a good night's rest, like usual. I went downstairs to grab breakfast for two and went down to the holding cell to our only prisoner. I gave Glimmer her share of food, and she ate ravenously. I guess being on the road doesn't teach manners. Tiki was up on his usual patrol, Silver was sleeping in after the last night shift he had taken, and Bronze was going to be on the apple orchard for the next few days since the zap apple harvesting season had come by. After breakfast, I took Glimmer down to the forge to grab another weapon for her to take along when we confront the diamond dogs. There was a perfectly crafted dagger sitting on a rack on the wall of the forge. I didn't know if Bronze made it for an order or not, but it could be cleaned and returned. I handed Glimmer the blade. She took it, but she hesitated to sheathe it. Glimmer looked at me, either thinking I was crazy to give her another blade, or taking target at another body part that she thought could be pierced on my body. I sighed and said, "the only way you can hurt me is through my heart, if you get what I mean." I gave a wink and turned the other way. She then sheathed the dagger and continued to follow me.

"So, I hope you know how to get to the diamond dogs." I said.

"Yeah, but I don't know if I should show with you at my side, they might kill me for what I'm doing." She said.

"Don't worry, they have to go through me if they want to touch you. If you thought last night was scary, try fighting me when I'm breathing fire and all." I smiled.

"Yeah... Don't make me think about that, save it for when we get there..." She gave a pained look.

"So, why did the diamond dogs hire you to kill me?" I asked.

"They didn't want any guard or soldier interfering with their jobs or land, even though it is the PONYVILLE mine and not the diamond dog mine." She frowned.

"Yeah, even though nopony comes back to the abandoned mine anymore, I understand where they're coming from." I said.

"Well they're going to put up a fight at the first sight of you." Glimmer gave an unamused response.

"Relax, it's either going to come down to a pile of crisped dogs or a group of new allies." I said.

"Yeah, just leave out the option of anypony dying, it would never happen." She said sarcastically.

"It doesn't happen, only because I don't give them any other options. If I don't like them or the way they behave about the situation, I'll bring the mine down or just kill them on the spot." My eyes flashed a grievous, pale green as I gave a sharp toothed grin.

"Well I don't want to get this blade dirty if I have to return it, so lets try to be somewhat diplomatic." She said.

"Oh, I thought you would've jumped at the idea of killing a group of thugs." I chuckled. This remark made her explode.

Glimmer stopped at that note, "just because I kill for a living, doesn't mean I enjoy it. I can put up with killing dirty thugs but I'm not heartless!" She yelled.

"Is that how ponies see me?! Is that who you think I am? I don't enjoy some of the contracts I fill! It's hard to kill foals, or little fillies!" Tears rolled down her eyes.

"I've done the worst of the worst, taken the lives of good people to survive! I doesn't make me the worst of the worst!" I could tell it was becoming harder for her to speak.

"Taking the lives of innocent people... It's... Just..." She spoke no more.

Before she could utter a single word I was right in front of her. I took her in my grasp and hugged her until the sobbing was done and she just held me back. We were in a field of boulders, sitting in the shade of a large rock. I hadn't let her go because I knew she wasn't ready. "Just hug it off, you need the comfort more than anypony right now." I said, wiping the tears from her eyes. She looked like a little filly in my arms, looking up to me. She seemed so helpless at the moment, no where else to go, no possible way to go any lower.

"I'm a monster... My lifestyle has turned me into a heartless killer..." She weeped into my arm.

"I told myself that once, until one special pony told me different. I'm a monster because I protect the ones that I love, being a monstrosity is only a side effect." I explained.

"You aren't a monster either, you do bad things to keep going, but that can all change. You can put yourself to good use somewhere else, being your real self." I smiled at her glance.

"But I'm a killer, my cutie mark is set in stone, I'm a contract killer..." She looked down, defeated.

"It changed once, when it formed a contract. I don't know much about cutie marks, but the way it changed, You can bet your flank to me it'll change again." I said.

"That was so long ago though. I doubt I could change anything again, my destiny is locked." She whimpered.

"Anything can change, it just takes strength and willpower, the kind that you need to bring yourself to kill innocent ponies." The glimmer in my eye was an inspiring vibrant green.

"You're right... About everything. I can change my life, but it won't be easy." She said.

"I know it won't, that's why you'll have friends to help you along the way, friends like me." I gazed into her eyes, and it happened.

I leaned in closer, and she let her guard down, she let me in. I kissed her passionately, not for such a long time, but to give her that inspiring push she needed all of these years after being alone. I might've been too much for her, I hope she doesn't fall for me on this one kiss. I don't know how I would explain it to Twilight. It would crush me to see Twilight be hurt so much by one kiss, one wrong kiss for the wrong pony. I pulled away just in time, Glimmer opened her eyes soon after and a spark of determination was in her eyes.

"Now, can we not mention this to anypony else? I don't want Twilight to be upset by my way of inspiration." I frowned at the single idea of Twilight's heart, crushed.

"It's a deal, I promise not to speak a word." Glimmer Hunt stood up and started off for the mine once again.

I caught up to her and we continued to walk. There was nothing but silence in the morning sun as we approached the cave, guarded by two grunt dogs. The grunts took position at the sight of two ponies approaching the main entrance, but ran for their lives when I informed them of who I was. We entered the cave without trouble, since Glimmer knew her way through parts of the cave vaguely. The night she was hired by a diamond dog, she was led through certain tunnels to the center of the hideout. We continued our trek through the maze, fighting a few grunts that tried to stop us, most others ran. The only ones who chose to fight were extremely stupid or extremely brave. After a hike through the maze and a good amount of fighting, we reached the center hideout and the leaders of the pack.

"Please! Don't hurt us!" One of the leaders cowered.

"I'm not here to hurt, not yet." I smirked.

"Why have you come here then? We thought you were killed by our assassin!" He screeched.

"You dogs underestimated me, trying to kill me by blade." I laughed.

"It isn't possible! You were better off hiring a hooker to try and hurt me!" I laughed harder.

"What? The assassin did not even harm you? Has she challenged you?!" The leader was becoming very frustrated.

"Of course she did! She broke her knife on my shoulder." I said.

"No matter! This is not important right now!" Why have you come here?" Another leader had asked.

"I'm here for two reasons, either to make peace or exterminate your pack from this cave." I said assertively.

"We do not wish to make peace! We do not wish to share our cave with any ponies!" The leader howled.

The idea occurred to me, "would you rather come to an agreement? Or would you fend off an army of goblins? I know the goblins would take interest in this cave of yours more than we would." I smiled.

"What?! The goblins are raising an army? Once again?!" The leaders cowered in their own throne, even worse than before.

"Yes." I replied, "is there some problem with a group of goblins running around with sticks and leather armor?"

"Oh nooo! It's Blunt Will! He is raising an army once again! The battlefields will flow with the spilt blood of many creatures! We must prepare for the worst!" The leaders howled.

"Has this happened before? Is this really going to be a threat?" I asked.

"Yes! We must not let it happen again! The leaders continued to panic.

"There is only one way to stop him! We must fight back with all of our strength! We need an army that can defeat goblins in large numbers! We need a powerful weapon!" The leaders were ranting.

"Well then, I guess this leaves us on good terms, will your men fight for the army I've just now started to raise?" I asked, much calmer than the other dogs around me.

"Yes, yes! Take our men! Take us to battle also if you must! The goblins mustn't gain power once more!" The dogs were calm now, very serious.

"Alright, I'll send somepony to contact you if I need any further assistance." I said, walking out the cave.

"We will supply you with strong foot soldiers! But you need more power! You need ponies of war and even dragons!" The dogs shouted as I walked out of the cave with Glimmer.

We were out in the sunlight once more, about an hour and a half had passed while we were in the cave. I walked back to the mansion with Glimmer at my side, planning my ideas for an army. I'll contact Princess Celestia for more men and maybe get a lead to where I can find more warriors. I don't know how I was going to get dragons on my side, but I'll do it if I have to. Glimmer and I went back to the mansion for lunch, I didn't have to lock her up because her debt was paid and I had gained a newfound trust for the mare. After lunch I told her to relax, and feel free to roam Ponyville for now. I decided to go visit Twilight, I hadn't seen her in a few days, and I needed to send a letter to Celestia.

I was walking down the road to the library thinking about how the diamond dogs knew about Blunt Will, if he was a truly dangerous criminal like the dogs had claimed, and if anypony else knew about them. I made a note to mention his name to Princess Celestia in my letter. I was at the door of the library before I knew it, sometimes I just get lost in my thoughts. I proceeded to knock on the door, Twilight had answered.

"Hello beautiful!" I said charmingly.

"Hello to you, too!" Twilight giggled. "What brings you down to the library today? Something other than me?" She smiled.

"Yes, actually, I need a letter sent out to the Princess right away." I said.

"Why is it so important? Is there a problem?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Yes, in fact there is." I said gravely, "I'm going to raise an army, we need to prepare for the goblin forces." I said.

"But they're just goblins! Unless... Oh Celestia..." Twilight had a horrified look upon her face.

"Blunt Will..." I grumbled.

"I was afraid you would say that, I had read an old book on the goblin wars that occurred about 300 years ago." Twilight informed me.

"And I'm guessing Blunt Will was behind this." I said.

"You're correct, and if he's back... He'll be more prepared for, well, everything." Twilight said in terror.

"That's why he won't be prepared for me, I'm going to raise an army to fight the goblin forces, and when all else fails, he'll have to go through me." I put my hoof to the ground.

"Alright, I'll send a letter to the Princess immediately!" She said.

"Alright, where's Spike? Is he here to take a note?" I asked.

"No, he's running errands for me right now, he should be back within an hour." She said.

"Can you teach me how to send letters? With the fire and all?" I asked.

"It's not just a skill, its an enchantment on your core fire, only powerful mages can put such a spell on dragons." Twilight's eyes widened when I gave her a cheesy look.

"Oh no! I won't do it! I don't want you to get hurt if I mess up! I may have the power, but I haven't ever practiced the spell on anything before, that and I have no idea how the spell would react to a half-dragon." She said informatively.

"Well, there's only one way to find out, and if all else fails, somepony else might be able to fix it. Lets do it. Right now." I said eagerly.

"Well... I really do want to see the full effects of the enchantment... This hasn't been used on anything other than baby dragons, the kind that can't grow from greed because of their environment with ponies. I fear the worst could come if I enchanted you." She kept going back and forth with pros and cons.

"Alright, enough with the debate, the tie breaker is me, saying its ok, because I trust you, and I really don't know anything that could actually hurt me physically." I smiled.

"That is true... Ok then, fine. We'll do the enchantment, come with me to the back of the library." She walked into the library.

We had entered the library and approached a familiar room. This was the room where we both expressed our feelings to each other, and it was still here, the emotion I had poured out for Twilight to take in, and she did the same. It was a truly glorious feeling, still lingering in the air. I knew Twilight could still feel the emotion after she glanced back at me and blushed a deep shade of pink. Twilight took position on one of the pedestals and I took place in the center of the room, a single candle was lit and the blind to the only window was closed. Markings had been drawn to the ground with wax and I sat in the middle. Twilight had begun to perform the spell as the wax markings started to glow a fiery deep blue. I could see the glow over Twilight's face as her magic illuminated the section of the room. I could feel the enchantment working, my internal fiery core was igniting and warming the entire room. I could feel the dragon blood in my body pulsing through my veins, urges occurred that I had never felt before, my primal side showing through the magic. I suddenly stood up from the center, almost levitating in place. Twilight had been lost in concentration with the spell, trying to focus on finishing the enchantment flawlessly. I soon found myself walking to her, and her coming to me. I found us both in the center of the circle within moments, and there was nothing else I could find myself to do. Her body was pressed against mine, the warmth of her magic emanating from her body, my central flame engulfing both of us now. Before it all ended, I kissed Twilight. It was a fiery, passionate kiss like we had shared the first time we were in this room, but stronger. Our cores of power were now exposed in the wooden room and truly connected through this single kiss. At the final moment the room illuminated green from my eyes, and twilight opened hers. Her stare was a glowing hot white, like when she used her element of harmony and released her true power to defeat many enemies in the past. I could feel that power coursing through me, as if I was made of glass, and the sun glowed upon me on a warm spring afternoon. Her magic was a part of me, and my power was now a part of her.

We were both now laying on the ground, the shade on the single window had flown open at the end to illuminate the center of the room. The candle had been blown out, in fact, the wax of the candle had been thrown onto the wall around the holster. I had woken up from the ceremony, it seemed like I was only gone for seconds. I had looked down to see Twilight, wrapped in my hooves, cuddled against myself. I looked around slightly to notice that the room had looked exactly like the first time Twilight and I had been here. Twilight had soon come to and looked into my eyes.

"Wha... What happened...? Did it work?" She asked drowsily.

"Not sure, there's only one way to test it out." Take a letter to Celestia." I smiled.

"Alright, lets get to it." Twilight said, going to stand up.

I didn't allow her to stand, just holding her in my arms, "and spoil the moment? I think not!" I said.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, then noticing the familiar surrounding.

"Does the look ring a bell? Because the tingling feeling that your enchantment gave me is bringing back memories." I said with a smirk.

"I wouldn't forget that moment for the world." Twilight smiled and laid back down onto my chest.

We sat there for what could have been an hour, talking, kissing, maybe a bit further than kissing, it all seemed like one large romantic blur. In the end, we just laid there for a seemingly endless time, resting from the dramatic enchantment session Twilight had pulled off. The silence was broken when the faint sound of a door creaking open was heard, followed by Spike. I could feel an awkward moment coming on.

"Twilight? I'm back! Where'd you go?" Spike went up the stairs, looking for answers.

"Alright, he's not in the room, lets go before he comes back." I whispered.

Twilight and I had entered the room quietly as possible. Twilight went up the stairs to get Spike, and I waited in the main room for her to return. I heard talking up the stairs, and I could only make out so much of what was being said. I only knew they were talking about me. After a minute, Twilight and Spike came down.

"So! You're one of us now!" Spike said with a smile.

"Yeah, guess I am." I said.

"Alright, time to send off your first letter! It's not hard, the only scary part is waiting for a return, you don't know how it happens the first time." Spike said nervously.

"Well, lets get down to business then. Write the letter." I said.

Twilight grabbed a quill and paper and started writing to the princess for me. I had explained in the letter the return of Blunt Will and the goblin army he was raising. I requested soldiers and the grant to raise an army to fight back the goblin resistance. The letter was finished and was ready to be sent. Spike explained to me that it was simple, I just had to picture who it was going to and blow a gust of hot flame. I did just so, but ended up only smoking the room and charring the letter. I had gained not only a new ability of magic in my core flame, but also a new level of intensity. My flame could burn hotter than anything imaginable, I just needed to raise the temperature to a clear, hot burst of flame in a controlled breath. Twilight and Spike both insisted that I went outside, near the pond to attempt such a stunt. We were standing near the dock, and I prepared for another attempt at the flame. This time it was successful, the sparks danced from my muzzle as I loosed an extremely hot burst of flame upon the letter, as the ashes blew into the wind toward Canterlot. The flame was not hot, though. It felt cool and clear as I breathed. It was magic, and it tasted sweet and tangy. Although I had tried again for the flame, it only worked while sending letters. I had loosed another small burst of fire, but the water on the surface of the pond had steamed away and the cat tails near the dock had been singed. My flame was not a regular orange, yellowish fiery glow anymore, but a deep blue aura that danced from my muzzle majestically. There was magic infused with my core, and the deep blue was my natural color, matching my coat.

"Well that was interesting, let alone spectacular!" Spike had yelled.

"Something isn't right... Even if your flame is magic, I don't understand how it could reach such temperatures!" Twilight was puzzled.

"You don't remember when you performed the enchantment? That kiss we shared? I felt the power magnify ten fold." I smiled.

"What? No! You didn't, did you?" Twilight asked, questions overwhelming her.

"Of course I did, you and I mysteriously came together somewhere in the center of the circle, I couldn't help myself but to kiss you in my arms, even at such a time." I smiled.

"Aw this is getting sappy! I'm out of here!" Spike stormed off back into the library.

"This only means so many things, that our powers combined, and magnified significantly, judging by the intense flame you wield now." Twilight continued to contemplate.

"I guess this only makes your magic stronger, too. That's a big plus!" I winked.

"I would think this was a bad thing, you disrupting the enchantment in such a way, but I can't think of anything negative, not yet atleast." Twilight glared at me.

"You know you're just so hot when you're angry!" I said charmingly.

"Not as 'hot' as you can get when you're angry!" Twilight laughed.

"Alright, lets go grab a snack somewhere and..." I really had to sneeze.

And so I did sneeze, the cool, blue flame danced from my nose and mouth, and a letter dropped to the floor. Twilight immediately opened the letter and began to read. Princess Celestia was very concerned about the return of Blunt Will, and assigned me from guard duty to leader of Poyville platoon. I was to raise an army on short notice from whoever I could get help from, she was also sending a group of royal guards and lunar guards from both her and Luna. Princess Celestia had full confidence of my leadership, and if all else failed, she mentioned a hidden power to be unlocked by myself still.

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After a relaxing afternoon date with Twilight at sugar cube corner, I returned to the mansion to check up on Glimmer. She had been out at town with the bits I gave to her, down at a cafe to get a snack and a drink and came back for a nap. I hadn't given her an actual room to sleep in, so she laid down on the couch in the living room. She made herself at home easily, surprisingly since she hadn't had a permanent home in years. I told her about how I was granted access to raise an army on the spot, and my first recruit, aside from the diamond dogs, was Glimmer Hunt herself. Tiki had returned home with Silver Dust after meeting up on patrol. Silver Dust had just finished a shift at the clinic, and was going back to the mansion to prepare for the dusk shift, while Tiki was ending the afternoon shift, flying home. Tiki met up with Silver and they both just went home after a snack from a food booth that was open late in the square.

"Ironclad! Whats the news of today? Anything interesting?" Silver had asked.

"Yeah, we're raising an army." I said flatly.

"Wait, what?! Why?!" Tiki and Silver had said in unison.

"Blunt Will is not a regular goblin, he's a warlord from 300 years ago that almost succeeded in his conquest of Equestria." I explained.

"Oh Snap! What do we do then?" Tiki asked.

"Well, we just prepare for the worst. I'm raising an army as we speak. I've got an army of diamond dogs at my disposal, and Princess Celestia and Luna are sending squadrons of soldiers to Ponyville to help. The only thing we're missing is a powerful armament of soldiers. Dragons." I explained.

"Either way, we should be able to fight off hoards of goblins, what makes these goblins stronger than other goblins?" Silver asked.

"Training, organization, and mass numbers." Glimmer chimed in, "supposedly, Blunt has been able to round up massive hoards of goblins into one place from across Equestria."

"I doubt this guy is even a goblin! Whats up with all of this?! 300 years? Organization of GOBLINS?!" Tiki was yelling.

"He isn't a regular goblin, he was a goblin leader, born by chance with excellence in power and smarts, but the way he continued to live is because he is deviated from dark magic." Glimmer informed.

"Iron. Who is this mare? Did you spend our bits on hookers?" Tiki asked.

Glimmer exploded and started yelling again, Silver and I were able to calm her down and I explained that she's a mercenary that was sent to assassinate me. I told them the story of the diamond dogs and our adventures, leaving out the part where I had kissed the purple mare to inspire her. Only we would understand what I did and why I did it, anypony else would just claim that I cheated on Twilight Sparkle. After a while of talking and a well placed insult thrown by Glimmer at Tiki, the two ponies became even and everyone laughed the night off over a glass of cider. I had also explained how I was enchanted by Twilight, which explained why Silver Dust's amulet reacted differently around me now, more confused and uncomfortable than disapproval. As I went more in depth from what I remembered, Tiki and Silver gave a playful hoot at the kissing part, but Glimmer didn't seem happy about it, I understood why.

That night everypony went to bed earlier than usual, except for Silver, who took the first night shift for Bronze's absence due to the zap apple harvesting. Glimmer slept in Bronze Hammer's bed, since he was gone tonight, although I wasn't sure about the next night when he would return. For now we all slept while we could, sleep was going to be harder over the next few weeks.

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A week of preparation went by. The royal warriors and lunar guards had arrived and had stayed in a vacant motel for the time being. Ay of the soldiers that couldn't get a room there stayed at the mansion or with somepony else. The last 4 days had been spent training with the soldiers and the diamond dogs, after proper hygiene had been achieved for the cave dwellers. Even the leaders took part in the cause. They were there to fully support their own soldiers and all of the others, news of the goblin army had turned them into determined, honorable dogs. Bronze Hammer had returned from sweet apple acres with a fresh supply of zap apple jam, but didn't stop working for long. He went straight to the forge the next day to help arm the surplus of soldiers we had. Our original uniform for guard duty was going to be inefficient on the battlefield, so Bronze was given a large amount of strong metal by the diamond dogs, who didn't care for metal in their cave. We were each crafted a special set of armor, similar to the regular soldiers, but differentiating to show leadership in our clothing. I had woken up this morning, thinking it was going to be another day of training, but I had been wrong before.

As I walked out the door of our mansion, I went around to the other soldiers to ready them for today's training. As I walked past the library, Twilight had stopped me in the road. I would've stopped at her residence, but I thought it was much too early to wake her. I was wrong again. Twilight had been looking for me that morning with important news.

"I'm so glad I caught up to you! I have wonderful news for tonight!" She said excitedly.

"I'm sorry Twilight, but I really don't have the time for any dating for the while, I'm much too busy." I frowned.

She giggled, "is that all you think about when I talk to you about something? I was going to say the dragon migration."

"Perfect timing, I'll be able to confront the dragons to see if any would stay and fight for us." I said eagerly.

"Exactly, it'll be tonight at the edge of town, on the north hill." She informed.

"I'll be there, after setting some time aside from training." I said.

"You better, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Considering the chances of a dragon migration at our time of need." She smiled.

"You're right, I'll go talk to the others, see if anypony can take my position in training the soldiers." I said.

Later that day I had met with the other three, and explained to them the dragon migration. They came to an agreement on the roles of each pony for training, and I had the day off. I had no idea what I was going to do today. The dragon migration was tonight, and I had an entire day off. I guess I really did have time for a date. I was walking to Twilight's library, when I heard an unusual sound. It sounded almost like a factory, but I could hear it was getting closer. I saw smoke in the distance and started trotting to the distraction. There was a large machine on wheels, with all different sorts of contraptions and gizmos spinning and cranking as the machine moved down the street. I knew who it was. Time to run the Flim Flam Brothers out of town...

"Stop! In the name of the Ponyville guard!" I shouted.

"Ah, brother! Look! Just the pony we were looking to talk to!" Flim had said.

"Yes, of course! We've come by to offer our services in this war of goblins and ponies!" Flam shouted.

"Or you can turn around and go back to where you've come from. Nopony here is interested in your business! Not after the cider incident." I chuckled.

"We thought you might say that, but now we've created a contraption that isn't to compete!" Flim said.

"Yes, yes! This beautiful machine here is going to add to your army! It is easy to function and has the capability of 30 trained soldiers!" Flam explained.

"A machine made to systematically kill in a quick and simple process?" I asked.

"Yes, sir!" The two unicorns said in unison.

"Ah, yes. You two truly sicken me." I said flatly.

"What? Why the sad response? We thought this would surely come in handy, fighting an army of tough little green men!" Flim smiled.

"Neither of you understand the concept of humanity, there isn't much to go around in war, and when you use such a machine, even on goblins, there is no righteousness. It's man slaughter!" I explained.

"Right, right! Well this is surely going to be the war of the ages! If you don't want to accept our offer..." Flim started.

"We'll move onto the next best paying customer!" Flam exclaimed.

"You wouldn't dare... Supply machines to kill your own kind?" I said in disgust.

"Oh, but we would!" They said in unison.

"It's better to be on the winning side!" Flim started.

"Than to be DEAD!" Flam exclaimed.

"Uh huh. I see. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end you both right now." I said flatly.

They both laughed, as if it was a joke, "you? End us?! I don't see you with a supreme killing machine anywhere for miles!"

"You're looking at one right now. I can flatten you and 50 of those machines without breaking a sweat." I challenged.

"Well, it looks like we're going to challenge Ponyville again, brother!" Flim shouted.

"Right you are! It feels good to be on the winning side this time around!" Flam exclaimed.

"Just back out now, before anypony gets hurt. It'll be for your own good." I warned them with a grave expression.

"And miss out on such a profit from war?! I think not!" Flam said.

"It'll be your own funerals." I said.

And at that, the two brothers said their goodbyes and started off, of course I remembered that I'm not just a guard anymore, so I placed them under arrest for challenging the royal army and myself. They of course resisted arrest and floored it into the Everfree forest. I didn't chase after them because it would be much more satisfying to snap their necks and grind their bodies in their own contraptions. All is fair in love and war. After that uncomfortable encounter, I went to see Twilight. I explained to her what had just happened, and she shared the same look of disgust as I did.

"They really said that?!" Twilight said in shock.

"Yeah, they've already gone into the Everfree forest to negotiate with the goblins." I said gravely.

"Aren't you worried what might happen if the goblins come across such a weapon?" Twilight asked.

"Not one bit worried, if I know machines, its that they aren't usually prepared for battle on their first design. The machine has a system for killing, there's going to be an easy system for destroying." I explained.

"Well, if you say so..." Twilight looked worried.

"Well I have the day off, what should we do until the dragon migration?" I asked.

"Well, its still early out, and the migration is tonight. We could always go for a picnic out in this spot I know of out in the south field." Twilight suggested.

"Sounds good, is it going to be a walk? Or a hike...?" I asked.

"Well, its definitely a hike, but there are plenty of sights to see on the way out." Twilight giggled.

"Alright, lets go!" I said.

"I'll grab a basket, we can stop by sugar cube corner for a lunch to pack." Twilight said.

We went out the door and toward sugar cube corner, I was carrying the basket, following Twilight down the road. We only just started walking, and I had a gorgeous view to see in front of me. Twilight scolded me for such a remark about her flank, but I could see her blush slightly. We continued to walk, Twilight now at my side to keep me from staring. I know she wouldn't mind it at the library or somewhere more private, but we were walking through the town and it was a bit embarrassing for Twilight. At least she felt it was. I knew that most ponies wouldn't notice, but some would catch on eventually, I guess it's for the best. We arrived at sugar cube corner to get a lunch from Pinkie. As we opened the door, I had received a few stares of approval from other ponies enjoying lunch. Everypony in town knew about Twilight and I. Giving a small smile, I went back to ordering.

"Pinkie Pie? Are you ok back there?" Twilight asked, listening to the jumbling of pots and pans everywhere.

"I'm fine today! It's just really busy around here at lunch time! What can I get for you?" Pinkie asked from the kitchen.

"We were looking for a packed lunch for a picnic out in the park today, if it isn't too much trouble for you." I said.

"Of course not!" Pinkie Pie walked out of the kitchen, "anything for you two! I'll whip up a special lunch for a romantic park date!" Everypony gave a glance to us after such an outburst from Pinkie.

"Alright, we'll be waiting here, I'll give you the basket for you to pack." I handed the basket over the counter, and Pinkie went to work.

"This is going to be fun, we haven't been able to..." Twilight was cut off.

"Done!" Pinkie popped up from behind the counter with a full picnic basket.

"I'm not going to even question that logic, I'll just pay for the lunch and leave." I said flatly.

"Alright! You two have fun out there!" Pinkie winked.

The basket was weighed with food, at least I think it was food. I hope it was just food. I didn't need any awkward moments on our last date for the next few weeks. I'm actually hoping that I can get this date just right without any screw ups, our first perfect date. We got to the park entrance and started walking, we were able to talk a bit and enjoy all of the wonderful sights. There were ponds and a river, with a waterfall at the end. The trees were all magnificent and tall in the morning sun, filled with song birds and furry little animals. It looked as if Fluttershy had come and organized everything for us while we walked this path. When we reached the waterfall the hiking began, it was a rocky incline down the side path. I had taken the basket down with no trouble, one leap and I had reached the bottom in tact. I went back to the top to help Twilight down, taking her hoof and bringing her down the rocks slowly and steadily. We walked along the river for a while, enjoying the view in the small valley that the river has created. After a few more minutes of walking, we reached an opening, into a small field surrounded by tree line and open to the sun. I took the basket and removed a large blanket from the items. Twilight had chosen a smooth spot on top of a hill and had laid the blanket out square with her magic. We both took a spot on either corner of the blanket with the picnic basket in the middle. We immediately started eating the wonderful sandwiches and cookies Pinkie had prepared in remarkable time. As I looked deeper into the basket I noticed there were two thermoses labeled for each of us. I gave Twilight her labeled thermos and took mine. Inside of the jugs were our favorite milkshakes, kept cold after a long hike through the park.

"This is perfect, we finally have a date that wouldn't be spoiled by any disturbances." I said.

"Yeah, we're finally alone out here in this remote spot of the park." Twilight replied.

"I bet there's nopony out here for a mile around." I smiled.

"You're probably right, its such a hidden spot." Twilight said.

"We could do whatever we wanted out here, nopony would judge." I said charmingly.

"I see where this is going." Twilight giggled, "let's just wait until after lunch."

"Alright, if you insist." I kept eating with a smirk on my face.

After we had eaten the majority of the snacks packed away, we laid in the sun, enjoying the moment. I had packed up the leftovers and moved the basket to the side. Twilight leaned to look at me as I rolled across the blanket towards her. We found ourselves in each others arms, all alone. Our lips were locked before I even realized what was happening. I kept kissing, and Twilight kissed back. As our kiss broke, I continued up on her muzzle, then to her forehead, until I ran my nose along her horn.

"Hey! Stop that!" Twilight giggled.

"What, are unicorns ticklish in that area?" I asked playfully.

"No, just a bit sensitive." Twilight winked.

"Oh, so you're saying... That if I did this..." I ran my tongue around the base of her purple horn and up the side. I could feel her shiver in my arms and moan into my chest.

"Ok... That's enough, save it for tonight." Twilight mumbled.

"Oh, but why should I? We're all alone out here. We could really enjoy ourselves before I leave for a while." I said.

"I just don't feel comfortable doing... This... Out in the open." Twilight looked around.

Just as I went in for another taste of Twilight's horn, a rainbow streak flew overhead. Twilight jumped back and stood up to see what it was. I knew exactly who it was, no other Pegasus has a rainbow streaked mane flying at high speeds. Rainbow Dash had landed on the edge of the field and turned to see Twilight and I on a picnic blanket.

"What're you two doing out here? The park is about a mile that way." Rainbow pointed in the direction we came from.

"I'm aware of this, but I just wanted a quiet spot for the two of us this afternoon." I said.

"Ohhh, I see what's going on here! You've definitely come to the right spot, this is my best napping area! Nopony knows about this spot but me! Well, us, I guess." Rainbow said disappointedly.

"It's alright, we're only here for the afternoon, I doubt we'll be back any time soon." Twilight said.

"Alright, well I'll go find another quiet spot to rest at, you two can continue your love session now." Rainbow said with a dirty smirk on her face.

Rainbow Dash flew off in the direction of the park that we came from. Twilight and I went back to snacking and relaxing, even though Rainbow Dash pretty much spoiled the moment. I still got a couple of sweet kisses from her, and returned the favor more than enough. The sun had started to drop in the sky, it was late afternoon. I picked up the basket with the blanket and all packed away neatly and we started our walk back to Ponyville. Getting up the waterfall was a lot tougher than going down, so Twilight had just flashed herself to the top. I had no problem doing it on my own, with a couple of large jumps I was up with Twilight and started walking again. We left the park late in the afternoon. I returned the picnic supplies to Pinkie Pie and went back to the library with Twilight. As we were walking back, almost to the front door, Tiki crashed down behind us. He was going off about the goblin camp, fear in his eyes.

"3 square miles! Deep in the Everfree!" Tiki was panic stricken.

"Well, Glimmer wasn't kidding about mass amounts of warriors... And it's all one camp?" I asked.

"Well, no, but its mostly cleared forest with campsites dotting the landscape, they're clearing their way to the tree line with all of the soldiers they have!" Tiki yelled.

"Well, we'll be set to fight back against whatever they have, if tonight goes as well as I plan." I said.

"What's tonight? What are you planning to do? Are you going to level the camp?!" Tiki's eyes widened.

"I mean, I always could level some of the camp, but that wouldn't work out too well in the long run. There is a large dragon migration tonight, and I plan on speaking with the beasts, to see if they will fight for our cause." I explained.

"Oh yeah, you can speak dragon, right? Because you're half dragon?" Tiki asked.

"Um, beside the fact that dragons can comprehend perfect English, being dragon blooded will help." I chuckled.

"Whatever, as long as you don't get burnt to a crisp." Tiki said jokingly.

"Well, we better prepare, it's getting darker out and the dragons will be flying overhead at moonrise." Twilight said.

Tiki flew off to continue patrol and help with the rest of the day's training. Twilight brought me inside. She was scrambling to grab all different sorts of instruments to record data from the migration. Spike was standing near by with a red wagon, collecting all of the stuff and organizing it into the wagon. I was lingering through the library, waiting for Twilight to finish packing. After what felt like hours of organizing, the sky had darkened and we set off for a high point Twilight had marked. This point was a pristine landing spot for dragons on their migration. If any dragon landed, I could approach it and speak to the heard.

We started walking for the mountain, with the migration beginning as the sun was setting. Smaller dragons flew overhead with larger ones to follow in the distance. Bursts of glowing orange flame were seen through the air like a lightning storm. Mighty roars that shook the ground could be heard all through the sky in the dark. I had never been in the middle of such an event, but I knew something wasn't right, something was off. After a long hike, we were half way up the hill and the sky was only illuminated by the moon and fire of the migrating dragons.

"Something isn't right, I can feel it." I said, concerned.

"You're right, there are far too many dragons in one area, something has them flustered to leave Equestria." Twilight observed the sky.

"I can feel it too, the migration shouldn't been happening for two weeks." Spike's dragon sense was telling him something.

"You two stay here, I need to get their attention, none of them have started to land yet. They're all going to fly overhead and away if I don't do something." I sprinted up the rest of the mountain as fast as I could.

As I reached the top, the largest of the dragons were flying overhead, none of them bothering to stop on such a perfect perch for the night. Something was truly wrong with such a migration, and I needed answers now. I inhaled for a large burst of flame into their direction. I didn't know if it would cause any harm to the dragons, but I knew it would grab their attention to the perch. I released my breath, and the sky illuminated a bright, fiery blue shade, all the dragons within the area of Ponyville were illuminated, and had turned to face the mountain. The flames danced from my mouth and engulfed the largest of the dragons. It was the hottest blast I had ever pulled off, my mane actually singed from the fire, the sand in the crater crystallized to glass, and the boulder next to me had melted from such an intense heat. Any plant life in the crater's area had been vaporized from atop the hill. I really hope there weren't any animals on the top at the time, I certainly knew there weren't any now. The sky had darkened once again as the blue flames came to a halt. Dragons everywhere circled the hilltop crater and the largest one had landed on one of the rims. I was hidden behind the rock I had half melted, readied for a fight.

"Who wields the power of the ancient? Step forth and express your power once more!" The greatest of the dragons announced, his voice shaking the very earth.

"It is me, I'm here to talk, I have questions to be answered." I stepped forward behind the rock, letting a blue flare into the air to linger for illumination.

"A pony? How is this possible?" The dragon chuckled.

"It matters not the form of which is taken by the ancient power, his true form will take place when he discovers his core energy." One of the other dragons said.

"This doesn't concern me right now, I'm here to ask the questions. Why has the dragon migration been upset? What troubles you?" I asked.

"The goblins are coming to power, we will leave Equestria and return in 50 years when the fighting has ceased." The eldest said.

"So you do not fight back? You do not challenge the goblins to defend your homeland?" I protested.

"What you say is true, our home is at risk, and the treasure each one of us had stored is endangered when we leave, but the sake of our lives are preserved by avoiding war." The eldest explained.

"We can change that, stay and fight with me, I plan to crush the goblin resistance. I cannot do it without you, though." I stated.

"Why should we stay and fight? The goblins being raised by the infamous Blunt Will can surely overpower a dragon without question." The eldest dragon explained.

"A dragon? A single dragon? Of course they could, but what about a group, a heard such as the one that is migrating now?" I argued.

"You make a good point, but our kind is not recognized for power in numbers, we do not work as a team." The eldest had stated.

"Who ever said that an old dragon can't learn new tricks? Besides, this isn't just your land, this is our land. This land belongs to all the creatures of Equestria. One kind cannot rule this land solemnly, especially a brutish species such as goblins." I said.

"Your pony kind has done a perfect job of doing so!" One of the younger dragons yelled.

"This is true, but the ponies are only... Invasive. They are not brutal and unforgiving like such a species as goblins." The largest dragon protested.

"Enough! What is your opinion on such a matter, ancient one?" The eldest had asked.

"Ancient one? What are you speaking of?" I asked.

"Your core flame is induced with magic. A second source of magic has tampered with your core and released the spiritual energy of your core flame, I presume?" The eldest asked.

"You presume correctly, but are you saying that I wield my own magic, and not just an enchantment?" I questioned.

"Of course, the magic that tampered with your core released your magical capability. You wield power that only an ancient one can wield." The eldest explained.

"Well, sorry to put a damper on your story, but I'm not completely part of this world, I was only warped into Equestria weeks ago." I explained.

"What?! You do not carry blood of the ancient ones?!" The eldest was surprised.

"Sorry if I was imposing on anything, I'm just here to recruit for an army." I started to back away, before things got ugly.

"A new era has arose! A new dragon lord has appeared in Equestria!" The eldest dragon's voice bellowed through Equestria.

"A NEW ERA HAS AROSE!!!" Every dragon within the migration had echoed this in unison, other dragons across the land could be heard repeating the same phrase.

Every dragon threw their head to the sky and loosed a massive blast of fire. Bursts of flame could be seen by dragons emerging from everywhere across Equestria. Without thinking, I released a ball of blue flame that exploded through the air and danced bluish sparks through the sky to mix in with the others. the blue flame overtook all others and shimmered like the galaxies. It looked as if new stars were being created into the sky. Thousands of dragons circled the area and began to praise this event. I had no idea what was going on, nopony had provided me with an explanation, and I really hoped Twilight had an old book on the subject to explain what was happening.

"We will fight for you! Every one of us! The goblins shall not rule over the new era! The dragons will rise again and conquer the land!!!" The eldest had bellowed through the night sky, followed by the appraisal of thousands of deep, bellowing voices of the other dragons in the distance.

"Wait! We cannot be so brutal as to conquer everything in Equestria! This makes us no better than the goblins!" I protested.

"What do you suggest happen then? You are the creator of this new era of time, you govern what is right and what is wrong, my lord..." The Eldest had bowed his head to my presence.

"The ponies will not be hurt. things will change, but the ponies will not be degraded because of this event." I commanded.

"I approve of your decision, working with the ponies in unison is a wise move, but others will not agree so easily." The Eldest explained.

"Blood will be spilt then. To protect what I love, and to form our new age of time!" I had shouted, and the dragons had appraised my command.

Fire was spewed all through the air, the migration was brought to a halt, and each dragon took refuge in their homes. Others who lived farther away stayed in the company of their brethren. From my command, the way of the ancient beast had been changed. Most enjoyed this change, they saw how the ponies could work and harmonize together. They wished to accomplish the same before, but the lore of the original rulers had prevented such acts of "soft feelings." After about an hour of ceremony, Twilight had approached the Eldest dragon and I at the top of the peak.

"What just happened? I haven't seen anything of the sort in all my life! Twilight was bedazzled by the show of the century.

"I'm not exactly sure what to make of it myself, but everything will be explained in time." I said.

"Yes, please, let me start from the beginning. This may take a while, so prepare yourself." The eldest dragon spoke.

There was a time, before Celestia and Luna, before Sombra, before Discord. It was a great and vast land of mountainous rock and lava, the surface temperature boiled with rage and power. Only monstrous beasts roamed the planet. There was no sun or moon, the only light source was the blazing fires of rage and chaos. Over millions of years, feelings and emotions started to take form and shape the land and the creatures. Dragons came into form. Bonds of friendship and trust were made, along with evil and hatred. Thousands of years allowed for other feelings to branch off from these original emotions. Everything started to take shape, the earth cooled and life existed among the beasts of the land, sky, and oceans. Somewhere in this time, an extra force of each combined element spread across the land and gave it meaning, reason, and emotion. This force was magic. From the magic grew life from the sun, which had slowly appeared over the thousands of years before. Plant life filled the planet, along with small furry animals. The dragons had viewed this land as a utopia of perfect existence. As the land took form from the magic, there were selected individuals who wielded the power of magic, and became stronger from it. These individuals were selected by the force itself for their wits and responsibilities, although not all of the selected members were truly good. Aside from their differences, each selected individual came together as a council to govern the land with the almighty power. With such power, they created beings to live among their land, such as ponies. The sentient beings of magic had disappeared into the land as they completed their job. The creation of ponies marked the beginning of the Discordian era, and so recorded pony history continued from there. Dragons continued their strict way of code while history unfolded over the next couple thousand years.

Twilight had burnt her quill down to a point, after rushing down as many notes as she could about the story. She would have to make a note to Princess Celestia about her discovery. Me, on the other hand. I had to figure out my strength and what my existence really meant. I'm the most powerful being in Equestria, I just have to find my strength. This had to wait though, I had a goblin resistance to crush.

Final Preparations

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I had spent half of my time in the last week missing from the action due to myself spending more time with the dragons. I wanted to learn everything I could about myself and the ancient power that I wield. I absorbed everything that I was told for the last week, trying my hardest to become stronger from it. I wanted to be at my best when this war comes to a breaking point. Everypony else had been preparing through physical training and combat training. Each soldier was being prepared to react in every situation that would most likely occur in this battle. Word got out about this war, and more warriors have shown up to assist in the cause. A mercenary brigade of Pegasi showed up with a number of griffins to assist in the cause. Usually mercenary groups required pay, but they were signing up as soldiers, not mercenaries. Dragons across Equestria had been preparing for battle by doing nothing out of the usual. The winged beasts were prepared for anything at any time. After seeing the army we've raised, I hadn't a clue how the goblins were going to be able to fight back, no matter how strong they were.

I had returned the final day of that week to spend time in Ponyville with the ones I've come to love, but there something wasn't exactly right about me when I returned. Everypony had agreed on the change, but couldn't exactly figure what it was. After a while if stares and thoughts, Glimmer noticed my legs had become longer and more jointed at the knees. Silver Dust swore my tail was becoming thicker and longer, and Tiki thought my ears where becoming longer and more pointy. Twilight noticed my smile, and how my teeth were actually more jagged and pointed than usual. When I opened my mouth for further inspection, Twilight had jumped back in horror at my tri-forked tongue. The Eldest dragon had earlier explained that dragon blood was the richest and hardiest blood type in Equestria. It had many amazing properties, but the most intriguing was the ability to take over and uphold, say, a pony if enough was present within the body. The effects would be strange as expected. As the blood takes control of the body the features will change and the pony will become stronger overall. This never actually happened before, and since I wasn't any regular dragon, I was an all-powerful dragon lord, things became extremely confusing. The eldest dragon told me not to worry, and that when I was ready, my true power will take form and I will know everything I wanted to know.

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A messenger had been sent by Blunt Will to deliver the place and time the battle will take place. At first I refused, thinking it would be a trap, but Glimmer, Twilight, and the eldest dragon had explained to me that Blunt was a goblin of honor, despite his evil intentions. Everypony had been given one day of break to enjoy themselves before we went to battle.

Bronze Hammer awoke in bed early that morning on the final day. Applejack was at his side, pressed against him under the sheets of her bed. They were both on sweet apple acres spending one last day together. Applejack insisted on Bronze staying here, she didn't want to lose somepony so close to her.

"Ah just don't want ya to go out there and get hurt, or die!" Applejack yelled.

"Ah'm not gonna get hurt, maybe a few scratches, that's it." Bronze protested.

"But what if ya slip? What if one bad thing happens? If you go and die, then ah'll die too. Losing you will hurt me more than anythin'." A tear running down AJ's cheek.

"Ah haven't had anypony like you before... Not a special somepony that's been so close to me..." Applejack whimpered.

"That's why ah won't mess up, nothin' will hurt me 'cause nothin' will hurt you. Ah won't allow it to happen." Bronze said, wrapping Applejack in his arms.

"Ah want all of ya to come back. Don't get hurt too badly out there." Applejack sniffled.

"Ah'll be fightin' for you. Nothin' will touch me 'cause I won't let them through to hurt you." Bronze comforted Applejack.

"Alright, lets go eat somethin' and spend our last day together." Applejack smiled.

"It won't be our last day, just for a while now." Bronze corrected.

"Whatever, ah just want this day for you and me." Applejack hugged Bronze and went downstairs.

The two lovers sat at the kitchen table in the early morning, having leftover apple pie from last night's dessert. Nopony else was up, it was just breaking dawn outside. The sun couldn't be seen, but the glow was just shining over the horizon. Neither of the country ponies had planned their day events until now on short notice, they had no idea what to do for today. Bronze suggested a relaxing walk through the orchard for the day, nothing more. Applejack liked the idea of not stressing over a real date, so it was agreed on.

After a slow morning of waking up to apple pie and a glass of milk, the two ponies started off out the back door to the orchard. Both ponies knew that this wasn't just going to be a walk, there was more to it. Both AJ and Bronze walked through the orchard on the main trail while the sun rose across the land. After a bit of walking, both ponies started into a trot, which lead to a gallop. They were soon racing through the orchard, not caring where they went or which side trails they took, they just ran with each other. They each took turns taking lead, meaning whoever was faster made the turns. After about ten minutes of galloping through the orchard, they both ended up on a small hill looking over the orchard, with a large single apple tree on the hill. It was an amazing viewpoint, looking over the land for miles, even the estate and barn could be seen from there. The sun had now risen and was low in the sky. The light was sensationally warm and wonderful from the hill. The two lovers laid there for a while, in each others presence, taking in the view. After waiting long enough, Bronze inevitably made a move. He inched closer to Applejack, bringing her into his grasp. As single reach of the hoof turned into cuddling, cuddling turned into kissing, and kissing turned into foreplay. Applejack stopped Bronze there since they were on an open hill in the middle of the orchard, out in the open.

"Ah know we're out here in the open, but who's gonna guess what we're doin' from all the way out there?" Bronze smirked.

"Uh, Big Mac." Applejack said flatly.

"Point taken, but at least ah still have you here, we can do anythin' else." Bronze said.

"That cuddlin' part was mighty fine, it is a bit chilly out." Applejack blushed.

"Besides the dragons and all, it was pretty dang cold out last night." Bronze smiled and pulled Applejack closer to him.

"Ah'm gonna miss you, ya know. We don't know how long this battle might last." Applejack frowned.

"Well, guessin' by all the soldiers we have, and Ironclad himself, it could last for a couple hours minimum." Bronze estimated.

"Yeah, or it'll be a tough fight and y'all might be out there for days, or weeks." Applejack thought.

"True, but at least they won't be here." Bronze said.

"Just be safe out there, ah want to see you again. In one piece." Applejack said.

As time passed, Applejack and Bronze had sat on the hill watching the sun rise, just being with each other, making the most of their last date for a while. There was a bit more kissing as the sun started to rise high in the sky when a great shadow creeped overhead the two ponies. A large, red dragon had landed on the other side of the hill, the only bare patch of the orchard.

"Bronze Hammer, your presence is requested at the Ponyville barracks. The time has come." The dragon bellowed, "I will allow you time to say your goodbyes to your marefriend."

"It'll only take a minute." Bronze said, bringing Applejack into his grasp, pressing her against his chest.

"It's time for me to leave. I'll be back as soon as possible." Bronze whispered in Applejack's presence.

"Ah can wait a few weeks. It'll hurt, but not as much as losing y'all to the battlefield." Applejack said once again.

"Ah won't fall to anything. You'll be the first sight ah see when ah return." Bronze said.

Applejack's eyes started to tear up as Bronze Hammer was picked up by the massive dragon. He only wished he could've been there to hold her more, but the time had come to end it all and protect Equestria. Applejack went back to the orchard to begin her daily chores, but the rest of her family insisted on taking a break from everything when they learned about some of the morning's events.

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Tiki had woken up that morning fairly early, plenty of time to enjoy with Rarity and Fluttershy at the Ponyville spa. Since everypony was given a day to enjoy themselves before the goblin war, he might as well spend it with the ponies he's come to know. It only took a few minutes to fly to Rarity's boutique. Tiki had become a much stronger flyer than when we had first entered Equestria, which would come in handy on the battlefield. The red Pegasus approached the front door of the boutique and proceeded to knock. It took about a minute before Rarity could answer the door, as she had just woken up. Tiki was invited in for breakfast and to prepare for their regular spa day.

"Darling, I'm going to miss you so much when you leave!" Rarity said.

"I know, it's gonna be tough out there, but somepony has to do it." Tiki replied.

"Do come back in one piece now, won't you?" Rarity said worriedly.

"Of course I will, nothing is going to sneak up on me, especially since goblins can't fly." Tiki chuckled.

"Yes, you're right, I suppose... But I do worry about you sometimes, you aren't exactly the most careful pony around." Rarity diverted her eyes from Tiki.

"Damn straight, nopony knows me like you, we've spent so much time working together, it's insane." Tiki said, drinking his cup of tea.

"Yes, it's true! The only person who would come close to our knowledge would be Fluttershy, after spending every morning at the spa with her for years now." Rarity said.

"Speaking of Fluttershy, when should we leave for the spa?" Tiki asked.

"Well, we have about five minutes until our appointment... So probably right now!" Rarity began to rush.

"Alright, lets get outta here! Wouldn't want to keep Fluttershy waiting, she might kick our flanks for being so rude!" Tiki laughed as the two bolted out of the door.

It was a perfectly rushed trot down the road to the spa. Rarity and Tiki had arrived five minutes later on the dot. Fluttershy had been waiting for about a minute when the two walked into the main room. Once the three ponies were present they were all treated with the usual. Nothing had really changed, relaxing and gossip, except the gossip got a bit more interesting than usual.

"So you'll be gone after today?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back in one piece though, don't worry!" Tiki said, dipping into the hot tub.

"I certainly have full confidence in your abilities, darling! It's too bad I couldn't see you in action as much as I would like to." Rarity said flatteringly.

"You've showed up to plenty of our training sessions. The last few weeks were more of me instructing than actual training, but it might be good to keep it at that." Tiki said.

"I know... War isn't a game, it can be really brutal sometimes, it isn't just a show for us to watch..." Fluttershy said.

"Of course not! But I would come along for just a day to cheer you on in your battle if I could." Rarity said.

"It would be very scary... What if something went wrong? What if Tiki was killed? You wouldn't want to witness that..." Fluttershy said with an uncomfortable look.

"Nah, it's alright, I'm not gonna mess up, I'll be too busy kicking flank to mess up." Tiki said boastfully.

"Well, there's probably something you should know before you leave... Just incase you don't come back..." Fluttershy said, glaring at Rarity.

"Oh, Fluttershy, darling, you aren't serious are you?" Rarity looked at Fluttershy nervously.

"I'm very serious. Tiki needs to know, whether you tell him or I do myself..." Fluttershy said bravely.

"I have a slight feeling where this is going... You might as well spill it now." Tiki said.

"Well it's just..." Rarity was cut off.

"Rarity has a crush on you, she really likes you." Fluttershy burst out, rather silently.

"Of course, I knew that. I just didn't get how much, please continue." Tiki said, quite amused at what was happening right now.

"Well, you see... Rarity really started to like you when you two started working with each other... She totally fell for you after about ten days." Fluttershy explained.

"That's interesting. Please, go on." Tiki smiled.

"Well, I think you two would be a sweet couple, your personalities match each other in such a unique way... They aren't the same or complete opposites, one just complements the other in different ways." Fluttershy kept talking.

"You're right, now that I think of it." Tiki said.

"Well, maybe you should talk to Rarity, if you feel the similar about this..." Fluttershy looked at Rarity, who was submerged all the way down to her muzzle in the hot, bubbly water.

"Well, I mean, if she doesn't want things to really change between us, that's cool." Tiki glanced towards Rarity and smirked.

"Oh no, but I wouldn't mind one bit!" Rarity burst out, blushing a deep pink afterwards.

"Well then, I guess things will have to change a bit when I get back, for the better." Tiki smiled and dipped his head in the warm water.

The rest of the spa day went by smoothly. Rarity was much more relaxed than expected, and Tiki hadn't changed a bit. Of course, every relation starts somewhere. Both ponies holding a hoof in the hot tub, sharing a mud bath, and a small kiss at the end. Fluttershy was happier than both of them that such a relationship was turning out so perfectly. The fact that her shy outburst had caused such happiness made her just as happy. Later in the afternoon, the spa treatment had ended and each pony had left for home. Tiki had walked back to the boutique with Rarity under his wing, and Fluttershy flew home to her cottage for a quiet lunch. As the two ponies approached the boutique, a massive dragon had landed outside the back of the shop, in the only open spot in the area.

"Tiki, the time has come. Return to the barracks shortly and we can begin the final preparations." The dragon bellowed.

"Of course, I'll be down in a short bit, I have one more thing to take care of." Tiki said.

"As you wish, but do not keep us waiting too long." The dragon said, flying off to the barracks.

"I'll be back. Things will be different. Life will be good." Tiki said.

"Please, don't get hurt too badly. After all that has happened today, I wish to see you once again!" Rarity said dramatically in Tiki's arms.

"Anything is better than seeing you enslaved by goblins." Tiki said gravely.

At that, Tiki sped off to the barracks, after sharing one final kiss goodbye with his new special somepony. He had a new determination to fight. He was inspired to fight for something special, so that he could return to see her once again.

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Everypony was gathered outside of the barracks in the fields behind the house. There were hundreds of soldiers, with dragons circling in the distance. Everything was ready for battle, we just had to move out. Everypony was to meet in the barren fields in front of the mountains of the east. It was about a days hike to the battleground, we would be there by sunrise tomorrow, everypony was well rested and ready to fight, even after a night of travel. Dragons did not need rest or sleep, and had the integrity to fight for weeks on end without rest, they were a powerful bunch of warriors. Anypony who started to become exhausted throughout the night were offered a ride by any of the dragons traveling by land with the group. I was about to deliver an inspirational speech, but was told by one of the dragons to wait until we met with the rest of the army. I wondered why our ranks were a bit thin, I hadn't been informed about another part of the army waiting in the fields. We had marched out and began our trek to the east field to meet with the rest of the soldiers. Ponies lined the streets to say their goodbyes and to wish us luck. Fillies and colts lined the streets as if it were a parade, awing at the sight of such sights. We continued walking, not disturbed by the crowd. The cobblestone road soon turned to dirt as we left the town's edge. The path lead over a small hill overlooking the flat pasture. As I moved over the hill and looked over the pasture, the sight took my breath away from me.

In the pasture was an army, a true army. Thousands of soldiers, all ready for battle could be seen for miles. Pegasi and griffins could be seen dotting the clouds and hundreds of dragons circled overhead, breathing blasts of raging fire through the sky, showing their excitement of the moment. As my group came over the hill, a roaring cheer filled the valley, echoing across Equestria. This day would surely go down in history. I had no time or courage for a speech in front of such a crowd, so I only had few words to speak. I let my magic assist my voice through the valley.

"Tomorrow! Tomorrow we fight for Equestria! The land that belongs to us all!" I had yelled through the valley.

A roar of cheer swept the valley and I took charge of the march to the barren battlefield. It took a while, but my best men, also the leaders of different sections, Tiki, Silver Dust, and Bronze Hammer, had taken point at the front of the army with myself. We marched into the distance, the Everfree forest lining the path to the right of us, coming closer with each mile we travel. This would soon come to a wall at the barren land, where the enemy would most likely swarm from and engage in the battle of the century. We were prepared. We were ready to die for the peace of this land. I've come so far with my closest friends in a land we've come to love more than our original homes, we were ready to preserve the peace at all costs. The only thing that worries me is Glimmer. The purple pony had insisted on spy duty the day before the fight and would meet up with the rest of us along the battlefield. I pray she show up on our side.

The New Era Will Dawn

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It was dawn and the sun was breaking the horizon. My men have been walking all night, still strong and ready to fight as if it were only minutes of walking. We had stopped at the barren land, on the edge of the Everfree boundary. Silver Dust had left my side to go prepare the combat medics, and also fastening his tail blade for battle. His amulet was glowing, ready for action. Silver Dust had gained much power from practice ever since he acquired the necklace of power. He was becoming more of a leader, rather than support. I had recognized this power, and the amulet recognized mine. Although it still was unsure of me, there were no unusual outbursts and life continued normally.

Bronze Hammer had been put in charge of the foot soldiers. He had the talent of good leadership in times of need, and left to go prepare the soldiers for battle. He had taken his hammer from his pouch to inspect it before battle. After much tweaking and modifying, the handle of the war hammer was made collapsible and more light weight for better performance and mobility. Each soldier looked up to him for his strength, loyalty, and forgiveness. Bronze was not a merciless pony, and strived to make each soldier stronger in ways that haven't been tried in an army before. Almost every soldier looked up to him at this new approach, and any who didn't have respect didn't have determination, and left the ranks soon after. The final outcome was a smaller army than possible, but had more strength and determination than a regular army twice the size.

Tiki had flown off to go give one last pep talk to the flying soldiers of the clouds. with his swords at his side and his bow on his back above his wings, he looked like a true commander. Although we were all given new sets of heavier armor, he had insisted on a more clothing based design for his flying ranks. Tiki had been the commander of the pegasi and griffin rankings of the clouds. Although Tiki didn't show the commanding power that some of the other ponies had wielded, his attitude and personality had earned respect among all of the flyers. In the end they all turned out to be an elite flying force I had hoped for. Not much more training had been needed, since almost all of the flyers of the army had come from mercenary Pegasi and rogue griffins. They were a tough bunch, but were turned from tough and stubborn to strong and determined after Tiki worked with them.

I had been the commander over all. I was the one to make the final call on what happens, the other three were there for when the battle had engaged and there wasn't time to cycle orders. I had the undying loyalty and command over the dragon ranks. Although there were only a hundred or so that had showed, there were thousands more ready to aid to my call. I haven't left my post at the front of the army, looking over the ranks prepared for the battle of the centuries. I knew that many would lose their lives, but they were all willing to die for the ones they loved back home, and for the fate and balance of Equestria. I had all of my faith in each and every soldier in this field. I knew each one of them was going to fight to their fullest, and will not disappoint me. There was no room for error, and no time for mercy. We had to stop the goblins for the fate of Equestria, and if we didn't... There was no "if we didn't," there was no room for failure. Even if the goblins outnumbered us ten to one, even if every one of my men fell, I will not fall. I refuse to fall and will kill every single goblin on this field who defies my way. I could feel my ancient command come to power in my thought.

Somepony had nudged me out of my little speech, it was Silver Dust. I looked around, everything was fine, why was I disturbed? Silver only had to motion to the soot on my coat and the burn marks of my hooves on the ground, I was breathing plumes of smoke and had singed the ground with my fiery core. I was ready for battle, but where were the goblins, and where was Glimmer? That was my biggest fear. Glimmer had said she would be back with valuable information on the coming army, but she hasn't returned, and the goblins could jump us any moment. I could only fear the worst, that Glimmer was dead, or captured as a prisoner of war. I had started to snort smoke and breathe blue sparks, the ground had started to smolder under and around me. I was ready to fight for my new era.

"Is that Blunt Will?" Silver pointed to the edge of the forest. A green, tall figure stood at the forest's edge, with one of his loyal assistants at his side. In the grasp of his long bony fingers, was a jagged blade. In the other hand was a purple pony, her blue mane being grasped like an animal.

"Are you ready to begin, almighty 'dragon lord'?" The goblin leader growled.

"I'll start us off with the first strike, the next turn will go to you!" He raised the knife in the air.

The blade struck down upon the purple pony. Red stained her coat, the ground, and the knife. I didn't know what to think or how to react at first, I just stood there. I almost fell to my knees, my source of power had been hit hard at the sight of losing such a friend, but another friend had echoed through my head. Silver had yelled to me, "there is still hope!" And he was right, there was. She wasn't dead yet, and I had to get to her. At the sight of my weak point, goblins of the forests edge had lined up for a mile around and fired a swarm of flaming arrows, all into my direction. Silver Dust had reacted quick enough to conjure a barrier, but didn't have time to control the power. A barrier of crystalized light had arose paralleled to the forest. It had stretched for a mile long and mile high. Each and every one of the arrows fired had stopped mid flight and the goblins had started to rush from the forest and charge our army.

"Everypony! Charge! For Equestria!" I had yelled, my voice booming over the land.

"Silver, you're with me! We're going to Glimmer!" I shouted.

"Right! Lets move, you clear a path!" Silver shouted back.

We needed a path through the sea of goblins, and only one pony could do such a thing. This was the final push, the one to save a life and stop the hoard. I could feel my power showing, the dragon blood in my veins was at boiling point and engulfing my body once more. My features changed once again, and very rapidly. Bones could be heard shifting, muscle generated, and my blue aura glowed in a scaly pattern from my coat, complimenting the fiery burn of my green eyes. My legs had grown long and jointed around like a dragon's figure, the hair of my tail twisted into one curled knot, and became more flexible. My teeth had shaped to a bladed point and locked into my jaw. My pupils now shifted to a reptilian look and gave me a new form of vision. I could see regularly, but I could also detect life forces. I looked upon Glimmer's unconscious body, seeing her life force drain from her. At that sight, I had instantly picked up an incomprehensible amount of speed, charging the army of goblins running my way. The front line in front of me had stumbled and tried to run the other way, but within the moment I had been on them and started to bash through anything in my way. Heat was being thrown off my body like heat waves of a volcano pit. Any goblin that was lucky enough not to be tackled by the ball of flame was scorched beyond recovery and fell to the ground. I had cleared a large path through the goblin army, and Silver Dust soon followed, whipping his blade into anything that moved. Within moments Silver and I had arrived at Glimmer's side. Silver immediately sealed the wound and returned any blood he could to Glimmer's body. He also woke her from unconsciousness and had her airlifted out by a nearby griffin.

The battle had raged on, about six goblins fell for every pony. Dragons were scorching the land to an inferno, incapacitating hundreds with each fly by. I kept Glimmer in my mind as I fought. I killed mercilessly, not caring for the goblins that fell to my flame or blazing hooves. I wanted revenge, I wanted Blunt Will. Tiki was striking from the sky, arrows in the right spots, helping anypony in need on the ground. He had trained with the bow for countless hours until his shot was near perfect. There were only so many arrows to go around, which left Tiki to strike down on any of the other targets with a speedy strike of his swords to the head. The red Pegasus dropped from the sky like a bloody assassin, mercilessly ending each foe he struck down with his swords. Focusing on the biggest of the opponents, his blades pierced the thick skulls and blood flowed like a river of red with each strike. Bronze Hammer struck down waves of incoming attackers with a swing of his hammer. Dead on contact, the goblins fell instantly to the force of Bronze's swing. Before the war, he had engraved his and AJ's initials onto the side of his hammer, to remember who he was fighting for with every swing.

As the war raged on, goblins became more dispersed within the ranks, so everypony had to watch each others backs. Bronze had been jumped and ridden a couple times from the small brutes, but most were bucked off and smashed in by his mallet. Other times, Tiki had slashed the tougher goblins from Bronze's back, making sure as few soldiers fell as possible. One of these attacks, though, had been met with an unplanned result. As Tiki came down and finished one of the goblins from Bronze's backside, another had jumped upon his back and restrained his wings. Others soon followed, restraining him and sinking a blade into his right wing. One of the goblins had yelled, "we take no prisoners!" At the sound of those words, Bronze brought his hammer across the three goblins holding down Tiki, just barely grazing his wing with the head of the hammer. One of the medics had removed the blade from the wing and took him back to the camp.

Silver Dust came up with the amazing idea of throwing me into the middle of the goblin crowd, which turned out just as planned. A barrier was conjured and pushed me into the air onto the flood of little green warriors. As I hit the ground, the goblins had swarmed me, slashing at me with swords of bone and wood. None of these were effective against me, and most of them caught fire on contact with my coat. As I became overwhelmed with goblins surrounding every inch of my body, I let loose a massive burst of raw power. Smoke flared from my nostrils and blue fire spilled from my muzzle. A mushroom cloud of smoke and ash went into the air, and hundreds of goblins fell to my power, with plenty more to go around. We repeated this process a few more times as Silver kept to the side and slashed off any goblins swinging his way. Sometimes the tail blade wasn't enough to finish some of the larger goblins. Silver had levitated any weapons dropped by fallen foes and pierced the larger goblins through the back.

As the battle raged on, soldiers were shipped out back to the camp, some of which returned to fight once again within a few hours. The goblins weren't so lucky. They didn't train medics and only lost more soldiers by the minutes passing by. More dragons had showed to swarm the area for a taste of the blood of their foes. As the hours passed, I became more impatient. I didn't want to fight grunts any more, I wanted to find Blunt Will so I could end him like the rest of his army. As these thoughts circled in my head, something large had emerged from the forest. More and more started to run through the fields and started to plow for my men. It was the design the Flim Flam brothers had designed. There were so many of them, I didn't think we would be able to fend off from such power. The front end was avoided by all of the goblins, keeping clear of the jutting blades of the front. Swords slashed from the sides and back, and arrows flew from the crossbows mounted on the tops. Before the machines could reach the helpless warriors on the ground, I had signaled to the dragons of the air, "destroy the machines before they reach the soldiers!" Immediately, dragons started to forcefully land upon the machines one by one, crushing the frail design of the machines of death. There weren't enough dragons to go around for all of the machines, surprisingly enough. Some of them reached the front lines and began to spin and slash the blades in the front of the machine. Armor was grinding and soldiers were cut into fine pieces as their bodies were processed through the horrid machines. Chunks of meat and pools of blood were spilt out of the other end, a smell to make even a dragon lose its lunch. Any of the machines that made it into the front lines were soon disabled by griffins or Pegasi, killing off the drivers of the machines and ripping apart the control center.

One of the few death machines that had made it into the front lines of the ponies had appeared directly in front of Bronze Hammer. Without skipping a beat, Bronze swept his hammer through the moving blades of the machine and took out every single one of them. This left a clear opening for the core, which Bronze had thrust his hammer into the middle of. The machine's internal design was meant for flesh and thinner armor, not a solid block of extremely strong metal. Without receiving a scratch, the head of the hammer mutilated the spinning gears of the machine, causing it to violently throw out blades and metal objects from both ends of the contraption. Bronze was the pony front and center of the hit area, and was slashed and pelted by flying objects. After taking a serrated blade to the chest, Silver Dust was rushed to the area and soon had Bronze fixed as much as possible. Bronze had taken so many blades to his body, there was question to whether he would survive. I had soon approached Silver, grabbing his amulet with a touch of my hoof. I spoke to the gem with my core energy, to give it power. Silver was overcome by magical energy and engulfed Bronze with a dazzling show of golden sparkling energy. All of the parts had been disintegrated from Bronze's chest and had caused him to fall unconscious. There was no argument, Bronze was sent back to a tent at the camp to rest and recover while the battle raged on.

It had come down to Silver Dust and I, fighting back to back. We kept going for what felt like hours, the bodies piling up around us. All the surrounding goblins started to take notice of our resistance as we fought more and more into the enemy crowd. Silver had encircled us with a dome-shaped barrier as the goblins poured over, blocking out the light and covering the top. Silver could only hold the shield for so long, and was fading fast. I had reacted without thinking, throwing Silver under my body to protect his life as I let loose an explosive blast from all directions of myself, allowing my core energy to emanate from me. A massive blast was summoned at the last second which shattered the barrier and instantly killed all the goblins in sight. The blast had forced back the two opposing sides and cleared an area for one final battle. The battle between Blunt Will and I. Silver Dust was quickly escorted back to the side of the battlefield, exhausted from magical exertion. Blunt Will had appeared into the middle of the field, still covered in the Blood of Glimmer Hunt. This was to be the deciding battle, the one to end everything.

"Are you ready to end this, ironclad warrior?" The goblin bellowed in an amused voice.

"Commander, you best not taunt him... Our plan did not go accordingly..." The assistant had cowered.

"What do you mean? I killed his little marefriend in front of his own eyes, he couldn't possibly have the full potential that he originally had!" Blunt laughed.

"That's where you are false," I said calmly. "You failed at killing her, Silver and I got to her just in time to stop the bleeding. She will live and fight another day." I said strongly.

"Ah, but I doubt you noticed the poison, am I right?" Blunt chuckled.

My heart went blank and I almost fell to my knees once again. There wasn't any poison. Silver would've stopped it right? We would've seen it, right? No. It was a slow acting poison, no smell, no taste, and clear to the eye, as if it were regular water. I had felt so hopeless to the idea. He had outsmarted me and taken a friend from under my nose, from my iron grip. All of my friends were gone. I was alone on the battlefield, my defeat slowly approaching me. Blunt Will walked up to me, blade in hand. I was on the ground, my core flame only glimmering with sorrow. The blade was raised into the air, gleaming for everypony to witness. "Here is your new era! In my grasp!" Blunt had yelled across the battlefield. Everything was silent, not even the goblins were cheering, they only watched in angst. I saw tears, dripping down in front of me, but they weren't mine. They certainly weren't that of the goblin king. My thoughts were vivid, before my fall. I saw Twilight, the tears belonged to her. The knife hit my neck, straight down it fell. The metal cut into my mane and soon stopped at my skin, the metal itself started to melt. With each picture in my head, each memory coming back to me, my fire grew stronger. I saw Rarity with Twilight, then Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and then Pinkie Pie. It was the famous picture of them, as a group, but I saw more. Spike was in the center, and I was behind the group, behind Twilight. Bronze Hammer stood to the right, with Applejack in his arms. I saw Tiki to the left, with Rarity to his side. Even Silver Dust was laying in the grass next to Fluttershy. My core fire was now extremely intense, starting to roast the big goblin from the intense heat. I saw him back away as his skin started to blister and split from the heat. I stared him straight in the eye, and what I saw was so rewarding. There was fear in his eyes, terror at it's best. I saw the image of the mane 6 again, at a funeral, crying for their loss. I hadn't a clue who was in the grave, but it was the final straw. I started to get my revenge.

"So, you thought you won? One death will only weaken me, it won't stop me." I smirked grimly at the beast.

"I have many more reasons to keep fighting, even if you defeated me in one single way." I laughed evilly.

"It doesn't matter! You cannot defeat me! Dark magic will overcome your attempts in your early stages of development! I WILL be victorious!" Blunt said, starting to back away.

"Well, if I can't kill you, then the attempt is going to be so much more enjoyable." I said with a twisted grin as I lunged at the staggering goblin.

It was all over. The heat from my fire had consumed the monstrosity as my hoof hit his thick neck, penetrating through his spine to the other side. I made sure it wasn't just a punch of revenge, but a blow of magic to what ever dark core he had, and I felt it all crush. His very skin turned a lighter green from the destruction of the dark energy engulfing him, before it darkened to a crisp from my internal heat. Instead of pulling my hoof from his neck, I brought my arm up and removed his head from his body, blood sizzling as it hit the ground. I thought about keeping a battle trophy for myself, but my thoughts were primal and sickening from my pulsing dragon blood. I looked up at the battlefield, soldiers looking at me in disgust, I must've looked like a monster. I soon noticed the other side of the field. It was barren from bodies of fallen goblins. There were few goblin bodies littering the battleground, but only a fraction of the amount that was originally there. Blunt Will used dark magic to conjure an army to his command on the day of the battle. Although this explains the massive amount of soldiers he had, I know that there were more original goblins than this, Tiki saw it with his own eyes. The camp that was built up before the battle that Tiki flew over was filled with real goblins, not conjured ghosts. It didn't matter now, none of it did. The battle was over and I could finally relax, but the thought of Glimmer crossed my mind again and I was soon on my feet once more, flying at unimaginable speed to the tent she was kept in.

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"Silv... You can save her right?" I asked, my body trembling from anxiety.

"I dunno man, its pretty bad, the toxins have already taken points in her body, its only a matter of time before the reaction occurs and she..." Silver Dust dipped his head in sorrow.

"Give me a time. How long does she have?" I asked.

"I would say, at least 10 minutes, an hour at most." Silver said disappointedly.

"Ironclad... I have something... To show you..." Glimmer whispered through the pain.

"What? Anything to make your last wishes come true." I said, a tear streaking down my cheek.

"Help me out of bed, its a surprise..." Glimmer grimaced at the pain as she tried to get out of the cot.

"Hold on, lemme help you out there." Silver levitated Glimmer out of bed and onto her hooves.

"Look... My cutie mark..." Glimmer smiled weakly.

It had changed, it really did change. Her cutie mark went from a contract with a dagger to her original crossed swords. The swords were different though, they had deep blue engravings on them, dragons snaking down the sides of the blades, breaking a lighter blue fire out the ends. I didn't know what this meant, but I did know it had something to do under my leadership with her.

"The time I spent training... It was for you..." She whimpered.

"Every second I spent, after that day in the mine... Was all because of you..." She smiled again.

"Your determination is amazing, I'm so proud of how far you've come." I said, more tears flowing down my face, but I continued to smile.

"Yeah, it's such a shame that she's gonna die." Tiki said, soon jabbed in the sides by Bronze and Silver.

"Just know... It's ok... I've accomplished my goal. You've helped me set that goal and achieve it... The only greater thing you've done for me is teach me how to... To love again..." She laid down, closed her eyes, and stopped breathing. She was gone.

"I thought you said ten minutes!" I turned to Silver.

"Well, I gave my best estimate... I don't know what else to say, I guess we just have to give a proper burial." Silver said, hoof on my shoulder.

"I'll do it, you guys don't worry about it..." I said, trying to stay strong.

I had picked up Glimmer's body, still warm from her bed. I walked outside to the middle of the barren land, bodies litter the floor. I found the area, clear of death, that I had finished the battle with Blunt Will. I soon got to making a mound of stone upon where I laid the body of Glimmer Hunt. I piled more stones into a perfectly shape mound, a monument of such a battle. I drove a sword through the stones into the rocks. As the sword sunk in, something amazing happened. The dragon detailing of Glimmer's cutie mark stretched through the sword and up the handle. It was a deep radiating blue, it was pure magic, it was the only explanation. I had taken the knuckles I had made, my best and only weapon, my closest possession in this world, and laid them upon the hilt of the sword so that they may gleam in the light for the years to come. I made sure that this monument was not to be disturbed or moved in any way for as long as this field stands by melting everything together with a magical flame. The sword did not change, and my knuckles were bound to the hilt of the sword. The dragon detailing glowed white at the touch of my flame. The rock pile was melted together and formed a glassy texture into one solid mound.

"May this battle be remembered by the starting act..." I spoke to myself.

"This fight wasn't for nothing, and I'll make sure of that..." More tears ran down my face.

I walked back into the camp, congratulations and cheers greeted me. I put on the best smile I could, even after such an event as the honorable burial of a friend. I walked back to the tent where all of my friends were waiting. Comforted by all of them, I tried my best to move on. Glimmer will be pulling at the back of my mind for a while. The only thing left to do was to pack up and clear the battlefield. After a heartfelt ceremony for the fallen soldiers, both goblins and ponies, the field was burned by the flame of the dragons and I. The dragons started to loose flames over the bodies, and as the flames all connected, I dropped a single spark of my magic into the pool. Everything flashed blue and the bodies disintegrated.

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After sleeping the night on the battlefield and packing up the next day, we all immediately started the walk back to Ponyville. The wounded were hauled by the dragons walking the land, and the rest of the army was tired and soar from such a fight. It was only a day of walking, but it felt like forever, each step farther from Glimmer in the battlefield. We arrived at the edge of Ponyville when Rainbow Dash saw me climb over the slope. She alerted the entire town to our return and everypony was gathered on the streets for our return. They thought it was going to be a happy celebration, but it was far from it. Only mourning came from the loss of lives and the pain in each soldier's eyes. There were enough rooms for most of the soldiers who returned, some had to camp in tents once more, but the wounded were all taken to the clinic and the rest of the army had spent the night in the courtesy of the citizens' homes and the old motel. After sorting through the soldiers, Tiki, Silver, Bronze, and I had returned to the mansion, only to be greeted by the mane 6 and Crisco, with the best dishes he could possibly have prepared for us. We all enjoyed the dish and had time to catch up on the events that had happened over the last couple days. At the end of dinner, when everypony was getting up to leave, I had sneezed and recieved a letter from the princess. She had been informed on our return and was coming to Ponyville for a ceremony on our victory. After the dinner, everypony took time in the living room to relax and talk for a while.

"Now, ah know ah wasn't the first sight for ya to lay eyes on when ya got back, but it doesn't matter, cuz you're alright, mostly." Applejack said, staring at the scars across Bronze Hammer's face and chest.

"Ah'm alright. Ah got back in one piece, thanks to Silver Dust and his healin' abilities." Bronze said.

"Yeah, same here, my wing works perfectly after Silver went to work on it with that amulet of his." Tiki said, flexing his right wing.

"We definitely owe a toast to Silver Dust for his hard work out on the field. Everypony deserves one." I said, raising my glass in the air.

"Oh no, the one who deserves it most is you, Ironclad! You're the one who defeated the most goblins, you killed Blunt Will, and you lost a close friend today." Silver said solemnly.

"Ah think y'all need some sleep, you've worked hard the past few days, lets get some rest sugar cube." Applejack kissed Bronze and they both went to bed.

Everypony else went home and also joined in on the slumber. Sleep was good for everypony that night, they all worked hard and fell asleep quickly, except for me. Glimmer had visited in my dreams and I rolled in bed for countless hours. The princess of the night finally visited me in one of the dreams and allowed me to sleep that night. I fell into a deep slumber of blackness, my core flame keeping me warm in the night. It was the most pleasant sleep I've had in a while, and would be the best I would have in years to come.

The End of the Beginning

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Everypony awoke from their slumber early in the morning to prepare for the arrival of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. The mayor had organized decorating to be done at town hall, where the ceremony would begin. Despite it being so early, Pinkie Pie was up and active, decorating and preparing for the ceremony and after party. Applejack and Bronze Hammer had been moving food from the orchard estate to the ceremony all morning, freshly made by Granny Smith and Apple Bloom. Everypony pitched in on the preparations, except for the soldiers, who were getting ready for the ceremonies. Rarity had made glamorous suits for each of us, and designed something special with Tiki for himself. After an hour of preparations and decorations, there was nothing else to do but wait. Only minutes went by as a golden carriage could be seen pulling the two Princesses from Canterlot to Ponyville. The chariot was moving at impeccable speeds, arriving at the edge of Ponyville within ten minutes time. The two Princesses left their carriage and were soon approached by the greeting committee: me.

"Welcome, ladies. I have accomplished the task you had assigned for me." I said, bowing my head.

"You certainly have! Somepony informed me on the details regarding the battle. I'm so sorry about your loss, but war is war." Celestia said with sympathy.

"It's alright, the job is done, and her death had been avenged." I said.

"Yes, well, you see... Luna will inform you later on the details of your new assignment I am giving to you and your squad." The princess looked over to Luna.

"Yes, of course. I'll explain everything to your friends at the after party." Luna said.

"Of course. Please follow me so we can begin the ceremony." I said, leading to the town hall.

We all took place at town hall, everypony gathered in chairs set up from this morning. I was on the stage with Tiki, Silver, and Bronze. We were supposed to receive a special reward for our hard efforts and amazing victory over the greatest army of the centuries. There were many other soldiers seated in the crowd, arising when they were called to receive an award if it was earned. Each soldier was going to claim a payment for their services in the mail when they returned home. All different types of awards were handed out to different ponies. Medical award for saving a life on the battlefield. Protector's award for guarding a fallen soldier. Many other honorable awards were given, but all were adding up to the final four medals of honor. Each of us had received a medal for commanding a victorious army and guarding the safety of the royal throne. Each medal was personally engraved with our cutie marks on each of the medals. an iron fist was engraved into the gold medal for myself. Silver Dust had a tourniquet of silver engraved on his. Bronze Hammer had a black anvil with a metal horse shoe, and Tiki had a surf board in a sea of clouds. Princess Luna was given the honor of placing each medal over our necks for the crowd to see, and soon the ceremony had ended after a few speeches of thanks. I had thought about a speech, but I couldn't possibly speak publicly if I had mentioned Glimmer. The pain of losing her after I had promised so much was painstaking to my heart and soul, I could feel it biting at me in the back of my head.

The party afterwords was amazing, as Pinkie had promised. It wasn't a crazy pony party like the party pony herself would usually throw, but nonetheless it was a good celebration. I had received much praise and thanks from all of the soldiers and citizens that had showed to the ceremony. The other three were getting swarmed with appraisal and thanks, it was deserved though, through all the pain and work we had done in only a few days. The apple dishes were set up along a table at the side of a glorious water fountain in the courtyard, which everypony had enjoyed all of the food that was freshly made for the occasion. Granny Smith and Apple Bloom worked extremely hard, preparing such a large amount of food in such a short time. Apple Bloom had even showed up with the rest of the crusaders. I would've said something to them earlier, but they seemed a bit taken aback by my more draconian appearance. A lot of ponies had noticed that, but tried to block it out and remembered I was still the same pony that they all came to love. The ceremony had continued through the day, the sun rising higher in the sky. I had to stop Pinkie Pie on two occasions from bringing out the party cannon, it just wasn't necessary right now. I had talked with many ponies, accepting all the congratulations and thanking them sincerely for their appreciation, but I now had to speak with the crusaders, since they were the only ones I haven't spoke to today.

"I've finally found you three, I'm surprised I haven't had the time to speak to you today." I said, coming up behind the crusaders.

"Oh! Ironclad! We finally found you!" Sweetie Bell said nervously.

"Is it really true that ya killed all of those goblins in one day?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah! Did you rip of Blunt Will's head like one of the soldiers mentioned?" Scootaloo asked eagerly.

"Yep, it's all true. I stopped the army in its tracks with my army and crushed Blunt Will like a stick on the ground." I said proudly.

"That's pretty merciless, I don't think I would've been able to witness something like that without barfing all over." Sweetie Bell looked uncomfortable.

"What's up with you girls? You look a bit uncomfortable around me." I said.

"Ah guess it's just the new look, just gotta get used to it and all." Apple Bloom said nervously.

"Yeah, my sis told me not to worry about being around you, but I've just got this bad feeling about being around such a pony that did so much... Killing." Sweetie Bell said, avoiding eye contact.

"That's alright, I completely understand!" I laughed, "it'll probably take a while to get used to, but my personality is still the same, there's nothing wrong with that part of me is there?" I asked jokingly.

"Of course not! You have the most unique personality in Ponyville!" Scootaloo burst out.

"Alright, well I guess that settles everything, unless there's something else bothering you?" I asked jokingly again.

"Well, just your look and all, but nothin' other than that." Apple Bloom said.

Princess Luna had approached our group from my back, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I need to borrow Ironclad for a moment. It's about your new assignment."

"Of course. Please inform me on what my next mission is." I said.

"Lets go round up the rest of your friends so I can give your squad the next assignment." Luna said sternly.

As we walked, Luna started to talk about my new task at hand, informing me on the situation at hand in Equestria. She explained the increasingly problematic appearances of goblins in the neighboring cities of Equestria. Both Fillydelphia and Manehattan are at risk of goblin attacks. Blunt Will had conjured 95% of his army to fight me in the battle so that the rest of his men could go to different parts of Equestria to prepare for an attack across the land. Silver Dust, Tiki, and Bronze Hammer soon joined us in our little walk while the briefing was taking place. We walked inside the town hall building and were alone at the moment.

"Alright. I've gathered you all here for your next mission. You will suit up tonight and prepare to leave the next day on an Equestria-wide trek to wipe out any goblin resistance you see in each neighboring city. Along the way, goblin camps and armies will be crushed by your force to eliminate all resistance. Blunt Will has dispersed his troops all across the land, and you need to eliminate as much as possible. Each city is tainted with a dark source of power that needs to be crushed to rid the area of any evil copies of goblins." Luna explained.

"Alright, we're up to the task. We'll start packing straight away when we return to the barracks." I said.

"Don't worry about packing much, I shall inform each of the towns and villages across Equestria of you mission, they will all supply you with food and equipment when you stop through the area. You also don't have to pack heavy armor if you don't choose to, your original guard uniforms will be more than well suited for your mission." Luna continued.

"Alright, that's wonderful news. The rest of this day will be spent saying goodbyes and all, since we will be able to prepare in short notice tonight." I said, hoping to give my friends some time to themselves and their loved ones.

"As you wish. I've also received notice to your new ability," Luna smiled. "You will be able to write to your friends in Ponyville while you're gone, since you might be gone for quite a while after today." Luna said solemnly.

"I'll make sure to write often!" I smiled sheepishly.

"You should also be aware of the rogue dragons of Equestria. Celestia has taken notice of who you really are and knows what you've caused." Luna said sternly.

"I'm sorry, I was caught up in the moment... I wish I could..." Luna had cut me off.

"Nonsense! The presence of a dragon lord is more than welcomed into our world! We hope that you will guide your cause in a good direction. We support you fully and will offer assistance whenever you need it!" Luna said supportively.

"Thank you, I promise to lead Equestria in the right direction. Nopony will be harmed and the dragons will be able to embrace everypony with open arms and determination. I hope this alliance can make Equestria more united and stronger at heart!" I said proudly.

"And we thank you sincerely for your hard work. The briefing is over, you may go enjoy yourselves for the rest of the day." Luna dismissed us and we all saluted.

The party was ending and we all began to clean up the decorations and leftover food. We were dismissed from cleanup duty to enjoy the rest of the day, but I insisted that we helped with such a process. The cleanup went much faster than expected with all of us working at it, and a hot flame to get rid of all of the leftover decorations and food. It only took one spark from my muzzle to start the blue aura, dancing over the pile and disintegrating everything left over from the celebration.

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"You what?! Ya just got back from your battle and y'all are leavin' again?!" Applejack wasn't happy about the idea.

"Now, you've gotta understand, this is for the good of Equestria. We need to clear out all the cities so the goblins don't come back and beat our flanks!" Bronze explained.

"Why don't the royal soldiers do somethin' about it themselves?" Applejack asked, looking for a reason to keep us all in Ponyville.

"I doubt royal soldiers can destroy a source of dark magic." Silver said.

"Dark magic? Whats going on out there in Equestria?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Sources of evil magic have armies of goblin clones conjured in the general location of major cities, rogue dragons are flying the skies, and we have to stop all of it." I explained briefly.

"Rogue Dragons? Flying the skies?! I'm so scared now..." Fluttershy said, curling up on the corner of our couch.

"Yes, I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with the dragons... But I'll make sure the ones on our side keep them from causing much harm to the ponies." I said.

"As long as you deal with the problem and come back as soon as possible. I'm gonna miss you guys being around and all." Rainbow Dash said.

"I know, us leaving is going to leave you without a show when we're all dating and stuff." I said with a smirk.

"Hey! I can find my own show, even without you guys around! I'm just going to miss the company." Rainbow said, trying to hold back her smile.

"Anyways. I think I'm gonna go back to the boutique with Rarity. A nice quiet lunch sounds good right about now." Tiki said, eyeing Rarity.

"Of course! What a splendid idea! We might as well have some time to ourselves before you leave for so long!" Rarity said.

"Well, I guess Twilight and I could always enjoy one more lunch together." I suggested.

"That sounds good, we can go enjoy ourselves down at sugar cube corner." Twilight said.

"Great! I'll go right now and get your favorite dishes ready!" Pinkie said, trotting out the door after Rarity and Tiki.

"Well, ah guess its you and I back at the orchard, sugar cube." Applejack looked at Bronze Hammer playfully.

"I think I'll spend some time with Rainbow Dash, if she's really going to miss us that much." Silver Dust said, smiling.

"Hey, I won't argue with that. What do you want to do?" Rainbow asked.

"I'll make the lunch, you can pick the spot." Silver offered.

"A date? I'm not all mushy like the rest of these ponies!" Rainbow swatted her hoof in displease.

"Well, I guess I'll just go do something else then. I thought I could watch your amazing tricks somewhere in the park but I know how you feel about mushy stuff." Silver smiled and looked away.

"Well... When you put it that way I guess we could go out to the park." Rainbow gave into the offer.

It was the last date for everypony. Fluttershy joined Rainbow Dash and Silver Dust in the park for a bit, before leaving to go feed her animals. Bronze Hammer and Applejack went to the same hill in the orchard they were at before the battle. Rarity and Tiki had a quiet lunch at the boutique that afternoon. Spending the time with Tiki only made Rarity more upset that he would be gone for so long. Tiki promised to write often and that everything would be alright soon, and this helped comfort Rarity. Twilight and I enjoyed a sandwich and a shake at sugar cube corner, with Pinkie joining us at our table whenever she could do so. We all had our time to say our last goodbyes that day before packing for the journey and having to leave early tomorrow morning. It was going to be a long trip ahead, but we were prepared. We had each other and that was enough to make us unstoppable on the road ahead. The thought of fighting for the safety of Equestria only made us stronger. Each of us went to bed that night, alone in our rooms, but together under the same roof. We would be a team for the next few years to come, together under the same roof or even under the stars. We fell asleep, ready to awake the next day. We were now ready to protect and serve.

Strangers in a familiar world

by iMan203

Unanswered questions

Answers of Peace

Meet the Crusaders

Hunt for a Party

Getting settled

Reality of Danger

Prepare For the Worst

BattleReady

Final Preparations

The New Era Will Dawn

The End of the Beginning