1 Introductions

Chapter 1
Introductions

Use your new abilities wisely

“Great, an ethereal voice tells me weird shit while falli-“ there’s no wind, I’m not falling... I'm on a hard surface though

I slowly open my eyes, don’t know how long I’ve been out. As the sunlight hits my vision, I raise my arm to shield my self from the unforgiving rays.

I let my eyes adjust and... “what the fu...?” why do I have a controller tattoo on the back of my hand? I quickly get up and take in my surroundings.

“Well then...” I’m not in Kansas no mo’

I’m surrounded by medieval looking buildings, but high class medieval, and there appears to be no one around

“I guess I should find someone,” I look around and start walking towards the larger street, “Higher chance of finding someone”

While walking, I look at the buildings and, for some reason, I’m observing more about them that I would normally pay attention to. I’m noticing bricks sticking out of the walls, how some windows have a lip big enough to use as support, etc.

“Creature, stop in the name of the sun!!”

Creature? I begin to turn around, “There is no need for name...” That is not human ”... calling...” What the hell am I looking at?

Looks like a white horse wearing golden armour, but it’s anthropomorphic... Something in my mind clicks, Suddenly in a story, then possibly die, now anthro guard... wait, white horse in golden armour... OH COME ON?! I should mention that right now there is a spear about two inches from my nose.

“Well you can talk, it will be easy to communicate. Now creature come peacefully”

So I’m in someone’s MLP fan-fic, who knows how sadistic that bitch is! And with that I turn tail and run

At the end of the street four more guards round the corner; now I’m boxed in; I look to my right to spot an alleyway, which I gratefully take. The alley ends on a wall and now I’m trapped. I look back to see the first guard rounding the corner.

“You have nowhere to run!! Surrender now!” He’s gonna get me, shit. Shit!

I start to look around for any possible way out, only to see the walls are covered with bricks sticking out... That’s it, inner Etzio don’t fail me now, I start to climb the wall.

“Don’t do that!! You will hurt yourself!” Now he sounds worried, should I worry?

One hour later

Shit the story’s back! I’ve been running for too long now, my legs are tired, they hurt, and my arms feel like they’re going to fall off any minute now.

For the past hour I’ve been running and jumping rooftop to rooftop just avoiding the guards, I’ve actually made it to the opposite side of the city. After getting onto the roofs, I noticed the white-gold spires of the castle, confirming my suspicion. I was most definitely in an anthro version of MLP

I hear a pop, I blink and before I can open my eyes, I hit something solid even though there was no wall there.

“Ow, What did I...” before me stands the Princess of the Sun, Celestia herself “...hit...?”

Princess Celestia, is a white mare Alicorn, and pretty tall, like three inches taller than me more or less. She has an ever-flowing multicoloured hair- I guess mane, and tail that sparkle a bit. She’s wearing a white long dress, a golden crown, neckpiece, bracelets and... horseshoes?... that cover the front of her hooves.

“I had my fun watching you avoid my guards, but that’s enough. And you probably need to rest”

she really sound motherly... wow... I’m going to act a bit dazed, not sure how it will play out
“Yes, mom,” I say holding my head, I hear a chuckle from her, then look at her and act surprised, “Oh! I’m sorry,” I try to stand but my legs give out, Great I lost my momentum

“Don’t over exert yourself more than you have,” her horn begins to glow, and now my vision is all yellow- Oh! She’s picking me up! Of course! “Do you think you can walk?”

I see what she’s doing, making me feel safe, I’ll play along, “I don’t think so”

“Your highness,” That’s one of the guards, “We found this creature-“

“Human,” If I go to the dungeon, at least I want to be called the right species

“This CREATURE-,“ this time the Princess interrupts him

“Have some respect General,” Still motherly, how does she do that? "I am sure he did not mean to cause a commotion"

“Of course Princess Celestia! This cr-human was in the housing district and ran from our guards”

“Well if you wake up in a strange place and your first interaction with the population is a spear to the face, you kind of want to get away from them”

“Is this true general?” She sounds like one of her sons just got caught in the cookie jar. It would be funny if I had not almost lost my head

“I will have to speak with the one who found him. What shall you do with the c-human, you highness?”

“I’ll interrogate him myself, take you leave General,” and with that I feel like my entire body just went through in between two atoms, and now we are in the throne room.

2 Revelations

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Chapter 2
Revelations

I don't like teleporting, I feel like I'm gonna puke, I probably look a little green right now

She then sits me on a column and begins her questioning, “What is your purpose, human?” She doesn’t sound so motherly now, That can’t be good...

“What do you mean? Like what am I doing here? Then, I don’t know,” Thinking back now I probably smashed my head to pieces when I flew off the plane, “I think I died...”

Her expression changes to that of shock, “How can you be sure?” She sounds worried now

“Well, I was about 30,000 feet on a plane when I got sucked out of it. By the way, a plane is a flying machine,” No point in lying now if I want her in my good side, but should I tell her about the show?

“Feet, is that a measurement of distance like a meter? 30,000 feet, how high is that?”

“It’d be about 9,200 meters, or 9.2 kilometres; it’s quite high, more than enough to reach terminal velocity,” I feel as if during our talk my body regenerated, That’s a weird feeling, regained my stamina in record time, so I stand up. “I should be a bloody mess on the floor, but here I am”

“So you fell to your death?” She sounds disturbed she had to say that

“Not sure, I smashed my head on the side of the plane as I got ejected. I could be unconscious imagining this happening for all I know. Or somehow ended up in a rift between our worlds, or I simply died and ended up here because of...” I really don't know “... reasons”

“I see...” I Now see pity directed at me

“I don’t wa-“

*SLAM*

“Princess, I heard there was a creature running wild in Canterlot!” That’s Twilight looking around to find her, “I wanted to know if you-,“ we lock eyes “... found it...”

Now, Twilight Sparkle is a light purple mare unicorn, has dark a blue mane with a two-tone magenta stripe going through it, same as her tail. She’s wearing a purple shirt that’s tucked into a pair of black dress pants with a black belt, If that’s leather... I don’t want to know.

“-nt your pity...Uh... hi” I try to look as innocent as possible

“Oh My Gosh! It- I mean- He can talk,” Wow she is more respectful than the General!

“My name is Luis by the way,” I did my best to address both of them, but who knows

Too many questions later

Just because you skip them doesn’t mean I don’t have to live through it, I’m going to dream of questions tonight. Speaking of which, “Princess Celestia, I was wondering, since I have no place to stay at-“

“You shall live in the castle for the time being,” judging from her tone she doesn’t trust me quite yet

“Thank you for your generosity,” she seemingly smirked at that remark. I turn to leave but turn back for one more question, “Where is my room, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Umm... Twilight, come here for a second,” Twilight does as asked and Celestia whispers to her ear, Twilight’s eyes just glimmered at whatever Celestia told her... oh no...

Twilight walks towards me grabs my arm and pulls me, OH NO NO MORE QUESTIONS!!!! ARGHHH, I try to relax, “I’m guessing you’re my tour guide?”

“Nope, I’m your boss,” she is overly cheerful, CELESTIA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!;

3 Harmony

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Chapter 3
Harmony

The next morning

I’ve never had this good of a rest, I thought last night was going to be a pain, but she just introduced me to spike and my room, which was the spare in her huge apartment, I mean like it has three bathrooms, THREE, and it’s just her and Spike. Now me too I guess, since she lives here, that means I’m here before the pilot episode. Anyways, Spike, how to describe him... he’s the same size as the show, maybe a bit taller, but skinnier and a more 'human' body, purple scales with green fins, which are also kind of like scales, that go from the top of his head to almost the tip of his tail. He’s usually wearing a purple t-shirt with green chinos, who would have thought they’d have chinos here?

“A weird day yesterday was,” I chuckle, Well said Yoda Jr., I stretch and finally look at what I have, my clothes are the same, but my pockets are empty... I have a pip-boy, why do I have a pip-boy? And how the hell didn't I notice before?! the ethereal voice repeated it self in my head, then I look back at the back of my hand, the game controller. I'll have to her about cutie marks soon. I doubt that's what it is, but...

At this point Twilight walks in and I take a quick glance at her hands. I knew it, no mark on her hands, so not a cutie mark, “Good morning, I thought I was going to have to wake you, I guess that wasn’t needed”

“Good morning to you too, by the way, that’s a really nice bed”

“Thanks, it was a gift from Celestia when I moved in”

And yet she decided not to use it, I’m not even going to question that, “Anyways, what’s the plan for today boss” I’m going to play a little with her.

“Twilight’s just fine”

“Ok, no problem Twilight boss,” Don’t laugh, I held back a smirk

“Just Twilight, please,” She is visibly uncomfortable, I’m gonna go one step further, just because.

“Got it, Just Twilight boss sir,” I begin to chuckle, Darn I lost it, I start to laugh

She relaxes “Ha Ha, very funny. Anyway I’m going to the park for a bit, and if you don’t mind, could you help Spike clean the library?”

I notice the book the brown book from the opening on her hands, So I arrived right around the first episode... "Yeah, no problem"

“And when I come back I want to ask you about that,” she points at my pip-boy

“Sure, although, I don’t know how I got it exactly or how it works... yet,” I smirk at the end to which she give me a soft smile

“See you later”

“Later” and with that she’s out-

“Right, there’s breakfast on the table, bye” now she’s out for real, I think

I walk out of my room into the kitchen. On the table are two plates with pancakes, And they smell delicious, one are normal pancakes, going to guess that’s mine, and the other seem to be ruby pancakes.

I spot a tired spike walk in, “Sup dude?” Why am I suddenly so outgoing, weird

“Good *yawn* morning, Luis,” he sits down takes a forkful of pancakes into his mouth and glances around “Where’s Twilight?”

“She went to the park to read a book. Oh, and by the way, she wants us to clean the library” Maybe he’ll mention Moondancer’s birthday party

“Hopefully she doesn’t take too long, it’s Moondancers’s party today,” he takes another mouthful, “anth,” he swallows it, “Sorry. And I already have a gift for her, it’s a teddy bear and a picture with Twilight and their friends”

“Do you think I’ll get to meet her?” I know I won’t yet, “Do you think she’ll like me?”

“You’ll probably meet her when they have one of their study sessions, then we’ll see if you get along”

And with that I’m done my breakfast, “I’ll get started on the top floor now, bon appetit”

“Bon appe-what?”

“Bon appetit, it means ‘have a good meal,’ join me when you’re done,” I walk out the kitchen up towards the library, which was a mess, books all over the floor.

I decided to organize the books in alphabetical order in the style libraries have it, ignoring The’s, A’s and so on. When Spike joined me I told him how to do it.

Why so many books on the floor, and most of them were of biology and creatures, mythical and known, “So Spike, know why so many books were thrown around?”

“Well... hehe... she stayed up last night trying to figure YOU out,” why didn’t I think of that, I mean, SHE'S TWILIGHT, the biggest egghead this world has seen after Starswirl, then Spike looks at the clock, “It’s getting late, I better get ready,” he starts to walk away

I look at the clock, it reads about 11:35 in the morning, “Get ready for what?”

“Moondancer’s party,” then he runs out to his room, Should I tell him not to stay too close to the door? I walk down the stairs

He comes back with the gift in his claws, “Tell Twilight I’ll wait for her at the party”

As Spike reaches the door it slams open, hitting him square in the face. This somehow makes him fall tail first into the wrapped present, piercing it

“Spike? SPIIIIIKE?!” Twilight notices Spike on the floor “Spike??” Spike the sits up a bit dazed from the hit he just took, “There you are,” she then runs, Trots? I mean she’s a pony, up towards the library with Spike behind her, and I follow them, “Quick find me that copy of ‘predictions and prophecies’,” She turns to spike as I reach the top of the stairs and sees the present Attached to Spike’s tail, “What’s that for?” Then she turns to me, “Hi, Luis”

“Hi...” I am a bit shocked to say the least, I knew it was going to happen, but being present is a whole different experience

“Well, it WAS a gift for Moondancer but...” as Spike takes the gift of his tail, the teddy bear falls out of the tear on the box.

“Oh Spike, you know we don’t have time for that sort of thing”

“But we’re on a break!!” Twilight seems to ignore him, Poor guy

“Actually Twilight, it’s a good thing to hang out with friends. And I learned that the hard way,” Twilight seems to have tuned both of us out, Great, just like home... now she’s using her magic to levitate all kinds of books up to her face, I have to say, seeing magic at work first hand is kind of impressive

“No. No, no No NO!” She’s definitely frustrated by the sound of that grunt, “Spike!”

“It’s over here,” Spike says from... Where did he go?

*splat*

Right, in the show he went to the top of a ladder and then Twilight pulled the book along with Spike, so now Spike’s face is on the floor with his arm still holding the levitated book

Twilight then looks at the title of it, “Ah,” then she walks towards a book stand as I approach Spike and help him up

“You okay?” Spike’s face seems to have suffered no damage that’s good

“I guess,” he then looks around at the books Twilight dropped and sighs

“Let’s clean up, AGAIN!” I direct my view at Twilight who seems to be in her own little world. I look back to see spike climbing a ladder to my left

“... see Mare in the Moon??” Twilight question her self, probably doubting whatever she just read

“Mare in the Moon? But that’s just an old pony's tale”

I look to the second level to see Twilight looking through the book again

“Mare, Mare. Aha!” Guess she found the story, I just tune her out as she reads. As I finish replacing the books, I look back to see Spike burning the letter to the Princess

“There, it’s on it’s way,” Should I butt in now? “But I wouldn’t hold your breath,” he definitely used a mocking tone

“Oh I’m not worried, Spike,” Right I have to act like I don’t know what is happening, “The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she’s been my mentor, She’s never once doubted me,” she seems too proud for that, I’ll butt in when the letter comes back

Just like that, Spike burps our a scroll

“See? I knew she would want to take immediate action,” now I butt in

“Excuse me, but how did Spike do that?” Nailed the confused voice, Yeah!

“Oh that’s just a spell that Princess Celestia taught Spike to communicate with her, I also know it...” she looks down a bit embarrassed “... but it’s a bit harder to do without dragon fire”

“You could’ve just said ‘magic’ and I would’ve been happy, it apparently explains everything here,” Smooth... I think

Spike clears his throat, “Are you too done?” To which we both nod, “Okay *clears throat* ‘

My dearest, most faithful student, Twilight,
You know a value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books.

As you know the summer sun celebration is fast approaching, and I will need you to go to Ponyville, this year’s location for the festivities.

Get yourself ready as the carriage will arrive at your home late in the morning.

Your attentive mentor,
Princess Celestia

Send Luis to the throne room first thing tomorrow as I must speak with him. Do not worry the carriage will pass for him after leaving with you and Spike.

I wonder what she wants with you,” Spike looks at me a bit confused, Did she find me out, I thought I played my cards right. Is she going to-no, no way she wouldn’t... right? I mean-, Twilight interrupts my thinking

“Luis, are you ok? You seem a bit worried”

“I’m fine, it’s just...” think of something, “... I wasn’t expecting it,” I give a nervous chuckle, This can’t be good.

"No sense in making her wait,” I notice he charging up her horn, What is she doi- OH NO!!

“NO, WAIT WA-“

4 Repentance

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Chapter 4
Repentance

“NO, WAIT WA-“ I teleport into the throne room, immediately falling to my hands and knee. “I’m going to puke” I groan out

“I see Twilight didn’t want to waste time,” her voice remaining motherly as ever

“Yeah, and I’m going to get back at her,” I get on my feet again, “I need to be ready when I teleport”

She give a cute chuckle and turns to the guards, “I need to speak with our guest in private if you wouldn’t mind,” with that the guards salute and leave the room and the Princess turns to me with a neutral expression, “I’ll repeat my question from yesterday, what is your purpose, human?”

I definitely think she knows I know them, shit... Act stupid again! “The answer is still: I don’t know”

“Then how do you know about me?”

She definitely knows, shitshitshitshit.... “Why would you think I know you?” Don’t give her a reason to know, she might kill me

“For starters, when you first saw me you didn’t freak out about my mane”

“I mean, I woke up in a strange world after possibly dying, it’s kind of expected to expect the unexpected,” good keep the ball running

“Then why didn’t you inquire about it when you had the chance?”

Expected question, “Because I’ve seen you use magic, kind of expected the answer to be the same,” it’s in her court now

“Why haven’t you asked where you are?” Sassy face after expert swing

How can I return that... “I... that’s a good question actually” shit

“You haven’t even asked what city you’re in”

...And she gave it spin, fuck, I can’t send I back, deuce over, that’s game, I lost, “I’m in Canterlot in the Country of Equestria, you caught me. But I have no purpose, I was just dragged here, somehow,” Hopefully I can get out of here unscathed

“How can I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Uhhh, Magic?" That seems to be the answer to everything so far...

“A mind reading spell, that could work, but it requires both parties to agree, the spell won’t let me see the memories you don’t want me to see, and you cannot show me fake memories, only things you actually experience”

hope she’s not lying, “Ok, I’ll show you my day before I got here,” with that we both walk to each other and meet at the bottom of the stairs

“Now, let us begin,” She starts to charge her horn with the familiar yellow aura

“This won’t hurt right?”

“Not, but we will experience the emotions”

Reassuring, she the leans her head and touches my forehead with her horn

The day of the trip repeats it self, me waking up, changing into my current clothes, breakfast, the cab ride, picking up Rick, the airport, security, getting on the plane, liftoff, our conversation, the turbulence, and getting sucked out of the plane.

As the memories end I open my eyes, but before I can register anything, the Princess hugs me. I can tell she cried a little as I can hear her sniffling. I just stand there in shock, why is she hugging me? It doesn’t deserve to feel bad about me. It doesn’t deserve giving pity, then she breaks the silence

“I’m sorry...” she barely whispers, her voice breaking a little

“Sorry for what?” I just decide to return the hug, she really feels bad for something. Why?

“It’s my fault...”

what is she talking about? “I don’t follow, how is it your fault?” She lets go of the hug but keeps her hands on my shoulders, I can tell she’s about to cry again...

“I was experimenting with a spell to look at the multiverse, chaos magic, I saw your metal bird in one of the rifts... I touched it then you and your friend went flying out the side. I should not have messed with chaos... I'm sorry...” She closes her eyes as a tear escapes

Oh so she cause an imbalance in my universe, which had an effect on the weather, that brought me here, interesting. That caused the plane to rip and me and Rick to... Rick flew off with me too!! “You mean Rick is here too?!”

“Possibly, I’ve been getting reports of a creature similar to you in the Everfree Forest near Ponyville,” Of course... it isn’t an mlp fanfic if someone doesn’t arrive in the Everfr- “Are you not mad at me?”

“Me? No, if anything you took the weight of my live off my shoulders. I mean like my mother basically disowned me, my dad was super annoying, but don’t get me wrong, he’s a great guy, but as a father he’s lacking... a lot... he tries his best but... well... anyways, my step-mother was an overachiever with expectation to high for me to reach, my studies were going nowhere fast, and I had a part-time job at a scammy game store, so yeah, makes me feel refreshed that I don’t have to deal with that anymore” I can't believe I just let her into my life like that...

“Then I take it you won’t get mad when I tell you I can’t take you back?”

“No, but who knows how Rick will take it, I mean, his career was going places. But how can you not take us back? If you don’t mind me asking,” At least she’s not crying anymore, with the cute faces this ponies have it would be heart wrenching

“The spell seems to be on a cycle with several universes, but on how the spell feels, what the magic is telling me is that it would take about 3,000 years to cycle back to your universe, more or less”

“How long does the rift stay open on any one universe?” Maybe I could explore one o these on day

“About 10 seconds”

...never mind.... “Abrupt change of subject. Do you want me to check Ponyville and see if that’s Rick, or someone else, and help them adapt to this new life?” She chuckle at my shenanigans, That’s good

“If you please,” I wish I my mom was like her, understanding, caring, and honest... fuck it, I’ll ask, the worst this that could happen is a small deduction to her disposition

I mentally sigh, Here goes nothing, “One quick question...” I'm going to hate myself so much...

“Yes?”

“Can I... can i call you mom?” Now she’s definitely going to throw me in a dungeon... oh god...

Her expression just went completely neutral, I’m a dead man, it was good while it lasted

She blinks twice and looks directly at me, straight through me, ... don't look at me like that... no... please...

“Why?” She finally said something, Oh god... please... that look... NO!

“Because... like I said...” my whole head is getting hot now, “... my motherly figures where really bad, my mom was abusive and... and....” I start to shiver, my eyes get wet and my breathing quickens, I don’t want to remember. Celestia is going hit me just like she did, I shouldn’t have asked, I-I made a mistake, I-I-I-, my body gets heavy, and my legs start to fail

She hugs me, “Of course you can, everypony deserves mother’s love and I can tell you need it more than anypony I have ever seen”

With tears streaming down my face I return the hug, I absorb the warmth of the embrace and close my eyes. We stayed in the hug for what felt like hours, me crying in her arms.

“Thank you...” I whisper to her, I... I..., “Thank you, I... I love you, mom,” I couldn’t have been more sincere in this moment

She whispers into my ear, “I love you too, Luis,” shivers of excitment run through my body, she then breaks the embrace and looks at me, "Would you like to stay the night with me?"

Did she really just ask that? I look out the window and see the sun ready to set, Eh, why not? after what just happened i might get nightmares though, "I'd really like that," my voice is still but a whisper.

The night was uneventful, Celestia lowered the sun and raised the moon, wrote a letter to Twilight I'd stay the night and, the most surprising thing of them all, she had a bed moved to her room, or chambers, whatever, for me. After dinner, which was exquisite, we went to bed.

I woke up in Celestia's bed rigth as she was raising the sun, and it was akward, for me at least. Apparently I was graoning and moaning in my sleep, all the while tossing around in bed; she thought the best course of action was to do what a parent would do with their child, or foal in this case, make them sleep with you.

At breakfast she sat next to me, we talked and I got used to calling her mom. even after we finished we stayed at the table and continued talking, at some point she even started petting me, not that I minded, it felt nice. I felt loved for possibly the first time in my life.

After that we just talked about stuff, her life with Luna, how I knew this world, the fact that this world was different of how I know it and how it's different. Also, apparently she was testing me when asking about my purpose and feels bad about it, and we talked about Twilight and Spike, and so on. Which brings us to now.

“... and after that I decided to send her to Ponyville to learn about friendship and fulfill her destiny as the element of magic”

"So you plan on her wanting to stay?"

"Yes, Equestria depends on it"

"Interesting..." She plans more than she lets on

The carriage lands on the balcony and Twilight walks in

“Luis, are you ready to go?” Twilight looks at me and Celestia, now my mom *mental squeal* , sitting on the stairs to her throne, confusion plastered on her face, “What did I miss?”

5 Arrival

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Chapter 5
Arrival

“What did I miss?” Twilight stands in place, baffled

Celestia stands up to address Twilight, “You missed a wonderful conversation of how you became my student”

“Did you really turn your parents into plants?” Twilight blushes, Mission accomplished, she’s so easy to fluster

“You told him about that?!”

“Don’t worry, Twi, your secret is safe with me,” I wink at her very playfully

Twilight walks up to me grabs my arm begins dragging me to the carriage

Celestia makes a scroll appear next to her and levitates it towards us, “Don’t read it until you are close to Ponyville, Twilight”

Twilight stops just to grab the scroll and continues pulling me along

As we exit into the balcony I say my goodbyes, “Bye mom! I’ll write to you when get there! Love you!” while waving goodbye

Twilight steps into the carriage with me in tow, then she finally registers what I said but Celestia speaks up first, “Goodbye, son, see you soon. And Twilight I’ll be expecting the preparation to be done perfectly”

“Wait wait! Wha- What? MOM??!!! SON??!!!” Twilight starts to hyperventilate

I place my hand on her back, “Jeez Twilight, relax, relax!” She starts to calm down “There, better?” she nods and then I take my hand back

“Yes, but you have a lot of explaining to do!” She just gave me the meanest look she could muster, How cute.

“How about I tell you now?” She nods, “I asked if I could call her mom, and she said yes, that’s it,” Minus a mental breakdown and PTSD panic attack, but close enough

“Seriously? That’s it?” She shoots me with a confused glare

“More or less, why?” Probably because she’s the ruler of the land and the freaking Goddess of the sun. My mom is so awesome!

“Never mind,” she then turns to the pegasi pulling the carriage, “Let’s go now, thank you,” and we start flying towards Ponyville

The ride was mostly uneventful, I played around with my pip-boy, Twilight asking a few things here and there. As it turns out there are no radio stations in Equestria, Who would’ve thunk it? At least I have music holotapes in my inventory. Now if I knew how to get things out of my inventory that be great

“We are five minutes to Ponyville,” the guard surprised me, I was in my own world right there, Right, now the scroll

“Twilight, now it would be a good time read the scroll mom gave us,” I never called my stepmother mom, ever, and I’ve lived with her for close to a decade, now not even a day in and Celestia is now ‘mom’, I like it

“Right,” she wakes up Spike, “Spike wake up, we’re almost there”

“Right *yawn* I’m awake, what you need, Twilight?”

“Could you read this letter for us?” She hands him the scroll

Yaddy yaddy yadda, summer sun celebration, blah blah blah “....make some friends’” Spike finishes the letter and Twilight groans, "Look on bright side Twilight, the Princess arranged for you to stay in a library, didn't that make you happy?"

Twilight gives it a bit of thought and shoots up, "Yes! Yes it does, you know why? Because I'm right. I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of nightmare Moon's return," She seems confident in her plan

"Then when will you make friends like the princess said?"

"Believe me she will make friends, in this town it'd be impossible not to," I cut into the conversation

"And how would you know that, Luis?" Twilight is convinced to not make friends, isn't she?

"You didn't think my talk with mom was just about you, did you? She told me about this town too"

"And how can you be sure I'll make friends in Ponyville?" she says with a doubt full glance

"If I told you that would ruin the surprise, now would it?"

"I'm sticking to my plan, and that's final"

Then Spike burps out a scroll, "Luis, this is for you," I take the scroll and open it

Dearest son of mine,

I need you to check the rumours as soon as possible as if what you told me about tonight is true, then it would be too dangerous for your friend.

Once you find him bring him into town and keep him safe. Your friend knows little about our world's inner workings, it would be best if you find him before nightfall

Yours truly,
Celestia
Mom

PS
This mission is up to you, do not worry Twilight or Spike about it

That was interesting, why can't I tell them? Whatever, "Spike, do you have a scroll and quill I could borrow?" A Spike then pulls my requested items from his back

"I could just write the letter you know?"

"I know, but this is... Personal. Between me and mom," he hands me the quill and scroll

"Sure," we land in Ponyville and get off the carriage, "And if you ask me, it's weird you calling Princess Celestia 'mom'," then he goes to Twilight as I begin to write the letter

Dear mom,

We got the Ponyville perfectly fine, just Twilight is still being a bit hard-headed about friends and friendship.

Anyways, about the other human who could or could not be my friend, I am on it like wood on a timberwolf. Although, I'll have to separate my self from Twilight and Spike.

Sorry if the letter looks or reads weird, it's my first time writing a letter.

Sincerely,
Luis, your son

I roll the scroll and direct my self to Spike who's walking my way behind Twilight

"The ponies here seem to be a bit... Off" Twilight says to me

"You don't say," Not really interested, "Spike, can you send it to my mom"

"Still weird, dude, but sure," he grabs the scroll and burns it to mom

I turn to Twilight, "I'm going to explore Ponyville a little bit, see you at the library"

"Are you sure this is a good idea, you wandering on your own?"

"Probably not, but if I don't go out there, then no one will want to be near, you know?"

"Alright, but don't get lost, I'll be at the library as soon as I can, OK? We have a job to do"

"Ok see you then," with that we go our separate ways, me heading directly towards the Everfree

6 Contact

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Chapter 6
Contact

While walking, I continue messing around with the pip-boy, I discover how to change the tabs within the different sections, That definitely says 'spells' and-ooohh 'shouts', but still can't figure out how to get stuff out of my inventory, Although... I only seem to have a 10mm and what I'm wearing, the select button only displays more information about the items

So far I seem to have Assassin's Creed, Skyrim and Fallout as powers, I bump into someone, snapping me out of my thoughts

In front of me stands a mint green unicorn mare with a mane and tail a few tones lighter than her coat, both with a white stripe. She's wearing a pink t-shirt and khakis shorts, Great... it's Lyra, hopefully she doesn't have a human obsession like some of the fanfics I've read, she's just staring at me

"Oh I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going miss"

"Y-y-you're..." her voice trails off, *sigh* Here we go... "You're the creature of the Everfree Forest!" She's terrified not obsessed, that's normal, YAY!

"Actually, I was sent here by the Princess to investigate that"

"You what?!! You can't go into the Everfree Forest! It's a bad place..." Now she's worried about my well-being instead of hers? Well then, "The animals take care of themselves, plants grow without help, and the weather... it changes on its own"

"Let me guess, the seasons change alone too?" she nods, "Doesn't sound too bad, just an average forest if you ask me"

"It might be so, but it's still one of the most dangerous places in Equestria," She's really scared of that place

"Cool, now, could you point me to the fastest route to the Everfree please?" She then points to the same way I was going

With a 'thanks' I continue my walk, Was I trying to sound badass? After a few minutes I find myself in front of the Everfree Forest

The Forest itself looks quite normal, except for the fact that it seems to absorb the sunlight as it's much darker within the forest than it should be. Now I wish I could at least get a freaking 10mm pistol, I feel my hand grip something. I raise it to my face and see a 10mm pistol, which seems to be loaded; So that's how it works... I need to wish for it, but there might be other restrictions. Why am I so paranoid? With gun in hand, I begin my journey into the forest

I've been wondering the Everfree for about an hour now, and I haven't found shit. Maybe he's not too close to the path, maybe if I... I point the gun up and let out three shots

"Is anyone there?! I'm trying to save you!" I shout "There are monsters in this forest that are now coming at us, so come on out!" Nothing... he's not to close then, but just in case "I'm leaving now! If you want to be protected you better follow me!" I turn back and start walking

"THAT WAS A BITCH MOVE YOU KNOW?!!!" Gotcha, I turn to where the voice came and spot Rick mouth hanging open looking at me, slowly approaching the path

"Hi Rick, fancy meeting you here," he exits the underbrush and continues staring

"Luis? Is that... Is that really you?"

"No, I'm a figment of your imagination that created a sound loud enough to scare the birds," my words dripping with sarcasm, he seems pleased, "Now lets go before something gets here, we'll greet properly later," and so, we start walking back to town

I can't shake the feeling we've been followed for the past forty minutes, I've been glancing back every once in a while since the feeling started, but so far I haven't seen anything, Could be just me being paranoid again

*SNAP*

I look back, A timberwolf is right there, and if it's anything like a wolf...; glancing around a see no other, and without turning I tell Rick, "When I tell you, run as fast as you can and don't leave the trail," with an 'mhm' from Rick I aim the pistol to the wolf's head, Hope this works, "GO!!" I yell as I take the shot

The timberwolf recoils in pain as the bullet penetrates its shoulder, Damn! Out of the sides of the trail two more wolves appear, "There you are..." I start running in the direction Rick went; Shit shit shitshitshit, I hear them running behind me

I slightly look back and aim the gun behind me, still running for my life, and let out two shots and by pure luck I hit the already injured wolf right between the eyes. Then turn back to give my full attention to running, just managing to see the remaining wolves tripping over their dismantled comrade

I turn back around to continue shooting, but one of the wolves is less than two meters away, FUCK! My first shot missed entirely, the second one took out the twig making up its ear, making it tumble a bit letting me gain some distance, the third shot hit it on the right eye. As the second wolf falls apart, I see the last wolf already in the air pouncing on me. Shit... I stop then shoot three more bullets as it passes over me, only one connects on the beast's underbelly. It collapses, but doesn't fall apart, as it hits the ground, Any minute now... You gotta fall apart...! I take two steps back, gun raised ready to shoot

The wolf then shifts as it begins to stand up and turns to me. I pull the trigger *click* Fuck me... I just realized the slide is all the way back, meaning: no bullets. I snap out of my anxiety attack by the sound of running. The wolf is charging at me, maws ready to snap shut. With barely enough time, I manage to shield my face with my arm as I fall on the ground, my arm being crushed by its jaws, blood dripping on my face

"AAARRGGGHH!! FUCK!" I'm about to be eaten alive by a GODDAMN magical shi- ... MAGIC!! I have spells and ... "FUS..." Force "...RO..." Balance "...DAH!!!" Push, my voice turns thunderous as the wolf flies off leaving its jaw on my bloody arm. "That was... too close" Now let's go back to town, hopefully no more interruptions I now begin my jog out of the Evefree

7 Dilemma

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Chapter 7
Dilemma

As I approach the edge of the forest, I see Rick looking around the sky, "You loose something?" He turns to face me

"Didn't you hear the thunder? There is no cloud in the sky big enough to create lightning or even thunder, but it happened," How should I approach this?... 'Hey it was me!' like that's going to work.... I know!

I raise my fist showing him the back of it, specifically the game controller, "It was me. This place gave me videogame powers, including the shouts from Skyrim," I wonder if he got powers too

Rick the holds his own hand up and shows me a similar mark, It looks like a black box... disapointing, "I have one too, but mine is a command prompt," That makes a ton more sense! I'm an idiot. Wonder what it means, "But I don't know what it means," Just what I was thinking...

I move my left arm across my chest and place my right elbow on my hand while having my right hand under my chin, feigning deep thought. I look at the lowering sun, Definitely way past noon... "How about we go into town first, you know? Put some distance to the Forest"

"That sound good, buddy. Just one question, doo you have any food? I haven't eaten anything in two days," we both start walking to town

I raise my pip-boy and look into the 'aid' tab, finding only the most popular drink in the wasteland, "I only have nuka-cola, but not sure how good that would be for you." I look at him lowering my arm, "Not only is it an acidic drink, which would do you no good with an empty stomach, it also has radioactive isotopes, sooo.... not good for you," I look away from him, I definitely don't want my friend to die of thirst, but I sure as hell don't want to be responsible for poisoning him!

"You're probably right, but I still need to at least drink something," He sounds so disapointed

Not much happened on the way to Sugarcube Corner, although the town seemed to get lonlier by the minute. As we passed Townhall, we found Twilight and Spike, the former who had her mane all messy. Spike gave me a bag of bits saying they were from the Princess so I could get lunch, how nice. Also, the whole time I've been thinking of what Rick's power might be, and I think I've found a possible answer.

I stop infront of the gingerbread building known as Sugarcube Corner. I look at Rick who's staring directly at it, probably since he saw it, of course Rick all ways has to make a comment, Three, two, on- "I'm feeling diabetic just looking at this place," And there it is

"Come on, we're getting breakfast for late lunch," the bell rings as we step in, the smell of baked goods assaulting my nose, The place is completely empty. Not what I was expecting

"I'll be with you in a second, deary," That was Mrs Cake in the kitchen, I hear her aproaching the counter from the other side of the door, "Just letting you know, we will be closing soon for the summer sun celebration," That sounded a bit forced, then I hear something somewhat heavy being place on a table, That would explain it, "How may I help-" she walks out the door and sees me and Rick standing by the counter, freezing on the spot, Just like a deer in the headlight

Mrs Cake, AKA Cup Cake, is a chubby light cerulean blue earth pony mare with a red-ish pink mane and tail, both with a lighter coloured stripe. She has a yellow polo shirt with blue jeans and a mustard yellow apron with pink frills at the shoulders.

"Hello Mrs Cake, the princess told me I could get lunch here for me and my friend," I have to difuse the situation, "And the locals really recommended this place," Hopefully that works, saying we've interacted with others, also... compliments?

"Right..." she pauses to compose herself, giving a slight nervous chuckle, "Right now I only have crepes for lunch, chocolate, strawberry, and rainbow. We also have milkshakes, same flavours plus vanilla,"

I turn to Rick, his expression blank, "So what do you want?"

Rick's face twists into confusion, "You understand it??"

Ok, what?? They're both speaking the same language, so how..? I mean..., nothing can describe how confused I feel "What do you mean you can't understand her?!"

I hear Mrs Cake go "Oh dear" under her breath, but that's not important right now

"She sounds like someone imitating a horse to me. She sounds human tho." But I... Him... Them... I can't right now!

I sigh, "We'll deal with that later, She's about to close for the day. Now she has chocolate, strawberry and rainbow crapes, same with milkshakes plus vanilla, what do you want?" I sigh and think, Did I sound annoyed? Probably

He thinks for a second, "Strawberry and vanilla for my milkshake"

I turn to Mrs Cake, "Two strawberry crepes and two milkshakes, one vanilla and the other chocolate. How much would it be?"

"That would be 16 bits, dear"

I reach into the pocket were I place the money bag Spike gave me only to find exactly 16 bits, So... I just have what I need to pay? or what?, I place the bits on the counter and Mrs Cake takes them and does the transaction on the register with a satisfying 'Katching'

"Take a seat, dearies, I'll be back in a minute," she then walks back into the kitchen

I direct Rick to the nearest table, "She's gonna bring our food soon," we then take a seat an wait

How the hell is this happening, me understanding two different languages while both sounding like English... I mean, how can I begin to understand that. Maybe Twilight can come up with a reasonable explanation, she's really good with reaserch. She'll probably get exited a bout the new academic challen-

"Are we going to talk about it?" Rick broke my consentration

"About me understanding their language? Our being here? About what your powers might be? WHAT?!" I have too much on my mind right now, GOD DAMN IT!

"I guess we can start with the most simple. What do you think my powers are? You have a videogame controller and have the power of some games you've played. I have a command prompt and I haven't seen a single computer around" While he has a fair point my theory doesn't need computers

"I have videogame powers. Something I could only access while playing games on my computer and console, but here I can use them how I want to use them. So you might not need a computer to program shit"

"How would that even work? Do I just write it on a piece of paper and turn it into a program?" How would that even work?

"No... probably. But I have another thoery, what if you power is to program abjects to do stuff within it's capabilities. Like a book to turn it's pages when you say 'next page', or a cart to move while pressing a button, or something of the sort"

Mrs Cake surprises me a little bit as she places our food on the table, "Enjoy your meal"

"Thanks, we will," I see Rick give a polite nod

Rick then looks at me a bit concerned, "They're horses right? I hope this isn't some sort of hay-based batter"

"Ponies actually. And no, they use wheat flour for pastries and baked goods... If it's anything like the show," I sigh

During our lunch we kept throwing theories around for his power, and me being able to understand Equestrian. We decided the may theory about his power was the most plausible one. As for the language barrier, well, we came out empty handed.

I stand up and grab our empty plates and glasses, and head for the counter. As I near the counter, Mrs Cake comes out of the kitchen and looks at me, "Yes?"

"I have to say, that was delicious. I'm definitely recomending you to may friends,-" Even if I only have one "-anyways, here are the plates"

"Oh, you didn't have to, dear"

"It's OK," I give a dismisive wave. I then turn to Rick and motion him to follow me

"Have a good evening," she says as we reach the door

I turn and wave, "Good evening to you too, we'll come back sometime," Rick just gives her a wave. As we walk into the street and start walking towards the library, I need to get him some sort of translator

8 Clash

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Chapter 8
Clash

We start walking to the library, "Sooooo..." I need to tell him about the fact we can't go back. I got to ease him into it thought, "I need to get you a translator, I don't want to speak for you all the time"

"True, it would get annoying, but we won't be staying long, right? So do I really need it?" Fuck off, now how the hell do I ease him into the news?

"Well... who knows if we can even go back," Come on... don't be a bitch

"What do you mean?" I don't think I should tell him about the spell

"You know... we kinda flew out of an airplane, so it's easy to assume we are kind of dead over there..." Buy it. No more questioning

"But what about our friends and families?!" Rick's starting to get worked up, "What about our futures??! Huh? I was- no- I AM moving up in the world!!! I just got a new fucking office back home!!" He's throwing his hands in the air at this point, Those remarks are too fucking personal buddy!!, I feel my own anger starting to spill

"WELL, FUCK YOU for being the perfect fucking individual!! You know damn well you're my only friend, my family is bullshit and I have no fucking future! THIS IS A GODDAMN IMPROVEMENT FROM THAT HORSESHIT LIFE!!! I'm glad we are stuck here for life!"

Out of nowhere Rick tackles me and wraps his hands around my neck, What the-!! He's choking me. He's fucking chocking me! THE BITCH!! I try to push him off, but I don't have the strngth. My vision starts to tunnel as my arms become more difficult to move

My arms start to feel heavier, too heavy. I am losing. As my vision is nothing but a blur in the middle of a sea of black, I lose all hope. With a purple flash I can breath again and start coughing, letting the sweet air fill my lungs. I start to get up, placing my elbows on the ground and pushing my head in the air. I look to my right and see a blurry Twilight running towards me, her horn with a purple glow, then I look to my left and see Rick lying on the ground trying to get up, "Get away from him!!" Twilight shouts at one of us, I don't know who

I look back at Twilight as she stops a few meters away. She begins to charge her already charged horn even further, I look to my left and see Rick almost to his feet. She's going to shot again... with that much power she might kill him! I start to get up, as I stand up I look at Twilight as she lets the energy go. Immediately everything goes in slow motion, I run to Rick, push him aside and feel the impact of the blast on my back. The force of the spell sends me flying, flipping through the air, hitting a nearby building back first with a sickening crack

I slide off the building onto the ground, everything fading. My pip-boy read '2/120 HP', Two HP, huh... fuck..., my last thought before I passed out

9 Radioactive

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Chapter 9
Radioactive

I woke up feeling better, as I open my eyes and look around, I notice I'm in the library. I look at my status on the pip-boy, "84 out of 120 HP, that's not good. I should be at 100%, I slept!" I get up and walk out the door, and down the stairs into the main room. I walk out the library and look at the dark sky, as I look down I see the wall where I got flung to after fighting with-Shit, where's Rick? But what about Nightmare Moon? I look at the time on the pip-boy, 6:09 AM, they should be in the forest now. OK, I've got time

I turn back and enter the library and start looking for Rick. I head to the upstairs area first, looking in the main room, bathroom, Hey, you never know, kitchen and guest room, I get the feeling this place might be a tardis. It's just too big for how it looks outside, Rick was not up here, I go downstairs and look around for a basement door. I find a door under the stairs, assuming that's the basement, I try to open it, Locked, damn, I look at the time again, 6:23 AM, I need to go, fuck! I head out the door, directing myself towards the Everfree.

Running for almost an hour, without stoping, through a forest is bad enough when you almost fall of a cliff, but even worse when you realise you should've had a gun drawn while being chased by a freaking manticore. Anyways, in case you couldn't tell, I got away.

"This better be safe," Thinking back now, the six of them got over it, right? So, with one of me... I take the first step, and then another.

Too Many Baby Steps Later

I'm half way now, don't slip- "Twilight!!" Oh shit! Don't scare me like that!! ... Wait, that means Nightmare Moon has the elements and Twilight! I start to go as fast as I can across the bridge (still pretty slow as the thing fucking swings so much)

As I step on solid ground, I catch a glimpse of orange going into a tower to my 1 o'clock, so I follow it. I climb the steps, slowing down as to not give away my position. near the top I hear the echoed voice of Twilight "...when those elements are ignited by the...the spark..." I'm missing it!! "...that resides in the hearts of us all. It creates the sixth element..." Come on!! Almost there "The Element of..." Pause for dramatic effect "...MAGIC"

I hear the energy charging up, I'll use that as cover. I really want to see what Nightmare Moon looks like, I reach the door way and the geiger counter on the pip-boy distracts me for a second. When I look back the rainbow is already on it's way to Nightmare Moon. Six figures floating within the source of the rainbow.

Nightmare Moon looks awesome, if I'm being honest. A 'light' version of a fantasy black knight armour, minus the face plate, with the creasent moon crest on the chestplate really complementing the look. Very much an epic look

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!" That wasn't as loud as I expected it to be... Nightmare Moon then follows with what appears to be... pained wailing? I guess? Then the mane six start to glow white really brightly. I take this chance and move closer, hiding behind a broken pillar to the right. The light starts to subside, You know what? I'mma change history

As I get closer, I finally get a good look at the ponies. Rainbow Dash rocking some sweat pants and a light blue sports shirt. Rarity styling it up with a white, sparkly blouse and balck jeans. Pinkie Pie going casual with a pink t-shirt and blue jeans. Applejack ready for work with a plaid shirt and some worn jeans. Fluttershy adorably wearing a yellow summer dress

"Nice light show. Worthy of a rave," I walk out of my hiding spot, This is going to be interesting, all their heads turn to face me

"Who the hay are you?" Applejack glaring directly at me

"What are you?" Rainbow Dash looks at me confused

"Luis, how long have you been following us?" Twilight is quizzical

"Well, not that long actually. I mean like I only got to see the rainbow magic," That activated the geiger counter... maybe it was Nightmare Moon's dark magic...

"Oh thank goodness!" And that's Rarity looking at her tail in pleasure. Of course...

"Oh why Rarity it's so lovely"

"I'll never part with it again!" Right. Stephen Magnet...

"No. You're necklace"

"How about we stop worring about fashion and take care of the important stuff?" I wait for a response, but they're all looking are their new apparel "Like, you know, where you Princess is?" I try to sound as condesending as possible, Nothing??? Really?

"Gee, Twilight, Ah though' your were jus' spoutin' alotta hooey. But Ah reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship" You. Have. To. Be. Kidding... They're ignoring me!

"Indeed, you do," we all look to where the celestial voice of Celestia came from, out the window at the rising sun. A shimmer comes from the sun and materializes in front of us. In a flash of white light my mom, I'l call her Celestia outside my speech or thought, just for you readers I guess, appears, chin held high

Twilight gasps, "Princess Celestia!" she says as she walks to her

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student," Celestia then gives Twilight a hug Now I want a hug. Weird

I just get closer and with a wave go like, "Hi mom!" Celestia extends her arm towards me as in saying 'come here', so I do

"MOM??!" That was everyone else just shouting in surprise ...thought it'd be louder...

"Luis, my loving son," She tightens her hug around me, This is getting awkward...

"Stop it, you're embarrassing me," My face becomes warm with an evident blush, adorned with a stupid grin

"I knew you could do it," Celestia says at Twilight, then looks at me, "Both of you"

"But you told me it was just an old pony tale"

"I told you that you needed to make some friends"

"And I didn't exactly do anything, if at all"

"You did find your friend, did you not?"

"Well, yeah but-" At this point Celestia lets go of both me and Twilight. Then she spins me around, hand on my shoulders, and stares into my eyes

"No but's," she lets go of my shoulders, allowing me to look at everyone. But soon Celestia places her hand on my furthest-from-her shoulder in a psudo hug. She then glances to everyone else, who appear to be vowing since Celestia appeared but are now standing upright, and then back to Twilight, "I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat Nightmare Moon. But you could not unleashe it alone," She turns her gaze to everyone, "You needed true friendship enter you heart," The six ponies, now the elements of harmony, exchange glances. "Now if another will, as well..." Celestia turns to face where Nightmare Moon was, letting go of me, and starts to walk toward the other alicorn

Where Nightmare Moon was, now lies pieces of broken armour as well as Princess Luna lying on the floor. She appears to be waking up.

Luna didn't quite look powerful at the moment. She was small, even shorter than me, but still very much above average. Still, the blue-ish onyx bracelets, neckpiece and crown complemented her... dress?Royal gown maybe? Nope, definitely a dress. Her regalia complemented her blue dress very nicely

"Princess Luna," Luna basically jumps awake with a gasp with fear in her gaze to Celestia, "It's been a thousand years since I have seen you like this," Celstia kneels infront of Luna, who now lowers her head and closes her eyes, "Time to put our differences behind us," Luna then looks at Celestia, "We were meant to rule together, little sister"

"SISTER?!" I can believe everyone else not knowing, but Twilight? She should have at least read something of the sort... Why am I surprised? I watched this happen already!

"Will you accept my friendship?" Celestia Stands up as Luna looks away again

Right now they want to hear a response so badly that Fluttershy is flying and Rainbow Dash is on the ground... wow...

"Whoa!" And Pinkie leaned too much and- I know this!!

"I'm so sorry," Luna immediately stands up and hugs Celestia, "I missed you so much, big sister," Can we just skip this? I'm just re-telling the ending of the pilot

Apparently we can... Cool! Anyways, after the whole reunion thing Pinkie was just like 'party this' and 'party that' the whole way back, ughh. Celestia introduced me to Luna, who's all like 'thou' and ancient-y in her speach patterns. We exited the forrest and I was feeling like I was forgetting something, then Twilight questioned why we didn't just teleport to town. This caused me to remember the geiger counter activating so I looked at my pip-boy, specifically at the rad meter it has beside the screen and saw the needle bouncing somewhere in between 2 and 4. I then looked at my health and it was at 80 now, even thought I never took damage and it hit me, in the later fallout games your max health is reduced by radion damage.

But this world has no nuclear weapons. Yet, the magic did activate the geiger counter, so radiation is magic... and I got hit when fighting- "Rick!!" I sart to run as fast as my legs can take me to the library in the other side of town, I know everyone is calling for me but I don't care right now Rick... don't die

10 Blessing

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Chapter 10
Blessing

I ran all the way from the Everfree to the library across town, just because Rick my be dying right this moment. I got to the library and immediately headed for the basement door, it was still locked. I took a quick glance at my inventory for a lockpick or a bobby pin, but had nothing. I started to look for anything to force the lock, making my way to the main bedroom.

I open the top drawer of the workdesk and find a few quills, "This will have to do," I run back down stairs to the basement door. I look at it, "Hope this works" I insert two quills into the keyhole and start messing with one of them keeping a light pressure on the other.

*click*

I open the door and head down, almost tripping in the process. At the bottom of the stairs there is another door, I try to open it, It wasn't locked, good

I open the door an see another set of stairs, but this time in an open room, with no railing. On the floor I see Rick lying down under a blanket. I jump off the side landing hard on my legs, taking some damage, and approach Rick, I slowly remove the blanket, I hope It isn't too bad...

I close my eyes and yank the blanket off. I carefully open my eyes, Aaaand he's bound by a rope... great

"Luis!" I turn to face the door way and see Twilight a bit winded. I turn back to Rick and start looking for a knot, "How did you open the door? I magically locked it!"

"I picked the lock," I move to the other side of Rick and see the knot, "Found you!" I begin to undo the knot

"What are you doing!?? He might attack you again!" I think he might attack you, if I'm bi\eing honest, Twilight. Since you shot him and all

"Look, I made a really important discovery today," Damn you knot, "As it turns out, what you call 'magic' we call 'radiation'; that's when an atom breaks down it radiates electrons, protons, etc, and that can cause serious damage to the human body," I think I got the knot now, "The most immediate symptom would be blistering of the skin, and then nausea, then the body itself starts to break down leading to internal bleeding and organ failure, and eventually death," I finally undo the knot and start loosening the rope, "I don't want to loose my only friend, ok?!"

I see a pair of purple hands reach for the rope on the other side, "Let me help you," I nod

We finally get the rope off Rick and I reach for the bottom of his shirt and lift it, exposing the side that recieved the impact, ...nothing... huh... I then look at his other side, Maybe he isn't affected by magic? Or maybe it hasn't been long enough?

"I don't see anything wrong with him. Except that he's furless" She probably thought I wouldn't be able to hear that last part

I start looking through my inventory to see if I have anything to get like a medical check-up on him, but obviously I have nothing. Then I get an idea and take off my pip-boy to put it on Rick. As soon as it finishes booting up, a message pops up, "Authorized user not detected. Only displaying vitals..."

"So. Are you going to tell me about that now?" As the scanner boots up I look at Twilight With her so close I can see she doesn't have a normal horse coat, it looks softer... like cat fur almost... interesting- NO! consentrate! Rick might be dying here!!

"It's a pip-boy, a Personal Information Processor. It can keep track of invetory and other stuff, like a journal, but it works more like the video game more than the lore. Anyways, it can also show the physical condition of the one wearing it and ,becasue it works like in the video game, my skills, abilities and the like," The little message finally gois away and the stats screen loads, "Let's see here.." 96 of 100, better than expected. Rads... 0 rads... "So I'm the one weak to magic? Motherfucker..."

"What was that?" I immediately face her, Shit! Did she hear me?

"Just that Rick doesn't have radiation in his body," I suffer form radiation and he doesn't and I'm the one who has the videogame powers... video game... "BALANCED GAMEPLAY! Of course. I'm the gamer so... wait I'm player one, he's like an NPC to me and they're immune to radiation in the games..." Fuck me, I'm weaker to magic than I should be because of Fallout!!

"Let me lift the spell" I'm going to guess the one that's keeping him unconscious, Her horn glows slightly for a second and the fades, "There, he should be waking up soon"

"Twilight! Luis! Are you here?"

"We're down here Rainbow Dash!" I look at the door way and Rainbow Dash pops out

"You can call me just Rainbow or Dash, I told you" I remove the pip-boy from Rick

"What about RD?" I put the pip-boy back on and look back at Rainbow

"I guess that works"

"What's with the talking skittles?" We all look at Rick whos already woke up and is leaning on his elbows

"Yeah, they don't know what skittles are, Rick"

"So what is a skittle?" I look at Rainbow

"A type of candy in our world"

"TASTE THE RAINBOW!! Woo hoo!" Well then...

"ANYWAYS..." I look at Rick, "Let's get you out of here"

"HE ALMOST KILLED YOU AND YOU ACT LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED!!?"

Pause for comedic effect, "Basically," I help Rick up and make him lean on my shoulder as we begin walking to the stairs, "Now be carful you were under a spell to keep you unconscious, you might be dizy and definitely confused"

Almost Falling Downstairs Several Times Later

I sit Rick on the center table, I stand next to him. Then the library door opens and The Princesses, and the rest of the mane six enter.

"What is that rufian doing here?"

"This 'rufian', as you put it, is my only friend from my world, and we found ourselves in a very unfavourable position last night. That does not mean he's dangerous, he just had his whole world crash right infront of him when I told him we're stuck here. So he got a little emotional, what of it? Huh?" I feel a hand on my cheek

"You're funny when you're angry," now he's stroking my face, Great! The spell made him drunk!

"And you get touchy when you're drunk" I turn to everyone "I think the spell is reacting weirdly to him, can anyone fix it?"

"Actually, I only partialy lifted the spell...

"Can you remove it, please? I don't want to deal with drunk Rick right now"

"Here, let me do it," Celestia's horn begins to glow with the very familiar gloden colour "There, he shouldn't have any side effects"

Rick's head drops then snaps back up, "What the hell!" then he looks at at everyone in the room "what the hell..." He looks at me

"Let me introduce you to everyone," he nods, I point at Rainbow "That's Rainbow Dash, you can tell by the rainbow mane and the oh so original name"

"Hey! My name is awesome"

"Sure," I say with a dismisive wave, then I point at Rarity, "That's Rarity, the town's seamstress and expert Fashionista," Then to Pinkie Pie, "That's Pinkie Pie, party extraordinaire," then to Applejack, "That's Applejack, she's the jack of all things apple in, probably, all of Equestria," then to Fluttershy, "That right there, hiding behind Applejack, is Fluttershy, she's, well, shy and Ponyville's animal expert," I then lean down to whisper to Rick, "She can talk to animals and has a pet bear, and has 'the stare' so don't make her mad," I then return to my stance and point at Spike, "The baby dragon, yes he's a real dragon, is Spike..." I then point at Twilight "...Twilight Sparkle's assistant. Twilight is the protégé of Princess Celestia," I point at Celestia, "Princess Celestia is the co-ruler of Equestria with her sister-" I point at Luna "-Princess Luna," I then turn to everyone, "Everyone this is Rick"

"So, how am I going to comunicate?" I turn to Rick Right, forgot about that...

"Well... I haven't figured that out yet," I look at Twilight, "Twi I have a little research project for you"

"Twi? Really?" she kinda looks surprised and disapointed at the same time, then her expression changes to excitment, "What's this 'research project' you have?" she's clapping her hands together, now she's definitely excited

"Rick, right here can't understand you, and as you could probably tell, you can't understand him either. So I was thinking since you know so much about magic, you could come up with some sort of translator device or spell or something?" I facepalm and lower my head as I shake it a little, "I don't want to be in the middle being his translator"

Twilight becomes engrossed in thought and starts to murmur to her self, No idea on what she saying... Celestia then walks up to her and puts a hand on her shoulder

"You musn't worry yourself, Twilight," She then looks at me and Rick, "You two could come with us-" she quickly glances at Luna with a smile "-and have our team of mages help"

I look at Rick, "Instead of having just Twilight create a translator, we could have a whole team of wizards help. That sounds better right? And we'll be in the royal palace"

"I guess?" he kind of shrugs, "As long as it doesn't involve getting probed"

I sigh, "Yeah, let's go to Canterlot"

"You mean Camelot?" I look at Rick with an amused face

"Pony world, therefore: horse puns," I look back at the ponies, they all seem to be wandering what Rick said "He asked if I meant Camelot instead of Canterlot ... I guess that's the human equivalent if the name, even if it's from legend," Everyone seemed to accept my explanation, "Anyway, yeah, we'll be going to Canterlot for the thing"

After we agreed to go, we headed to the party Pinkie planned for the return of Princess Luna at townsquare. Celestia made the library Twilight's official house in Ponyville, and told everyone that me and Rick would return after a while.

Rick and I get on the carriage and turn to the town and start waving, "See you soon, everyone," I say. I then turn to Rick, "This is going to be an interesting week or so"

"How do you know it's only going to be a week?"

"I don't, but there are a few things I want to be in Ponyville for, and they happen soon. Either way, it's going to be an interesting time," I get the feeling we're going to be more surprised when we return than being in Canterlot

"Indeed..."

11 Groundwork

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Chapter 11
Groundwork

"...but one thing we should have addressed hours ago. Why the hell do we look like freaking cartoon characters? The big eyes, smaller mouths; it's like we're an anime, but western" I look at Rick

"That's simple once you think about it" I wait for Rick to get it; Is he really that dense? "We're in a different universe, you know? We look like humans would look like in this world. Just look at them-" I point at the Princesses"-and then at us, the differences are minimal, the major ones being the fact that they're not human and the faces being similar to that of a pony's"

"I guess..." He then looks at his symbol on the back of his hand

"What art thou speaking of to thy friend?" I turn to Luna "And wherefore art thee speaking to him in equestrian at which hour he clearly doest not speaketh?" I need to teach her modern english, or equestrian, whatever

"Well, my power-" I raise my hand to show my symbol "-allows me to understand any language I know" I lower my hand Maybe it extends to those I don't understand too, who knows?

"We think we understand"

The trip was mostly unventful, although I found something I really don't like. My inventory basically reseted itself, no pistol, no ammo, even the VOM Scanner. Both Celestia and Luna kept glancing at me, not sure what for.

As we landed, I spotted a group of guards waiting for us. When we disembarked, one of the guards approached me and apologized for the 'warm welcome' he gave me, I told him not to worry and that I had forgotten that happened.

"No, really I forgot! So don't worry seriously" I have him by the shoulders shaking him a little

"Ok ok, I get it. Relax!" I let go of him; I like him...

"what's your name? I'm Luis by the way" I extend my hand for a hand shake

He takes my hand and gives it a solid shake; He has a really strong grip, sheez "My name is Lightning Hooves" We take our hands back

"We should hang when you're off-duty" This place has seriously done something to me

"That sounds good" And he accepted, great! Now I have to commit

"If I'm not occupied come find me. I'm pretty sure I won't leave the castle for a while" There is probably going to be a lot of questions

"See you later, Luis" With a smile and a wave he leaves; Probably to his post

"I'm sure you will get along just fine. Now, let's take you to the infirmary" Just why?

"Umm, why do I need to go to the infirmary?" Do I look sick or something?

"To have that injury-" She points at my bloodied arm; Right... "-checked out, you wouldn't want and infection" ...the timberwolf... I begin to roll my sleeve to see the wound, and Nothing... cool

I raise my arm to show Celestia "There is nothing to worry about, see?" My game powers are awesome

That didn't quite convinced her and we ended up in the infirmary anyways. It was all 'the blood must have come from something' and 'you don't know what type of damage could have happend', I say she worries too much... it feels nice.

While on our way to the infirmary I checked my status on the pip-boy, I have no infections, injuries or addictions, but I did notice a buff, 'Friend of the Night' it gives me +2 intelligence at night and night vision at low light. How that works, I don't know; I don't feel any smarter. I guess my insomnia is paying off? Anyway, Rick just idly followed.

The doctor, Tender Care, has been asking a lot of where the blood came from "But you have no bit marks or scaring"

Tender Care, apart from having a funny and fitting name, is a grey unicorn mare and has a brown mane and tail, both a bit on the long side by normal standards but not as long as Fluttershy's, with light brown mixed in. She's wearing a white lab coat and underneath a light blue buttoned shirt and black dress pants.

"Believe me, it's my blood and it happened because a timberwolf bit me"

"Ok, I'll believe you. But it would be easier if you had something to show for it" She then looks at my hoodie "Can you take your coat off?" Ha! Coat

"It's called a hoodie, and sure" I unzip it and take it off throwing it aside. Suddenly everyone stares at me "What!?" I look down to see I have my hoodie on again "What?? Umm, ok then" I try again to take my hoodie off only to have it reappear on me; Maybe it needs to be in physical contact with me to not do this; I take it off once more but don't put it aside, keeping it in my hand "Guess that worked. Now I just need to figure out how to remove it"

"Part of thy powers we presume?" I guess..

"Yeah, I think" Tender Care approaches me with a stethoscope

"I'm just going to do a normal check up on you, then I'll compare it with the average pony and see what differs, ok?" Hopefully nothing weird; I nod and she puts the head of the stethoscope under my shirt on my back "Now take a deep breath" I do so "Now out" I exhale

The average procedure that one would expect was what happened, plus blood (and other fluids) samples and physical test to build a complete medical profile. Apparently I'm under average to pony standards, fun. Then we went to the archives and got registered, both Rick and me, as Equestrian citizens, and me as Celestia's adoptive son, that's awesome. Rick and I got taken to the room we'll be sharing for the time being, even though the room is more of an apartment without a kitchen.

"That is all for now. Tomorrow we'll begin to help your friend" I look at the clock on my pip-boy; It's past 10 already "It's getting late. If you need anything, you know where my room is, don't fret to call me" With that she leaps and flies to the tallest tower, that being the royal quarters; I need to fly I turn my head, still looking out the door

"Rick, do you think we'll be able to fly?"

"Bud, we don't have wings" I turn to him we a 'not amused' face

"True, but what if we can create some sort of mechanical wings that run on magic?"

"Do they even have the technology for that?" If sombra wins, Rainbow gets one... so yeah

"Surprisingly, the answer is 'yes' believe it or not" Rick is now shocked

"REALLY??"

"Yep, now let's go to sleep" I look at the pip-boy clock 10:23, earlier than when I usually go to sleep "We'll think about it later, night"

"Good night, buddy" our beds are in the same room, but on opposite walls, with two nightstands in between. I move the covers and sit down on my bed, and then I look at Rick and wave to him to get his attention

"Just imagine it's a sleepover at your house"

"Sure, why not?"

About an Hour Later

*thump*

"what..?"

*thump*

I open my eyes

*thump*

I look at Rick's bed to not see him there

*thump*

"What is that idiot doing now?" I sit up

*thump*

I get off the bed and begin walking to the main room

*thump*

As I enter the main room, I see Rick facing a wall. Then he moves his head towards it

*thump*

Why the hell is he doing that; I begin to slowly move towards him

*thump*

As I reach him, I place my hand on his shoulder and with a stern voice say "What do you think you're doing?"

He looks at me and I notice a small amount of blood on his forehead; What an imbecile; "I don't want to talk about it"

"Crybaby, I can assure sure everything will be fine. Even if they don't think they can find a way, there is always one" He looks at me doubtfully, I respond by raising my hand to show the symbol "With our powers, we can send you home, ok? You just need to create a program to pinpoint our universe, and I need to create a teleporter that can go across dimessions" Just like Fallout 4, but ten million times more complicated

"How can we even begin to do that? Have you thought about that? HUH?" As a matter of fact...

"Idoit, we're in a world literally full of magic. If without magic we can teleport photons hundreds of kilometers, with magic we might be able to create interdimensional travel" He seems a bit more hopeful now "Now let's rest before you pass out"

"That would be a good idea" we both head to bed, but Rick goes to clean up first

That night I had my first lucid dream in years. I was in a room full of doors, but there was no floor, walls or ceiling, yet there was a presence that felt like it was watching my every move. It felt like it owned the place, giving me the feeling that I shouldn't be there, that I should hide

12 Developments

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Chapter 12
Developments

I woke up feeling uneasy, the feeling of the dream not leaving me for a second. Throughout the whole morning I kept checking behind me, I still felt watched. During breakfast Celestia noticed my unrest and told me to see her after. I told her the dream, or nightmare I really don't know, and she suggested that maybe being in the room when Naghtmare Moon's dark magic disperced with out the protection of the elements had something to do with it.

Rick still had no way of communicating and waited for me to return so we could go see the reaserch team. As we made our way to the research wing of the castle, being escorted by a guard, Rick and I talked a little. I aked how he slept and apparently I was the only one who didn't leep well, but I didn't tell him that.

"This is the laboratory" said the gaurd as he opened the door

"Thank you" I say giving Rick a slight push to the room

"If you need anything the Royal Guards are at your service, Prince" I turn to him slightly shocked

"Prince?" Without breaking composure the guard responds

"You were adopted by the Princess herself, Prince Luis" I rub the back of my neck; True...but it feels weird

"Right, but Luis is just fine"

"With all due respect, Prince, it is my duty to adhere to the Royal Guard Conduct Guidlines"

"Fine, you win. But don't call me 'Prince' unless necesary"

"Yes, Sir" He says with a salute and walks away. I turn to Rick who was obviously trying to follow the conversation

"What?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb here, are they calling you 'prince' by any chance?" I nod and walk in to the lab

The lab is like a large study but diveded in half with a workshop, bookshelves on the walls, desks with scrolls pilled on and a couple of ponies reading and writing on the scrolls, on one side, and workbenches, test dummies and all sorts of instruments to measure... stuff... magic stuff on the other

One of the ponies notices us at the door and stands up, putting a scroll away, and begins to walk our way. He stops infront of us and extends a hand towards Rick

"You must be Rick" Rick take his hand and shake it, then the pony turns to me and tries for a handshake "And you must be Luis" a Pony behind him jumps form her seat and runs to the Pony greeting us, giving him a smack behind the head

"You idiot, Thinker, that's Luis the adoptive son of Celestia" says the second pony "He's a prince" she then bows pushing Thinker to bow aswell

"WOW wow, relax no need to bow. And just call me Luis" they both rise and then Thinker leans to the second pony and whispers

"Told you. You owe me ten bits" to which she sighs

"Anyways. Yes, my name is Luis" I point at Rick "and this is Rick, he's the one who doesn't understand you" I extend my hand to the second pony "Nice to meet you miss..."

"Quick Study" Seriusly?

"Now that introductions are over" Thinker is jumping the gun a little "You needed a translation crystal for your friend here, no?" Translation crystal? I was expecting like a spell or something

"Yeah, just tell me what you need" I hear Rick give a nervous chuckle; He's still thinking about probing or something...; Quick Study put her hand on her chin in thought; ...probably

"First we'll need a basic form of communication so you don't have to be in the middle all the time" Thinker snaps his fingers and jumps in

"How about we teach him how to read and write and we continue from there?" I've been able to read their language, but it might be my power... I know

"I can translate anything, right? So write down your alphabet and I translate that to something Rick can understand" I hope this works Quick seems to get doubtful

"I don't know... Maybe you won't be able to translate it as easily as speaking" She's got a point, but we have to try

"Just do it, if it doesn't work then we'll see, ok?" Quick then goes to her desk writes down on a scroll and comes back showing me the contents

"Here that's the Ponish alphabet" It looks like the normal 26-letter alphabet to me I reach for the scroll

"May I?" she nods and hands me the paper, I then turn to Rick and show him the writing "Can you read this? It looks like normal English to me" He just stands there looking perplexed

"How do you read 'horseshoe'?" That different, huh? "At least there's twenty six symbols, it might be just like English when written but not when spoken. Just need to replace the... letters??" I look at the two ponies in front of me about to say something but Thinker talks first

"How different is it to your written language?" Honestly i'm not sure

"It seems to be just a matter of replacing the letters, but to be sure I have to ask you one really important thing: Are they letters or symbols? Meaning, when you write them down do they always mean the same thing or can they change meaning entirely based on what word follows?" Basically, is it like Latin-born languages, or is it like Asian languages?

"They are just letters. They just represent themselve until stringed together, but the first one can be used alone to conect words or specify a singular object" Quick is the first one to answer. Just like 'A', cool

"Ok, so it seems to be similar" I look down at the paper, then back at Quick "Can I have a pen?" she looks at me slightly confused; Not that technologically advanced, right "Quill, I meant quill" She quickly runs to her desk

"Can you actually read it?" Thinker with the real questions; I nod as Quick comes back and hands me the quill

"Thank you" I redirect my attention to the scroll and begin to write down the conterparts of the alphabet. As I finish I hand the scroll and quill to Rick

"Thanks, bud" He gives the paper a quick read and turns it around to begin to write something, turning it back from time to time to look at the symbols. After finishing, he double checks everything is good enough and hands it to Quick who immediatly begins reading it

"He wrote 'thank you'" she then looks at Thinker with a huge smile on her face with an audiable 'squee' "We can now learn a language nopony in this world speaks" She then looks at me "You have to teach us your language" I don't want to turn her down, but I won't be able to

"Remember, I translate everything. I can't teach you, but-" I point at Rick "-if you teach him, then he can teach you"

The door to the room opens which catches my attention, I look to see a gaurd walking towards me. He stops infont of me

"Sir, your presence has been requested on the training grounds by the Captain of the Guard" Ok. Why?

"Sure, just give me a sec" I turn to Rick "They want me somewhere. Use their writing to comunicate, and write as if you were writing English with their letters. I'm sure it will make it easier for them to create the translator" I then turn to Thinker and Quick "Don't make him feel unconfortable, it's really easy" I quickly turn to the guard "Take me there"

"Follow me, sir" I do as told and as walk out the door, I look back and give Rick a thumbs up

We went down the hall took a few left's and several right's, not specifically in that order, went to ground level, out the castle through the front courtyard across castle grounds in to a building to the side. That was the barracks, which we went through to the back of said building into what was definitely the training grounds. Dummies to one side, bullseye targets to the other, a running track in between, with a sort of arena in the middle which kind of looked like a basketball court without the baskets or areas on either side, just the part in the middle.

As we stop at the door he points to a pony in purple armour
"That's the captain" I turn to the guard

"Thanks, I got it from here" he the salutes and walks away the way we came. I begin to walk towards the captain

The captain of the Royal Guards is Shining Armor is a white unicorn stallion with a navy blue mane with a royal blue accent, same as his tail. He's almost as tall as me, which makes him taller than every guard around us, as well as well built with a body that reminds me of Triple H. He's wearing purple armour with gold accents and a magenta star on the chest piece

The captain sees me and walks towards me. As he gets close enough he extends a hand "Hello there, I'm Captain Shining Armor" I take his hand and give a solid shake

"Hello. I'm Luis" Twilight's brother is a hulking beast, sheezus

"Prince, I am not goin to 'beat around the bush' as they say, I will be going to do some physical tests on you. As seeing you out ran the Royal Guards on your first day here in Canterlot" Ok, basically just going to see how I out ran them for over an hour

"Sure, what's first. Oh, and by the way, don't call me 'prince', Luis is just fine" This might get really annoying fast

"Sorry prince Luis, but I am bound by the Royal Guard Conduct Guidlines. As for the first test, it's just a simple 100m dash" He turns and begins to walk to the track; I guess I follow then; I begin to folow behind

As we make our way to the track, I feel the eyes of most of the guards following me, some with simpathy and others with rivalry.

We get to the track's start line for the 100m dash, he turns to me "You should remove your... coat, it'll make it easier" Ha, coat I look at him and unzip my hoodie then take it off and throw it aside, only to have it reappear on me "Oh..." I zip the hoodie back up and roll my sleeves "Anyway, get in line and wait for may signal" I do as told as Shining Armor makes his way to the end of the dash with a stopwatch in hand; Where did that come from?. With me ready to go, he turns around and lifts his hand giving the '3,2,1' before yelling "GO!"

I run as fast as my legs can take me, no sense in being slower than I actually am. I pass the finish line and slow down as fast as possible, turning to Shining as I do so "How did I *pant* do?"

"12.96 seconds" Shiny, you're making it sound like it's a bad time

"Well, that's a new record for me. Nice" Shining turns to me with the most neutral face he could make

"Seeing as how my slowest guard did it in 10.32 seconds... That was pretty bad" That's Usain Bolt levels of speed, holy shit!

"Bad for me or bad for you?" I mean I did out run them He looks slightly up in mock thought

"At this point, I'm going to lean towards 'bad for us'" He then looks at me "So how did you do it? How did you out run the Royal Guards?" With determination; I chuckle a little

"I'm pretty sure I didn't out run you guys as much as I out maneuvered you" I lift my hands and begin to gesture "I mean I was running on rooftops, jumping down them, jumping streets, droping to the streets, taking alleyways, climbing walls and buildings, I was dodging a few of the guards who decided to cut me off" I cross my arms "I think that's what helped me. That and that the guards wear amror that slows them down while I had light civilian clothing" Shining then gets a smug look on his face

"My guard's personal records in armour are still faster than your attempt" Well... shit, that's fast I then feel a hand on my shoulder "So how did you do it? And can you teach me and my guards?" I'm suposed to... do somthi-ah nevermind, sure

"Sure, why not. It's not that complicated, just a lot of practise, which I didn't have to do thanks to my power" Let's see here, there is the safty roll, the wall climb and run... there is more to it than I remember I look back at Shining Armor and he's already getting the guards together; Looks like I'm going to be the teacher... great

"Alright everypony! ATTEN-HUT!!!" And a military-esk pep-talk happens with child like language; Shining Armor is going to be 'peeved' if they under perform, and somehow that is intimidating some of the guar-HOLY SHIT!! Is that Flash Sentry?? Blue spiked mane, short tail, orange fur, blue eyes. Yep, I think it is "...NOW GET OUT THERE AND DO NOT DISAPPOINT!!"

"I've seen newby military drill sergeants that are more intimidating, but sure, you do you Shiny" Shining shoots me a disapproving look "Anyway, the most important move of parkour is the safety roll" A few of the guards seem to get a little confused "Two things before we begin, if you have any doubts, ask away, secondly, 'parkour' is what I did to out run you on our first meeting, it's what we call 'efficient running'. It's all about mantaining momentum and slowing down as little as possible" Their doubts seem to clear; Cool, now back to the class

"The safety roll is the most basic of moves in parkour, it allows you to follow up a drop with running without slowing down too much, as well as allowing you to fall further without getting hurt, you might feel pain but you won't go to the hospital unless you do it wrong or fall from higher than recomended. Anyways, basically the roll allows you to reduce the impact of a fall by not only increasing the time it takes for you to slow down, but also increasing the area of your body that recives the impact effectivly reducing the amount of force any specific area of your body will experience"

A Couple Hours of Teaching Parkour Later

You just have to skip the boring parts don't you? At least do a cool montage with 'eye of the tiger' or something

I don't feel like it, now shut up

And he responds

What did I say?

Almost all of the guards are tired now, Shining is one of the few still on his feet, or hooves whatever, along with the General from the first day and a few others "I think that's all for today, you did well" One of the guards looks at me a bit amazed

"How come *pant* you're not *pant* as tired as *pant* we are?" How do I even aswer that? 'Hey it's my special talent' or what? ... ... That can actually work...

"Well, simple-" Time to, posibly, bullshit "-my special talent allows me to do things that are beyond normal logic, we call it 'videogame logic' which let's me regain my stamina within a few seconds, and a few other things"

"Sir, your presence has been requested by the Princess" WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?; I turn around to look at the guard

"Sure, let's go" as we walk towards the building I turn around and wave at everyone

The walk to the throne room was mostly uneventful, but I convinced the guard to talk to me a little. Apparently Celestia is planning on assigning me a personal guard, that's going to be interesting, as for the reason for calling me to the throne room, well, he has no idea only that it might involve my appearance in this world.

This guard also turned out to be Lightning Hooves's brother, Thunder Guard. The naming conventions of this world still make no sense. Anyway, I inveted him just like Lightning Hooves just in case they get the same day off, which apparently happens more commonly among sibling guards.

"The Princess is already waiting" said one of the guards by the door, both of the guards horns glow and the door begins to open. I turn to Thunder

"See you later" he gives a salute and walks away. I step into the throne room and begin scanning my suroundings; I don't think she might assign me a guard now, but who knows; as I continue walking towards the throne, I take note the two guards are present, as well as Luna and two other, this time, batpony night guards; In the show they always have two guards each, so maybe no guard for me today. What would the other thing be anyway?; The two Princesses begin to make their way down the stairs

I arriave at the foot of the stairs and Celestia gives me a tight hug "Hello, Luis, How are you today?" Nice and warm, thank you; I return the hug

"I'm doing fine, how about you, mom?"

"I'm doing just fine" Celestia lets go of the hug

"That's great" I turn to Luna, she seems slightly confused "How about you aunt Luna?" Which changes to shock

Luna looks at Celestia who gives her a nod and then turns back to me, her expression changeing to excitment with a 'squee' and hugs me very tightly "We art doing fine, nephew" Luna gives a quite happy squeal "We art very joyous at the news" I return the hug tapping her back a little; I can't breath. I submit I submit

"Air. I. Need. Air" She let's go blushing a little "I'm happy you're happy *deep inhale* But, be gentle with you happiness *audible inhale* Please" Luna backs up a bit and rubs the back of her neck

"Thou has our most humble apologies" Celestia takes a step towards me and put a hand on my shoulder

"Now that you are an official part of the royal family, you are going to need a personal guard to protect you" So I AM getting a guard. It couldn't be one the four present could it? "So I decide that you should get on of the night guards as your guard" Why a night guard? "If you are wandering why a night guard, it's because when we first arrive at the castle you mumbled something about being a friend of the night" I feel a blush on my face; Did I really mumble that that loud?

"Did I really mumble that? I though I was just reading it" Celestia then walks back next to Luna with a smirk

"The night guards are still part of the EUP Royal Guards, they are trained, skilled and most importantly dedicated to their job" E.U.P. Earth. Unicorn. Pegasus. PEGASUS Taking a loud inhale at my realisation, I look up to see a batpony hanging from the ceiling looking directly at me in shock. The batpony then drops, does a flip and lands infront of me; It's a she...

The batpony is a pegasus mare with bat wings intead of feathery ones. Her fur is a brown-ish drak grey, almost can't see the brown, while her mane are tail are a really dark grey and probably as long as Fluttershy's, but not covering her face so much. She's wearing normal clothes with really light armour on top, kind of like the leather armour in Fallout 4. The armour has a crescent moon on the right shoulder. The clothes themselves are similar to what you would find in England in the late industrial revolution, a white long sleeve shirt with a black vest, black pants and, surprisingly enough, black boots. Or what can be considered boots on a hoove, I guess.

She's got red eyes... "Red..."

"Luis, stop staring" I jump a little at the sudden whisper in my ear; Wait staring... for how long?.. I start to blush again "This is Noctis Umbra and she will be your personal guard" Night Shadow... interesting name

I extend my hand for a hand shake, but Umbra salutes instead; That hurt my feelings a little, ouch.

"Noctis Umbra at your service, Prince" And she sound slighty Scottish, why does she sound Scottish?

"Speaking of 'prince', would it be possible to not make it public knowledge that you adopted me? I want to have a normal life for as long as possible, if you don't mind" Celestia gives me a knowing smile

"How would you explain having a royal guard?" Good question...lets see

"How about we don't? Just let everyone find out at their own time. If I get asked I won't lie, but I will avoid the subject" That should work

"Thou needs to behold the political side of thy dilemma" Fuck! She's right it could cause an uproar amongst the nobles of Equestria; I sigh in defeat

"Ok, you win" I look at Noctis "Be casual with me" She opens her mouth to say something, but I point at her and interrupt "And don't give me a 'I have to follow the Royal Guard Conduct Guidelines', got it?" She was about to salute but stoped herself and only gave a nod. I turn to Celestia "I'm guessing this wasn't the only thing you called me here for"

She nods, then looks at one of the guards "Bring it in" the guard salutes and walks out the door, Celestia returns her view to me "I've had a team investigate the area where you first appeared" The guard returns with a box and gives it to Celestia "Thank you" she looks back at me "And they found this" she opens the box

"wha..." Inside the box is a smoke grenade; 'M18 SMOKE RED', why is it here? I look at Celestia "They found it where I first appeared?" I look back at the grenade

"Yes, do you know or have any idea on what it is?" I nod and reach for the grenade "So, what is it?"

"It's a smoke grenade" I hold it infront of me "Specifically an M18 smoke grenade" Why would it be here?

"What does it do?" I look at Noctis surprised she talked

"It creates a smoke screen, but this model specifically is more to mark a spot for..." My eyes widen "...a care package. This is used as a signal" Where can I use this? The courtyard "Let's go to the courtyard. I'm gonna use it"

One Walk to the Outside Later

Seriously? I stand grenade in hand in the middle of a clearing in the courtyard "Here goes nothing" I press on the lever and pull the pin out, then let go of the lever, letting it fly off, and drop the grenade taking a few steps back as the red smoke leaves the chamber. I the distance I hear a pop

"So... Is anything going to happen?" Noctis, patience I look up to see a crate falling

"Give it time" a parachute deploys on the crate

"What is that?"

"A care package, or supply drop" The crate makes contact with the ground and the parachute banishes; That's weird; I walk up to it and open it

13 Airdrops

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Chapter 13
Airdrops

Inside the crate is a bunch of holotapes and a letter, so I grab the letter; Might as well know what this is. Let's see
Dear Luis,

It's me, the disembodied voice that keeps saying timeskips but is writing to you now because, well, I can make the letter appear in an instant and don't have to waste time telling you everything. Really nice thing being me.

Well then, how freaking lazy of this bitch

I'm just going to explain a little bit about this care packages I'm going to be sending you. You have to find the grenades, I'm not going to deliver them anymore as this one was just to get the ball rolling.

In this package you will find new abilities you can 'upload' or 'mod-into' yourself. The loot module is a definite as well as the level-up module, both will help you get more grenades, the creature and animal respawn module is just so you can go 'farming' without a care or regret. Don't worry, the animals won't remember being dead, it will 'save' their soul as it was just before they detected you and respawn on the same place next day at the same time, for the animals nothing would have happened. And no, they are not copies of the soul, they're the real thing.

Is he a fucking god or something?

This package also contains a laptop with restricted access to your world's internet, but don't worry you can play any game ever created on it and watch anything with a few selected exceptions (for ovbious reasons). I also gave you a mouse for easier use of the laptop, anything else not in this list is just randomly generated and given to you. I won't know what it is until it is seen, think of it as 'Schrödinger's cat.'

So inside is nothing and everything, but only one thing once I look at it, cool

I should mention that this specific care package will have 10 things, 5 modules and 5 items, but in the future it will vary anywhere from 1 big thing to 10 small things like this one, no more and no less (any less would be nothing after all). You can lift the foam after you take the holotapes to look at and take the items.

TTFN

Ok then...

"Soooo" Good to see she's not so guard-like with me "What does it say?" I look at Noctis; Sould I tell her I might be pen pals with a god? ... nah

"This crate has some stuff that might be usefull as well as having some new abilities I'll be able to use" I look back at the holotapes and take one; 'Loot Module'; I load up the holotape into the pip-boy. As I close the top, the screen displays rapidly scrolling lines of what I can assume is code. The screen then displays to the vault boy giving a thumbs up and changes into a long description of how it works.

This now ability basically allows me to get items out of defeated enemies and other creatures. I then load up the other four holotapes:

Level-up Module - (increases my chances for good loot based on experience)
Creature Respawn Module - (Let's animals keep on living if I kill them)
Music Module - (I can do anything music related as average as can be, but can improve with practise)
HUD Module - (Now I can see my health, compass, etc., in my field of vision but somehow out of the way)

The last two being random, and the HUD module being the trippiest. The 'Level-up Mudule' is not what one might think, instead of making me stronger or some stuff like that, it increase my chances at rare loot effectively turning my life into a pay-to-win game where I don't have to pay, but rely on luck; Damn you loot boxes! This is all EA's fault. The music module is quite interesting, it basically makes me a jack of all instruments, and other music things such as singing, etc, but master of none, if I wan't to master an instrument then I have to practise, but overall it makes me average on everything music related, even hard instruments like the piano.

I lift the foam to expose the rest of the things in this supply drop. Inside there is a plain looking laptop in the middle, the logo on the back being the milky way galaxy, next to it there is a controller that looks like a mix of the original xbox controller and that of an xbox one, next to the controller there is a headset. To the other side of the laptop there is a simple mouse, next to the mouse is a smoke grenade; That's nice, a two for one. I take everything out of the crate and it the banishes; Still weird how things just cease to exist; I look down at the stuff I took out of the crate; Now how do I get you into my inventory.

Use the other grenade; Sure disembodied voice. You need a name by the way; No I don't; I think I'll go with biggot, what do you think?; Fuck. You; Love you too, buddy

I pull the pin off the grenade and toss it a couple of meters infront of me. Same thing happens crate falls, parachute deploys, parachute disappears once it lands. I open the second crate to see a similar set up as the previous once, but only four holotapes plus a letter. I open the letter and begin to read

Hi biggot,

I hope you're having a shitty time you son of a bitch-

Well, that isn't very nice

I don't need a name and that's final!! I was going to give you power armour but now I changed my mind, hope it was worth it. Anyways, in this package you will find 2 modules I forgot to give you, this are very useful, they are a crafting module and a pip-boy control module. I am also giving you a few stimpacks and radaways, because if you die this story will become really boring. Same as before, everything not listed is random.

With a bit of hate,
ME!!!

Mhmm, this- what is he? Demi-god? God? Whatever- is really hard to read. Anyways, that's cool, crafting is going to be really fun. I reach into the create and begin installing my new add-ons; That's so weird to thing about, I'm installing new abilities on my self

Blueprint/Crafting Module - (Gives me access to crafting tables and recipes for items, but I have to discover them)
Enhanced Control Module - (Now I have mental commands for the pip-boy, which means I can change clothes now. YAY!)
Customization Module - (I can now re-style my armour, clothing, hair and beard, and the colours of them)
Lycanthropy Module - (Imma mutherfucking werewolf!!! HURRA!)

The crafting came with the recipes for the different crafting workbenches (armour, clothing, etc) and the recipe of the smoke grenade. The enhanced control is just what I already described, I just think of something I can do with the pip-boy and it does it. The customization module allows me to use the workbenches to edit already created pieces of whatever, as well as leting me use my own bathroom mirror to change my hair style and even its colour. Lastly, the lycanthropy module is just that, plus being able to choose how 'transformed' I get, so anywhere from just enhancing my senses, to transforming fully into a wolf all the while keeping control and intelligence.

I lift the foam and reveal a stimpack, radaway and a fusion core; OH COME ON!!!; Hakuna your tatas there, boy. It's not like I can do anything with them "Now, how do I use that new inventory management?" Do I just grab it?; I grab the stimpack... nothing happens; Do I think 'take'?; I hover my hand over the stimpack; Take; ...nothing; Do I think 'take' and close my hand?; I hover my hand over the stimpack; Take; then I close my hand aaand... it worked, the stimpack is not there anymore.

I take a look in my inventory, and sure enough I had the stimpack in the aid catergory, but instead of one I have ten; Which means there is also ten radaways, right?; I take the radaways, and after a quick check I see only five; Too bad; I start to take everything and testing how far I can take stuff from, and as it turns out one meter is the answer.

I turn around to see Noctis staring at me; I really need a nickname for her "What?" Right, me taking stuff from a distance; I flash a smug look "Jealous?"

"How did you even do that?" her mouth is hanging open; That's hilarious... she has fangs... that's so cool

"Magic" I start to walk back to the castle

"But you don't have a horn!" I look at her; Those red eyes are captivating...

"Which makes it all the more special. Now let's go" I motion my arm fowards "To the castle!!" I chuckle a little, I think I heard her chuckle

14 Voice of Silence

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Chapter 14
Voice of Silence

Noctis and I made our way back to the throne room, but on the way some guards and maids were eying me and whispering among themselves. I didn't pay too much mind untill I heard someone mention Blueblood, ugh of course it's him. At one point one two guards came up to me, they turned out to be Lightning Hooves and Thunder Guard, and told me that at the moment they wouldn't recommend me going to the throne room. That Blueblood is placing a complaint about me, for what? No one know, they just know he's completely histerical about it.

We're approaching the throne room, doors closed, yet I can hear the yelling of Blueblood. The guards are doing an outstanding job keeping motionless. As we get closer to the door I start to make out what he's yelleing

"...AND HE IS NOT EVEN A PONY!! I AM AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO MAKE ME YOUR SON" He's really pissed with extreme hatred towards me. That can be a good introduction; there is a slight pause

"THIS WILL NOT BE THE LAST YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS!!!"

"We are done here" Noctis and I stop infront of the door

"Yes we are" with that the doors swing open and out come Blueblood, who only needs to take a glance at me the get even angrier. He walks up to me, gets really up to my face and points at me "You..." There is so much venom in his voice, relax dude

"BLUEBLOOD!"

"I'm not done with you" He walks away after that

I begin to walk into the room, but get stopped by a hand on my shoulder which procedes to turn me around. I'm now facing Noctis "Don't worry about him" I'm not worryed, but what is he planning?

"Why would I be worried? Because a spoon-fed snob-nosed prick had his jimmies russeled? Please" I pat her on the shoulder and turn to the throne

"Sorry about Blueblood. He is a handful at times" Both Celestia and Luna begin their descent down the stairs

"No problem, is not like he hit me or anything. And if he did, it wouldn't be that difficult to put him in his place" Just grab the arm and twisted behind his back, piece of cake

"If he ever does anything out of line, don't do anything drastic and inform me, please" I guess I won't be breaking his arm then

"Ok, don't worry" The four of us meet at the foot of the stairs and Celestia gives me a hug

"How did it go with the...?" She let's go of the hug but keeps her hands on my shoulders

"Care package"

"Care package? Did it have anything you like?" She his me a happy smile, but her face turn a little concerned "Have your eyes always been red?" Red, what? Wait, my eyes!?

Luna grabs my head and turns it to face her, her face going from shock to concern to anger as she turns to Noctis
"WHAT HAS THOU DONE TO OU-" Now I only hear ringing in my ears

I turn to Noctis whos cowering in fear a bit, I put myself in between her and Luna "She didn't do anything!" How do I explain this? "Inside the package there where abilities I could apply to myself, one of them being lycanthropy, or the ability to turn into a werewolf, that's the reason for the red eyes. NOT HER!!" If I remember my lore correctly, red eyes on a werewolf means alpha

I see Luna mouth something, the ringing still present in my hearing; Did she say something?; I the see Celestia's look off concern grow and mouths something to me; I think she asked if I'm ok, maybe?

"I can't hear a thing" Both Luna and Celestia cover their mouths with their hands, but Luna after a couple of seconds drops to her knees and begins sobbing into her hands. I crouch down and give her a hug "It's ok, it was an accident, just a mistake, all we can do is learn from them" I whispered into her ear

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and look at the owner, being Clesetia who then points at the side of her head then to me, She wants me to check my ear?; I cover my ear with one hand and give it a slight massage; I feel something warm and liquid on it, no... my ear drums burst didn't they... damn it I look at my hand, and sure enough there is blood on my palm, Great... I need to make Luna feel better though, a thousand years in the moon after a mistake only to make another the next day... she must feel horrible; I clean my hand on my jeans and return to hugging Luna, I then begin to stroke her mane

"Don't worry, I'll be fine soon enough. It's ok, just stop crying and it'll be better, doesn't that sound good?" She finally returns the hug

After calming down Luna, we headed to the infirmary to get my ears checked out. On the way Luna apologized to Noctis, they hugged and everything, but Noctis still seemed down. I placed my arm over her shoulders, and she leaned on me. Tender Care took a look at my ears, scribbled something, got another doctor who them proceded to check my ears. I was told through paper that I'll have to stay the night so they can check on me early in the morning. Soon after Rick came by to check on me, but after a while everyone said their goodbyes and I was left alone in the hospital room.

It could have been worse

Indeed, it could've. I'm just glad Luna won't be kicking herself tonight, I think I move to the window

At least you're not completely alone, you have me

Oh, goodie, I'm so honoured I though sarcastically, I look out the window The sun is going down now

Do you think Luna is lifting the moon now?

Shouldn't you know? outside, I see the moon slowly rise even if a bit unsteadily I guess she is

No, I wouldn't know as I'm stuck with you. That's what they wanted

They?

NOTHING!! GOTTA GO!! I hear the sound of a door slamming shut which causes me to look at the door way, but nothing has changed

Hello? I hear nothing Great... Fucking bitch I walk to the bed and lay on it What to do? What to do? I remember the laptop I could play a little I raise my hand with my palm open and up, and think of the laptop, which soon appears on my hand

I boot up the computer and look at the game library HO. LY. SHIT. That's a lot of games... The screen is filled with names, all I could imagine and more. I begin looking at all the games I can, with names like GTA, TES, and other franchises popping out at me, but I decide on 'Red Faction: Guerrilla'. I begin to play but find it difficult to use the mouse pad But there is no space for the mouse, so I guess I'll use the controller I promptly take out the controller and plug it in.

After a while I'm in Dust destroying some smokestacks, making them fall on eachother and other buildings when I feel someone trying to get my attention. I pause the game and look to where the poking came from, seeing Luna and Noctis. I reach to take off my headphones, but find none Right, I'm currently deaf, forgot about that "What are you doing here?"

They say something, I think I heard something that time, but can't make out what it was "Remember, I can't hear" I say pointing at my ear. Luna begins to look as if she's thinking, meanwhile I quit the game, after saving of course, and put the PC away. Luna then gets an idea, makes her horn glow and a white tendril makes it's way to Noctis's and my head.

Next thing I know, I'm standing in the throne room infront of Noctis and Luna. "We got worried thou were not in the dream realm, and chose to examine thy condition"

"Well, as you could see I'm fine, just got a little distracted playing a game" This must be a dream created by Luna, that's why I can hear

"Surely thou just jest, tis almost dawn" Did I play for that long? But I didn't even feel tired

"Oh" All I could say at the moment

"Tis was not the only reason we came. We wanted to apologize, same as Noctis Umbra, even if she does not have anything to apologize for, the guilt within her is very much true"

"Aunt Luna, you, actually, both of you don't have anything to apologize for. Luna, you were just worried about me, sure, maybe you overreacted a little but-"

"A LITTLE?!! We disabled thy hearing! That surely constitutes for more than 'a little' problem, and it is our fault" Luna let's her head drop. I approach her and give her a hug

"Let me finish" I try to speak as softly as possiple "You were just worried something bad happend to me, ok? Bad stuff happens all the time, just, don't worry about this, please" I hold her shoulders and put her at arms lenght. Luna let's a small smile adorn her face

"Thou are just too kind. We thank thee" she gives me a quick hug and let's go

I turn to face Noctis who's holding her arms and looking at the floor away from me "Noctis, what has you troubled? Why do you think you need to feel guilt over what happened?" I walk up to her and lift her face to look at her in the eyes, she's been crying, her eyes are bloodshot and a few tears still hang on her face "I don't want you to feel sad, ok? It wasn't your fault-"

"BUT IT WAS!" what's with everyone interrupting me today? Christ! She snaps her face away from me "I saw your eyes change color after Blueblood threatened you. I thought it was normal on humans and didn't say anything. If I had told you then you would have been able to explain it and none of this would've happened" I try to lift her head again but she resists

I do my best to sound kind, but stern "Look at me, it wasn't your fault" I feel like a broken record, ughh I try to lift her head, a bit more successfully this time "I'm an unknow species and you thought it would be insensitive to mention the eye thing, nothing more. It wasn't your fault nor do I blame you for it" She then backs away a couple of steps and truns around, with her back to me

"You don't understand, us batponies are actually vampires. We can turn other ponies into one of us if we feed on them. It's been outlawed for close to two thousand years to feed on other ponies. If I had told you, and you explained what happened to the princesses, then nopony would've gotten mad and thought I've broken one of the more fundamental laws in Equestria" She faces me again tears streaming down her face "You see it is my fault" I just walk up to her and hug her

"It doesn't matter whose fault you think it is, the bottom line is I don't blame you. It was just a misunderstanding and a small accident, and no one was hurt" Badly anyways

"But you are hurt because of it" I roll my eyes Just relax already!

"No one of importance got hurt"

"But you are important to me" I think I'm hearing shit

"What was that?" I feel her face get real warm

"I mean- Y-you're a prince, r-r-right? So you are a pony of-of importance hehe" Maybe she said 'to them', right? RIGHT?

"I guess you're right, but still, it doesn't matter who or what am I, I will never blame you, ok?" she nods and wipes a tear away

"It is time for us to awake" both Noctis and I nod

I start to wake up, feeling refreshed but with something heavy on my chest. I open my eyes and look down, spoting Noctis using me as a pillow. I look around and see she's sleeping on a chair, that and Luna standing at the foot of the bed smiling down at us. I hear a groan from Noctis, I look at her as she opens her eyes immediately noticing her position and sitting up in an instant, blush noticeable through her fur, WAIT.... I heard her groan, which means

I smile at her and sit up "Morning, sunshine. Am I comfy enough for your liking?" she blushes even harder and looks away trying to hide a smile

"Maybe"

"That's good to hear" Her eyes just widen to unimaginable size and her blush can't seem to get any redder

Tender Care walks into the room, a bit surprised Luna is present and hastily bows "I was not made aware you were present Princess Luna" She then turns to Noctis "Are you feeling ill? You're looking a bit red"

"Nope, I'm fine"

"If you say so. Anyway, how is Luis doing?" I'll answer that

"I'm doing quite fine, thanks" Tender Care surprised by me answering looks at me

"Can you hear me properly?" I shake my head

"I can just barely hear"

"I'm gonna go get some fresh air" With that Noctis walks out of the room, me not taking my eyes off her I hope she's not mad at me

"Anyway, usually it takes patients longer to get there hearing back, but you only took a night" It might have something to do with my new powers... the lycanthropy

"Same with humans actually, normally it would take a while too for a human to get their hearing back to a...usable? I guess, level. The thing is I'm no normal human, not anymore anyways, and as of yesterday I'm also a werewolf, usually that comes with accelerated healing. Well, at least in the stories I've read as werewolfism isn't a real thing in my world"

"I see. You're still going to have to stay here untill your hearing is at at least 50% of your normal, or about 75% of a normal pony, just to be on the safe side" So i'm stuck here for another day at least "I'll go get Doctor Sound, to get the test done" I nod, she walks out of the room

"If thou has feelings for Noctis Umbra, they art better known than forgotten" Luna gives me a sort of smug smirk, I don't like her like that, do I? No, Luna's just teasing me, right? Although I am feeling weird since she left the room, but that's because I made her painfully embarassed...probably, I'm just feeling guilty, yeah, that's it. It's just guilt- Luna chuckling stops my thoughs "If thou art feeling conflicted, it means our hunch was well placed" Tender Care comes back with the doctor from yesterday, Doctor Sound Saved by the bell

They both bow at Princess Luna and turn to me "I was told you could hear now. Is this a fact?"

"For the most part, yeah" the doctor then takes an otoscope out of his lab coat

"I shall begin the exam then"

The ear and hearing exam was a bit more interesting this time around as I could actually hear. They check the state of my eardrums and such, as well as my sound response. They came to the conclusion I had gotten about 27% of my hearing back.

During the test I was wondering my I didn't fully heal from sleeping, the most plausible explanation is that I didn't sleep a full hour, so the effects of healing were just partial. The other plausible explanation is that because this is something you don't deal with in Fallout or TES, I have to heal from it the old fashioned way, with the accelerated healing of my new powers.

As the doctors walked out of the room, Noctis came back. The room seemed to feel more colourful after she entered, Maybe I do like her... but why? I don't know her that much "Sorry about teasing you earlier, Noctis"

"I'll accept your apology on one condition: you'll have to tell Princess Celestia that you are a cotton-headed ninny muggins" Luna gasps I guess that's really bad? Sure

"Ok, but that means I can call you Red, sound fair?" After a bit of though she nods and extends her hand

"Deal" I shake her hand

"Deal" Luna just sighs and facepalms

With a pop and a flash Celestia appears in the room with a scroll in hand "My dearest, Luis, I was really overjoyed when I got the news that you could hear once again this morning. But I'm afraid I won't be able to stay for long due to my duties. I just wanted to give you this letter from Twilight who's been worrying since she got the news of your little *clears throat* incident" She gives me a loving smile and hands me the letter, then begins talking with Luna in a volume I can quite hear

Might as well read the letter, let's see:

Hello Luis,

I hope you are doing better, Princess Celestia told me that you had an accident and went deaf, she wouldn't go into any specifics, but just know I wish yo all of us in Ponyville wish you well. I don't know when, or even if, you will come back to stay in Ponyville, so I'll give you some news from here so you can be upto date when you arrive. Rarity's and Applejack's sisters, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom (I guess you can tell which sister is whose), and a friend of theirs, Scootaloo decided to create a club just to find out what their special talent is. I guess you don't know them yet, but their talents are a bit too abvious for them not to know, but foals will be foals. Pinkie is also been saying your birthday was during the summer sun celebration, but she can be right on just a hunch, just thought you should know.

With the best of wishes,
Your friends in Ponyville

PS
Tell me when your birthday is so I can correct her, and tell her not to assume so much on just a gut feeling

Let's see two days to my birthday the day we took the plane in the early morning, woke up somewhat after noon, so probably the same day as nobody found me, then I stayed at Twilight's for a night, then we reorganized the library in her house I talked to mom the rest of the day and spent the night there. When we went to Ponyville was my birthday

I look up to Celestia "Mom, do you have a scroll and a quill I could borrow?" she makes my requested Items appear and I take them

What can I write to Twilight...? How would I start it anyways? Dear Twilight? No, sounds weird. Steemed Twilight? Too formal. I guess I could just do a simple 'hi'. Sure, why not? I begin to write

Hi Twilight,

How are you? I'm doing fantastics because I actually recovered a good portion of my hearing overnight and the doctor believes I might be out of the hospital by tomorrow afternoon (but I say sooner). I will be moving to Ponyville real soon just need to finish some stuffs over here, specifically the translator for Rick. I'm going to guess-

Not really, I already know

-Sweetie Belle is sister to Rarity, and Applebloom is sister to Applejack; along with their friend I'm sure they're going to be a handfull, trying to 'discover themselves'. As for my birthday, Pinkie isn't too far off, it actually was the day we went to Ponyville, the summer sun celebration eve.

This is for everyone, or everypony. Thanks for worrying about me, but it really isn't needed. Also, glad you call me friend even if we only really talked for a few hours.

Your slightly more interesting friend (I'll tell you what this means later),
Luis

That should do it I roll the scroll "Mom?" Celestia looks at me "Can you send the letter, please?" I give it to her and she burns it, the smoke flying out the window.

"We shall get going, right dear sister?" Luna nods reluctanly What did they even talk about? Noctis looks a bit menacingly at me and motions with her head to Celestia while mouthing 'Our deal' Almost forgot, right

"Mom, one thing before you leave. I've been a..." This feels soooo degrading "cotton headed ninny muggins towards Noctis through the morning, just letting you know" Celestia looks at me a bit shocked, but it soon changes to amusment

"Did you loose a bet, Luis?"

"It was actually a deal" I look at Noctis from this day foward nicknamed Red "Right, Red?" she blushes a little bit and looks at Celestia

"Yeah, the deal was that he had to tell you he was a cotton- you know- for me to forgive him for something he did this morning, in exchange he can call me 'Red'" She turns to me "Why did you decide to call me Red" I give her a smug look

"Because you blush a lot" Her blush deepening while giving me an angry face

"Dear son of mine, you truly are a cotton headed ninny muggins" Celestia chuckles "We better get going" both Luna and Celestia teleport away

The rest of the day went quite well, I think. Red and I talked for a bit, as it turns out she really likes strawberry milkshakes and can't decide if she likes apples or mangos better, personally I prefer mangos. I showed her the computer and we watched the spiderman triology, good ol' Toby making her cringe in the third one. Not too soon after she was asked to leave, which she did, sadly, and the room felt off with just me. Just after sunset I got my dinner, same as all the other meals here: an apple, green mush and jello; then Doctor Sound got the surprise of his life when testing my hearing again, 61% of my hearing was back by the end of the day.

Tonight I had one of my reoccuring dreams, like always I wasn't licid. I was in a desolate cityscape, no one around, but nothing was in ruins. Houses had warm meals, untouched, on the dinning tables, TV's turned on to the news with no one to host, cars just sitting in the middle of the streets engines still going, there wasn't a soul in sight, not even animals. But this time something happened, I felt a hand on my shoulder and a feeling of-of ... of something, something good washed over me, I turned around to see who it was, but I woke up before that could happen

I hear the sound of a door creak open

Sorry, just have to come end the chapter

Fucking bitch, you woke me up I really want to know who that was

Don't complain, you still have like four hours of sleep left. Just go back to sleep, keep on dreaming

Fuck you. Don't wake me up again

Just go back to sleep I'm sure whatever dream you had will be back

I just lay in the bed for a few minutes thinking about today, when a though crosses my mind. I sit up from the bed
"How did she understand the movies??"

It wouldn't be much of a universal computer with out a multiversal translator, now would it? I roll my eyes

Of course... I lay back down and go to back sleep

Author's Notes:

I wnated to upload this yesterday, but internet machine broke, anyway, here you have chapter 14.

I think I'm going to start leaning towards longer chapters, their fun to write (as long as I don't get writer's block) and I can fit more information, world-building and character development. Although there are going to be short chapters in the future, probably just filler chapters that still have to do with the story, unlike some other stuffs *cough* Naruto *cough*. There are also probably going to be longer chapters that might be split in two. I'm also going to take more time in writing the chapters, just a head's up

In other news, I've been doing some research on the chronology of MLP to see what episode comes before and which ones after and found this, so yeah, I'll use it as a blueprint of things to come since seasons 1-3 happen within a year. Props to the creator for taking his time to do the timeline, go give him some love

15 A Quest Appears

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Chapter 15
A Quest Appears

After a certain bitch woke me up, I went back to sleep but sadly I didn’t return to the dream. After waking up in the morning this time, Doctor Sound did his routine test and was completely baffled at the results. Apparently I got back 110% of my hearing, which made him question his knowledge as a doctor, that is until I reminded him I became a werewolf. Noctis came by, surprisingly without her armour this time and she looked really good.

Anyways, we headed to the throne room, just wanted to ask Celestia a few things, but she was in court and the guards told me it might take a while, and that is a reoccurring couple wanting a bigger house for the fifth time this month, the answer always being ‘no’ of course. We decided to take a walk instead and Red insisted on going to the barracks to get some day training which she almost never gets, I agreed because I remembered I didn’t do too well on my first run, and now that I’m a werewolf I want to test my new limi-

I need to tell you something

I’m in the middle of the recap, you bitch

It’s really important, I mean, it affects your future important

What is it? Is it about ‘them’?

Yes

If you’re not running away it must be really important, shit

I can’t tell you much, so just look under the second bullseye

Ok, will do. As I was saying before being interrupted, I want to test my new werewolf limits, so we went to the training grounds and I headed to the bullseye

As we enter the training grounds, Noctis stops but I continue walking to the bullseye

"Where are you going?" she says questioningly, I stop

I turn around to look at Red, but keep walking to the bullseye. "I need to see something." I turn back to the bullseye and almost crash into it

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" One of the guards is yelling behind me. Without looking, I extend my arm and give him a 'in a moment' gesture

Under the bullseye sits another smoke grenade, I pick it up

I am really sorry about this, I have no choice if I want to- ... nevermind, just sorry

I scan the area for an open spot, finding one I arm the grenade and throw it. Watching the crate fall I start to get uneasy, What is he being forced to give me that he feels sorry? All this time he's been a bitch and an asshole. But now... I don't know...

Aleksandrs

What?

My name. My name is Aleksandrs

My feeling of unease just increased ten fold. The crate lands, I slowly approach it. I place my hands on the locks and click them open. I carefully lift the top revealing a scroll and a two holotapes, then a sudden shake snaps me from my trance

"Luis, are you ok? You look pale." I let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding, I turn my head to Red who has the most concerned look I've ever seen, but soon return my gaze to the crate

"I... I-I'm not sure..." I take the scroll and open it
I am going to hate what is says, aren't I?

Luis,

I am really sorry I have to give you this 'Survivalist Module', as they call it, but I can't afford to go back. I CAN'T GO BACK. They thought I was giving you too much slack, now everything, evey power and everything must come with a drawback. Thankfully they can't overwrite everything I've given you, but it's enough. This module will overwrite your 'sleep-to-heal-all' from TES and FO, but due to their own rules, it also increases your health, and your life is no longer dependant on the health points, you can sruvive 0 HP. Don't let it go to 0. EVER!! Specially on combat, you'll be slowed down to a near halt because of the pain, and if you ever get to 0 then heal as fast as you can. Also now you can bleed, this includes a new thing on you HUD to tell you your approximate blood level. Your pip-boy has a more accurate reading, which can go to you HUD if you get a hi-tech helmet, like the Ranger Veteran helmet that you love so much.

I also decided to add a thing too, it's the other holotape, this is the healing module from FarCry. With this one you can heal from injury without the need of medical attention with the drawback being pain. Every time you move a bone back into place, or take a branch out of your arm, you will feel it. In the other hand, if you have a medpack there will be no pain, but with a stimpack there will be pain and side effects but it heals the most. At least you can now heal crippled limbs without a doctor's bag or a stimpack, but at the cost of pain.

Your friend,
Aleksandrs

I thought it was going to be worse. I begin to chuckle which breaks into full laughter

"Are you ok? You don't seem to be ... stable?" I finish laughing and turn to the guard who said that

"I'm more than ok. The way-" I point to the sky "-HE was describing this, I though something bad was going to happen," I laugh a bit more.

You pointed the wrong way

Wut

...I'm currently a demon working my way up to- ... Nevermind

Anyways... I got some shit to install, I take the holotapes and start loading them to the pip-boy

Survivalist Module - (Now I can't just sleep to heal any wound, it has to heal the old fashioned way. On the upside, I have a lot more health)
First Aid Module - (I can heal any crippled limbs at any time to a certain point. On the downdside, I can't fully heal a limb without medical care (or medpack) and when I do heal a crippled limb, there will be a huge spike of pain)

It looks like I might have a few hospital visits in my future thanks to this, but it looks like I can survive more before that happens. And if it does happen I can at least heal enough to take myself there, how thoughtful. I lift the foam and see a folder with blueprints hanging out, I guess that's how I get the blueprints, I take it and they immediately adds itself to the blueprint module, I'll look at it later. With the crate done, I turn to Noctis

"Hey, Red, wanna race?" She just blankly satres at me

"You can really change mood fast," I smirk back at her

"It comes with experience. So do you want to or not?"

We had a few races, which I almost won at, then I had Shinning time me again, and I did two runs, one just normally and the second one using my enhanced ability. I'm pretty sure if I fully transform into a werewolf I would be even faster, but I just barely discovered how to use my ability. So I made mental note: learn how to transform, specifically, learn how to use the power's full potential.

After my little running experiment and Noctis resting from sparing with the guards, we headed to the research lab to say hi to Rick and look at the progress on the translator. On the way I found Lightning and Thunder, or they found me actually, they were out of their armour and no longer had white fur. Both Thunder Guard and Lightning Hooves are earth ponies, Thunder is a navy blue with a smokey grey mane and tail, Lightning is a pale yellow with a similarly coloured mane and tail to his his brother. Both are wearing black dress pants with bottoned shirts matching their fur colour.

"The High Horse is a good bar here in Canterlot, just down the street from the castle," I look at Thunder a bit quizzically

"High Horse, really? It sounds more like a stoner house than a bar," I sigh

"What's a stoner?" Lightning looks at me a bit confused. I refuse to taint this world

"Nevermind," I say with a dismissive wave

"Whatever..." Lightning looks around a bit "The entrance is the other way," I look at the clock on the pip-boy, it read 4:23 PM

"It's too early to drink," And I don't drink, so the longer I keep not feeling sick the better "And I need to check on something first"

"Does this have to do with the research lab?" Thunder points at the door at the end of the hallway

"As a matter of fact, yes, yes it does" I look at Noctis "You've been quiet for a while, are you ok?" she looks at me with a small smirk

"Yeah, I just didn't want to interrupt your stallion talk" I get a nudge on the ribs, I turn to the source

"What?" I ask Lightning as he gives me a wink, I then look at Thunder and give him the 'what is he on about' look, to which he signals with his head to Noctis and then winks at me. I just facepalm

We get to the doors and I open them revealing Rick chasing Thinker around the room with Quick in the corner trying not to laugh, "What the hell..." What happened? I walk to intrecept Rick and grab him by the back of his shirt "What do you think you're doing?" He turns around

"He said he was gonna fuck me!" Ok, what?? I raise an eyebrow

"I guess you guys finished the translator?" Rick nods, I then turn to Thinker who stopped running "What exactly did you tell him?"

"I asked him out for a drink and then to swing by my place"

"You asked for a date then for me to sleep with you, don't lie!" I look at Rick

"Calm yourself you flamboyant donut" Rick grumbles in response then I turn my attention to Thinker "What did I tell you about making feel uncofortable? That you shouldn't do it" I turn back to Rick "You always acted a bit gay, so it's not entirely his fault for thinking you swing that way"

"That's not true" I give him my best unamused face

"My parents thought you were gay from the day they met you, as well as my cousins. Oh, and Augusto's family too, so quit your whining" Rick sighs in defeat, "I'm supposed to be the childish one, go apologize" I push him towards Thinker

"Sorry, I shouldn't have reacted that way. It's just, it has been a really stressful week" Rick extends his hand to Thinker "So, friends?" That was fast

"As much as it pains me, I mean you're a good looking stallion, yeah, -" He takes Rick's hand "-friends" They finish the hand shake "Hug?" Rick shoots daggers at him "Guess not"

Quick couldn't hold it anymore and just burts out laughing. Meanwhile I decide to look at the blueprints I got from the crate. Let's see here, 'inv' then 'misc', I think that's where the- oh! There they are 'blueprints'. Ok, 'LS Hilt', wonder what it is, there is also the armour workbench, clothing, weapons and shields, ranged... I turn my attention to the 'LS Hilt' and read the description. 'Light Saber Hilt'- Wait! That's a thing?!. I read the rest of the info on the blueprint. This is going to be difficult to make, but it's costumizable. I walk to the desk where everyone is at

Remember the force unleashed? It's a game. And by the way, that was your luckiest find yet

True

"....but the interdimensional 'barrier' is the problem" Quick is explaining interdimanesional travel isn't she?

Eyup

"What is causing the problem?" I ask while joining the conversation.

"We don't have enough power." She looks at her hands and then back to me, "At the very least we you need Pricess Celestia's magical prowess"

"Is there a way to not need her?" I then look up into nothing, "Because I doubt she wants to mess with inter-dimesional stuff for a good while" I return my gaze to Quick

"Well, there is one thing..." She starts biting her thumb, "But- nevermind, it's too dangerous" I look at her unamused

"Just tell me" I raise an eyebrow, "I'll decide if it's too dangerous" Quick just looks at me skeptically

"I'm going to need a lot of copper and a consentration crystal" She get's a smug face "The copper would have to come form the star-spiders in the Everfree forest, and nopony knows where to get a consentration crystal, sooooo..." She's probably thinking I'm goin to give up, but I can't, I have to take Rick home

"I'm going to need a weapon..." I say as I put my hand under my chin, Rick speaks up

"What happened to your gun?"

"I ... I had to get rid of it" I don't know if I should tell them what's going on behind the scenes "In a canyon on the Everfree, yeah. I can't get it back" Rick looks at me with a raise eyebrow

"You dropped it didn't you" My escapegoat! I try to look guilty

"Yeah..." Rick just faceplams "I'll just get a sword from the armoury" Everyone looks at me in disbelief, Thinker being the first one to speak up

"The Everfree is the most dangerous place in Equestria, a mere sword is not enough"

"You're right, I should go to the library and learn some spell too" Or maybe I'll be able to come up with some on the fly

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you don't even have a horn-" He points at his own horn then crosses his arms "- so how are you going to use magic?"

In skyrim you always start knowing a fire spell. I'll give it a try. I lift my hand infront of my face, close my eyes and begin to concentrate, First, send energy to my hand, then imagine my hand producing heat, making fire. I open my eyes and see a small flame infront of my palm, no bigger than a lighter's flame. I look at Thinker with a shit eating grin and lower my hand so everyone can see

"You can't do anything with that" Thinker scoffs out. I close my hand and dispel the flame then point at him

"But I have it" I put on my smug face "Which is more than you can do without a horn" I turn my attention to Quick who has a huge smile, as a do so her smile gets bigger and squees

"I'm going to teach you so many spells" Oh god... Rick looks at me and mouths 'run'

"Sorry, gotta go!!" I take Noctis's hand and run out of the lab

Five Minutes Later Infront of Luis's Room

"Why did we run?" I look at Noctis in a serious face

"Because Rick said it'd be bad for us to stay when she gets that excited" I think that's what he meant anyways

"When did he say that?" She raises an eyebrow. I open the door and let her through

"Well, he didn't say that per se, he just told me to run when Quick got extremely excited" Noctis sighs "And besides, the sooner we get ready for this the sooner I can make this right" Can send him home, he doesn't belong here. Neither do I, but I can fit in with a lot more ease. I start heading to the bathroom

"Then why didn't we go to the Barracks for my armour and a weapon for you? Why to your room?" She says condescendingly, I stop and turn

"I'm going to cut it" I pass a hand through my hair

"Why would you want to cut your mane? And why aren't you going to a styli-" her expression goes to unamused "It's an ability you have isn't it?" She says a bit a deadpan tone. I nod

"As for why, well, I don't want any spiders crawling into it, so I'll shorten it a bit" I continue into the bathroom

In the bathroom, I stop infront of the mirror. Now how do I do this? Do I just think of the hair style? ... A menu?. Suddenly I see a menu on the mirror. Holy shit that's cool

After looking at some of the short hairstyles available, I settle on a short mohawk, which doesn't look half bad clean shaven

I walk out the bathroom and spot Noctis standing on the balcony. "Hey Red!" She turns to look at me "What do you think?"

"I prefer the long mane" I pretend to be emotionally hurt, with an 'ouch' for emphasis "B-but you look good"

There is a knock at the door

"I'll get it" I go to the door and open it. Lightning, Thunder and a royal guard are standing on the other side

"Prince, your presence is needed in the throne room immediately. I am to scort you and your personal guard at once" I nod and signal Noctis to come. I then look at Thunder and Lightning

"Don't worry I haven't forgotten, just tell me where the place is" They look at eachother and Thunder speaks up

"Like I said, it's just down the main road, the one leading to the castle. Just look for the sign that says 'High Horse', with a space, see ya there" I give them a thumbs up

"Got it" I turn to the guard "Let's not keep the Princesses waiting"

A Little Later At The Throne Room Entrance

You know, now that we talk to eachother it's getting kind of weird when you just go like 'one hour later', it comes from out of nowhere The doors open and we step through

Well, you know ... reasons

Sure, why not? I do a quick scan of the room spoting a camera-mare, and both Luna and Celestia in a more... royal attire? Still with their regalia and stuff, but... Is Luna taller or is it just me? Her fur also seems darker and her mane... I mentally facepalm at my realization Of course, she's getting her full power back. DUH! I also spot a royal looking outfit in the middle of the room on a mannequin. I like the cape... WAIT!! Is it for me?

"Hello son, you are here to have our picture taken for tomorrow's issue of every newspaper in Equestria" Why exactly? I just stare a bit confused "Remember, you are now part of the royal family and Equestria needs to know"

"Thaaaat might have slipped my mind, hehe," I click my tounge "So, do I have to wear that?" I point at the clothes, Celestia nods "Cool, cool" I walk up to the clothes and 'take' them. Now I just re-equip them. I do so and now I'm wearing the medieval clothes, Nice- wait a minute... "When did you get my measurements?" Celestia just taps her nose in response. I throw my arms into the air "OK then!! Keep your secrets!" I turn to Noctis, whose mouth is hanging, and pass my hands over my clothes with my palms out. "How do I look?" Noctis blinks a couple of times and shakes her head, blushing a little

"You look really hansome- I mean now- I mean you look good- I mean you already look good-" She blushes harder and hides her face on her hands, I should say something, but then it'll be awkward for me, but if I don't then she might take it the wrong way, but if I do then that could go wrong, but-

Just do it you moron

But it could make this moment a lot more awk-

DO IT

I step up to her and put on the most confident look I can. I place my finger on her chin and lift her head

"You look good too." Shit I'm going to loose my composure- panicking- do something- shit shit shit. I hug her and relax a little, Interesting the top of her head barely gets to my chin. I then whisper with my best confident tone into her ear "Better without the armour" ... ... ... the fuck did I say...?Fuck me. I let go, turn around and facepalm lowering my head "I'm sorry. I just..." I sigh, I fucked up

"Nopony has ever told me that before." Noctis turns me around and lifts my face to face her's "Thank you" Then she kisses my cheek.

I... she... she kissed me... but... I don't...

"Luis"

...then ... like ... soft...

"LUIS"

... happy..... nice..... feel...

"LUIS!!!"

"YES! I'm here I'm here!" I snap out of it and look around and see Noctis a little worried with Luna behind her with a smirk and Celestia trying her hardest not to laugh. The realization hits me like a train as my face gets extremely hot "... oh ..." Noctis relaxes and smiles

"Maybe I should call you Red instead" she smirks, I nervously chuckle. I try to think of something to say, but all I can't get my mind off of how soft her fur is and how silky her mane feels, I want to hug her... I look at Celestia, who is now calm, and try my best to hide my embarrassment

"Let get this over with" I can't take this for much longer "Please?" she nods

"That would be best" Celestia smiles at me, Now she's mocking me isn't she?

We walk to the stairs and Celestia stands on the first step and signals me to stand infront of her on the ground, That's what I get for being tall. I look at the fotographer and see Luna standing behind her, I signal her to come

"We mustn't. This is a family portrait for you and Celestia alone" She sighs

"Well if it's a family foto, I don't see why my aunt coulndn't be in it" I extend my hand "And by the way, you two rule together if I remember correctly" I feel Celestia place her hand on my shoulder

"Let us take this as a family, sister" She extends her hand to Luna as well. Luna starts to smile and walks up to us and hugs us

"We thank thee both" I hug her back as Celestia hugs us both. We get in position again, this time with Luna next to Celestia, both with a hand on my shoulders. Now I can't stop smiling

I don't know what's going to happen now, but before I get ahead of myself, let me explain. Our photo was taken and everything went fine, after the family picture, I was then asked for a normal photo of me standing royaly, apparently that's a thing. A few 'newspaper quiestions' were asked about myself. After taking a few more notes, the photographer left. After that is when things got weird. Celestia asked everyone, Noctis and her guards, out of the room, I have no idea why.

"Just wait for me outside, it'll be a second" Noctis nods and walks out with the others. The doors close and after a second or two I hear sobbing behind me, I immediately turn anround and see Celestia on her hands and knees crying. I'm not the only one to take notices as both Luna and I walk next to her and crouch down

"Why are thou crying, dear sister?" Celestia looks at Luna

"Yeah, what happened? Why are you crying?" Celestia looks at me, her expression is that of someone who's competely destoyed, it's heart wrenching. She lowers her head again

"Why..?"

"Why what?" I don't get it, what's going on? Celestia looks up again

"What have I done to deserve your love?" She turns her gaze between me and Luna "I ruined both of your lives... so why?" Not this again...

"Because you didn't destroy my live. What I did before coming here was to survive in my world, but now, thanks to you, I get to live. No longer are my choices done by society, I don't have to be yelled at by my parents for doing life my way instead of theirs. And most important of all, you, and I mean you Celestia, my new mom, saved me from my own hand. You deserve all the love I can give you, because ... I get to live" In more ways than one, so thank you. I am really grateful. I lift her so she's now sitting on her legs instead and hug her "I love you, mom"

"But... I-"

"Dear sister of mine, thou stopped me from destroying not only the lives of our subjects but that of our beautiful world. Nightmare- no, I was bringing forth night time eternal and thy actions saved our fair nation. I have nothing but praise for thee" Luna joins in on the hug. After a few seconds Celestia gives in and hugs us both back

"Thank you... Thank you so much"

"What is family for, right?"

It's not like you would know...

I'm good at guessing

We let go

"Better?"

"Yes, thanks to you both" She looks at me a bit concerned "Although, you will have to tell me what you meant when you told me I saved you from your own hand" I am screwed... I give a nervous chuckle

"Well, you see.... gosh this is hard.... I was- you know how I was on the plane right? I was going on a trip with my friend to aaaaa.... congregation of sorts- actually that's a really bad word to use, it's not a religious gathering ... it was it meet up of people who like a show..." How do I explain this.... fuck

"I am going to guess it is the show we talked about the other day" I nod, Now she's going for the throat. She continues "You still haven't explained, so go on," There it is

"Well, I was treating the trip like my last one. I was done with the world too ... angry at everyone, specifically everyone around me. Except Rick, he always helped me deal with shhhhhstuff" I'm getting riled up just thinking about it "Anyways, it mostly has to do with my parents. I... I hate them, borderline despise them, all because they wouldn't let me be myself." I sigh, I need to relax a liitle

"In what way would thy parents not allow thee to be thy self?" Fuck me, here we go

"I was overshadowed by my brother, but I didn't care about that, what bugged me and completely drove me insane though was my parents reminding me every ffffffunky day that he had his life planned out, that he knew what he was good at, that he already had A FUCKING CAREER AND THAT I DIDN'T!!" I clench my fists as I feel the anger flooding my mind, "I FUCKING TOLD THEM MY DREAMS AND THEY JUST SHUNNED ME AND MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO FOLLOW UP ON MY GODDAMNED DREAMS. TELLING ME I WOULDN'T MAKE IT, THAT I SHOULD DO SOMETHING THAT'S USEFUL, SOMETHING I'M GOOD AT!!!" I wiped my tears, Fuck! I got angry, relax. I take a deep breath

"All I wanted to do was to help others." My voice starts cracking "I wanted to do what helped me when I was depressed so I could help them not feel empty." I snifle, "I even built my own computer, with the money that took me years to get" I look down at my hands "And they just took it away the moment they found out" I wipe my face "I wanted to be me... but they wanted a success story like- no, they wanted a better kid than my brother" I look up at them, both with shock and concern on their faces, Luna having a bit of understanding splashed in

"I was past my breaking point when I got here. The trip was supposed to be my goodbye to the world. I was going to go the con, enjoy myself and, when I got back to my city, I was just going to jump off a bridge. They were driving me up the wall, I just couldn't take it...anymore" I wipe my nose and then my tears and start to act cheerful "Well, enough feeling sorry for myself, I got a 'night with the boys' to have" I start to get up but get stopped by a hug, Why so many hugs here? Not that I mind, but still

"I am really sorry you had to go through that"

"Indeed, nopony should have to go through such experiences at thy tender age" Tears escape my eyes again

"Thank you. It feels nice to have emotional support for once" I let go of the hug and clear my tears, Again..."By the way I have to go to Ponyville for a little bit" I flash an innocent smile "I might need a few things" We all stand up

"What might you need? More bits? I can arrange that" Now that she mentions it, I don't know how much she gave me the other day, hmmm

"I was thinking more like a map of Equestria-" Might help with fast-travel "-and maybe some armour and a sword" I give another smile "I kind of have to go into the Everfree again..." I rub my nape and give a nervous 'hehe'

"Thou mustn't jest in such a manner" Luna looks at me, I'm guessing she's trying to see If I'm joking. "Thou are just jesting are you not?" I slowly shake my head

"Does this have something to do with the developments Quick Study told us about a little while ago" Wait a minute! She already told them?!

"If it's about an interdimensional teleporting spell, then yes. I need the copper found in start-spider silk" Because apparently it doesn't exist here outside star-spider silk

"Ah yes, the copper found in their silk is quite rare" My eyes widen a little, I was right! "It gives their webs that greenish tint that looks oh so beatiful under the moonlight" Celestia closes her eyes, seemingly remembering how they look

"I also need a..." I remember the conversation with Quick "... Concentration crystal, whatever that is" Celestia's eyes snap open and looks at me

"I'm sorry, but did you say you need a 'concentation crystal'?" I nod "Oh... I cannot allow you to go look for it"

"Why not?" I smirk thinking of a stupid scenario, "Is it in a hidden cave under Canterlot that also acts like a labyrinth to contain extremely dangerous creatures?" Celestia looks at me wide-eyed and nods, "WHAT?!" My eyelids hurt from how wide the went "I was joking!" This is like Pinkie in the EG movie but worse, fuck me. "I guess now I need to find the secret entrance th-"

"I FORBID IT!" I rub my ears, That was borderline royal voice levels of loudness, Jesus Christ

"What if I were to get a really good set of armour and weapons hmmm?" I smirk, If somehow I get power armour, I might be able to convince her. Celestia gets pensative, Aleksandrs!! Any help with this?

Well... If I follow the rules, then I might be able to get you the frame and maybe the workstation but as a blueprint. No more than that tho. You will have to get the pieces of the armour by pure luck by the way

When can I expect it?

I said I could get it to you, not give it to you. Just find another grenade since I can't give them away anymore

I guess that'll have to do

"How strong of armour are we talking about?" Celestia gives me a doubtful look, Depends, in the game it's pretty fucking weak, but in canon it's supposed to withstand a fucking missile.... I guess... the latter would be best. "Well?" I'll go with the canon

"It can survive a high explosive force that could level a town, plus it has a protective cover that helps dealing with energy and radiation damage. It's also very heavy making it nearly impossible to lift, so only an extremely powerfull creature could make it budge" Celestia goes pensative again, Come on, buy it

"That sounds impressive" I turn to the source of the voice and see Luna walking next to Noctis towards us

"It is. It also protects the user from falling damage" Even though it doesn't exist in my world I'll be able to use it soon enough here. This is so exciting!. I rub my hands together with a smile, I then look at Luna, "Why did you let her in? Not that I mind, she's good company. Just- I- nevermind" I'm not going to embarrass myself again

"We decided that we no longer needed secracy after the situation was dealt with." She then smirks, "We also thought you could use thy-" She clears her throat"-guard's company" I feel my face heat up a little, Luna here is a lot more teasing than in the show... I guess I've had a bigger impact than I thought. I look at Noctis and give her an innocent smile, which she gives her own back at me

"How would you get this set of armour?" Celestia raises an eyebrow at me, Is 'by sheer luck' a good answer?

Nope, but it's the only one you have

"Well... that's the thing... you see... uhmm... remember the smoke grenade you found? Well, I would have to find more and hope I get it in one of the crates.... so.... yeah, I would have to get lucky" I give her an innocent smirk, I am in sooo much shit...

"I see." Celestia pauses for a few seconds, I start to hold my breath "Until you aquire this armour, I cannot allow you into the labyrinth" I breath out, At least I can now get the fucking thing... just. Need. The armour. "But I will personally test the armour before deciding to let you into the caverns"

"Well, it's either that or you can help Quick open the interdimesional portal" I closely look at Celestia's reaction which is a troubled face while biting her lip

"Make sure you get that armour, I would prefer not to make a similar mistake" Celestia seems to get a little depressed, Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I give her a quick hug

"Don't beat yourself over it, it could have happened to anyone" I give her a smile, "Or in your case anypony, right?" I chuckle and Celestia shoots me a smile, There, all better, "Now I just have to get a bunch of smoke grenades"

"Are thou not able to create more of this 'smoke grenades'?" Luna looks a bit curiously at me, Aleksandrs? Would you-

Add that to the list of things you need to find yourself

Fine, be that way. I sigh, "Not without the ingredients for them" I put a smile on my face, "But that can't stop me, I'm going to get Rick back home." Even if it's the last thing I do

"Just don't do anything drastic"

Noctis places her hand on my shoulder, "Please"

I put my hand on her's and run my thumb along it but immediately stop, Why ... did I do that..? "I'll try," I turn Noctis as she takes her hand away, "Let's go before they think we ditched." Actually for tomorrow, when we go to Ponyville. I need to tell Twilight... I turn to Celestia waving a finger in the air, "Actually, I need a-"

A cloud of smoke comes through the window and materializes into a scroll

"-favour. Oh, would you look at the timing!" Celestia takes the scroll form the air and looks at it

"Luis, it's for you" She hands me the scroll, "It's from Twilight"

"What a coincidence! It's almost is if someone wanted this to happen" I grab the scroll

Wasn't me

I open the scroll and begin to read

"Hello Luis,

How are you today? Everypony wants to know if you got out of the hospital yet, because the way you wrote yesterday suggested you were healing quite fast. Also, Pinkie has been asking when you are going to come to Ponyville to give you a 'Late Birthday and Welcome to Equestria' party.

Rainbow Dash here. What do you mean you're not sure to call us your friends, with how awesome I am you'd be crazy not to call me your friend. It also helps that your world sounds awesome too. Twilight has thrown some of her eggheadedness around saying you might be shy, but with the way you act I doubt it.

Hi it's me, Pinkie!! I will make you call me your friend, and that's a Pinkie Promise. You can't and will not escape my friendship because we met and I make friends of everypony I know. I have you in my sights mister.

With much joy,
Your friends of Ponyville"

A 'hmm' escapes my mouth, I think I doomed myself to have Pinkie follow me for a while, although...

"Mom can I-" a scroll and quill are handed to me by Celestia, I smile at her "Thanks" I begin writing:

Hello friends,

Rainbow, I never said I was skeptical of being friends with guys, I said I was surprised you would call me your friend after just having a small chat, and Pinkie, we ARE already friends. As for when I'll pass by Ponyville again, well, that might actually be tomorrow. Sadly it's for a small fetch quest I have and won't be in town for too long, I will tell you what it is when I get there.

I stop writing and turn to Celestia, "Mom, what is the schedule and cost for the Ponyville train route?"

"You could just use a chariot." Celestia states a bit condescendingly

"As much as I like flying, I've never had a train ride like this. The only times I've used a trian was the metro in my city, wich is pretty much a taxi on rails, nothing going outside the city." I try my best puppy eyes, "Please?" I really want to see the scenery for myself. Celestia sighs

"As you wish." I'm starting to appreciate the catoonish look of this world, "The train tickes to Ponyville are 150 bits each, as for the schedules, the earliest train departs an hour after midnight reason being the lenght of the trip"

I lift my pip-boy and look at how many bits I have, I have 184, not nearly enough for both of us, "It appears I only have enough for one ticket" I sigh, "I guess I am going to need some bits" I say a bit disapointed, I don't like taking from others, but... I sigh again

"I will give you the same allowance as I do Twilight" She gets a little teasing smile on her face, "To lessen your feeling of guilt of course," I forcefully exhale from my nose, Of course I get pitty... aaghh!!

"And how much would that be?" Don't be too much, don't be too much, don't be........

"500 bits per month," I was making more on my job back on Earth- wait, what's the exchange rate? Still feels like too much though... I guess I'll take it?

"Sure, still feels like too much, but, I guess..." Noctis iterrupts my train of thought

"I could just pay for myself" I look at her in disapproval

"You are-" I point at myself "-MY guard, accompanying-" I move my hand closer, still pointing "-ME to do stuff, which means-" I point at her "-YOU are under-" I point back at myslef "-MY care. Just so you know, that means I'll pay for your stuff like-" I use my hands to count "-food, transport, and other necesities, but if you want any souvenirs, well,-" I raise both my hands, palms out, "-that's on you." Noctis sighs a bit skeptically, which I take as a 'fine', "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a letter to finish"

Where was I? I give the letter a quick read and continue:

As for when I'll get there, we might be taking the first train there. If anything changes, then I'll tell you.

Yours truly,
Luis

I seal the scroll and pass it to Celestia, who quickly sends it away

"You'll have to teach me that spell sometime" Celestia shows a bit of shock in her expression and looks at Noctis who, I assume, nods back which causes Celestia to look back at me, "Yes, I can do magic." I then summon the fire again, this time it was a lot bigger, almost the size of a baseball, That's cool! I'm getting better. Celestia regains her calm expression

"This development will make communication with you much easier. Yes, I will teach it to you once you get back." She give me a loving smile, "And before I forget." A satchel full of bits appears infront of me, "Your allowance" As I take it the pip-boy plays the sound effect of picking up caps, That's new... I look at the pip-boy a bit surprised

"Did your thing just make a jangling noice?" I turn to Noctis, If she heard it, then I better not loot during stealth

"I guess it did. Anyways, lets not keep them waiting anymore" We start to leave, but I turn to Celestia and Luna and wave, "Au revoir" We exit the throne room and make our way out heading for the bar, I still can't believe it's called 'high horse', what? Is it like an attic bar or smoething? I maybe, because then you would have to get down from the 'High Horse'. I look at Noctis, "So, do you know anything about this bar?"

16 A Night Out

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Chapter 16
A Night Out

"So, do you know anything about this bar?"

"I've never been there" Noctis answers almost flatly, There must be a story behind that...

"Why? You seem to be the kind that gets invited everywhere" She sighs at my comment, her ears drop and doesn't respond. I get concerned, OK, that can't be a good sign... "What's wrong?"

"Other ponies- Us batpo-" She sighs "Nevermind..." She turns her gaze down at the floor, away from me, and grabs her arm, "You wouldn't understand"

"If other ponies are treating you differently because you're a batpony, then I do understand" I place my hand on her shoulder which makes her look at me as I give her an understanding smile, "When I moved to Canada not many people wanted to talk to me because I had an accent that didn't fit with how I looked. You may have noticed that I pronounce S's and R's a bit weirdly, no?" She just looks at me a bit confused

"What does that have to do with this?"

How do I explain this without getting too political?

You better find a way, because I've spent too much on you to have the story cancelled

"Basically, the stereotype of where I'm from is short with brownish skin, but as you can see I'm tall with more of a peach colour." Noctis nods, "Add that to the fact that my accent was from there and people just avoided me, I got self-conscious and 'fixed' my pronunciation to sound more Canadian, because I already had the looks." She gets a sad yet understanding smile on her face, She looks so cute, awww "After that I did get people to talk to me more," ...but the damage was done... I give her a smile back.

We walk out into the front courtyard, but Noctis stops me. "I'm going to get my armour. I'm still on duty after all" I give her a small chuckle as we start walking to the barracks

"When are you not on duty?" I mean, since she was assigned to me she hasn't exactly left my side

"When you are inside a nominated 'safe zone', like the castle's infirmary" Noctis shoots me a somewhat smug smirk, And yet... I get a sumg smile of my own

"Yet, you still visited me" I complete the look by giving her smug eyes, "How sweet" The look of realization on her face is priceless, She's probably thinking of another example that wouldn't have backfired. Her cheecks go a slight shade of red, "Now that's the Red I know and love" My face gets hot as I keep from showing my embarrassment, Why did I say it like that..? I'm so stu- It's a common phrase! Maybe she won't notice! I relax and hear a small nervous chuckle form her

As we near the barracks a strong looking stallion comes out holding what appears to be armour, note a helmet with a weird forehead piece sitting on top. As soon as he spots me he gets a smile on his face and directs himself our way.

This earth pony is charcoal black with a steel mane and has a basic blacksmith outfit, an ashened shirt with rolled sleeves, dark brown pants with black smudges all over, a black lether-looking apron and black work gloves that might have been beige at some point. Looking further into what he has, I spot a sword along with the armour he's carrying.

I look at Noctis, "If this guy stops me, you go get your things. I'll wait for you out here." The guy stops a few feet infornt of me, a bit to the side and tries to get my attention. I put my hand on Noctis's shoulder and give her a push, "I'll be here"

"Hello sire" Oh god... He sounds Irish "I was told by the Princess to craft ya this here piece of armour" He lifts the armour and sword a little, "The sword too, and it's enchanted to never go dull, nice ain'tit?" WAIT WAIT WAIT!! He made the armour in less than an afternoon!??

"When did the Princess ask you to make the armour? Because if it was today, that's extremely quick" I say with a surprised face

"Oh no no. The armour is a new design I was already working on, and I was already finished with it, just needed to fit it to somepony, but the Princess took care of yer measurements" Again with the measurements of clothing... He holds the items closer to me, "Here ye go, sire" I take them and look at the armour, seeing a metal badge welded to the chestplate, It's the flag of Equestria, cool. But what's with the weird design it has? "This right here-" He points at the badge "-Is the royal insignia that the Princesses's armours also possess-" His face goes bitter and seems to supress an 'ugh', "-and Blueblood's armour too..." The stallion says somewhat slowly and articulately

"Yeah... I met him" I say in a deadpan tone "He got a grudge against me even before we even saw eachother" With a quick change of tone I change the subject, "Anyways, thank you mister..."

"Cutting Edge, sire" He states nonchalantly, How... fitting

"You my friend, have an amazing name!" I say with a smile, "Quite fitting too" I add, This is prototype armour after all

"Sire, if I may ask. How so?" I look at him a bit surprised, Does he not realize?

"When you are a creator we say that staying ahead of the curve is by making 'cutting edge' inventions, eh?" That sounded so Canadian, He gives me a hearty laugh

"Thanks for the complement, sire" Cutting gives me a smile, "Anyway, let me tell you about the armour." He grabs and begins to turn the helmet all around, "As you can see, sire, the helm is a unique piece of equipment,-" He shows me the back of the helmet, "-it has segmented armour for the neck, giving both freedom of movement and protection." He visibly gets excited, "Whadayatink?"

"Reminds me of a samurai, but very different." He turns the helmet around, "I also like the visor, but what's with the forehead... thing?" Cutting looks at the plate bolted to the forehead

"Oh that is a faceplate. Look, sire!" He starts to unbolt the plate and proceeds to turn it upsidown, or rightside up?, and bolts it again, "It's amazing, ain'tit?" His face is beaming, "The materials I used are also an invention of mine, black steel and a hardened steel-gold alloy. My extensive testing has shown this beauty of materials are sturdier than my previous gold-iron. This are my best alloys yet!"

"So you make the armour of the Royal Guard?" I ask him with a bit of shock in my voice

"Oh no nonono. I just make the initial prototype, blueprints and, if it needs, the alloy recipe, and test them, sire" He humbly replies, puts the helmet on my head and widely smiles, "That's a deadly look, sire" I look at him a bit confused, 'Dealdly look'? "You look brilliant, sire!"

With the way the faceplate is designed I probaly look like Scorpion...

You have no idea. It's the same colours too

Fancy

Cutting looks at the darkening sky, "It was a pleasure talking with you, sire. But I must go, so I'll take my leave" He tips an invisible hat and begins to walks away, but stops almost immediately and points at me with a serious expression, "You better not try any manky business with 'er" He says and walks away

Wat? I stand there dumbfounded watching him leave

With him out of sight I 'take' the armour and helmet, and make sure I didn't forget anything. As I finish, Noctis walks out of the barracks wearing her armour with the addition of two daggers on her hip, both on her left side, I guess she's right-handed

How can you tell?

The hip dagger is the easiest to grab, and it's on the left side. Remember, it's easier to grab across and it makes it be in the correct position

"What did Cut need?" Noctis asks as she gets close, I equip the armour which looks like ebonymail armour in skyrim but with major differences, the chestplate is simple and doesn't cover my abdomen. Overall the armour looks like a 'light' version of the ebonymail armour, with both the gauntlets and boots having smaller and more form-fitting armour for the forearms, and calfs and shins, respectively. The colour of the armour is an impresive midnight black with drak golden highlights and accents

"You like?" I strike an 'epic' pose, I probably look ridiculous

"What happened to the helmet?" I snap my fingers while equipping the helmet and sword and go back to my pose, "That's handy" Noctis then taps me on the back of my shoulder, "Let's go" She begins to walk to the castle gates, as I begin to follow, I re-equip my original clothes, the hoodie etc. I take notice she has swords on her back on an 'X' position, going in between her wings, That's a lot of blades... I wander if I can do that, hmm... "I'l be watching" I nod and Noctis jumps and flies up to the rooftops. I just stare in awe

"I really want wings now..." I shake my thoughts back on track and continue my way to the bar as I enter the streetlamp-lit streets of Canterlot

A Short Walk Later

I stand infront of the doorway looking up at the hanging sign, Well, here it is... reminds me of an RPG tavern. Kind of. I then turn my gaze to the other signs around the door, 'Feel free to use the stage', 'Use the instruments if you want, but treat them respectfully' blah blah 'no pets' blah 'Todays special: Apple Family Apple Cider' oh! Cool! But did it need 'apple' twice? I take a step towards the door and hear Noctis land behind me, so I turn around

But befaore I can say anything, "There are some shifty-looking stallions following you" she states in a serious tone. I look down the road and see two cloaked figures about 50m away, one I can tell is a unicorn. I turn back at Noctis, "They have been for about ten minutes"

"Let's worry about it later" I say with a smile

"My job is to worry about it as it happens" I shoot her a skeptical look

"Nothing has happened yet, so 'worry about it as it happents' when it hapens" I reach for the door and hold it open, "Ladies first." I motion for Noctis to go in, but she rolls her eyes

"My duty is to watch your back" Noctis states matter-of-factly. I give her a playful smile

"Well, my back says it doesn't need covering right now" I place my hand on her shoulder and give her a slight push, "Besides, it's not like anything will happen in the three seconds it takes." Noctis reluctanly goes in first and I follow

"Welcome! Welcome! Please take a seat!" Says the bartender while cleaning a mug behind the counter, So cliche... We get closer to the serving bar, but before I can look for the others, the bartender seems to notice Noctis, "Sorry ma'am, but batponies are only allowed in on official business" I look at him in shock, What is this? The 1950's? Why isn't this place sunshine and rainbows like it's supposed to be?

Because this technically isn't that universe... you know? Main difference: they are ANTHRO

"Well, she's with me." The bartender raises an eyebrow, "She's my bodyguard as ordered by Princess Celestia" I see Noctis reach into a pouch and take out a scroll, unravels it and show it to the bartender

"Fine" he huffs, That was... something

I start to look around for the guys and the first thing I notice is that most of the other ponies are looking at us, I spot Rick waving at us form the corner opposite of the entrance. The bar itself looks like if a tavern from any RPG and a modern smoke bar had a baby with a raised platform in the middle that has a grand piano sitting on top with a guitar, and other miscellaneous instruments.

I see Rick in the corner opposite to the door waving at me, so I wave back and head their way with Noctis right behind. Rick is sitting at table with Lightning, Thunder, Quick and Thinker, The whole gang is here

"Hello dudes, how are you on this fine evening?" I say with an exagerated accent of sortd while smiling as I take a seat next to Rick

Soon we were having a good conversation and how everything was going so far, Rick was mostly quiet but he did show me the translator, which is like a diamon piercing on his ear. Apparently the closer to the ear and brain the better, who knew?

Anyways, I notice the two cloaked ponies enter, they deffinitely were 'interested' in me, I felt their stares as soon as they walked in. I'm sure if I crouched I would have seen '[DANGER]' in my vision, HUD, whatever.

About half an hour later, I heard the door open, the bartender say 'welcome back! Who's your friend?'. But what made me pay attenttion to all of this was the feeling when they walked in, it was familiar but somehow not as strong as I know it. whatever this feeling, or aura, they gave off is pleasing. They were two mares, both pegasi, one being a pinkish white and the other a somewhat purple blue. The white one is blonde with her mane braided on the left side and a blue highlight, like ten hairs or so, that go around behind her ear, and her tail is also braided at the end, and it reaches the floor. She has a backless white dress with what seems to be a gold neck piece that is part of the dress. The purple-ish one has a short light blue mane with a somewhat average tail, both with a yellow highlight, and she's wearing a plain black dress similar to what you would see in a corporate party, very formal-looking.

They took a seat on the table next to us immediately striking a conversation with me. Should probably not have stared...

"Hello, you must be the human my friends told me about, I'm Sunny Smiles, but you can just call me Sunny, or Smiles if you prefer" She extens her arm towards me, Sunny Smiles... am I going to learn how to shoot? I shake her hand, then she points at the other mare, "This is my sister Moonlight" Moonlight extends her arm, which I politely shake

"Nice to meet you, my name is Luis-" How curious... "-the human that arrived here not too long ago..." As far as I know nobody outside the castle knows I'm human...

"We are pleased to make thy-" Sunny elbows Moonlight, "-your acquaintance." Are they..!? Naaahh. Are they??

"Yes, we are most pleased" Says Sunny with a smile, which, again, feels familiar, They are!!

"How did you hear about me?" Let's see what they say

"We are servants at the castle. Princess Celestia told us" Sunny answers, Works at the castle and yet... no 'prince'... or 'sire'... "Right! The Princess also asked us to give you..." She digs into her purse and takes a large scroll out, "...this. Is a map of Equestria like you asked for" She hands it too me and I 'take' it, Not even got surprised by me taking it like that...

"Thank you" I change to the map tab, Cool, the important places are pre-loaded, Canterlot, Ponyville, Cloudsdale... How would I even get there? I look at the piano, I've been tempted to play it since I saw it, but I could never play the paino on Earth and now I'm supposed to play it no problem... maybe..? I return to the pip-boy and change to the data tab, where I saw the music the other day. Now the songs and music have a skill level attached to them, novice, master, etc., and my music level is at the top of the screen, 'Adept' is my level... does that mean I can't play anything above that or..? I orginize the songs by level and then filter to piano, I'll do Chopin. Nocturnes sounds good, and apprentice level too, nice, I select it and turn back to 'possibly the princesses', "I've been tempted to play the piano for a while, so if you'll excuse me..." I then turn to my table, "Guys, I'll be right back" With that I walk to the piano

The keys are so shinny I walk to the side and lift the cover, inside I see a grenade ready for the taking, Does this mean I'll have to go on easter egg hunts? I take the grenade

What were you expecting? To just pop up infront of you? I move back to the sit, but not before noticing most ponies looking at me

More like monster drops... I'll guess that's another way of getting them. I sit down, my heart pounding

Yea

Do I just start playing? My hands begin to get a bit moist, If I mess up... everyone will see...

You chose the song, and now are part videogame protagonist. Just start playing, it's going to be similar to that bard mod in Skyrim. Just trust in your instincts because now you have the muscle memory for it I wipe my forehead and place my hands on the keys, ready to start the song

Here goes nothing..! I start to play

I finish the song and open my eyes, Everyone is staring... I fucked up bad, didn't I? Fuck me... Applause suddenly thunders in the room, I... I did good... I sigh, I'm so fucking relieved. I stand up and bow

"Do another!!" Says some stallion in the bar

"Yeah do more!!" A mare reaffirms

"More! More! More!..." Everyone is chanting, Great...

Good job, buddy, you're famous now Aleksandrs says in a mocking tone

Don't patronize me! I then look through the song list again and choose the Fallout 4 theme song, Because: why not? I sit back down, It also helps that it's a novice level

I begin to play

I passed the time playing many songs, the most notable ones were Minuet in G, Lent et douloureux, Por una Cabeza, but ultimately had to stop at about midnight. I said my goodbye's and, with Noctis and the two sisters right behind, headed to the train station.

I bought our tickets, and waited in the empty station with Noctis and the two sisters. Then the two cloaked ponies appeared and got tickets themselves.

They are deffinately following me... I turn to the sisters, "So why are you here?"

"We wanted to say goodbye to our new friends, is that not allowed?" Sunny has a confused expression. The screeching of the train begin to echo in the station

"Well, I would prefer not to be lied to, but you know...whatever" I just keep looking forward, trying my best to hide a grin

"What do you mean?"

The approaching screeching quiets down as the train stops at the station. Several ponies got off the train, "When we come back you still owe me the messaging spell, mom" I look at Sunny with a smile, her eyes widen and her mouth just hangs open, Moonlight is just as wide-eyed, but mouths at me 'How did you know?', I think that's what she asked anyways. After the ponies stop coming out of the train, Noctis and I go into one of the wagons. The other misterious ponies get in the same cart as us

We take a seat in the back of the wagon and sit down facing the rest of the room, the other two sit at the front. Less than a minute later the train starts going. "Next stop: Ponyville. Time of arrival: Dawn" Says the conductor through the intercomm as the train starts moving

I turn to Noctis, She's falling asleep... Did she not sleep yesterday? I know she's probably nocturnal, but she shouldn't be this- I see something shinny sticking out of her neck, What the fuck... I take it out of her neck and look at it, It's a needle! My eyes widen as I look at the other ponies standing up, "Oh shit..."

17 Fighting in the Friendship Express

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Chapter 17
Fighting in the Friendship Express

They throw their cloaks on their seats, The unicorn has waaayy too many daggers...

The earth pony stallion is a dark blood orange colour with a black mane mohawk. He's wearing black padded armour and a skullcap helmet, with swords on his sides. The unicorn is wearing leather armour that has little rectagles all around-

Bohemond I believe it's called

Thanks? With similar leg/shin armour. On his person, pony? On his self he has two daggers on his chest and on each thigh, and one on each calf and on each shoulder, totaling ten daggers

I snap my fingers and equip my armour and sword, but skip the helmet. "Hello, gentleme- colts. Gentlecolts, how may I help you today?" The Earth pony dual-wields his swords, while the unicorn uses his magic to levitate and surround himself with the daggers pointing at me, "Not the talkative type" I unsheath my sword, "Ok, I can do that. But one question before we start" I take a pause and grin, "Why is it that in fanfics that have fight scenes it's always with swords?" They look at eachother, Not the question you were expecting, is it? I take my chance and charge at them

The unicorn is the first to react, launching a dagger at me. I deflect it with my sword and follow up with a slash at the mage, but his buddy jumps in and blocks my attack, This is out of my league... I get feeling of something aiming at me from behind, I jump back, keeping my body low, just in time to see the dagger go over my head, joining the rest with the mage, Just like in AC... good, I can sense attacks

I stand back up, If I had a gun... I lift my sword and take a stance

The earth pony launches himself at me ready to slash at me from above, I jump back a bit surprised. He then begins to swing his swords and deliver slash after slash, I'm doing my best to parry. My back hits the wall, Shit! He gets ready for another overhead slash and jumps back, I immediately jump to the side barely dodging the daggers, That was too close. I stand back up in time to see them nod at eachother, Fuck...

The daggers beggin to float to the sides of the cabin, What are you plotting..? The daggers beggin to glow a bit stronger as they separate down the middle, Motherfuck-WHAT THE HELL!? Now I have to deal with twenty!!? The earth pony puts a hand behind his back and extends his other, giving me a 'come here', This is definately a trap. I ever so slowly make my way to the earth pony, all the while thinking of what the trap might be. They're definately going to surround me with them

A While Later

Not the best time, dude

Right now the unicorn can barely lift five of his daggers, the rest are scattered across the cabin, some stuck on the wall and a few on the ceiling, and he's bleeding from the cut I gave him on his arm. The problem is that I have one dagger stuck on my side and a couple somewhere on my back, and it FUCKING HURTS! Other than that I'm fine, minus the crippled leg, the bleeding damage stopped and I'm still over 50% HP. The earth pony is not doing so well, I drew blood on a slash across chest and left him half blind as well, and his swords are all banged up as one actually shatterd, the other one is all dented and bent in a few places. This demonstrates how well enchanted my sword is, it looks just like new. The armour in the other hand... A few of the chain links are broken, with some tears and holes here and there, the chest piece is dented and one of the gauntlets is chipped. Cutting is going to kill me...

The earth pony charges at me ready for an overhead attack, but drives his sword into the floor and uses it as support to drop kick me square in the chest, FUCK! I fall with a heavy thud and some clanking of my armour, and extreme pain from the daggers still in my back. The unicorn takes his chance and jumps at me, daggers in hand, ready to pierce my head. I stop his fall with a powerful double kick to the stomach, sending more pain through my back, GODDANM IT!!. I sit up to see the earth pony on one knee supporting himself with the the sword, panting, while his friend is unconscious in between us, No more flying daggers. Good

"We could've had a civilized conversation, and none of this would have happend" His enraged stare strenghtens, "Don't blame me, you attacked me. I only defended myself" We both start to stand up, but his legs fail him

I walk up to him, limping, and stop infront of him as he continues to stare at me, Great. I'm being attacked with a different type of daggers... He punches me in the stomach, but I barely feel it, "They fight is over. You can't even hit properly. Give up"

"Just *pant* just kill us already!" He demands, That is not the reaction I expected... "What are you wating for! DO IT!!" I raise my sword

"Nobody deserves to die" I bring my sword down and hit him with the pommel knocking him out, "Not without a second chance" I look back at the unicorn, "And I need some info from you both." I turn my attention to Noctis, I managed to keep the fight away from her. That's good

I then begin to search for anything useful on the assassins

You could use you game abilities to loot them with out touching them

How?

Put your hand above him

I do so

And think that you want to loot his body

Wait! Don't they need to be dead for me to loot them like this?

Not in this case, there are no scripts protecting them like that

If you say so... I think of looting him and a dim gold-ish light beams from my hand onto him. I now know what he has, This is very weird... I then proceed to take two lengths of rope, twenty-seven bits and a berserker potion from him. I turn to the unicorn and take a sleeping potion, four needles, another rope and a teleportation crystal, What's with this world and power crystals?

Don't ask me I didn't make this world

It was a rhetorical question... No note or anything, danm

Note? For what?

To know who send them, duh

I use the sleep potion and the needles to make sure wanna-be assassins don't wake up any time soon, I then take the rope and tie their hands together on the front of their bodies, then tie their legs and, with the third rope, I tie them to one of the seats

I make my way to Noctis and check her pulse, "Good, but just a little weak," Probably because of the potion... I sit down next to her, "I survived..." I still have the nuka-cola, "I could drink it, hmm..." I take it out and look at it in my hand, "Fuck it" I open it and raise it, "Cheers"

Author's Notes:

~~I wanted to have a cool fight scene, but I couldn't think of anything good, sorry. But I might add the fight scene in the future when I retouch the story (If I do)~~. My creative side just had a better idea. Next chapter will be a bit behind because of it, sorry in advance

Anyway, if you know what the title is a reference too, then props to you (Clue: not related to MLP, but they had a title refrence to the same thing). Also, I'm going to be taking a bit longer to write new chapters because of work. College is out and I'm going to have more hours (for the most part) at my job; in collage I at least had several breaks I could write in, but at work I can't even bring my laptop.

I hope you're all enjoying my story so far, and sorry if it seems short I couldn't think of more

18 Ponyville General

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Chapter 18
Ponyville General

After drinking the nuka-cola I jammed a stimpack in my leg to fix it because apparently I need bandages to heal a limb without a stimpack or med kit, which wasn't in the description of the module. Anyways, fixing my leg with the stimpack was painful to say the least, It forced the muscles to pop my bone back in place and accelerated the healing process a little, it caused a burning sensation while it happened. I can walk now no problem, but I'm going to need more if I want to completely heal, and I don't feel like using another stimpack so this will have to do for now. I stood up and took a couple of daggers, the sword and the pieces of the other.

I untied my attackers from the seat and instead tied the rope around my waist to their ankles, I'm going to drag those bitches out, fuck them. We are just about to get to the Ponyville station, and Noctis is still out cold, great. I have her on my arms bridle-style waiting for the train to stop at the station.

"Please stay clear of the doors as they open. Thank you for riding on the Friendship Express" The train hisses as it stops completely

I look down at Noctis, "Don't worry, Red, nothing bad happened" I hold my breath, Still unresponsive... I sigh

The doors open, in the station I see the complete crew waiting. Rainbow and Spike definitely wanted to stay in bed, I chuckle. As soon as they spot me their expressions change to horrified

"Oh my..."
"Dear Celestia! Whatever happened to you darling?"
"Dude, are you OK?"
"Oh my gosh!! Are you OK, Luis?!"

"I can't answer nor understand everyone talking at once," They stop talking, "I know that you all want to know what happened, but first I need to get Red here-" I gesture at Noctis in my arms "-to the hospital, and these idiots-" I look back at the dragging bodies "-need to tell me what they know," They all kind of nod. I turn my attention to Twilight, "Could you please inform the princess?" She takes out a scroll and quill, "Now let's go"

I start to walk, "Do you even know where yer goin'?" I stop, I can't check the map with Noctis on my arms. Damn... I turn south towards them, I have a HUD now! I completely forgot, I do slow pan and spot a faint hospital logo to the north, Got ya

"Yes, I do. Follow me," I continue my way to the hospital

The walk to the hospital was quiet, no one wanted to say anything it appears, and I wasn't in the mood to start a conversation. We entered the hospital and everything went silent in an instant, everyone stopped on their tracks to look at me and the dragging bodies.

I managed to explain the situation to the doctors and got a room for Noctis and the other guys, who might I add got restrained on the beds and some sort of magic nullifying ring for the unicorn; I, in the other hand, got a check up, some bandages and a sling for my close-to-breaking arm, didn't quite notice that until the doctor examined it. I also got a splint on my leg, apparently even though I don't feel it, my bone is still in bad shape. Anyways, Doctor Stable is finishing Noctis's check up.

"Noctis Umbra should be waking up within the day," He stands up off my bed and looks at Noctis's monitors, "If not, sooner." He then turns to the two assassins, "As for them... well..." He turns to me, "You did quite the number on them. They're stable, but..." He turns back to them, "They did lose quite a bit of blood," He sighs and turns back to me, "I'll take my leave"

"Take care" I wave at him as he turns to me and points

"And no more fighting"

I smirk, "No promises" He sighs and walks out. I stand up and walk up to the beds with my attackers, "What am I going to do with you...?" I make sure the straps are secure, "Just... Who the hell are you?" I look through their inventory again, "And who send you?" I find nothing to identify them. The door opens, I turn around but I immediately get grab by the shoulders and shaken like crazy

"What were you thinking?!! You shouldn't fight!"

"H-hi-i m-m-o-om" The shaking stops, Thank god, I get embraced in a hug, So nice..., I see a pink set of hooves behind Luna and Celestia. The hug ends

"My dear nephew, we have brought thy cousin," She steps to the side and points, with an open palm, to Cadence and places a hand on my shoulder, "Cadence, this is thy cousin Luis," I give her a shy smile and a small wave, she has a quizzical on her face

This is a bit uncomfortable, I look at Celestia then back to Cadence, I'm pretty sure my smile seems awkward n- shut up brain, not helping

Don't worry she's only trying to figure out why you went from a spike of love to void of it

"WHAT??" Everyone stares at me in surprise, Fuck... I made it more awkward... I pinch the bridge of my nose, "Sorry. My anxiety got the better of me," And you, shut up

Sorry...

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have stared."

What if I tell them it was your fault huh?

They'll think you're insane, but be my guest

"Anyways, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, nice to finally meet you" I extend my hand, which she takes

"Cadence is just fine" She pulls my arm and crushes me in a hug, "I can't believe I have another cousin that isn't Blueblood." Blueblood... I turn to the two attackers, Could he- She then puts me at arms length and pinches my cheeks, "And you are so adorable looking," Wat..?

The door bursts open with Rick is on the other side panting, "Don't *pant* teleport *pant* without me *pant* next time-" He takes the longest, deepest inhale I have ever heard, "And Princesses, who is the bubblegum coloured pony?"

"Oh my gosh!!!" SO high-pitched, "There is two of you and you are even cuter!!" I'm pretty sure Rick just whispered 'oh my fucking god'... I agree

Me too, like jeez...

Rick raises his hand and Cadence almost crashes into it but stops, "I am too TIRED for this," He pinches the bridge of his nose, "And now I have even more questions *sigh* Who are you and what do you mean by cuter? You know what? Jus-just your name"

Cadence clears her throat embarrassed, "I am Princess Cadence, but you can just call me Cadence"

The mane six come through the door, "Rick, darling, you shouldn't run indoors"

"Well, sorry for being worried that my friend might be badly hurt!" He turns around and, with a sigh, pinches the bridge of his nose "Sorry for yelling, I had too much last night and then got woken up really early for a day after a night out and... I- sorry, just sorry," He runs his hands down over his face

Rarity puts a hand on Rick's shoulder, "Don't worry darling. I would probably be in distress if any of my friends were in the same situation as Prince Luis," Oh gooood.. I bury my face in my hands

"Uggghh... So cringey..."

"Beg your pardon?" I look up with a look of internal pain

"Please for everything that's good. Drop. The 'Prince'. Please. I don't like it. It's so... uggghhhh"

"But, prince darli-" I point at her and interrupt

"Ehp"

"But-"

"Nope," She pouts at me

"Fine..."

"Thank you," I point at the rest of the group, "Same for you too, got it?" I look directly at Rick, "By the way, I drank the Nuka-cola. Not what I was expecting"

"What were you expecting then?"

"Honestly, more of a metallic taste. It did taste quite metallic but... I expected more. Other than that, it had a similar flavour to Co-"

"Ungh..." I turn to Noctis, her eyes slowly opening, "Wha..."

"Noctis, how are you feeling?" She'll probably want coffee or something... She rests her face on one hand and rubs her neck with the other

She looks up and locks eyes with me, "Who are you..?"

19 A night to Remember

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Chapter 19
A Night to Remember

"Who are you?" My heart just drops to bedrock

"What do you mean?" I get a sheepish smile on my face, She has to be joking... right?

Noctis begins to look around in a slight panic, "Where am I? Who am I?!" I jump out of my bed and grab her by the shoulders

"Noctis, look at me. You're safe, I'm your friend Luis. I'm here to help, just relax and listen to me, ok? Everything is fine"

Minus her memories

You shut the fuck up

"You're... Luis? I'm Noctis..." She looks at me and tilts her head, "Just Noctis?"

"Noctis Umbra," I smile at her

"Are you just Luis?"

I get close and whisper my full name in her ear. I kneel back up and smile

"You have a really long name," She chuckles

"But Luis is just fine, ok?" I smile, I turn my gaze to the two guys, I wonder if they suffered the same fate...

"Do not fear, my son," I turn to Celestia as she smiles at me, "Luis, those two will be fine," I look at everyone and see Twilight and Cadence doing their little dance number, Yet another point of history I've changed...

I hang my head in shame and sigh, I almost took their lives too, how can I be fine? I take a deep breath and turn to everyone, "I should probably explain what happened, no?" They all nod, I look at Noctis in shame, "It's my fault... I... failed you." I look away, "I always do..." ...fail everyone... my mom was right... I am a fa- She grabs my face and forces me into eye contact

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault," I forcefully close my eyes, I can't... look, it's too painful. It's my fault, you can't deny it. I could have... I should have... I needed to- Am I being hugged? I open my eyes and see Noctis's mane to my side, She's hugging me... I- "What are friends for?" I... am not too sure... "To help each other!" She pulls away and locks eyes with me, "Now let me help you. Tell me what happened"

“I...” Those eyes... just- agghhh, “Fine” I scoff as she squee’s a smile Pinkie would be proud of, "But first, let me introduce you to everyone"

A Brief Intruduction Later

Weird mom didn't introduced herself as princess, or Luna for that matter. Anyways..., "We were in Canterlot waiting for the train, when the train arrived, sometime in between boarding and taking our seats those two-" I point at the restrained ponies, "-took a needle dipped in a, supposedly, sleeping potion and stuck it in your neck," I take out the potion and turn to Celestia, "We should probably have this analyzed," she takes it, I turn back to telling the story, "After you were...” I start to wave my hand, What’s a good word? “Incapacitated? The duo got up from their seats and after a very brief, one-side exchange of words, I made the first move. They managed to block me and almost landed one of the daggers on the back of my neck," I take out one of the daggers, "The unicorn was using them with his magic, at the beginning there were only ten daggers, but they split," I split the dagger, "So I actually had to deal with twenty. After that discovery, they had me against the wall, and divided the daggers and kind of set up a trap..."

Flashback

I walked into the middle of the train cart just as the unicorn closed the circle, I think it might be a barrage attack..., I thought to myself. The earth pony charged at me, ready to strike me down, but I reacted in time and blocked his swords. I felt a target on my back and dodged just in time, but the swordspony was already preparing an attack

I managed to block one of his swords, but the second one had been planned as the attack and it hit the mark, through my stomach, Fuck!! That hurts! The first one was to get my attention, goddammit!, I grunted in pain. The pony took out the sword and jumped back, Motherfucker, that hurts!, immediately afterwards I felt all the daggers taking aim, Fuck me..., I thought as I felt the first dagger make its move

I dodged as many daggers as I could that I couldn't take care of with the sword, I had to deflect a few with my off hand. A few did land around my torso, others just scraped my neck or face...

Now

"-and basically that was what happened for a while, but didn't quite get as hurt afterwards from that move. The guy really got tired from that move and the fact that he did it several times, weeelll... He tired out quickly. Anyways-" With a single knock the door opens and a couple of guards walk in

"Princesses, these were found at the scene," They reveal the cloaks the two ponies were wearing before the assault, You know? I completely forgot about those... "The amount of blades found at the scene was... disturbing to say the least"

"Did you find metal shards on the cabin too?" Both guards nod. I take out the broken sword, "That's from this. It broke during our fight," I take out the other sword, "This was also being used by the earth pony. He was dual-wielding, quite skilfully too, cut me up real good,"

"What is it that you mean, Prince?"

"Two things, don't call me 'prince' and secondly-" I equip my armour, "Look at this.." I begin to point out all the damage, broken chain links, chipped pieces and such, "...and this was one of the first blows, it went completely through and it hurt a little," I go back to my clothes

"Stone Cold, Brave Heart, I need you to take this-" She hands them the potion, "-to the laboratory and have it analyzed. Take everything else as evidence," The two guards salute and walk out, She remembers their names... wow

"Should I continue my story?" They all nod, “Cool. Where was I? Right! And before I get ahead of myself... in their third or fourth attempt they got me good...”

Flashback... again

...We were at a standstill; they would attack, I would defend, I’d get slightly hurt, and they’d get ever more tired. This is not going anywhere, I thought, I would have to... fuck it

I charged at the earth pony, ready to attack from one side, but did some fancy footwork and with a 360, pushed him out of the way. That got me past him, which I took as a good sign, and continued with the plan. I slashed at the unicorn and struck his shoulder, but the armour stood strong, Damn, i thought as the pony fell to one knee

I felt the blade as it went through my leg, I turned ready to attack but the pony dodged and my sword got stuck on the wooden bench, I was fucked. I tried to pull it out, but it didn’t budge. I let go of the sword as I evaded an attack, Now I’m swordless and sandwiched, fucking great... I thought as I looked both ways, I can’t shout without killing everyone and I can’t use fire without burning the whole thing down... What am I supposed to do now l? I couldn’t think of a plan, so I started to wing it

I got ready for some punches; the earth pony got ready to slice me in half, but I reacted by grabbing the sword and twisting it out of his grip, then swinging it at the unicorn, keeping the momentum going, and hitting him on the side with the hilt. I also used that moment to do a back kick on the now-down-to-one-sword pony, making him stumble back. I threw the sword in the air turned around and caught it ready to continue the sparring, How in the name of hell did I do that..?, I thought

After a few exchanged parries, I got ready for my next move by kicking the swordspony. I bring my sword ready to strike him, when I saw the belt of his armour glow, Oh no you don’t, I thought as I brought the blade down as forcefully as I could with a surge of strength. The tip of the sword went across the side of his face before loudly cracking on the ground

“AAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!” He cover the side of his face in excruciating pain and gave me the most ‘I’m going to kill you’ look I could ever imagine, “I’ll kill you now, you hairless excuse for a monkey!” He charged at me as soon as he finished talking, Oh fuck-, I stop his sword, but my sword starts to creak as he applies more and more force, I needed a new weapon fast. So I dropped to the ground and kicked him over to his friend

I got up as fast as I could to examine the field, and found the perfect opportunity for a two-for-one. I charged at them, threw the sword to create a distraction, grabbed my original sword and drop kicked the earth pony. The unicorn couldn’t see the oncoming sword in time and it hit him on the arm, the sword shattered on impact-

Flashback Interrupted

“So you’re saying you shattered the sword?,” Rainbow gives me a doubtful look, I just nod

"Ah have to agree with Rainbow Dash here. Ah may not be no swodsmith, but those looked mighty strong,”

I smile and shrug, "What can I say? I'm just that unlucky," AJ's and RD's jaws drop

"That seems pretty lucky to me," I look directly at Twilight and raise her an eyebrow

"Just think about it: I used it and it broke in a few minutes, if I were lucky then the sword wouldn't have cracked and when I threw it would have gone through the armour or incapacitated him at the very least"

"Then again, he couldn't use the sword against you," She does her signature 'I told you so' face, Weeelllll...

"That is quite true, Luis,"

"Thou would have gotten very hurt otherwise"

"Actually..." I snap my fingers, "Nevermind, I tell you in the story"

I got up with my sword in hand and noticed the unicorn’s armour got damaged, I can’t waste this opportunity, I thought as I began to formulate a plan, I need to get them by Noctis... less chances of a stray hitting her... I look at the two ponies getting ready to continue, But how?

The earth pony with rage in his eye, and blood dripping down his face, charged at me, The unicorn seemed to try to stop him but gave up almost immediately, instead getting ready to assist his partner. Daggers started to fly as I parried and blocked the incoming attacks from the swordspony

Dammit!!, I thought as I grabbed a dagger from the air and tried to slash the earth pony while holding his sword back with mine. The dagger went across the pony's armour, cutting a few straps and his belt making the armour expose his now cut undershirt, but the dagger was almost immediately yanked from my grip by the unicorn's magic. We jump back and continued seizing each other up, but I spot some red coming from the pony's grey shirt, and anger was clearly building up in his face

Fuck me..., We all just stood waiting for the other to make a move, When do I even think things through anyways?, I started my charge, Get the unicorn..., the earth pony took a stance and slashed at me

I dropped to the ground, blocked his sword and slid past him. I then planted my feet on the ground and jumped, punched the unicorn in the face, landed, took the broken sword and took him in a choke hold with my sword, effectively strangleling him while keeping him threatened, This better keep the other in check, right?

I slowly backed up closer to the wall, I don't want any daggers backstabbing me, not today, I thought. The earth pony makes his way closer to my and my hostage

The unicorn delivered a reverse headbutt as a dagger made its home on my back, I then felt the unicorn jump and a sword striking my already hurt leg. I stumbled backwards with the vault-boy telling me my leg got crippled, Goddamnit! Fuck me!

Ugghh... Let's just agree the flashbacks get interrupted unless I say otherwise

"Dear Celestia, darling! Good thing you were only wearing that armour," Almost everyone raises an eyebrow at Rarity's comment, "What?! Imagine the damage swords would have done to his clothes"

I make eye contact with Rarity, take out my sword, and drive it into my forearm through my sleeve, No self damage? Cool, I then just drag it out my arm lenght wise while everyone is just shocked, except Rick and Celestia, they're just disappointed. The sword exits through my hand, I put the sword away and showcase the lack of damage, "See? Nothing would have happend"

"How can thy armour be harmed but not thy clothes?"

I raise my hand to counter-argue, I have no idea..., I get pensive

"LUIS!!"

I snap out of my thoughts, "Yes!," I look around to see who called me, but Rick butts in

"You don't know, do you, bud?"

"I do have a theory, but it makes no sense unless you know videogames... kind of," Why don't you tell me?

...

"Well? What is it?" Rainbow is just hovering over the group

"Rainbow! Manners," Rarity gives RD a stern look, Rainbow gives me an apologetic look in response and rubs the back of her head

"My theory is that armour has a damage resistance value and clothing doesn't, so to have "balanced gameplay' the armour gets damaged which reduces the resistance it has," I shrug, "So it doesn't matter if clothing gets damaged or not... i guess"

BINGO!!

"You didn't get too hurt because of that did you?," ... ... Has she even been listening?

"..." I raise my eyebrow

"Right, you did sorry," Fluttershy hides in her mane

"Don't worry, I've would've asked the same question out of reflex too," She 'comes out' of her mane, "The story is almost done now..."

He could probably tell where the dagger was, I thought as the other two regrouped

The unicorn tried to get all his daggers back in order, but could unstick a few from the wall, Motherfucker, I felt his magic fidget with the dagger in my back, I need to get rid of him..., I swapped the broken sword to my right hand

I ran at them and the fighter reacted first. I slashed, he blocked

I felt a dagger readying so I started to push down on my sword harder, pushing him down a little, I then kicked his knee out making him kneel and kicked him in the stomach. I vaulted over him and got ready to plunge the broken sword into the magician's neck

I felt my left arm be pulled as his horn lit up, Oh no you don't!, I put as much force as I had and drove the shattered sword into his shoulder, right where the armour was damaged. I noticed him panic and he pulled me as hard as he could away from himself, but I held on to the hilt as I want flying back leaving him a nasty gash across his arm

I landed on my side directly on a dagger the unicorn thrusted into place, I got up as fast as I could and dropped the broken sword to feel the damage.

I raised my hand to see blood covering it almost entirely, I took my attention over to my HUD to see my blood level (BL) was dropping slowly, Bleeding damage... Fuck me, I took the sword over to my main hand again and looked over the other two, the unicorn was just holding his new wound in silent suffering while the earth pony was ready to defend looking over to his partner every few seconds

We held our defensive positions over a couple of minutes, but it felt like forever. The three of us were on edge, we were flintching at every minute movement the other side did, then the unicorn stood up with the fire of revenge in his eyes

The unicron extended his arm as his horn began to glow, the earth pony saw his stance and immediately dove for the floor, I have a bad feeling about this..., all the daggers scattered around the wizard began to glow too

"You are a strong little bitch aren't you?" I whispered to my self freein up my left hand to deflect as many daggers as I could

As the rain of blades engulfed me I did my best to keep the daggers in check, but the growing pain from the already stabbed daggers made it more difficult as it got more intense

A few daggers grazed my face once again, and then another dagger made it's way on my back just as the unicorn fell on one knee panting. I looked around seeing the daggers everywhere, on the wall, the ceiling, and even the benches, Good thing I was on this side away from Noctis

The Earth pony stood back up and charged at me, I blocked his attack and kicked him in the shin, same leg as before. The pony jumped back with a bit of a limp on his step

At that moment the unicorn completely colapsed, still panting, the earth pony noticed and faltered back even further. I took my oportunity and ran the the swordspony, but planted my foot firmly on the ground and delivered a side kick

Damn, I though as his sword absorbed the damage. I retreated to regain my stamina, but the pony saw it as an opening

I got ready to block his swords, but the pony droped to the floor and turned around, and planted his hands on the ground. His hooves went on either side of my sword as they made contact with my chest plate, striking me with a powerful double donkey kick.

I stood up completely out of breath, the fighter was using his sword as support as he stood up too, while the unicorn was finally on his hooves, still breathing heavily

End of Flashback

"... and from there, I dropped kicked the earth pony, the unicorn ran out of magic and tried to fight me the old fashoined way, but I knocked them both out" ...and then used the potion that might give them amnesia... fuck, some one knocks, "Come in"

Dr. Stable comes in and notices Noctis awake, "Ahh, miss Umbra, how are you feeling?," then looks at me kneeling next to Noctis's bed and he gets a bit... Annoyed? I guess..., "You should not be doing that with your leg in that condition," I stand up and Noctis lets go of my hand, Wait! When did that...?, I sit on my bed and go into my pip-boy

"I'm doing fine, I think," Noctis stands up as I go to my physical status, "Other than my memory loss, I feel great," Noctis says while streaching her shoulders, I take my attention back to the action

Dr. Stable teleports a clipboard, rubs his chin and scribbles something, "Interesting... I did not notice anything amiss during your physical analysis. I'll have to double check those results," he then looks at me with a somewhat amused expression, "I'm to guess you're feeling better?"

"I'm completely healed, if you don't mind me saying," he rolls his eyes with a small dismissive smirk

"There is no way anypony, especially you after what you said during your check up, would be healed that quickly. But I guess I'll amuse you," His horn dimly glows as my geiger counter crackles. His expression goes from an 'I told you so' to a 'Wait what?!' quite slowly, like a well timed joke, "I guess you are..." he flips to another page on the clipboard and writes down something

The doctor then turns back to Noctis, "We'll do a more indepth analysis, since something else might have been affected. If you'll follow me," he motions towards the door

Noctis looks at me with a smile and gives me a small wave, "I'll be back soon, Luis" she then turns to everyone else, "Pleasure meeting you all. Hope to see you soon," Noctis follows the Doctor with a certain femininity to her step, Welp, that's new...

The door closes, "Ok everyone, it appears I'll be staying longer than expected. But you know what? I like small towns so it's going to be awesome"

"Specially with me around"

"You keep thinking that Rainbow," I look at Rick, "How are things with Quick?"

He rubs the back of his neck, "OH you know, same old same old," Did.. did he blush?, "Although, we still have no idea what my power is," Must have been my imagination...

"Your human talents are weird," Twilight steps closer to the middle of the room, "For one, there is Luis," she looks at me, "You know what your talents are and how to use them,"

"Debatable," I say with a shrug, I still have no idea on how my lycanthropy works

"Anyway. Rick in the other hand," She turns to Rick, "You have no idea how your talents work, much less on how to harness them"

Rick raises his hands, "In my defense, powers like this don't exist in our universe"

"Then how in the hay would you explain Luis here knowin' how to use them powers of his?"

"Well, that's because his the main character of the story! Duh," everyone looks at her like she just grew a third eye, expcept the Sisters and me

I nod in agreement, "That's a partial answer, Pinkie. I also play a lot of video games, as well as having this pip-boy which works like an interface to my powers," everyone looks at me like they did Pinkie, except for Celestia, she just has her grin_tm

"How did that even make sense? Main character?," Rick does a classic 'da hell you mean?' pose before rubbing his temples

"You know, Pinkie being Pinkie," I say matter-of-fact-ly

"How would you even know? You've only met once"

"I guess this would be a good segway," I turn to Celestia, "Right, mom?," Celestia nods

"Still weird, dude," I turn to say something but Rick wins the race

"Yeah, I agree"

“Anyways, what if I told you that on our world there is a window to a parallel universe to yours?...”

Author's Notes:

Here we finally get the fight scene as a flashback, so I could experiment with the more normal way of writing. Honestly the interruptions are there more or less as a buffer for me when I was writing, basically to get my thoughts in order and such to have a coherent fight scene (maybe to add words too )

Also, I am going to be changing Fluttershy's speech colour in the story, so I you go back and can suddenly read her comments it was that. I got a new monitor and noticed how hard it was to read so now I'll change it to a few tones darker, that should fix it in most, if not all, screens (3,810 words end of chapter)

Ps
I had to finish the chapter on my phone so there might be some formatting issues. I’ll get them fixed once my pc stops acting up, same with the colour

I recently got No Man's Sky and it's freaking good, but holy shit is it difficult to get credits

Now that you have my excuse of the month, I think I have a theory. I think the novelty of writing has worn off of me so that could explain why I'm taking longer and longer to finish each chapter, but it's only the first chapter after last time, so only time will tell

I know this section is probably for writing my thoughts on the chapter or something of the sort, but I don't have much to say, maybe I'll add something at the beginning before releasing the chapter (2,053 words at the moment)

20 Deja Vu

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Chapter 20
Deja Vu

Looking around, Twilight is freaking out a little and Pinkie is blissfully bouncing in place while everyone else is mostly neutral, Better reaction than what I was expecting...

"So we are not real!," Twilight puts a hand on her forehead and takes a step back in disbelief, Spoke too soon...

"For someone so OCD'ed, you are certainly not taking in a lot of detail," I say half joking half condescending

"But you just said our world is a play- teevee show, whatever, which was written by somehuman with a name that is exactly the same as our deity of creation!!," a few strands of hair pop out of her mane, then she gets nose to nose with me with a psychotic grin, "DID I MISS ANYTHING?!!"

"Yes," I put on a sly smile

Twilight stands up straight and her eye twitches, then she goes through every emotion imaginable, but Applejack places a hand on her shoulder

"Ah may not be as smart as you, sugarcube, so would you mind explainin' how Luis and Rick are here?," AJ looks at Twilight a bit knowingly but very smug

Rarity notices what AJ is doing and jumps in, "Yes, darling, if our world is fictional then how are two very real gentlecolts in our town hmm?"

"I would like to know too," Fluttershy meekly says, "If you don't mind me saying"

Twilight starts to look between Rick and me. Rick looks at me for a second and then realizes what everyone is getting at, "Twilight you can't be fake if we are here, relax"

"It would definitely be impossible for me to be fake, seeing how awesome I am and all"

Twilight shrinks a little in embarrassment, "I guess I didn't take that into account, hehe"

"There you go, Twinkle Sprinkle, nothing to worry about," I hear a snort coming from someone, a few chuckles, and Rainbow in full laughter

"As Amusing as we may find thy byname for Twilight Sparkle, that was no nice of thee to comment,"

"Dear Sister, you need to learn to live a little," Celestia places a hand on Luna's shoulder with a smile

"Speaking of live, you probably don't want to stay in a crowded hospital room all day, and I'm pretty sure we'll be out later today soooo..."

Rick looks up in thought, "I guess," he looks at me, "Quick and I- AND Thinker, were going to see if I could do some enchanting stuff with my ability," He definitely blushed this time, "It might be related with programming after all,"

I turn to Celestia and Luna, "Wait, don't you two have a country to run?"

Luna turns to Celestia, "Dear sister, we might have neglected our royal duties for long enough"

"Let us at least say 'goodbye' to everypony," both of them turn to the rest of the room, "It appears our royal duties can wait no longer. We will be taking our leave"

"We thank you for your presence," Rarity does a lady bow, Holding an invisible dress and everything, everyone else did a normal bow

"See you later, mom and aunt Luna,"

"Give our best regards to thy friend Noctis Umbra," Luna Gives me a wink

I recoil a bit, wide-eyed, "S-sure," I turn to everyone, "I'll be seeing you in a bit, see you guys later," I lay on the bed with my arms propping me up, "I need some sleep guys, I had a very interesting night"

"We'll leave ya to it then, sugarcube"

"Sleep well, Luis,"

I lay down with my hands behind my head, "Don't worry, I will," I close my eyes and sigh which turns into a yawn, "I didn't think I was this tired, jeez," My eyes snap open and I see Celestia kissing my forehead, Ookaayy then..., "Uhmm, what are you doing?"

"Is it not normal to kiss your son good night?"

"I don't know," I turn to Rick who has his hand hiding a smirk, "Is it?"

"Sure it is," a chuckle escapes his throat and he coughs to try to hide it, "On babies!," he bursts out laughing with Rainbow and Spike joining him, and Pinkie giggling like a maniac, Of course..., they finish laughing and there is a knock at the door

"Come in," I sit up in bed

The door swings open and Dr Stable comes through followed by Noctis wearing a pair of round frame glasses, she is looking down a bit embarrassed fidgeting in her stance a little, She looks so... cute. Though she could still hand my ass to me, even if she doesn't know it. Doctor Stable in the other hand is going through some notes on his clipboard

"You might want to close your mouth," I do so as I give her an embarrassed look with a chuckle, she gives me her iconic troll smile as she straightens her posture, Oh. My. God... I have Trollestia as my mom...

"Well, apart from her memory loss, her eyesight has diminished since her last record I have access to," he looks up to the rest of the group, "Don't get me wrong, her eyesight is still above that of an average pony, but her batpony status should have given her a better results. Nothing too concerning though, so that's good, just needs the glasses to keep her vision in good condition," he adjust his own glasses as he changes pages with his magic, "As for you prin- right! Luis, your eye exam shows your human vision rivals that of a batpony's and I must simply see this for myself"

"Can we do this when I'm not exhausted?," I yawn again

"Right, probably a good idea," he adjusts his glasses, "We wouldn't want to askew the results," he walks out the door

I look at everyone in the room and-, "Wait! Where is Cadance?"

"She left during thy story. Something with having 'duties left at the castle,' as she mentioned"

"Right about where you said-" Twilight takes out a scroll, "and I quote, 'that mother-effer stabbed me in the back with his gosh darned dagger using his flipping magic'," she puts the scroll away

"You even said 'see you later' you silly human," she chuckles

I look at her a bit confused, "I did?"

"Yes siree bob," she puts on a huge grin

I just stare blankly, "Well then. I guess I AM tired"

"From what the doctor told me, you didn't have any sleep, and you fought those ponies the whole night," I turn to Noctis, who is still embarrassed, Just tell her there's no need to feel bad, you idiot

'I-uhmm..." Just say it "The glasses suit you," I feel my face get warm as Noctis looks at me with a smile, still slightly embarrassed, At least she's not looking down anymore

"Thanks"

"Very er-ahem ... Cute, I guess," I feel my face get warmer, I have no idea why I said that. Well I do, it's the truth but... I think... .... I like her, her accent, her mannerisms, her eyes- specially her eyes, so entrancing, hypnotizing-NO! What it is is that I barely get social interaction, that's what it is, my brain is simply confusing that with affection... But those eyes are beau-

"Luis, are you okay? You look a little red," Noctis don't bring attention to it

"And you've been staring at a wall for a while, are you having some sort of human episode of something? OOOHH! Were you thinking of something? Was it ice cream? I love vanilla, but chocolate is better, actually mint is delicious, but rocky road is a good combination and- mmh hmmhm," AJ puts a hand over Pinkie's mouth and starts dragging her to the door

"Sugarcube, ya are goin' to be needin' yer strength for whatever comes next, see ya," AJ goes out the door with Pinkie

"Rest well, and when you get signed out, meet us at the library ," Twilight walks out

"I hope you dream of nice things," she follows Twilight out

Rainbow flies next to my bed, in between me and Noctis, and wiggles her eyebrows at me with a smug look, then she turns to Noctis, "When you get out of this place, lets have a race you and I," she flies out the door

Rarity walks up to me, "Darling, we need to get you some clothes befitting of your title"

"Hey, what's wrong with what I have?"

"Its very drab, darling," she grabs my hoodie and looks at the zipper, "This is low quality machine stitching, and don't get me started on your pants"

"Then I won't get you started on my jeans"

Rarity sighs, "I'm just trying to give you some advise as a friend. When you have time, come by the Carousel Boutique, I'll make you something nice and worthy of a prrince," She rolled the 'r', of course she rolled the 'r'

"I'll try," Rarity walks out, Spike gives me a two finger salute and flick, and follows Rarity out. I see Rick giggling to himself, "What's so funny?"

"It's going to be so frilly," he lets out a few laughs

"Har har," I turn to the princesses, whom are whispering amongst themselves and giggling, "Mom, your going to- *yawn* sorry. You're going to have to teach me that spell later, I'm too tired"

"Do not worry, dear, there is always time"

"We will be seeing you soon, my nephew," with the glow of their horns they teleport away

"OH COME ON!!," Celestia reappears behind him, he jumps back, "AGHH! Don't do that,"

"Almost forgot you," she teleports them both out

I lay down on the bed with my forearm over my face, "It's official, I've been more times in the hospital here than in my world. And it's only been a little over a week!"

Noctis giggles at my over exaggeration, "You complain too much," I look at her with a smirk, "First you're too tired to do anything and now on your hospital visits," she rolls her eyes a bit mockingly

"Honestly, I always feel tired, I'm only yawning now because I'm more tired than usual," I look at the clock on the wall, Half past 12, what to do, what to do..? The care package, oooh, that's an idea , I get up from the bed, "hey Noctis, want to see something cool?"

Her ears perk up as she ever so slightly tilts her head, "What is it?"

"Just follow me"

On our way to the little park behind the hospital we passed a few ponies who looked in amazement as we walked by. Probably because the morning papers said I was a new prince, and not only that, but also adopted directly by Princess Celestia. I mean who wouldn't be surprised to see such a high profile individual in such a place, in a small town no less. I guess my height being similar to that of Celestia's also helped with their astonishment.

Back on topic thought. Noctis kept asking what I was going to show her, but I kept responding as vague as possible. Responses such as "You know, it's a thing" or just a simple "Stuff". I found a good clearing and I'm ready to get my next airdrop, grenade in hand

"Come on, tell me. What is it?" Noctis start to playfully pull on my arm, "And I know it couldn't be that thing in your hand. It's too small to be anything impressive"

I smugly smile at her, Oh how wrong you are, I pull the pin and let the lever fly out, I love that 'ping', so satisfying, I toss the canister as soon as the smoke starts to pour out, "Look up"

We both look up to see the crate appear and start falling, "What is it?"

"You'll see," the parachute deploys and disappears as the airdrop touches down, "And now we open it"

I walk up to it, Noctis close behind, and undo the locks lifting the top open. Inside there's two holotapes, but one is- Green?! What??

"What are they?" she innocently asks

"They're holotapes and they contain abilities I can use"

"You mean 'things' right? Because, how could they have skills?"

"I don't know how they could have skills, but they do," I scratch my chin, "Although, I'm not sure about the green one. It's the first time I see one of those," Let's see here... I grab the green holotape and look at it all over, Nothing out of the ordinary, it's just green, the normal boot up sequence happens, but instead of just showing what the modules has, it goes to a small menu with two options. The first option is just called [Information], the second is just [Modules], Well, what do we have here? Is this your doing, Aleksandrs?

...

You haven't said anything in a while. Are you ok?

Sorry, I just feel bad for the comment I made earlier. I didn't think it wou- ... Nevermind, and by the way, that holotape is from them, the council. I started color coding them; orange is random, green is them, and yellow is me

"Soooo," I turn to Noctis who's now peaking at my pip-boy, "What does it say?," This feels... familiar, very familiar...

I select the information letter and start to read, 'Hello Luis, this is the council reaching out directly to you to give you the news, we believe Aleksandrs might have over corrected a few aspects of your abilities as a response to our request [...] and so this 'quality of life update,' if you will, has more video game based mechanics that should have been at your disposal from the beginning and a few that were modified after the miscommunication. Best regards, the council' that was a book and a half to read...

"What does 'update' mean? And what is 'quality of life' in this contex? I don't understand it"

I look at her quizzical expression, "It might sound weird to you, but basically a 'quality of life update' is there to fix any, uhmm, oversights I guess, that came with my powers when they were given to me"

"I think I get it... Maybe," she ponders for a bit, "What type of oversights?"

"Like it said, my 'level up' system wasn't what they wanted so they're making it better"

"And who are they? Who is this council?"

Oh shit... She read the whole thing, "I have no idea," She now knows more is going on that meets the eyes, whatever it might be...

Dude, I'm literally just a story teller. I give ideas that feel original, that's the whole job description. Nothing more, nothing less

So no demon threat that might cause extreme amounts of chaos?

Not that I'm aware of. Just remember I live in the present, just like you

"And who is this 'Aleksandrs' stallion the letter mentioned?"

"I guess he's just an observer with limited power over what happens to me," I rub my jaw slightly, "More specifically, what abilities, skills, powers, whatever you want to call them, I can get," Noctis cocks her head in thought

And now I can attach to her

That sounded very weird

I realize that. What I meant is that because she knows about me I can see the world through her

Oh, that's cool. Will you talk to her?

I can't, just you. I would need an extended permission for that

"Weird," Noctis's expression lights up again, "So what new abilities did you get?"

I open the [Modules] page, and it has the modules I already have that will be affected plus whatever the want added, "Let's start with what changed, ok?" She nods, "Ok. Now I level up more like in a game and gain skill points I can use to enhance my abilities and attributes, as well as letting me unlock new skills that fall within what I have and might be able to learn. Unlike the previous system in which I only get luckier with what I get from the care package"

"So you could learn a completely new fighting style in less than a second?," she looks at me confused

"Basically," she just gives me an 'mhmm' in return

The last module that was affected was my 'enhanced control' one. Now I'll have to equip stuff through the pip-boy, but I can favourite a limited amount of items and apparel to equip and re-equip without the pip-boy and I can increase the number of favourite items by equipping a holster, but it limits that item to what ever the holster is for, and pouches limit on the size.

The last change made by this update was a 'Lore' module, basically the council doesn't want me using any exploits from the games I might get, instead the game items with act as how they are described by the lore. All I can say is two things, "all those tutorials by 'the spiffing brit' wasted" and "no fortify restoration loop, damn"

I explained things to Noctis as well, just in case something, I really don't know and because she now knows and it doesn't hurt, right?

"Any questions?" Noctis starts to ponder, then looks back at the crate

She returns her gaze back at me, "What about the other one?"

I take it and inserted into the pip-boy, "We are about to find out," the boot up sequence finishes and I read what it is, "It's a companion module. Like the name suggest I can now have a companion who will have a simplified version of my leveling ability, but no new abilities or inventory, just a slight boost in their abilites when with me"

"Ohhhh! Uhmm..." Noctis blushes a bit, looks down, grabs her hands and starts to fidget with them, "Could I... you know.. be er... what I'm trying to say is... well..."

I lift her face, "Would you like to be my companion?" immediately her face lights up and she starts to bounce a little as she nods. Then a hologram appears infront of her, from what I can see, it says 'Would you like to follow Luis?' with a check mark and an 'X' underneath

"Woah!" Noctis starts to examine the apparition and with and unsecure 'uhhm' she presses the check mark. I then see her name and an HP bar appear in my vision, and at the same time she jumps back and starts to look around in a fright, "What's going on?"

"By any chance, are you seeing a bunch of bars and things in your vision?" she rapidly nods, "That should be your status bars. You have an HP bar, that's your Health Points, basically ha much damage you can take before you can't fight anymore. I don't know if you see it, but there should also be another one with my name on it"

"Yeah, it's so odd. Is this what you see?"

"More or less, yes," I look back at the crate, It's still here, which means... I lift the foam and-, "HUH??" I pick the item from the crate and the box poofs out of existance. I look at the thing I'm holding in my hand in every angle possible, "It's a PKE meter... from the Ghostbusters..." Is it affected by the lore?

Nope

Huh? Oh, thanks!

No prob

"What's a PK-, that thing?"

"This is a PKE meter, Psychokinetic Energy Meter. This will help with finding ghost,-"

Magic items and even collectables *cough*smoke grenades*cough*

"-Magic things and more airdrops," I'm definitely favouriting this, I turn it on and immediately see a problem, The natural magic of the world is causing a lot of interference, damn, I put it away

"How did you even do that?"

I turn to Noctis, "Huh?"

"Where did the thing go?" Oh! That

"I put it in my inventory. Uhmm, think of it as a pocket you can't see," a yawn scapes my mouth

"You should probably go to sleep before you colapse"

"Probalby a good idea, let's go Red," we start walking towards the hospital

"Red?"

"Right, you don't remember, sorry about that. We kind of made a deal, you'd let me call you 'Red' and forgive me if I told my mom, Princess Celestia, I was a cotton headed ninny muggins," Noctis immediately covers her mouth in surprise, I give her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, she agreed," I chuckle and put my arm over her shoulder

"What did you do that I had to forgive you with-with that??"

"I was being a cotton headed ninny muggins," I crack up in laughter

We enter the room and I just head for the bed, "Wake me up in like an hour or something," I drop on the bed and almost immediately fall asleep

I'm sitting in a mess of countless doors, no floor, no ceiling, and no walls, "Here again... great, I wonder what is it this time," I stand up and begin to walk around in search of the new door, "What am I having doubts about now?"

After a while of looking I find nothing, That's odd, there has to be something... maybe I feel hopeful for once, with a blur, the scenery changes. The doors surounding me are now few and far between, and the background is no longer infinite darkness, but instead a simple white hallway

I start to count the doors, "...30, 31, 32... 33. Which one is the new one? I haven't been here in far too long..."

A little while latter I find the new door, I grab the handle, "Here we go..." I open the door, It's just Noctis in the room, smiling. The sight warms my heart, "I do like her... why? Why Noctis...?" The room changes to the dream Luna made us have together to apologize, and the scene plays out and it returns to Noctis

I sit down and think about what's the importance of that moment to me, "She felt bad even if it wasn't her fault and put all the blame... on herself... ... I... I know how that feels... I was raised like that," I fly out of the room into another, this one with my pissed off mother inside, and a scene from my childhood plays, the day I realised she was no mother to me

I was 6 at the time, we had just returned to the house from the amusement park, and my brother went to a friends house after the trip. It was just me and my mother in the house

"HOW COULD YOU?!!" Her hand going across my face, "DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARRASSING THAT WAS FOR ME?!" Her hand making contact once again

"I-I-I'm s-so-sorry, I couldn't h-h-e-help it," Her closed fist coming down on my head

She mocks me and just get even angrier, "You puked all over the place!" Her slap throwing me to the floor, "This is why I can't have nice things," her venom bleeding through her words. She walks up to the closet and looks at me as I look at her on my hands and knees, "You, always ruining everything," she opens the closet and reaches for a belt, "And we were having such a nice day to," her face twisting into a psychotic smile

I start to cry, "Please don't"

She mocks my pleas and makes the belt snap loudly , "With that attitude, no wonder your dad left!"

"B-bu-but he c-calls everyday"

"SHUT UP!!!" she lifts the belt ready to whip me

I shut the door, breathing heavily, I lean on the door and slide down to a sitting position, "I don't think Noctis went through something like that, though," I chuckle, "And I still don't get how that applies to me liking her," I feel getting pulled again, but I hold to the door for dear life

The feeling stops and I let go, "I think I've had a more than long enough trip through memory lane, thank you," I cross my arms and legs, "I guess I'll just wait til I wake up"

A door appears infront of me, I raise an eyebrow. Luna comes out of the door, stops dead on her tracks and looks back into the doorway she just came through, "We must have taken a wrong turn..." She turns back into my dream and looks around, examining the place while humming

Luna jumps in surprise as she spots me sitting there, "Hi," I give her a single wave

"This is thy dream? We have never layed eyes upon such... ... I am speechless," She stays looking around the area

"Well, it isn't exactly a dream per se," How do I explain this? "It's more like me actively avoiding dreams. This are my memories more or less"

Luna keeps looking around in amazement as I stand up, "Thou have so many," she reaches for the handle of the door I was just at

Without hesitation I grab her wrist and stop her, "How about we see... my, umm likings, yeah," I change the scenery back to the white hallway and open the first door I get a hold of

"We- *cough* I had the feeling of this for quite some time now," she smiles at me, I then turn to the room, ...Of course... It's the Noctis room, The walls are now decorated with a few pictures of my memories with her

I walk up to one and grab it, smiling as I see Noctis on the ceiling of the throne room looking down on me in the picture, The day we met... and what a shit show that day was, I chuckle to myself and show Luna the image, "Remember this? That was a really crazy day," Luna smiles at my comment, but then her expressions turns sour

"I am still remorseful for what I did to thy- your hearing," She looks down in shame

"Don't worry about it," she looks at me, "The body heals, and you were concerned about me. That's more than I can say for most of my actual family. Anyways, I messed up worse... If I hadn't stopped her from doing her job, then Noctis..." I hang my head, I wonder how she feels... probably some resentment towards me

"My dear sister told us- me that Noctis Umbra was quick to follow commands she deemed worthy," That's right she's a royal guard, there has to be a file on her, "She also mentioned that the training Noctis Umbra recieved was similar to that of Royal Guard Captian Shinning Armor, made for greater judgement and individual action"

"I know how to make it up to Red. If you could get me her file, I'll help her with her memories"

"Are thou sure? I mean, Noctis could follow the Royal code and refuse to become your special somepony"

"I don't care, I've been alo- like that my whole life," And if it makes her happy, I'll be fine, "I just want to help her, and I think this will help"

"As you wish," The walls of the room start to blur, "It appears you will soon be in the waking world. I will honour thy request and inform mine sister of your decision"

I bow a little, "Thank you"

I open my eyes to be face to face with a sleeping Noctis, I immediately panic and fall off the bed, "What the hell?," I slowly rise from the floor and just look at her on the bed

20.5 Meanwhile...

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Chapter 20.5
Meanwhile

We entered the room, "Wake me up in like an hour or something," Luis drops on the bed

I close the door, "Don't you fall asleep, there is a lot of things you need to explain to me," I walk up to the bed, "Did you fall asleep already?" I poke his leg, and nothing. Going around the bed to see his face gave me the same story, He's asleep, so I poke his face, "You're not just pretending right?" his expression didn't change, Well, he passed out fast

I look at the ponies that attacked Luis, and I feel angry, Why did they target him? I walk up to their beds and notice the amount of bandages covering their bodies, I turn to look at Luis, How strong is Luis? He only needed a sling for a few hours, I return my attention to the assailants, This guys... the doctor even said they won't recover for a long while

There's knocking at the door, I make my way to it and carefully peek outside, "Yes?" two royal guards are on the other side

"May we speak with the prince, Specialist Noctis Umbra?" Specialist?! I was, or am, with the royal guards?

"He is currently asleep, uhmm, solider"

"We understand. We are to take the aggressor to the Royal Capital. Inform the Prince once he awakens"

"Uhh... Y-yes, of course... sirs?" I hesitatingly salute and they enter the room

The two guards go directly for the ponies, take the locks off the wheels and attach the IV drips to the beds

"The prince will be informed when his aggressors awaken"

I salute more confidently, "Understood, uhh... You may go," they nod and wheel the beds out of the room. I close the door, then walk to Luis's bed and sit next to him, "What haven't you told me about myself, prince charming?" I pet the side of his head a little, then stand up and go to the window, It's so bright outside, I look at the somewhat distant town, What was the name again? Ponytown? Pony- Pony... PONYVILLE! Yeah, that was it

"Ungh," I turn to Luis, and he's shifting in bed, with a look of agony and fear on his face

I quickly run to the side of the bed and start to hesitate, Is he having a nightmare? Do humans dream? I sit on his bed and place my hand on his cheek, and almost immediately starts to calm down. I start to rub his cheek with my thumb, "There, there everything is going to be fine"

I stare in to his now peaceful face, and he starts to smile, "Heh. Prince charming feel better now?" I lay down in bed looking at his face, So close... I take my hand back quickly, What am I doing? I sit up at the edge of the bed, He's a prince and I'm a guard. I can't... I'm not allowed

"Noctis..." I quickly turn to him, his face showing melancholy

My heart feels like it's in knots, Maybe he didn't tell me who, or more like, what I was because... his face goes to wistful smile, Maybe he feels the same way, I lay back on the bed letting his soft breathing relax me

21 Party Time

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Chapter 21
Party Time

Get back on my feet, Aleks, how long has she been on my bed?

Not that long

Okay then... I turn to the ponies- Where are they?! I frantically look around and find no one, Noctis!

After a quick examination I find nothing out of the ordinary, Well, except I still have her armour in my inventory... should-should I give it to her? Does she even know she can fight?

...

That so far has meant you want me to find out by myself

Eeeyup

Of course... I sigh and head for the door, Might as well ask what happened to them

"*Yawn* Mmmm," I turn to the bed and Noctis is sitting up and stretching

"Good morning, sunshine," Noctis yelps and looks at me embarrassed, "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul," I wink

Noctis adjust her glasses with a nervous chuckle, "It's not morning though"

"I know, but what else would I say when someone wakes up?"

"I don't know, 'Sleep well?' would be one of them, maybe 'Enjoyed the nap?' or something," She gives a very horse-like sigh and crosses her arms

I get my whiny voice ready, "But then I wouldn't be able to fluster you properly," she gives me a death glare, Kind of. Too cute to actually intimidate, I start to walk to her "Red, that angry face suits you," I lean down and-, "Boop," I boop the snoot

Noctis gets even more annoyed and flustered, "Don't do that!"

I playfully mess her mane, "Anyways. What happened to those guys?" I motion to where the bed were

"A few royal guards came by and took them to the capital," Noctis's expression gets a bit troubled, and she looks at her hands, "Am I a guard too?" she looks up back at me, her expression showing uncertainty... and something else

I guess I can't hide it, could I? "What do you mean?" I want to tell her... I sit down next to her, ... But at the same time...

Noctis starts to fidget with her hands, "Well..." She looks down at her hands, "The guards that came in called me 'Specialist Noctis Umbra' and acted as if I was their superior"

"I..." ...don't want to tell you... I sigh "Yes," she immediately turns to me, I can't read her expression anymore... "You were the guard assigned to me"

"As your bodyguard, I presume"

"Yes," Noctis keeps her neutral expression, ...What are you thinking, Red?

"I guess I got my answer, thanks for telling me. Prince" she stands up and goes to the window

"Don't- don't call me that," then, couple of knocks at the door, "Come in," I mentally sigh, Red... I turn towards the door, Doctor Stable is there, "What's up Doc?" Did I just..?

Yes you did

"Ahh, Luis, glad to see you awake, did you sleep well?"

"Honestly, best sleep I've had in years.... Wait, how did you know I was asleep?"

"For once you told me you were going to rest," he adjusts his glasses with a smirk, "And the royal guards said not to disturb you on their way out," That was... Very anime-like, "Shall we get you two checked out then?"

"Didn't you want to do an eye exam?"

"Well, of course, but that hardly requires you to have this room"

"Right, to make space, got it"

"If you two would just follow me to the lobby..."

Dude, I'm worried about Noctis

Why?

Since I told her about her being my guard, she's been very quiet and difficult to read. Did I mess up?

Just finish signing out. As they say, 'answers will come to those who wait' or something

Fine... But still, she even avoided looking at me, "...and there," I put the quill down, "Anymore places I need to sign?"

"Nope, that's all we need. Enjoy your day, prince"

I hold back a sigh, I can't just keep telling everyone to not call me 'prince'- I turn to the doctor, -I'll go insane with the repetition, "Let's go, Doc"

"Darling, glad to see you here. Sweetie Belle has been wanting to meet you since I mention you to her, and darling she can be a nuisance," Rarity is carrying bags of stuff, "She should be getting off school quite soon, and I thought maybe I could surprise her with you"

"I would love to, but right now there is still a thing I have to do here," Maybe Red just needs some time away from me, "I know, why don't you take Noctis here and I'll catch up later?"

"I couldn't do that," Noctis says very monotone-like

I lean into her ear, "Then make it an order"

She frowns at me, "Fine!" Noctis then turns to Rarity, "Let's go"

==[POV - Noctis]==

If he's going to play like that... What if he gets attacked again, I stop and look at Luis as follows the doctor back into a hospital room

"I suggest we wait for him, darling,"

I give the white pony a half smile, "I was about to suggest the same," If he gets attack... I can't fail again, even if I can't remember

"Well, then it's settled, we wait," she says very confidently as we sit down on the waiting area and silences follows for a while. I went over my predicament over and over again, but it came back fruitless

This is getting awkward... I turn to the white mare, "Rarity, right?" I don't remember her name that well. Maybe this one was Rainbow ... Jack?

"The one and only," I extend my hand to her, Akward situation averted. Mission success

"Noctis Umbra, pleasure to finally speak with you,"

"Darling, the pleasure is all mine. Although I must ask, what is a batpony doing out here in the day? Aren't you all night guar-?" Rarity stops herself and goes wide-eyed, "I'm so sorry, darling, I didn't realize how insensitive that sounded"

"I wouldn't be able to tell you much at the moment, I got amnesia," I sigh, "What I can tell you is that..." Should I tell her? If I do, what could happen? I like this normality, I look at Rarity who's waiting for me to finish my sentence, "Could you keep a secret?" Judging by her comment, I might get a different treatment from everypony else

"Of course, darling. A lady always keeps her friends' secrets,"

"I AM a royal guard. Specifically the guard assigned to Prince Luis," I sigh, "I just have one request; don't treat me different for what I am,"

"Darling, I wouldn't dream of it," she puts a finger on her chin and examines me up and down and her expsesion turns in to a smile, "I must say, your couture needs some colors," she looks at me as if expecting a big reaction

I look down at my clothes, "I think it looks just fine"

"I would definitely agree on that," I jump, turn, and press whoever's head against the wall, It's Luis!!, I immediately let go. He bends his neck with a crack, "Not bad... although you could have used more force"

"I am so sorry!!"

==[POV - Luis]==

"Don't be, I was the one who sneaked up on a trained guard," I chuckle a bit as Noctis goes a little red, That actually hurt a little, "By the way, we're free to go," Rarity stands up and grabs her bags, I try to reach for a couple, "Here, let me help"

She hands me a few bags, and we start heading out the door, "Thank you, darling"

Noctis turns to Rarity a bit annoyed, "Why didn't you tell me he was behind me?" she says in a hush voice

"Because I asked her to be quiet about it," I say, which gets me a nice reaction from Noctis

Our way to Carousel Boutique was mostly uneventful, we talked sure, but nothing really interesting. I did share a few fashion trends from my world with Rarity and even ended up taking out the laptop to show her a few pictures and designs. Her liking kimonos was a surprise, though. At first, I thought she wouldn't like it because it was a simple dress, but apparently she loved the designs, the flowers and scenes, depicted in many of the pictures.

Noctis in the other hand kept avoiding eye contact, probably even more than before. I tried apologizing, but she wouldn't accept it. I'm really starting to think I fucked up big time...

"We're here!" Rarity opens the door and turns to us, "Wait here. I want to make sure it's a surprise," she goes in

I look at Noctis, who apparently finds the door very interesting, "Noctis..."

"I don't want to hear it. My job is to protect you," she says with something odd in her voice, can't quite put my finger on it

"*Muffled*Come in darlings"

We enter the very dark room, Surprise. Dark room. Oh, no...

"SURPRISE!!!" the light switch on, and the whole room is decorated, streamers, confetti, a banner that says 'Happy 'Late Birthday and Welcome to Equestria Party' Party' among other things, like the huge freaking cake in the center. I should probably point out that Noctis is in a defensive position in between me and the mane six, Spike, Rick and the Princesses

She stands up straight, "Sorry about that. You startled me"

"WereyousurprisedIhopeyouweresurprisedweworkedreallyhardtomakeitasurpriseandthecakewasreallyfuntomake-mmphh mmmhh..."

"Yes, darling, I think he was surprised"

"Rarity, I have to give it to you. You did really had me," I give Rarity a thumbs up

"Well, darling, it helps that I really didn't have to lie," she says with a smile

Out of nowhere, my legs get tackled and I almost fall on a little someone, "My sister told me all about you, prince," Oh god. The voice cracks..., Sweetie Belle looks up at me, "Wow! You are almost as tall as Princess Celestia"

I awkwardly smile and chuckle, "You don't have to call me 'prince' Sweetie Belle," I look at the other CMC's attached to my legs, "Same goes for you two, okay?"

The three fillies' expressions light up, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PRINCE'S FRIENDS YAY!!!"

My ears hurt

Now imagine how I feel and shut it

"Anythin' girls?" Applebloom says excitedly looking at her shoulders, So that's where their cutie marks go... interesting

They deflate a little with a disappointed 'aww', "Maybe you'll get your cutie marks for best party goers? Come on, enjoy yourselves," I motion towards the room, they gasp and run towards the game corner, "Energetic as always," I smile to myself

"I've been meaning to ask you, Luis," I take my attention to Twilight, "I see humans have their cutie marks on a single hand. Why is that?"

"To tell you the truth, well, humans don't have cutie marks. Not in our world anyways"

"I was so confused when I saw the marking. I had just flown out of a plane 30 thousand feet in the air, then I wake up in a forest, THEN a freaking lion with wings and a scopion's tail chases me for like an hour, AND THEN I find this thing-" He raises his hand, "-and have no idea what the hell is going on. People are going to think I went fucking insane when I go back and tell them"

"Jesus Christ, Rick! Watch your language, there are kids present," Rick gets a grin on his face

"Fuck shit motherfucker," What the actual fuck??!! "They don't understand curse words," he smiles

"What?" I get the feeling that's only for him... I look around and see the three girls a ways away, I guess there is one way to find out... "Well, damn...," I hear a colloctive gasp from the ponies, I sigh, ...of course... I turn to face them

"I can not believe those words..." She puts on a mock surprised face

"Honestly... you've heard me use worse," Literally yesterday, I look at the fillies, They didn't seem to notice what just happened. Good, "Anyways, let's just forget this happened and go straight to the party," everyone seems to take my advice. I go to Rick and punch him on the shoulder, "Bitch," I put a smile, "I can't believe you made me fall for that. Still they didn't understand you, but I knew they would understand me perfectly," I face palm, "And I still did it"

"If you knew, then you shouldn't have tried it"

I get sarcastic, "Yeah, thanks"

Celestia aproaches me while finishing a scroll, "Luis, everything is set for your public interview on Monday, three days from now," They use the same week days, nice

"Wait, public interview? You mean a press conference?"

"I should start calling them that. Indeed, a press conference here in Ponyville," The Everfree is so close, yet so far, She turns to Rick, "This relates to you too. It's to integrate you fully into our society"

"So just a simple Q&A, I can do that. In three days right?" Celestia nods, "Okay, I'll have to tell the guys about it. Not experimenting on that day I guess"

"And, Luis. Soon enough you will have to meet with the leaders of the other kindoms"

"Uhh..." Oh god... politics... "I guess, sure, I'm ready-ish," Celestia kind of starts walking towards the couch, and Rick and I follow

"Wait. Do I have to go to that too?" Celestia shakes her head, "Oh thank Jeebus," we sit on the couch

I internally facepalm at Rick, There he goes again... I turn to Celestia, "Anything I need to know for this summit?"

She looks at me for a brief second, "For this political meeting, all that's going to happen is an introduction, and your role in Equestria will be disclosed"

"Which is..."

"We shall soon find out," Luna joins in and sits down with us, "Like a cutie marks, it's something everypony discovers on their on"

"Indeed. I would have never thought myself capable of keeping political relations stable until we had a country to run," Celestia looks at Luna with a smile which turns slightly into a frown, "I also never though myself capable of doing it alone..." she turns her frown back into a smile, "But those days are over. Finally"

A Little Earlier ==[POV - Noctis]==

I wouln't had thought Luis knew that kind of language, "I can not believe those words...," Neither can I...

A hand lands on my shoulder, "Noctis Umbra, May we- I have a word with you?"

I nod, "Please princess, call me Noctis"

"Very well. Then you shall call us Luna," She says with a smile

"But princess, I couldn't possibly do that," her smile sadens, "As a royal guard-"

"But you are not a royal guard at the moment, now are you?" I raise my hand to interject, but Princess Luna stops me, "I would be unjust for you to do a job when you have no idea what it is about, or why you do it. In your current mental condition you do not qualify for any guard duties," the Princess looks at me sternly, "You are currently in leave of absence as per the records"

I hold my sigh, "Fine. You win, Pri- Luna," her smile returns, Feels wrong. But it makes her happy... fine...

Princess Celestia approaches with a scroll in hand, "Sister I may need you in a moment. The other kingdoms have requested a meeting about your return and Luis's appearance"

"I will be there, sister," Princess Luna turns back to me as Princess Celestia walks away, "It appears my life will return to normal sooner than expected," the relieve in her voice is palpable

"How would the other kindoms react to both you and Luis, Luna?" Still feels off

"I do not know, but it feels exciting," She grins, "The mystery! Oh, how thing have changed!"

"I'm sure you'll have fun"

"We may have different definitions of the word 'fun'," Princess Luna quickly glances to where Princess Celestia is, "I think it would be best if I go see what my sister may need"

"See you later Princess," She glares at me, "Lu-luna, see you later, hehe..."

"Just remember, Noctis, at the moment you are not a guard," she starts to walk away but stops and turns to me, "I believe Luis has demonstrated to be more than capable of handling himself, enjoy his company. I am sure he enjoys having you around," with that Princess Luna leaves

The party went on as what I could only assume is normal, nothing too interesting happened, and the Princesses left somewhat early on, but not before Princess Celestia had a generous helping of cake... more than a few times. I did notice Luis just sitting by himself most of the time, he did seem to be enjoying it, but still, I felt bad for him. In comparison, Rick talked with everypony, even me; Luis only seemed to talk when talked to first. He reasured me he was fine, and that it was normal for him to do it, but I joined him and talked to him for a good while.

He put on a 'movie' on his 'computer' about a bunch of toys that move whenever nopony is around, it was fun and kinda creepy at times. Like the movie, even the party came to an end. Rainbow Dash was the next one to go, something to do with having to prepare her house for 'something', then everypony started to leave. Twilight said that we will stay with her in the library, Luis kinda didn't want to intrude, and I learned something from that: Ponyville has no inns

We are quitely walking to the library on the other side of town, I kinda like him, but I'm a guard- ... used to be a guard... I look at Luis as he hastily looks away, I hold back a giggle as he almost drops the cake, or what's left of it, Cute, It dawns on me, I guess I have nothing to lose... any more, I turn to look staight ahead again, ...I could lose him... ... I guess If I don't get my memories back, I can't be a guard agai-

"Red," I turn to Luis again, "I really want to apologize"

"For what?"

"It was my fault you lost your memories, and I want to make it up to you"

"Don't worry about it, I'm enjoying myself quite well. I should also say that by the way it feels, I might be enjoying life a little better," He gets a bit aggitated

"Do..." He calms down, "Do you want your memories back?"

"I... I don't know..." If I get them back I won't be able to got with him, he doesn't need me as a guard. But what about whatever family I have...

"It's just that because you were a guard, there is a file on you in the archives, with your information in it," he sighs, "What I'm trying to say is that if you want to, I could ask mom for it,"

But... aghhh, "Thanks for the offer, I'll think about it,"

"Maybe you just need to sleep on it," I respond with a 'huh?' "Just think about it, maybe tomorrow you'll know"

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're here," she opens the door, and her and Spike step through, "Please, make yourselves at home"

Luis motions for me to go in, "Ladies first"

"But you're a prince"

He gets miffed, "I insists"

"I insist harder, you are a royal"

A smug look appears on his face, "Then by royal decree, you go first"

"I- Fine!" I playfully stomp in, although, a little annoyed, and he follows

==[POV - Luis]==

"Hey, don't get angry at me," I lean down to be face to face with her, "After all, you gave me the opening," I boop her, and she blushes

"No to be rude, but fighting with each other is not good"

Noctis steps forewards, "Just some friendly teasing, that's all"

"Yeah, so don't worry," I can't believe Red said that. I honstly though she took it the wrong way, "Anyways-" I yawn, "I know this place only has a spare bedroom, so give it to Noctis and I'll take the couch"

"Ummm, what couch?"

I look around and there is indeed no couch, The fan-fics lied to me

Don't be so dramatic

"Well, I guess... I'll take some covers and sleep on the floor," I shrug, Could be worse

"He'll take the bed"

"No, you take the bed"

"But you are the prince here," I get smug again, "And no 'by royal decree' excused," Noctis wags a finger at me

"I have to agree with Noctis here, Luis. You'll take the bed and Noctis can sleep on the ceiling, she is a batpony after all"

"How am I supposed to sleep on the ceiling exactly?"

"By your tail of course... Right, amnesia. I think there is a book around here about it. Spike!!" she waits for an answer as she begins to search in the bookshelves, "Spike?"

Noctis chimes in, "I think I saw the little lad go up stairs," I hold back laughter, Little lad, BWAHAHAHAHA!!

"He probably went to bed already, he IS a baby dragon after all," she continues searching

"What's the book called?" I want to help

"It's called- OH! Here it is!" She turns around with a book in hand, "The Pony Races of Equestria Volume 4," she opend the book and begins reading waht I can only assume is teh index, "Batpony, batpony rituals, batpony colors, diets- Sleeping habits! Page 46," she flips to the page and reads a little of the entry, then she hands the book to Noctis, "Here you go, read those couple of pages"

Noctis adjusts her glasses, "Okay, will do," she starts to read

Twilight then turns to me, "And you, help me set up the bedroom," I lift the cake a bit, "Right. You should leave that in the kitchen first"

"Yeah, I'll be back in a bit," I enter the kitchen and leave the cake on the counter and look at the fridge, I wounder if they actually have electricity, I take out the PKE, Before I forget, I favourite the thing to my hip, then I turn it on and aim it at the fridge, and it chimes. The bars on the screen are blue, Oohh, hidden artifact, I follow the signal to where it peaks on the screen and- In the cake..., I aim the PKE all around the cake, but it peaks at the cake every time, There's only one logical thing to do, "KALIMA," I thrust my hand in the cake and hit something solid in it, "Ouch," I grab it and take it out, Smoke nade, nice- wait a minute..., I stare at it for a few seconds, ... ... uhh, should I ask?

*sigh* Fine. Your power can make them spawn anywhere, and if you don't find it, it just simply despawns

Weird, I fix the cake a little bit

So you can now shoot fire out of your hands AND you are in a parallel universe, but this is the weird part?

I put the cake in the fridge, When was the last time you heard of matter appearing out of nowhere?

Well, Twilight usually just makes scrolls appear out of nowhere

She teleports them to herself from somewhere

Touché

I enter the spare bedroom, and Twilight is already done with everything, "What took you so long?" she steps away from the bed

"Oh, you know..." I show her the grenade, "Stuff"

"What is that? I don't remember ever owning something like that"

"Believe it or not (form Repleys), I mean, It's part of my talents," I sigh in disappoinment, "You would not believe where I found it"

"Where would that be?"

'Inside the cake' would be a bad answer I'm sure

Definitely

"Eeehhhhhh you'll probably find out tomorrow"

"Seriously, where?" I just shrug, "Tell me!" I hum 'idk', Twilight grunts

"Okay, fine. I'll give you a clue," her expression lights as I smirk, "It was in the kitchen," her attitude drops again

"What's in the kitchen? And are you two arguing about?" I turn to Noctis, who's entering the room

"Oh, you know, stuff"

"Do you always act this vague?" Noctis gets on a 'get your manager' stance

"No, I also act sarcastic," I smirk

"What did the Princess see in you that made her adopt you?"

"Don't ask questions that you don't want answered," I chuckle to lighten the mood a bit, "Anyways," I strech, "Time for bed," I think I meme too much; I almost said 'time for crab'

What??

"Fine," she crosses her arms

Nevermind

"But tomorrow you have to tell both of us"

"Sure," I just got an idea, "I'll tell you when we eat cake, sound fair?" They look at each other, and with an unspoken agreement, they nod, "Cool, good night," Can't wait for their reactions

You got weird from one second to another

Mentally unstable, remember?

"Sleep tight, you two," Twilight heads for the door

"Wait! Where am I sleeping?"

Twilight turns around and points to a branch a little ways above the bed, "Up there," Noctis looks at the branch a little uneasy, "Don't worry, I tested it"

"With magic?"

"Yes, with magic"

I lay down on the bed and close my eyes, I can feel them staring, I open my eyes and look at them, "What is it?"

"Are you not going to get changed?"

Oh god... "Not infront of anyone. Besides, I don't exactly have pijamas, you know?"

"Do what you want then. Just don't complain if your covers get dirty"

I take off my boots, "There," then lay back down, "Good night"

"Good night, Luis. Good night, Noctis"

"Good night, Twilight," Twilight turns off the lights and leaves. A swoosh later, Noctis is hanging from the branch, "Good night," I notice a grin on her face, "Prince"

"I told you not to call me that!"

She giggles, "I know, I know, I'm just teasing you, good night," She closes her eyes

I can honestly say I could listen to that giggle for days and not get annoyed

That's love, mine friend

I mentally sigh, Who knew it was this easy?

Non-reclusive indivuduals...

Oh, shut up, I look at how peaceful she looks one last time before closing my eyes, Is my story supposed to be a romance adventure?

Let me see here... *paper ruffle* ...It says here 'Adventure, Random, Slice of Life', I'm going to have to ask if this is a mistake

Well, since this is a fan-fic, wait, it is a fan-fic right? Not like, a published work?

Nope, it is a fan-fic

In that case, if it was romance, we would have fallen for each other and been head over heels in like three chapters, no?

I guess that IS the average

How many chapters are we at now?

*cough cough* Ehhhh, twenty one

Come again...

Twenty one

IT hasn't even been two weeks!! How are you at TWENTY ONE CHAPTERS??!

I'm gonna end it here

WHAT??

Author's Notes:

You may have noticed I'm not describing the ponies anymore, probably because now I'm using ponies from the show, and their profession has dress codes. Or maybe it felt like an exposition dump, who knows? Well, I do (it's the latter). I've been trying to do a more on-the-move description

I should really write down the dates of my story. I mean, 21 chapters so far and 9 days, it's like a shounen jump anime. Now I just need a fight scene that spans like 10 chapters.

Am I taking this 'slice of life' too seriously? Is it too detailed? Too slow? Too crowded? Like I said, criticize to your heart's content, I want to learn. Please try to criticize on the newer chapters, just because it's closer to my current writing level

One last thing, was the meta joke at the end too much?

EDIT: I should probably point out that my name isn't Aleksandrs, even though I made the ending look that way

22 From a Friend

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Chapter 22
From a Friend

Two hours in bed... and I can't fall asleep, I sigh

Well, you do have insomnia

I know, but usually I would feel tired by now

Maybe your body finally adjusted to this world

I guess... I'll go for a walk, I open my eyes, ... aaand she's staring at me..., Noctis looks away, "Can't fall asleep either?"

She turns her gaze back to me, "Batponies are supposed to sleep in the day time"

"True"

"And we slept before the party too"

"Yeah, I guess we did," You know what? I have the nade, "I found another smoke grenade. Want to go see what I get?"

She drops down and grabs her glasses off the night stand, "Sure"

I get off bed, "Then, let's go," we head outside, How incompetent do you have to be to write twenty one chapters of two weeks

To be fair, you are my first assignment. So give me a break

"So is this the thing you found in the kitchen?"

"I said I would say when we eat the cake"

"It was worth a try"

I stop in the clearing behind the library, "This seems like a good place," I take out the grenade and look at it, then at Noctis, "Hey, Red. Want to give it a try?" I extend my open hand with the grenade on top

Noctis hesitates a little, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course. I mean, why wouldn't I be?" she takes the grenade off my hand, "Now just push the lever lightly and pull the pin out"

Noctis does exactly that, "Then I let go of the lever and throw it, right?" I nod, "Here we go," she throws the grenade, but it slips out of her hand a little to early and falls right next to her

"Nice throw there, Red"

She turns to me a bit embarrassed and playfully angry, "Don't patronize me!"

"Shhh. The ponies are sleeping," Noctis slaps me upside the head, "So violent," I chuckle

"Hmf. Open your darn box, prince" she says smugly, arms crossed

I sigh, "Are you just going to keep calling me prince?"

"Only when you get annoying,"

I put a hand on my chest in mock offence, "I cannot believe you said that," I unlock the crate, "Let's see," I open it, "What do we have here..." A single holotape, okay

"Just one?"

"Yeah," I load it up, Let's see, 'Animation Module', I skim the info, "Cool, so basically when I take stuff out of my inventory, I can choose how it looks. It comes with a 'Render' animation," I take off the foam, A Twilight figurine... as a pony... and another grenade

"What is a 'render animation'?"

"I have an idea, but if I activate it..." I go into the animations page and select 'Render', I go to grab the grenade, along the pony Twilight. The crate instead of outright vanishing, it breaks into voxels and the pieces disappear as the hit the ground, My idea was kind of right

"That... was weird"

I hand her the grenade, "Try again. Maybe you can throw this one better," she looks at me not amused as I look at her smirking

She takes it off my hand, "Har har, very funny. Prince," I sigh; she smiles at her small victory. Noctis begins to examine the grenade, "You can do this one," she gives me the grenade back

"Okay. Not going to force you," I toss it. The moment it touches the ground, instead of having the smoke come out, a rectangular light comes up and it 'prints' the wireframe of the crate, when it's done, it applies the material, and then the texture. It's not any faster. That sucks

What do you mean 'that sucks'??

The whole thing was cool, don't get me wrong, but I thought it would be faster, I turn to Noctis, who's left with her mouth hanging, "Keep it up, you might catch a fly," she immediately closes her mouth. I walk up to the crate and open it, No holotape, too bad, I take the foam off and find- ... a pen, a single fucking pen... great, I grab it, It's a fountain pen, fancy. The box begins deconstructing like the previous one, I kick it and it reacts, Ooooh! Physics!! I love physics

"Having fun there?"

"Very much so, thank you for asking!" I take the pen into my inventory, but it flashes white before disappearing, almost like it was scanned, I turn to Noctis, "So. What do we do now? I mean, it's the middle of the night, way past midnight," I wait for her to respond, but nothing, "Any ideas?"

"Not at the moment, no"

"Let's go back inside for now," She nods, Maybe we could play some video games... I'll use the mouse and keyboard since the controller might be easier to learn, I let her in first, "I could show you something from my world"

"What would this 'something' be?"

I take out the laptop and controller, "Video games"

I booted up Portal and let Noctis get accustomed to the controller and, after she was confident in her abilities, we switched to Portal 2 and played some spit-screen well into the morning.

Twilight woke up and saw us in the main library playing, and got really confused at why we were 'staring so much at that weird book.' The explanation I gave didn't convince her too much, because apparently they do have computers here, just, you know, the size of buildings. Not even Celestia wanted to add a whole wing to the castle for computer development. I'll have to check out the computer facility they do have later though, sounds interesting, a complete 'blast to the past' if you will

"You better stop playing those games if you want to have breakfast"

"We'll be there in a minute, Twilight! No, over there, put the portal over there, Luis!"

I should probably mention that Spike became our backseat-gamer, "By the ramp?"

"Where else?"

"Maybe where it would actually help? Possibly?" Spike looks at me with a 'seriously?' expression on his face, I guess I can amuse him

"It's going to get cold. Get over here already!"

Nevermind, "We heard!" I pause the game

"We almost had it..."

"Stop pouting, it's only paused," I close the laptop and take it, as well as the controller. I get up and pet her head, She's so adorable, fucking hell...

"Guys, I think I smell pancakes...," Spike licks his chops and begins floating to the kitchen, Cartoon physics... even here...

Noctis and I follow Spike, That's a huge stack of pancakes... "Twilight, it looks and smells just exquisite," we start eating

"They couldn't be that different from the last time"

"Now that you mention it. It seems every time something big happens we have pancakes"

"This is our second time... You know that, right?"

"Think about it. The day after I arrived here, pancakes. Now you are an element of harmony and me a prince and BAM! Pancakes. Next thing you know we'll prevent a massive catastrophe, and pancakes"

"You really seem to like pancakes"

"It's just that these are delicious," I shovel a big piece in to my mouth, and start to choke, Goddammit!!, Noctis gives me my glass of milk and starts hitting me in the back. I chug the shit out of the milk, "Aaahh, thank you"

*giggling* You got healed by the food that almost killed you *chuckling* You almost choked to death... ON PANCAKES *complete and utter maniacal laughter*

I'm just going to tune you out of a second, you bitch

"Are you okay?"

Her hand is all the way on my shoulder now, and I know exactly what to say, "If you want to hug me, you could just ask," Noctis crosses her arms and is not amused

"You seem to fight a lot," Twilight takes out a quill and scroll with a smile, "Do you need any friendship help?!"

"Uhhm... No"

"As bad as it might seem, it's just friendly banter between him and me. He's weird that way"

"Hey! I'm weird in more ways than just that!" Noctis just sighs in disappointment

"Luis you shouldn't-"

"*Buurp* hehe... Sorry," Spike grabs the fire-mail scroll, "It's for you, Luis"

"Thank y- What?!"

"I guess I should be the one saying 'thank you', so, thank you," He hands me the scroll, "Okay, let's see

My dearest little human Luis,

I have to inform you that from this day onward you will have to wear your royal attire, my advisors have also suggested removing that item on your wrist, calling it an eye-sore, but I digress.

If you plan on going into the Everfree Forest, you will want to get some necessary items as it never hurts to be prepared. Might I suggest a first aid kit and snacks? Luna has also asked me to instruct you to gather any new information about the forest and its creatures, it is rare for anypony to willingly enter it. She has also asked to get her a star spider to keep as a pet if possible, like the one she used to have when we lived in our old castle

Luna has also suggested giving you a copy of basic magic spells to prepare you for the more advanced material, such as the dragon fire spell. The book should get to you through Spike soon enough. Make sure to read it well and try to understand how magic works here in Equestria, and always remember to have fun.

With love,
Mom

I guess, I'll change," I try the mental commands

You have to use the pip-boy now, remember?

Does it look like I remember? I go into my pip-boy and change into the royal clothes, "There"

"They look even better than Blueblood's! Wow!"

"You do look nice"

"Dude, put on a sword and you'll look like Prince Mayhem from the Power Ponies"

"Spike he probably doesn't even know what the Power Ponies are"

"Did Saddle Rager beat him? Or was it someone else? I haven't read the comics yet," I say smugly

"It was- UGGGHH!," with a 'thud' a book falls out of Spike's flames, "Your book is here"

"Nice," I grab the book, I wonder if I can just 'use' it, A prompt appears infront of me, Apparently I can

"What is that?"

"It's a thing asking me if I want to learn the skills within the book," Of course I do, 'yes' and it's gone

"Where did it go?"

"Away," I go into the magic tab, So, telekinesis, ilumination, telepotation, heali- wait, no, that's from Skyrim, "Twilight, what are the basic spell all unicorns know?"

"Ilumination, being the simplest one. Then Telekinesis, it's a bit more difficult, but everypony can use it. Teleportation is the hardest of the three, only a few manage to teleport anything close to the size of a pony"

Can I re-equip magic without the pip-boy, or...?

Don't worry, magic you can change on the fly

But...

You need to know the spell by heart, like an actual sorcerer. Otherwise-

Pip-boy

Yep

"Do you actually know the spell now?"

I select telekinesis, "I guess we'll find out," I bring the milk and fill my glass again, "Look ma', no hands! Hehe"

"Luis, did it hurt?!"

"Uhh no... why...?" I look at my health bar, My radiation isn't touching my health anymore!! "Let me see something," I look around for the heaviest thing I can find, fruit bowl it is then, I lift it and hold it in place, My radiation is going down, not my health... I wonder..., I switch to teleport and bring the whole bowl to the table, My magika bar gets affected this time with my radiation completely gone now, So I can store more magic at the cost of less health. To get that bonus I have to get hit with magic... "I have the passive ability to absorb magic! That's so cool!"

"What do mean you can absorb magic?!!" Twlight takes out her notes again and furiously begins scribbling, "It takes years of practise to learn a spell like that!!"

"He didn't said it was a spell"

"But how would that even be possible?? No spell? ARE YOU CRAZY?! It has to be! There is no other way"

"What I said was 'passive ability' which, in normal terms means 'inate ability'," I should probably not use so much videogame lingo... I look at the time, "Let's get everything cleaned up so you can open the library, it's almost eight already. AND, I have to get some stuff"

"You truly are going to the Everfree?"

"You do realize it's one of the most dangerous palces in Equestria, right?"

"If it's so dangerous, then why did you build an entire town next to it? I mean, it literally borders with the forest"

"Luis, don't be so condescending"

"You're right. Sorry, Twilight, I go riled up a little"

With the kitchen cleaned, I start to head to the store, Wait a minute..., "Twilight, would you kindly point me to the general goods store?"

"Head out the door, go immediately right. Once you see 'Quills and Sofas', it should be directly across, it's the big building, by the fountain. That's 'Barnyard Bargains', Ponyville's 'everything' store"

"Thanks, Twi. Noctis, be a good girl and do whatever Twilight tells you, okay?"

Noctis runs to me, "I'm going with. You won't get rid of me that easily"

"Don't worry, if you had said 'okay' I would have made sure you were sure," We smile at eachoher, "Twilight, Spike, we'll be back in a bit," and out the door we go, "Apart from the obvious, what else should I get?"

"Maybe they'll have more spells for you to use?"

"I think I'll first get used to actually using magic, and then I'll get more," I look ahead at the crowd, I feel so tall. Looking around, only a few get close to my chin... I sigh

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just feeling a bit alienated. Out of place, I guess is more accurate. I'm not used to being the tallest around"

"The Princesses are taller"

"Aunt Luna is only taller than me by like a centimeter"

"How tall are humans?"

"On average? About my height, just a little bit taller. At least around where I live, anyways," Noctis massages the side of her head, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just had a small headache," She smiles, "I'm fine now, really. Anyway, we're here"

Quills and Sofas to my right sooo... Yeah, that is definetely a big building, "Let's go then," The inside is a DIY-er's dream, there's timber, hardware, tools, kitchen stuffs, and whole buch of household and sporting good taking up most of the store. On the corner is the pharmacy, "Noctis, if you see something you want, grab it, I'll pay for it," Speaking of paying, how will I get the bits out with no pockets?

Give me a hot minute

"If you say so," She looks around and her ears fall back a bit

"If you don't see me in the pharmacy, just look for me at the front of the store"

"I think I'll stick with you," She looks around a bit more insecure, "If you don't mind that is,"

I look around, Everyone is staring at her... "Don't worry they're looking at me, but if you want we can go on together," I put my hand on her shoulder and she relaxes, "Now, let's get some the stuff we need," we go to the first aid section of the pharmacy, "Let's see, bandages we'll need a few- I forgot to grab a basket..." Fuck

Noctis gives me a shopping basket, "I got one"

"Thank you very much," I start picking the stuff, A few bandage, alcohol, gauze, ointme-

"Oh my, Prince Luis??" Why did that sound sarcastic? "In my store? I cannot believe my eyes!" If ten million fireflies...?

I turn around, Filthy. Rich. "Ah, you must be the one and only Filthy Rich, am I right?"

"I don't deserve such high praise, Prince" I know. I read a couple of comics, "I hope you're finding everything to your liking. Is there anything you are looking for? I would love to help such an important individual," he strokes his mane and assumes the 'I'm important' pose

"There is no need, I found what I needed. But I might be coming by later just to see what other wares your store carries," Just don't bet on it after this experience

"If you need anything, and I do mean anything, at all... I am here to serve"

"Don't worry, you'll be the first one to know,"

"If you'll excuse me," Filthy walks off

"You got him to leave fast," I continue getting a few more essentials, Pain killers for Noctis too

"I used to work at a store like this, and on the first day, all I had for training was how to manipulate others into buying more. Let's go get some water bottles"

"That sounds wrong"

"It is, that's why I never did it. One thing I do do from time to time: making others feel important; but I only use it to get employees and businessmen off my back"

"Using their own tactics against them, sounds fair"

"Anyways, choose a water bottle for the little trip will be having soon," One and a half liter bottles at five bit each, cheap

"Into the forest?"

"Yeah, that one"

Noctis intently examines the bottles, "Hmmmmm, This one," she grabs a grey with red stripes

"Okay, then I'll have..." I grab one that is the opposite of hers, red with grey, "This one"

Your hologram prompts are now on the pip-boy. To pay, just accept and the bits should appear infront of you

Thanks, bud

"You want to look at anything else, Red?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks"

We go the the counter and I put the basket on it, "Hello there, Prince. Did you find everything alright?" She begins taking the stuff from the basket into a paper bag

"I did, thank you for asking. The store had a lot more than I was expecting"

"Glad to hear. That would be 27 bits"

The pip-boy chimes, I look at the screen, 'This will cost you 27 bits. Accept trade?' I select 'yes' and a pouch of bits appears, I hand it to the cashier, "Here you go"

She goes through the pouch, "Thank you, have a nice day," she passes me the bag

"Thank you, you too," Noctis and I go outside, "Wanna go get a milkshake or something?"

"Sure, where?"

"Just follow me," we start heading toward Sugarcube Corner

"Is it by any chance that sweet-looking building over there?"

"Yeah, Sucrose Hexahedron Junction," I cuckle, Her reaction is priceless. I love it, "Or Sugarcube Corner if you want to be more normal"

"That make more sense"

We head inside. Mrs Cake is at the counter, "Hi Mrs Cake, long time no see"

"Oh my, Luis? I mean, Prince Luis. I though I would never see you again. How's your friend?" She sees Noctis and her expression goes a bit suggestive, "And who might you be, deary?" She looks at me again and bounces her eyebrows at me, "A lady friend of yours, Prince?"

I don't like where this is going...

"Hello, Mrs Cake. My name is Noctis Umbra, nice to meet you. And we are just, uhm, friends"

Mrs Cake gets a bit disappointed, "Oh well," Then goes back to cheerful, "What will you be having today?"

"Just milkshakes today," Why did it hurt a little when she said we're just friends? I turn to Noctis, "What do you want, Noctis?" I'm feeling strawberry for me

"I think I'll go with a strawberry milkshake"

"I guess we'll have two strawberries"

"That will be 7 bit, deary," I pay, "We aren't too busy today, so just take a seat and I'll be right out," She goes into the kitchen and then pops her head out, "The patio is open today, if you'd like to enjoy the nice weather we have today," Noctis and I just shrug at each other and head for the patio

Enter a sad Pinkie Pie

"Pinkie, are you ok? You look a bit, um... down"

She sighs, "Dashie has a friend in town and she was being really mean to me. I told Twilight and she said I was jealous. ME! I don't get jealous"

"That sounds like jealousy to me"

Noctis, I would smack you upside the head but you're a woman, or, mare... I guess...lady... yeah, "You can't decide that just now, Red. You need to meet this friend, before you can judge anyone. 'See the big picture' if you will"

"You're right. Sorry, Pinkie, that was uncalled for"

"Pinkie pie, dear, glad to see you"

"Hi, Mrs Cake. I just need a strawberry milkshake"

"Pinkie, we'll be in the patio, so come join us," She just answers with a sad smile, That was very depressing...

We sit down, "She look a bit..."

"Depressed?" Noctis nods, "Yeah, I noticed"

"What do you think happened?"

It feels like I should know... "I don't know. But we can ask her when she gets here," and almost as in by the hand of a higher being, Pinkie comes in with our drinks in tow, "Thank you, Pinkie"

"Thanks"

"No problem," She plops down on the chair and joylessly drinks her milkshake

"What's bothering you, Pinkie?"

"Shouldn't you know? Since you know what happens in our lifes and all," Her ears drop, "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that"

"It's fine," I look at Noctis, only to see her wondering what Pinkie meant, "I guess I have a thing to explain to you later," Both of them nod, "So what's bothering you, Pinkie?"

"Rainbow Dash's griffon friend was being a big meanie and Twilight thinks it's just jealousy," she looks away, "I'm starting to think she was right. What if I WAS feeling jealous?"

"That sounds to me like you just need a second opinion that isn't biased"

Noctis has a point, "We, or, you know, she could be your second opinion, since... I- yeah... unbiased," Stop being awkward, don't be awkward, You'll get your second opinion pretty soon too"

"What do you mean?"

"Hahaha, That was sweet"

Pinkie lowers to the table, "That... was impresive timing," I visually follow Dash and Gilda to their landing spot, Should I do something?, Gilda approaches a market stall, I should, shouldn't I?, I finish my drink and stand up, "I'll be right back," I head towards Gilda, "Hello there"

She looks at me, "What are you supossed to be? Some sort of overgrown monkey?" There is a collective gasp from the ponies around us

"As a matter of fact, humans are primates same as monkeys, apes, gorillas..." I'm getting off-topic, "Anyways, just wanted to say 'hi' since I've never seen a real-life griffon before"

"Have you been living under a rock your whole life or something?"

"No. More like different universe entirely, but pretty good guess"

"Are you mocking me?"

Maybe I should stop, she's getting angry... "If I were, I wouldn't make it that obvious," Nah. I'm enjoying this

"Look here. Pal. Get out of my face or you'll regret it"

"Oh no, the birdy is going to peck my eyes out," I taunt, "You won't be able to beat me"

"Is that a fact?" Gilda gets ready to throw fists

"Would you really like to find out?" I'll dodge everything she throws at me, "I can beat you without lifting a finger"

Noctis jumps in the middle, "Please don't..." and throw some puppy-dog eyes my way, Fine...

"Sorry, that was out of line"

"Are you just going to let this freak tell you what to do? Weak," I'll make sure to shatter your beak into itty bitty tiny little pieces

I garb Noctis and put her aside, "I'm going to have a few words with our feathery friend, if you'll excuse me," I start circling Gilda, "Let me tell you a little something about me," I put on a smile, "I don't care what you do to me. Punch me, stab me, drag my name through the mud, whatever. I don't care, I can take it..." No one behind her now... I stop and scowl, "But if you bad mouth anyone I know again, there will be consequences. Got it?"

"Or what? You'll send your little pet after me?"

I feel my eye twitch, "Fus Ro!" Gilda falls flat on her ass, "Like I said: without lifting a finger"

Noctis grabs my arm, "Luis... please stop..." I snap back into reality

I look at Gilda on the ground, "OH SHIT!!," I give her my hand, "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking," THAT COULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED HER, YOU PRICK BISCUIT

She cautiously takes my hand, I pull her back on her feet... paws, "You certainly have a way with words," she dusts her self off, "Name's Gilda"

"I'm Luis, pleased to make your acquaintance. Again, sorry about that"

"Don't sweat it," and after a quick handshake, Gilda adds, "Too bad you don't have wings, that could've been an iteresting race. But, we could wrestle instead, sound good?"

"Not sure how to feel about that..."

"Is it because I'm a female? I guess chivalry isn't dead after all, what a bummer"

"I'm Noctis, nice to meet you," she extends her hand to Gilda

"No one ask-" I glare at her, "Hehe nice to meet you, uh, Noctis"

"Luis, nice to see you again," RD lands next to us, "And I see you've met my friend Gilda"

"Yeah, we had a few words," says nonchalantly

Gilda... I don't even know... what to do with you

"Wasn't Pinkie sitting over there with you guys?"

I look at where we were sitting, She's gone, and apparently she took care of our glasses too. I'll thank her later, "Yeah she was"

"That reminds me, Pinkie said she was going to make a party to welcome Gilda into Ponyville tomorrow at noon"

"That sounds like a great idea, don't you think?"

"Oh, uh, totally..."

"We'll catch you guys later, I kind of have to go to the Everfree tonight," Rd and Gilda look at echother wide-mouth, "See ya"

"It was... interesting meeting you Gilda, see you tomorrow"

Noctis and I walk toward the library before they could get a word in, "If you want, you can stay in town while I do this fetch quest," Speaking of 'quest'...

"No, I'm going with you. You need somepony to watch your back"

Does the pip-boy record the quests I get?, I turn to the pip-boy, and indeed it does, 'A New World', 'Man Overboard', 'Silk and Magic'. What's with the names? "Are you sure? There are monsters in there..."

"Maybe I should get a sword or something"

I sigh and take her stuff out of my inventory, "Here... This is yours," she takes it, "Just make sure to put it on properly"

Noctis stares at the thing in her arms, "Did I have this many knives??"

I look at her things, "Oh! You're right!" I take out her swords, "I forgot to give you these," I open the door and let her through

"What was wrong with me?!"

"Nothing. Just employed by the crown to keep things safe," I then yell into the library, "Twilight, we're back!!"

She looks at me with a bit of a blush, "Could you help me getting this on?"

"I'll be down in a minute!!"

"Okay!!" I turn to Noctis, "Sure, just put the stuff on the table," she does, "Now, sit down," I garb the belt and hand it to Noctis, "Put this on," I go behind her with the shoulder belt

She puts on the belt, "Like this?" I take a look, Her mane is a little over a foot off the floor while sitting... That's really long... I actually really like it this way... and her tail- "Luis?"

"Yes! Yes, it looks good!," Well, that's embarrassing... I move her mane out of the way and clip the shoulder belt to the back of the waist belt and hand the other side to her, "Clip that to the metal piece at the front," I circle around

"Like that?"

"Yeah, now lift you arms, I'm going to put on the shoulder pieces"

"Did I used to put this on my own?"

"Problably, now stop moving," I give her the strap, "Take that under the shoulder belt and attach it back to the left shoulder"

"So you don't know?"

"Well, I've only been in Equestria fo about ten days now- There we go, you're set. So I really don't know," I look at the table, Forgot the leg pieces, "You should be able to put the leg stuff on your own"

Noctis grabs the rest of the armour and puts it on, and then looks at the weapons a bit baffled, "How do I put all of this on?"

"The dagger with the clip goes on the belt, the one with the strap on your thigh, left side, both of them. Swords on the back, 'x' position"

"How do you know?"

"You had them on like that when I first saw you with them," She looks at me a bit weirdly, "What?? I notice a lot of stuff. Like Twilight hiding behind the railing"

"But you haven't even turned around, how did you know?"

"Clip clop clip clop. Hoove steps aren't exactly quiet, you know?"

"But I didn't hear them"

"Probably because you're used to hearing them"

"Ok, I got the knives on," She looks at the swords, "How did you say I put this on?" she turns to me

"I have no idea... Well, at least not how you would put them on your own," I take the swords, "Turn around, I got this"

Ten Minutes Later

"I don't got this..." I sigh, "This doesn't even make sense. No strap, no, like, holder, or anything! How are you even supposed to put this on??!"

"I'll just continue reading my book about proper swordsponyship, don't mind me"

"Are you sassing me? Are you mad that I told you 'no'? What do you want woman?!"

Noctis clears her throat, "Luis, could you get me a glass of water please?"

I sigh and stand up, "Sure..." I head for the kitchen, I shuold probably drink something too, I fill two glasses with water, and out of the corner of my eye I see the fridge, I didn't even see if that thing ran on electricity last night...

"Could you bring the cake down too?!"

"Sure thing!" I drink my glass, take the plate and Noctis's glass and go back to the main room, Noctis thanking Twilight for getting her swords in position, "Here" I give Noctis her water

"Thanks, love"

Noctis and I freeze in awkward silence

...

...uhhhh...

...Indeed...

We both awkwardly chuckle. I put the cake on the table, "I'll be right back with the plates, hehehe..." I head for the kitchen as fast as walking can get me there, Did she...? Why...? Oh god... It felt weird... but...

I grab some plates and forks, Is Spike here? I haven't seen him, "Twilight?!"

"Yes?!"

"Where is Spike?! I haven't seen him since we came back!"

"He went help Rarity with some shopping!"

"Thank you!" I grab what we need, "I guess we're just three," I make my way down to the library, taking it as slow as I can. As I enter the main room, Noctis and me avoid eye contact as much as possible. I cut the cake, put the pieces on the plates and hand them out, I'm not avoiding eye contact, is just that the cake is delicious, yeah. Not akward at all... yeah, the cake is very good. Not awkardly avoiding eye contact, because this cake is very interesti-

"Soooo... What was the thing you found? And where did you find it?"

Oh, thank god! "It was a smoke grnade and I found it inside the cake," Twilight almost chokes

"YOU FOUND IT WHERE??!!"

"Inside the cake," I continue eating

"How did you even know it was there?"

I put the PKE meter on the table, "With this"

"It looks sciency! Oooooh... Can i see it? Please?" I slide it to her, "What is it?"

"A Psychokinetic Energy Meter"

"What does it do? Does it measure magic?"

"A little bit, but it can also help me find hidden artifacts or important items, such as the smoke grenade, as well as hidden enemies. IF it works anything like in the game anyways"

There's a knock at the door. Noctis stands up, "I got it," and walks to the door

Twilight Hands me back the PKE, "It doesn't seem like it should be able to- ... did you say 'like in the game'?

"Yes, I did"

Noctis comes back and hands me a letter, "It was the mailmare. This is for you"

I grab it, "Thanks," she goes back to poking her piece of cake, It's so awkward now... I open the letter, ...uhhhh..., it contains a hoof print and the message 'We know', So apparently there is a Dark Brotherhood... I look at Noctis, "Did they tell you who it was from?"

"She said it was 'from a friend'"

Definitely the Dark Brotherhood... "Okay then..."

"What does it say?"

I show them both the letter, "'We know'? What does that even mean?"

I look at my quests, 'Message From Beyond'... Reassuring... "Twilight, could you tell the Princesses about this? It might relate to my train ride"

"Why would you think it might relate to that?"

"Because, what if 'they know' the assassination, or whatever it was supposed to be, was a bust?"

"Point taken," Twilight takes out a scroll and quill and begins to writes the letter

"Send it when Spike gets back. And tell my mom you might need some guards," she stops writing

"Why would I need guards?"

"Because now you know... This doesn't get out from us three, got it?" They both nod, "Good," Twilight continues writing, but now with concern plastered on her face, I feel so stupid! WHY DID I SHOW THEM??!!!! "I'm sorry... I am so sorry..." I burry my face in my hands, YOU IDIOT!!! "I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have shown you"

"You do realize I was the one to take the letter first, right? If anypony is targeting you, I was put on the list the moment I touched that letter," Noctis put her arm over my shoulder, "It's okay, you are not alone," I look up at her as she puts on a smile, "You have me"

"And me," Twilight smiles back

... not... alone... "Thank you, guys," This is still something I'll have to deal with

"Twilgiht I'm ba- Oh! Luis, Noctis, nice to see you again"

"Hello little lad," Don't laugh, don't laugh, I laugh, and I get slapped upside the head and a book thrown at me, "I deserve that. Little lad Pfff- AHAHAHA," with boot on my chest, my chair tilts back, Well... shit

"Try not to be mean to the fire breathing dragon"

I rub my head and stand up, "Ow. Maybe a kick to the chest was a bit exesive?"

"Serves you right, hmf"

"Maybe next time you won't act so idiotically," Noctis flicks my forehead

"Maybe," I dust myself off, "Well, I guess I'll go to the forest alone then. Since, you know, I'm such an idiot"

"What did I just say?!"

"But this is this time," I mock pout, she smacks me again, "Fine, you can come. But let's finish our food first"

"Fine"

Twilight sighs and Spike stands there wondering what just happend

23 Silk and Magic: Quest Complete

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Chapter 23
Silk and Magic: Quest Complete

Here we are. The Everfree Forest, Noctis and I are standing in front of the path leading to the castle, just outside the forest, Sure it has monsters, but other than that, I don't see why the ponies fear it so much, I look at Noctis, who seems to be having trouble hiding her angst

"Is this the Everfree Forest?"

"Yeah," I look at the quest for the silk, So I need 25 units of star-spider silk? I can do that, I go to my inventory, Do I even have the space?... Yes I do, okay. Before I forget, I favourite the sword and change into my armour, "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I can be for a place I don't remember knowing, I guess," She looks at me, "Since when do you have that helmet?"

"Since it was given to me," I wonder how Cutting Edge would react to Noctis's condition... I mean, he did tell me not to try any 'manky' business with her. He might know her in a more personal level... I wonder what level that is... "Anyways, let's go. Adventure awaits!" We head into the forest

"Is there anything dangerous in the forest?"

"Like what? Monsters? Because there are plenty of those here," Noctis tenses up, "Don't worry, we can deal with them together," ... I'm alone... with Noctis... Oh. God.

"You're right," She gets a bit of confidence back on her posture

"Yeah..." This is going to get awkward for me... ever since the glass of water...

"Luis?"

"Yes! I mean. Yeah, what's up?"

"About earlier..."

"The water?"

"Aye, my... response..."

"It's ... It was very, uhh... something..."

"Awkward..?"

"Yeah... I know..."

"I just wanted to say-" we hear some rustling in the underbrush, "Heads up," she whispers

I follow suit, "I heard. Get ready," we take out our swords and take a defensive position back to back, Why didn't I ask for a shield? Or to keep the assassin's sword?

"Let's keep moving," Noctis takes the lead as we continue through the forest, "And keep your voice down"

"Let me lead, I know the way," she nods, and we switch places

"There hasn't been anything else apart from the rustle," I put my sword away, "And the birds are singing now. I think we're good, so let's try to get to the castle before nightfall"

Noctis sheaths her swords, "I guess..."

Silence. Nothing but our boot crunching on the fallen leafs and the occasional stick as we walked

Very awkward...

"Soo..."

"Soooo... How are you doing?" ...ughhhh...

"I'm good..."

Just keep walki-

"Before. What I was trying to say was... ... ...sorry, nevermind"

"It was awkward?"

"Aye, but I- ... what I want to say is... I- would you mind if... could we...? I mean... nevermind"

"When we go back, how about I take you for lunch?"

"That'd... be nice, thank you," she says with relieve

I don't know if that was the right move...

Do you like her?

I... don't know

OH! You're finally listening to me?!!

You haven't said anything in a while...

I freaking have! You've just been ignoring me!

I guess I can tune you out if I want to then

Bitch

Stop sulking

"Stop," Noctis puts her arm in front of me

"What is-?"

"Shh," she scans the area, "Do you hear that?"

"That there are no-" Oh... "The forest went quiet again," I start to whisper, we slowly take out our swords

"Let's keep moving"

"Agreed," we get on the same formation as before, then a timberwolf jumps onto the path ahead, "Contact!"

"Same here, one wood monster"

I grab my sword with both hands and get in a defensive stance, I examine the timberwolf, It couldn't be... the wolf has a hole on it's shoulder and in between the eyes, Oh shit, "Noctis. I know this bunch..." Noctis gets next to me as the other wolf joins with mine, One of his eyes isn't glowing... definitely the same bunch

"No time for talking," No gun this time... "How did you beat them before?"

"With a gun. Which I seem to have lost after the tutorial," I had to shout the... third one... apart- WHERE IS THE OTHER ONE??!! I frantically look around, Where is it? Where is it?!!

"Relax, don't let them intimidate you"

"There were three last time"

"Oh... That might be a problem"

"I'll distract them, you run for the castle. Down the path, should be close now"

"I can't leave you behind!" The wolves' snarling gets louder

"I'll be right behind you," What was the ice form shout? Iiz... something something... One word should be enough, "Okay, Noctis. When I give you the signal run past them, I'll be behind you"

"What's the signal?"

"You'll know," I put my sword away and take a step forward, the main wolf gets into an even more aggressive stance

"What are you doing?!" Noctis whisper-shouts. The wolves seem to sense her distress and leap at us

"IIZ!" Ice..., the frozen wolves fly past us "NOW!" Noctis sheaths her swords, and we book it. I hear the ice break, I look back and see the wolves getting up. We see the castle up ahead, "Almost there!" Come on come on come on...!, we stop in front of the bridge, "GO!" Noctis flies over the chasm, "Right..." I start going across the bridge as fast as I can. I stop as I feel the bridge move and turn back to them, FUCK OFF! one of the wolves is already on the bridge, but as it takes another step, the planks break under its weight and falls into the ravine, Thank you! I continue going to the other side, a bit relaxed, thinking the last one can't get me

"BEHIND YOU!!"

I look back to the last wolf mid jump, quickly closing in on me, Shit!! I leap out of the way as the wolf's body snaps the bridge. Somehow I manage to hold on to one of the planks as I slam on the cliff side

"LUIS!!!"

"I'm good! I'm good," I look up to see most of the boards above me broken, "Although, I might need your help getting out of this one," Noctis flies to my level and put her hands on her hip, "Hi," I wave at her

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, "What shall I ever do with you?"

"Wait, let me get ready," I equip my normal clothes, "I should be lighter now"

"Aren't you still carrying that armour?"

"Yes, but not physically," Noctis huffs and lifts me out, "Thank you, I appreciate you not dropping me," I put the armour back on

"You wouldn't want to tempt me now, would you?" she smirks, "Come on. That was probably the worst part," we start walking to the entrance

"As an individual who likes stories, I would not recommend ever saying that"

Noctis turns back and shrugs, "What's the worse that could happen?" she continues walking backwards

"Or that"

Noctis rolls her eyes and turns around, "You're such a crybaby sometimes"

I catch up to her, "No, I just know more about this sort of thing than you"

"Now you're just making fun of my amnesia"

"NO! I-I-I- Th-tha-that wasn't what I- What I said was-!!"

"Just pulling your tail," she chuckles, "Let's go"

"You little- Okay, let's go," Let's see, on the episode with the spiders... "Let's look for the library of the castle, there should be more spiders around that area," I take out the PKE as we enter the dark foyer of the castle

"Will that even help?" she points at the PKE

"That's what I'm trying to find out," I do a quick scan of the room, noting the stairs at the and of the room, Nothing here, "Let's move... that way," I head to a doorway before the stairs

Noctis takes a sword out, "Right behind you"

We enter a hallway lined with armour sets, "Stay close," the PKE goes red, "Wait," I move the meter around, Someone on the left, I sign for Noctis to stay quiet and point to the direction of the peak. Getting my sword ready we approach the armour giving out the readings. Noctis and I look at each other and nod, I put the PKE away, keeping it on, and we swing at the armour. It collapses as soon as our swords make contact, "I guess... hmmm," I feel watched... "Something's off"

"What's wrong?"

"I feel-" the PKE starts beeping repeatedly, I look down the hallway and every armour set starts to emit a sickly sea green glow from with in, "That can't be good," I grab Noctis and run down the hall. We dodge as the armours start reaching for us, WHAT THE FUCK?!! the armours at the end of the hallway clumsily get off their pedestal and block our path, SERIOUSLY?!!! I look at Noctis, nod, let go of her, and sprint as fast as I can at the haunted armours. We each impale a set of armour, and stumble out the doorway. I immediately get up and close the door, pushing it close as hard as I can. The thumping of their attempts pushing the door ajar repeatedly, "A little help?"

Noctis grabs the swords of the fallen foes and somehow manages to pierce the stone with them, effectively making a doorstop with the swords, "There," I slide down the door, and we both sigh, "What were those?"

"Enemies," Ghosts? Sure, why not? "Where are we?"

"It seems we ended up in barracks"

I look around the dimly lit room, Barely any sunlight now... oh well... "Let's find another way to the library," I stand up and dust myself, "But first..." I loot the armours, Two star-spider silks, nice!

"Ummm, Luis?"

"Yes?" I turn to Noctis standing by a different doorway

"I think that's the only way out..." She points at the way we came

I go up to Noctis and look down the hal- collapsed hallway, "I think you may be right," How do we get past the... what should I call them?

You're worrying about that? Really?

Yes. Since they could be in any armour... stalkers?, "Hey, Red?" I start to move to the first door

"Mhm?"

"What should we call the haunted armour?"

"Why does it matter?"

"So it's easier to say, and faster, than 'haunted armour', you know?" I grab one of the swords in the stone

"I guess... Do you have something in mind?"

"I've thought of 'stalkers' since, you know, they could be in any one armour set," I pull on the sword but it doesn't budge, "Son of a... Red, quick question. How did you get the sword this stuck??"

"I was in a bit of a rush... I guess I just went all or nothing"

"I can tell... Any ideas yet?" I grab the other sword

"For what?"

"The guys outside," I try and fail to pull it out, Christ! How...? It's really in ther- The blade of an axe come through the door, I take a few steps back, "You know what? I think I want to take my time now..."

Noctis unsheathes her swords and gets in a defensive stance as her ears pull back, "Get ready," The axe repeats the process of breaking down the door

I take out my sword, Wait, what am I doing?? I walk up to the door and wait for the door to break

"What are you doing?? Get back here!"

The door breaks, "FUS RO DAH!!" the hallway gets flushed out in an instant, "There," I bow and point out the door, "Ladies first"

"You're such a showoff"

Ouch, "I prefer the term 'efficient' a little better," we walk back to the main foyer, me looting everything as we pass. Found a few more of the silk and a few bits too, Nice

"This time, I'm choosing the way," Noctis looks at all the other possible ways

"Sooo..."

"Shhh!"

Okay, then...

"This way," she goes up the stairs and to the right

"Wait for m-! *cough* Ow that hurt..." I look and Noctis is waiting for me, "I'm coming!" Maybe I shouldn't be shouting so much..., and up the stairs I go. As I get close to Noctis, I see another amour moving behind her. I leap into action and take out my sword, barely block its sword, "Bastard..."

Noctis kicks it in the leg, and drives her sword in through the visor, "There. See? Simple"

I shake my pained wrist, "I cought his sword all wrong..." a star-spider crawls out of the armour and it stops glowing, "Interesting..."

"Let's keep moving. The sooner we get out of here, the better"

I look out the hole in the ceiling, "Well... I can see the stars now. So, we might have to pass the night in the castle"

"I guess," she sits on the stairs, "Could you pass me my bottle?"

"Sure," I take out our waters and sit next to her, giving her hers

"Thanks"

"I've been thinking..."

"Oh oh"

"Very creative... Anyways, do you think the spiders might be using their own silk as a magic conduit to animate the armour?"

"What??"

"Is it possible the spiders are moving the armour?"

"Why would they need to do that?"

"To protect themsleves, or to protect something..." A queen perhaps?

Noctis puts her bottle aside and leans back on her arms, "Whatever it might be... I don't think we need to venture that far"

Hopefully. I'd hate to see the queen... if there is one, I take our bottles and lay down, "The stars look beautiful tonight"

"Aye, I could lay here with you all- I mean!! I could look at them all night! Yeah!"

"Noctis?"

"Yes?"

I sit up and look down at my hands unsure of what my next move might do, "Mind if we... we-uhmm... would you like to change our lunch after this... into... i-into a-a date??" even my ears feel on fire... She shoots up and looks directly into my eyes, examining me, That's a no, isn't it? *mental sigh* of course... why would anyon-, Noctis throws her arms around me

"I'd love to..." she whispers into my ear

She'd... she'd love to! I hug her back as hard as I can, feeling tears fall down my face, "Thank you. Thank you so much..." my voice almost fails, Someone... likes me...

"Can't... breathe..."

I ease up, "Sorry..."

She gets concerned as she gets a look at my face, "Are you okay?"

I sniffle a bit, "I feel a lot better than I look," I look at her with the most sincere smile I can manage, "The best I've ever felt in years," I wipe the tears off my face, "Thank you"

"You're the one that invited me, I should be thanking you!"

I love that giggle of hers... "Wanna stay here for a bit?"

She leans on my shoulder, "I wouldn't mind," her wing hugs me, "You know what? I don't care if I don't get my memories back," I flinch, "It's okay..."

"It's just... I wanted to make it up to for ... you know, your amnesia," she looks at me, Those red eyes... seriously...

"It wasn't your fault"

"Still feels like it... ... I just- I don't know... feels like I could have prevented it," I told her not to worry about them... "I made it happen," I squeeze her shoulder, "Sorry, Red. It was my fault..."

"Whatever you might think, my point still stands, you didn't cause it on porpu-" her wing retracts, and holds her head groaning

"Are you okay?!?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine"

"Well, it didn't look fine. After this we are going to take you to the doctor, then we go for lunch"

"I'm fine, it was nothing"

"No excuses," she goes to interject, "What did I just say?"

Her arms cross with a playful huff, "Fine!"

I sigh, "Look, I'm just worried it might be more than just a simple headache. What if that potion is causing more than just amnesia?"

"I guess..."

I stand up, "Now let's go before it gets worse," I offer her my hand which she gladly takes. I give her the painkillers, "If you feel like a headache is coming, take one"

"Just one?" she puts the meds in her pouch

"For now," we continue our journey

I used my ilumination spell for the first time, and, well, I was expecting it to work more like a lantern but, I guess since it came from my hand and no a horn, it funtioned like a flashlight. Anyways, we made our way deeper in to the castle with minimal resistance, a few stalkers here and there, but they are as weak as they come. We searched and search and finally found the library

"Here we are," I turn to Noctis, "The library"

"It only took two hours"

"Don't sas me. Remember, you were guiding us"

"Except the times we ended in a dead end"

I hear clicking, "Shhh," I slowly take out my sword and the PKE, turning it on, It's red... I look all around but can't find the peak

"Where is it?" she unsheaths her own swords

"I can't get a rea- OW!" A rock just fell... on me... Oh shit... I slowly look up, That's a big spider... I manage to roll out of the way as the queen lands, "I don't think I have to worry about this one getting in my hair..."

"What?? Consentrate!!"

I swing at the legs and my sword just bounces off, "Well shi-" with a powerful kick I get sent flying to the bookshelves

"Luis!!"

"Don't worry," I crack my back, "I'm fine," the queen hisses, The sword didn't help much, I take my flames out on my free hand, Just don't hit the books, I look at all the books lining the walls, Piece of cake... I run shooting a stream of fire, managing to hit it in one of its legs, Now... as I get close I wind up and swing, the sword damaging the weakened exoskeleton, "AIM FOR THE WEAK SPOTS I MAKE!!!"

This went on for a small bit, I would burn the spider somewhere and then either Noctis or me would hit that spot... untill I ran out of magic. The regeneration was a lot slower than I would have hoped, and I'm not sure what would happen if I shout again, my throat has been sore since the first hallway. Anyways, the queen spider's attacks consist of kicking, shooting silk, and calling spiders to attack us with armour. Nothing too epic, sadly

"I think I can cut that leg off now," Noctis says with confidence and rushes the queen

"I'll cover you," I start to follow, but the spider silks up my legs making me trip. I look in horror as Noctis gets sent flying to the end of the room, hitting the stone hard, "NOCTIS!!" I cut the web off my legs and turn my anger to the spider, letting it spill, "AAAHHHGGGGGG!!!" I sprint full force at the spider swinging the sword like a maniac, I DON"T CARE WHERE I HIT YOU, YOU BITCH!!! "I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

==[POV - NOCTIS]==

I wake up, hearing the clanking of a sword, The spider!! I sit up grabbing my swords and turning to the battle. Luis is hitting the spider wildly and getting thrown back only to get back to attacking, "Oh Luis..." He's so... so angry... I take one of the painkillers as my head starts pouding

"STOP KICKING ME AND LET ME KILL YOU!!!" Luis says, his voice sounding deeper than normal

I try to get up but severe pain on my leg makes me fall, I-I think my leg is broken Luis's stance begins changing, slowly becoming more savage. His body starts to grow very slowly and the armour somehow desappearing from him, What is going on? Is- is that... fur?? his skin getting covered by a dark coat, head becoming canine and a tail slowly getting longer

"I'LL RIP YOU APPART!!" he growls out and rushes at the spider once again

He crashes on the wall next to me, "Luis?" he acts as if I wasn't there, his glare fixated on the spider. Luis stands up and let's out a gruesome roar, and sprints on all fours at the spider, I have to stop this, I start trying to stand up, He's going to get himself killed... finally getting on my hooves, I limp closer to the battle, using my sword as a walking stick, "Luis, listen to me! You need to calm down you aren't thinking staight," my words seem to have no effect, "You'll only get hurt," still nothing, "Please..." I plead. Luis gets kicked and webbed to a wall, "LUIS!!" limping quickly making my way to Luis, I need to get him out... the swords flies out of my hand, Oh no... I turn around to be face to face with the spider, "Please, let us go... we promise to never come back"

"Whhy sssshould we belieeeeve yyou?" the spider hisses out

IT CAN TALK??! "B-be-because we don't want to die..."

"How do we knnow that yyou won't ccome bak wwith more?"

I take a few pained steps back, "Y-y-you h-have my word..."

It raises one of it's legs, "That isss not enoughhhh!"

"WULD NAH KEST"

I get pushed out of the way and fall on the floor, as I turn around I see wolfefied Luis, impaled by the spider's leg, with a bloody smile looking at me, "LUIS!! NO!!" the spider flicks him off to the side, leaving a trail of blood

"We wantet to make thissss one sssuffer more"

I stand up and limp to his body, "Luis..?" it shrinks back to his normal size keeping the wolf appearence and regaining the armour. Kneeling next to him, I start sobbing, "...Luis..." I lay on his bloodied body, "Why...?"

"It almossst makesss ussss ssad..."

"I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have tried... I'm sorry Princess Celestia, I lost him..." the spider turns me around to face it

"Did yyou sssay Prinsssscessss Csssselesssstia?"

"Why does it matter to you?!"

"Do yyou knnow Luna?"

"Why would you care?!!"

"Sssshe wasss our ffriend..."

"Thahth'sh unexshpecthed..." says a whispering and somewhat raspy voice

I turn around and Luis puts his hand on my face which I gladly grasp, "You-you're not dead?? I'm happy! But how?!!"

"It's going to thake more than that to kill me," he whispers, then turns to the spider, "You must be the pet aunt Luna told me about... Sorry about the fight, wasn't expecting you to be alive after a thousand years or to be this bi- *cough* *cough* Sorry, I lost my voice a little bit"

"Auntt Luna? Yyou are... family?"

"Long story... Would you like to see... her... again...?" he passes out

"We do indeed find yyour offer acccceptable"

The spider made a cast for me using it's silk and took us out of the Everfree forest. I had to guide it to the tree library without getting too close to town, we were there before dawn. Luis in the other hand, kept passing out and regaining consciousness only to pass out again. Twilight had a difficult time believing me that Luis had become the wolf creature she saw, but finally accepted it and sent a letter to the Princesses, and taking us to the hospital. They gave us the same room we had last time, which I found kinda funny

The doctor enters the room, "How are his results, Doctor?"

"Well... fascinating, to say the least," he goes through through some notes on his clipboard, "Even though he looks nothing like before, his genetic makeup is exactly the same. Somehow, it's just a physical change that didn't affect him at all. Very intriguing for sure. Although, he lost quite a bit of blood, he'll be out of it for a few hours. His recovery will be quick though, and will probably be released as soon as he wakes up"

"That's good to hear," How could I let this happen?

"You, Ms Umbra, just have a minor bone bruise, it will hurt for about a week so just take the painkillers once every twelve hours. Other than that, you are ready to leave, but are allowed to keep the prince company"

"Thank you"

"I'll check in on him in a bit," he leaves

"I guess I'll sleep for the time being," laying down on my bed I say to myself, "It was a crazy night," I turn to Luis, "Sleep well"

A little later ==[POV - Luis]==

"Ugghh... My head..." Lightheaded with a headache... awesome... I open my eyes to get greeted by a familiar ceiling. Sitting up, I feel the effects of my bloodloss, then look around, seeing Noctis on the bed next to me, How cute, I sit on the edge of the bed feeling my whole body a bit numb, "Great..." I even took the sheets with me... brilliant...

"Knock knock. Good to see you awake, Prince"

I turn to the door to see the doctor, "Hello, Doc. What's my status?"

"Apart from the bloodloss, well..." He takes out a mirror from his coat, "It might be best you see for yourself," I grab the mirror, "You can keep it"

"Thanks..." I slowly bring it up to my face, a wolf stares back at me, "Interesting..." I notice my hand covered in a dark gray coat of fur, and begin examining my reflection, "Interesting indeed..." When did this happen? When did I turn into a black wolf?

"Do you know what this might be? It's certainly a condition I have no experience with. I haven't seen anything like it"

"Yeah, me neither. I mean turning half wolf-" My legs! I hastily get the covers of my legs, Paws... I have paws... "This is going to be interesting... at least my boots morphed with my feet- paws. I guess..." How am I going to walk properly now? "I might need a walking stick..."

"I might have to get back to you on that one as I do not believe we have a cane your size, Prince"

"Eh, crutches will do. What about Noctis?"

"She just has a minor bone bruise, it will hurt for a while, but she'll be able to walk with the cast she has"

The intercom goes off, "Doctor Stable please report to ER. Doctor Stable to ER"

"I'll have somepony bring you crutches"

"Thanks Doc," he leaves, I then turn to Noctis and my tail wags, "What the..." I get a hold of it, "No, stop it!" It's actually a little long... at least a meter, Jesus... I play around with controlling my new extremity for a bit

"Hello there, Prince," a new voice says, this voice belonging to a white mare, "My name is Nurse Redheart. I was told you needed crutches?"

"A yes, thank you," she walks up to me and gives me the crutches she's holding

"How are you feeling, Prince?"

"I'm not used to having a tail, other than that i'm just a little numb," I get up on my fee-, Paws! I have paws now...

"That's better than we were expecting. You were not supposed to wake up until the afternoon"

I look out the window to see the sky still a dark blue, "What time is it at the moment?"

"Six in the morning"

"How long have I been out?"

"At least four hours. Sorry, Prince, but I must get going"

"No problem"

"Thank you," she does a little bow and goes out the door

"Why 'thank you' though? Anyways," I sit on Noctis's bed and caress her cheek, I can thank you, though

She grabs my hand and sits up, "I missed you too," I chuckle nervously in response, "Good morning," she sits next to me and streches

"G-good morning..." Got caught red handed...

"Maybe I should call you 'Red' instead"

"Funny thing is... this isn't the first time you've said that..."

"Maybe that means it holds water?"

"Ehhh-no," I put my arm around her, "I really enjoy your company"

She leans on me, "As I do yours," I kiss her forehead, a gesture she returns on my cheek with a giggle

I stand up, "Let's see if we can get checked out so we can go get breakfast," I start heading for the door, when suddenly Luna and Celestia are infront of the door way, WOAH!!

"Twilight Sparkle was not pulling our tail when she mention you had turned a bit... lupine"

Celestia notices the crutches, "Are you supposed to be walking around yet?"

"If I'm not, the doctors haven't said so yet"

"Ouch!" I turn to see Noctis sitting back down

I go back to her, "Are you ok?"

"My leg is still a bit tender"

I resize one of the crutches and hand it to Noctis, "Here, take it"

"Won't you need it?"

"Nah, besides you need it more at the moment," I help her up, "And I was supposed to get a walking stick, or cane, I guess. Can you believe they don't have one my size?" I pet her, immediately blushing as I remember Luna and Celestia behind me

"I do think it holds water"

"What does hold water"

"Please, do tell"

"Oh! Would you look at the time? And you have a country to run-!"

"Apparently I've said I should call him 'Red' before," Noctis eagarly tells the sisters

I facepalm, Ow! I hit my muzzle. Note to self: aim for forehead when faceplaming from now on...

"I remember, that was the day before the 'insident'," she looks at Noctis with regret, "I am sorry, Noctis Umbra. I didn't mean..."

"It's okay"

"Anyways..." I take out all the silk I gathered, Came out in a bag. Neat!, "Would you be able to deliver this to Quick and Thinker for me? It's the silk they needed," Celestia takes the bag

"You don't remember, do you?"

"About what?"

Noctis goes to the window and opens it, "Come here!" she yells at someone on the roof, the face of the spider pops in through the window

"Well then... I remember less than I though if that-"

"She"

"...If she is a friend..."

"Luna! It'ssss been a long thousssand yearsss..."

"Faunia?" Luna starts walking towards the window, "Is that truly you? You- you are so big..."

"That's... quite the name..." I get smacked

"Luis, don't be rude!"

"Sorry, but you shouldn't hit an injured man"

"It's your fault"

"I take it you have gotten used to eachother?" Celestia interrupts, making us jump

"You could say that..." says Noctis a bit... nervous

"I guess my judgement was not mistaken," Celestia adds cheerfully

What...? "Judgement on what exactly?"

Celestia giggles and walks next to Luna, "Shall we get going, Luna?"

"No, no! Judgement on what?"

They mischieviously smile at eachother, "I think we shall," they chuckle and poof out of the room, taking the spider, Faunia, with them

"Well... that just happened. Red, what do you think her judgement was about?"

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not... I just would like to know..." I straighten up, "About that breakfast I owe you..."

"You might want to look more... you? Before going out"

"Good point," How do I even begin? Meditation?

23 Stage Fright

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Chapter 23
Stage Fright

"Chin up"

"I still look weird..."

"Stop complaining, at least you got your face back"

"But now I have this weird mutton-chop-like patches of fur on my face... and I still have the ears, the tail, the paws. Oh! And did I mention I am still like ninety percent covered in fur?!"

"The ears look cute"

I facepalm, "What has my life turned into...?"

"Stop complaining, you know you like it," Noctis winks

"How would you know?"

"Your tail is wagging for starters"

I blush, God, kill me now...

"Oh, now you're sad"

"Stop it," we stop in front of the little café, "We're here," Good thing almost everypony- ... ... ... That... That just happened...

"Luis, you look a bit pale. Are you alright?"

"Yeah... Just thinking we might be too early... yeah," Good thing EVERYBODY is asleep at the moment. I look so weird right now...

The door swings open and out comes a French-looking waiter, "Welcome, welco- PRINCE!! I mean *cough cough* Welcome, your majesty to my humble café. Please come in," he gestures to follow him

"Nice decor, simple, yet, it has a nice style," Not as French as I was expecting though...

"It is high praise come from you, prince. Please sit anywhere, I come around with your menus"

"Of course, thank you," he walks to the kitchen, Probably boasting to the chef or something, "Red, where do you want to sit?"

"On a comfy bed..."

"..." eyebrow goes up

"What?!"

"We just spend like the past eight hours sleeping... Ju-just sit somewhere"

She walks to the window table as I follow, "Here," she sits and leans the crutch on the wall, I sit, "Here, pass me the thing"

I give it to her, "Crutch"

"Whatever"

The waiter comes back and hands us menus, "Anything to start? Might I recommend our freshly brewed coffee?"

I quickly scan the drinks, I think I'll get the hot chocolate, "Noctis?"

"I'll have the hot cocoa, thank you"

"I'll have the same," I add

"You got it. I'll be right back with your drinks," He heads to the kitchen

"Red, the fact that I look pale might have something to do with loosing about two liters of blood last night, maybe?"

"What?"

"You said I looked pale. Before we came in?"

"Oh... What I meant was that you seemed to have something bugging you"

You would probably laugh if I told you, "It was nothing," For some reason, I don't find that idea unpleasant..., I start going through the menu, "Do you know what you want?" Chicken sandwich?!! Ooooh, I'm getting that

"I think I'll have the breakfast sandwich, what about you?"

"Chicken sandwich for sure!"

"Sounds like it's good"

"I've never eaten here, so I wouldn't know. I just hadn't had any meat in almost a month"

"Just don't drool on the table," Noctis adds smugly, I wipe my mouth, "Wait! You actually thought...??!!"

"Well, currently I am in a half-wolf state, so I wouldn't doubt it," And my teeth still feel sharp, so...

"You worry too much"

"Sorry, that's what I do"

The waiter comes back with two steaming mugs, "Your drinks," He takes out a notepad, "Are you ready to order?"

I turn to Noctis, she nods, "It appears so"

"What would you be having this splendid morning?"

I signal to Noctis to order first

"I'll have the breakfast sandwich"

He turns to me, "And the Prince?"

"I'll have the chicken sandwich, thank you"

He gets a little surprised, but hides it quickly, "A breakfast and chicken sandwich coming right up," and to the kitchen he goes

"Luis, yesterday you said you've been in Equestria for ten days"

"Yes...?"

"I was just wondering... do you..." a blush becomes evident on her face, "...do you like me?"

"I ..." ... Not expecting that question...

"I guess not," she looks down

"What?!"

"I'm too different, aren't I? You just had pity on me"

"No no no no! I do," I gently grab her hand, "I said it before, I like your company, I really do... like you," now I'm the one blushing, "By the way, have you taken a look at me? If you think you're too different, then I'm off the charts"

She giggles, "No kidding. Sorry, for... that"

"Don't worry," I cup her hands with mine, and kiss them, "If something bothers you, just tell me," We're in public... awkwaaaaard...

"I'll try to keep that in mind. Anyway, thank you for carrying my armour, it would be weird coming here with it"

"I know, same reason I'm not wearing the cape, it's weird"

"Oh come on! The cape is not weird, you look fantastic in it"

"Say 'fantastic' again"

"What?"

"Please?"

"Uhmm, fantastic..."

"I really like the way you say things," I rub my neck, "I got not excuses..."

She blushes, "T-thank you"

"If you need more com- nevermind, that sounds way to cheesy..."

"I like how awkward you are sometimes"

"Honestly, I feel so awkward in public all the time..." I look around seeing there are ponies apart from us getting breakfast, "... Even more so now that I am so... so... different to everyone else," I straighten on my seat as the waiter gets here

He places our plates on the table, "Sorry it took a while. Please, enjoy"

"We will, thank you," I take a bite of my sandwich, "Mmm, it's so good," I begin scarfing it down

"Slow down there, you're going to choke again"

"Don't remind me"

Do remind me, tho

Shut up!, I finish my sandwich quite quickly, "I think I'll get another," Noctis almost chokes at my comment, "Don't choke"

"Since when do you eat so much?"

"Since it's not a salad"

"Salads are delicious, I don't know what you're on about"

"I'll admit it, the vegetables here have a more... colourful taste. I can't say they don't taste good, but meat? I would've settled for fish at this point"

"..."

"What is it, Red?"

"It's just... I don't know why I haven't asked this before..."

"Yeeees?"

"What about my parents? If I have any..."

"Oh... I don't know if you have any- well, you probably- I mean, most likely do. But err... I guess that's a thing for when we go to Canterlot now"

"I feel like there is more"

"I'm not sure. There is this guy, Cutting Edge, he seemed to worry about you, but I only met him once, so I truly have no idea if you are related. Specially since you never told me anything about him, and you had a neutral reaction when we bumped into him. Fun fact: he gave me the armour, and he's the royal blacksmith"

"I guess he'll be the first pony to talk to"

"I thought you didn't want your memory back"

"I said I didn't care if I never got them back, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know more"

"Sooo... My plan from yesterday? To get your file?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt"

"I'll talk to my Aunt about it"

"Why not Princess Celestia?"

"She runs the day court, my aunt the night court. So far it looks like we are more likely to be awake for the night court, sooo... Yeah"

"I guess..." she finishes her food, "Are you going to get another?"

"Possibly not actually. We still have the party after this"

"You are going to be center of attention"

"I'm planning on getting rid of this ridiculous look before then"

The waiter comes back, "How was you meal, Prince? Ma'am?"

"It was good, thank you. Noctis, do you want anything else?"

"No, I'm good thanks"

"Then, just the bill, thanks"

"No, Prince, you're presence is valuable enough"

I put an unamused face, "Please... How much?"

"Of course," he takes out a notepad, "17 bits is your total"

I pay, and we soon leave the café, "What should we do now?"

"Well, the party is an about an hour. Do you want to go help them?"

"Sure, it's not like we have anything better to do"

"Not even trying to get rid of that tail?"

"It took me almost two hours to get my face back..."

"Is that a 'no'?"

"Let's just go to Sugarcube Corner... Actually, I'll need to get some scrolls first"

And so we did, then we limped our way to SCC. Honestly I feel like I could walk properly now, but still feel a bit weak on the legs, might be the fact that I lost about 2 liters of blood, just a thought. Anyways, we got to the bakery and everything was mostly set up, Pinkie was just setting up the candles that RD so 'generously' provided on the cake. Funny enough, Noctis and I were forced to not help; I still levitated things closer for them though, I don't think they noticed. Anyways, not too soon after, all the ponies started arriving, and then there was Gilda who may or may not have been shocked almost immediately with a handshake

I should mention, before I continue this, that Noctis decided to get us some milkshakes so she's kind of gone at the moment

I walk up to Gilda and Pinkie, "Mmm, smells like fried chicken, delicious"

"Shut up monkey-boy"

"Gilda!! Show some respect!"

I put my hand on RD's shoulder, "Well, she's not wrong"

"What? But you're human, not a monkey!"

Twilight steps in front of RD, "From what Luis has told me, monkeys and apes are sister-evolutions to humans"

"Exactly," I have an idea... "Hey, Gilda, let's try some of those lemon drops," I walk up to the bowl and eat one, Holy shit! They are spicy, "Not bad," I take another, They taste like... 'tamborines', but spicier and sweeter... and lemon...

"Don't mind if I do," Gilda pops a candy into her beak, "SPICY!!!"

"Gilda, the punch!," RD, that smile is devilish..., Gilda takes RD's advice and runs for the punch table, You probably know the rest of what happens next, audience... if there is one...

There is

Goodie... I eat another candy, "Dash, you'll need to share this recipe with me, they're good"

"I made them as spicy as possible... how are you eating them so easily??"

"I once ate a Ghost pepper," I eat another to show I can, "That pepper can cause chemical burns is so strong," Didn't I burn my hand with it? I look at my hand and notice the splotch is still barely visible, "Actually..." I show my hand, "I still have the burn"

"Dear Celestia..."

"And you ate it???!!"

"I got it on my hand while spitting it out, so not really 'ate' it," I get poked from behind by Noctis

"I got you strawberry, I didn't know what else to get you..." she hands me my shake

"Thanks, Red," I put my arm around her

"Did I miss something..."

"And here I thought you were tough"

"Would you like to have a word with me, Gilda?"

"NO! *Ahem*! No, thank you"

"That's what I thought," I look down at Noctis, who's just whatching this exchange with a bit of amusement, That's awesome

"We definetely missed something..." Twi glace goes back and forth between Noctis and me, "Two things, Why are you calling her 'Red'? And why the hugging?"

"He's been calling me Red since the hospital, probably before that too... as for the hug..." she blushes and kind of lowers her head

God! This feels so awkward... I look at Noctis, DON'T BE A PUSSY, YOU BITCH!! I lift her head, Still... so awkward... I look into her eyes, Does it matter...? "Because..." She makes me the happiest I've ever felt since I was naive, I kiss her forehead, "Because... I like her..." ...and I honestly never thought I could like someone... not since... nevermind

"I like you too..."

Almost everyone 'awwws' except the CMCs, and RD and Gilda, they just mock gag

"I must tell the Princess about this!"

"How about you let me do that? She's kind of my mom, you know?" I take out the pen and a scroll, "I'm prepared too"

"Where's your ink well?"

"Oh my dear Twilight, you have so much to learn... You guys should continue the party while I do this, I'll be with you soon"

"So you made the candy, Dash?" Gilda asks as they walks to the game corner

"Yet another change I've caused... Right. Letter," Noctis leans on me, happily drinking her milkshake, "Let's sit somewhere"

I wrote two letters, one for Luna and one for Celestia. For Luna, I told her our plan is a go and I need Noctis's file. For Celestia, I just gave her an update here in Ponyville, made friends with Gilda, yada yada yada, and hinted at Noctis and I. I mean, 'she's lovely help' is a good hint, no?

I don't think so

Shut up! Now I just need- ... Wait a minute! Where's the power armour you said you could get me? I've had three packages since then

The best I could do without- ... I could only increase your chances without being punished!

Relax, holy damn! Anyways, party's dying down finally, but before I get ahead of myself, I can actually play the music on the pip-boy. It gives me a holotape that I just put on the reader, and bam! This lead to me experimenting to see who liked what, and te results were... predictable. Rainbow likes rock 'n' roll, Fluttershy the beatles, Rarity classical, yada yada yada. Like I was saying party's basically over, Gilda didn't lose a friend; so what? Four things I've changed so far?

"Well, Gilda, colour me impressed, you like ACDC, nice!" we fist bump

"Maybe you're not as soft as I thought"

"Believe me when I say, having a soft side can only harden your nasty side. Try making more freinds and you'll se what I mean"

"See you lame-o's later," with a wave, she takes off to the sky

I turn to the gang, "Looks like she likes you," I smirk at them

"That didn't seem very frien'ly to me"

"Luis, I have to agree"

"No, Luis definetely has the right grasp on Gilda. That was the first nickname she gave me," Rd seems to reminisce a little bit, "Anyways, she's taking the overnight train to griffonstone,"

"Awww. I didn't get to say goodbye..."

I smile at myself, "You could probably catch her at the train station if you hurry"

She gasps, "You're right!," only a Pinkie-shaped dust cloud is left as she leaves

"I have no idea what my actions just cause..."

"Whatever do you mean, darling?"

"Gilda and Rainbow were supposed to have a major falling out today, and I just changed that..."

"It couldn't be all that bad that she made new friends instead of losing an old one, right?"

"That butterfly effect is going to do something... Good or bad, only time will tell..."

"Come on, prince, it couldn't be that bad"

"There you go calling me prince again," I smile at Noctis

"Your negativity and thousand meter stare make it easy"

"Well, how would you like it if I called you-! ... Call you, errrr..." Honey, no. Sweetheart, awkward. Sweet cheeks, defientely not... "I got nothing. That's a first"

But you do

Nothing sarcastic though

"You already call me 'Red' anyways"

"I guess"

"I'm gonna hit the hay, goodnight everypony," RD stretches with a yawn

"Oh god... Tomorrow is the press conference...!" I am not ready for that. How many ponies are going?! Is it the whole town?? It's going to be the whole town plus others from the other cities, isn't it?! Of course it i-

Noctis shakes my arm, "Equestria to Luis, you there?"

"Ya... just got a bit nervous... for... tomorrow..." Don't gulp, don't gulp...

"Don't worry, you'll do fine"

"I'm just not a fan of large crowds..."

Fluttershy puts a hand on my shoulder, "I understand...," she says with a sympathetic smile

Let's just skip to tomorrow...

Skip!

==[POV - Noctis]==

"You'll do fine," Celestia fixes Luis's collar as he gives a weak smile, "Just answer the questions, it is that simple"

"Nothing is that simple. What if they ask something I don't have an answer to? What if it's a question that might paint us in a bad light? What about then?!"

"I might have the answers you don't know," Rick trys to ease the tension, "As for the other, we'll figure it out," He pats Luis on the back

"We have the utmost trust in you"

"What if it's a question that I won't answer?"

"Why would you not answer a question?," Twilight joins in

"I ... it's complicated..."

"Luis, I'll be right here, just behind the curtain," I grab his hand and give a small squeeze, "The Princesses will be out there with you too, so there is nothing to worry about"

"At least I don't look ridiculous anymore or need the crutch, so I guess that's a plus?"

"What happened that you looked ridiculous?"

"Nothing you would take seriously"

A backstage pony a approaches us, "Princesses, your cue is in thirty seconds"

"Mom, aunt, good luck"

"I think you will need it more than us," the princess hugs him and Luna joins in

"Princesses, ten seconds"

"You will do fine, my dear nephew"

"Five, four, three, two," he pulls the curtain aside to let the princesses through, then looks at me, "Prince Luis, human Rick, you're up in five"

"Luis, I'll go back to the others," she does a double take on Luis, "Don't worry, we are on the first row. If you need to relax, just look at us and think we're the only ones here

"Besides, I'll out there with you. Doing the same thing, I might add"

"Noctis, why don't you join us out there?"

"I wouldn't want to impose..." I'm sure everypony will look at me funny

"Red, are you sure? I'd feel a lot better seeing you out there, i-i-if you wouldn't mind that is," he gives me a weak but happy smile, "Please?"

"I ... But..." I sigh and smile at him, "Fine, I'll be there"

"Then, let's go"

"Sirs? Three minutes," the assistant says as Twilight and I exit the backstage area

We sit down while Princess Luna answers a few questions about Nightmare Night

"We would now like to introduce the newest memeber of the Royal family, Luis, and his friend, Rick, the humans"

Rick steps through the curtain smiling and waving, Luis following trying to copy his confident attitude. Luis's eyes bounce all around the room, He's so nervous... Come on Luis, breathe

"Hello everybo-pon- everypony, errr, my name is Luis and this is my friend Rick... Like the Princess said, we are humans and we come from a different universe... A-ask away I guess"

"Any questions you have we are here to answer, although, we only have one hour so try not to make it too loaded," Rick says with a friendly and confident tone, They're so different!

Ponies start to line up in the middle isle to use the microphone, and the questions start

Flashback

Luis and I were in the guest room in the library the night before the event

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"For the most part, I guess..." he sat down on the bed, "It's just... a lot, you know?"

"It's just a few questions"

"A few questions by a few hundred ponies... What if I say the wrong thing? What if-?! Nevermind," He said burrying his face on his hands

"What is it? 'What if' what?"

He turned to me, "It's just... There is... nothing, it's... it's nothing," he said throwing himself on the bed

I stood next to the bed and placed my hand on his cheek, "It's okay, I'll help you however I can"

He held my hand and close his eyes, "I just... don't want a few thing to happen"

"What is it? You can tell me, maybe I can help you prepare or something else, if need be"

He looks at me in the eyes, "There is..." sighing he sat up, "There is a subject I don't want them to ask about... It's quite... sensitive..."

"Why?"

"Hey, after the thing let's go to Canterlot. I'm sure there is a lot of things we c-"

"Don't change the subject! Why is it sensitive?"

He sighed heavily, "Because... because it's about-"

"This is going to have to be the last question, sorry guys," All the ponies behing the one at the microphone go back to their seats, "What's your question my good sir?" He seems more comfortable

"What about your parents? Your real parents. Won't they miss you?"

Oh no... Luis immediately goes expressionless

"I'll answer that first. My parents will miss me, but I have found so many thigs here that- Let's just say they always encouraged me to find my happiness and... Here... It's amazing. I'm one hundred percent sure they won't mind too much if I stay a while," he turns to Luis, who is still... mentally absent, "Luis?"

"No," Luis says without emotion, very monotone

"There you have it folks. That's all the time-"

"That wasn't a proper answer!" The questioning pony demands causing others to join
"Yeah! What kind of answer was that?"
"Come on!! Answer the question!"

Then the mayor of Ponyville gets on stage, "I'm afraid your answer was not... fulfilling, prince"

"No, my parents won't miss me. Even if they did, I don't care," He turns around, flicking the cape, and walks backstage with anger in his step. I immediately get up and head backstage

As I enter, I see Luis just standing in the middle of the open space facing the ceiling with his eyes closed. I slowly get go next to him, "Luis?" he opens his eyes, "Are you... are you okay?" he looks at me with the small smile he always carries and bloodshot eyes, Has he always hid this?

"Yeah, I'm fine"

He sounds so normal... even after getting so... emotional, "Are you sure? You don't look too fine"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry about me"

"We will always worry about you," Princess Celestia says as she and Luna enter the room"

"I know"

"You seem to not take our words serously"

"It's not that"

"Then tell us," she hugs Luis, "We are here when you need us"

Luis seems to fight the hug, "I know, I know. Just-"

The princess starts to pet his head, "Shhh, it's okay," Luis stops fighting, "We are here for you," he returns the hug, "You have my love as I give it to you. As much as you need"

Luis loses his composure completely and starts to cry his eyes out, I can't take this... I hug him too, "Oh, Luis..."

He cried himself to sleep, Princess Celestia had to carry him onto the chariot, "I can't believe he was shouldering so much," He cried for over half an hour... I look at him laying on my lap and start stroking his mane

"I never thought it was this bad..."

"I should have realised... I failed him"

"No, sister. It was I who failed once again"

"I've been with him every day. If there is anypony to blame, then... then it's me..."

"Literally no one can blame you for anything. You have amnesia and you've known him for the least amount of time out of all of us," he lifts my head, "So chin up, you did nothing wrong. Me in the other hand-"

"You do not understand. His dreamscape, or in his case sleepscape, was lacking dreams. I may be crossing a boundry, but you need to be informed. He had doors, each leading to individual memories, they were countless, but before I could investigate any of the doors, he took me to another section of his mind. This part looked like a simple hallway, not many doors adorned this space, this where his good memories were. I should have seen this, he has an overwhelming amount of negative experiences. I failed to notice. I alone failed him," Luna burries her face in her hands

"In seven years, never once have I seen him cry... and he was hauling all that... I have to say... No one is at fault here"

"But I-!"

"If you think you ingnored those signs once, what does that make me? ...Seven years..."

Everypony is getting too down, I have to do something, "Whoever's fault it might be, I don't think he would blame anypony. He would definetely would try to cheer us up right now"

"Agreed. Let's make sure that when he wakes up we can all help him"

Later that night
===[POV - Luis]===

"Ughhh, my head...," I sit up on the bed I'm on, Bed? I look around, I'm back in my Canterlot room, alone, "Okay..." I get up and head towards the window and open the curtains, "Night time"

"You're finally awake?!"

Was I trying to cross the border? I turn to the voice and see Noctis in happy shock, "I think so..." If it's a dream, I should be able to control it, right? I concentrate

"What are you doing?"

"Yep, definately awake. I see you told the Princesses to take us to Canterlot"

"Aye, I did.... Right! The Princesses wanted to talk to you as soon as you woke up, let's go"

"Right behind you," Is it about... of course it's going to be...

The guards opened the door to the thrones

"We are most glad you are awake, Luis"

"And we are most regretful for not helping in your time of need"

I raise my hand, "Do I get I say in this?"

"No, you don't!"

"Okay..." I lower my hand

"We all are sorry for what happened"

"Noctis, you too?"

"We should have tried to... understand you better"

"Aye"

"We had the tools to help, I had even used mine..."

"But in the end, we all stood by as you tore yourself apart"

"Well, to be honest-" My objection gets interrupted

"We are not done!"

"Jeez, fine..." So touchy today

"You told me how bad your life was, and then you said how little it affected you. I just took your word at face value, that was insanely stupid of me. I am really sorry"

"I am guilty of the same doing. You poured your soul out and told us not to worry, and we listened to your voice and ignored your cries"

"In your dreamscape, I saw your pain and ignored it because you said I had nothing to worry about"

"I don't have much to apologize for, but-"

"Then don't. Anyways-"

"No! I need to get this of my chest. I should have realized there was something bothering you. Every time we past by a family, you always looked at them with this... this... wistful look, but I didn't want to interfere with your smile... I wanted to always see you happy... I felt that if I mentioned it... you wouldn't take it well"

"Like I was saying, I'm the one who should apologize to you"

"How dare you say that!!"

"Before I say anything else, just listen to what you all said. I told you not to worry, to all of you," silnces follows which then turns into a discussion about whose fault it was

The Next Day

Noctis and I are walking towards the archives with a letter from Luna to get Noctis's file, I'm actually kind of nervous to see what her backstory is... "So... Red... How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, how about you?"

"I'm... good," I honestly don't know what took the letter so long...

"You don't sound too sure there prince charming"

"Now you're adding 'charming' to that nickname?" Maybe because I forgot to remind aunt Luna until today

"Not exactly"

I spot a stack of black smoke out of a window, Wait what?!! I stop and go to the window, There's a fire... A quest appears on my vision, 'Fire Away'? The hell is with the names??

They're procedural, based on what they are

I'm going then... I turn to Noctis who is now next to me

"I'm sure the fireponies have it under control"

I hand her the letter, "I'll be right back," I jump out the window before she could object. Rolling on the landing, I run full speed to the direction of the fire. At first I'm taking the streets, dodging pedestrians, This is too crowded... rooftops it is, I direct myself to an alleyway and climb the wall, Now not to fall...

I drop down to street level in front of the blazing building, It's gated... I look at the gate, Canterlot orphanage- oh dear god... I frantically search for anyone who might know what's going on, spotting a unicorn with a hose. I make my way to him, "What's the status?"

"Prince?! Ah-eh-errr Everypony has been taken from the premises"

"Are we su-?!"

"Where is Nimble?!!" I turn to the voice, seeing a teacher-looking earth pony, "Nimble?!! Nimble are you out here??"

I grab her shoulder, "Do you work here?"

"Prince!! YES!! Have you seen Nimble??!! Crimson pegasus?" No idea... "Green mane?" I shake my head, "Black stripes??"

"Let me see if I can find him," I start look around using my superior hight to my advantage, Not over there... not in that crowd... still in the building... wait, I do a double take, Well... shit... top floor, northwest window, "I'll be right back," I turn to the fire fighter who's face displays just horror, I guess he saw the kid... I grab the hose, "Mind if I use this for a sec?" I soak myself with it and climb over the fence

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!!!!"

I don't look back as I make my way to the open doorway, flames shoot out as I get near, Not going in that way, I make my way around the building and find a window to the basement, Let's hope the stairway is clear... I think as I slip inside, my nose being assaulted by the smell of soot

I scan the room for the way up and spot what appears to be a large gas tank, OH SHIT!, sudenly my HUD displays a countdown from five minutes, Oh bigger shit... I find and make my way up the stairs, the fire has already consumed most of the furniture, thankfully the stairs are made of stone, Must be quite an old buil- No! Concentrate! I make my way up and follow my compass to the kid's marker, my coughing getting worst each passing minute, It's getting hard to breathe... I crouch my way down the hall

"HELP!! HELP ME!!"

"HOLD ON!! I'M ALMOST THERE!!" Less than a minute...! I get to the door, and try to open it, but the knob is extremely hot, Thirty seconds!, "KID BACK AWAY FROM THE DOOR!!" I start kicking the door, It's so much easier on TV... I finally get the door to open, Fifteen seconds!! "Kid do you know how to fly?" He must the CMCs age...

"Not quite yet, sir"

"Then hold on," I grab him and run towards the window, Eight... I absorb the inpact of the fall but spring up as fast as I can, Three. Fuck!!! I hold on to the foal while trying to gain distance from the building, Two... I don't have time... I drop to the floor, protecting the kid, One..., "Cover your ears, kid!" he does, Zero...

Pain and ringing are the only things accompanying my senses, Something hit me..., "Are you okay?" I sit up, he nods, "That's good," the pain on my back gets more intense as I get on my feet, My BL is going down... My vision starts to tunnel, Shit...! I reach behind me and find a piece of wood sticking from my back, Goddamn it... I turn to look at it, and it's actually going through chest, the tip of it pushing my shirt at the front

"Are you feeling alright, sir?"

My blood goes bellow the halfway mark, Not good!, "Yeah... just... fine..." I can only see a small bit at this point, I try to get the wood out, Stop... blood... bandage... I'm so numb I can't feel the pain, Can't... stay... awake... everything goes black, Noctis yelling my name echoing in the void

24 The Major Quest Pt.1

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Chapter 24
The Major Quest Pt.1

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Beep!

*Beep*

Hospital... ohhhh, right, I get a feel of my body, At least I'm not numb... but... there is a weight on my stomach, I open my eyes and blurrily see a blob on my torso, How long have I been out? I think as I sit up and use my free hand to rub my eyes, Still blurry, but at least I can tell it's Noctis... The door opens and a nurse walks in, I signal her to stay quiet as she seems to almost scream in joy, I can only assume. She quickly leaves the room, and I take the blur out of my sight, Cool

Noctis is a mess, her mane is completely uncombed, her vest is a bit dirty, and her shirt isn't tucked in. I free my other hand and start to fix her mane, straightening rogue hairs and stuff, fixed her collar too, You know what? I start to braid her mane

Wait what??!!!

What?

Nothing...

A doctor and the same nurse from before, I think, come in, "Prince, glad to see you awake," he notices what I'm doing but ignores it, "You had us worried for a second"

I continue braiding Noctis's mane, "How long was I out for?"

"Ten days..."

I pause for a second and look at the doctor, "I see..." I continue my work

"It was near impossible to find a suitable donor for a blood transfusion"

"I can imagine," I get to the end of the braid, "Do any of you have a hair band?"

The nurse steps forward, taking one out of her pocket and giving it to me, "Here you go, prince"

"Thanks," I finish my handy work, "How long has she been here?" I look back at the doctor

"Every day, but last night it was near impossible to get her to leave, so we let her stay the night"

"I see. Has she eaten anything since then?"

"She ate the food we brought her, but... It appears she wasn't eating well before, and she was slightly dehydrated too"

I look at her, Noctis... "Could you...?"

"Food is on its way," the doctor and the nurse turn to leave, "I will check on you after you have eaten something"

"Thank you. By the way, who donated blood?" he smiles at me with a look that screams 'you'll see' and leaves, "Okay..." Noctis begins to stir awake, her bloodshot eyes look at me, "Good morning sunshine," I say with a smile

She tackles me in a hug, "Thank Celestia!!" her tears hitting my soulder

"I'm glad you feel better now," I stroke her head while in the hug

After a while, we break the hug, "I got some news..." Noctis says a bit unsure

"What is it?" I'm intrigued

"I remember everything now, my life, my duties..." the happiness in her voice is rivalled by the sombre tone accompanying it, "But... but I quit the Royal guard..."

What... I just stare, perplexed of what she just said, "I don't think I heard that right... like at all" There is no way...

"I quit the Royal guard"

"Why?!!"

"So... so I could do this..." she kisses me right in the mouth, but breaks the kiss too soon, "Now that I got it out of my chest, you can hate me-"

I kiss her, interrupting her speech, "I couldn't hate you..." she hops on the bed and gives me another hug with a barely audible 'thank you', "But now you're unemployed," Playful tone aside. What is she going to do now?

She smacks me upside the head, "I'll find something, you second rate prince," she jokes

There is a knock at the door. As I'm about to say 'come in' but stop myself, Noctis also covers my mouth and then jumps on her chair, nodding at me, "Come in," She's shy about it, how adorable!

And you're not?!

Shut up! A stallion nurse comes in with a cart with trays of food and water on it, "Good morning, prince! Good to see you awake today," he gives me a tray, "And you too, Ms Umbra," he says giving her food as well, "Divine smiles on both of you"

He's awfully cheerful... I think to myself, and he leaves, I take a spoonful of mush, 'You have been poisoned' appears on my HUD, I try to warn Noctis but my body goes numb and everything turns black

I wake up in the hospital room and frantically look around, I'm alone, and I find a letter on the chair Noctis was

Splendid day friend,

I will first mention that this it is not personal, it is, in fact, business, someone wants you dead but have asked to make you suffer first, that's why you are still breathing right now. If you want your precious batpony back, then you know where to find us. Enjoy the trip!

Oh, no... I jump out of bed and rip the medical equipment from my body, then head for the door

Wait, they have a gift for you

What? then a smoke grenade appears in front of me

You are not to use it until you get to their place

I store it, What is it?

I don't know

Do you know where I need to go?

It said you should know

Well, if it's those guys... the train station...

I sneak my way out of the hospital since there is no way they would let me go so soon, and make my way to the train station. I seems that even the princesses wanted me back on the hospital, because when I bumped into some guards, they immediately told me I needed to go back. Long story short, it was very similar to my first day. I managed to lead them away from the train and lose them, but I knew I needed a disguise, so I just equipped my hoodie under the cape, that somehow did the trick

I walk up to the ticket booth, "Hello, I need to know if you have seen a 'friend' of mine"

"Who might you be?" I remove my hood, "Prince! Yes, of course, he left you a ticket and a letter"

I take them, "Thank you," the letter reads:

Well, it appears you are not a stupid as you were described if you managed to get this far. Unless it's too late. Take the twelve o'clock train to the station in the swamp. You'll get more instructions there

Fuck. You. I look around for a clock

"The twelve o'clock train for Appleoosa is leaving in five minutes," says the conductor, I guess I'm on time... I show my ticket and hop in, "Happy travels, prince"

"Thank you," I take a seat and look through my inventory, A sword, heavily damaged armour, my clothes, some healing stuffs... I am so under prepared for this... What are my buffs? I go to my status window, Let's see, 100% resistance to disease by lycanthropy, low light vision and +1 INT at night by friend of the night, +15% magic resistance and affinity plus +1 to all SPECIAL stats by... 'Alicorn blood'... oh... that's who gave me the blood... Thanks mom, or aunt, or both... Wait! That brings my luck to... eight... nice

Just what you needed, more luck...

It is what I need. More luck, means better drops

Just so you know, those stats are somewhat exponential

So I'm not just one point stronger, but instead several time so?

Not several times, but it's a bigger jump from eight to nine than three to four

Can I use the drop yet?

Uhhh... not yet

When then?

... When they tell me to tell you

Are you like on the phone with them?

Pretty much

Huh... cool

The next six hours, I spend in anguish. I tried to distract myself with the laptop, but there was too much in mind to enjoy any of the games or movies. I noticed black smoke as the train went down the mountain, so I guess 'Dragonshy' is happening right now, although, the smoke didn't extend to the mountain, so maybe it had just ended? Whatever. After Ponyville, my stop came.

I got off the train and was greeted by the nastiest smell I could imagine was naturally possible; also the weird ticket pony was there... Now that I think about it, wasn't he stationed at the peaks of peril stop? Maybe he rotates between the two? I'm going off topic. He gave me another letter with a riddle, which I could only guess the location to be a cave, why else would the answer be 'echo'?. Now I've been walking through a swamp for about half an hour looking for cave, holes, ravines, if it can connect to an underground system, I'm looking for it

"Muck everywhere..." I sink to my chest, "Goddamn it!! At least I had the decency to use my human clothes," And not ruin the royal ones. Jesus fuck! "And where the hell is that smell coming from?!"

You're talking with yourself again

"Well, sorry. I do that when I'm pissed. It's difficult to synchronize my thoughts and mouth when I'm angry!!"

You don't have to yell into the nothingness

"Fuck. You." The hell do you even do huh? "You're just like 'mee mee mee mee, look at me I don't have to do shit, blah blah blah, you are not doing things right, mii mii mii' so shut up for once"

The hostility...

Sorry, sorry, that was out off line

Oh you think?

"If I ever see you... I'm going to knock you out"

Are you even seeing where you're going anymore?

Well, it's flatland for mil- I step on nothing, "FUUUAAAAHHH!!"

"... A bush prevented fall damage..." I get more leaves out of my hair looking around the glistening cavern, "At least I found my cave..."

Don't you love video game logic?

So... Can I use the smoke yet?

Ummm... not quite

I'll trust you, light hoof steps resonate from inside the cave, Getting ready... I get my gear on, sword in one hand and PKE in the other

You're going to break that thing...

If I can find good loot, so be it, the PKE beeps red, pointing to a large crystal a few meters further in, "I know you're there," I get no response, "Seriously..." again, nothing, "Okay then... I'll walk by your crystal oblivious to your presence so you can have the enjoyment of stabbing me," I fake foot steps and a pony jumps out, "Got ya!" he rushes at me, I block his sword and trip him, "I don't want to do this"

He rolls to the side and gets back on his hooves, "But I do," he steps closer, "If I kill you..." he licks his lips, "It's payday...!"

Great, I can't stop thinking about clown masks, "Let's not fight. You have things to do, I have things to do... We could spend our time doing something better"

"There is nothing better than bits!"

The more he talks the more I want to stab him... "You almost sound human. Money this, money that... Just back down"

"I am NO COWARD!" He sprints full speed at me, sword overhead, "I'll take your bits too!"

I leap fowards a bit off-center from him and slash him across his unprotected chest, "I don't want to do this..." I turn around just in time to dodge, Shit that was close! his continuous attacks start to push me back, "With that cut you won't last long... Just stop"

"I'll cut of your head and give it to him It'll be PAYDAY!!" his slugishness seems to retreat

"Again with the money??!!" How much am I worth?

Don't ask me... I have no idea!

I let his sword brush me, then I use my own sword as leverage and kick him square in the chest, I have his sword. Move successful, "We don't have to do this"

He tries to sit up but falls back, "I... I can't lose... must... win..." he passes out competely

I think he lost too much blood, I squad down, open his eye and use my illumination spell, Pupils are slugish, I look at his cut, Not bleeding too much. If he stays still he'll survive, I think

You and what medical degree?

Me and my doctorate of Hollywood medicine, now shut up. We have to keep moving

I'm not physically there... You know that, right?

You know what I mean, with a sword in hand and high determination, I head deeper into the cave system

Apart from a few cliffs, nothing too interesting happened. So much so, that I ended up going through the three plus hours of Skyrim's soundtrack. Like holy crap, this cave is huge, good thing the pip-boy is chartering the local map of the place, otherwise I don't know how I wouldget out

How long have I been walking for?

Uhh? Oh, at least three hours and forty minutes

"Of course..." I whisper under my breath

At least you powers don't let you get tired from walking

I'm not that out of shape! I turn a corner and see a door similar to a dungeon imbedded in the crystal, "Cool... only took all day, but I made it... somewhere"

You can use the grenade now

Okay, finally! I use it, but the crate stands two meters taller that usal, and a several inches wider, "No way..." I release the locks and the walls fall down, "Yes way..." infront of me stands a full suit of T-60 power armour, "It's beautiful..." I pass my hand over it's cold armour plating

Stop drooling already!

Sorry, I take out my fussion core, my stomach starts dancing because of the excitement as I go behind it, Oh, there is a letter in the slot, I grab the letter and a green holotape falls to the floor, Oh shit! I pick it up and read the letter

Hello Luis,

We regret to inform you that the trouble you are currently having might have been cause by our neglect of a few duties. To compensate for your troubles, the coucil settled in giving you a fairly powerful set of armour and a few abilities. We hope this is enough to be forgiven for starting the end of that world

Our Sincerest Apologies,
The Council of Worlds

... 'End of that world'... Well... shit... I feel the prusure on my shoulders, I slowly insert the holotape into the slot, Did you know anything about this?

I was informed earlier today... I can't believe I'll witness the end of this world. I was starting to like it

Oh no no no no... This world ain't ending on my watch. Specially if there's anything I can do about it

Not to be negative, but... This was cause by them, accidentally, but by them. The entities they deal with are... overwhelming to be in the presence of. I wonder which on it was this time

This time??!!! How many worlds has their incopetence ended??

You don't want to know...

Fuck me... I return my attention to the pip-boy, this holotape has several links, much like the last green one, 'Quest', 'Mark', and 'Modules'... Quest, I guess... I select it, but it doesn't take me to another page, instead a quest announcement comes up on mu HUD, Cool, now 'Mark', whatever that is.... It takes me to a page titled 'Mark of Power', I turn my attention to the controller mark on my other hand, So that's what you're called

I could've told you

Why didn't you- Oh, I never asked...

Eh-xactly

Don't quote AJ... I go back to my pip-boy and read the description on the screen [...] So miblie games too now... cool

Why don't you check the modules you got?

Yeah yeah. Let's see here... Blacklight virus from Prototype, cool cool... wait, no limit?? Shapesift to what comes to mind, full control, no need for live prey. I'm so loving this. Next is-

WAIT WHAT??! I made those to be near impossible to get! Full control mudules have like a million zeros before the number!

And they gave it to me, so suck it up buttercup. Next is a grappling-hook-wingsuit-parachute combo from Just Cause, no booster though, oh well. And lastly, 'In-Game' store... my life is pay to win now... holy shit...

They gave you a store?

Yeah, on the PKE like in the game, simply because the loot module creates bits from out of nowhere, I take out the PKE and click the store button, FIVE THOUSAND BITS!!! That's just for a bicycle! What the hell?! And the modules... ...

Well, how much?

...That's a lot of zeros...

Ah, that much. How much for a portal gun?

You don't want to know... At least there's no premium currency...

Don't you have a damsel to save?

"Oh shit!" Yeah, I do! I insert the fision core into the armour and hop in, it's surprinsingly comfy inside considering it's a war tool, Wait... I have no guns... This is going to be ridiculous!

Nice! You can use the PKE from inside

What? I notice a little widget with the shape of the meter on the HUD, Huh, nice... Is there a starting weapon I can afford? I open up the store, Oh cool, mental controls! Now, filter by type, order by price... cheapest gun is 300 bits, it's a one shot pistol with 3 damage, from... starforg- oh, no wonder it's so bad

Everyone really hates that game, don't they?

I have like 40 hours on it. It's not that it's bad, it's more of the promise was not only not delivered, but also abandonded and downgraded. Everyone was literally ripped off, specially since the game was more unfinished than Fallout 76... Wait, I got distracted again!! I go to the door and kick it down, "KNOCK KNOCK MOTHERFU- It's empty... Goddamn it," I walk further into the room

What now?

We keep on moving... I sigh, Noctis's bar flashes and her health goes down a bit, FUCK!! Where is she?!! I start to run as the the room turns into a hallway with cells on either side, "Come on come on! Where are you...?" I turn a corner and see another metal door, which I happily kick off it's hinges. Inside is a large room with shackles on the walls, and racks in the middle full of all types of torture tools

What the fuck... a couple of ponies grab my arms to stop me, but I just throw them, Of course, more of them, the ponies rush at me again, swords in hand and try to cut my head off

*Clank*

I grab them and smash their heads together, knocking them out, and throw them aside, I don't have time for this...!

I keep running through the room, Have to find her, on the other side of the room, I see a stage of sorts with a large figure in a suit looking towards the wall

"HA HA HA HA HA!! This too much! HA HA HA!! He's not coming for you! You are to much of a burden to him. Splendid! I could not have planned it better myself"

"OH YEAH?! Who's not coming for who?!" the figure turns to me and- Hoolyy shhhiit... The figure is a fucking demon! "By any chance, are you Vlad the impaler?"

"What??"

"You look like a bearded Vlad, but with horns, a tail and... bushier eyebrows too?"

"As great of a tool as he was... I go by many names, Asmodai! Hashmedai! ASMODEUS HIMSELF!!!"

His name sounds familiar...

"Then I'll call you 'Ass', how does that sound?"

"YOU DARE MOCK ME, MORTAL?!!"

"Sorry, you're right. That's an insult to donkeys..." he fires a fire ball at me which a barely block, the HUD flashes telling me the arm's armour is at less than 75%, Holy shit! That's strong..., "How about hand to hand?"

"You are an insect compared to me," he start to walk down the stairs, "I know how you humans are, honour is not part of your being. Alas, I will amuse you, mortal. We shall fight in hand to hand combat"

Good, that'd be easier to dodge, "If I am such an insect compared to you, am I allowed the armour?" as his bulk gets down the stairs, I see Noctis chained to the wall

"HA! Not even that will protect you from my wrath," he stops in front of me and extends his fist, "You shall," I still have to look up to look at him on the face

I don't like his tone... I extend my hand, and we touch fists, "Thank you"

"What is your name, mortal?"

"Luis"

"You shall be remembered as a challanger to the God of Wrath"

It was nice knowing you

Fuck me...

25 The Major Quest Pt.2

View Online

Chapter 25
The Major Quest Pt.2

"I am so dead..."

"You finally notice?" Asmodeus grabs my hand and throws me across the room, "You are hardly a challenge!"

I stand on one knee, "Just let me warm up and you'll see!" I am so dead... I get up on a full sprint, my fighty senses tingle and I slide on my knees just barely avoiding a round house kick, That was closer than the other times

"Good move. But it's not enough!"

I sense another attack coming and jump out of the way, rolling into a standing position. I turn around and see the demon standing in a crater just where I had been a second before, Oh... fuck...

"I applaud you as you are lasting longer than I expected. Still..."

Suddenly, his fist is on my face, me flying to the wall in which I become embedded in, Well... he jumps ready to bash my face in, SHIT! I manage to dislodge my arm from the wall and punch his punch sending the force through my arm. I fall from the wall in pain, the arm of the power armour cracks off. Holding my now crippled arm, I stand up

"I am impressed" he says behind me

OH! FUCK! I turn around and receive a foot on the chest sending me crashing through the racks in the room

"Still, he starts to walk towards me, "I can not believe you are the 'hero' of this world. Too weak," he grabs me by the head and lifts me with one arm

I am near pissing myself, What... the... fuck... the helmet on the HUD starts flashing red as he applies pressure, FUCK FUCK FUCK!! WHERE IS THE RELEASE??!!! I quickly put my hands under the helmet trying to find the release

"Fighting is futile. You sealed your fate the moment you challenged me"

The HUD turns off as the visor cracks, NO NO NO NO!!! It can't end like this... with a hiss from the helmet, I fall to the ground. I look up to see him look at me and toss the helmet aside

"Why do you insist on fighting? You can not win"

"Because-" A letter materializes in front of me and falls to the ground, revealing 'Found you' written on it, Wha...?

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!!" a bright beam of energy hits Asmodeus and send him flying to the other side of the room. Celestia gets in between him and me, "Are you alright?" she asks giving me a side glance

"Barely..." I look at the armour's durability, everything is red with the helmet and arm missing, "My arm is crippled, the armour's broken... at least I'm not bleeding"

Luna kneels next to me and helps me up, "You do not have to worry as we have arrived"

"Thanks," She walks me to the side of the room and creates a shield around us, "Are you sure it can hold?"

"I am certain," her expression turn to anger, "What were you thinking coming to a place like this alone?! You should have told us of what was happening!"

"Sorry, I just... I wasn't thinking straight. They took Red and- and- I just... couldn't stand to... lose her..." I bury my face on the cold metal of my hands, I don't want to be alone anymore...

Luna puts a hand on my shoulder, "I understand..." I look up to see her smiling, "I know the feeling of not wanting to lose the company you have longed for so long"

I stand up, get out of the armour and give her a hug, "Thank you... Thank you so much, aunt Luna," I start sobbing in her arms as she pets me

"Shhhh, it is alright... emotions are a difficult thing..." she consoles me, "Let it all ou-"

The ground shakes, both Luna and I turn to see Celestia standing over Asmodeus as he backs to the stage where Noctis is

"Wait! You are the Goddess of this realm, I can be your servant!" he pleads

"I am not a goddess, just a concerned mother looking out for her son"

"Don't kill me! I can be of use"

"Your fate is not for me to decide..." Celestia looks our way, I point at myself, and she nods

I have the blacklight, right?

Yes... What are you thinking?

I could absorb him...

True. That would definitely give you a lot of EXP

I look at Luna, "Could you lower the shield?"

"Yes, but I must ask, what are you planning?"

"You'll see," she lowers the shield and I start walking to the demon, Now... How do I control the virus?

Like you would control every other muscle. To absorb him you have to- let me see here... Just think of the tendrils grabbing him and breaking down his body, kinda like the stomach. You need to grab him first though

I think I get it, I stop in front of Asmodeus, "I must first ask you a few questions, then I'll decide what to do with you. First, why did you kidnap Noctis?"

"The vampire? To get you to come to me"

"Why? Do you have something against me?"

"Because you have been marked as the hero of this world"

"Did you hit Noctis?"

"Why do you care for something you can't prove?"

"Answer the question!" Celestia demands

"Yes"

"I see... Why do you hate heroes?"

"Because every time they come to the world I try to control, they defeat me"

I extend my hand to help him up, "Then I'll have to make sure you don't lose again," he takes my hand and stands up

Then it clicks on him, "What?!" Tendrils shoot from my back and dig themselves into his body, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!" a few more shoot out and start wrapping around him

"Making sure you can't hurt anyone else"

"NO!! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!! I AM A GOD!!!"

"Good for you," I sarcastically say, "I might have forgiven you, but you hit her," he goes pale as the tendrils finish enveloping him and the cocoon gets dragged into my body, That was disgusting... "Oh god! I can taste it!!!" I start to scrub my tongue with my hands and spitting, "EW!!! Disgusting!" NOCTIS!! I run up the stairs to the chained batpony, "Noctis?" I shake her a little, "Noctis, wake up," she is still unresponsive, "Red, come on..." nothing, "Red...?" Her HP is still on my HUD... I grab the shackles and channel all of my strength to break them, "Come on... break already," I grunt out

Celestia puts a hand on my shoulder, "The chains are enchanted to prevent any amount of strength to break them"

I stop trying to break the chains, "So I almost gave myself a hernia for nothing?"

"Basically, yes"

"Oh, great. But how do I get them off her then?" Celestia's horn starts to glow, I turn to Noctis and see the shackles open causing her to fall on my arms, "Oh... Like that..." she starts moving in my arms, "Noctis?"

"...Hmmm... Luis?" she opens her eyes, "I'm glad you're okay," she sounds a bit dazed still. She starts to get comfortable on my lap, "Hi, Princess Celestia..." her eyes slowly close, only to snap open, she shoots up, "Princess Celestia!! Hi..." she blushes really hard, then sees Luna, "Ummm... Princess Luna... Hello to you too... I uhhh... I mean..."

I kiss her on the mouth for a brief second and turn to the princesses, "I kind of like Noctis..."

"Me too, like a lo- Wait! I mean Luis. I like Luis!! Not me! I mean I do like me but-"

I cover her mouth with a finger, "Relax, they know what you mean"

"I told you, sister. They were made for each other," Celestia tells Luna rather smugly

"Stop blowing your own horn, sister. The moment you introduced me to your niece, Princess Cadence, I presumed you might have learned something from her. She is the Princess of love after all"

"I knew it!" I yell triumphantly, She planned this out! Me and Noctis? Planned, "I can't even be mad," I kiss Noctis on the nose, "I love you"

"Love you too," She giggles, then stands up, "Now let's go home"

"Of course," I stand up myself, "But first..." I head towards the power armour helmet, "I can't leave the armour behind," I grab the helmet and put it back on the power armour, then hop into it, "Okay... I can't see," The HUD in the helmet is still inactive, so I'm blind at the moment... great... I put the helmet away, "Now I'm ready," they look questioningly at me, "The helmet broke; I couldn't see out of it"

"I still say you looked better with the long mane"

"I have to agree"

"Indeed"

Of course... Let's see if this works... I take out the mirror the doctor gave me and think for the menu, nothing happens, I guess I need a wall mirror, or bathroom, I start to examine my hair on the mirror, "Maybe you're right... How about I get a beard too?"

"Mmm... No, I don't think that would look that great"

"Honestly..." I start walking towards the entrance, "It depends on the hairstyle"

"Not that way, Luis"

"What?" I turn around to see Celestia and Luna heading up the stairs on the stage, and Noctis just looking at me like 'don't ask me', "Okay..." I start to follow them, with Noctis next to me, But there is literally only a wall there... as I get to the top, I see Celestia with her hand in a crack on the wall

"Found you..." she pulls something and the wall begins splitting down the crack, revealing a very Canterlot-like doorway on the other side, we go trhough into the catacombs under Canterlot

"Wait a minute!" Is this the cave that I wasn't allowed to visit? "Is the concentration crystal here??"

Luna reaches into a small pouch and takes out a rough-looking crystal, "Yes it was, but we have it now"

Looks like a kyber crystal, weird

How would you know?

I have a colleague who's working on with a guy send to a Star Wars universe. He showed me pictures

"Luis? You keep zoning out"

"Huh? Oh, that? Well, you remeber Aleksandrs?"

"Incorporial guy who sends you powers? Yes, why?" she stops for a brief second and then catches up, "Can you talk to him?!"

Hey! I do have a body!

"He does have a body. It's just not here"

"In that case, we would love to meet this 'Aleksandrs' friend of yours"

Well, I do have permission for this now...

What?

A spiral of fire rises up in front of me, but disipates almost instantly leaving a guy in a suit and tie where it was, he looks directly at me, "Hello, Luis" says a very familiar voice

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Wait a gosh darn minute! Since when can YOU come here?!"

"Since the trial of the one who release Asmodeus into this realm. Or about ten minutes ago, why?" the nonchalantlyness of his voice is palpable

"Are you even allowed to talk about this infront of them?" I signal to the Princesses and Noctis

"That's what I came here to say..." he says as his voice takes a small downwards turn, "I'm getting reassigned and was allowed to mention this in front of the leaders and anyone who knows about me. Basically everyone here"

"What do you mean 'getting reassigned'?" Celestia inquires

"To put it simply, every time anyone, anywhere, arrives at a world they don't belong, demons and angels alike are assigned to keep an eye on them. Thing is, it's one per insident and since Luis here was the first one to appear here and not Rick... he got me"

"That did not answer the question"

"During the trial, I was told that a demon Luis was supposed to defeate had already been assigned to this world, Asmodeus was not it, and placing another one might rip this reality appart, doesn't matter how weak that next demon might be. So now, there is no point in keeping an eye on this world. Not this closely anyways"

"I see... We should probaly still keep watch of anything that does not belong here"

"Of course. And ,Luis, I have a gift for you", he takes out a yellow holotape, "Actually-" he fans out a second one, "-it's two, they have only two houndred and fifty five Megabytes of memory, can you believe that?"

"Excuse me, but how much?"

"Two fifty five Megabytes"

"If you think that's a lot, let me tell you that the computer I had back on Earth had five terabytes of storage and sixteen Gigabytes of RAM," I'm pretty sure that if Celestia had been drinking tea, it would've been sprayed everywhere. Luna in the other hand, doesn't seem to understand the terminology

"Anyways, here," he hands me the holotapes, "They are powers- OH! Right!" he takes out a green holotape as well, "They wanted to give you this too, as a goodbye and reward for getting rid of Asmodeus. Anyway, I'll be around for a day or two, depends on when my next assignment come around"

"It'll be nice to have my thoughts only to myself again"

"Remeber how annoying you were when I first started talking back?"

"Remember how much of a bitch you were when you didn't want to play 'eye of the tiger'?"

"Oh shut up! I'll miss you. Somehow you grew on me"

"I'll remember you," one bro-hug later Aleks is gone

One last thing...

A another holotape appears infront of me, What is it?

Invite me to the wedding *chuckle* You score quite a nice bod with her

Oh... my... god...

Just like Aku likes 'em, hehe...!

What?

Maybe not 'extra', but... Nevermind. Your almost out of the catacombs, by the way

"We have arrived," Celestia says as she pulls on a chain

Then, the ceiling starts to slide down creating a staircase in the process, "Holy... wow..." we go up the stairs, we come out into the main foyer of the castle, "Huh... here? Cool!" I turn to Celestia, "By the way, what was the monster that was supposedly trapped in there? I doubt it was the demon"

"It is an entity that makes you see your wrost nightmares"

"Really? Because I didn't see anything for the four hours or so I was lost there," Luna and Celestia give each other concerned, but shocked, glances at my comment, "Huh... Oh, well," I just shrug

We went to the throne room where everyone was waiting, the mane six, Spike, and a couple of guards with the pony that gave us the poisoned food and the two that attacked me on the train and even the few from the cave. I got an earful from the girls about how I should do things, not to run away from hospitals ect...

By the end of the day, all I wanted to do was sleep, but a question came to mind

"Noctis, don't take this the wrong way, but... What are you doing in my room?" I sit up on the bed

"Since I quit the royal guards, I don't have a place to stay, and the Princesses let me use your room while you were in a coma"

"What about your family?"

"I... don't have any..." her sombre tone crushing my feelings

"Oh... Sorry... I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, you didn't know"

"What about Cutting Edge?"

"He's just my mentor..." an awkward silence comes for a very awkward time, like, not so long that the awkwardness goes away, but not so short that any comment would make it more awkard than it already was, "I didn't see you use the holo-whatevers that Aleksandrs gave you"

"Right," I take them out, I don't know which one's which, except for the green one. I guess I'll start there, "Let's see... 'Unlockables Module' so... hmmmm... Okay, so doing specific things can unlock things for me without using points, nice"

"Sounds useful," says Noctis, who's now sitting next to me

"Next is 'Force Affinity Module'- wow, thuis from them? Cool! I can use the force. Lastly a power armour workstation blueprint... that's a lot of metal... That's all from this one, next is..." ... A 'Call Aleksandrs' power... "I can call Aleksandrs with this one. Next... 'Collectables Module' ... red power bricks, cursed items... okay... and an 'Ataru Fighting Module' ... form of lightsaber fighting style... used by Yoda, Qui-Gon, Plo Koon... nice. Last one..."

"So now you have a new way of fighting? Figures..."

"This style requires the force, so if the council hadn't given it to me, then I wouldn't be able to use it properly. Anyways... 'Build Module' ... like Medieval Engineers but without the hammer or like Fallout 4... weird, but sure, and 'TV References Module'... let's see... I can buy TV stuff from the store... such as a 'Wraith Stunner'..." Wait! Can I buy a stargate then?!

Pretty much

OH SHIT! I thought you already left...

Not until tomorrow, just got a new assignment

Why did you give me a fighting style if I'm probably not going to need it?

Show Shinny how impressively unicorns could fight if they add magic to the mix

I'll do it for you, buddy

By the way- Oh? What? ... I actually have to go now... by the way, you never leveled up. See you some day...

Good bye... ... ... Are you still there?

Nothing

You will be missed. At least my thoughts are only for me now...

"Luis...?"

"Aleksandrs had to go... He's got a new world to see"

"At least I got to meet him"

I lay down, pulling Noctis with me, "This story might be over," I hug her, "But ours is only starting"

"Let's make the best of it," we give each other a good night kiss and fall asleep in each other's arms

Epilogue

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Epilogue

I open my eyes to see Noctis smirking at me, "Morning, sunshine"

She chuckles, "You start snoring when you're about to wake up, you know that?"

I gently kiss her forehead, "I didn't wake you did I?"

She pulls me closer, "I don't mind"

The feeling of her fur against my skin is a little weird, but I don't mind. It's like hugging a giant plushie, I hug her even tighter, "You are so warm..."

*Knock Knock*

"Prince Luis and Noctis Umbra, you are expected at the breakfast table!" the guard yells from the other side of the door

"Ugghhh... five more minutes..." I groan out, my cheek gets poked

"Come on, the early bird gets the worm"

"But the second mouse gets the cheese," I turn around and put the pillow over my head

"Don't make me tickle you"

I one swift motion I jump out of bed and have my clothes on, "I. Am. Good. Thank you," I turn around and Noctis is buttoning her shirt, "We really need to get you some other style. Don't get me wrong, the suit fits you perfectly, but I can only take so many days with you looking like a secret agent"

"What else would I wear? The suit is really comfy"

"I don't know, jeans? Shorts? T-shirts?"

"I'll think about it," she finishes with her vest, closes a suitcase, and stands up, "Come on, let's go have breakfast," she then grabs my hand and basically drags me out the door, but not before I spot a bag and a letter, which I take

"You're going to make me fall!" I almost bump into a pedestal as we round a corner

"I wouldn't mind you falling for me again"

I can only stare into nothingness, Oh... My... God... "I wouldn't mind either, but I would prefer to get to breakfast with blood-free clothes, thank you very much"

She slows down to a more normal pace, then grabs my arm and leans on me, "I don't mind"

As much as I want to rest my head on hers, my neck would have to bend too much for that... too bad, we get to the dinning hall and I open the doors, letting Noctis through. I then head insid- It's full of kids...

"Luis, we have saved you and Noctis a seat," She waves at me and pats the chairs next to her

I sit down and immediately turn my attention to Luna. "Uhhhm, what's with all the kids? Or foals?"

"This are the foals of the orphanage that burned down a couple weeks ago"

"Oh..." my cape gets tugged, I turn around and see the red pegasus from that day

"Mister prince Luis sir?"

"Oh, Nimble! How are you feeling?" his eye light up with happiness

"You know my name?!!"

I ruffle his mane, "Well, of course I do! Wanna sit with me?" he nods rather rapidly, so I grab him and sit him on my lap, "There we go. Now I have a simple question for you, Nimble. Is 'Nimble' your full name?"

He shakes his head, "No, my name is Nimble Gust, Prince"

"Well, mr. Gust, how about you call me Luis?"

"Wow... Can I?!"

I smile at him, "Of course you can!"

"Awesome! Then you can call me Nimble!"

"Hehe, sounds fair to me, Nimble" the pip-boy chimes and 'Child at Heart perk Unlocked' appears on my HUD, Nice!

The door opens, and in comes everyone's least favourite douchbag, "Blueblood, you should join us," Celestia says magically pulling a chair to the table

He grabs a plate and starts to serve himself, "I will not sit next to that... monkey!"

I mockingly look around, "Monkey? But I don't see any mirrors," Noctis chokes a little in a slight chuckle

"You are such a prick," Blueblood tries to argue

"At least I'm not the whole cactus," out of the corner of my eye I see Celestia almost spitting her tea, "Now don't be a bad sport, sit with us. Maybe get to know me before hating me? Just a thought"

"I- But- You- ... Fine!" he sits down, "This doesn't mean I like you"

"Would never expect you to. Now, I'm Luis, nice to finally introduce myself," I extend my hand for a shake, but he doesn't even acknowledge it, Well then... "So, what's your story?"

"Nephew to the Princess"

"Princesses"

"Nightmare Moon will never be my aunt"

The room goes silent except for Blueblood eating, even the kids are in shock. I notice Luna shrinking on her seat, "Okay, that was way too far prince douch. Take that back!" I say as I hold back Nimble from jumping over the table

"Or what?"

"Or you will be stripped of your tittle and thrown in the dungeons for treason of the highest order," if a white pony could go pale, Blueblood just did, "Do I make myself clear?"

Nimble sits back down and crosses his arms, giving Blueblood the stink eye, "Meanie," he whispers

"I-I-I-I understand, a-a-aunt Ce-Celestia"

"From now on you shall refer to me as 'Your Highness' until further notice, is that clear?"

"Y-y-yes, your highness"

"I had invited you in good faith, but clearly that was a mistake. Leave"

"Of course, your highness," he stands up, bows and leaves the table, his expression still that of shock and disbelief. He stops at the door and looks back in what seems to be regret

The pip-boy chimes again with 'Voice of the Emperor Power Unlocked' on my HUD, Interesting... "I kind of feel bad for him..."

"It was a long time coming...," Celestia looks down at her plate in... melancholy? "I spoiled him too much"

"Anyways... let's talk about something else"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Nimble jumps off my lap and proceeds to hover in front of me, "I learned to fly!!"

The sight of him in the air makes me oddly happy, "Oh, wow! I'm so proud of you! Look at you go!" I'm... Proud?? But- Wha...

Noctis does a little happy clap, "That's awesome! If you keep it up, you might be come a Wonderbolt!"

Nimble lands next to Noctis, "You think so?!"

"I know so!" Noctis tells him with a smile, Nimble runs to his friends on the other side of the table, "He's a nice colt," she turns to me with a smile, "And he's here because you almost got yourself killed," I get a playful punch on the shoulder

"You know me, not thinking things through," I smile as Nimble excitedly talks to his friends. I turn to Celestia, "Is this what wanting to be a parent feels like?" I glance Nimble, who waves at me, so I wave back

"Is it a very peculiar feeling within your chest?"

"Pretty Much"

"You might want to think about marriage before you consider having foals"

My face burns because of how much I'm blushing, and all I can manage to do is chuckle awkwardly

The door slams open with Rick running in a bit dishevelled and his shirt inside out, "I'm here!" he walks towards us, Quick following him, but properly dressed

"Oh, good, a distraction!" I say, happily getting out of the awkwardness of the situation

"What?"

"Nothing," I look at Quick's cyan mane- Wait a minute... "Hi Quick, long time no see"

"I know, how have you been?"

"Good enough to not have my shirt inside out," Rick looks down at his shirt and excuses himself, "By the way, Quick, this is the first time I don't see you wearing that robe, never even noticed you had blue hair. How's Thinker?"

"He's doing fine, loving the fact that now we have a near limitless supply of star-spider silk. You have no idea how exited he got when Faunia walked in, he squealed"

"I would have honestly thought you would've been the most excited about it"

"I never said I wasn't," Quick says with a bit of embarrassment

Rick rejoins us, "What are you talking about?"

"About how we can get you home now," I take out the crystal, "I got the silk and the crystal now too, so, yeah, you can go home"

Rick gets a somewhat guilty expression on his face, "About that..." For fuck's sake... he puts his arm over Quick, "I might want to stay now, sorry, but..." he kisses Quick, "Things happened"

"Oh yeah... don't worry, I know," I kiss Noctis myself, "But, you know, I got impaled to get the silk and my head almost crushed for the crystal, no big deal"

"Wait! WHAT?!" I take out the power armour helmet, with a hand clearly imprinted on it, "Holy shit... Sorry, I- I- I didn't know you had to go through so much, I-" I interrupt him

"Don't worry, I can probably use the crystal for a lightsaber, and the silk can probably help with electronics with magic or something"

"Wait, lightsaber? What's that?" Quick asks curiously

"A sword made out of plasma that can cut through basically anything"

"And you think we can use the silk to improve the electronics they have here?"

"Yeah! I mean, who knows how much bandwidth that thing can carry, right?"

After breakfast, Noctis and I went to a park on the edge of Canterlot, looking over Equestria. Ponyville looking like a Sims town in the not-so-far distance

I'm just leaning on the railing, thinking

The breeze hits my face, Could I be a parent? Would I even be a good dad? I mean, I didn't have good role models growing up... I just don't want to be like my mother or as spineless as my father... I face plant on the stonework and groan, What about marriage?? Like... It's definitely too early to think about a kid if I'm not married, right? RIGHT?? I groan again, But it's also too early to think a bout marriage... Noctis puts a hand on my back, I turn my head to face her

She has her head on her arms looking at me, "You're unusually quiet since breakfast. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, just... thinking"

"About?"

"Stuff..."

She pouts, "Oh, come on... You can tell me"

"It's..." she puts a cute face, Freaking puppy dog eyes! "About you- About us! I just... I'm sure- I mean it's too early for- ... Nevermind... just me rambling," I stand straight and tap Noctis, "Let's sit," I move to the bench behind us

Noctis leans on me, "Are you thinking about what Princess Luna said?"

"I- ... Yes... I mean, I do like you, like, very much, but... I always felt lonely, so maybe my mind is just exagerating what I feel. What if... what if I do something and you leave me? I wouldn't know what to do with myself..." I put my arm around her and give her a squeeze

"I quit my job for you! You think I didn't think it through? I don't think you could do anything that could make me dislike you," she make me look at her in the eye, her smile making me smile, "Even thought we've went on one brief date... I think I would say yes..."

"Say 'yes' to what?" Like, cake? or- the question!! "Wait! But-but-but-but it-it's too early... right? I mean, I wouldn't mind popping the question, but... I mean..."

"How long do humans take to seal the deal? Weeks? Months?"

"It depends, some do after a few months, a few take almost a decade... My parents dated for almost two years before getting married, and even then, the got divorced..."

"What's 'divorced'? I don't think that's a word..."

"Getting separa- Wait what?!"

"Did you just make up a word to scare me?"

"It's most definetly a word... A divorce is getting legally separated from your spouse..."

"I don't think a pony has ever done that... You humans are weird"

Love is a type of magic here, so... "Maybe love works a lot diferent in my world"

"Maybe"

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, I remember the letter, "I just remembered something"

"What did you remember?"

I take out the letter, "This was in our room this morning"

"Our room?"

"I mean, sure, why not?" I read the letter

Hi Luis,

The council decided to give you the pay of the perpetrator of recent events, so I took the liberty of turn it into bit that you can use there. This is what an experienced Watch makes in a month, he had seven worlds under his belt and he just threw it away. Anyway, I don't have that much time to finish this letter (yes, I'm writing instead of making it exist, happy?) so all I want to say is:

Thank you, it was fun working with you

Yours Truly,
Aleksandrs

Noctis kisses my cheeck, "Aww, that's nice of them"

How much was his pay? I store the letter away and take a look at my bi- "That's a lot..."

"How much is it?" I show Noctis, "Oh... You could buy your own castle with that..."

"Probably my own country..." I get an idea, "Want to get some donuts? They're on me, I think I can afford a few," something hits me on the head, A paper airplane? I grab it, "'Open me'?" inside is a note:

I know what my power is
Not scripting but programming
write back and throw
________________ <-- there

"A message from Rick I pressume?"

"How did you know?"

"I can't read it"

"Yeah, he knows what his powers are now," I take out the pen and write 'cool' on the line, I turn to Noctis, "Do you want to write something?"

"Write 'congratulations' for me, please"

I write 'Congrats from Noctis' and fold the plane, He said just to throw it... I look around, No Rick anywhere... I wonder... I throw the plane off the edge

"What are you doing?!" Noctis yells at me, the plane somehow corrects itself and heads for the castle, "Wait! What??"

"It does work..."

"You knew that was going to happend?"

"I had a feeling. Now, donuts, yes?"

"Sure," I stand up and offer my hand to Noctis, "Such a gentlecolt," she coos as she takes my hand

"I try"

We made our way throught town looking for Donut Joe's place. Once we got there, we ordered a dozen donuts and a gallon of hot chocolate to share at the lab with Rick, Quick and Thinker

Both Thunder and Lightning were on main entrance duty when we got back to the castle. I still don't know how Celestia can identify them when they have the armour. Anyways, we got to the lab

I open the door while saying, "WE BRING DONUTS!"

Thinker stands from his desk, "Hey, Luis, it's been a while. Noctis, you too, how are you both?"

"We are doing fantastic, thank you for asking"

I put the thing on the table in the middle, "Yeah, what she said," I look around, "I thought Rick would be here, and where is Quick?"

"They should be back soon, they went to the courtyard for a 'walk'"

I look at Thinker a bit smugly, "Are you mad he chose her and not you"

"Not mad, just disappointed..." he sighs

"Don't take it personally, he just doesn't swing that way"

"I guess..."

I pour us some cups, and give ont to Noctis and Thinker, "Well, if they take too long, they won't get anything," I raise my cup, "Cheers! For an awesome month!"

They bump cups, and Thinker speaks first, "Cheers! For new friendships!"

"Cheers! For new lives!" Noctis says smiling at me

"Bottoms up," I chug m cup, "Ahhh, that's some good hot chocolate"

Hard Landing

by Flash_Game

0 Prologue

1 Introductions

2 Revelations

3 Harmony

4 Repentance

5 Arrival

6 Contact

7 Dilemma

8 Clash

9 Radioactive

10 Blessing

11 Groundwork

12 Developments

13 Airdrops

14 Voice of Silence

15 A Quest Appears

16 A Night Out

17 Fighting in the Friendship Express

18 Ponyville General

19 A night to Remember

20 Deja Vu

20.5 Meanwhile...

21 Party Time

22 From a Friend

23 Silk and Magic: Quest Complete

23 Stage Fright

24 The Major Quest Pt.1

25 The Major Quest Pt.2

Epilogue