> Fight for survival (redone)
>  by lost worlds
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> A rough begining
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(prologue)

I sat staring blankly at my screen, not even the slightest of emotions in my light brown eyes as I regarded the show more than watched it. For me life had become a dull and meaningless experience when everything fell into a routine and didn't seem to ever want to change. With a sigh I looked away from the screen and instead stared out my window, watching as the heavy rainfall splattered against the window, giving me an idea. I quickly got dressed and threw on a jacket before exiting my room and putting on my shoes. "Be back in a bit dad, just gonna enjoy the rain," I said, already out the door before he could even hope to respond and was descending the stairs of the apartments. I moved to the middle of the open grassed area and sat down, just letting the rain fall onto me and soak every inch of my clothes. 

While I very rarely felt any real emotion I still always felt what I could remember to be happiness whenever I'm in the rain like this. The way the cool water chills me down to the bone seems to remind me that I am alive, that I'm not heartless, and with that I smiled. My moment of peace did not last however for as I sat there is my own little world of peace I felt myself get picked up and thrown into a tree, making me gasp in pain as I fell back down into the wood chips below. Forcing myself up I saw something I wasn't expecting. What stood before me was a creature that one would only see in their nightmares, the creature looked to be made of solid shadows that stood slightly over 8 feet tall, its eyes were filled with blood lust and its smile was filled with such mad glee that it could make a demon run in fear.

"Hehehehehe, prepare to die," the creature said as it slowly approached me, its voice sounding both high and low, but definitely male. As the creature approached me I moved away at an even pace, hoping not to set it off and end my life. This continued until I was nearly to the parking lot, when suddenly it was gone, and I felt something grip my left arm with force. Slowly looking over I could see the creature standing to my left, its grin wider and its very sharp looking claws holding my arm at my shoulder and wrist. With an evil laugh the creature pulled with force, but just enough to slowly rip my arm off at what felt like he was going at snails pace as I screamed in agony, never having experienced such pain as this before. After what felt like hours to me I felt my arm finally pull away from my arm and let out another loud scream, my throat becoming sore from my screaming as I barely registered the increase in the creatures laugh.

After a few moments I felt the creature release my shoulder and I fell to the ground, slamming face first into the mud as I felt the rain soak my body and attempt to wash away the blood. "We're not done yet," it said as it lifted me back up by my right arm, I looked at its face, seeing drool run down from its ever increasing smile. letting out a psychotic laugh it ripped off my other arm much quicker this time, instantly letting me drop to the ground so it could watch as I writhed and screamed in agony on the muddy ground.  As I screamed I felt it grab one of my legs and hold it up, it put a claw on my knee and slowly pushed until there was a sickening crack and my screams increased in volume from the bent-out-of-shape leg. Picking up the other leg it did something different, it grabbed my foot and slowly twisted until it turned a complete 270 degrees, every moment my screams increased in volume. Then when I thought it couldn't get any worse it turned me onto my back and tore off my shirt before proceeding to take a claw and carve me up. Its claw started from the middle of my upper-chest strait down to my pelvis, after which it cut a horizontal line from each side of my abdomen to the vertical cut, at just under my bottom most rib. I felt it as he slowly peeled my skin back and started slicing organs, leaving them inside so I could feel every throb from the damaged parts that sent immense pain to my mind and made me scream with more strength, strength that I lacked for any other action than to let out wails of agony as one after another my organs were cut to ribbons inside my own body, just enough left intact that the nerves could still sent signals of pain. Then, after half an hour, it suddenly stopped, I still laid there on the ground, I still felt the rain fall into my open chest, as even my ribs had not been spared, each one either cracked or broken, hell I could even feel as the raindrops fell onto my still beating heart and chilled it.

"Rest Jack Cresten, and may you rest in eternal agony AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" the creatures maniacal laughter was the last thing I heard as suddenly I felt myself sink into the ground, too tired to fight back as I sank until my head was covered and mud covered my vision and filled my lungs. After a few moments I felt myself begin to black out, and so I let myself start drifting away, wanting nothing more than for my suffering to end. But as My body grew numb a single thought entered my head 'no', I couldn't die, I might not have felt anything but too many people who called themselves my friends helped me so that I could live, they helped me see that there was always a way to live no matter what happened, no matter how much pain you were in, and no matter how much you wanted to give up. I started struggling as I still felt myself growing numb, I fought with everything I had, though it was more spiritual since most of my body was broken, cut, or just plain missing. After a few moments I thought I was right on deaths door, but then I felt myself get filled with a power that seemed to flood me with energy, and as I started to experience hope, there was a bright light, and I blacked out.



3rd person, Equestria




Two guards stood in silence, stationed in front of the main entrance of the castle they both showed little emotion as they stood guard, not moving so much as a single muscle. Then suddenly another pair of guards walked up to the pair saying, "Shifts over, time to switch," and with a nod they changed places with a smooth sense of professionalism. Walking down the halls of the castle one of the guards let out a little sigh before saying, "man this is boring, I hate getting watch duty for the front gate,".

"Yes, but you have to remember Strait Arrow, it's our job and we just have to do what we're told," he explained to his younger partner, getting another sigh out of him.

"I know Crimson, but why do we have to get all the boring jobs?" Strait asked, taking a look out the window and stopping to look at something he could see in the sky.

"We get what we get Strait, no reason complaining about it," Crimson answered, taking a moment to notice Strait was not walking with him and was focused on something outside the window.

"Do you see that Crimson?" Strait, pointing at something with his hoof.

"See wha-WHAT THE HAY IS THAT!" Crimson shouted, seeing what looked like a ball of fire headed for them. Startled, both of them jumped out of the way just in time for something to smash through the window and a door to one of the guest rooms. Strait and Crimson looked at each other before slowly moving towards the broken doorway and inside the room, finding a strange creature in a heap where the bed once was. The creature had white skin with almost no fur, save for a brown mane and short hair on parts of its body. It wore torn up clothes that barely covered all but its arms, hands, neck, and face. lying on its stomach the two guards could see a pair of crimson red wings that hung loosely against its body.The creature looked long, and looked like if it stood it would hold a bipedal stance, appearing as though it would stand even above that of Princess Celestia herself. and Finally the two guards noticed that the creature reeked of blood, and that its clothes were stained heavily with the stuff, even its hair wasn't spared the blood that slightly dampened it, seemingly the only place that wasn't completely covered in it.

"What do you think it is Crimson?" Strait asked, looking the creature over again as he crinkled his nose at the scent.

"Whatever it is doesn't matter, it is an unknown creature that has crashed into the castle and is heavily covered in blood, I say we chain it up and bring it before the Princesses," Crimson said, taking on an air of authority as he received a 'Sir yes Sir!' from Strait as they began the process of securing it so it wouldn't escape, and then bringing it before Princess Celestia herself.
> Where am I?
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(Chapter 1)

A slight pain lanced through my skull as I gradually awoke to the sound of voices nearby. Keeping my eyes shut I slowly began to see if I had the energy to move, but soon came to the shocking realization that how much energy I had mattered very little as I was bound in chains with a strange weight connected to my back. To make matters worse my senses were quickly flooded with such a heavy scent of blood that one would think to have been more at home at the scene of a brutal murder or battleground. Keeping as still as possible I tried not to alert my captors as to my consciousness, worrying that I would not remain so should they decide I should not be. After a few moments of listening to what I could only imagine to be two soldiers giving rank and patrol routes I decided to risk peeking one of my eyes ever so slightly open to see who held me captive, and I could not have been more surprised. From the bit of blurred image my eyes could make out I noticed that I was in some form of grand throne room with some form of red carpet leading up to the rooms golden throne. Sat upon the throne was some form of large pony while sat before the throne were two smaller ponies garbed in what appeared to be golden armor. From what I could tell from their voices the two smaller ponies in armor were both male while the pony sat upon the throne was female.

"The strange creature crashed through one of the castles windows and then through the doors to one of the guest bedrooms, the creature was found in the remains of the bed with tattered clothing that was as drenched in blood as itself, thinking quickly we secured it in chains and brought it here to get your judgement," One of the soldiers explained to the pony on the throne. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I knew that I didn't like the idea of my judgment being held in the hands? hooves? whatever of a talking pony.

"Has the creature shown any hostility?" The female pony asked with a kind and motherly tone.

"It has yet to regain conciseness Princess, shall we take it to the dungeons and wait for it to awaken?" The other soldier asked, which was something that I didn't like at all. I wasn't sure what would happen to me in some sort of dungeon, but I wasn't sure of anything good that could possibly happen there. The princess hummed slightly in thought, not answering at first as she seemed to tap her hoof against the armrest of her throne, not that I could see as I had closed my eye again.

"Take it, but bring it back should it awaken," I heard her answer, giving me an idea. If the princess was willing to talk then maybe I could show her that I wasn't a threat and find out where I was. Tiredly I began to move with a light groan, pulling against my bonds slowly before moving faster as I felt my arms restrained by the feeling of chains, with a slight gasp of worry and confusion I began pulling harder against my bindings with a sense of worry and fear behind my movements. Finally I opened my eyes to survey my surroundings.

"Wha-what's going on?" I asked, mixing as much confusion as I could into my voice to sound convincing, which wasn't a difficult task as I was actually rather confused about a lot of things at the moment. looking around I could finally see what the ponies looked like, and saw that the first two looked identical, minus that one had a horn and one had wings. They had white fur and blue eyes, stood around 3 and a half feet tall with golden armor that had a blue star on the chest plate, and while their manes were hidden by their helmets, there was a blue Mohawk on the helmet and a blue tail that passed through the armor protecting their flanks. The one I assumed to be their princess had both wings and a horn, she also stood a great deal taller at around 6 foot and had white fur with a pastel rainbow mane and tail that flowed in a breeze that just wasn't there, and her magenta eyes showed age and wisdom that went beyond anything I could ever hope to be able to comprehend.

"HALT! You will stay still until the Princess says otherwise," the one on the left said, I'll call him Pony 1 for now, and the other one Pony 2. I could see the princess give a very light glare that I wouldn't have noticed had I not been focusing on seeing every little thing happening at that moment.

"There is no need to be rude my little pony, now may I ask, who and what are you?" the Princess asked, looking at me with curiosity as I could tell she was studying me as I was her.

"I'm a homosapien, or human for short, and my name's Jack Cresten, may I ask what and who you are? Also, where am I?"

"I am princess Celestia, ruler of the day and co-ruler of Equestria, which is the name of this country, I rule along with my sister Princess Luna who watches over the night, we are a race known as alicorns that possess the abilities of all three pony tribes," she explained as I took in this information. Looking over to the two ponies I could only guess that they were a unicorn and pegasus, if Greek mythology is anything to go off of, but I didn't know what the other one could be.

"I have a question if I may Princess?" Pony 2 asked, receiving a nod of approval from the Princess. "do you plan on being hostile, or are you peaceful?" he asked.

"If you mean am I threat, then the answer is no, I have no reason to be at the moment," I answered, getting a nod as he came over and started to undo my bindings, getting a slight smile from the Princess.

"What are you doing straight Arrow, that creature could be lying," Pony 1 asked the other one, now identified as straight Arrow, who finished setting me free before replying.

"His name is Jack, not creature, and he has shown no open hostility as of yet Crimson," straight said to the pony now known as Crimson. I stretched a little and stood up, catching the surprise of the princess as I stood just slightly taller than herself.

"Thanks, for some reason those chains were strangely tight on my back," I mentioned catching straight's attention as he looked at my back before turning back to face me.

"Your wings look fine, and I don't remember binding them incorrectly," he responded and I just looked at him strangely before turning around and gasping at what I saw. On my back were two crimson wings that I could actually feel, leading me to believe that they were truly real.

"Are you okay Jack?" the Princess asked, bringing me out of my stupor as I looked over to her.

"Yes, well yes and no, I didn't have wings before and have no idea where they came from," I replied. Everyone looked confused at my statement, not understanding how I could just suddenly have wings.

"What do you mean you didn't have wings before? Are you sure you didn't have them before?" straight asked.

"No humans have wings, and I know that before I woke up I definitely didn't have any, so they're pretty new to me," I explained before asking, "Princess, do you have any ideas on how I suddenly have wings?"

"No, I have no idea why you have them, in all honesty I'm still not even sure how you got here," she answered. When the Princess mentioned the subject of how I got here all of them looked at me with expectant curiosity.

"*sigh* you want the hard truth of what I remember or the light version?" I asked and they all requested the hard truth. With another sigh I told my tale, telling them in as much gory detail as I could about what I last remembered, from going out into the rain, until waking up here, though I did leave out the part where I woke up earlier than they noticed. When I reached the end of my tale I looked over the three ponies only to see that the Princess looked mortified and the other two were throwing up in separate potted plants.

"SO YOU MEAN TO TELL US THAT'S YOUR BLOOD THAT'S ALL OVER YOU?!" straight asked in a horrified shout. I nodded my head and he seemed to heave some more before throwing up again. Crimson walked over to him and gently patted him on the back as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the plant pot.

"I am surprised that you are alive after all of that," the Princess said, and when I looked into her eyes I could almost feel the pity in her eyes for the pain I felt, and I instantly felt a frown appear.

"Don't pity me Princess, 'cause I absolutely despise being pitied, yes the pain was horrendous, but I'm alive and that's all that matters," I said. The Princess seemed taken aback by what I said, but her eyes softened before she nodded her head, albeit a little hesitantly.

"What of your friends and family?" She asked me. Prompted by her question my mind turned to everyone one I knew, as well as every moment of self-hatred they inspired within me through my interactions with them, as well as the few who had helped stave off those feeling of rage and hate, only to die and leave me to wallow in my misery.

"For me friends were few and far between, and my family isn't that happiest to be around, I was waiting until I was old enough to move out anyway and then I was gonna leave while I still could," I answered. The princess looked a little bit saddened by what I said but also seemed to remember what I said about pitying me so she hid it as quickly as possible.

"And what of things that you cared about?" She asked again in a vain attempt to find something that wasn't bad, to find something that could prompt a feeling of happiness from my home.

"If you're trying to make me think of happy thoughts for when I go home, then you can stop now, I don't want to go home, so if you really want to help me, then I would be much more grateful if you could give me any suggestions for a place to work and live," I said, shocking all of the ponies in the room. After a few moments of quiet I could see Crimson's face slowly gain a look of consideration before it was overtaken by a small smile.

"Well we do have the guard you could join, if you're good enough that is," Crimson said before the Princess could reply.

The Princess regarded Crimson with an air of curiosity before nodding her head slowly and saying, "Indeed, although I'm sure you would be better off with another occupation, it would give you a place to stay and bits to live off of, though you would have to do one thing first,".

"A paying job and a roof over my head, count me in," I said. Something that none of my friends really knew was that I had always wanted to be a fighter/warrior, not particularly a soldier, but just someone who got to work with weapons and fight others, though I attribute that mostly to my Norwegian and viking ancestors.

"Alright, though the one thing you have to do is pledge yourself to Equestria as an Equestrian citizen and then you can become a royal guard, though you will still have to be tested to make sure you're physically and mentally capable before hoof," she explained to me. When she was done I just smiled and nodded my head, already giddy from the prospects of everything happening, though I did find this feeling of excitement a tad bit strange, I just enjoyed one of the rare few moments where I felt honest emotion. And not only would this be fun because I would get to be a soldier, but I also had ideas on how to better equip the Equestrian military, especially since I was almost 100% sure that the armor the other two guards were wearing was made out of gold, and the idea of using such a metal as armor was absolutely horrendous. Looking them over even more I could even see several obvious vital areas not protected by the armor. "Crimson Vision, Straight arrow, take Jack to the barracks and get him set up," she said, the two ponies giving a salute and motioning me to follow them. With a small smile I walked after them, wondering what my life was going to be like in this strange, new world.
> Joining a team
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(chapter 2)

I followed Crimson and Straight through more hallways than I could even count, having no idea how I would get back to the throne room if I needed to without a guide. For ten minutes we walked in silence that was only broken once or twice when I would ask a question or they would ask instead. We finally stopped before, what I could only assume to be a large door by pony standards, as it was around 6 feet high, and 5 feet wide. Straight and Crimson entered first and I lagged behind, watching everyone in the room look right at me, and I was slightly surprised at the low variety. In the medium sized living space was mostly ponies with what I could only assume to be a few griffons, and Minotaurs. Focusing back on Straight and Crimson I followed them towards a slightly smaller door, making me realize I might have to bend over a bit to get anywhere in this place. Inside the room was a unicorn stallion that had black fur and a white mane and tail, he wore a variation of the guards armor, without the helmet. When we entered and closed the door behind us the stallion looked up from his desk, staring intently at me with icy blue eyes. "Crimson Vision, Straight Arrow, what is this creature and what is it doing in here?" the stallion asked.

"My name is Jack Cresten, I'm a human, and I'm here to join the guard," I instead explained for myself. The stallion arched an eyebrow at me and got up from his desk, moving to the front of the desk he kept his eyes on me, seemingly analyzing me in more detail then a microscope could get close to reaching, even going so far as to circle around me a few times to get a better look.

"Alright, well I'm Captain Dark Snow, the new captain since Prince Shining armor left to the Crystal Empire," he Explained as he held out a hoof to me. I hesitantly held out a hand and shook it, sighing a little when he didn't say that what I did was wrong. "so, have you gone through the exams?" Dark asked as he walked back over to his desk and sat down.

"Not yet sir, we came here to see about getting that done and getting Jack put into a squad," Crimson answered. Captain Dark nodded his head and looked through his desk for a few papers

"Alright, sign these and then head down to the training area to begin your exam," Captain Dark explained, handing me the paper and a quill with some ink.

"Um, thanks, but could I take a shower first, as you've probably noticed I'm kinda covered in blood," I said as I motioned to myself to show all the blood that clung to my shredded clothes.

"I noticed, but I just figured you would have been smart enough to do so without asking, I mean, I didn't tell you to get there immediately," Captain Dark responded with a very small smirk. I gave him a blank stare before nodding and walking out of the room with Crimson and Straight. The two showed me to the showers, which I was very glad were large enough for a Minotaur, so I didn't really have to bend down too much. Crimson and Straight left me as I washed myself, and I hopped into the water, not even bothering to take off my clothes as they needed to be washed just as badly as I did. After 20 minuets I heard someone telling me to hurry up outside the door, and quickly stepped out of the shower and walked over to the door. I surprised Straight by walking out of the room completely covered in water and still wearing my torn clothes, which was basically nothing more than rags that barely covered me at all.

"Damn, without the blood it's even more obvious how torn up your clothes are," Straight commented. I just nodded and motioned for him to lead the way for where I needed to go and he took me through even more hallways until we exited through a door that led out of the castle and to a much more open training ground. In the training ground I could see dozens of guards training in what seemed to be magic, strength, agility, and hoof to hoof combat.  Continuing to follow Straight he led me to a medium sized circle where Crimson and a mare stood.

"Hi, I'm Jack, nice to meet you," I said as I held out my hand, introducing myself to the new mare who shook my hand back.

"Good to meet you, I'm Sargent Flawless Fury, I'll be presiding over your evaluation," she explained and I nodded.

"Alright, well before we start, what kind of pony are you?" I asked. She looked confused, as did Straight and Crimson, so I decided to elaborate, "I know what 2 of the three pony tribes are, but I'm not sure what yours is called,".

"I'm an earth pony, Which is the pony tribe more in tune with the planet and is more naturally attuned with nature and strength than the other pony tribes," she answered and I nodded.

"Alright, then what's up first?"

"First were going to check your stamina, I want you to run around this circle until you feel too tired to continue," she said, and I inwardly groaned. In PE I always did bad in everything other than the flexibility test. With an inward sigh I started running around the circle, which was probably a 1/6th of a mile long. I continued running for longer than I thought possible and by the time I even started getting winded I could see the ponies looking at me in surprise. An hour in I had ran nearly 16 miles, and still wasn't tired yet. I stopped when I saw the others motioning me to come over and they looked me over.

"I'd say you have plenty of stamina, next up is the strength portion," she said as she lead us over to an area of the training ground where weights were laid out for use by any passing guards. "Alright, I want you to add as much weight the bar as it takes for you to really be working yourself, when you find that weight I want you to do as many lift as you can," she instructed. I nodded and looked for a bar that would suit my hand better, and upon finding one I added 5 10 pound weights to each side of the bar. I picked up the bar expecting it to be heavy, but was surprised to find that it actually felt kinda light. Setting the bar down I added another 20 pounds, still too light, so I added another 40, then another 60, then more and more until I had reached 500 pounds and was finally able to feel the muscles in my arms working to lift the weight. Starting to actually lift the bar I went on until I felt my arms burning and struggling to hold the bar anymore.

"How... was... that?" I asked between pants, feeling the burn in my arms from the work out.

"Well you lifted a weight of 500 pounds 120 times, which beats our Minotaur record by about 20 pounds, and 10 lifts, which is actually rather impressive," Crimson said, sounding both shocked and amazed.

"We'll give you a few moments to rest and then we'll test your flight capabilities," Flawless said.

"Sorry but that won't be happening, I have absolutely no idea how to use these things," I mentioned as I pointed a thumb to my wings, which I had very little control over.

"How could you not know how to use your own wings?" Flawless asked in bewilderment.

"They kinda just appeared on me a little over an hour ago, don't ask how, cause I have absolutely no idea how," I answered honestly.

"He'll have time to learn how to use his wings later, hopefully from one of his squad mates, so let's just skip that test for now," Crimson cut in.

"If that's the case then the last test is for your mental stability," Flawless said, bringing us over to a unicorn stallion that had only recently entered the training grounds and had been watching me since I had reached my fiftieth rep with 500 pounds. He had brown fur with a red mane and tail and he wore a white lab coat.

"Hello, my name is Magic Vision, I happen to be a professor at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns," Magic greeted.

"Wait, if you have vision in your name, are you related to Crimson Vision?" I asked, confused as to how the ponies naming system worked.

"No, you see my name relates to my special talent, which is the use of magic that allows me to see and examine many things, while his relates to his excellent eye sight, and as far as I've heard he even has the record highest distance clearly seen with, and without magical enhancements," Magic explained. I nodded, understanding that pony names weren't exactly based on family like humans, but instead related to the ponies special talent... whatever that means. "alright, now just clear your mind and I'll quickly look to see if you're mentally healthy," he said, I nodded and sat down, clearing all thoughts from my mind. For a few moments nothing happened, then suddenly I heard a loud screech of hatred and in the darkness of my mind saw what looked like the witch from L4D in even more detail than the game could ever give her, small strips of flesh hanging limply from her rotting form as her razor sharp claws dripped a constant flow of blood from their tips. Within that split second I felt movement in front of me and opened my eyes, seeing Magic had jumped back from me and was shaking ever so slightly.

"Are you okay?" I asked as everyone else looked at him nervously.

"Yes, yes, I am fine, also you pass, you have enough mental stability to become a royal guard, even though your thoughts are rather dark and morbid, they don't reach the level of being unstable or evil," he said, shaking his head a little bit before leaving quickly. I kept a curious gaze on him all the way to the entrance of the training ground, wondering what could gotten a reaction out of him like that.

"Well, all that's left is the paper work," Sargent Flawless said, handing the papers to me with a quill and some ink that she pulled from somewhere that I couldn't see. I nodded to her and got to work, answering the questions (that were thankfully in English), the questions were rather straight forward, asking things like my full name, age, place of birth, physical capabilities (done by Flawless), etc. After done Straight and Crimson brought me back to the barracks so I could turn in the form. Entering the barracks again I could see that many of the guards that were there previously were gone. We knocked on the door of the captains office and were told to come in, and so we entered to find the captain putting papers away into his desk.

"I've got the paper work done," I said, handing him the forms as he looked them over, nodding his head as he went over the information.

"Interesting, well there's only one squad we have that is need of new members at the moment, so you'll be paired up with Private Straight Arrow, Private River Breeze, and Third Lieutenant Crimson Vision," Captain Dark Snow said. I recognized Straight and Crimson, but I had no idea who River Breeze was.

"Alright Captain," I sated, giving a light salute which he returned with and amused smirk.

"Go to the mess hall and enjoy your last dinner before waking up like a guard, also, look into getting some armor in the morning" He said. I nodded and followed Straight out of the barracks (Crimson had left at some point when I was being assigned to his team) and led me to the mess hall. We yet again walked down many halls until we came before a rather plain looking double door that was just under my height.

"Alright, this is the mess hall, let's go in," Straight said with a smile as he pushed the door open and we entered. The first thing that I noticed was that I could see an ocean of colorful ponies wearing guards armor, except for the helmets. Looking over to Straight to ask him what was going on I was shocked to see him change colors just by taking off his helmet. As soon as his helmet was removed there was a light ripple over his body before it began to change color, his fur turning forest green, his eyes turning a light crystal blue, while his mane and tail turned a dirty blond color, though the green around his eyes was slightly darker, almost like a mask. "I'm sure you're wondering why my colors changed, to put it simply all of our guard helmets have a special enchantment that changes our fur to look either grey, or white to make our forces look more unified as a single entity," he explained.

"Alright, but what about non-ponies?"

"They usually don't have that enchantment, and even if they did I don't think you would need it, seeing how you're the only human," he answered. I nodded, though I did see a small amount of guilt go through his eyes, I could only assume it was because he realized what exactly he just said.

"It's okay, I'm not upset, also, looking good Straight," I said before he could say anything, holding a light smirk as I talked. Straight gained a small look of shock before smiling and nodding as he led me over to where the food was. Grabbing a few fruits and veggies, as well as a slice of meat from the griffons area (which earned me some smiles from the fellow meat eaters) I started following Straight to a table where I could see Crimson with another pony. The pony looked like she was a unicorn mare (from her physique, and her horn, obviously) with ocean blue fur, jade green eyes, and a white mane and tail. Focusing back on Crimson I could finally see that he actually had blackish fur, Crimson red eyes, and a light red mane and tail. Getting closer and closer I took a deep breath and thought to myself, 'I wonder if my life is actually going to get better here?'.
> Getting Started
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Chapter 3)

"Hi, I'm guessing you're our new teammate Jack, Crimson here's been telling me about you," The mare said as I sat down with Straight arrow.

"Yeah I am, and I'm guessing that you're River Breeze?" I asked. She nodded with a small smile as she looked at the food I had gotten with mild surprise as she noticed the meat.

"You're a carnivore?"

"Yeah, well actually all humans are Omnivores, so we can eat both plant material and meat, though we usually consider ourselves to be more on the predator/carnivore side," I explained and she nodded at my answer. We continued to eat while making small talk until we had all finished our meals.

"Alright, well we have another hour and a half before the night shift begins, what do you wanna do?" Straight asked, looking around the table for anyone with any ideas.

"I say we get Jack out of those clothes, they don't cover much anyway and they don't look very clean," River suggested. All eyes went to me and I let out a small sigh at this.

"My clothes stay on, especially in public," I said, getting looks of curiosity from the others.

"Why? it's not like we're wearing anything under our armor," Crimson asked.

"Because my bodies different from yours," I replied straightly.

"Aw come on, we won't judge you cause you're different," Straight chimed in.

"Let me explain, from what I can remember about equine biology stallions have a protective sheath to hide their genitals, humans don't have that, so ours is always out, hence one of the reasons I need to wear clothes," I elaborated. The three ponies at the table, as well as a few that were passing, gained wide eyes at that information.

"Oh, then I guess they stay on," River said, blushing lightly.

"Well... the pants stay on,, but I guess the shirt is kind of useless," I said. Raising my hands up I hooked them under the bottom of my shirt and in one swift motion I pulled the shirt off, revealing my upper body to everyone present. Looking down to see how my body looked, since I hadn't looked for any other physical changes as of yet after discovering my wings, and was surprised to see that my body was in much better shape than I remembered it being. Instead of a slightly pudgy stomach there was a rather defined six-pack, and instead of thin, noodle like arms I had decent sized muscle. I sat there flexing and poking my arm, enjoying the feeling of actually having real muscle and having abs, a large smile stuck on my face. I was brought out of my fun by a slight cough that came from crimson who was looking at me in amusement.

"You okay Jack?" he asked.

"Yeah, It's just that I wasn't this muscular before," I answered. Most people would probably be embarrassed in this situation, but my lucky ass self had dulled emotions, so it took A LOT  to embarrass me.

"Well, now what?" Straight asked again, trying to figure out something to do.

"We could show Jack to where his bunk is going to be," River suggested. We all agreed with her, so with that they led me out of the mess hall and back to the barracks. As we walked we made some small chit chat, and I even learned that Straight was the best sharp shooter with a bow and arrow in the guard, that's what his name and cutie mark meant. And that was also when I learned about cutie marks, which the group explained were marks that appeared on a ponies flanks when they discovered their special talent. Straight took even took a moment to show me his, which was a picture of a green arrow hitting a targets bulls-eye, River showed hers, which was a picture of waves being pushed by curled white lines representing powerful winds, and Crimson's was an eye that had a cone going out from it showing a very wide range of sight.

As we got back to walking and they explained more to me about cutie marks, I looked at the decor of the hallway, trying to find anything of note to allow me to navigate at a later time on my own. As I was examining the large windows I felt something make contact with my legs as I was knocked back slightly. Looking ahead I saw a white unicorn stallion with curled blond hair and who wore a suit lapel, but just the lapel, as well as a blue bow tie, and his cutie mark seemed to be a compass rose, so I wondered maybe he was good at navigation or something.  "Who let this disgusting ape into the castle, guards, take it to the dungeons and chain it up," the stallion ordered.

"I'm sorry Prince Blueblood, but he is actually a member of our squad, we cannot put him under arrest without reasonable cause," Crimson explained.

"This creature is a guard, THIS APE, Take me to your captain, I will not believe this until he has told me himself," Blueblood demanded. With a sigh Crimson nodded and continued on to the barracks, I also began to follow, but was stopped by the Prince. "I command that you stay here ape, I don't want you anywhere near me, and if you leave I will have you arrested," He commanded. I glared down at him, not particularly impressed by a pony that only came up slightly past my waist.

"As the lieutenant has already said I cannot be arrested without reasonable cause, and since I am a guard movement to learn the new environment of the castle grounds is within my jurisdiction to be able to preform my job at the highest proficiency, and if you wish to hinder the work of the Equestrian guard, then I could always take that up with one of the Princesses, as I don't remember Princess Celestia mentioning you as one of the ruling bodies," I stated as I slowly leaned down to get in his face. I wasn't sure how my face looked, but as the Prince looked into my eyes I could see his widen in slight fear as he started to lightly shake in place.

"F-fine, you may b-be allowed to f-follow at 10 paces behind," He said, a hint of fear in his voice. I just let out a sigh and stood back up, stepping back to ten paces as I didn't wish to waste anymore time on the obnoxious prince. We walked on in silence, mostly because none of us wanted to talk to the Prince, and I could assume that not many guards liked him.

We finally arrived at the barracks doors and Blueblood ordered River to open the door, which she did as she then waited for me to go past but I told her to go first, so I held the door for her and walked in still ten paces behind Blueblood. I followed until I was ten paces from the door to the captains office and stopped, deciding to let the fool of a Prince talk to the captain without me.

"What's going on?" I was asked, I looked to the left and saw one of the Griffons looking at me expectantly. He (I think he) had ash grey feathers with a black body, but he had piercing gold eyes and the fluff of fur on the end of his tail was a vibrant golden color instead of black.

"*sigh*  Prince Blueblood wishes to verify that I am actually a member of the guard, so we brought him here to speak to the captain, but the Prince ordered me to stay 10 paces behind him," I explained. The guard nodded with look of understanding as he grabbed what I could only assume to a flask of some sort of alcoholic beverage.

"You drink?" He asked as he offered me the flask.

"What's the legal age to drink?" I asked back, accepting the flask and taking a whiff, definitely smelling alcohol in it.

"Where I'm from 16, here in Equestria, 18," He answered. I thought over his answer for a few moments, 'ehhh, I might not be 18 yet, but I will be in a month,' I thought as I took a swig of the drink. As I drank I could make out the subtle taste of honey with the burn of the alcohol, a flavor I remember hearing to describe honey based mead.

"Not bad, I'm guessing this is a type of honey mead?" I inquired as I handed him the flask, lightly hitting my chest with a hand to stop myself from coughing at my first experience with alcohol.

"Right, do you drink a lot of mead then?" He asked as he took a swig of the drink as well.

"No, that was actually my first time drinking anything like that, I just remembered reading an article that talked about the taste of certain types of alcoholic beverages," I said. I was about to say more when both me and the Griffon were cut off by a loud "WHAT!" being shouted. After the shout I couldn't help but chuckle, knowing that something had been said to make the Prince mad, evident by the anger in his voice.

"My name is Chrysus, what's yours?" he asked taking another swig of the mead and held out a talon to shake.

"Jack Cresten, nice to  meet you," I answered as I shook his talon. I was yet again cut off as the captains door slammed open and a VERY pissed off Blueblood stepped out, quickly setting his eyes on me he stormed his way over, glaring at me the whole time.

"I don't know what you plan to do, but an ape like you has no place here, and if you step out of line even once, I will make sure that you are thrown in the dungeons for the rest of your miserable days," he said before storming off yet again, leaving the barracks to go wherever he was going.

"Mind if I have another drink?" I asked Chrysus. With a nod he handed me the flask and I took a long drink, not caring about the burn at all as the drink went down my throat. "thanks," I said as I handed him the flask.

"Wow, Blueblood already driving you to drink huh?" I heard Straight ask me from behind.

"Somewhat, plus the mead tastes pretty good," I answered as I turned around.

"I'm going to my bunk, see you in the morning Jack," Chrysus said as he got up and left.

"Well, how'd it go in there with the Prince?" I asked, curious what happened to make him so upset.

"The captain told him that you were a new recruit and that he wasn't going to have you imprisoned, which Prince Blueblood didn't like so he tried to make demands, and that didn't win him any favors with the Captain, so let's just say the outcome wasn't what he expected," Straight explained. I nodded and we just sat down and talked, mostly planning what to do tomorrow as the captain had appointed him as my guide. "Alright so tomorrow I need to show you around the castle as well as get you measured for a set of armor, get you equipped with a weapon, and get you some under clothes for your armor," Straight said as many of the guards in the area headed for separate doors that lead to the rooms for the day and night guards.

"So I'm guessing that means sleep for now," I said, to which he nodded, "alright, well I'm tired, so I'm completely fine that," I said as I stretched a little to crack my back. I followed Straight to a door 6 and a half feet in height, meaning I didn't need to bend down, and had an engraving of a sun on it. Opening the door Straight and I entered a room filled with bunk beds. Looking around I could see many of the beds were already filled but I could see Straight walking over to a corner where I noticed Crimson and River were at. Crimson and River were each at a different bunk with the bottom bed free, and before I could make any choices Straight hopped into the bed under Crimson, leaving me with the bed under River. Lying down I tried to cover myself with my blanket but discovered it didn't go too far past my chest, so with a small sigh I decided to go without it and took a position on my back with one arm lazily hanging off of the side of the bed. All around me I could hear the sounds of soft breathing and hushed whispering, but after a few minutes all I heard was the sound of breathing from sleeping bodies. With my eyes closed, my hand touching the ground, and my wings feeling cramped, I was finally able to fall asleep.




I awoke rather abruptly to the sound of a loud voice yelling at us to wake up. standing up and stretching I saw everyone else was up and sanding at attention, but that quickly changed as they moved to put on armor they had removed the night prior, as some also got ready to patrol or just stand guard.

"Alright Jack, let's go," Straight said, having just finished putting on his armor as he yet again looked like half of the other stallions and mares in the room.

"Alright, lead the way," I responded, following behind him as he left the room, though I did have to focus on him rather hard because many of the stallions in the room looked identical to him.

"Starting off I'll show you to the castles smithy so that we can get you set for some armor and a weapon, then I'll take you to the seamstress to get you some clothes, and after that's all taken care of I'll show you all the patrol routs and around the castle so you can navigate it better," he said as we left the room and took a left, going down many hallways before arriving at a set of grey metal door that were surprisingly tall at around 10 feet tall.

"Why's this room got such tall doors?" I asked.

"Because we have a few younger dragons working here and they're taller that most ponies, most of them are actually taller than both you and Princess Celestia," he answered as we stepped inside. As soon as the door opened and we entered the room I could feel the heat of the furnaces that kept the metals hot, and I could see a few dragon and earth ponies hard at work crafting items. I continued to follow Straight to an earth pony stallion with black fur and a grey mane/tail as well as a smiths apron.

"Whoa, who's that?" The stallion asked as he pointed to me with a hoof.

"I'm Jack Cresten, I recently joined the guard and need some armor and a weapon," I answered. The stallion looked over to Straight who nodded to the stallion, and then the stallion looked back to me with a small smile.

"Alright, I'm Onyx Armor, the head smith here, follow me and we'll begin measuring you for your armor," Onyx said. I was led to a smaller room that had a few mannequins shaped like several different species as well as measuring tapes. I could only guess that the room was where they measured guards for their armor as well as checked the size of the armor to make sure it fits the species correctly, or maybe it was where they designed new armor, I couldn't be sure what the mannequins were for.

"Hello, I'm Amber, please step into the center of the room and I'll take your measurements," I was told from the side. Looking over I noticed what looked like a dragoness with, fittingly, amber scales and blue eyes. I nodded and walked to the center of the room and waited for any other instructions. "Now take off your clothes so I can get more accurate measurements," she said.

"Can it be to my boxers?" I asked.

"Why?"

"*sigh* because I don't have a sheath," I answered plainly. With a slight blush amber nodded and I removed my pants (if they can even be considered pants at this point) and stood there with my arms perpendicular with my torso as my underwear just barely covered my package, as it was torn in several places. I stood there for nearly an hour and a half as Amber used her tape measure to get what she needed before she finally said I could put my clothes back on. "I feel like that took longer than it should have," I muttered as I pulled my pants the rest of the way up.

"Yes, well, you're a new species entirely so I wanted to make sure my measurements were exactly correct," She said with a small blush. I didn't press the matter further, mostly because I didn't care, it wasn't like she could be interested or anything.

"Alright, I'll leave you to design Jack's armor, now then, follow me so we can decide on your weapon," Onyx instructed as he led me back out into the main room and brought me to an area where many weapons were up on racks for display. "look around and find one that suits you," he said. Looking around I saw many different weapons from spears, swords, shields, bows, crossbows, knives, daggers, and more, but that got me thinking on something.

"Hey Onyx, can I ask you a question?"

"um, sure," Onyx said as he looked at me in curiosity.

"Well, I've noticed the variety in the weapons here, but every guard seems to carry the same thing, a short sword, why is that?" I asked.

"That's so that there is a better look of unity and so that every guard has a proficiency in the same weapon," Onyx answered.

"but what about specialization, aren't most of the guards better with a different weapon than a short sword?" I asked again, pressing further.

"Well, yes, but it wouldn't be a good idea for everypony to have different weapons," he said, his look of curiosity growing as he seemed to be thinking about what my point could possibly be.

"But wouldn't having the guards using the weapons that their most proficient with be better, it completely undermines the potential of someone if they're forced to use a weapon they aren't even at their best with, not to mention it also undermines the point to have them select a weapon from the beginning if they don't even have it on them in the case of spontaneous combat," I said.

"Look, if you have a problem with the system you can take it up with the princesses," Onyx said, seemingly not amused with what I was implying.

"*sigh* fine, I was going to talk try and talk to them about their horrid choice in armor material anyway," I responded, going back to looking back at the weapons.

"What does that mean exactly?" Onyx asked with a bit of hostility in his voice.

"Gold is a weak, soft, and conductive metal that leaves the wearer open to any number of attacks as well as heat stroke in warmer environments, not to mention it stands out too much and makes it nearly impossible to commit a sneak attack, and don't even get me started on how the weight of the material doesn't match up to the level of protection it gives, all around it's just a bad choice for any armor or weapons," I explained. I looked over and saw that both Straight and Onyx had looks of surprise etched onto their faces, as well most of the others in the room as well. "what?".

"I didn't know you knew that much about armor and weapons," Straight answered.

"Oh, It's not so much weapons and armor as it's the actual metal, I know a good bit about how strong most metals and crystals are and know a bit from my world about how effective certain weapons are as armor and weapons," I said.

"And what would you suggest for a better material?" Onyx asked, back to being intrigued.

"I don't know, I'd say steel or titanium, though that's a bit iffy due to the weight, if you have enchantments for weight reduction then I would definitely recommend either steel or titanium with an enchantment to make it lighter, as well as looking over your armor designs to protect more of the body," I suggested. Everyone looked at me with even wider eyes now. "I'll just talk to the princesses about that, but anyway I've decided what weapon I want, though you don't actually have it here," I said as I looked over the selection again.

"And what would that be?" Onyx asked.

"The weapon is known as a sai and is both a defensive and offensive weapon that comes in pairs or as 'twins', the weapon has a handle and three prongs, two shorter ones on the side with a larger middle one, the middle prong is usually 10-24 inches and is usually straight while the other two usually are usually slightly curved, typically this weapon doesn't have an edge but some have been known to sharpen the middle prong for the use of stabbing and thrusting," I explained, liking the idea of the sai due to the ability to disarm and potentially break other swords and bladed weapons.

"Can you draw it for a us?" Onyx asked as he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill to draw. I quickly drew an image of a sai and showed it to him, getting an approving nod in return.


(Obviously not a drawing, but it's an example of what a pair of twin sai look like)

"Alright, I'll see what I can do, though it might take awhile to create since it hasn't been made here before," Onyx stated.

"Alright then, let's get started on the clothes then," Straight said he began to lead me back out into the hallway and towards wherever our destination was. Looking down I really studied my clothing and was slightly shocked at what was left. My blue jeans were torn and shredded beyond what even the edgiest of teens would wear as well as covered in slight spots of dried blood, showing some of my also torn underwear, while the only thing not very destroyed was my generic ass sneakers. "Hey Jack, we're here," I heard Straight say and noticed that we had arrived at a very fancy looking door that is expected of a fashion designer.

"Okay," I said back as I went and opened the door to let him inside before following closely behind, though I did have to bend a bit as the door was only 6 feet high. Inside I could see a room reminiscent of the one where I got measured for my armor, the main differences were that this room was much brighter, it was not as hot, and there was fabric everywhere.

"Hello, I am the castles fashion designer Diamond Blossom, and who might you be?" Spoke a unicorn mare from my left who had yellow fur and a cyan blue main and tail, I could also see that her cutie mark seemed to be scissors cutting a length of fabric.

"I'm Jack Cresten and this is Straight arrow, I'm a new member of the guard and I need new clothes because of a certain difference between my species and ponies," I explained.

"And what would that be?"

"*sigh* Human males like myself don't have a sheath for their genitals," I answered with a sigh, getting annoyed by the number of times I've had to answer that question in one morning.

"Oh, alright, well step up onto the platform and I'll begin you're measurements, though you'll have to take off as much clothing as you can while still being decent," Diamond said, her cheeks slightly pink. I nodded and yet again took off my pants before stepping onto the platform in the same pose with my arms as before. This time I only had to stand there for half an hour, making me feel slightly suspicious of Amber as I put back on my pants.

"All I need is something light to wear under my armor, nothing too fancy," I said, getting a nod from the mare as she had already started to work on designs to fit my bodies shape. I looked over to Straight and saw him motion for me to follow him out, which I did as he yet again started to lead the way down the hallway. We walked in relative silence before two stallion guards started to follow us, I didn't think anything of it until 10 minutes had passed and the two had been getting steadily closer to us.

"Excuse me, but why are you following us?" I asked the two stallions as I stopped and turned to look directly at them. For a few moments they didn't say anything, until one of them let out a light hiss at me.

"Wait a minute," Straight muttered as he walked closer to one of the guards and started to look closer into his eyes. Straight looked for several moments before I saw his own eyes widen and he gasped. I could see was about to yell something but the guard lunged at him as he was enveloped in green flames and landed on Straight completely changed. In the stallions place there was now a bug like pony with a black chitinous hide, that lacked a mane or tail, had a jagged horn, transparent bug like wings, and blue pupil-less eyes. "Run Jack," Straight tried to yell as he use a hoof to hold the creature off from biting his throat.

Before I could even respond the other guard changed as well to look the same as the other creature and lunged at me with it's mouth open to bite me. Thinking quickly, but not very smartly I held up my right arm to block the creature, and the creature bit into it, hard. I held back a gasp of pain as I swung my arm and smashed the creature into a wall with all my strength, earning a loud snapping sound as many of its bones were broken, as well as it's neck. I used my free hand to pry the limp creatures mouth from my arm and let it drop before I felt an immense pain in one of my forgotten wings (don't know how I keep forgetting that I have those) and quickly turned around to see the other creature off of Straight and spitting out some of my crimson feathers.

"Hey asshole, THAT HURT!" I yelled as I lifted the creature by its horn. wincing slightly as the sharp and jagged horn lightly cut the palm of my hand, and dropped it back down as I drop kicked its head hard enough to send it from looking at me, to looking directly at the floor behind it.

"Damn, that's brutal," I heard Straight mutter to himself as he got back up.

"Never tell me run, so what the hell are these things?" I said and asked as I motioned to the dead creatures.

"Changelings, and where there's one, there's usually more, so you may want to stay here while I try and make sure that there's no more in the castle," Straight answered as he turned and started to fly down the hallway.

With a sigh I started to sprint after him, catching up to him rather quickly and starting to match his speed as we went down the hallway, "What did I just say about telling me run, that also means telling me not to do my job, which as a guard means to protect the inhabitants of this place from harm, I think," I said as I looked at Straight, whispering the last part to myself. Straight looked over to me for a few moments before turning away and smiling.

"Well at least you have a strong sense of duty," He responded, no longer trying to get me to leave.

"Well I also need to be there to save your ass, last time I checked I'm the one who took out those changelings, so my kill count is at 2, while yours is still at zero," I said with a slight smirk on my face as we both made a sharp left turn which I slightly recognized as the path to the throne room.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't even be fighting yet, especially since you were supposed to begin your real training as a guard tomorrow, so you'll be fighting a day before you begin training, which isn't usually good for a new guard," Straight said as we took another turn, this time right.

"Well maybe I can skip training if I show off a little, huh," I said, getting Straight to chuckle at the end of my statement.

"Maybe, maybe," Straight muttered as we took the final turn that led to the throne room doors.

"Well then, as a famous doctor from my world once said, ALLONS-Y!" I shouted as we neared the throne room doors and smashed them open to see...
> Changelings attack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Chapter 4)

Upon entering the throne room Straight and I were greeted to the sight of changelings upon changelings. More changeling then I could count were present on the ground, in the air, and even on the walls and ceiling. "Why hello, and what is this?" I heard from the thrones. Looking over I saw a changeling around the size of Princess Celestia with a dark blue mane and tail as well as green slitted eyes. The most surprising thing however was the sight of Princess Celestia and another alicorn, who had navy blue fur and an ethereal mane and tail that looked as though stars were trapped inside of it, on the ground heavily injured.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" I asked sternly, only to moments later feel like a complete dumb ass when everyone went silent and just stared at me with a 'are you shitting me?' look, even the princesses gave me that look. "*sigh* never mine, just surrender so I don't have to kill all the changeling here," I said, feeling myself blush due to this being one of the rare moments where I actually felt embarrassed.

"HAHAHAHA! so you think that you can take on my subjects and win, kill them," she (I think) ordered the other changeling, who all started to advance on me and Straight.

"Hey Straight, you got anything I can use against these guys?" I asked, just realizing how under equipped I was without armor or weapons, hell I barely had any clothes on.

"I'd say you could use my sword, but if what happened earlier is any indicator I'm gonna need it more than you right about now," Straight answered as he drew his blade, getting into a fighting stance as we awaited our opponents.

"Alright, fisticuffs it is then, damn, this is probably going to hurt like hell in the morning," I muttered to myself as I took my own stance, staring down the changeling closest to me. "well, if I'm going to die today, might as well go out with a classic, LEEEEEROY JEEEENKINS!!!" I yelled with a smile as I surprised the changeling horde by charging them. I had gotten to the one closest to me before it could recover from shock and grabbed by the neck and breaking it, killing the changeling instantly and snapping the others out of their stupor as they all came down upon me like a tsunami. As I was attacked I punched, kicked, elbowed, and kneed as many changeling as I could, but for every hit I dished out I received one myself, and withing moments I was bleeding in several places where I had been bitten or cut by the changelings. The changeling started to dog pile me, adding more and more bodies onto me by the second as they tried to weigh me down, so with a desperate attempt I put all the strength I could into my legs and jumped and threw my arm to the side, effectively launching the changeling off of me as I landed back on the ground, still surrounded by a circle of changeling. Moving quickly I ran and grabbed one of the changeling and threw it at another, using the moment of the throw to allow me to spin kick another and knocking all three out, but even with those three down and out, there were still hundreds, if not thousands, more to fight.

"GAH!" I shouted as I felt sharp fangs bite into my left shoulder, making me reach back with my right arm and grab the assaulting changeling and tearing it off of me, much to my own displeasure at the accompanying pain. Slamming it down on the ground I stopped on its head, causing it to splatter as the creatures brain matter coated the floor. "WHO'S NEXT? HUH? WHO'S FUCKING NEXT!?" I Demanded, feeling anger well up inside of me and pump adrenaline through my body, numbing the pain I felt and helping me to stand tall. With a screech several changelings charged at me with their heads down, intending to run me through with their horns. I jumped to my left, narrowly avoiding being skewered as the changeling went slightly pass and killed a few changeling that were about to jump on me from behind.




I couldn't tell how long I had been fighting by the time the changeling were really thinning out, but I knew it must have been a long time with how many changelings there were to start off with. Straight and I were standing next to each other, battered, bloodied, and bruised, while we faced off against the last of the changelings, which were around 30 in total.

"How are you feeling Straight?" I asked as I looked at him out of the corners of my eyes.

"Not too good, how about you?" he asked back.

"I feel like I'm bleeding from every limb, so not too bad," I answered with a grin as the changelings, and more than likely our death, slowly advanced on us, knowing we were severely weakened. "Where the hell are reinforcements, you'd think someone would have gotten here to help by now," I muttered out loud enough for Straight to hear.

"Probably dealing with changelings as well, that or they didn't catch any changeling impostors before being attacked," Straight said. Before I could say anything else one of the changelings broke off and charged us, only to meet a blast of magic.

"Damn, looks like hell in here," I heard a familiar voice say from behind. Turning around I saw Crimson and River, both covered in injuries, while Crimson also had lost his helmet at some point.

"'Bout time you showed up, I thought you were gonna miss all the fun," I said, as I Sparta kicked back a changeling who had gotten too close for comfort.

"Miss a party like this, never," River responded with a grin as she shot a blade of wind from her horn, cutting a changeling in half as he lunged at me.

"Thanks, now LET'S SAVE THE DAY!" I yelled before feeling energized again and running back into the fray full steam. Together as a team we managed to make short work of the remaining changelings, but before we could celebrate I felt a VERY large amount of force slam against my side before I was sent flying into, and then through, a column before hitting the ground hard. "*cough* did anyone *cough* get the *cough**cough* licence plate of *cough* the truck that hit me," I said as I coughed from the stone dust that had gotten into my lungs from the destroyed column.

"HOW DARE YOU KILL ALL OF MY CHILDREN YOU APE! I AM QUEEN CHRYSALIS! QUEEN OF THE CHANGELINGS, AND IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, YOU WILL BOW TO ME LIKE THE INSECT YOU ARE!!" The larger changeling (apparently queen chrysalis) demanded as I slowly got back to my feet. Looking over to her I could see my teammates being held in her magic and unable to help me.

"How about this, I fight you, I win, and you get the fuck out of here," I responded as I glared at her defiantly.

"How dare you, do you really think that I would be scared of a pathetically weak creature such as yourself?" She asked, anger and annoyance etched across her face. "How about this, just because you've shown yourself to be such an adept warrior, I'll let you live, all you have to do is leave, your choice," Chrysalis offered with a now sinister grin.

"I'll admit, while I have never really feared death, I have never wanted to die, so your offer is very tempting..." I started as I turned my gaze to the floor, letting my hair fall to block my face from everyone in the room as I continued, "... but these ponies have shown me more kindness and acceptance in two days than I have ever gotten in my life, without hesitation they offered me a place to stay, a job, clothes, a team, they have given me all this regardless of what I am, of who I am, or of how I get here, so I will happily die for them, even if I only met these ponies yesterday, I WILL PROTECT THEM WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING!!!" I shouted as I shot towards her, running full tilt, and moving so fast that she was caught by surprise. Taking advantage of her surprise I jumped up when I get to her and slammed my knee into her jaw while leaning back, allowing me to back flip and kick her in the chin with my other foot as I moved away from her. My attacks had the desired effect, shocking Chrysalis and causing her to drop my teammates as she moved back a few steps.

Before I could take advantage any more Chrysalis snapped out of her shock and glared at me with unbridled fury. "HOW DARE YOU WEAKLING, I WILL NOT GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE, NOW DIE!" She yelled before letting out a large blast of magic where I was standing just moments before, while I had managed to just barely dodge the blast. "stop moving and DIE!" she shouted again as I ran around the room as she followed me and kept firing blast after blast at me.

"NYANYANYANYANYA YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!" I yelled back in the taunting voice of a child before laughing as I dodged yet another blast from Chrysalis. Taking the initiative now I started to slowly make my way towards her while still dodging her magic blast. As I got closer I could see the signs of fatigue on Chrysalis from all the energy she was using, each blast she sent tearing the ground apart as she tried, and failed, to end my life. When Chrysalis was panting and sweating heavily I started to run directly at her, getting her to go on the defensive as she put up a shield around herself just in time to block a punch aimed at her head. Stepping back I looked at her shield to see that is was unharmed, making the Queen begin to grin again as she let out an evil laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!! You thought that you could get a hit in with such simple tactics, well it's going to take a lot more tha that to get me," Chrysalis said, her grin turning into a maniacal smile. Frowning I took a several steps back as I prepared for my next move. "My my, where is your bravado now? Is the little hero afraid? well he should be because he has no chance of beating a Queen," Chrysalis taunted, making me smile. "Why are you smiling?" she asked as she noticed that I wasn't afraid as she had previously suspected.

"Oh, just enjoying your bitchy attitude before I knock your ass down a peg or two," I said merrily, getting a look of anger and annoyance from the Queen. Before she could say anything however I started to run at her again, this time jumping much higher into the air before slamming both of my fist onto her shield with every last ounce of my energy and strength, creating a small shock-wave that sent me flying back into a wall cracking it, as Chrysalis's shield shattered and she passed out from some form of energy overuse.

"Jack, are you okay?" I heard River ask as she, Crimson, and Straight came over to me, all of them limping to some degree.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I answered as I tried to stand up, but failed to do so as the adrenaline began to leave my body and my vision swam a bit.

"You're obviously lying," Crimson stated as he used his magic to help me up to a sitting position against the wall.

"Tis but a flesh wound, and a few broken ribs, and a punctured shoulder, and leg, and wing, and arm, and whatever the hell else is wrong, but besides that, I'm fine," I said with a small grin as Crimson just face palmed (hoofed?) as he shook his head a little with a smile on his face.

"Crimson Vision, Straight Arrow, River Breeze, and Jack Cresten, I thank you for stopping Chrysalis in our time of need," Celestia said as she walked over to us, limping slightly as she favored her left fore hoof.

"We were just doing our job our majesty," Straight said as he and the others bowed.

"Forgive me for not bowing Princess, but I think my reasons are good enough not to," I said with a small smile as I looked over my blood covered form. 'Ugh, it's like my arrival to this place all over again, well, at least I didn't need to get tortured this time' I thought to myself, giving a dry chuckle in my mind.

"I believe that is acceptable young human, you have seemed to sustain quite a few injuries after all," The other alicorn (Luna if I'm not mistaken) said with a slight nod.

"Rise my ponies, you have done your job, now is a time for rest," Celestia said as the others got up, as did I.

"Sorry princess, but I think you might be wrong," I said as I clutched my left shoulder in pain as it got jostled in my rising.

"What do you mean young Jack?" Princess Luna asked.

"What I mean is where are the other guards, with how long we've been in here fighting there should have been reinforcements much sooner, so what happened to them?" I answered with a question of my own. Luna and Celestia looked at each other in realization before they ignited their horns and cast some sort of spell.

"I sense one changeling sister, what about you?" Luna asked as she turned back to Celestia.

"As do I, but it's gathered with all of our other guards, but for what reason," Celestia said as she and Luna started to try and work out what could be happening.

"How about you go find out while Straight, River, Jack, and I stay and deal with Queen Chrysalis," Crimson suggested. The Princesses agreed and in a flash they were gone, leaving us with the still out cold changeling queen. "River, I want you to find me an anti magic ring, an anti-magic potion, and a cork," Crimson ordered as river saluted and ran off. "Straight, I want you to find me rope strong enough to hold down an alicorn ASAP," he instructed, getting another salute as Straight ran off as fast as he could. "And Jack..." Crimson started, making me perk up and focus on him more as he continued, "... I want you to sit back down and rest, as soon as we're done taking Chrysalis to the dungeons,  we're all going to get medical treatment," He commanded. With a sigh and a weak salute I eased myself back down into a sitting position.

Crimson and I waited for several minutes for Straight and River to get back. River was the first one back and we quickly put the anti-magic ring on chrysalis's horn, and I found out why Crimson wanted a cork, as the ring wouldn't fit on her uniquely shaped horn and wouldn't go down more than an inch or two, so he put the cork on the top of her horn to keep it from just falling off. another few minutes passed and Straight finally returned and we quickly had Chrysalis tied up and ready for transport as we took a moment to rest.

"Alright, first stop, the dungeons," Crimson stated as we all stood back up. Crimson and River worked together to lift Chrysalis with their magic, grunting a little from the effort but seemingly not to bothered by the strain. "Alright, let's go," Crimson said, as we all began to walk down the hallways of the castle and towards the dungeons. 'I wonder when I'll get to be out of the castle?' I wondered to myself as we walked.
> one week later
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Chapter 5)
-1 week later-

For a whole week after the attempted invasion Crimson, Straight, River, and I were stuck in bed as we recovered from our injuries. Each day guard after guard would come in and wish the others well. Though I was just lucky enough to get a few visitors. I was visited by Chrysus (who gave me some mead), Amber, Captain dark, and Diamond. Even though I might not of gotten many visitors it was still touching that anyone was there for me at all, especially as I was an alien in their world. At the moment I was covered heavily in bandages, and I probably looked like a mummy fresh from the tomb, and this was sadly more covering than any clothing I had been wearing since I arrived in Equestria. At the moment Amber was in the room sitting in the chair next to my bed and was telling me about the progress on my armor and sai blades, which was going rather well. According to Amber my armor was nearly finished, though my twin sai would take slightly longer as they were a new weapon type to the smiths, so they had to make it without any prior experience. Other news I was told included Diamond telling me she had finished two sets of clothes for me, and Captain Dark telling me that I was to begin training after I finished recovering.

"Hey Jack, can I... feel your chest?" Amber asked hesitantly, catching me by surprise.

"Um, I'm not sure why you want to but go ahead," I said hesitantly, just figuring she wanted to check my body and make her own assumptions on how injured I really was. Slowly Amber reached down and ran a hand (claw?) down from my chest to my stomach. She continued to feel my abdomen for several minutes before she finally stopped, 'hot damn, a little bit longer and I would have had to explain why there was a tent being pitched under the covers' I thought to myself as she pulled away.

"You feel like you're pretty healed up to me," Amber commented as she looked over my body once more.

"I keep telling the doctors that I'm fine but they keep telling me I need to stay until at least the end of the day," I said. After that I talked to Amber for another hour, with us just talking about our personal life as well as our likes and dislikes. After the hour Amber left to continue her work and I was left in silence for all of 5 minutes before Straight decided to ruin it.

"So you and Amber are pretty close, oh, do I hear wedding bells?" Straight joked before bursting into laughter as I just let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Fuck you Straight," I said.

"Sorry but I don't swing that way," He responded, prompting River to join in by chuckling as I just groaned from the stupid joke.

"Come on man, I was having such a good day," I said.

"*sigh* sorry man, I didn't mean to ruin your day," I heard Straight say before there was silence for awhile.

"It's fine, I just don't like being teased for things that aren't gonna happen," I finally let out, causing my teammates to perk their ears and look at me in interest.

"Why? Don't you like her?" Crimson asked as all of them were focused on me, waiting for my answer.

"I like her, it's just that I've accepted that no girl would would ever like me," I answered, looking away from them, and since I was on one of the furthest beds to the side, I didn't have to worry about them seeing my face.

"Really, is that what you think?" River asked with a sad tone.

"Well yeah, every time I've ever tried to ask a girl out I've been turned down... though, what brought me to that conclusion was when a girl told me that no one was ever going love me," I explained as I laid back and rested my head on my pillow, staring up at the ceiling in the following silence.

"To quote your use of words, that's fucked up," Straight said. I chuckled a bit at his usage of my cuss words.

"Jack, ask her out the next time you see her," River told me. I regarded her with suspicion, not really liking the idea.

"I don't know, I haven't even tried to ask a girl out in a long time, plus I doubt that she likes me that way," I said.

"Trust me, from what I've seen your a great stallion... er... guy, so ask her out, and she'll say yes, I promise," she responded.

"Fine, but if she says no then I'm not trying again," I told her. River nodded and rested her head on her pillow.




The day passed and I was released the next morning. Something that was figured out was that I healed faster than the average pony (and most definitely human) and was already good enough to go to training, at least that would be the case, if I wasn't called by the princesses for a meeting beforehand. What was the meeting about? I didn't have a fucking clue. I walked through the hallways in my new armor and new under clothing, wielding a short sword at my hip (which probably would have helped against the changelings). It took awhile to get the the throne room but I was quickly let in by the guards at the door who only gave me a slight nod of acknowledgment as they opened the doors.

As I walked inside I saw Princess Celestia sat upon her throne as she talked to a large unicorn stallion with white fur and a two tone blue mane and tail, and his cutie mark was a blue shield with a magenta six pointed star at its center. "Hello Jack, I would like you to meet Prince Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, and former captain of the Equestrian royal guard," Princess Celestia introduced as I gave a bow from my hip to both the Princess and the Prince.

"Nice to meet you, I am Jack Cresten, a new addition to the Equestrian royal guard," I said as I stood back up straight.

"The Princess and I were actually just talking about you and your team, it's not everyday that a member of an alien species takes out chrysalis with no more help then three other guards," he said, as he lightly trotted over to me.

"I didn't do much, I just fought, that's all, and I wasn't the only one, I'm almost one-hundred percent sure I would have died in that fight if my team hadn't been there" I responded as I kept my gaze leveled on him as he got even closer with a small smile.

"Even if that's true, you managed to fight against over four hundred changelings without armor or weapons, and lived to tell the tale, not to mention knocking out Chrysalis herself while being heavily injured and fatigued," He stated as he stopped 4 feet away from me and sat down on his haunches and looked up at me.

"I've taken worse, plus I've gotten a great deal stronger just coming to this world," I said as I looked down at him.

"Are you strong enough to train with the best of them?" He asked me.

"If I had to say so, then I'd say yes, personally I think that my whole team could be with the best of them," I answered just as seriously.

"And why is that?" he asked again in curiosity.

"Because we showed in that battle that we can work as a team to face insurmountable odds, such as winning a fight where we are very heavily outnumbered," I explained. The Prince seemed to think over the idea, coming to his own conclusion before smiling at me and nodding moments later.

With a hint of amusement the Prince asked, "How would you and you're team like to come to the Crystal Empire and be trained by myself, as well as a few of the more experienced guards there?"

I looked down at him in shock, not expecting such an offer, before finally answering, "Personally, I'm not sure, My job is to protect the people of this land, and I can't exactly do that in another kingdom," my answer was short but honest, and only seemed to make his smile widen (you may wonder about the loyalty to a kingdom I had only spent a week in, but I've always had a first come first serve kind of loyalty, and I had landed in Equestria first).

"I'm glad to hear that, I was honestly hoping you were as loyal to your service as the Princess said, we can't exactly have guards who aren't loyal to Equestria guarding it can we," He spoke with a smile, though I could tell his words were serious. With a quick nod he moved over to whisper something to the Princess before walking out of the room.

"Is that all Princess?" I asked as I looked at her more directly now that the Prince was gone.

"Actually, I was hoping to hear your thoughts on the guards armor, from what I've heard from Onyx Armor, you seem to have quite the opinion, and I'm curious as to what you think," The Princess told me.

With a slight nod of the head I began my explanation, "Well there's several things I've taken note of, number one is that the armor used for the guards is gold, which is a weak, soft metal that gives near to no protection, as you'd be just a protected, if not more so wearing armor made out of wood, a better choice would be iron or steel, preferably steel with the same enchantments as the gold armor to make it lighter. Secondly is the use of weapons, which I have noticed leaves almost every guard without the weapon they are most proficient with, the main exemption being those mostly proficient with a short sword anyway, but the rest are hindered to a degree by not at LEAST having the weapon they are most comfortable with around them in case a problem arises. Thirdly, and lastly, is the fact that even if the armor wasn't gold, it still protects near to no points of the body, and from what I've seen this leaves all but the head, upper body, and limbs such as hands or hooves unprotected, leaving a guard more open to attack, a way of protecting the open areas could be to us chain-mail to cover the open areas, or even using light plate armor. And of course there is the fact that you call your military 'guards' even though guards are meant to fight on the idea of being the last line of defense, and rarely expects to survive so they fight for their county with a belief in protecting their loved ones, while a soldier fights and fights to stay alive in order to return home to a place safe from conflict, without the cost of needless death,".

Throughout my little speech the Princess had paid close attention to every word out of my mouth, and even looked over my armor as I talked about certain key details about its design. For reference my armor covered only my upper body, hands, feet, head, and pelvic region, leaving most of my arms, legs, and neck open to attack.

"You've given me much to think about, and I believe that the points you have made are very reasonable and logical," She said she slowly nodded and then smiled at me. "You may leave now, and I think you should head to training for the rest of its time," She suggested. I left with a bow. Using what I could remember I headed to the same place where I did my physical tests, only getting off course twice during my trip. When I got to the doors that led to the training grounds I pushed them open and was greeted to the sight of hundreds of guards doing push ups in sync. I stepped further onto the field and was quickly noticed by Sargent Flawless Fury, who was watching over the exercise.

"Private Cresten, it's good to see you today," She greeted me with a nod that I returned, though after a quick moment I realized something she said that heavily surprised me.

"Private Cresten?" I inquired with one raised eyebrow, curious as to why I was not being called a cadet.

"The Princesses moved you up to a Private ranking after your actions in protecting Equestria against the changelings, even your fellow teammates moved up a rank each," Flawless explained as she went back to observing the training cadets to make sure they weren't slacking on their work out.

"Should I join them?" I asked. After getting a nod I thought it to be fruitless to find a spot among the others, so I moved to the front and started my push-ups. After a few sets I noticed that I had not begun to strain, more than likely due to whatever had given me my increased physical abilities in this world. Getting bored I decided to spice things up a bit and pushed my lower body up and off the ground while standing on the palms of my hands, taking a few moment to get myself stabilized due to my wings adding more weight to my back, I finally got it and started pushing myself up and down in a handstand position. I did this until Flawless blew on a whistle that signaled for the end of our exercise.

"ALRIGHT CADETS, NOW I WANT YOU TO GIVE ME 4 LAPS AROUND THE CASTLE! MOVE!" She shouted as many of the guards groaned out loud. I was smirking, typically not one for exercise, my newfound strength and endurance had made the task seem like a fun way to test my limits. I Waited for everyone else to get moving before I began running and quickly took the lead as I began to slowly pick up speed until I was full on sprinting around the castle as fast as I could, watching as the world around me seemed to blur slightly and for the rest of the group to quickly fall behind. I continued running around the entirety of the castle, too fast for the ponies at the front gates to notice me, and finished slightly out of breath as the rest of the group finished their 2nd lap. "nice hustle Private, though next time you should stay with the group," Flawless suggested. I nodded to her as I sat down underneath the shade of a nearby tree and rested, catching my breath for the next fifteen minutes as I waited for the rest of the group to finish. By the time the rest had finished I was good to go again, though I noticed that most of the group was sweating profusely and/or panting heavily, probably not used to the level of physical activity they had just experienced.  "Alright cadets, Dismissed," Flawless said loudly as the guards went on their way, looking rather grateful that they could finally rest. As I got up and was prepared to leave I was stopped by Flawless as she said, "hold up Jack, I'd like you to finish the rest of the exercises you missed,".

With a nod I spent the next half an hour doing stretches, sit-ups, jumping jacks, etc. When I was done I was finally given the go ahead by Flawless to leave and headed into the castle to find something to do. I wandered around for an hour, taking in as much as the castle as I could for memories sake in order to not get lost. "Oh, hi Jack, what are you doing here?" I was asked by a familiar voice as I turned around and noticed Amber looking at me.

"I'm just wandering around right now and trying to find something to do," I answered as I looked out the window at the city. From what I could remember the place was called Canterlot and was the capital of Equestria. From the window the entire place seemed to sparkle in the afternoon light, giving the entire city a sense of wonder and beauty I had never seen before on my world.

"Oh, okay then," Amber said as she began to walk past me. When she was a few steps ahead of me I remembered what I promised River I would do and moved to catch up with her.

"Wait, there's actually something I wanted to ask you," I told her as she stopped and turned to look at me with a curious gaze.

"And what would you like to ask?" She inquired with a small smile. Taking her in I actually realized just how beautiful she really was, from the way her blue eyes sparkled like gems in the suns light, the way her amber scales seemed to glow, and even the way her smile made me feel warm inside. "Jack, are you going to ask your question or stare at me all day?" She asked in amusement, making me realize that I had just been standing there and looking at her.

"Um, yeah, I was wondering if you'd, maybe, like to go out sometime?" I asked, feeling myself blush as I looked away from her and stared out the window. 'Come on man, you faced down hundreds of changelings without weapons or armor and yet this is making you more nervous, get a fucking hold of yourself,' I thought before taking a steadying breath and looking back at Amber, who I now noticed was now closer to me than before, as her eyes were now inches from my own.

"Really?" She asked. I couldn't formulate words as I stared into her eyes, too captivated to work my mouth properly I just nodded dumbly without breaking eyes contact. "I'd love to, how about tomorrow we go get dinner in town," She suggested. Yet again I just nodded dumbly as she smiled and turned around walked away. As she left I couldn't help but let my gaze fall lower, taking in the view of her voluptuous behind. 'Since when was she so sexy? and how the hell can something reptilian have such an nice ass?' I asked myself in my head. Shaking my head to snap myself out of my stupor I headed to the medical wing of the castle and quickly went to the room where the rest of my team was, hoping they could give me some advice on the matter.

"Why are you blushing?"  Straight asked me the moment I walked into the room.

"I just asked out Amber," I replied as I took a seat in one of the guest chairs.

"Really, and what did she say?" Crimson asked. All three of them looked at me questioningly as I prepared to answer.

"She said yes, so we're going to get dinner tomorrow," I answered as River smiles brightly at me.

"See, I told you she'd say yes," River said.

"Hey Jack, can you even afford a date right now?" Straight asked. I felt my eyes widen as the realization hit me, I just asked Amber out on a date, without any money to pay for it.

"Um, I don't think so," I responded. My teammates shared worried glances before Crimsons eyes lit up and he looked at me with a smile.

"Ask the captain for money," Crimson told me.

"What?"

"Ask the captain for money," He repeated.

"And why in the hell would I do that?" I asked as I looked at him dumbfounded, unsure as to why he would even suggest something like that.

"Because you should get a paycheck for the week anyway, and because when a guard gets injured in battle they're given a small amount of money as compensation for going above an beyond in their service of the country," He answered. I thought it over before looking back at him with a smile.

"Thanks Crimson," I said as I stood up.

"No problem," He replied. I said my farewells to my team before heading to the barracks to talk with Captain Dark Snow.

"Hey Jack, why're in such a hurry?" I heard Chrysus ask me from a table to the right of the barracks entrance.

"I have to talk to the captain about my paycheck," I answered.

"Well how about you have some mead first," Chrysus offered as he held out his flask to me.

I thought about his offer for a few short moments before replying, "Not right now, maybe later though." With a quick 'see ya later' I went towards the door to the Captains office and gave it 3 quick knocks.

"Come in," I heard from the other side of the door. Opening it I quickly ducked in and closed the door behind me. "ah Jack, good to see you, what do you need?" he asked from his position behind his desk.

"I was hoping to get my paycheck," I requested as I opted to stay standing instead of grabbing any chairs.

"For what reason?" he questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

"I maybe, sorta, kinda have a date tomorrow and need my paycheck to afford it," I answered. The Captain's eyes widened for a moment before he slowly gained a look of amusement.

"I see, so who is the lucky lady?" He asked as he leaned over the desk slightly, a very prominent smirk on showing on his face.

"It's Amber, the dragoness who works with the blacksmiths," I replied, averting my gaze a bit.

"Oh okay, you have earned the money so you can have it, just remember one very important thing," He started, I looked at him in anticipation as I wondered what he would say, "try not to move too fast and forget to practice safety in bed,". With starting so serious I thought he was about to say something like, 'if you try anything you'll be sent to the dungeons', but instead he chose to make a joke that made me sigh in slight annoyance.

"I swear, as soon as someone's had sex they'll make sure to joke about using a condom whenever they possibly can," I muttered under my breath, quiet enough that the Captain couldn't hear me.

"Alright, come back here after training tomorrow and I'll give you your paycheck, now run along," he said. I nodded and quickly left, making my way over to Chrysus and taking a seat at his table.

"Got any mead left?" I asked. The only response I got was Chrysus holding up a large cup of mead to me with a smirk. With a thanks I started drinking down the alcoholic beverage. For the rest of the day I just talked with Chrysus about what it was like to be in the guard, until he found out about my date and started giving me tips on what places sold meat in the town and where to watch out for when avoiding the more racist ponies. By the time night had fallen I had drank three mugs of mead and was buzzed, but not yet drunk. I made my way to my bunk, making sure to remove my armor, as well as my shirt cause I didn't like sleeping with shirts on, and fell asleep very quickly.



-next morning-

I had gone through the morning routine of putting on my armor before following the cadets to the training ground. But as I left the castle and entered the open area I noticed that there was a large obstacle course. "Alright Cadets, line up and prepare for the obstacle course, you shall all be timed, and evaluated on your performance in this test," Sargent Flawless explained. I noticed many of the Cadets taking off their armor so I followed suit, taking off my armor, weapon, and even my shirt. "You May All Take A few Moment To Stretch Before The Course! You Have Five Minutes!" She shouted. For Five minutes I did stretches that made my limbs more limber and flexible, while I noticed that most of the others were doing simple push-ups and sit-ups to prepare. "Alright, LET'S BEGIN" Flawless shouted.

One by one every guard in the line went through the obstacle course. With the main rules being no magic and no flying, the best time achieved was 6 minutes and 36 seconds by the time I got to the front of the line. "Alright Cresten, BEGIN!" Flawless ordered.

I quickly began the course, which started with a climbing wall, then went into a rope ridge at least 25 feet above the ground. Moving forward I reached the end quickly before leaping off the platform to the next part. Before me was a dug out section of land filled with loose mud that wouldn't be able to support my weight. Taking a short moment to take in my surroundings I noticed that there was a single board (4 in x 8 in) set across the 20 foot wide hole for getting across, so working fast I ran across it, using my faster speed to get across without falling. On the other end of the hole was was another, longer hole with a rope ladder stretched from one side to the other to be climbed across or by swinging. The hole was 25 feet across and 15 feet deep, just shallow enough not to break anything, but just deep enough to make it overly difficult to climb out. grabbing the beginning of the rope ladder I began to swing my self across, using my lower body weight to add more momentum to my swings as I made it to the other side in 10 seconds flat. The end of the course consisted of a typical barbed wire bear crawl, set just high enough that I would have a chance of getting through without ruining my wings. Beginning my crawl I quickly realized that while the wire didn't do too much harm, it did dig painfully into my wings every time I shifted to the next arm or leg to move forward. After 20 seconds of pain I emerged from the other side of the wire and stood up to my full height as I heard a pony call out my time, "6 minutes, 25 seconds,".

After the course we all did the same basic exercise from the previous day before being allowed to go back to our business, so with my day already planned out, I began my walk to the Captains office.
> A first date
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Chapter 6)

My trip to the Captains office was short and sweet, leaving me with plenty of time to go out into the city and find a path to one of the meat selling restaurants Chrysus recommended in town. I exited the castle grounds without my full armor, though I did keep my sword, and my chest plate. The moment I walked into the city I could feel the curious gazes of the ponies on me, wondering who I was, and even what I was. I could hear some of the whispers as the ponies talked back and forth, trying to figure out my very existence. It didn't take long before I noticed a few ponies that reminded me a bit of prince Blueblood staring at me in disgust. The further I walked the less welcome I felt as more and more of the whispers I heard went from curiosity to distrust and hatred.

I hurried on and tried to ignore the surrounding ponies as I looked at the map that Chrysus had given me before I left, showing that I still had around a half a mile to go before I would be at the restaurant. With a sigh I continued on my way, keeping my eyes forward as I followed my path.




I looked upon a small restaurant with a sign on the front showing its name, 'Skyward'. According to Chrysus 'Skyward' is a good, but not very large meat-eaters establishment run by a Griffon couple. "Hello, how may I help you?" I was asked by a female Griffon as I walked through the door. The Griffon had light grey fur with light blue feathers and a river blue tail fluff.

"I was hoping to make a reservation for later today," I answered.

"Name and Time please," She requested as she opened up a small reservations book.

"My name is Jack Cresten and I was hoping for a table for two today between, um, around 8 o'clock, whatever's available," my response was full of hesitation and I was sure the Griffon noticed it.

"Well we usually have plenty of free tables and tonight is no exception," She said.

"Alright, then how about 8:15," I said. The Griffon nodded and wrote something the book before looking back up and smiling.

"Will that be all?" She asked. I responded with a short nod and turned to leave. With a short sigh I made my journey back to the castle, doing my best to ignore the looks I got.




"Hey Jack, what're you doing here?" Onyx asked as I made my way into the smithy.

"I was looking for Amber, is she here?" I answered as well as asked. With a nod Onyx pointed towards the room I had gotten the measurements for my armor in before going back to his work. I began to make my way to the room before stopping and looking at a small clock that was hung just above the main entrance of the smithy. '12:45, only 7 and a half hours until our date," I thought to myself as I finally entered the measuring room and the closed the door behind me, taking a moment to look around the room I found Amber sitting at a desk to the left of the door. "hi Amber, I got a reservation for our date," I said nervously, still unsure of this.

"When is the reservation?" She asked as she looked up from her work to me.

"8:15 PM, though I was thinking I could pick you up at around 6:15 so we can hang out a bit before we go to the restaurant," I answered and suggested as I leaned against the door, being reminded of my wings as I adjusted them so they weren't so uncomfortable.

"What do you plan on us doing?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just hang out, I was thinking we could talk a little and learn a bit more about each other," I explained.

"Okay, six it is," She said with a small smirk as I left with a nod, heading back to the barracks to prepare.




several hours had passed since I had talked to Amber and started preparing. Now all I had left to do was pick up Amber once the clock in the barracks read '6:00'. After a few minutes of travel I arrived at the smithy, and was out just as fast upon finding out that Amber was not there, but was in the public section of the castle gardens. After awhile of searching I found the garden and searched for Amber, finally finding her by a small oak tree. As I approached her I noticed that she was wearing a yellow long-sleeve shirt with a pair of jean like pants. I was slightly surprised to see her wearing clothes, as I had never seen her do so until now. "Hi," I called out nervously as I got closer.

"Oh, there you are," She replied as she watched me approach. Unlike her I was wearing a grey t-shirt with a pair of black cloth pants and the one item of clothing not destroyed by the creature from my world, my black and red tennis shoes. "so, what did you want to talk about?" she asked as we sat on a small bench nearby and enjoyed the shade given by the tree.

"I'm not sure, how about you choose what we talk about," I offered, taking a moment to stare into her captivating eyes as she smirked at me.

"Alright, how about we start with how old you are," She suggested. I looked at her for a moment, absolutely sure that my face was one of pure shock as she just raised an eyebrow. "well," She hinted for me to answer as she scooted slightly closer to me.

"um, well, you see..." I started but stopped as I thought about how to answer her question. As she continued to stare at me I finally relented and let out a quiet, "seventeen,". Amber's eyes had widened slightly as she scooted a bit away from me.

"What?" She asked as she stared at me in shock.

"I'm seventeen, though I'll be eighteen in a month," I answered, causing her to yet again scoot away from me in shock. With a sigh I looked away from her to the ground, starting my usual process of shutting down my feeling as I felt that I was about be rejected like every time before.

"Why didn't you say you were seventeen when you asked me on a date?" She asked. 

Without looking up from the ground I answered her, "I didn't know how to say it, plus I didn't really want anyone to know my real age here, 'cause I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to stay in the guard, or be allowed to fight, or even be where I am now," I said, holding all emotion from my voice, something I had learned to do better and better with every stab into my heart a relationship would make.

"But why me, and why not wait until you were older?" She questioned as I heard her shuffle slightly.

"Because I told one of my teammates about a part of my past and they told me that I should ask you out and that I shouldn't be worried that you would reject me, so I told her that if I did, and was rejected, I would give up on relationships all together," I responded, feeling the beginnings of my emotional walls being built.

But before they could continue to grow I felt someone hug me from my side, catching me off-guard as I looked over and saw Amber giving me a concerned look as she asked, "Then why are you so sad right now?".

I took a moment to let my mind take in what she asked before responding with what I believed, "because you're about to reject me for my age, aren't you?".

"No," She said, surprising me with a small peck on the cheek as she pulled me closer to her, "I'm not just going to do that to someone because their slightly too young, though this would be if a different story if you were any younger," She continued as I just stayed still in shock. As I sat there in her hold I felt the walls I had built crumbling as I felt myself do something I hadn't done in years, I let out tears, silently letting them run down my face as I let myself stay in Amber's hold, enjoying the moment. "Are you crying?" she asked curiously.

"I guess I am," I replied as I brought up a hand to wipe away my tears. "not too cool huh," I muttered as I continued to wipe away the tears that continued to spill from my eyes.

"For now it's okay," Amber said as she pulled me closer to her, her chin resting on my head as she kept me just far enough away to not hurt my wings. As we sat there I felt something I had not thought I would truly experience again, happiness. Sitting there with Amber allowed me to feel more at peace than I ever had in my life, even before my life had gone to shit I had never felt this comfortable warmth in my body and heart, and I hoped it would last forever.

As we sat there, enjoying each others closeness, I started to hum a song as I closed my eyes and basked in the feeling of closeness.

"That was beautiful, what was it?" Amber asked as I finished. Upon hearing her question I felt myself blush slightly as I looked up and at her face as she looked down at me.

"I was humming a song from my world called 'And I Love You So' by Don McLean," I answered.

"Really, and why that song in particular?" She asked as she went back to resting her chin on my head.

"Well, the lyrics speak of knowing how lonely life can be and in it the singer seems to be brought out of this loneliness by someone they've fallen in love with, I just felt it was appropriate for the moment," I said, blushing slight more as I heard her giggling slightly to herself.

"So you mean to say you love me?" She asked, causing me to look back up at her and see her smiling back.

"I guess I do," I responded as I returned her smile, feeling the heat in my body grow as I realized that I really was falling for her, and for once, I didn't want to stop it, for once I didn't feel a paranoid self-hatred to make me doubt myself, I just felt happy. Taking a chance I decided to return her earlier kiss on the cheek with one of my own, catching her by surprise before she lightly smiled at me.

"Well then, I didn't expect that," She said in false shock, causing us to chuckle as we just continued to stay there, resting against each other. As time went by I noticed the sun was lower and decided that we should probably be heading to our date, so with a light groan of disappointment I got up.

"We should probably start heading to the restaurant if we want to make our reservation," I suggested, receiving a nod in return as she got up I started to lead her to the place. Making our way to the front gates we left the castle grounds and entered Canterlot proper, immediately getting stares from the passing ponies as we walked. At first it was just the curious ones, then as we went the stares turned into the ones of disgust I remembered from before.

"Want to hurry up," Amber suggested, having noticed my discomfort. With a nod I started to pick up the pace a little, and within ten minutes we made it to the restaurant. "A meat eaters restaurant, you eat meat?" Amber asked in mild surprise. To answer her question I pulled my upper lip back with one hand and pointed to my canines with the other.

"Humans are omnivores, so we can eat both plants and animals," I answered in words, getting a light nod out of her. Making our way into the place I noticed the same griffon from before at the front as she looked up from something to see who had entered the building.

"Ah, Jack, here for your reservation?" She asked as I nodded. "good because you're just on time," She said pointing over to a clock next the door that read 8:10 on it.

"Good thing we left when we did," I muttered to myself feeling lucky that we hadn't been late.

"Anyway, I'll show you to your table, follow me," She said as she started leading us over to an empty table, and to my surprise, it was one of many in the restaurant that were empty.

"Slow day huh?" I asked as I looked around, taking in the lack of other patrons.

"*sigh* Sadly everyday is a slow day, most of the population of Canterlot is made up ponies, so there aren't many predators here to serve," She explained as I pulled out the chair for Amber, getting a slight smirk from her as she sat down and I went to sit in my own seat.

"I didn't even know this place existed, I might have to tell the other dragons about this place, we've been looking for a better place to get our meat from," Amber said as the griffon gave each of us a menu. With a nod the griffon left us to choose what we wanted to eat. "So what are you going get?" Amber asked after 4 minutes of silence as she set her menu down.

"I'm going to get the steak with a side order of mash potatoes with water and some mead," I answered.

"Mead, but you're..." She started before I held a finger to her lips to quickly silence her.

"I know that, but with coming here my metabolism has increased to the point where the alcohol barely affects me," I explained, getting a hesitant nod from Amber.

"Well I'm going to get the grilled salmon with a side order of hay fries with water and wine," She said. I nodded with a smile, though I knew from the sound of it my paycheck was about to be gone by the end of the night. Amber and I made small talk as we waited for the griffon to get back, and when she did we placed out orders and continued to talk until we got our food.

"Here your go," the griffon said as she handed us our meals. After both Amber and I thanked her she headed back to the front of the restaurant and watched the door.

"You know I never got to ask, but are the rumors about you true?" Amber asked as she picked up a fry to eat.

"What rumor?" I inquired as I took a sip of my mead, enjoying the swat flavor of it.

"That you managed to take down Chrysalis and her army without armor or weapons," She responded. I looked at her for a moment as I chewed on a piece of my steak, enjoying the flavor and texture of the beef.

"I didn't fight alone, but it's true that I fought without any armor or weapons," I answered as I cut off another slice of steak and popped it into my mouth.

"Wow, and here I thought only a dragon would be able to do something like that," She said as I just shrugged. We continued to eat and talk, learning a lot more about each other as the night went on before we finally finished and I asked for the check. Looking at the bill I was surprised to see that it was only 60 bits (and in reference I had made around 500 bits for my 'act of valor' fighting the changelings with so little equipment). Looking at the bill and thinking of what the griffon had said earlier I pulled out 300 bits and set them on the table.

"Um sir, that is a bit more than what you owe," The griffon said.

"You know I'm curious, what's you're name, you know mine, but I don't know yours," I questioned without responding to her previous statement.

"Oh, my name is Water Wing, but about the money..."

"Keep it," I said, cutting her off as I stood up and walked around the table to pull out Amber's seat for her.

"But that's largely over the amount," She stated as gestured to the bill with a talon.

"Well I happen to like this place, and I want to make to make sure that there aren't any problems for the next time I'm here, because I intend to come back," I said as I gestured for Amber to follow me. As Amber and I left we left Waiter in a state of shock from my words.

"That was really generous of you," Amber said as we exited the building. I shrugged with a small smile on my face as we started to walk back to the castle. "hey Jack, do you know how to fly?" Amber asked as we walked. I looked at her for a moment with a raised eyebrow before shaking my head no. "Maybe I could help teach you," She offered as she stopped for a moment, causing me to stop too.

"I'd like that," I said with a smile as I looked into her eyes, captivated by the way they shined in the moonlight.

"You know Jack, for someone who was so nervous before, you sure seem less so now," Amber said as we started walking again.

"I guess being around you makes me feel more confident," I responded as I gave her a quick kiss on her cheek.

"So it seems," She said as she looked at me with a sly smirk. "well then how about a little race to the castle," Amber suggested. Thinking that that sounded fun I nodded as Amber gave a '3, 2, 1, GO!' and started flying ahead of me. I smirked a little at her cheating but started running full sprint towards her, catching up and keeping pace with her as I ran. Amber seemed slightly surprised by my speed but as we went I felt something slam into me and send me flying into an alleyway I was about to pass. My short flight was interrupted as I felt myself impact a brick wall with enough force to crack it.

"I knew that momentum reversal spell would come in handy," I heard a gruff voice say as I shakily got to my feet.

"Oh, does the wittle monkey wanna pway hehehehahahahah," I heard another stallion say in a mocking childish voice before laughing his ass off.

Looking up I saw five stallions, two unicorns, two pegasi, and one earth pony. But before I could make a move something landed in front of me with a heavy thud, causing some dust to scatter and forcing me to shut my eyes and look away for a moment. But when I looked back I saw Amber standing there, and she, was, PISSED.

"*huff* And now some stupid dragon's in the way, how about you get the buck out of our way or we're going to have to hurt you too," a unicorn stallion said as he took a step forward. As the stallions advanced I heard Amber growl before letting out a breath of fire that one of the unicorns blocked with a quick force field. Angry that her attack was blocked Amber lunged forward, but was then launched back at me. Hoping to help her I grabbed her out of the air and just barely managed not to be slammed into the wall again. But as I held Amber I heard a small whimper and looked down at her, and what I saw made me gasp. Jammed into Amber's stomach was what looked like a dagger, with blood heavily leaving the wound.

"Amber! Are you okay!?" I shouted in worry as I set her down and held her head off of the ground.

"My stomach hurts, but other than that, I'm fine," Amber answered with a small smirk, though I could tell she was holding back her pain as she spoke. Knowing that she was in pain made something snap in me. I felt my blood start to boil as I started to see red and the only thing I could think about was making those stallions suffer.

"Oh, did we hurt the poor monkeys bitch?" I heard one of the stallions say before they all laughed. I took off my shirt and folded it before placing it under Amber's head and standing up to my full height.

"You hurt her, so I'm going to make you SUFFER," I said as I felt my blood lust rising.

"Oh, so now the dumb monkey thinks that it's scary, huh boys, what do ya think, is the dumb monkey scary?" The same unicorn stallion that hurt Amber taunted as all the others laughed.

I felt my anger growing, and growing, and growing until I felt like I was about to explode with the rage I felt. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I roared in rage as I rushed forward to strike. But before I could reach them I felt something puncture my abdomen as something else started forcing me backwards. Using my feet I stopped myself from being pushed back, and looking down I saw a knife in my stomach (what an original place to target). With my pain dulled by my rage I pulled the knife out, which luckily wasn't serrated, and got and idea. Looking at the unicorn stallion that could reverse momentum I started to throw the knife at him, but as soon as I saw his horn start to glow I tossed the knife the opposite direction, causing the stallion to make the knife go towards him as it changed course and stabbed him in the throat before he could stop it. The stallion fell to the ground as he chocked on his own blood and finally died.

"GAH! YOU STUPID MONKEY! DIE!" One of the pegaus stallion yelled as he flew towards me, bring a hoof back to punch me in the face, but I leaned back to avoid it and grabbed onto one of his wings as he passed by, pulling him to a halt. "GAH! LET GO!," he shouted as I grabbed his other wing with my free hand and held him up by them before placing a foot in between his wing joints and pulling. I heard the stallion start screaming as I continued to pull, only stopping when I heard a loud 'SNAP!' signifying that his wings were dislocated as he screamed in pain. I dropped the stallion as I felt something impact my back, causing me to stumble forward slightly before turning around and seeing the earth pony stallion standing behind where I just was with a look of surprise on his face.

With a growl I Rushed him, grabbing the back of his head and slamming his face into my knee with enough force to fracture his jaw and send him screaming onto the ground. Looking up I saw that the last two stallions were looking at me in fear as well as shaking in fright. Letting out another roar I rushed at them, startling them into action. The pegasus pulled out a throwing knife with his wing while the unicorn readied a spell with his horn. Seeing the unicorn as a larger threat I ran to him first and grabbed him by the base of his horn, cutting off the flow of his magic. I then kicked the pegaus in the face, knocking him over before I started to twist the unicorns horn backward, causing him to scream in agony and struggle until I finally snapped off his horn and he passed out in pain. Turing to look at the last stallion I got a throwing knife jammed into my left shoulder, and without even looking at it I took it out and threw it into the stallions right foreleg before walking over and stomping on his head just hard enough to knock him out.

I walked back into the back of the alley and picked Amber up bridal style, being mindful of her wound as I carried her back to the castle.




"What happened?" I heard one of the guards at the front gate ask as he saw the state Amber was in.

"We were attacked by five stallions, Amber need medical attention, NOW!" I yelled, getting the two guards to jump slightly as they both nodded and led me in as I took Amber to the medical wing.

"Jack," I heard Amber say as we neared the wing.

"It's okay Amber, we're here, and you're going to be alright," I said as I felt tears make their way out of my eyes.

"You're crying Jack," I heard her say again, her voice nothing more than a whisper. Looking down I could see her eyes were closing, making me afraid.

"Amber. AMBER! Don't fall asleep," I spoke in worry, feeling the gaze of the two guards on us as we walked but I didn't care. I didn't get a response as she closed her eyes and stopped talking. I felt my heart drop as I started running, passing the two guards and getting to the medical wing as fast as possible. "I NEED HELP!" I screamed as I kicked the door open, startling doctors and nurses before they saw the bleeding dragoness in my arms. Everything was a blur to me as the doctors got her onto a stretcher and wheeled her away, not allowing me to go with her and forcing me to go back to my previous room to get my stab wound looked at. I sat down on the bed as I cried, tears making a steady stream down my face as I buried my head into my hands.

"You okay Jack?" I heard Straight ask in worry. I didn't answer as I continued to cry, my worry overtaking me and not allowing me to stop. I couldn't help but think that Amber was dead, but as time went on a single voice in my head went off, 'she's not dead, I know she isn't, I refuse to believe that she is,' I thought. My crying died down and turned into sniffles as I looked up from my hands to see that my teammate had moved from their beds and were all sitting in front of me, looking at me with worried faces.

"Jack, what's wrong?" River Breeze asked. I took a moment to control my breathing before answering.

"Amber was stabbed," I answered, feeling more tears threatening to spill over. As I tried to control myself I felt the three ponies hug me at once, trying to comfort me as best they could. "Thanks guys," I said, feeling my voice weaken as my blood loss finally started to take effect. I felt my vision go blurry as my body went numb and fell backwards onto the bed, I heard muffled voiced but I couldn't understand them as my eyes involuntarily closed. And after they closed, my world was soon overtaken by unconsciousness, my last thoughts being of Amber.