Chapter 1 (First Impressions)

Chapter 1

-Canterlot dungeons, third person-

Soft moonlight flooded the mostly barren cell holding five figures new to Equestria. Each one was bipedal in stature and wore singed clothing. Two of the figures had feathery wings while a third had leathery bat-like wings. The other two were taller than the others but lacked the wings they had. All five of the figures were held up by shackles that restricted their hands. Each figure lacked the amount of hair that ponies had, only having a mane and having nearly no hair on the rest of their bodies. All the figures were human males, unconscious to the world as they remained completely motionless.

On the far left was a tall and thin human with a moderate muscle build that had a height of 6 foot 2 inches, nearly reaching the ground as he dangled from his shackles, his dirty blond hair hanging limply down his face to cover his closed eyes. His grey T-shirt and blue jeans sported a number of holes burnt into them, as did the others clothes, giving them all the impression of having just gotten out of a fire, though his red sneakers had melted slightly and looked warped. On the second most left was a slightly shorter human with slightly more muscle than the first and had a height of 5 foot 11 inches, his brown hair also hanging limply to cover his face, but reached slightly further to also cover half of his nose. His shirt was covered by a thicker tan jacket, that while was still covered in burn marks, was still more in tact than anyone else's clothing but bulged out slightly due to his hidden bat like wings, while his blue jeans and grey sneakers were more heavily burnt. In the middle was a human with an average muscle build and with height of 5 foot 11 inches, his face unobscured by his spiky brown hair. His black T-shirt and red hooded jacket were heavily burned, allowing one of his silvery feathered wings to hang out limply, while his blue jeans and black sneakers were just as damaged as the others. The human second most to the right was fairly muscular and had a height of 5 foot 10 inches, his dark brown hair reaching half way down his eyelids. The front of his shirt and jacket were fairly untouched, though the backs were nearly non existent and allowed both shadow black feathered wings to hang limply, reaching past his blue jeans and red sneakers. To the very right was an evenly set human with the second largest height of 6 foot, his tight-knit Afro leaving his face completely uncovered. His light yellow hoodie was missing its hood and the left sleeve, both burnt off, as the rest of the hoodie and his blue jeans were littered with burn marks and his white sneakers were melted, though he seemed to have no damages to his actual skin. All but one of the humans were white, with the one furthest to the right being African-American.

The cell they were in was empty of all but the people in them, with a single door on the other side of the room and two cell bar windows being all that allowed light into the room. The humans shifted, finally awakening as the sound of the cell door being unlocked rang out through the room. Slowly the door opened as three figures walked in, two unicorn royal guards and Princess Celestia herself. The door closed behind the three after they entered the room. The two unicorns filled the cell with light as a ball of light went to either side of the room from their horns. After a few moments the Humans began to realize their predicament, becoming slightly frantic and struggling to get free. "I wouldn't try escaping if I were you, followers of Nightmare Moon," Celestia said, her voice calm but strict, causing the humans to stop struggling.

"Where are we?" The human in the middle asked, his voice scratchy as he realized that it hurt to speak.

"You are in the Canterlot dungeons, and you will be held here until Nightmare moon is dealt with," The unicorn to Celestia's left answered. Slowly the humans each looked up and opened their eyes to look at their captors. All but two of them wore looks of shock at what they saw, but those two who didn't had realized where they were at the first mention of Nightmare Moon.

"Is your Armor really gold? I was hoping that wasn't a fact but that is just so stupid," The human second most to the left commented, his voice also scratchy from lack of hydration.

"Not the time Paddie, listen we aren't with Nightmare Moon, and we'd be willing to prove it," The middle human spoke.

With a questioning look The Princess asked him, "And how will you prove to me that you don't work for her?"

"Hold up a minute, Nate, Paddie, how the hell do you know what's going on here?" The human second most to the right asked.

"Because we do, now let us do the talking Theo," Paddie answered as he rolled his eyes.

"Ask us to do something to prove it and we'll do it," Nate responded to the Princess, ignoring his two friend as they began arguing next to him.

"How about you start by telling us who and what you are," The princess suggested.

Before Nate could answer The human to the farthest left answered, "I'm Jacob, to my right is Paddie, then Nate, Theo, and Wesley, we're humans,".

"I have never heard of your kind before, I can't help but wonder where Nightmare Moon found you,"

"Alright I'm getting real sick of this shit, someone tell me, who the fuck is Nightmare Moon?" Theo demanded.

"Princess Luna, she was corrupted by her jealousy towards her sister, upset that the night she worked so hard on was ignored while Princess Celestia's sun was worshiped, After her corruption she was banished to the moon with the use of the elements of harmony, with legend saying that on the 1000th summer sun celebration she would return to plunge the world into eternal night," Nate explained. The three ponies were looking at him in shock while Theo just shut his eyes and muttered about furries and ponies and how much he hated them.

After a few moments the Princess finally asked with a glare, "If you don't work for Nightmare Moon then how do you know so much about her?"

"I would say to hide the truth, but because you're being such an untrusting bitch, you should know that where we come from you're world is a cartoon, a fantasy world meant to entertain the human race with the fantastical idea of land where peace and the powers of friendship fucking exist," Nate answered again, a sharp edge entering his clearing voice.

"Holy shit man, I thought you actually liked Celestia," Paddie said in surprise.

"It's really hard to like someone when they FUCKING CHAIN YOU UP!" Nate shouted in anger.

"Calm down Nate, Things could be worse," Wesley finally spoke up, trying to calm his angry friend. Taking a few deep breaths Nate nodded and calmed back down.

"Wait, we don't exist?" One of the guards asked quietly.

"You obviously do, and besides, in the show you all weren't anthropomorphic, it all falls into the multiverse theory," Nate explained, feeling slightly calmer. What he said was true, each of the ponies was anthropomorphic, standing on their two back hooves and having hands instead of having forehooves. They even wore clothes, the guards wearing golden armor, and the Princess wearing a flowing white dress to go along with her regalia.

"Speaking of that, how about you send us home so we don't have to stay in some stupid pony land," Theo suggested.

With a sigh, out of either annoyance or regret, the Princess said, "I'm sorry but there is no known way to travel through dimensions, there may be some day, but there isn't now."

"Actually Starswirl the Bearded did make a way to another world, but there's no way to know if it would work to find our world, though I would like to bring my family here at least," Paddie responded.

Yet again the Princess was shocked by how much the humans knew. "How did you know about that?" The princess demanded.

"It was talked about in the show," Nate answered. "though that knowledge still doesn't do any good when the portal only opens every thirty moons."

"Um, not to be bother or anything, but how long are you gonna leave us chained up here?" Jacob asked, moving his arms slightly to rattle his chains and make his point.

"Until I'm sure you aren't a threat," the Princess answered.

"Right, the alicorn princess of the sun has to have five tired humans chained up when they're all both hungry and dehydrated, especially when said princess is one of the strongest magic users to ever exist," Paddie said sarcastically. Both of the guards glared at him, but the princess finally relented as she used her magic to lift the five humans and set them on their feet. Upon being set down they all almost buckled, though they also all managed not to fall.

"Guards, one of you go and bring back some water and some food for our guests," The princess ordered. Both seemed hesitant, but the one to her right finally gave a small salute and rushed out of the door, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of leaving his princess with only one guard.

"So we're guests, does that mean we get to lose the cuffs?" Nate asked as he weakly held up his arms.

"Those shall stay on until I'm sure you can be trusted enough not to be dangerous," was her response.

"Humans are always dangerous, but we only grow violent when threatened," Nate responded.

"Then the cuffs will be removed after I'm sure you're not a threat to my subjects," Celestia spoke with a pointed glare at Nate.

"And how will you do that exactly?" Jacob asked as he stretched slightly.

"Guard, prepare four other cells and send Captain Gleaming Shield and three guards of her choosing to each one to talk to our guests one on one," Celestia ordered.

"Are you sure that's wise Princess?"

"Yes, I will be in no danger for the time being, just be quick about it, and also tell the other guard to send some of the food and water to this cell as well as the other four," and with that the guard was out the door and searching for the captain. For twenty-five minutes there was silence, with nothing to say nothing was said.

Finally the guard opened the door and said, "Captain Gleaming shield is here, as well as her chosen guards, and they are waiting in a different cell each."

"Good, Take all but the middle one out and place each one into one of those cells, tell the captain and the others to just talk until they are sure if these humans are a threat or not," With a nod they were then led out one by one until all that was left was one.

Chapter 2 (Interrogations part 1)

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Chapter 2

-Canterlot Dungeons, Paddie POV-

After being removed from the others I was quickly placed into another, smaller cell. In this cell was a table with water, food that was comprised of grass, flowers, some fruits, and some vegetables, while sitting at the table was a thestral mare guards pony. "Sit," she said simply, nodding to the chair opposite of her. As I sat down she pushed the plate of food and the glass of water towards me. "I am lieutenant Midnight Blossom of the equestrian royal guard, what is your name, age, and species?," I took note of her name as I drank my water. Despite being surprised at her rank I was actually slightly happy with the fact that I ended up with one of my favorite characters interrogating me.

"I'm Paddie, a human from the planet earth, age 19," I answered, figuring I'd keep my liking of her a secret for now.

"What goal do you hope to achieve in Equestria?"

"Personally I'd say see if I can use magic, and if I can then learn to use it, fight monsters, and maybe even explore the Everfree forest, if not, then I'll probably do that anyway" I answered. Midnight seemed slightly surprised by my honesty, though she hid it well enough with her eyes only widening slightly, and for a short enough time that had I blinked I would have missed it.

"How did you get here?"

"No idea, the last thing I remember is my friends me falling and then immense heat before I suddenly woke up here, chained up and in cuffs," I punctuated by rattling my cuffs slightly before grabbing a slice of honeydew to eat.

"Last written question, what is your association with Nightmare Moon?" I could see in her eyes that she didn't even want to ask, as though she thought the question itself was pointless. 'Does she not believe Nightmare Moon is real?' I wondered, curious as to why she would be so uncertain of the question.

"None, in fact I know that at least one of my friends and I would be happy to help fight her when she returns," I said. Nodding slightly Midnight stood up and walked over to my side of the table.

As she unlocked my cuffs she explained, "The helmet that I am currently wearing has a spell on it to detect lies, had you lied the helmet would have glowed a bright pink,". Curious I thought of a lie to say and decided to just go with an obvious one.

"I'm a female," I said as Midnight pulled the cuffs away from me and watched as the helmet began glowing a bright pink that would put even Pinkie Pie to shame. "well at least we know it works," I muttered to myself. With a sigh and a shake of her head Midnight stepped away as I stood up. Stretching slightly I noted the feeling of discomfort coming from my back and turned to see what the problem was, only to notice a huge lump on my jacket. Removing the article of clothing I looked again to see two leathery black wings similar to Midnight's. 'What the fuck?'

-Theo POV-

Being taken from the others and being placed into a cell by myself was not very calming to say the least. As I was placed into the new cell I noticed a table with another pony sitting at it with a pitcher of water and some vegetables and fruits in front of it. Taking the initiative I sat down in the seat across from it. "*Ahem* I am captain Gleaming Shield of the equestrian royal guard, what is your name, age, and species?" She asked, she based on her feminine voice.

"I'm Theo, I'm 19 years old, and I'm human," I answered evenly, hoping for this to be over quickly so I could investigate what that strange weight on my back was.

"What goal do you hope to achieve in Equestria?"

"Nothing, I just want to get the hell out of this stupid ass pony land and get home, where it happens to not be a furries damn wet dream," I said. I could see Gleaming was rather surprised by my blatant unhappiness at being here, but I honestly couldn't care how she felt at the moment.

"Alright, you want to get home? Then tell us how you got here?"

"I have no idea, I'm still not even really sure where I am, the only ones who might know that would be Nate and Paddie because they seem to know where we are, so they might have some ideas," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"*sigh* Fine, final question, what is your association with Nightmare Moon?"

"None, I don't even know who the hell that is, all I know about her is what Nate told me, and only he and Paddie seem to actually know anything about her," Somewhat glad that I was done I grabbed the glass of water and downed it quickly before grabbing a carrot to eat. For whatever reason Gleaming took her helmet off, exposing a blue mane with a light blue highlight running through it. Gleaming then began to turn it around and look at it very closely, I just watched her while I grabbed some more food, cursing slightly at the uselessness of my shackled wrists. With a sigh she set her helmet down before walking around the table and grabbing one of my hands. "the hell?" I yelled as she pulled my hand towards her.

"Calm down, I'm un-cuffing you since my lie detecting spell didn't detect any lies with your answers," she explained as she pulled out a key from, somewhere.

"The hell did you get that key from?" I asked, not seeing any place for pockets on her armor. Now that I actually looked closely I noticed just how different her armor was from the other guards. Instead of the same gold that the others had she had a much more covering purple set with golden borders and a insignia of a purple shield under a magenta six pointed star that sat in the middle of her chest piece.

"Does it matter?" She asked back as she finished pulling of my shackles, allowing my arms to be free.

"I suppose not," I mumbled out before just letting out another sigh and grabbing some more food to eat and focusing on the table.

"Are your wings okay?" Gleaming spoke up after a few minutes. Looking back up I noticed she was sitting back in her seat with her helmet still off while giving me a neutral stare.

"What wings?" I inquired.

"The ones on your back, you're not too bright are you?" She shot at me with a small eye roll. With a small snort I looked around at my back, since I had the time, only to discover a pair of of shadow black wings attached to my back. 'HOW THE FUCK DID I NOT NOTICE THIS!' I yelled to myself as I looked at the wings in shock. Reaching a hand behind me I could feel the that the feathers were soft to the touch, and that I could actually feel them, not just from my hand, but from my back as well.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

-Wesley POV-

I followed a guard to one of the other cells as my friends were led to their own cells. As I made my way inside I noticed a thestral mare sitting at a table that had water and a variety of food that didn't include meat. The mare gestured to the seat across from her and I took the seat, glad to be able to sit down after hanging for however long I had been. "Greeting, I am Sargent Lunar Shadow, what is your name, age, and species?" She said.

"I'm Wesley, a 19 year old human," I answered.

"What goal do you hope to achieve in Equestria?"

"I'm not sure, I didn't plan to be here, I just sort of woke up here, chained up," I said as I grabbed some grapes and started eating them.

"How did you get here?"

"I have no idea."

"What is your association with Nightmare Moon?"

"None," I answered simply. Lunar took off her helmet and looked at it before shrugging and setting it down on the table. She pulled out a key and slid it over to me. Understanding I picked it up and took off my shackles before gulping down some of the water.

"So out of curiosity, what do you hope happens?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, I honestly don't know if I would care either way if there was a way back," I answered as I continued eating.

"I know I would care if I was suddenly in a strange place where there wasn't many of my own kind," Lunar said while leaning back slightly. I had no response to that so I just continued eating. After a few moments Lunar seemed to catch on to what she had just said and continued with a nervous chuckle, "hehe, I mean, um, I mean I'm sure you and your friends will be fine,". Looking at her I could see her smile was just as nervous as she was.

"It's alright, I know there's not many of us, but at least we have each other," I said with a small smile. Thankfully it seemed to help her as her smile became more genuine.

-???, third person POV-

At the border of Equestria and the Griffon Empire sat a small town where both species could coexist. And a small distance from this town was a large forest stretching as far as the eye could see. The trees swayed with a heavy wind storm that had suddenly started unplanned by the weather team, branches plummeting to the forest floor as they were torn from the trees by the force of the winds. And just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Silence filled the land as a yellow glow emanated from the forest. No pony was there to witness the light as they were still inside to be protected from the storm. Creating the light was a large sphere of yellow magic in the forest, the sound of jingling bells ringing from inside as the light dimmed enough to see a pony shaped figure in robes. After several minutes the sphere disappeared, and what was left was a crater, with a stallion in the center.

Chapter 3 (Interrogations Part 2)

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Chapter 3

-???, ??? POV-

Slowly I blinked the dizziness out of my eyes, looking around all I could see was a burning crater surrounding me. Surrounding that crater was trees and bushes. Standing up onto my hooves I made my way out of the crater, careful not to fall back down. 'It seems that I have accidentally used a powerful long range teleportation spell in place of my summoning spell, looking around I concluded that I was in some form of forest. With a sigh I readied a spell to return to the castle only to realize that I was out of magic. Begrudgingly I began to walk out of the forest, the bells on my hat and robe jingling with each step. Looking around I noticed that the trees around me were beginning to spread out to reveal a small settlement full of both griffons and ponies alike. 'Intriguing, I don't remember there being any settlements like this in Equestria, I must have went further than I previously thought.

"Greeting, might I inquire as to where I might find passage to the castle?" I asked a nearby group of ponies as I got closer.

"Um... sure I guess, there's a train that can take you to Canterlot that should be here in about twenty minutes," A young stallion answered.

"Canterlot? what is this place thou speak of, I mean the castle of the princesses, where they have been ruling from since the defeat of Discord himself," I inquired.

"Huh? Two princesses? All I know is that Princess Celestia lives in the Canterlot Castle, I'm not sure about what you're talking about," He answered while giving me the strangest of looks. Deciding to move on I continued to ask others for ten minutes, but no matter what I tried it was the same answer. And in the place of Princess Luna the name I received in her place was Nightmare Moon. 'This is very troubling, where am I that so little in known about the rulers? I thought as I stroked at my long white beard. Going to what the ponies called a train station, I waited for this device to arrive to take me to this supposed castle. After around a 8 minute wait a large machine of metal and wood came screeching down the tracks, black smoke billowing from its front as it slowed to a halt before the very platform I waited on. Doors on the sides of this machine opened as more ponies and a few griffons exited. Moving forward I moved to enter one of the doors but a stallion wearing a blue jacket and hat stopped me.

"Ticket?" he requested as he held out a hand to me.

"I'm afraid I do not have the ticket thou need," I answered back.

With a sigh he responded, "Then you either need to buy one, or you can't get on the train".

"Where can I purchase one of these tickets?"

"Over there, in that booth is a mare who'll get you settled, but be quick about it, train leaves in five minutes," He said as he pointed over to my left. Looking over I saw a small booth with a glass window that held a rather bored looking mare. With a quick thanks I walked over to the booth.

"I would like to purchase one ticket to Canterlot," I said.

Looking up at me she grabbed a slip of paper and said, "that'll be twenty bits sir".

Grabbing my bits I pulled out the money and slid it through a gap in the glass before she slid the paper over to me. "Thank thee".

"Those are some pretty strange robes there, are you dressing up, or do you just like wearing weird clothing?" She asked.

"I am Starswirl The Bearded, these are no costume, but my finely crafted mages robes," I answered before turning around and walking towards the train.

-Canterlot dungeons, Jacob POV-

I had no trouble getting out of the original cell, though I did have to duck slightly to enter the new cell. Looking around I noticed that it was bare, save for a table in the center with a single guard and a tray of food & water. Moving over and sitting across from the guard I grabbed the glass of water in front of me and started to drink it. "Hello, I am major Solar Aura, what is your name, age, and species?" She questioned.

"My name's Jacob,and I'm a 19 year old human," I answered. Leaning back slightly in my chair.

"What goal do you hope to achieve in Equestria?" Her eyes seemed to bore into my very soul as she asked that question, her face the very definition of serious. Leaning back slightly farther I thought about the question and what to answer.

"I have no idea, it's not like I ever planned to end up here, it just sort of happened," As I answered I realized that I was still rather parched, so I reached over to the water on the table and started drinking more of it.

"How did you get here?"

"Also not sure, like I said, it just sort of happened," I had moved on from the water and was eating some of the fruit on the table.

"Final question, what is your association with Nightmare Moon?" As she asked that her gaze went from stern, to downright threatening, as though she was just daring me to say the wrong thing.

"None, I just know what Nate quickly explained in the other cell," I lightly shrugged as I talked. She took her helmet off and set it on the table while glancing at it. For whatever reason she shrugged to herself and produced a key and tossed it towards me. catching it I looked over to her to see her pointing to my cuffs. Understanding I began to unlock them before handing the key and the cuffs over to her. With nothing better to do we began to engage in small talk until we suddenly hear a shout.

"SON OF A BITCH!" The voice was undoubtedly Theo's.

"What was that?" Solar asked as she went to stand up.

"Sounded like my friend Theo," I said as I stayed seated.

Looking at me curiously she asked, "And you're not worried?"

"Nah, in a place like this I could only imagine how many things would piss him off," I answered while picking up an apple and taking a bite out of it. With a sigh Solar sat back down and we began to engage in small talk.

-Canterlot dungeon, Nate POV-

I watched as a table was brought in along with two chairs, a pitcher of water and a cup, as well as some assorted fruits and vegetables. After everything was set up Celestia took the seat closest to the door while motioning to the other for me. "Smart, taking the seat closest to the door makes it so I don't have the advantage if I attempt to run, though I still wouldn't even if you sat here as I would have to fight past countless guards and abandon my friends," I commented as I sat down.

"I still know very little about you and what you're capable of, so I would rather have every advantage I can get," She shot back.

chuckling I said, "Fair enough Princess, though I'm sure at this point there is no need for introductions, so ask your questions."

"You seem to know a lot about my world, what is the extent of that knowledge?" As I looked at her I could see a warning in her gaze, a warning not to lie.

"I know quite a bit, not so much the specifics of the land, and I don't know exact dates for some things, but I know quite a bit about the important events to come," I answered calmly as I grabbed the pitcher of water and carefully poured myself a glass of water.

"Tell me what you know," She demanded in a low tone.

"Ah ah ah Princess, that would be spoilers," I shot back, doing my best to imitate River Song from Doctor Who.

"You will get nowhere by holding information about the future of my country from me," She said, a rather sharp edge bordering her words.

"Oh, is the Princess upset, well isn't that cute," I mocked, Celestia's gaze turning to a glare as I continued, "you think you can threaten me Princess, go ahead, cause I'm not going to tell you the future."

"Why do you refuse to tell me of what is to come?" She questioned.

"Because I know the timeline that the show told, not the one that that involves me and my friends," I answered.

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"Come on Celestia, I know you're smarter than this, and I'm sure you've already figured our why," Leaning back slightly I felt a strange appendage on my back and turned around to see a silvery wing hanging out of a hole in my clothes, while what I could only guess was another one bulged against the intact side.

"*sigh* you are right, I have figured it out already," She admitted with a sigh. Looking back over to her I smiled slightly as I decided to instead lean forward.

"Then how about you stop treating me like I'm stupid and begin asking the questions you know will have answers," I said. I could see the irritation in her face, and I knew that I should hold back on messing with her, but for whatever reason I was enjoying the moment.

"What do you know of Nightmare Moons return?" She asked. That question actually gave me pause as I stopped to think about what to say.

"I know when she will return, where she will return, and what is needed to beat her," I answered as I grabbed an orange and started to peel it.

"That doesn't answer the question," She said in irritation.

"Why of course it does, I told you what I know of her return, I just put what I knew into categories instead of explaining them outright," I shot back, hoping she would catch on to the little game I was playing. After a few moments of watching I saw Celestia's look of anger turn into one of understanding.

"You're not answering the questions I want answered, you're just leading me to questions you will answer," she theorized. Wanting to keep the game going I gave her a little wink and waited for her to continue. "What time do you know that she'll return?"

"She'll show herself to the public when the sun is ready to be risen during the summer sun celebration," I answered as I finished peeling my orange and pulled of a piece to eat.

"Where will she show up?"

"She'll show up where the summer sun celebration is being held," I mockingly said, enjoying my time. Making a game out of answering questions has given me the power in the conversation, especially with her playing my game.

"So she'll show up in Ponyville," She wasn't asking, she was saying. After nodding a realization hit me, that I was the one being played with.

"Very clever Princess," I said with a growing smile, receiving a look of curiosity from her. Elaborating I continued, "you already know what I'm telling you, so you're just keeping me talking until you can trick me into giving you the information that you're really after," her smirk told me I was right almost instantly.

"Surprisingly perceptive, even if it did take you awhile to notice."

"So if you already know what you want to know then how about we cut the shit then and get to talking about how to get me and my friends out of these cells, cause I'm not gonna tell you the future" I spoke evenly, my joyful mood all but disappearing as I decided to stop fooling around. The Princess gave a slight sigh as she interlocked her fingers on the table.

"Fine then, explain the affiliation you and your group have with my sister," Celestia ordered.

"We have no affiliation with her, all that we know comes from Paddies and my own knowledge from the show, all I can say is that at the very least, I would be willing to help you, Paddie would likely be willing to help you, and I'm not too sure if the others would be willing to," I explained. After my explanation Celestia just stared at me with firm eyes for what felt like eternity, until finally she smiled and nodded.

"Very well, in order to build trust you and your group will be given the choice of either staying in this dungeon as prisoners until Nightmare Moon has been dealt with, or traveling with my personal student, Twilight Sparkle and her assistant spike to set up for the coming summer sun celebration in Ponyville," Celestia smiled as she gave her ultimatum, to either fight what is basically a possessed goddess, or stay in a cell as a prisoner for who knows how long. Chuckling I already knew what Paddie and I would say, and I could guess as to what Jacob and Wesley would say, but I wasn't sure what Theo would answer.

"Alright princess, if you would allow us to talk this over I'm sure we can come to a consensus," I said with as much professionalism as possible.

"That will be allowed, I shall get the guards to bring your friends in and then we shall await your answer," She said as she stood from her seat and left. As I sat and waited I couldn't help but wonder what was in store for us.

-Third person POV-

After twenty minutes all the humans had been regrouped in the first cell where Nate sat deep in thought. "Hey Nate, you okay?" Jacob asked when he saw him.

"Yeah I'm fine, though I have two choices for our group," He answered as he stood from his seat.

"Why are you still in cuffs?" Wesley asked while looking at Nate's hands. Looking at his friends Nate realized he was the only one still in shackles and silently cursed to himself.

"Because I forgot to ask to have them removed, now do you wanna hear the ultimatum or not?" Nate said as he moved to stand in front of them.

"Just get on it with already, I'd rather just get this over with so we can find a way home already," Theo said in annoyance.

"Alright, our two options are to either stay in this cell until Nightmare Moon is dealt with, or help Celestia's Personal Student with the up and coming summer sun celebration in Ponyville," Nate said with finality. The friends looked at each other, each one considering their options before Nate continued with, "the obvious implication is that if we help her student, Twilight Sparkle, we are going to end up fighting Nightmare Moon herself, so it will be dangerous, but personally I'm not afraid, because we have something Nightmare doesn't," with a smile Nate looked at the others and waited to see if anyone wanted to try to guess.

"And what would that be?" Jacob finally asked.

"Human spirit, human ingenuity, and a predators instincts, the very things that has allowed our people to overcome the worst of challenges, that allowed us to become the most dominant species on our planet, that would allow us to beat her like every other challenge humans have faced, we were practically made for inventive fighting and killing" He spoke while flashing his canines at the end.

"I think we should help, it would defiantly help our position if we really are stuck here, and possibly open up avenues for jobs and income if need be" Paddie suggested. All the humans knew that he was right, and fortunately they didn't know enough about where they were so Nate and Paddie were having an easy time convincing them.

"Those who say we should go with the better option that comes with getting out of these cells and into the outside world raise your hand," Nate said as he raised his right hand into the air. The others each raised a hand into the air as well, coming to a vote the group had chosen to go to Ponyville and help Twilight Sparkle. with a nod Nate moved over to the cell door and gave it a heavy knock before moving back. After a few moments Celestia re-entered the room with two guards, Gleaming Shield, and Midnight Blossom.

"Have you made you're decision?"

"We've decided to help, though I think you knew that we would," Celestia's motherly smile was her response, though Nate had already seen a small piece of her devious side and knew she was probably already planning ahead.

"We appreciate it, though there will be one little complication until Nightmare Moon is defeated," She said, her smile not faltering.

"What kind of complication?" Theo asked.

"You'll have to be turned into ponies as to not cause panic and worry among my subjects," She answered.

"WHAT!?" All but Nate and Paddie yelled. "What the hell do you mean we have to be ponies!?" Theo demanded.

"She means that she'll use a spell to change us on a physical level so that we don't frighten others while we're helping, right Princess" Paddie said with a small smirk.

"That is correct, you will only be changed on a physical level, it would take to much time to change you all on a biological level anyway since we only have three days until Nightmare Moon's return," Celestia confirmed.

"Then let's get started," Nate said cheerily. Smiling Celestia motioned for the humans to follow her before leading them away from their cell to be changed.

Chapter 4 (Preparations)

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Chapter 4

For almost an hour the humans had been taking turns getting turned into a pony one by one. After the time was over the group was once again gathered as they admired their new looks. Jacob was now a blue earth pony with a dirty blond mane and tail, though the biggest difference was the fact that after the transformation he went from a moderate build to having the build of a body builder, now having a six pack and a larger chest. Paddie was now a grey thestral pony with a black mane and tail with a grey stripe, though the most notable feature were the strange runes that circled around his hands and arms, stopping at his shoulders. Theo was now a black pegasus with a white main and tail. Wesley was now a yellow unicorn with a red and orange mane and tail. Nate was now a silver alicorn with a red mane and tail with a black stripe, though his horn was currently hidden with magic as to not cause a commotion about another alicorn being around. The group of friends sat in awkward silence, each trying their best to look everywhere but each other. "Why the hell did we have to take off our clothes again?" Theo asked bitterly while avoiding eye contact with the others.

"Because, the clothes were going to get in the way of our transformations and wouldn't have fit our new forms, not to mention they were all burnt and practically falling off of us anyway," Paddie explained, feeling the least awkward. In order for the transformations to go smoothly the humans had been asked to strip down to their underwear, the one piece of clothing that wouldn't hinder the process, leaving the humans to sit in awkward silence while they were all half-naked.

"Well, since we're all alone, can you guys explain what's going on now?" Jacob asked while looking towards Nate and Paddie.

"um... sure, why not, what do you want to know?" Nate asked.

"Can you explain what we are now," Theo requested.

"Jacob is an earth pony, one of the three main tribes, the others being pegasi, like Theo, and unicorns, like Wesley," Paddie started off.

"Each tribe has their own abilities, earth ponies are naturally stronger and hardier, they also have a natural connection with with the planet allowing them to grow crops faster and more efficiently than any other race, pegasi can fly and manipulate clouds to control the weather, while unicorns can use magic," Nate continued.

"What about what you are?" Wesley asked.

"I'm a thestral, a bat like pegasus that is mainly nocturnal," Paddie answered.

"And I am an alicorn, a mix of the three main pony tribes with each of their abilities, but stronger," Nate also answered.

"Alright, how about telling us more about where we are," Jacob said.

"Right now, we're in the castle of Canterlot, home of Princess Celestia ruler of Equestria and alicorn princess of the sun," Paddie explained.

"Then who the hell's Nightmare Moon?" Theo asked.

"Like I said she is Celestia's younger sister, she was corrupted by her jealousy of Celestia's day and became what she is now, what could probably be described as a demon, our mission as we know it is to go with Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle, to help her, and the soon to be elements of harmony stop Nightmare Moon," Nate answered.

"So we're going to be glorified bodyguards?" Theo questioned with a frown.

"We could be, or we could change history however we want, we seem to have ended up before the start of season 1 so none of the shows canon has happened yet, giving us extreme power over the course of history," Paddie stated.

"Should we?" Jacob asked curiously.

"Probably not, while we could do any number of things, the best thing we could do is use this time to establish ourselves in this world and keep the flow of history as stable as possible so we can have the advantage," Paddie answered after a few moments of Silence. He was waiting for Nate to answer, but he had just stared at him and waited for him to answer instead.

"So until Nightmare get's here, what's the plan?" Wesley asked.

"The plan is to blend in as much as possible until Nightmare arrives, after she is purified by the elements we'll reveal ourselves for what we are and try to go from there, though I'm personally not to sure what to do after, but for now I think it will be helpful if Paddie and I explain more about Equestria," Nate explained. And so for the next hour Nate and Paddie informed their friends about their new home.

"I can't believe this bullshit, not only do we end up on another world, but it just has to be a world of fucking animals and no humans," Theo complained as he glared up at the ceiling.

"Don't go around saying stuff like that, for now it would make you seem crazy, and after we reveal what we really are you'll seem like a racist fuck," Paddie replied. Any further conversation was cut off as Gleaming shield entered the room with a green stallion who had a grey mane and tail. He wore a grey two piece suit with an image of a silver needle connected to silver spool of thread over the left side of his chest and was carrying a brief case with the same image in the middle.

"So Captain, who's this?" Jacob asked as everyone's eyes focused on the two newcomers.

"Greetings, I am Silver Needle, and I am here to make you five new outfits," Silver introduced with a bow.

"Hi, we're..."

"busy, after you all get measured and clothed you'll need to be prepped for your mission, especially if my sister is on the line," Gleaming interrupted, her voice dipping into threatening near the end.

"So, why are you all in your underwear?" Silver asked as he placed his brief case on a nearby table and opened it, revealing that it housed a small sowing machine as well as some measuring tape and a variety of colored thread spools.

"We were told it would make the process quicker," Nate quickly lied.

"I suppose that it does mean you won't have to strip," Silver mumbled as he grabbed his measuring tape. Looking a few of the group up and down he also added a bit louder, "and you all are sure taller than I thought you would be,". While none of the group were giants compared to humans, they stood much taller than all but celestia, with Silver Needle standing just over 5 foot, and Gleaming Shield only standing around 5 foot 3 inches.

"You're definitely not the first to comment on that," Jacob said with a small smile.

"I suppose I wouldn't be, I also suppose I wouldn't be the first to say you look, ravishing," Silver shot back, giving a wink clearly aimed towards Jacob. All Jacob could do in response was blink as Silver lightly eyed him up while grabbing what he needed and most of Jacob's friends burst out in laughter.

"*Ahem* Sorry, but I'm not into dudes," Jacob responded, a light blush visible through his fur.

"Shame, it's always so hard to find willing stallions in such a mare heavy society," Silver lamented. After a few minutes of asking about designs, conversation cut down as Silver got to work measuring everyone, demanding complete silence so he could concentrate. Three hours later Silver left to begin making the group their clothing, promising that he would be done by the next morning.

"Alright, let's go, we need to get you all outfitted with weapons so you'll actually stand a chance against Nightmare Moon," Gleaming spoke with authority.

"But we're still in our underwear, shouldn't we have something to cover us up before we go?" Wesley asked, the others nodding their heads in agreement.

"Argh, fine I'll work something out, don't move," Gleaming said before leaving the room.

"So that was weird," Theo commented a few moments later while they were all alone. Before the others could respond Gleaming returned.

"You'll be getting robes shortly," Gleaming said testily.

"Thanks, we really appreciate what you're doing to help us, you could have just said no and gotten someone else to do it, but I think..." Jacob said before being rudely interrupted.

"Save the talk, If Nightmare Moon does show up, I don't expect any of you to survive the encounter," Gleaming spat back. A heavy silence fell upon the group for several moments before a few knocks were heard at the door.

Gleaming broke her stare with the now turned stallions and opened the door, retrieving the robes.

"Get dressed," the captain ordered as she threw the robes towards the group. Looking them over the group noticed that they were all a vibrant white in color with a picture of Celestia's cutie mark over the right side of the chest. putting them on the robes managed to cover most of them rather well, while both Wesley and Jacob were only covered half way to their knees. "Let's go," Gleaming commanded, this time not waiting for a rebuttal as she walked out of the room. following behind, the group rather quickly made their way through the castle, making it to the castles blacksmith in ten minutes. Before them stood two doors, reaching 8 feet in height and totaling 7 feet in width with an image of a hammer striking an anvil on both doors. Opening the doors the group was hit with an incredible wave of heat and sound, the constant noise of hammer beating metal and the occasional hissing of red hot metal meeting water to cool filling the air. Glaring at the five Gleaming motioned for them to enter before closing the door behind them.

"Damn, it feels like we stepped into a volcano," Jacob commented as they went further inside.

"Quit whining, we'll only be here for a short time," Gleaming said unhappily.

"You know, I get the feeling that you don't like us," Nate said.

Turning to look at him Gleaming responded, "I don't," before turning to face ahead again and walking over to a large stallion. The stallion stood at five foot six inches and had muscles that looked like they were about to tear through his clothing. "Onyx Hammer, I need equipment for these five recruits, they're new, but the Princess has given them a mission already and they need to be ready," Gleaming requested. Stopping what he was doing Onyx gave a small smile and looked the group over.

"If they're as tuff as they are big, then I can see why the Princess would send them out, what equipment do they need and when do they need it?" Onyx asked as he picked up the sword he was working on and dipped it into a barrel of water nearby.

"We need armor and weapons for them by tomorrow," Gleaming stated. the group could tell from just the look on his face that if onyx had been drinking something, he would have done a spit take.

"Armor and Weapons by TOMORROW! Are you insane? it's one thing if they just need some weapons made real quick, but armor, for stallions this big, the armor wouldn't be done for a week, at the soonest," Onyx said in surprise.

"I know it's a large order, but can it be done?" Gleaming asked.

"No, unfortunately it cannot, I can get you the weapons made, but not the armor, we just don't have enough hands, and not enough time to get more," Onyx stated with finality. with a nod Gleaming ordered the five to tell Onyx what weapons they worked best with. In the end Jacob chose a long sword, Paddie chose a spear with two daggers for backup, Nate chose two short swords, Theo wanted a spinning axe, but had settle for two war axes as Onyx had no idea what a spinning axe was, and Wesley chose a single short sword with a single dagger. "This'll still be iffy, but I should be able to get them all done if I work late and don't have any distractions," Onyx said before shooing them out so he could work.

"okay, now what?" Jacob asked once they were back in the hallway.

"You five are going to the rooms the Princess has had set up for you, and you aren't leaving them until tomorrow," Gleaming answered as she began walking down the hallway.

"What the hell are we supposed to do then? you can't just expect us to sit and stay just because you say so," Theo spoke angrily.

"You will wait because you don't have a choice, you will be brought lunch and dinner, and will be allowed to talk with each other, but you will not leave the location of your rooms under any circumstances," Gleaming stated with finality. Before Theo could offer a retort Nate placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. With a snort Theo closed his mouth as he and the others followed Gleaming to a hallway with six doors. "Choose a room, you'll stay there for tonight before leaving tomorrow, and hopefully won't be coming back," Gleaming said while whispering the last part to herself.

"Then we'll see you tomorrow," Nate said evenly.With a small snort Gleaming left, leaving the five alone with their thoughts. "come on, let's choose our rooms and try to rest, we're going to need all the energy we can get," Nate said while walking towards the middle most room. With small sighs the others chose their own rooms, deciding to take their friends advice and spend the day relaxing and saving their energy for what was to come.

-train, Starswirl the Bearded POV-

I sat alone in my seat, watching the scenery fly by as I pondered on the very machine I was in. Looking around I could see the other passengers, some families seated together, talking merrily away with smiles on their faces. Some were alone, either reading, sleeping, or watching the scenery as object after object disappeared almost as fast as it appeared. Then there were the couples who sat leaning against each other, basking in the gently warmth of another's embrace. Turning my attention back to my window I began stoking my long white beard, wondering how such a creation could have come to be without my knowing. I was brought out of my musing as the train slowly came a stop. At first I had thought that we had arrived at our destination, but when I looked closer I realized that we were in the middle of open field. Suddenly the door to the cabin opened and two large stallions entered the room, one of them holding the bloody and beaten form of what I was told to be the trains conductor.

"Listen up, this train belongs to us now, and we're going on a detour," The first stalling said, his fur a deep red and his mane a light blue, both of their clothing consisted of all black with a red patch of clothing covering his face. The second stallion, who had light blue fur and a deep red mane following up by throwing the conductors limp form to the floor.

"I'm afraid that I cannot let thou do that," I said as I left my seat.

"And who the hay are you to stop us?" The stallion asked in a threatening tone.

"I am Starswirl the Bearded, head mage of Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's court, and I will not be stopped by foolish naves such as thine selves" I said coldly, picking them both up with my magic and slamming them against the floor repeatedly until they both were unconscious. As I dropped the two thugs I realized a grave error I had made. Due to the amount of magic that had I had used to end up where I was, the amount of magic I used to defeat the thugs pushed beyond my limit, causing immense pain to flood my senses as I grabbed my head in suffering. Screaming I fell to the floor, unable to keep myself up as the pain filled all of my senses. I could tell that nearby ponies were rushing to act, but it didn't matter as I soon fell unconscious myself.

Chapter 5 (Ponyville)

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Chapter 5

Slowly each human began to rise from their beds, each being stirred awake by a loud knocking on each of their doors. "YOU HAVE ONE HOUR TO GET UP AND GET READY TO LEAVE" The unmistakable sound of Gleaming Shields voice could be heard from the hallway. Getting up each of the group went about showering and relieving themselves in their bathrooms. Half and hour later the humans all got a package of clothing, each consisting of T-shirts, long sleeve shirts, jeans, and underwear. Getting dressed the five humans, now turned stallions, walked into the hallway to wait, the first being Theo, and the last being Jacob.

"now what?" Theo asked, receiving shrugs in reply. "Fantastic,".

"Good, you're all hear, let's go," Gleaming said quickly before leading the five males further into the castle.

"So where are we going this time?" Paddie inquired as they continued their walk.

"The throne room, my sister has apparently sent the Princess a warning that Nightmare Moon is coming, so you're all going to meet her now," Gleaming explained, though the group could tell something was off with her. Deciding it would be best to let her be the group continued on in silence. After almost twenty minutes of walking the group approached a large set of intricately designed double doors guarded by two solar guards ponies. As they approached Gleaming motioned for them to open the doors, to which they did, allowing the group to enter the room. As they entered, the doors were closed behind them. Looking around the group could see columns reaching up to hold up the thirty foot ceiling, a long stretch of red carpet leading from the doorway to the throne, upon which Celestia sat looking over a purple unicorn with an indigo mane that had a magenta stripe. The purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, turned around to see who entered, smiling when she noticed Gleaming was among those who entered.

"GLEAMING!" Twilight shouted happily as she rushed over to her sister, completely ignoring the five stallions as she embraced Gleaming in a hug.

"Hi Twily, how are you?" Gleaming asked with a smile adorning her face.

"So she can smile," Theo commented with a small smirk, receiving a glare from Gleaming and a look of curiosity from Twilight.

"Wow, you sure are tall," A young male voice stated from below. looking down the five realized that there was a four and a half foot tall purple bipedal lizard like creature with a green underbelly. Spike stared up at the five stallions with a look of awe.

"Hi there, the names Nate, what's yours?" Nate introduced as he crouched down and offered a hand to shake.

"I'm Spike the dragon, Twilight's number one assistant," Spike introduced with pride as he shook Nate's hand. Nate smiled at Spike as he stood back up and began introducing his friends.

"This is Jacob, Wesley, Theo, and Paddie," Nate said, pointing to each person respectively as he named them. While Nate was introducing them his friends couldn't help but notice his uncharacteristically happy smile.

"Wow Nate, I didn't think you had it in you to smile like that," Paddie Joked with a smirk. Looking back at the others Nate let out a slightly embarrassed chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.

"He's a dragon and dragons are awesome, why wouldn't I be happy to meet one." Nate responded, not noticing Spikes smile grow at the praise.

"Princess, why are these five stallions here?" Twilight asked as she and the others moved to stand in front of Celestia's throne.

"Because Twilight, as I have said you are going to Ponyville to make sure that the preparations are ready for the summer sun celebration, but because you are obviously worried, I am sending these five stallions with you for your protection," Celestia explained. Actually taking some time to look the five stallions over Twilight could see the reasoning of using them as a protection unit, as most ponies wouldn't want to mess with a group of five stallions that stood above the heads of most ponies.

"I'm sure you heard us get introduced to Spike over there, it's nice to meet you," Jacob offered with a light handshake. Twilight shook his hand with a rather uncaring attitude before turning back to the Princess.

"But Princess, wouldn't it be even better to just send somepony, or even your entire guard to fight Nightmare Moon," Twilight pleaded. Shaking her head slightly Celestia stood and walked towards Twilight to embrace her in a hug.

"I promise you Twilight, everything will be fine," Celestia said in her motherly tone. Looking up at her mentor Twilight nodded before stepping out of the embrace.

"Alright Princess, I trust you," Twilight said, though everyone could see a determination burning behind her eyes.

"I will see you after the summer sun celebration," Celestia promised before sending the group off to the chariot pool. For several minutes the group walked in silence, the five stallions trying to emulate the guards seriousness, well, all except Theo who couldn't care less.

"So, where are you all from?" Spike asked, trying to get to know his and Twilight's new guards.

"It's not of importance," Paddie answered.

"Now that I think of it, I would also like to know where you all come from to create such tall specimens," Twilight commented, a look of extreme intrigue filling her eyes as she looked at them closer and closer. To Jacob, Theo and Wesley the look was nothing, but to Nate, Paddie and Spike the look was horrifying as they actually knew how Twilight could get when she finds something to study.

"Sorry but where we're from wouldn't even matter, we're still taller than everypony there," Nate lied, well he didn't really lie as they were taller than most ponies on earth.

"Then why are you so tall?" Spike asked, his head tilted in curiosity.

"Random genetics, we just happened to be born with a genetic make up that allowed us to grow taller than other ponies, though you could just make sure to eat plenty of greens, worked plenty well for my friends and me," Nate answered again, this time with a small smirk adorning his features.

"And before you ask, we do not have any time to answer your questions," Paddie interrupted the mare as she looked like she was about to ask a few more than twenty questions. With a small frown and sigh Twilight decided to walk the rest of the way in silence, the five even shutting spike down as he tried to ask more questions. After what felt like hours to some of the group they finally walked through a door and entered a very large expense of courtyard, the area littered with chariots in all shapes and sizes. Though the only one that the group paid any attention to was the very large chariot with six pegasi ready to pull it. As they approached the chariot one of the guards noticed their approach and waved them closer.

"I would normally get confirmation before telling anypony something important, but I have a feeling you're the five extra tall stallions who's weapons are in the back of this thing," the stallion mentioned before pointing to a blanket covering a strange lump of items. Getting onto the chariot the group removed the blanket and collected their weapons while Twilight and Spike took their places in the chariot as well. While none of the blades looked like they were forged from legends, each one was obviously sharp enough to cut through flesh with ease.
(Here's what they got, Jacobs)

(Paddies)

(Nate's)

(Theo's)

(Wesley's)

None of the weapons held any particular personality, no symbols to mark true ownership, or even symbols to give the blades some style. Each one of their choices was made as bare as possible due to time constraints, though they were all lucky enough to each get a sheath for their weapon that doubled as a harness for carrying. "Alright, let's go, destination Ponyville" Nate said, causing the six pegasi to begin running before pulling the chariot into the sky. While Twilight and spike looked back at their home, the group of five were getting used to the foreign feeling of flying in a chariot. Steadying themselves they all took the moment to look at their surrounding, being awestruck at the sights they were witnessing. The way the land below them seemed to flow like a wave in the breeze, the way that the land and sky seemed to stretch on forever and the way the late morning sun highlighted a small village several miles away from Canterlot. Thanks to the size of the chariot the group of five were able to enjoy their surroundings while staying out of the conversation Twilight and Spike were in. After around 20 minutes of flight the group began their decent.

Getting closer to their charges the group was able to make out the end of their conversation, "Then when will you make friends like the princess said?" Spike asked Twilight.

"She SAID to check on preparations, I will do my royal duties, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends," Twilight said. Before Spike could respond the chariot landed and the group quickly got off. "thank you sirs," Twilight said to the guards before walking away with everyone in toe.

"maybe the ponies in Ponyville have something interest to talk about," Spike began, not yet noticing a pink mare with the curliest pink mane and tail approaching. 'wait a minute, this seems way to familiar' Nate and Paddie both thought. Taking in the scene more each one realized that so far Spike and Twilight had been saying lines from the show verbatim. "come on Twilight, just try," Spike urged as he gestured to the pink mare, who now stood before the group with a smile.

"Uh, hello," Twilight offered meekly.

"GHUAHHHHHHH!" She gasped loudly, seemingly floating into the air before speeding off at speeds hard for the eye to see.

"Well that was interesting all right," Twilight said sarcastically as she began to walk away, Spike following with a small sigh.

"Are we just going to follow them all day?" Theo asked in slight annoyance as the group continued to move with their charges.

"We're trying to make it seem like we're guarding her, so why not?" Jacob offered as an answer.

"Actually, it would probably be best if we split up and try to get the lay of the land, though one of us should stay with her to keep up the act, and in case something happens," Nate suggested, making sure to keep an eye on her.

"Is something going to happen?" Wesley asked.

"Not that we know of, though there is always the chance that something will change, especially with our interaction," Paddie answered.

"Well who should stay with her then?' Jacob asked.

"I'll stay, you guys can go see what you can find," Nate said, looking for any other takers.

"Alright, but I suggest we look for any landmarks, as well as any places that can be of use later, like a blacksmiths shop," Paddie offered. Agreeing the group split up as Nate continued to follow Twilight and Spike.

"Where are they going?" Spike asked in confusion.

"They're going to scout the area while I continue to watch over you two," Nate answered as they continued to walk.

As they walked Nate already knew where their first destination was, the place where the best apples in Equestria were grown, Sweet Apple Acres.

-Nate POV-

I slowly followed Twilight and Spike as I took in the landscape around me. The dirt roads and friendly houses mixed with the naturally more vibrant atmosphere of this world made to give of an air of beauty and comfort that I just could not fathom. Even after years of being a part of the fandom, after so long wondering about what Equestria would actually be like, I just couldn't get enough. Gradually we approached a large grove of apple trees, a long dirt pathway leading from our current location to the red barn in the distance. 'If I wasn't trying to be a guard right now, I would probably be having a fangasm in my pants right now' I thought to myself as we approached the home of Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom. "Summer sun celebration official overseers checklist, number one, banquet preparations, Sweet Apple Acres," Spike read from the checklist he held in his claws.

Smiling I thought about how funny it was going to be to see the famous Applejack handshake in person, though that smile quickly went away when I heard a loud, angry snarl from behind me. Turning around quickly I was just able to stop a Timber Wolf from latching onto my throat, letting it use my left arm as a chew toy instead as I felt its jagged wooden teeth pierce my flesh. Grabbing one of the swords from its sheath with my free hand I attempted to decapitate the creature, though the task was easier said than done as it thrashed about, seemingly trying to tear my arm from its socket. At first I attempted to carefully kill the Timber wolf without causing any more damage to my blood soaked arm, but any thoughts of my own safety had to be thrown out of the window after I heard Twilight scream off to my side. Sparing a quick glance I realized that I was not the only one facing a large wooden wolf.

Standing in front of Twilight was Applejack, who was currently staring down the wooden wolf with rage filled eyes. As much as I wanted to get a better feel for the situation I was brought back to my own as the wolf I was struggling against gave a particularly strong pull on my arm that I could feel tear through even more muscle as its teeth somehow bit even further and tighter into my arm. Deciding to say fuck it to the very meaning of the word 'safe' I brought my right arm back and sent my sword in a wide arc towards the wolf as much strength as I could muster. As my sword went it bit into the wolfs wooden head, cutting it off from the muzzle to the back of its cranium, the only unfortunate part, the sword had also cut through my own arm leaving a large gash to complement the bloody holes gushing blood from my arm. Doing my best to ignore what was by far the worst pain I had ever experienced in my life I turned back to see the second Timber wolf getting ready to lung at Applejack and my charges, so with only the slightest hesitation, I jumped onto the back of the timber wolf and tried to slam the blade of my sword into the back of its head, but just missed and instead plunged my blade into its shoulder as it jerked forward. Feeling the pain from my attack the timber wolf I was on began trying its hardest to remove me from its back as I held onto my sword for dear life, nearly losing my grip as every jostle from the beast sent a jolt of pure pain through my left arm. After a few moments that felt like an eternity to my pain filled mind the Timber Wolf was suddenly sent to floor, flinging me off to brutally impact with ground, causing me to lose some composure and let out a loud scream of pain.I tried getting up as quickly as my damaged and tired body would allow only to see that the wolf I was previously riding was no longer alive, the cause of its death, half of its face and head being crushed into splinters while the eye on the undamaged side hung limply from the socket and sap like blood oozed from its face. Looking over I realized that Applejack had been the one to kill it, the fact made obvious from the splatter of sap like blood that clung to fur of her right leg.

"Are you okay?" Spike asked as he ran over towards me and offered a claw. Seeing as to how I was still on my ass and in the process of getting up I grabbed his claw with my right hand and allowed him to help me up. After getting back on my hooves I looked around the area and saw that I was surrounded by the Apple family, all of them giving me looks of horror as some looked ready to vomit. Tracing their eyes to where they were looking I realized they were looking at my left arm, and I understood why completely. My entire left arm and shoulder were covered in blood, painful holes gushing out more along with the large gash from my own blade. Trying to move the appendage I was glad to learn that it's nerves were still intact, at least, I was happy for the half of a second that my attempt to move didn't put me into blinding pain.

"To answer your question Spike," I started, gaining the young drakes attention before continuing, "Only a little,". 'Gods dammit, I didn't even realize just how much pain my body could register, this is insane,' I thought to myself as I struggled to stay on my feet, finding myself swaying slightly as my ever growing blood loss was catching up to me.

"We need to take you to the hospital," Twilight said with urgency, obvious fear lacing her words.

Taking a deep breath and holding up my right hand to stop her as she was about to rush towards me I spoke, "Don't worry about me, I've faced much than this before and survived, all I'll need is some stitches and I'll be fine,". Now I was lying through my teeth, I was far from ok, and felt like I was going to pass out if I didn't get something to numb my pain.

"Are you sure partner, ya seem like you should go to ah hospital if that swayin' means anything," Applejack shot back. Focusing my attention on her I wasn't surprised by her muscle or beauty, she had been described the same way in every single story I had ever read, so I would have been more surprised had she looked any other way. She sat at a tall pony height of five foot 5 inches, her golden mane done in a ponytail that was partially hidden by her brown stetson.

"No can do, I have to be here to watch my charges, but if you have anything to dull the pain and anything to close the wounds I would very much appreciate it," I answered with a small shake of the head. Applejack looked pensive for several moments before finally relenting, nodding her head she was able to get the rest of her family to snap out of their stupor (of which they were still stuck on my arm) and within five minutes I was sat at a table with a glass of heavy cider as a red stallion prepared to stitch up my arm.

"Drink," He ordered in a deep voice, gesturing to the bottle in my hand. As much as I wanted to be surprised that Big Mac knew how to stitch up wounds, I was able to justify it with the thought that he must have learned in case any of his family got hurt and needed them, what with them living on a farm. Taking a large drink of the cider I felt it burn as it went down my throat, almost getting me to gag, though I was able to just barely hold it as I drank down half of the bottle. After I done with my long drink I looked back to Mac only to be handed a sturdy stick. With out words Mac gestured for me to bite down as he produced a bottle of what looked to be a weak tea and began pouring it onto my wounds, causing me to instantly bite down onto the stick, hard. Stopping for a moment Big Mac looked at my face as I let out fast and pained breaths, only just then remembering that what he used was likely a mixture of salted water and Betadine. Feeling my self calm down I looked Mac in the eyes and nodded, letting him know to continue as I steeled myself for the rest of my treatment.

After what felt like years (but was probably closer to an hour) I was done, my arm stitched up and covered in bandages. Luckily enough I could still move the arm, I just couldn't do anything strenuous with it or I could tear the stitches. "Here you go youngin' have this fresh apple pie for helpin' to protect this ol' farm," granny smith said as she handed me a warm apple pie.

"Thank you, but no thanks is necessary," I responded, though I made no attempt to give back the pie as I was fucking hungry, and I was sure that my friends would want some.

"How are you dude?" Spike asked me again, only this time he held his stomach with a look of pure bliss on his face. Looking over to Twilight I could see that she was also holding her stomach, though her expression wasn't the same as Spikes as she looked like any over exertion would cause her to throw up.

Chuckling slightly I turned back to spike and happily answered, "I'm doing much better, I'll have to come back here some day and offer my thanks to this kind family,". Nodding Spike pulled the checklist back out (from somewhere) and began leading us away from the farm. Waving back we recieved several goodbyes from the Apple family, and with that we were on our way, though I did make sure to stop and pick up my sword before we got to far.

-Theo POV-

I wandered the town in disinterest, not actually caring about what there was to see as I couldn't stop thinking about where I was. I had always known that Nate had wanted to end up here, in fact, he wouldn't shut up about it, but I have never wanted to end up here, I had even told him that I hated the idea of ending up in this stupid fantasy land. Every pony that I passed seem to give me a wide area of berth while shooting looks of fear at the glare that I was sure was glued to my face as I looked around. Everywhere I looked I saw bright vibrant colors, lush and beautiful bushes, and ponies of all shapes, sizes, and colors. As much as the scenery was amazing, the true Majesty was lost on me, and was completely unable to wretch me from the anger and hate I felt at my situation. After awhile I neared a forest that boarded the small village with an open field that looked to be around 30 feet across exasperating the two entities. Looking into the forest I could just feel the darkness emanating from withing, a presence of evil that seemed to taint the air from even this distance. Turning around I was about to walk away when I heard a loud roar, and turned back to see a very angry looking monster stalking slowly across the open field. The creature had the body of a lion, the wings of a bat, and the tail of a scorpion. 'Is That A Fucking Manticore!?' I shouted in my head as it got closer and closer to the village.

At first I was tempted to run, to just leave the ponies to their death and not look back. But the moment I turned around I could see that the ponies had also noticed the manticore and were all locked in fear. I wanted to just leave them, but looking at them I knew that I really would be condemning them to their own deaths, so with great reluctance I turned back around to face the manticore while pulling both of my axes free. Slowly moving forward the manticore locked its hungry gaze onto me, seemingly recognizing that I had singled myself out and making me an easier meal. Hoping to prove it wrong I griped the handles of my axes tightly and evened out my breathing as I felt a very strange boiling in my veins, a feeling of energy passing through me as the manticore began to charge while ten feet away from me. Steeling myself for what was likely to be a very painful fight I dodged to left, barely missing the creatures claws as they managed to tear through my shirt. As I was about to counter attack the beast sent its scorpion tail forward to skewer me, an attack that I only just barely managed to deflect with my axes while still causing me to take a step back from the force. This same pattern continued for several minutes, the manticore would attack with its claws first before attacking with its tail, keeping me on the defensive. As the fight went on I slowly gained a collection of scratches and cuts along my clothes and body, blood lightly dripping down my body as the manticore and I stared each other down, giving me a very welcome respite from its attacks as I thought of how to counter it. After a few moments I came to the conclusion that the only chance I would have was if I managed to sever its tail so I could actually attack from the side. With a small plan in place I rushed forward and continued out little dance, waiting patiently as I slowly got closer to the base of the tail. After several strenuous minutes that made me question why I was helping the ponies as not a single one had come to help me as I fought, I was finally close enough to the tail to enact my plan, so lunging forward I brought my axes down and severed most its tail, leaving only a foot remaining attached. Roaring in pain the manticore stopped its attacks for just a few moments, throwing its head back to let out is agony. Taking the moment I had gotten, I pushed my tired body to move quickly and brought both of my axes to my left before swinging them around me with all my might, feeling the cold steel of my axes bite into the soft flesh of the manticores neck before I jumped back and watched as the manticore slowly suffocated/drowned in its own blood.

After I was sure that the creature was dead I went over and retrieved my weapons, feeling very glad that Onyx had been able to make them before my friends and I left for this village. Re-sheathing my axes I noticed a feeling of complete silence. looking over to the ponies I noticed that many of them were staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths, not making a sound. Rubbing my neck awkwardly I was about to say something before the few ponies there started cheering and surrounded me, asking all sorts of questions as they left me no room to escape. 'This is going to a long ass day' I thought to myself with a small sigh before I began answering any questions that I could safely answer at the moment.

-Paddie POV-

With my head held high I walked around Ponyville, keeping alert for any problems while also doing my best to memorize any landmarks. Even though I had watched the show, and knew a lot about the area the show had never actually given a full view of the small village, meaning that I had no way of knowing exactly where anything was without searching around. I had Already found a blacksmith, but forced myself away since I knew we would have a chance to use it later. Ponies looked at me with slight fear, which I could only assume they were doing thanks to my fangs a leathery wings, though probably didn't help that I stood several inches taller than everyone I passed by. After awhile I noticed that I had ended up near Ponyville's school house, and that I could see three familiar fillies exiting the school, only not as a group. Scootaloo left on her scooter, ignoring the others. Sweetie Belle started wandering went over to a mare that I could only assume was Rarity, based on her sun dress and flowing curled purple mane and tail. Apple Bloom waved a goodbye to Peppermint Twist before walking over to her sister Applejack.

Unconcerned with the happening of the CMC before they became a group I turned around and wandered away. After a few moments of walking I noticed a stallion following me, he had black fur and a silver mane and tail, though the most notable feature he had was his glowing blue irises. Just to be sure that he was following me I kept walking and turned several corners, but everywhere I went, he went. Starting to get fed up with with him I turned down the darkest alleyway I could find and waited against the wall, the shadows of the alley allowing me to blend in. After a moment the stallion walked in and past me, looking around the end of the alleyway for me as I slowly crept closer to him. Taking out one of my daggers I brought it around and held the blade against his neck, making him stand stock still. "Who are you?" I asked in a whisper, just loud enough for him to hear.

"You shall not defeat the Nightmare, her glorious visage shall bring about eternal night, and the goddess of the sun shall be stricken from her throne, to be replaced by our true queen," He answered back slowly reaching for something on his waist. Not waiting to take any chances, especially after he practically just confirmed himself to be some sort of worshiper for Nightmare Moon, I brought my knife back and slammed the butt of the blade into his head with all of my strength. With the hit he went down like a sack of bricks. Quickly checking I found the item he had been reaching for, a small dagger with a blade of 16 inches, something that would barely be passable as a real fighting weapon. And not only was the blade small, but it was also poorly made, so much so that even a novice blacksmith would be able to tell at first glace. The blade was slightly warped, parts of the blade were thicker than others, but not in a way that would make the blade serrated as the spots just seemed to be due to a bad attempt at sharpening the blade. With a shake of my head I put away my own dagger and looked around the area I was in, only to face palm at the convenience of my location.

Across from the exit of the alleyway was a familiar tree library, and to make matters even better, there was no one around. 'with things being this easy now, either the others are getting fucked in some way, or things are just going to be much harder than the show let on,' I though to myself as I began dragging the unconscious body of the stallion towards the library, getting surprised yet again when my attempts to open the door was met with a the door knob turning, and the door opening to reveal an empty room. "what the fuck's happening to my friends?" I questioned aloud to myself, wondering just how bad their trips must be going if I was having this easy of a time. With no response coming I just let out a sigh and dragged the stallion inside before shutting the door behind me, and then dragging the stallion to the basement. 'this is going to be a long a day'.

-Wesley POV-

Going around greeted everyone I saw with a smile and a hello, hoping that I could garner the friendship of the ponies that live here. Although I was much taller than those that I saw, they still returned my hello's with their own, seemingly not very stressed that I stood almost a foot taller than most of them. As I walked I found a very strange building that looked like a gingerbread house, complete with frosting and candy decorations. The sign to the building read Sugar Cube Corner, and from the smells coming from the door I was almost certain that the place was a bakery. Somewhat curious about the food that they made in Equestria and entered the door, only to be greeted by silent anger emanating from the room. Looking around I found the source of everyone's anger, a single stallion holding a knife to the neck of a blue mare. The stallion was taller than most, standing around five foot five inches, but lacked any extraordinary muscle. He was what Nate and Paddie had described as an earth pony, and he had a look of malice on his face. The mare on the other hand was rather short at a height of five foot 1 she had to crane her neck upward to avoid getting killed. The mare was an earth pony with blue fur and a swirled red/pink mane and tail, her outfit consisted of a yellow shirt, blue jeans, and an apron. "I'll say it one last time, give me the money, or this bitch dies," The stallion warned in a growl. Without much time to lose I was forced to act, so walking up behind the stallion I drew my sword and dagger before pointing both at him. My action had caught the eye of everyone in the building as the stallion slowly turned his head to look at me. With wide eyes the stallion looked upward to catch my glaring eyes, and with a trembling hand the stallion forced the mare to turn as well so that he could look directly at me.

"You are going to let the mare go," I said simply, not as a demand, nor as a request, but as a fact. The stallions eyes were still locked with mine, the trembling in his hands got even worse as he slowly pulled his knife away from the mares neck. After a few moments the knife was far enough out of the way for the mare to push away and get to safety, but even as she escaped his hold, the stallion still didn't break eye contact with myself. The knife slipped from his hand and clattered to the ground, his arms going limp as his eyes glazed over and rolled into the back of his head as he passed out. As the stallion fell over I blinked in surprise, not sure what to make of his reaction. After a few moment there were cheers and applause from the ponies around me, each cheering for my rescue of the mare.

"Thank you so much for saving my wife," A yellow earth pony stallion said as he walked up with the mare. The stallion was also taller than most that I had seen, standing around five foot four inches he seemed to be given his extra height due to his lanky arms and legs. He had an orange mane and tail, he wore a blue shirt with an orange and white striped bow-tie and an apron, brown pants, as well as a white and orange hat that looked like he had just stuck a cake on his head. Putting my weapons away I focused my gaze on the two and got ready to respond.

"No thanks needed, I was just doing what any stallion should do if he's able," I said with a small smile.

"Well you have our thanks anyway," He responded with a small chuckle. "I'm Carrot Cake, and this is my wife, Cup Cake," Carrot introduced as they each shook my hand.

"My name's Wesley," I told them. Both looked confused when I told them my name, though they both went back to smiles a few seconds later.

"So, how did you do it?" Cup Cake asked.

"Do what?"

"Knock the stallion out," Cup cake clarified.

"I'm not sure, I've never actually made someone pass out just by looking at them before," I answered.

"You mean somepony," Carrot corrected. With a small smile I nodded, though I internally face-palmed at the fact that I had forgotten to change to their system.

"Well, someone should probably take this guy to the towns guards so he can be arrested," I said as I readied myself to carry the stallion.

"Let me, it's the least I can do after I was so useless," Carrot offered, his good mood immediately disappearing as he walked over to the stallion with a small sigh.

"Let me, besides, you should stay and comfort your wife," I suggested, picking up the unconscious body and draping it over my shoulders with a small grunt.

"Alright, but hurry back and we'll give you some pastries as thanks," carrot said, a small smile coming back to his face as he went over to his wife and put his arm around her. I was going to say no, but I was still interested in what their baking was like, so with a nod of my head I started to hurry out and began asking for directions to the nearest guards station.

-Jacob POV-

Walking around I pulled at my shirt, almost sure that the stallion that made it had made sure it was to tight on purpose, just to show off my muscle. As I wandered the town many of the stallions gave me looks of jealousy, while the mares gave me half-lidded looks and blushes. With a sigh I continued my task of looking for anything of note, not really finding anything that important. "HEY!" I heard shouted towards me and turned to see a mint green unicorn mare running towards me.

"Um... hi?" I offered, not very sure what was going on.

"This is very sudden, but I was hoping that you could help me move something that I can't move by myself," she asked with a look of desperation on her face.

"Sure, the names Jacob by the way," I accepted with a small smile. 'At the very least it will beat just wandering around and getting weird looks.

"I'm Lyra," She responded with a sigh of relief. "come on," Lyra said as she gestured for me to follow her, which I did as she lead me over to a comfy looking two story house. Entering the home I noticed the very nice decor and striped green/cream striped walls. I was lead into the other room and over to a piano that was placed oddly with the seat facing the the corner of the room, but in a way that the player would be unable to get there easily. "I was hoping that you could help me move this piano so that it can actually be played," She said gesturing to the item in question.

"Sure," I said as I moved over to the piano. Looking closer I could see that it didn't have any wheels, so I hoped that Nate was right when he said that I should be a lot stronger than I used to be. getting a good grip on the pianos edge I started trying to lift it, finding that while I could feel its weight, it wasn't actually very heavy. For several minutes I was directed by Lyra as I placed the piano in a more favorable location.

"Thank you so much, I would have done it myself, but I recently used too much of my magic helping another friend of mine move and had hired some other ponies to collect the piano, but they obviously didn't know what they were doing," Lyra thanked as I sat down on a nearby green chair.

"No problem," I said as I took my moment to rest.

"Oh, would you like some tea?" Lyra asked as she noticed how tired I was.

"Yeah, I would like," I responded with a small smile which she returned. For the next few hours we just sat and talked. When I noticed that it was getting dark I asked where the Ponyville library was and left after she gave me directions.

-Later that night, Library, 3'rd person-

Twilight, Spike, and Nate all wandered towards the giant tree that acted as the villages library. Along the way they had been lucky enough to not have run into any more trouble, and had finished with the rest of their meeting almost one hundred percent like in the show. At the moment they went on in complete silence, except for the butter yellow pegasus with the curled pink mane who was talking To Spike. "And that's the story of my whole entire life, well up until today, do you want to hear about today?" Spike asked, concluding his incredibly long story that had taken up the last hour of their walk.

"Oh, yes please," Fluttershy answered with a bright smile. Before spike could answer Twilight stepped between the two and interrupted.

"I am so sorry, how did we get here so fast, this is where I'm staying while in Ponyville and my poor baby dragon need his sleep," Twilight said, stopping Spike from responding.

"No I don't," Spike butted in, having enjoyed the attention he was getting from Fluttershy.

"Well what about Nate, I'm sure that he needs his rest," Twilight shot back, hoping it would be enough to get Fluttershy to leave.

"It would probably be a good idea for me to get off of my hooves for a little while," Nate said with a small smile.

"Oh you poor things, you should really hurry inside then," Fluttershy responded quietly as she started pushing both Nate and Spike inside.

"Yes yes, we'll get right on that, good night," Twilight interjected as she pushed Fluttershy back out and slammed the door in her face. Now that the door was closed Twilight, Spike, and Nate were left in the dark room, with only Nate being aware of the ponies that surrounded them.

"Rude much," Spike said as he crossed arms and glared up at her.

"Sorry Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time, I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time," Twilight explained quietly to spike so that Nate wouldn't hear her. "Now where's the light," She added on louder as she began looking around the dark room.

"SURPRISE!" All of the hidden ponies shouted as the lights turned on, startling the unicorn and drake as Nate just passively looked for his friends, finding them near a corner of the room with looks of confusion written on their face. Leaving Twilight with the crazy entity that is Pinkie Pie he made his way over to his friends as they all caught sight of him.

"The hell happened to you two?" Paddie asked as he switched his gaze between Nate and Theo.

"Timber wolf," Nate said simply as he held up his left arm.

"Manticore," Theo responded with sigh, still aching from the multiple scratches that dotted his body.

"So how was your guys's day?" Nate asked curiously as he nabbed a cupcake from a nearby food table.

"Between us, a worshiper of Nightmare Moon was following me, so I knocked him out and he's currently tied up and in the basement," Paddie answered first, letting his friends know about their little problem.

"I stopped a robbery and saved a mare from getting killed," Wesley answered, thinking back to the taste of the heavenly baked goods he had been given as a reward. Now that the four of them had answered they all turned their eyes to Jacob, who stood there and rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile.

"I, um, helped a mare move her piano and then just talked with her all day," Jacob answered awkwardly.

"Seriously? That's all you did?" Theo asked, anger entering his voice as he looked poise to attack Jacob in anger.

"Relax, in the end it's probably a good thing, especially with both you and I being hurt we'll need him at full strength for the upcoming fight," Nate spoke calmly, hoping to keep things civil while they were surrounded by others.

"Fine, it's just stupid that all of us face something dangerous, and he just sits and talks all day," Theo responded with annoyance. Jacob let out a sigh of relief, glad that he wasn't going to have to fight his friend.

"regardless, we just need to..." Nate stopped as he heard what sounded like a train whistle and turned to see Twilight running up the stairs with a very red face.

"So we only have a few hours before Nightmare moon arrives," Paddie stated.

"How do we know when she's going to arrive again?" Wesley asked as Paddie suddenly began leading them towards a door near them.

"She'll arrive when the sun is supposed to be risen, so basically, she'll be here in the morning," Nate answered as Paddie opened up the basement door and the group all went down the stairs. "So we..." Nate was shut up as Paddie put a finger to his lips and shushed him. Once everyone was fully in the basement Paddie flicked on the light, revealing a bound and gagged black stallion with a silver mane who was glaring hatefully at them with his glowing blue eyes.

"So this is him?" Nate asked as he walked closer to the stallion.

"No, he just really wanted to get kinky so I tied him to a chair and fucked his brains out," Paddie answered sarcastically.

"I admit, I deserved that for asked such a dumb question," Nate responded with a sigh. "Now then, I hope none of you get scared if I have to 'interrogate' this guy," Nate said, his smile slowly twisting into something a mad man would wear as he pulled out one of his swords and lit a nearby candle.

"Wait, your going to torture him?" Jacob asked as Nate began to light even more candles before leaving them on the table.

"Depends, if he answers our questions I won't have to, plus it won't really be torture depending on whether or not he really is kinky," Nate answered as he ripped the cloth gagging the stallion away, only for the stallion to spit in his face. "hehehe, so the hard way it is," Nate chuckled as he re-gagged the stallion before stabbing his blade through the stallions had, earning a muffled scream from him.

"I-I don't know if I'm okay with this," Wesley said as he slightly paled at the sight of the stallion being hurt.

"Then you can leave, but bring back some water and a towel, we'll need to wash the blood away when I'm done," Nate responded, his smile not leaving his face at all as he twisted the blade, making the stallion scream harder against the cloth. Without responding Wesley, Theo, and Jacob left while Paddie stayed and offered one of his daggers to make Nate's work more effective.

"So, are you going to answer our questions?" Paddie asked unhappily as he removed the gag after Nate had removed his sword and placed it on the table with the burning candles.

"Go buck yourselves, I shall never betray the queen of the night," The stallion growled out in answer.

"Suit yourself then, Nate," Paddie said with a sigh as he stepped back and let Nate work. For an hour Nate tortured the stallion, using Paddies dagger to cut his arm and hand, making sure he didn't cut any major arteries before pouring melted candle wax into the open wounds. Half way through the session Theo came back with a bucket of water and a red towel before leaving with an uncaring look on his face as Nate filled yet another cut with wax. When the hour was over all of the stallions finger nails had been ripped out, and cuts lined his hands and arms filled with now cooled candle wax. Every time the stallion moved he was given more pain as the cooled wax rubbed against the sensitive muscle in his arm.

"Are you ready to talk now?" Nate question as he yet again pulled the gag away, his smile had only gotten more deranged as his eyes held a sick glee.

"Fucking hell man, I knew you had a serial killers personality but even I didn't realize you were this far off the deep end," Paddie stated as even he was beginning to feel scared for his own safety.

"Wah, oh, right, *cough* right, sorry about that I just haven't gotten to actually practice my torture methods before and began enjoying that more than I should have," Nate apologized while letting his smile go away.

"I... I'll talk," The stallion said weakly, his eyes blank.

"I suppose it's a good thing I didn't have enough materials to get serious if this is how he's responding to the weak stuff," Nate muttered to himself before giving his attention to the stallion in the chair, "what is your name?" he asked out loud.

"Darkest Night," He answered dully.

"And what is your mission as an operative of Nightmare Moon?"

"hunt down all who oppose the Queen," He answered with the same dull, dead voice.

"And what is Nightmare Moon's plan?"

"That is for only the Queen to know," He said, his voice trailing off at the end before he passed out from exhaustion.

"Well that was worthless, Paddie, how about you go up and enjoy the party while I clean up here," Nate suggested before gabbing the water and towel. Paddie was going to offer to help, but then decided that he might as well let Nate have his alone time after what he had done. After forty-five minutes Nate rejoined his friends upstairs and the party continued on, all the way until it was time for the guests to all leave for the rising of the sun.

Chapter 6 (Nightmare Moon)

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Chapter 6

The five stallions were in Town hall with Twilight and Spike, all of them surrounded by the sea of ponies waiting for the Princess to arrive as their excited conversations flooded the air. As they waited Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared and began talking at a rapid pace, "Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited, well except for that time that I saw you all walking into town then I went *gasp* but I mean really, who can top that?" stopping just as the sound of birds filled the room. Suddenly a spotlight appeared and moved around before settling on Mayor Mare, a mature mare with tan fur and a gray mane, though she also sported very formal business attire and a small pair of glasses rested on her face.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the summer sun celebration," She started, earning loud cheers from the excited crowd. "in just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and shall celebrate this, the longest day of the year," looking up Nate, Paddie, and Twilight noticed several stars move behind the moon as the distinct mare shaped shadow faded away. "and now, without further ado, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!" She finished as the spotlight moved to settle on a balcony as Rarity opened a set of curtains. However worried murmurs filled the air as everyone noticed that their Princess was missing. "Remain calm everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation for this," The Mayor said to calm the worries crowd.

"Ooh, ooh, I LOVE guessing games, is she hiding?" Pinkie said as she turned her head around to look for her. Meanwhile Rarity had went into the back room that the Princess was supposed to leave from, returning a few moments later with bad news.

"She's gone," Rarity spoke with worry, causing everyone present to let out a gasp of disbelief. getting his friends attention Nate motioned with his head towards the stage and they began moving to the front. As they walked a navy blue mist began to appear on the upper platform causing some ponies to let out frightened gasps. The mist then suddenly condensed and turned into a pitch black alicorn mare wearing blue armor. Her glowing blue cat-slit eyes looked around the room with a cold calculating gaze as her navy blue mane and tail danced in a non-existent breeze, lights sparkling in them as though they were stars themselves.

"My beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces," She spoke out as most of the crowd cowered in fear.

"What did you do with our princess?" A blue pegasus mare wearing athletic clothing with a rainbow mane and tail demanded as she attempted to fly at Nightmare moon, only to just get stopped by Applejack who grabbed her tail.

"Hahahaha, why, am I not royal enough for you, don't you know who I am?" Nightmare Moon asked, her voice gaining anger towards the end.

"Ooh, ooh, more guessing games, umm pokey smokes, how bout queen meanie, No black snooty BLACK SNOOTY..." Pinkie was finally stopped by Applejack who stuffed a cupcake in her mouth.

"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" Nightmare Moon started asking before getting cut off by Twilight.

"I did, and I know who you are, you're the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon," Twilight said with certainty, the surrounding ponies letting out shocked gasps.

"So somepony does remember me, then you must also now why I'm here?" Nightmare questioned.

"To bring about eternal night," Nate interjected before Twilight could speak, finally deciding to throw himself and his friends into the line of fire.

"Another who knows who I am then, it seems I was not as forgotten as I thought, though you won't live long enough to remember me," Nightmare said with a smirk, a smirk that slowly vanished as a few moments went by.

"If your waiting for Darkest Night to come and stab us with the horrible dagger he was using, then I'm afraid that won't be happening," Paddie said. Nightmare Moon's eyes widened for just a moment before her smirk returned.

"No matter, I've still already won, remember this day little ponies for it was your last, for from this moment forth, the night, WILL LAST, FOREVER! HAHAHAHA!" Nightmare shouted with a loud cackle as lightning thundered and her mane swirled around her like a vortex.

"Seize her, only she knows where the princess is!" Mayor Mare shouted, causing three nearby guards to spring into action and start flying towards the Night Princess.

"STAND BACK YOU FOALS!" Nightmare Moon yelled before continuing her laugh as her eyes glowed brightly and lightning struck the three guards, sending them to the ground. Before anyone else could do anything Nightmare Moon turned herself into a blue mist before racing out the doors of the building. Rainbow Dash managed to get free just as Nightmare Moon was escaping and tried to follow her, though Nate and Paddie both knew that she wouldn't catch her.

"Did any of you find the Everfree forest during your time wandering the town? Cause that's where we need to head," Nate asked as he watched Twilight rush out of the building with Spike held in her magic, the rest of the mane six following a small ways behind her.

"I did, follow me," Theo spoke with some hesitation, still not very unenthusiastic about having to help the ponies. With that the group followed Theo as he led the way towards the Everfree forest.

-Library, 3rd person POV-

Slamming the door shut Twilight carried Spike, who had lost consciousness on the way back to the Treebrary, up the stairs to their room and set him down onto his bed. "We... we have to stop Nightmare Moon," Spike muttered in his sleep.

"We will Spike, we will," Twilight spoke more to herself than to Spike as she went back down into the library portion of the tree and began searching for anything that could help her. Not finding what she was looking for she began throwing unimportant books away from her person as her searching became more and more desperate. "elements, elements, elements, UGH, how can I stop Nightmare Moon without the elements of harmony?" Twilight ranted to herself as she dropped yet another book before grabbing a new one, only to drop it as well as Rainbow Dash suddenly got in her face.

"And what exactly are the element of harmony? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon huh? Are you some kind of spy?" She demanded before getting stopped by Applejack.

"Simmer down, she ain't no spy, but she sure knows what's goin on, dontcha Twilight," Applejack stated with Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash behind her. For several moments the girls stared at Twilight, wearing her down until she finally explained what she knew.

"I read all about the prediction, and how some mysterious artifacts known as the 'elements of harmony' are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, or where to find them, I don't even know what they do," Twilight revealed.

"Elements of harmony, a reference guide," Pinkie interjected as she pulled out the very book that Twilight needed.

"What, buh but how did you find that?"

"It was under E~eeeee," Pinkie answered in a sing song voice as she handed Twilight the book.

"Oh," Twilight uttered in embarrassment as she opened the book and began looking through its pages. "there are six elements of harmony, but only five of them are known, kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty and loyalty, the sixth is a complete mystery," Twilight began reading, unaware of the blue mist outside her window that was listening to her every word. "it is said the last known location of the elements of harmony is the abandoned castle of the two sister in the Everfree Forest," Twilight finished, her five guests sharing worried glances at the mention of the Everfree forest.

-Everfree entrance, 3rd person POV-

The mane six approached the entrance of the Everfree Forest, spotting the five stallions that Twilight had left behind sitting on the ground waiting. "Ah, There you are," Nate said as he stood up, motioning for his friends to do the same.

"wait, what are you all doing here?" Twilight asked in confusion before a look of realization crossed her face and she began shooting off more questions about who they were and what/ and why they knew about Nightmare Moon. Looking at all his friends they all nodded their heads (threw him to the rabid wolf of questions that is Twilight) and waited for him to explain, so with a sigh he began.

"Alright listen, we weren't just sent to protect you, we were sent to help you fight Nightmare Moon," Nate began, eliciting a gasp of surprise from Twilight. Continuing on Nate said, "that's why we knew about her as well, and that's also why we came here equipped with weapons, the only reason we're out here is because we didn't have any time to learn how to navigate the Everfree, so we'll be following you all and act as protection,". With the explanation over Nate waited for any kind of response from her, but was instead given a response by Applejack.

"Hold up now, how exactly are ya supposed to fight with yer arm like that?" Applejack asked while gesturing to Nate's damaged arm.

"He'll be fine, as much as I hate to give him any kind of compliment, he has a rather high pain tolerance compared to most others, almost absurdly high" Theo interjected, earning a look of surprise from his friend as Applejack nodded slightly.

"My friend is right, my pain tolerance is higher than most ponies, so this won't be much of a problem" Nate said himself, demonstrating by moving the injured arm with a smile, though he internally winced at the stinging pain it put through the limb.

"I guess that I can trust you if the Princess sent you, come on, but be careful," Twilight spoke up as she started walking into the Everfree forest, tailed by the five stallions as well as the rest of the mane six. "wait, what are you five doing?" Twilight asked as she noticed the mares following.

"We're coming with ya, we can't just abandon a friend in need" Applejack responded resolutely, the rest of the girls agreeing and backing her up.

"But we only met today," Twilight reminded them in exasperation.

"Before this carries on any further, I would like to remind you that there is a corrupted moon goddess hell bent on plunging the world into eternal darkness that we should be more focused on," Paddie interrupted, getting Twilight to reluctantly give up on her argument in favor of stopping Nightmare Moon. And so moving forward the group entered the dark and foreboding forest, all of the mares feeling unnerved by the silence and eerie atmosphere while the five stallions felt strangely at home in the forest, as though it was closer to Earth than anything else they had experienced so far. For several minutes the group walked in silence, the sound of their hoofsteps and the sound of Pinkie being, well, Pinkie, were all that filled the air. After awhile the group approached a cliff that both Nate and Paddie knew too well from the show, though neither managed to Catch a glimpse of Nightmare Moon and began to wonder if something had changed.

"So, none of you have been in here before?" Twilight asked with a shaky voice, making her fear evident.

"Why would we darling, just look around, the place is absolutely dreadful," Rarity responded with just as shaky a voice.

"It just ain't natural," Applejack said adding her two cents.

"And do you know why that is?" Rainbow asked as she took on a lower stance, moving closer to Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, all of whom were quaking slightly. "Because they say that nopony who comes into this place has ever come OUT!" Rainbow finished, shouting out the last word to make her friends jump in fright, but before Rainbow could laugh at their reactions the ground gave way and they all began to fall down the cliff. Luckily Rainbow managed to catch Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy managed to catch Rarity, while everyone, but Applejack who had managed to grab onto a sturdy root, were left to fall towards the edge of the cliff. Twilight managed to get a solid hold on the dirt just in time while just stopping herself from falling to certain doom, which the stallions were able to do so as well, except for both Nate and Paddie who fell off the edge, plummeting to the ground below. Nate being unable to get a good hold with his injured arm, and Paddie having fallen into an uncontrollable tumble. Even though he was growling in pain from the intense impact, Paddie got lucky as he landed on Nate, whose alicorn bones stopped him from becoming a messy splat from the force of the fall and his friend landing on him, but it wasn't enough to completely negate the damage as Nate felt a strong pain flaring through his chest.

"Sorry Nate," Paddie groaned out as he got up. Once he was up he held out a hand which Nate excepted as Paddie helped him up.

"No problem, it was honestly better that you landed on me, 'cause I'm not sure you would have survived the fall otherwise, though I'm pretty sure that I've got a few cracked and or broken ribs though," Nate said as he looked up the cliff to see Twilight being flown down while the rest of the stallions climbed down. Measuring the cliff with his eyes he could guess that the thing was at least forty feet high, any higher and Nate wasn't sure even he would have survived the fall. Before Paddie could respond the rest of the group made it to the bottom of the cliff and withing earshot.

"Are you two okay?" Twilight asked upon being set on the ground, concern evident in her voice.

"We're fine, luckily we managed to hit a soft patch of dirt, so we weren't hurt too badly," Paddie said as Applejack was set on the ground as well, followed shortly by the rest of the stallions reaching the bottom of the cliff.

"Let's get going, we still have a ways to go," Nate said as he motioned for twilight to lead on while ignoring the pain lancing through his body. Luckily everyone began moving again without questioning why none of the stallions who had wings had thought to use them in order to catch themselves while falling. While they walked Paddie gestured to the others to fall behind, so slowing down they all let the girls walk ahead as they sped back up to keep an even pace with them.

"It seems that our presence hasn't changed the course of history too much, at least not yet," Paddie stated quietly as he kept an eye on the girls.

"Wait, you mean you knew that was going to happen?" Theo demanded just as quietly, turning to look at him in annoyance.

"We both did, but that's not what matters right now," Nate answered calmly.

"Then what does, we could have died there, and yet you gave us the least chance to survival by not telling us and letting it be a surprise," Theo responded with some venom in his voice.

"You say that, and yet the only ones who fell off of the damn cliff was me and Paddie, so it seems that knowing that the event was going to happen gave us no help at all," Nate argued, annoyance entering his tone as he turned to glare at Theo. Before anything else could be said the stallions all were stopped by a loud roar. Turning their heads towards the sound they all saw a large manticore glaring at the girls. The girls all ran forward to fight the creature, and Theo, Wesley and Jacob even began to join them, but they were stopped by both Nate and Paddie who nodded towards Fluttershy who kept trying to tell her friends to wait. Fluttershy tried several times to stop the others, though none of them would listen and kept attacking, up until Fluttershy got fed up with being ignored.

"WAIT!" Fluttershy shouted as she stood between the girls and the manticore, who seemed as confused as the other ponies. As she walked closer to the manticore it reared one of its paws back, preparing to strike, but stopped as it heard her soothing voice, "shh, shh, it's alright," before she then held its other paw in her hands. Lowering its striking paw it flipped the paw Fluttershy was holding and let everyone see that a large, dagger sized thorn was stuck in the pad of its paw. "oh you poor poor little thing," Fluttershy said as she lightly stroked the creatures paw to keep it calm. "now, this may hurt for just a second," Fluttershy said as she got a grip on the thorn and pulled it out. As the thorn was pulled out the manticore let out what sounded like an angry roar that got all the girls into action, though they all stopped when they realized the manticore was now purring and licking Fluttershy's face as though it was nothing more than an over sized house cat. Giggling Fluttershy gave the creature some more kind words as the stallions and girls moved on ahead, though she quickly caught up.

"How did you know about the thorn?" Twilight asked as they continued forward.

"I didn't, sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness," Fluttershy answered.

As the group continued forward the forest began to darken, leaving all but Paddie unable to see more than a couple of feet in front of them. "Um, ah think ah stepped in somethin'" Applejack said as she lifted a mud covered hoof.

"AHHHHH!" Fluttershy screamed and backed away slightly.

"It's just a little mud," Applejack said while looking at Fluttershy, only to scream as well upon turning around and seeing what Fluttershy had seen. The trees surrounding the group had changed, suddenly having sharp facial feature with wide open maws full of razor sharp teeth as well as sunken, hollow eyes. The girls huddled together while shaking in fright, looking around as more and more of the tree seemed to take on the same monstrous features. But while the trees made most of the girls frightened, it had the exact opposite effect on Pinkie Pie and the stallions. Pinkie and stallions were all laughing their asses off, all of them finding humor in the horrifying trees. Pinkie just being Pinkie by laughing at her fears, and the stallions having been desensitized by years of horror games (And most horrifying of all, THE INTERNET) found the situation too cliche to be scary. As the girls questioned how the stallions and Pinkie could find the situation funny, Pinkie broke out into song, slowly bringing the rest of the girls to laughter as the trees became normal again and the group continued on.

Still giggling the group made it to a raging river, only to stop as they saw that there was no way to cross the choppy waves. As the group considered how to go about crossing they heard the sound of someone crying. Peering through some bushes the group saw a rather large purple river serpent easily fifty feet in length with slicked back orange hair and half of an orange mustache. "Oh what a world, what a world," The serpent called out to himself in a rather effeminate voice, holding the sides of his head with his massive claws and splashing the water in anguish.

"Excuse me sir, why are you crying?" Twilight asked, getting the river serpents attention as it stopped its crying and spoke.

"Well you see, I was here minding my own business when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked on past me and tore off half of my beloved mustache, and now I look simply Horrid!" The serpent explained, finishing by letting his body fall into the water, causing a large amount of water to be splashed onto the group.

"Really dude?" Theo asked in annoyance.

"I can't believe it," Rainbow said in frustration.

"That's what all the fuss is about?" Applejack asked in disbelief.

"Why of course it is, how can you all be so insensitive, why look at him, such lovely luminescent scales," Rarity said as she walked up to the river creature and lightly brushed one her hand against its face, which was now resting on the rivers edge.

"*sniff* I know," The serpent responded.

"And that expertly coiffed mane," Rarity continued.

"oh I know I know," The serpent said while sliding a claw back through his hair.

"And that fabulous manicure," Rarity said as the serpent responded just as everyone had expected while it scrunched up its face in pleasure at the praise it was receiving.

"All ruined without your wonderful mustache," Rarity finished, causing the serpent to instantly go back into lamenting his self-perceived hideousness. "I can not let this crime against fabulosity go uncorrected," Rarity said with a slight glare as she used her magic to take one of Paddies's daggers and cut off most of her tail. As the group stared at her in shock she then used her magic to float up her tail to the serpents face, then fusing her tail to the remains of the ripped half of the creatures mustache.

"MY MUSTACHE! How wonderful," The serpent exclaimed with glee.

"You look absolutely smashing," Rarity said with a the utmost sincerity and with a generous smile.

"But Rarity, Your tail," Twilight pointed out as she gestured to the now ruined tail.

"Not to worry Twilight, short tails are in right now, plus it will grow back," Rarity offered with a small smile. The group all smiled themselves at the show of generosity, though both Theo and Rainbow had something to add.

"So would the mustache," Both said at the same time, neither hearing the other utter the same words, although many of the others did take note of the event. Both Jacob and Nate pestered Theo for a few short moments while Rainbow Dash was lucky not to have been bothered by anyone else.

"We can cross now!" Twilight said with glee as she began wading through the now calm river, followed shortly by the rest of the group.

"Allow me," The serpent offered as he lifted the group with his body and used it as a make shift bridge to allow the group quicker access to the other side.

"Thank you darling, I do hope we meet again," Rarity said to the creature as the group departed, everyone offering at least a small wave of gratitude, though as most of the group turned to leave the serpent made a quick kissing gesture towards Jacob before swimming away, leaving the stallion to grumble irritably about males flirting with him.

With the minor annoyance out of the way the group of 11 continued deeper into the forest, many of the group beginning to grow jumpy as a thick fog continued to build around them. Even the stallions, who at heart were humans, began to feel at odds with the forest as their surrounding began to take on a darker presence than before. Eventually the group made their way to a broken rope bridge, connected only on the groups side. Across the ravine the group could make out the shape of the castle of the two sisters, letting them know just how close they were to their goal.

"How in the hay are we supposed to get to the castle now?" Applejack asked, wondering the same thing that most of the others were wondering.

"Don't worry, I've got this," Rainbow said with a smile and determination in her voice as she flew into the fog and towards the other side of the chasm. From that point the group could no longer see the rainbow haired mare, the only ones having any inkling of what was happening on the other side being Nate and Paddie. For several tense moments the group waited for any sign of the mare, "I GOT IT!" until finally the group let out sighs of relief as they heard her yell from the other side. The group yet again waited for the signal that they could cross, only to be surprised as the fog temporarily parted and allowed the group to see that the prismatic mare was held in conversation with a group of new ponies.

"What in the hay is going on over there?"

"Looks like their trying to get Rainbow to abandon us and join them," Paddie stated. oddly enough he knew not only from having watched the show, but his thestral ears allowed him to also faintly hear the conversation on the other side of the divide.

"WHAT! RAINBOW! DON'T LISTEN TO THEM!" Twilight shouted worriedly, catching the attention of one of the strange ponies who turned and glared at the group. The Pony's eyes focused on Twilight before glowing a sinister yellow as the fog thickened even further, becoming so thick that even Paddie's hearing was blocked by the dense gathering of moister.

"What now?" Jacob asked as he tried to peer through the fog.

"Have faith," Theo said, shocking most of the stallions around him. After a moment Theo noticed the stares he had gathered from his friends and began glaring at them, "What?" he demanded irritably.

"Sorry, we're just surprised to hear that you have faith in somepony who you barely know," Wesley said slowly.

"Tch, I might be an asshole sometimes, but I can usually tell when someones loyal or not, it's one of the few reasons I work with you guys, cause it sure as hell isn't because of your personalities, so trust me when I say that she's coming back," Theo explained as he returned to staring into the fog. Deciding to follow his example the group went back to watching and waiting, not having to wait very long for the aforementioned mare to fly through the fog with a victorious grin plastered across her face.

"Told you I had it," She said cockily as she hovered in the air, the fog quickly dissipating behind her to reveal the now fixed bridge.

"YOU DID IT, come on, let's go stop Nightmare Moon," Twilight said as she crossed over the bridge, the rest following behind her as they continued forth to the castle. The group made short work of the distance and soon came upon the very room they were looking for. Opening the doors the group found that the room was rather spacious and empty, save for a structure in the center of the room which held one large orb with five smaller orbs held out around it. "the elements of harmony, we've found them," Twilight said in a hushed voice as the group got closer, Rainbow and Fluttershy flying up to bring each of the five smaller stone orbs to the ground.

"Wait, there's only five, I thought you said there was supposed to be six," Jacob stated as he counted the number in his head.

Looking at the five orbs Twilight thought back to what she had read before saying, "The book said that when the five elements are present a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed,".

"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know but I have a guess, stand back, I'm not sure what will happen," Twilight said, giving everyone a moment to back away before she began to charge some form of spell into her horn.

"Come on y'all, we need to let her concentrate," Applejack stated as she lead the rest of the girls out of the room.

"Guys, prepare for combat," Nate stated to the rest of his group as he pulled out one of his swords, wincing as he did so and catching the attention of his friends.

"What's wrong?" Wesley asked quietly as he watched Twilight's horn get brighter and brighter.

"Possible cracked and or broken ribs along with my stitched arm, I likely won't be able to do any real damage in this fight," Nate answered honestly. Before Wesley could get in a response a purple mist sped through the room and began spinning around the elements and creating a small purple tornado around the objects.

"THE ELEMENTS," Twilight cried out as she lunged forward to try and grab onto the spinning orbs, prompting the five stallions to jump forward with their weapons draws as they attempted stab the mist. Suddenly the doors opened as the rest of the girls rushed into the room just in time to see Twilight and the stallions disappear in the purple vortex.

In a sudden flash of light Twilight and the Stallions found that they were now in a new room. The room was just as spacious as the previous one without the structure holding the elements, having only columns to hold up the ceiling and a single raised platform upon which Nightmare Moon stood. Floating around Nightmare was the elements of harmony. As the group focused on the pitch black mare she let loose a malevolent laugh that echoed around the room.

"Nightmare Moon," both Nate and Paddie whispered under their breath, glaring at the corrupted moon goddess.

"Twilight, we'll distract her, I want you to get to the elements and try to make them work while we do so," Nate said as the mare focused her attention on them.

"Oh how lovely, the five little stallions, or at least, that is what you'd want me to believe you are, correct," Nightmare Moon stated more than asked, worrying the group slightly as to how she knew that they weren't actually ponies. "I'll admit, those disguises are pretty fooling at first, but it is rather easy to tell you weren't born as you are now, otherwise at least one of you would have used your magic or wings by now," Nightmare explained as all the stallions face-palmed at that.

"I hope you know that words aren't going to make us back down Nightmare," Paddie responded as he pointed his spear towards her defiantly, joined by the rest as they all stared her down.

"You think you can take me? How cute," Nightmare uttered with a sinister grin as she prepared her own weapon. In her hands was a brilliant silver long sword with a crescent moon hand guard and a serrated edge on one side of the blade, the handle having what seemed like a stained black leather grip. What made the group truly wary was the fact that she seemed to easily wield the large 5 foot blade with one hand. Charging forward each of the group swung their weapons at their opponent, with each attack being easily blocked or parried by the mare. With every blocked strike Nightmare made sure to counter and leave a cut on the stallion who attacked her, causing each of them to become more and more damaged over time as Nightmare stayed unharmed. Stepping back the stallions panted as they glared at their opponent, who seemed to be light year's ahead of them in skill and power. "As much fun as this is, I am beginning to wonder if you're all any better in your actual forms, how about we find out," Nightmare suggested as she charged up her horn and released a blast wave in all directions. With no hope to dodge the blast the five were all blown back into either a wall or into a stray column. Slowly getting back to their feet the five friends noticed they felt different, and as they looked at each other they realized that they were all back to how they were when they first arrived on Equestria.

"Really, I honestly don't know what you hoped to achieve with that weak attack," Nate asserted with false bravado, his entire body aching and screaming at him to stop. Although He could barely stand he saw that Paddie was coming up behind the evil mare and so he decided to try and keep her attention, "How about you try something that actual hurts bitch." Glaring at the man Nightmare Moon ground her teeth together in outrage, never before had any male had the gall to insult her in such a fashion as this one just had.

"Then how about you try this," Nightmare offered as she pointed a glowing hand towards the man, preparing to launch and attack that would surely vaporize him with dark magic. As she prepared to release her attack however she stopped as she felt a lancing pain shoot through her side. Turning around Nightmare found one of the men holding his now bloodied spear with a small smirk on his face. Before Paddie could say anything however Nightmare launched the full brunt of the spell at Paddie, sending him flying into one of the walls as cracks spiderwebbed away from his point of impact.

"PADDIE!" The guys shouted as they watched their friend fall from his impact zone onto the floor. With a new rage boiling in their blood the humans began their attack anew with a ferocity that hadn't been present before. Each attack from the humans seemed to come with more speed and force than before, almost allowing for their difference in experience to become less of a disadvantage for them, almost. As the fight continued however Nightmare noticed a glow emanating from the platform that the she had started from, and where she left the elements. In her haste to check on the light Theo managed to land a lucky strike across the mares back, causing her to wince in annoyance before she noticed Twilight with the elements as her horn was glowing. Quickly her annoyance turned to fear as she launched a weak shock wave spell around herself to push her opponents to the ground and shot towards the purple mare.

"NOOOOOO!!!" Nightmare screamed as the elements floated from the ground and the room was filled with a blinding light, which quickly dissipated as the stone orbs fell to the floor with dull thud.

"I don't understand, that should have worked," Twilight said numbly as she stared at the still stone orbs. Suddenly however she was thrown back by the laughing Nightmare Moon. With her magic Nightmare picked up the orbs and quickly smashed them against the floor with great force, causing them all to shatter upon impact and prompting Nightmare to laugh even louder.

"YOU FOOLS, YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT YOU COULD WIN AGAINST ME! Now you shall never see your precious princess again, AND THE NIGHT! SHALL LAST! FOREVER! AHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!"

"HEY BITCH!" Nightmare stopped laughing as she turned and saw something impossible. Standing up with a thin steam of blood dripping from his mouth was the very human she had blasted with enough dark magic to vaporize a manticore. But he just stood there with his shirt in tatters and a rage filled glare pointed directly at Nightmare. The fact that he was still standing was not of concern to Nightmare, what was however, was the thick black smoke that poured from his eyes as his slitted yellow eyes glowed slightly brighter with a hint of red in the glow. "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" Paddie shouted once more as he unsheathed his daggers and held both at the ready.

"HAHAHAHA! Fucking bad ass dude," Nate stated from his place on the ground before weakly standing up and turning to face Nightmare as he weakly held his sword up to point at her. "Let's take her down".

"I fucking hate you guys," Theo groaned as he stood up himself while picking up his dropped axes.

"You know you love us," Wesley said with a small smile as he got ready for another charge alongside his friends. Flipping off Wesley Theo made his way over to his friends as well.

"I really hope we can win this," Jacob said nervously as he came to stand with his friends once more, gripping the handle of his sword until his knuckles turned white.

"You still think you can face me? I AM NIGHTMARE MOON! GODDESS OF THE MOON AND BRINGER OF ETERNAL NIGHT! YOU SHALL ALL FALL TO MY BLADE YOU FOOLS!" Nightmare roared in anger as lightning began to crackle around her. With glowing eyes Nightmare lunged towards the humans, not noticing the five mares entering the room and helping up Twilight while talking to her hurriedly. Nightmare made to swing at Theo, but was blocked by Jacob who grunted under the force of the strike as his knees nearly buckling and the floor cracked beneath him. With a quick back step Nightmare made another swing to decapitate Jacob, this time being intercepted by Wesley who managed to push her arm upwards and cause the swing to go high and miss. With her growing rage Nightmare began to attack with more and more force, landing the occasional attack that sent the recipient back, but with every strike they received the humans never stopped fighting, even as the floor began to puddle with their blood they did their best to block the flood of strikes that threatened to overwhelm them.

Feeling his rage reach a new level with each hit Paddie felt something in him shift as he slashed with a dagger and felt something flood the weapon as he let out a shout of rage. As he attacked he caught Nightmare by surprise as his weapon elongated and became harder, breaking through her defense and sending her flying across the room with a large cut going across her midsection. "Fuck, the hell did you do man?" Nate asked in surprise as he stared wide eyed at their opponent.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it felt like dark magic," Paddie stated as they all watched Nightmare slowly get up on shaking limbs.

"That would explain why your eyes are smoking," Wesley reasoned as he leaned on his sword for balance.

"Yeah, that is what usually happens when one uses da..."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Nightmare let loose a scream of rage that shook the very foundation of the castle they were currently in. Snapping her head forward Nightmare glared at the humans with pure white eyes that let loose arcs of lightning every few seconds. "I WILL RIP YOUR HEADS FROM YOUR SHOULDERS AND MOUNT THEM ON MY WALL AS TROPHIES!" She Yelled so loud that the walls of the room actually cracked from the force. Looking between each other the humans all nodded and stood shoulder to shoulder as they prepared for what was likely their deaths, so with worn and battered bodies the humans mustered up the last ounces of energy they had left for their final battle.

"I'm sorry Nightmare Moon but I can't let you do that!" Twilight interrupted, getting the attention of both Nightmare Moon and the Stallions.

"You still think you can beat me, YOU ARE JUST AS FOOLISH AS THESE CREATURES IF YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN WITHOUT THE ELEMENTS!" Nightmare shouted back in response, not leaving her combat stance and preparing to turn back to her prey, but was stopped by what Twilight said next.

"You're wrong Nightmare, you can't destroy the elements, because the spirits of the elements are RIGHT HERE!" Twilight announced as she stood proudly with the other five mares. Suddenly the broken fragments of the Elements began to glow and float from the ground.

"Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the element of honesty," As Twilight spoke several of the shards began to circle the aforementioned mare with an orange glow.

"Fluttershy, who tamed a manticore with her compassion, represents the element of kindness".

"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the element of laughter".

"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the element of generosity".

"And Rainbow Dash, who did not abandon her friends for her own hearts desire, represents the element of loyalty, the spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us," Twilight finished her little declaration with a smirk.

"What are we? Chopped liver?" Jacob asked quietly.

"To be fair we really didn't do much up until this point," Nate pointed out tiredly as he tried to enjoy what was happening, a small smile on his face.

"What about the sixth element, the spark didn't work?" Nightmare demanded as a small trace of nervousness and even fear entered her voice.

"Your wrong again Nightmare, it was a different kind of spark, one that I felt when I realized how happy I was to hear you," Twilight began as she turned to the other five mares, "to see you, how much I cared about you, the spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all, are my friends," Twilight finished, a few tears dropping from her eyes. Above Twilight a flash of light could be seen. Looking up everyone could see a new, unbroken orb with a six pointed star at its center. "You see Nightmare when the elements come together and ignite the spark that resides within us all, it creates the sixth element, the element of magic," with Twilight's final declaration the orb began to glow with the brightness of the sun, forcing both the humans and Nightmare to avert their gazes or be blinded by the light.

As soon as the light died down the group could see that each of the mares had a new accessory, a gold necklace with a gem in the shape of their cutie mark, with Twilight instead having a tiara with a magenta six pointed star as its main piece. The mares all floated off the ground with different colored glows before those lights combined together and twisted to form a beam of rainbow light that shot forth to strike Nightmare Moon down.

"NOOOOO!" Nightmare screamed in fear. Before she could react the rainbow surrounded her, trapping her in a vortex of multicolored light and blocking off view of her. Suddenly Twilight snapped open her eyes to reveal that they were glowing with immense magical power. With a blinding glow a small shock wave was sent outward which knocked the men onto their backs. As the men slowly forced themselves up they noticed that the mares were lying on the ground and rubbing their heads.

"Is everypony alright?" Applejack asked as she sat up.

"You all seem fine," Wesley offered, catching the mares attention and causing them to let out shocked gasps. Each of the men stood on shaky legs and had small pools of blood at their feet, cuts and gashes ran along their bodies and caused many to lean on either each other or their weapons for support.

"Darlings what happened to you? And who are you for that matter?" Rarity asked in both confusion and concern.

"We're fine, just fine, don't worry about it," Nate said weakly before falling face first to the ground.

"Shit, we should probably get to a hospital soon," Paddie stated as he felt about ready to collapse himself, as did the rest of the guys.

"Nice jewelry by the way," Jacob said awkwardly, using his sword as a crutch so he could keep pressure off of the cut on his left leg.

"They are pretty awesome aren't they," Rainbow said with a smile, which quickly went away after she noticed the looks she was getting from the rest of the mares.

"I thought that it was all a load a hooey, but ah guess we really do represent the elements of friendship," Applejack said as she looked over her own necklace, noting the orange crystal in the shape of an apple.

"Indeed you do," hearing a somewhat familiar voice the humans began to look around, finally noticing Celestia appear in a ball of light as the morning sun rose behind her. All of the ponies in the room bowed while the humans just either looked at her or offered a nod.

"Huh, Princess Celestia," Twilight said happily as she made her way over to the Princess.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student," Celestia responded with a smile and a hug. "I knew you could do it," Celestia stated as she released the mare from her arms.

"But Princess, you told me it was all an old ponies tale".

"I told you to make friends, nothing more, I saw the signs of Nightmare Moons return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart," Celestia spoke.

"Yeah, this is all nice and good and whatever, but we're kinda bleeding out at the moment and would appreciate a quick hospital visit," Theo interjected, catching the attention of the Princess.

"I apologize, I was not aware of your injuries, allow me to help stem the bleeding," Celestia offered as she cast a spell strong enough to stop the bleeding of the five humans.

"Thanks, at least we won't pass out now, " Paddie thanked as he picked up Nate and attempted to wake him. "come on Nate, WAKE UP" Paddie yelled at his friend before smacking him across the face.

"WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY!" Nate shouted in shock as the pain from the slap shocked him awake.

"There, I'm sure you wanted to be awake to meet with the Princess," Paddie said as he helped his friend to stand.

"Yeah, good to see you again Princess, anything important going on?" Nate asked as he looked to his left, towards where Princess Luna rested.

"Yes, for there is one more I hope will let true friendship into their heart," Celestia spoke gently as she motioned over to the now moving form of the true goddess of the night. Her fur had turned a dark shade of navy blue and her hair had become a few shade lighter, her armor spread across the floor around her as she now wore a flowing blue dress that had some slight wear. "Princess Luna, it has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this, it is time to put our differences behind us, for we were meant to rule beside each other little sister".

"Sister," The mares whispered in shock at the revelation.

"Will you accept my friendship?" Celestia asked with a warm smile as she held her hand out to her once lost sibling. Looking at the offered hand from her spot on the floor tears began to fall from Luna's eyes as she bypassed the hand entirely and pulled Celestia in for a hug.

"I'm so sorry, I missed you so much big sister," Luna said between her sniffles as she embraced her.

"And I missed you too," Celestia reciprocated the hug, holding onto Luna as though she would disappear the moment that she let go. After a few moments the two pulled away from each other and shared a smile.

"Nice to finally meet you, Princess Luna," Nate said as he gave a small wave from his position leaning against Paddie.

"So you are the creatures that so valiantly fought against me, I apologize for the injuries you have sustained in our battle, though you are all lucky to have survived against the Nightmare," Luna stated sadly.

"It's fine, it's always been my wish to be almost be killed in battle by a furries wet dream," Theo said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

"Don't be an asshole..." Nate started before passing out again and sagging against Paddie.

"Damn, guess he needs a doctor bad, sorry to cut this short but do you think you could teleport us to the hospital now?" Paddie asked worriedly, keeping Nate up as his friends breathing got more ragged.

"Of course, I hope he will be alright," Celestia agreed, quickly sending the group off in a flash of white.

-Ponyville Hospital-

In a flash of light the five humans appeared in the Ponyville general hospital, quickly covering the floor in red as they caught themselves from falling with their weapons. "Can we get a doctor over here?" Wesley asked breathlessly, his voice kicking the doctors and nurses into action as they began moving the humans so they could be checked out and properly healed. And so each of the humans were put into separate beds and finally let themselves succumb to slumber as they just couldn't keep up the strength to stay awake any longer.

-???, Starswirl the Bearded POV-

Groggily I opened my eyes, felling a dull ache pulsing through my skull that I knew to be the aftereffects of magical over exertion. Slowly sitting up I looked around the room I was in and was surprised to see that I was no longer on the train. I was laid on a stiff couch in a room just large enough not to be called small with the occasional figurine of what appeared to by myself. carefully moving from the couch I examined one of the figurines, taking in the figures long blue cloak with my familiar star pattern, the hat with the jingling bells that let others know that I was the one who was approaching, and even the long white beard that reached the figures chest. Looking at more of these creations I could see that they really were of myself, just in different stances and while casting different spells.

"Hello, it seems that you are awake, Trixie hopes that you are feeling better," A mare said from behind me. Turning to look at the mare I could see that she was a unicorn wearing a cape and hat very reminiscent of my own. She had blue fur and a silver mane as well a cutie mark of a star tipped wand.

"I am feeling well enough after such an event, I suppose that thou art the one who helped me, and if so then I thank thee," I gave my gratitude with a small bow.

"After what you did for Trixie and the other passengers it was the least Trixie could do," The mare, who I was to assume was Trixie, said. "would you like a cup of tea? We can talk while we drink," Trixie offered.

"I would graciously accept a cup of tea, thou have mine gratitude," I answered happily, always enjoying a cup of tea when I had nothing to do.

"Then wait here and Trixie will make us a pot," Trixie said before leaving the small room.

Accidental Warriors

by lost worlds

Chapter 1 (First Impressions)

Chapter 2 (Interrogations part 1)

Chapter 3 (Interrogations Part 2)

Chapter 4 (Preparations)

Chapter 5 (Ponyville)

Chapter 6 (Nightmare Moon)