> An Un-Natural Turn of Events
>  by NinjaMare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: the Weirdness Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark, granted it was night time but it was darker than user. Which could be attributed to the thick mass of trees that surround me. actually now that I think of it, how in the hell did I end up in the middle of a dank forest? I was just walking down the streets of my home city, just getting off my twelve hour shift from work at the shop, heck, I even decided to splurge on getting some donuts from an all-night coffee shop. But still, how in the hell did I go from there, to ending ass up and upside down in a bush? Maybe someone thought it would be fun to prank a random bystander by teleporting them to the middle of nowhere. Though that would be incredibly stupid, aside from wasting a rare power on a prank, it would also basically setting off an alarm to signal that an Un-natural just used their powers. well whatever the case, I gotta find out where the hell I am, and find a way back. after unsticking myself from the bush I pulled out my phone to look up where my location was, but the damn thing had no signal!

“Great. No service.” I grumbled in annoyance as I pocketed the damn thing into my jacket.

“Guess I gotta do this the old fashion way.” And with that I went about choosing a direction, one that looks the easiest to walk through, and departed.

As I began trotting through the forest path I kept my eyes open in case I spot a wider, and more man-made path, or if was lucky spotted someone. Though given that it was in the middle of the night I highly doubt I’d run into anyone, at least, not a normal person that is. I continued to make my way through the trees and underbrush of wherever it is I was, kept checking my phone to see if I’d get a signal but each check only made me grown more. but my groans and annoyance was put on hold when I heard something rustle in the bushes, which caused me to take a defensive stance, my hands held out to my sides. Ambient amber yellow energy brimming from my palms. A second later something came out from the brush, something that I did not expect to see. Or even thought was even possible!

“What the fuck are you supposed to be!?” I balked as I looked at the three wooden wolves that were stalking towards me! Okay I’m used to seeing weird shit, but this! This is a whole new level of weird, I mean what the fuck causes a bunch of sticks, twigs, bark, and other stuff to make a wooden wolf? 

“Whoa!” I cried out when one of the wolves leapt at me with surprising speed that I almost mis-timed using my powers. creating a dome force field around myself just in time to block the attack, causing the wooden mutt to crash face first into it, breaking its muzzle and causing what looked like thick gooey sap seep from its busted muzzle.

“That’ll be enough of that bucko!” I then caused my field to quickly expand out, smashing into the wooden dog and causing it be bounced back a few feet with great force, where it skidded a few feet from its pack mates while whimpering.

The other two looked away from their downed pack mate and charged at me, but the moment they were a foot from me I shrunk my field till it was as small as I could make it while standing. Then when the two mongrels were half a foot from me, I quickly, and violently, expanded my shield to its previous width. Smashing both wooden wolves into it and launching them into the trees with such force that they smashed through a few branches, before falling to the ground whimpering in pain as more sap bled from their battered bodies. However these things seemed heartier than normal wolves, though that should’ve been a given as they were made from wood. So I quickly encased them in a large energy dome, trapping them which caused the wolves to lashes out with their claws, but that’s when I made my attack. Manipulating the energy of the field I caused the wolves to be, in lack of a better phrase, being ping-ponged within the dome. Slamming their bodies against the walls of the dome, which just increased the speed and power when they ricocheted off it. after a minute of bouncing and ping-ponging them I removed my field and just let them go flying whichever direction they were being flung to.

“That should take care of them, but I better pick up the pace before more of those things show up.”

And I did so. I began hauling ass as I ran through the woods, occasionally looking around to look for a better route to take. But as I rand I started to wonder, just where in the bloody world did I get zapped to that had wooden wolves that bled tree sap?

“I’ll have to put that thought on hold until I find a way out these woods.”

And bam! The moment I finished saying those words, I burst out of the woods and came into the open world…while also finding that a steep bank and began tumbling down. all the while cursing as I rolled a few feet before crashing into a tree.

“FUCK!” I belted as my back smacked into the stump of the tree, causing me to roll on the ground and rub at my new sore spot.

“This is just not my…day?”

Now I was even more confused. As I lay on the ground and looked up, expecting to see the night sky and the moon, I instead said that it was day time. What hour exactly I wasn’t sure, but I was more confused on how it could’ve been morning when it was 11pm when I got off work, and then got warped to the woods. I pulled out my phone which thankfully survived the tumble and looked at the time, which did indeed said it was 11:20pm.

“…I’m starting to believe that something incredibly strange has happened to me, more so than I initially thought.” I mumbled to myself as I sat up, my back aching for a bit before the pain drifted away.

Using the same tree that I crashed into as leverage I managed to haul my ass up before looking around, checking to see where I was now. And from what I could see, I was on the edge of what looked like a grove of trees, all of them bearing bright red apples. But…something was, off, about them. the apples on the tree that I crashed into didn’t look like apples I’m used to, instead they looked so, glossy, like they were made out of plastic. They were just to shiny and polished. Actually now that I took a better look around the whole place that I stood in looked unusual. The trees looked more like they were drawn, smooth and with no bark cracks, and they felt almost to smooth to the touch. even the trees from the forest I came barreling out looked like they were more drawn, rather than being actual trees. even the grass that covered patches of the ground looked to be drawn, while the spots on the ground that had no grass didn’t have loose dirt grooves or disturbances. Not even any pebbles or specks of condensed dirt. Everything looked so, tidy.

“Okay. If I wasn’t wigged out before, I am right now.” I continued to look around for anything that would give me a sign of where the hell I was, or even give me some kind of explanation on whey everything looked so, strange. And it seemed my luck paid off!

While I was looking around I spotted what looked to be wooden carts of some kind just a dozen feet from me. I approached the cart and found that compared to me, it barely went about my waist, and was just a fair bit bigger than a shopping cart. There were also a few woven baskets around the cart, mostly at the base of the trees, but there were a few inside the cart. Each full of apples. Clearly someone worked here, and this was also clearly someone’s farm. Or is the correct term orchard? Whatever the case, someone clearly owns the land that I’m standing in, and hopefully if I go look for them they won’t hold me at gun point, and yell at me to get off their land before I could get a chance to explain what happened to me.

“Then again if the people that owns this, bizarre looking, land are normies then they might find it even more suspicious in how I got here.” I then started to pace around in a circle in figuring out what my next move should be. But that’s when something came to me. if I was on a farmers land, then there should be a town or something nearby where they can sell their produce.

“So I can just bypass the farmers and just walk to the town. However…I gotta first find out which direction of said town was in.”

In the midst of my pondering a yawn escaped me and a drowsy sensation then coursed through my body, reminding me that I was tired and ready for bed. the sooner I find this town, the sooner I can figure out where I am. And even find a place to crash for the night, or day. I started to walk through the orchard until I found a road of something that could lead me to town, and as I was walking something zipped above me as I heard something fly through the air. I didn’t paid it any mind, thinking that it was some kind of plane or something the like and continued to look for a road. A few minutes of walking around blindly go by, and eventually I did find a road, as well as the farmers house. Which also looked strange to me as the whole place from the house, to the barn, to…everything looked like it was drawn. And like the apples and trees, looked way to clean, or tidy.

After spotting the farmers homestead I went in the opposite direction, hopping the fence once I was sure I was out of view from the house, and started walking down the dirt road.

While making my way hopefully to the nearest town I pulled out my phone again, now seeing that it was 12:10am in the morning, I scrolled through my phone as I also dug out one of my ear buds and stuck it in place, before turning on some music to listen to. luckily my phone was on a charger the whole time I was at work, so it was at 100% as I started to vibe to the music playing in my ear. While walking and vibing I occasionally looked around my surroundings to see what was around me, which wasn’t much except for fields of grass, flowers, and the odd bunch of shrubs and trees scattered about. Aside from the scenery I would also spot a bird, or a squirrel look at me before scurrying off, and like the scenery they to look off, with the rabbits having heads as big as their whole bodies, and the squirrels looking like living plush toys. They even had very, and I mean very animated expressions when they looked at me, giving me straight up looks of shock before they ran off.

“This place just gets weirder and weirder by the second.” I mumbled to myself as I rounded around a bend in the road and finally seeing a town!

“Oh thank god!”

I said out loud as I quickened my pace as another yawn left me. but as I got closer and closer to the town I could see figures wandering about…but they weren’t people. I skid to a stop when I was right at the towns entrance where I got a good look at the towns occupants. What I saw weren’t people staring at me with shock and awe, what I saw blew my mind away! More so than anything that I’ve seen in the last thirty or so minutes. Standing before me were, I shit you not…3ft tall, brightly multi-colored miniature horses.

“What the fuck!?”

Was I could say before the horses, or ponies, whatever they were screamed and yelled before galloping away as I just stood there, utterly dumbfounded as they ran into the closest building they could reach, and slammed the doors shut while covering the windows with blinders or whatever they had.

“What the fuck?” I repeated as I continued to just, stand there. my tired brain just couldn’t process what the actual hell I just saw. and honestly, I’m pretty sure my mind was trying its best to deny seeing what it is it just saw.

Just then as the song I was just listening to ended and began switching to a new one, I heard something flying above me again, but this time it was accompanied the sound of someone screaming their head off. that’s when my nerves perked up, and told me that danger was nearby. On instinct I surrounded myself with another force field, and then a few seconds later something clanged off against the field from behind me, and when I whipped around to see what struck my field and it was one of small horses wincing in pain it held its left hind leg. This one was blue in color, sky blue or cyan, and had a mane and tail that was basically a rainbow, with wings flapping at sides. And as I looked at the pony, or pegasus, I noticed that its wings were way to small to actually allow it to fly. But I was torn away from inspecting the pegasus when I heard the damn thing speak, speaking in freaking English!

“I don’t know what the hay you are buddy, but you better leave Ponyville before I make you leave.” The pegasus threatened as it, or she if her gruff voice was of any indication, jabbed a hoof in my direction. As for me I just stared at her, not exactly sure what the heck I should do.

“This really cannot be happening.” I just grumbled as I knelt down and placed my face in my hands.

“Hey!” the pegasus shouted as I just kept my face in my hands. “Don’t just ignore me!” I just looked at the pegasus before she started kicking my field again, causing ripples to spread across the field, and with each kick she got more and more frustrated.

“Rainbow Dash what are you doing?” another voice called out, this one sounding like a normal girls voice. But as I heard the words ‘Rainbow Dash’ and saw the pegasus cease her kicking and looking behind me, I couldn’t help snicker. Is that her, name? seriously! I turned to look behind me to see what else kind of creature there was, and it was a trio of ponies.

The trio comprised of a violet unicorn with pretty straight laced mane of various dark purple colors, and was looking between me and the pegasus that flew over to the unicorn, though she seemed to keep her attention on me. there was also a pink pony that had the craziest poofy pink hair I’ve seen on anything, and was circling around my field while looking at me with a very cheery smile, while on occasion tapping my field with a hoof and ‘oohhing’ with each tap. The last pony was another normal pony, but she was orange in color, and had a tied up blonde mane, and was wearing a stetson on its head and was eyeing me with a bit of suspicion in its green eyes.

“What is literally happening in my life right now!?”

“It talks!” the pink said in a very, very, VERY bubbly high pitched voice before she looked directly at me, her face practically pressing against my field.

“Who are? What are you? Where did you come from? Are there—Whoa!”

The pink blabber mouth was lifted into the air by a strange light purple aura and was brought to the other ponies, all of which also looked visibly surprised. Well at least the violet and orange one, the cyan pegasus just keep staring daggers at me like she was waiting for me to attack somebody. The unicorn of the group walked up to my field and looked me right in the eye, a spark of curiosity and mild hesitation in her eyes before she spoke up.

“Can you understand me?” she simply asked.

“Yeah.” I simply replied back as I flopped onto my but, legs getting numb after remaining crouched for a bit too long. The mare just looked more surprised and even a bit delighted as a small smile graced her really small muzzle.

“What’s your name? mine is Twilight Sparkle.” I had to resist the snicker that almost came out of me as she introduced herself, and began introducing the others.

“And these are my friends. that is Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and you’ve already met Rainbow Dash.”

The other three, or the two non-pegasi ponies, waved as their names were called. Though the one labeled Applejack still looked a little hesitant, but nevertheless gave a curious smile. Meanwhile the pink one dubbed Pinkie Pie just gave the biggest grin her face seemed to allow while waving wildly at me. seriously these names are ridiculous. After introducing the others the unicorn, Twilight, turned to look to me and waited for me to introduce myself. It took a moment to get my bearings and recollect myself while rubbing my tired face before I finally spoke.

“My name is, Barricade.” This is going to be a long night…day…whichever.
> Chapter 1: Meeting of Strangers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“My name is, Barricade.” I simply stated as I remained sitting on the floor with my force field still propped up, and I’ll be keeping it up until I determine whether or not these mini-horses, these ponies, were safe to be around. the unicorn then gave a small bow of her head as she smiled at me.

“It’s nice to meet you Barricade. If I may ask, why do you have a shield up?” the violet mare asked me as I just gestured to the pegasus that was still scowling at me.

“I felt something coming towards me with ill intent, and my instincts were right. As she attempted to kick me.” Twilight then turned to look at said pegasus, along with the others also looking at the mare with small frowns.

“Rainbow?” the violet pony said with a little disappointment in her voice.

“What?” the pegasus simply replied. “I thought he was going to hurt somepony, I mean everypony ran for cover when he came to town.”

“But did he actually do something bad Dash?” the orange mare named Applejack asked, her voice sounding like a southern bell type of girl to me which I’ll admit, sounded cute and charming.

“Well no. But it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?” the pegasus said, trying to justify her premeditated assault towards me. but given the looks the other three mares were giving her, they weren’t exactly buying it, which caused the pegasus to finally land as she scoffed in defeat.

“Okay, okay, I get it. I jumped the wagon, so stop giving me those looks.” The unicorn turned to look back at me with a reassuring smile as she sat down.

“I’m sorry if my friend tried to hurt you, but I promise she won’t do so again. Nor anypony else.”

“Yeah! so come on buddy, drop that shield and come hang out with us.” Pinkie Pie said in a cheerful tone as she hopped, bounced, or skipped, towards me and then once around my field while I just watched her as she spoke. I was skeptical about letting my force field down, I mean these our talking alien multi-colored ponies that could have who knows what kind of powers, I can’t completely take their word. But seeing their rather adorable faces and taking into account that they don’t seem hostile, well at all but one, made me feel like I could trust them.

“Alright. But I’ll warn you right now, if you guys try anything I won’t hesitate to defend myself.” 

The two ponies directly in front of me nodded their heads before looking to the others. The orange one seemed to agree to my statement as she gave a curt nod, but the pegasus still gave me a small frown but her face softened up as the others kept staring at her, until she sighed and agreed to not try anything. So probably against my better judgement, I dropped my field as I stood to my full height, stretching my back before letting out another yawn. The ponies just looked up at me with wide-eyed amusement.

“Wow! Your taller than Ah thought you’d be.” Applejack commented as she came closer to me while Twilight stood up. and its true, at full height the top of these little ponies heads barely reached my chest. In fact their faces were eye-level with my stomach. Another yawn escaped me as I rubbed my tired eyes.

“Hey, Baricade, are you okay?” the pink mare asked as she tilted her head. “You look tired, and a little exhausted.”

“Let’s just say that before coming here to your town, I just gotten off a 12hr shift at work, and I really want to go to sleep.”

“Sleep?” Twilight remarked. “But its barely 12:30 in the afternoon.” I just rubbed my eyes as another yawn escaped me.

“I don’t know how, or even why, but where I was it was the middle of the night…then I somehow found myself in some dark forest.” a grumble came from the pegasus who stayed behind the other ponies, but only Twilight looked back to her friend, to which I assume was to give her another look which the winged mare just brushed off.

“Did ya get teleported here by accident?” Applejack asked, which I just shrugged my shoulders.

“It’s possible. Look as much as I would like to play 20 Questions…I’m really tired, not to mention, sore so…is there a place that I can crash and get some sleep?”

Thankfully Twilight nodded her head in confirmation, which I thanked her. before she led me to wherever it was I could sleep, she asked her friends if she could spread the word that I wasn’t dangerous and wasn’t going to hurt anyone, and Applejack & Pinkie Pie nodded before they trotted & hopped away. Rainbow took a bit more convincing from Twilight but eventually the cyan pony nodded and bolted into the air, before flying off to who knows where. With her friends departed Twilight led me through the town where I caught sight of some ponies peeking out from their hiding places, some of which quickly darted back into their hiding place when I looked their way, while some emerged to get a better look at me. and as they did so I also got a better look at them, really getting to see the wide arrange of colors, and even body shapes these little guys have. From tall and slender ponies, to short and stubby, and everything in-between, there seemed to be an equal number of unicorns, pegasi, and normal ponies of all various of color and shape in this town. 

Twenty or so minutes of walking later the little unicorn finally led me to the place that she said I could sleep at. And it was certainly not what I was expecting. Especially since the place she was taking me was a goddamn tree, which was actually turned into a building! I mean seriously, this thing has a door, windows, it even has a freaking balcony, and something at the top that looks like a crow’s nest with a spy glass. It’s even got a weathervane.

“Here we are, welcome to the Golden Oaks Library.” Twilight said with cheer as she gestured to the tree library. I just looked at the little thing with a baffled look.

“You brought me to a public building…to sleep?”

“Of course. I do live here after all, and I can just close the library so that no pony will bother you by accident.” So this little unicorn is not only the curator of a library, but she also lives in it, and can just close it whenever she wants? I’m pretty sure that’s not how library’s work?

Well whatever, I’m too tired, and to dumbstruck by this whole thing to really try and make sense of it. Entering the tree library I got a pretty good look of its inside, and there wasn’t much to the main floor room aside from a single table in the center with a wooden horse head, and the walls being the bookshelves. That’s when I noticed that the library’s main open floor was actually kind of small looking, I even spotted a few side rooms and they too looked like the main room, but with a few large sitting pillows around the room.

“Hey Twilight, I’m glad your back, I just finished up cleaning the—WHOA!” all of a sudden the voice of what sounded like a little boy called out from a set of nearby stairs, however instead of seeing a littler pony there was instead a small purple lizard wearing a pink apron and holding a duster.

“Twilight what is that thing?!” the little reptile sputtered as it pointed its duster at me. okay, rude.

“Spike this is Baricade, he’s a…actually you’ve never told me what you are?” the little mare said as she turned to look at me.

“We can discuss stuff like that later.” I said before letting out yet another yawn.

“Right, right. we can talk about this kind of stuff later, but right now, sleep.”

Twilight then trotted up to the lizard at the top of the steps and whispered something into his, head fin, before the little guy waddled off. the mare then gestured for me to follow her up the steps. As I did I was starting to rethink the idea to follow this mare, mostly because after she whispered whatever she said to the lizard, the way he looked at me just made me feel fairly suspicious. That’s when another thought came to me. Why did I accept Twilight’s offer to find a place to sleep so readily, I mean I’ve spent most of my life being suspicious and cautious of others to ensure no one would know that I was an Un-Natural, or get an attempt to hurt me. And yet here I am just following this pony without any of my usual cautiousness. Maybe it’s because these ponies aren’t people and this isn’t my world, maybe that’s why I was willing to just believe and follow Twilight, and taking her words at face value.

“Here we are Baricade. This is our spare guest room, the bed might be a bit small, but you should be able to get some good sleep here.” The mare said as she opened the door allowing me to enter.

“Thanks.” I yawned back to the little pony.

“No problem. I’ll make sure no pony disturbs you while your asleep.”

I thanked the mare as she closed the door. when I was alone by myself I examined the room from top to bottom, looking in every nook and cranny to see if there was anything out of place. I wasn’t sure if these ponies had camera’s or anything that could watch me, but its better safe than sorry. After finishing giving the room a thorough inspection I finally flopped onto the bed, which was indeed small but not to small that it wouldn’t bother me, I started taking my backpack, my jacket, my shoes, and finally my shirt and pants off. Luckily I always have a spare pair of shorts in my backpack in case the pants I wear get messed up, which happens fairly often at one of my two jobs. But today the shorts will do for now as my sleep trunks. Once I was changed and ready I stretched out my body while yawning again, and just dropped onto the bed which was incredibly plush and soft! Oh my god, I never want to leave this bed!

“How can this little horse bed be so much better than my own.”

I questioned myself as I really snugged into the bed as I tried to find a good position to sleep in. it didn’t take to long for me to get into a comfortable spot, but before I finally dozed off I raised my force field to cover me and the bed. while I do appreciate Twilight for offering me a place to sleep, I remembered that I should be more weary until I feel truly safe around them. but for now, sleep.


~~~~

The last few months have certainly been quite the rollercoaster of unusual experience for Twilight Sparkle, from seeing and facing off against Nightmare Moon, meeting and getting to know her new best friends, to even trying to make a dragon leave a mountain, and even having to deal with an ursa minor. And those were just the highlights of the unusual experience among a small series of minor adventures with her new friends. However today, might be at the very top of the list of strange yet interesting experiences that she has ever encountered.

Currently the small violet unicorn was at her desk in the adjacent room of the living quarters frantically writing down notes about the strange creature that appeared in town, while also sketching out a drawing of him as she also jotted down measurements and details that she could recall, and theorize, about the creature. Ever since she first saw the creature her mind was buzzing with hundreds, if not thousands, of questions about who & what Baricade was, as there was nothing that the unicorn read in any book that even came close to him. she was also very curious about where he could’ve come from, and if there were more like him. Twilight was even wiggling in her seat about asking him about his culture, his species, and anything else she could think of asking the stranger. But the mare managed to restrain herself enough to deescalate the situations she found Baricade in, and tried to assure the creature that she and her fellow ponies weren’t a threat to him. Once she was done with her sketches and notes Twilight then levitated a new piece of parchment over to her, and started to write out a letter to her teacher. It was rather short yet had the prominent details noted down, while also asking her mentor if she herself had ever seen or met anything like Baricade before.

Although the mare was certain that her teacher might have at some point during her rule, given how old the princess was, and the fact that she has met practically every creature in the known world at least once or a few hooful of times.

“There.” Twilight said as she rolled up the note, along with the sketches, and bundled them up together.

“Now I just have to wait for Spike to return.”

It’s only been a few minutes since she asked her young assistant to go and quickly check on her friends, and see how things in the town were, so he should be back at the library pretty soon. And her hunch was correct as she heard the door to the library open and the pitter-patter of feet could be heard, but then she heard the clopping of hooves on wooden floor before eventually hearing the door close. Sounds like her friends returned with Spike, and a moment later she turned to see the little dragon along with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash come into view. But she also spotted Rarity at the back of the group, while looking a little confused.

“Alright Twi, we just finished telling everypony that everything is fine now.” Applejack said as she wiped her brow of sweat before readjusting her stetson.

“So what exactly is going on here Twilight?” Rarity asked as she made it to the forefront of the group with a questioning expression on her face.

“I just left my boutique to go get some material for work, then I see everypony coming out of their houses or other buildings looking either concerned or just baffled, all the while talking about something strange coming to town.” Twilight nodded and started to explain what had happened, or at least what occurred when she found the creature, and what transpired after the initial meeting.

“Oh my goodness! And are you sure it was alright to bring an unknown creature back to your home dear?” Rarity asked out of concern for the well-being of her friend.

“Don’t worry Rarity, I don’t think that he’s dangerous. At least he didn’t seem like he was going to attack me or anything like that.” Twilight said as she felt confident in her assessment of the creature, and as Rarity and the others seem to accept the unicorn’s provocation she then looked to Spike while floating her notes towards him.

“Spike can you send these to Celestia. It’s a report about Baricade.”

“Sure thing.” the little dragon said before taking the bundle of scrolls and blew fire onto them, causing them to swiftly turn to smoke & ash before they swished out of the nearest window, and flew off towards Canterlot.

“So what are we gonna do now Twilight? Are we just gonna sit and wait until the princess gives you a reply, or are you going to do your own secret personal investigation?” Pinkie Pie asked as she looked at her violet friend with curiosity.

“I think that would be the best idea, better to air on the side of caution. Plus, Baricade is asleep, at least I think he is. He did seem incredibly tired while on the way here.”

“Let’s check to see if he really is asleep or not.” Rainbow says as she then makes her way over to the guest room. 

At first the others were hesitant to join the pegasus, but they eventually joined her as she approached the door of the guest room. Partially out of concern for the safety of their friend if things went south, and partially to see if the creature was indeed asleep while also feed their own curiosity. As the group stood at the door Rainbow cracked it open just enough so that she & the others could peak inside, and sure enough the creature was indeed fast asleep. Happily snoring away as it laid out sprawled on the bed, its long legs dangling slightly off the end. They also took notice that the creature was surrounded by its protective shield spell again, which was certainly a surprise to them all that it needed to put it up.

But what quickly caught the eyes of the group was that the creature was naked, or at least was only wearing one article of clothing now. However their attention quickly turned to focus on the creatures body. The creatures body was lean looking and seemed to have a fair bit of muscle on it, however the ponies and dragon quickly took notice that the creature had various scars on some parts of his body. Now even more curious the group quietly entered the room and made their way towards the bed, where they stood in front of the shield and really got to see the old wounds close up. Most of them seemed minor, yet there were a small hooful of them that looked more serious, such as one massive scar on Baricade’s left shoulder that looked like it was nearly chopped off, or that the right shin had what looked like a cluster of five small closed up holes on it.

“Oh my goodness!” Rarity quietly whispered as she stared at the creatures scars and old wounds.

“What happened to him?” Pinkie Pie asked worriedly as she gently placed a hoof on the shield, her poofy mane & tail deflating a little as a sad expression came over the usually peppy pony’s face.

“Whoever this guy got in a fight with certainly gave it all it had, and then sum!” Applejack said in a hush tone looking the creatures body over to really get a good look at the scarred skin.

“That or Baricade fought with lots of other creatures, and managed to survive those fights.” Twilight said a bit more louder than the others, which seemed to have disturbed the tall creature as he rolled onto his side, revealing even more scars on his back. especially one big stab wound on the right shoulder.

“I think we should leave before we accidently wake him!” Twilight said in a more hushed tone as she and the others started to leave the room. except for Rainbow who just stared at the creatures body, a look of shock and surprise on her face.

“Rainbow!”

Twilight said just loud enough for the pegasus to shake her head and look back towards the unicorn, who gestured to the door of the room which the cyan mare dumbly nodded, before slowly trotting away from the bed. but before she left the room the rainbow maned mare looked over her withers at the creature one last time before exiting, with Twilight being the last to leave the room and gently closing the door so its click was as quiet as it could. Not a moment later when the door closed the group heard a belch come from Spike, seeing a puff of smoke waft out of his mouth which quickly turned into a scroll.

“Wow that certainly was fast, Celestia must’ve been really surprised to hear about this.” Spike said as he caught the scroll in his claw before offering it to Twilight, who took it in her magical aura and started to read it.

“Well Twi, what does it say?” Applejack asked as she and the others waited for the unicorn to finish going over the scroll’s contents.

“Celestia said she’s never seen anything like Baricade by the drawing I made of him.” The ponies and dragon were surprisingly shocked to hear that even the princess didn’t know what Baricade was, and was even surprised to hear that the princess wanted to meet him.

“That’s not all though, she also wants to meet him and basically do an evaluation of him.”

The ponies were a bit confused when they heard that the princess wanted to, evaluate Baricade, though they suspected it was just a cautionary measure to see if the creature was dangerous or not. For the time being the others decided to head back to their own homes and wait to see what happens next, so they bid the library occupants farewell as they headed out, though before leaving Pinkie Pie assured Twilight that when the time comes she’ll give Baricade a proper welcoming party. As for Twilight and Spike, they simply waited in the living quarters of the library for Baricade to wake up, and talk to him about setting him up to meet with princess Celestia. Hopefully when he does wake he’ll be receptive to the princess’s invitation to meet with her.
> Chapter 2: Waking Up to a New Reality
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The buzzing of my phone’s alarm is easily one of my ten least favorite things in the world. Grumbling I flopped my hand about in search of my phone, but was coming up short. I grumbled again as I had to open my eyes and actually had to search for the damn thing as it continued to buzz, until I spotted it on the floor next to the bed. reaching down I turned the alarm off and saw the time was 7am in the morning, a little later than what I’m used to wake up at, but it wasn’t too bad. I turned the phone off and just started to snug back into the bed, but that’s when I noticed something was off. my legs and arms felt cold, and the blanket wasn’t on me. probably just knocked it off me while tossing in my sleep again. Sitting up in the bed I looked around for the bed…however as I did so I started notice that my room…didn’t look like my room. I then noticed that I wasn’t sleeping on my bed, and I also noticed that instead of the sun in the sky, I saw a night sky outside the window. And that’s when I remembered what happened when my brain finally decided to wake up, mostly.

“Ugh, it wasn’t a dream.” I grumbled as I slouched back into the mattress of the bed and just stared up at the ceiling before looking out the window.

I didn’t feel like getting out of bed fully, actually I didn’t want to get out of bed, mostly because I felt my more lax side coming back around and trying to convince me to go back to blissful slumber. And with a yawn I decided to just go back to sleep and get more sleep, after all before all this happened, I haven’t been getting enough sleep in the past month. So at least I can catch up on my sleep now without the threat of one of my bosses calling me to fill in, or anything else that happens in the world to disrupt me. As I drifted off back to sleep I started to feel this weird sensation in the back of head a few minutes in, like something was gently poking and prodding me. Naturally I tried swat what could be causing it, but even when I was rubbing the back of my head that feeling continued to tickle at the back of my mind. Okay it was starting to get annoying, so I turned to face the room and look to see if someone was causing it, but there was no one in the room. But what was stranger was that when I leaned up and scanned the room the tickling sensation slowly faded away, until it was gone.

Seeing as there was nothing in the room with me, and that the tingling sensation was gone I tried to go back to sleep, and luckily nothing else happened. I feel right back asleep ten minutes into snuggling into the soft and warm bed, and this time I remembered to put the blanket back on.

A yawn escaped me as I finally decided to fully wake up, two hours later when I was initially awoken from my phones alarm buzzing. Sitting up in the bed I lowered my field so that it was only covering me, before reaching over to where my backpack was and grabbed my clothes, which I started to change into while stuffing my shorts into my backpack. Once I was clothed and stretching out my body, and doing a few morning stretches I sat back down on the bed, and started to think about what I should do. Right now I’m in the room of a library, made out of a tree, in a world of talking multi-colored ponies of varying species. At the moment I don’t think I should just leave the town and venture out on my own, since I have no idea what could be waiting for me out there. Not to mention I could just wind up getting lost if I just waltz out of this town.

“Alright. So what are my options at the moment.” I asked myself if I just laid on the bed while looking at the ceiling.

“I can’t leave because I’ll most likely get lost, as well as meet something that either isn’t friendly, or something I can’t fight.” I hummed as I started to ponder some other options.

“I could stay here. At least the ponies, seem, nice…although I still know next to nothing about them.” I grumbled as my train of thought started to venture into the negative side.

“For all I know the nice guy act could just be that an act. They might be attempting to capture me, and lock me up to study.” I continued to flip through the options and bouts of paranoia as I tried to figure out what to do next, but my thoughts were interrupted by the gurgling of my stomach.

“…maybe I should try to have breakfast first.”

I pride myself off the bed and started to make my way to the door, but before I opened it I pressed my ear up against it, trying to hear if anyone of the small ponies were up and about. But nothing. Cautiously I slowly opened the door while my left palm dimly glowed with a amber yellow glow, once the door was cracked open enough I peeked through and didn’t see the violet unicorn, or the small purple reptile, anywhere I could see. Emerging from the room I crept about as quietly as I could as I tipped toed into the main room, looking all around me to see if I could see them or anything that looked suspicious. Yet as far as I could tell nothing seemed remotely out of place, or look like it was an immediate threat. As I continued to walk about the inside of the library, I then started to hear snoring coming from a nearby upper landing. Curiosity peaked I quietly made my way to the landing, and using my power I created a force field around my feet, then by expanding the fields size I was lifted up just enough to glance over the landing, and that is where I found the reptile sleeping away.

Seeing as Twilight was no where in sight, either on the landing or anywhere that I can see on floor that I was in, lowered myself down and started to make may to the staircase to head out. However just as I got to the steps I heard a door open, I looked around myself to see if it came from anywhere on the floor but nothing, but that’s when I heard the voice of the violet mare from at the bottom of the steps.

“Oh good your awake.” The mare said with a smile as I looked down at her while she started to climb up, as she did so I noticed that she was carrying a pretty big pink box, and a few bags that looked like it had a few books in one while the other had vegetables.

“I, ugh, just woke a moment ago.” I replied as I moved away from the stairs as the mare reached the top of the steps.

“Are you hungry then?” she asked as she levitated the pink box over to me, opened it, and it was filled with donuts, muffins, and even a small cake.

“My friend Pinkie Pie gave me this while I was out getting some stuff, saying that it was for you.” Pinkie Pie? Oh right, the bubbly pink pony. 

“Um, thanks.” I said with a little bit of hesitation as I took the box in my hands while the mare trotted off to a nearby room, where I heard some stuff being moved around. while the mare was shuffling stuff around I sat down on the floor and took one of the donuts and started to eat it. and it was good, still nice, and moist.

“Well how are they? Pinkie Pie made sure they were as fresh as they could given the time.” Twilight asked me as she came out of the room, books levitating in that lavender aura along with an apple and orange.

“There good.” I said as started eating the rest of the donuts. “Is she a baker or something?”

“She works at a place called Sugarcube Corner, it’s the best bakery in town.” The little mare said as she then joined me on the floor.

“If you don’t mind Baricade, I have a few questions that I would like to ask you.” I wasn’t to surprised to hear that she had questions, I mean I would to if our roles were reversed. Plus, this would be a good opportunity for me to learn about this world.

“Sure thing, but I also have some questions of my own that I want to ask.” Twilight simply gave me a smile while nodding her head.

And so we got to talking. it started out with basic questions for both us, first we each asked each other about our species, and obviously the little mare was fascinated with what I’ve told her about the basic stuff about humanity. Or at least part of it. heck, the little mare was writing down everything I was saying. But I was more surprised to hear about her race, and that the fact all ponies have magic! I mean after seeing Twilight manipulate stuff with that aura I thought it was just some kind of telekinesis power that was unique to her, but apparently all ponies of specific sub-species share common magical abilities. What really blew my mind was to hear that pegasi not only manipulate the weather, but also have a whole damn city dedicated to making weather conditions! This is getting not only weird but also very fascinating, but mostly weird. And when I voiced how incredible I found the ponies to be based on what they could do, Twilight countered by saying the stuff that humanity could do was even more amazing. With how our level of technology have made so many advances in so many fields, how diverse our cultures are and the variousness of human diversity there was.

“If you ask me Twilight I think you ponies might give humans a run for their money with your guys magical abilities.” I said in response as I finished the last of the donuts.

“Really? I’m sure that your peoples own magical abilities would be equal to ours.”

“My people don’t have magic Twilight, so there’s no chance of that happening.” I retorted as I decided on which muffin I would eat first.

“But…if your race doesn’t have magic, then how were you able to make a force field?” I sighed as I heard that, I knew she was going to remark on that, and I tried not to bring it up…but if she wanted to know about humanity…she should know that whole story.

“It’s not magic Twilight. You see, a long time ago, fifty or so years ago, someone decided to for lack of better way…kill all of humanity.” The little unicorn balked at what I had just said, which wasn’t a surprise.

“But why!? the little unicorn asked with horror in her voice. “Why would any pony want to, kill, their own kind?!” I just shrugged my shoulders as I looked at her as I took a chocolate muffin in my hand.

“From what I could remember the guy that attempted to commit global genocide, was clinically insane, or something along those lines. And made a machine that would eradicate any & all humans, but obviously it didn’t work…but it had a side effect.” I then held the hand that had the muffin in it, and with my powers ambient glow a small force field appeared in my hand, surrounding the muffin.

“Instead of killing humanity, the machine instead caused…a mutation to occur. For past fifty years ten percent of the population developed various powers, most time these powers are radical, uncontrollable, and can cause many who develop them severe mental instabilities. And because of those issues, the remaining ninety percent of humanity fears them.”

“But why?” I gestured to my hand that had the muffin & the force field where I continued.

“The percent of humanity, the Norms, that don’t have powers fear those of us that do. calling us, Un-Naturals. And they fear us because of what we might use our powers for, many believe that those with powers will use them to cause harm and strife…and considering many Un-Natural suffer mental disabilities because of their powers, or have corrupted morals, they have a right to be afraid of us.”

“Even my power is considered dangerous.” As I said that I then had the muffin be juggled in the small force field.

“How is creating a barrier considered dangerous?” Twilight asked as she seemed confused in how my power could be dangerous.

“My power is basically to generate and control kinetic energy that, on its own, takes the shape of a simple circular ball. I can manipulate the energy of my barriers to do various things, like enhance the barriers striking power when it collides with something, allow whatever or whoever I want to pass through it.” I then had the muffin be lunched out of the force field by going straight up, then as the muffin came back down till half it passed through the field…where it cut in half. The bottom dropping into my palm, while the top slides off and drops into the box.


“That means I can also stop whatever comes halfway through the field, cutting it in-half. Or if someone is inside my barrier, I can prevent aid from coming in, or take the air out…allowing me to suffocate anything inside.” I looked at the small unicorn who looked shocked and scared at what I just told her.

“And that is just a tenth of what I can do with my field.”

“But…you wouldn’t really?” I just shook my head.

“I try not to use my powers, at all if I can. If any Norms would see me use them, then I would be shunned and had Collectors come and try and capture me.” the little mare titled her head as she again looked confused.

“Collectors?”

“It’s a machine enforcer for the Norms, they are meant to track down and hunt any Un-Naturals. Then either kill them, or take them to be quarantined in containment settlements. So now adays, nearly all Un-Naturals like myself live in hiding, trying to pass as Norms to have a normal life, or live in very selected areas where the world government cannot touch them.”

I was surprised when Twilight shuffled her way over towards me, and then wrapped me in a hug. At first I was about to push the mare off me, but I stopped when I heard her muffle an apology. I asked why she was apologizing for, and she said she was apologizing that I had to live in such a world. I wasn’t really sure how to take her apology, I mean why should she? Twilight wasn’t the Norms that hunted Un-Naturals, or cast fear on them because they didn’t had powers. honestly I’m not sure how to feel about this, but I just patted the little mare on the back and thanked her for the comfort. After the hug Twilight asked me more light hearted topics, while I asked more about pony culture and what life in this world was like. a couple of hours go by and eventually the unicorn had enough our talks, and said she was off to bed. I bid her goodnight while she said I was free to browse the books, unfortunately though as the mare headed up to the landing and I went to library section of the tree and grabbed a book, I couldn’t read anything that the book had.

Since reading wasn’t an option, and I wanted to conserve the power on my phone for emergency usage, I decided to explore the town. So I exited the library as quietly as I could, and started to explore the town of ponies. At first I thought I wouldn’t see many ponies out and about, but I thoroughly surprised when I saw groups of ponies walking about, or enjoying talks or meals at restaurants or on their home. As I walked by many offered me curious glances, some even waved to me and offered me a greeting, while a few were a bit more cautious. And I could understand their cautiousness, after all I was still being a little cautious of them as well. Even after talking to Twilight and hearing her describe her people as peaceful and accepting, I was still keeping my guard up until I saw for myself if what she said was true.

“OOF!” I heard a voice cry out while I felt something bump into me, and when I turned to look to what bumped into me I found a small mint green unicorn and a cream coated earth pony before me, with the former sitting on her rump while the later was checking on her if she was alright.

“You okay there?” I asked as I looked down at the pair who looked back at me and actually squeaked in shock as they backpaddled away from me. I just chuckled at the pair as they hugged each other as they kept looking at me.

“Am I really that ugly or scary looking?” my little joke seemed to have bring the pair out of their little panicked state and the earth pony spoke up.

“N-no!” the mare said as she and her companion separated from each other. “Sorry we didn’t mean to offend you, we just, didn’t expect to pump into, you.” I just waved the mare off.

“Nah its fine. I wasn’t paying attention where I was going, so my bad.” As I said that I noticed that the unicorn was giving me an odd look, sure obviously looked curious, but it also looked like she was studying me.

“So, your that creature that came to town earlier today right?” the mint pony asked to which I simply nodded.

“That I am.” After confirming the mare’s question she actually trotted up to me and actually started to circle me, and on occasion poked me with a with a hoof.

“Lyra stop that! your being rude!” the other pony said as she looked up to me with an apologetic look while trotting over to the unicorn, and pulling her away from me. “I’m sorry about my friend she can sometimes get carried away when something peeks her curiosity.”

“Nah its no problem.” I said to the earth pony as I walked past the pair. “See ya.”

As I walked past the two mares I continued to explore the town, and occasionally met a few ponies that actually reached out to me and asked me to join them. and I gotta say, Twilight was right about one thing that I can comfortably confirm was right, ponies are a friendly bunch. At least they appear to be, better stay on my guard incase something unexpected happens.
> Chapter 3: A Strenuous Meeting is Underway
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the morning sun shines through the bedroom window of the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight Sparkle arose from her sleep with a fairly big yawn as she sits up in her bed and stretches out her back. After rubbing the remaining sleep out of her eyes the unicorn then made her way over to her dresser, where the violet mare then started to straighten her coat, mane & tail with a brush, while using a special comb to ensure that her mane & tail are free of knots. Once she was done with her grooming, and heading to the wash room to further freshen up, the mare then checked in on Spike seeing that her number one assistant was still asleep. But considering all of the hard work he did yesterday she figured she will let him sleep-in for just a little bit longer. Leaving the bedroom the mare headed down to the rest of the living quarters and was going to head to the kitchen to make some breakfast, but before she took another step towards the desired room she decided to check in on her house guest.

“I still need to convince Barricade to meet with princess Celestia today.” Twilight muttered to herself as she approached the guest room door before quietly cracking it open, however when she looked inside…

“Where is he?” Twilight asked no one in particular as she closed the door and started to look around the living quarters for her human guest, but like in the guest room Barricade was nowhere to be found.

“Hmmm. Maybe he’s down stairs reading a book.” The unicorn suggested as she trotted down the steps, yet as she descended she couldn’t see the human in the main library lobby, nor was he found in the adjacent rooms as she reached the bottom.

“Where is he?” Twilight questioned as she became slightly worried.

“Wait a minute, did he, leave the library? But if he did, then where could he have gone.”

To answer her own question the mare left the library and started to head out into town to search for the human. Entering the town the violet mare watched as ponies go about getting ready to start their day, opening the shops or getting their stalls ready to sell their wares, while fillies & colts leave their homes to head to school. Twilight even asked other ponies if any of them have seen Barricade, unfortunately though none of them have, or most of them have said they haven’t. some ponies that were awake for most of the night, and are still awake now said that the last time they saw the human was when he was heading towards the park. So picking up her pace the unicorn trotted to the park in hopes of finding her missing guest, but again the mare was unable to spot Barricade when she started to search the park.

“Just where did he go?” the unicorn asked aloud as she was now starting to get even more worried, mostly about Barricade wondering off and getting lost.

“If he wondered outside of town, then…” the mare looked out into a random direction as a worried look comes over her face.

“Where could he have wondered off to!?”

“Hey Twilight, what’s up?” the violet mare looked up as she heard the familiar voice of Rainbow Dash, as the mare in question was hovering just above the unicorn.

“Rainbow can you help me out really quick?” the pegasus simply nodded her head.

“Sure thing Twi. What do you need?”

“Barricade wasn’t at the library when I woke up, and when I went into town some ponies said that he wandered off to the park. But he’s not here.” The unicorn explained to her feathery friend about her current predicament.

“And let me guess you want me to fly around and see if I can spot him, ya?” the mare nodded before Rainbow Dash flashed a big grin.

“Pft. Piece of cake, I’ll find him in ten seconds flat.” As the pegasus gave her bravado she quickly bolted into the air and soared off into the distance, and while the pegasus flew off Twilight decided to head to Sugarcube Corner to get something to help calm her nerves faster, while also filling her stomach.


~~Elsewhere~~

I can’t remember the last time I actually watched the sun rise, I think the last time I did this was…eight or so years ago. Before I was able to finally settle down at what was my current living situation. But then again, back then I was trying to ensure that I survived, and not get captured by the government.

Putting my reminiscing aside for the moment, what should I do now? After talking with Twilight and the other ponies that I met up last night about this world, I think I can comfortably say that I now know what to expect from this world if I leave town, mostly. And that’s a big, IF, what everyone I’ve met so far has told me, is the truth. I don’t want to say that I out right don’t believe the ponies, but I haven’t managed to survive this long without being skeptical of others for a reason. So even though I now at least I have some idea what to expect to see or encounter in this world, if I decide to strike out on my own, I don’t think I should wholeheartedly take what any of the ponies say as the gospel truth. Until proven otherwise. However I still have one other problem if I do decide to venture out, that being I still don’t know my way around this world, so I can’t just go out willy-nilly. Because I’m more likely to get myself lost, which I would rather avoid.

But as I contemplate on what I should do next, another question pops up in my head. And that question is that even if I do leave this town, see what this world has to offer to an outsider like me…what would I even do with myself?

I mean, I have nothing here in this world of talking ponies. I have no life here, I have nothing to my name here, and I have no idea what kind of life I can even make here. Back on earth I actually have some kind of life there. Was it a perfect life, I would say not by a country mile, but at least it was my life. I knew what to expect at least from my life back on earth, but here? What do I even do here, or more accurately, what should I even do?

“Ugh, and that is the crux of my dilemma isn’t it?” I sighed in annoyance as I stood up from my spot on the hill while running a hand through my hair.

“Well, I’ll figure out what to do next eventually.” Was all I could think of at the moment as I started to make my way back to town.

As I made my way down the hill and back to the town I spotted a small bunch of foals gathering at that old school, well, school house that I passed by when I left to explore the sights. Guess it was time for the kids to go to school. And just like the adults the foals were just as varied in their appearance, though as I got closer to them all I did notice one thing that was greatly different between the foals and the adults. And that was that most of them didn’t have a picture of some kind on their flanks. If I remember correctly those pictures were called cutie marks, which when I first heard it made me snicker because of how silly it was. And it still does. But what was really fascinating, and still quite funny in my opinion, about these cutie marks is the fact that they represent a ponies special talent. Basically whatever a pony figures out is their 1 and only special skill that separates them from others, pretty much determines what their occupations in life will end up, or at least that is how I understand it from what Twilight tried to explain to me. Honestly it just sounds all convoluted to me.

“Excuse me.” I was brought out of my train of thought when a voice called out to me, and when I looked to the source of the voice, I found myself actually in front of the school house with a swarm of foals around me.

“Down here!” the voice again called out and when I looked down towards my feet, I spotted a white unicorn filly with a curly light purple mane & tail, her large green eyes looking up at me.

“Uh. Hey there kiddo…what’s up?” the little filly, and all of the other foals around me, all smiled widely before they began bombarding me with a plethora of questions all at once, their voices combining into just a chorus of incoherent noise.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, one at a time kids! I can’t hear anything your saying when your all talking at once.” I chortled as I tried to calm them down, which thankfully worked as they all settled down and began asking their questions one at a time.

“What are you?” a green colt ask from behind me, and I told him that I was called a human.

“Are you a stallion?” a skinny purple pegasus filly asked as she hovered by me. I told her that I was male, and is referred to as a guy, not a stallion.

“What’s your name?” a yellow earth pony filly with a bow in her red mane asked, and I simply gave her my Un-Natural name.

“Why are you so tall?” a chubby brown colt with a dark yellow mane & tail asked me, I just told him that this is just how I grew up as.

“Can you do magic?” an orange colt with a blue mane & tail asked. I simply said no, and told them that I do have a special power. and when they ask what I can do, I created a small force field in the middle of the small hoard getting a lot of ohs & awes.

“Really? That’s all you can do?” I looked over to a small light pink earth pony filly wearing a little tiara in her mane as she looked at me with a bored, or not really interested, expression. 

“All you can do is make a small shield?” Someone sure seems to be snobby, well, if the little girl wants to see something more substantial, then I’ll oblige. 

From where the field was currently I expanded it till it was big enough to not only envelope me, but also all of the foals surrounding me, which obviously scared the kids, but I assured them that everything was fine. Once the fillies & colts had calmed down I then started to show them what else I can do, and the first thing I showed them was that I could use the energy of my field to levitate whatever is inside it. in this case, that was the foals. At first they all were a little scared, but once they realized what was happening they all enjoyed it, and when I started to swirl them around the field and made them bob up & down like on a merry-go-round, they all really enjoyed it even more. Even the snobby filly seemed to be enjoying the ride while I continued to twirl the foals around me, heck some of them were even doing mid-air flips, while others pretended to race each other.

“What is going on here!?” I heard a mature mare’s voice call out from the direction of the school building.

“Hi Miss. Cheerilee, lookie, Barricade is giving us a ride in his shield.” The white unicorn filly said as she rounded the inside of my field. I turned to look towards the school house and that’s where I saw a dark pink earth pony mare, with a brighter pink mane & tail trotting towards all of us, while looking a little panicky.

“Alright kids funs over. I don’t wanna scare your teacher too much.” I quickly stated as I gently let them all down, which they all moaned about as their fun ride was over as I then took down my field.

“Sorry for scaring you Miss, I didn’t mean any harm to the kids.”

“It’s alright I was just startled to see all of them in the air, and surrounded by a magical dome.” The teacher said with relief in her voice. She then looked towards me where she looked a little startled, but quickly reeled it in as she started looking me over with curiosity clear in her eyes.

“Your that creature that showed up in town yesterday right?” I nodded my head as I turned to face her fully.

“Yup. The name is Barricade.”

“It’s nice to meet you Barricade, my name is Cheerilee.” The mare says in a cheerful tone before stretching out a foreleg for a handshake, and I returned it in kind by wrapping my hand around her hoof after leaning down slightly, and then shaking it.

Once our little meet and greet was over Cheerilee announced that it was time for class, and as the foals left they all thanked me for a fun time before they all entered the building. After bidding the kids and the teach farewell, I continued to make my way back to town. It didn’t take long for me to make it back to Ponyville proper, although the moment that I stepped foot back in the town I was nearly assaulted by a pink blur that almost tackled me. mostly on instinct I brought up my field to block the tackle, and what I found was Pinkie Pie plastered to the dome with a big smile on her face.

“Found you!” the bubbly pony said in excitement as she peeled herself off my field while I looked at her confusedly.

“Found me for what?” I asked as I brought my field down.

“Twilight said you were missing, and that made her worried that you might have gotten lost, so I’m helping her out in looking for you. And bam, I found you!” the mare said rather fast that I thought for sure she would run out of breath, though given how energetic she appears to be, she might be one of those types of people who don’t get winded from fast talking that easily.

“Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t exactly leave a note about what I was doing, or if I was going to head out into town last night.” I said in response to Pinkie’s words as she tilted her head at me.

“What did you do all night?” she asked.

“Mostly just exploring the town, meeting some of the locals, and enjoying a little meal that they offered. By the way, you ponies seem to REALLY love your sweets huh?” the little mare nodded her head so fast, that I swore I heard what sounded like bolts or something being rattled in a container.

“We sure do, helps keeps us energized for the entire day. Mostly, though that could just be most ponies that I know, and trust me I know everypony in town, personally or come by the shop often. Or because of all the parties I throw.” Wow, she really is a fast talker! Seriously I think this time she didn’t even attempt to breathe as she blathered on.

“So where is Twilight now?”

“She’s still at Sugarcube Corner, come on I’ll take you to her.”

The pink mare then bounced off while humming a little tune to herself as I followed behind her. While following the bubbly mare to this, Sugarcube Corner, which sounded like what a little girl would name a bakery, more ponies greeted me as I walked past them. but as we walked Pinkie & I came to what looked like a farmers market, with tons of ponies trotting around and scoping out what the various stalls and carts had for sale, from various fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other products. Before exiting the shopping district I also spotted retro arcade machines. I was honestly surprised to see these ponies have technology for video games, actually I’m more surprised that they even have that kind of tech. Even old school arcade machines has some intricate circuitry, and other such internal mechanisms that I think would be to, delicate for them to handle. Then again these ponies do have magic that can handle such tasks, but it still begs the question on just how did a fantasy species come about acquire their tech.

“Here we are!” my thoughts were interrupted when Pinkie Pie spoke up and I found myself standing in front of a…wow. Was all I could say upon my initial sighting of the building in front of me.

“That has to be the pinkest building I’ve ever seen.” I stated aloud as I gestured to the large pink building that looked like it wanted to be a birthday cake.

“Nothing can be to pink.” I think the mare might be a bit biased since she is pink herself. Following the mare into the birthday cake building I spotted a few more ponies lounging about, eating whatever kinds of baked goods they have on plates. And at the other side of the lobby I spotted Twilight as she finished a red & brown cake.

“Barricade! There you are, where have you been?” the unicorn asked in a worried tone as she trotted over to me.

“Mostly just wandering around town, you know, taking in the sights. I even met up with a few of the locals.”

“But why didn’t you stay in the library, you could’ve read the books there.” Twilight asked.

“Well for one thing I can’t read pony, or whatever your language is.” I retorted to the little mare, who had this look of understanding spring to her face as she realized that we had different languages…which was weird since she, and all ponies I’ve met up so far, spoke English.

“I’m sorry Baricade I didn’t think we had different languages since your speaking Equish.” Equish? Really, that’s what their language is called? That sounds more like a weird or silly horse-pun.

“Well in any case there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Talk to me about what?” I asked apprehensively and I noticed her tone of voice has shifted to sounding more serious, almost business like.

“You see I wrote to my mentor about your arrival in Ponyville, and she says she would like to meet you.” mentor? So she’s a student of somebody…a mentor who she wrote about me to. and now wants to meet me.

“…so you wrote to your teacher about me?” I asked the little mare, sounding a little skeptical towards her as I just eyed her up. The mare nodded her head as she continued talking.

“After I brought you to the library yesterday when you needed a place to sleep, I wrote to her a small report about our meeting, and what my initial observation you was like.”

Report. Initial observation. Sounds like I’m being viewed as a prized specimen for study, than an actual person. I mean I am a being that—if what Twilight says is true—that has never been seen in this world. But I still don’t like the sound of this, it just seems a little too sketchy for my liking.

“And she asked me to bring you to our capital city as soon as possible, so that she can meet you personally. So I was wondering if you’d like to go today?” the little pony finished off as looked up at me with a hopeful look in her that I would comply with her wishes.

Honestly I’m not sure what I should do right now. On one hand meeting Twilight’s teacher might be a good thing, as she might have more information about this world, which in turn can help me figure out what I should do since I’m basically stuck here and all. Although, on the other hand, this does seem a bit sketchy to me. mostly due to the fact that I don’t know anything about this pony, and the fact Twilight wrote to her teacher about me, like she was setting up this meet and greet to get more information out of me. maybe its just my ingrained sense of paranoia that’s making me feel nervous, if not outright anxious and hesitant to agree to this meeting.

“Barricade?” I looked back down to Twilight who was looking back up at me with a puzzled look.

“Are you okay? You went quiet all of a sudden.” I didn’t respond right away, I was to busy weighing my options. I kept quiet for a few moments before finally deciding on a course of action.

“Where does your teacher want to meet?” I finally asked which Twilight smiled widely at.

“She lives up in Canterlot, it’s our nation’s capital city and its just one train ride away.” Wow, this teacher sounds like she either has lots of money, or is a pretty well-known pony to live in a capital city. Now I’m starting to get curious about this pony as well.

“Alright then, do you know when we will be leaving?”

Twilight nodded her head and ushered me out the door before we headed back to the library, where Twilight gathered a few things, and explained to Spike about what was going on. Once all that was settled, Twilight led me to the other side of town, where a train that looked like it should be party of a kindergartens toys set, was sitting as passengers got off and got on. This is going to be one interesting trip. Hopefully it goes well.
> Chapter 4: the Strenuous Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------




As the train ride was on its way to Canterlot Twilight was studying her human companion over once more, finding his body structure to be incredibly fascinating. Unlike a minotaur’s body, Barricade’s body was more lean and seemed to be more properly portioned. She even recalled what Barricade’s body looked like under his clothes, from how his skin looked smooth, to the fine muscle definition underneath the skin. If Twilight was honest with herself she really wanted to know what his skin feels like. When thinking about Barricade’s skin, she recalled seeing all of the old scars and wounds that he bared, which still brought a frown to the unicorn as she could only imagine what he must’ve gone through to get those. Though after her initial conversation with Barricade about what his world is like, and what has been going on in the last 50yrs to the demographic of the population he belonged to, Twilight wondered what life on Barricade’s world might’ve been like. the human didn’t quite divulge what his personal life was like, in fact Twilight felt like Barricade wasn’t being very all that friendly. Sure he talked to her and was polite…but at the same time, it felt like he was, keeping his distance from her.

‘Does it has something to do with how his life was back on his world?’ Twilight thought to herself as she looked up to Barricade, seeing him sitting across from her and looking out the window, with a bored expression on his face.

‘Even now he hasn’t said a single word to me after we boarded the train. Though it’s not like he’s out right ignoring me.” as the unicorn lamented that her traveling companion had been less than forth coming in conversing with her, she noticed something. As Twilight looked at Barricade she noticed that there was a small black object in his ear.

“Hey Barricade.” The mare said to the human, but got no response. 

“Barricade?” again no response. At this point the violet mare was getting a little annoyed, if not upset as she puffs her cheeks as a scowl comes over her face.

“Barricade!” Twilight said the humans name loud enough that it disturbed the other passengers on the train, who have been occasionally casting glances at the odd pair. As for Barricade himself, he just looked a little confused as he turned to face Twilight while taking another black object out of his other ear.

“You say something Twilight?” the human asked in a baffled tone, throwing the mares slight anger off as she looks at him.

“I called your name a few times, but you didn’t respond.” The mare said with a small pout, but the human chuckled as he gave an apologetic smile.

“Sorry Twilight. I was listening to music, and this time I had both headphones in so I couldn’t really hear anything else.” the humans explanation confused the mare as she just tilted her head.

“Music? What music? And what’s a headphone?”

Barricade then showed the mare the small black object he plucked from his ear, and explained to her what the device was, as well as pulling out another device from his jacket pocket, and then explained what that device was about. Throughout the explanation the mare was utterly fascinated in how amazing these small gadgets were as Barricade explained them to her.

“Can I…listen to what song you are listening to?” Twilight asked hesitantly, both out of concern that she might be intruding on Barricade privacy, and partially because she was uncertain if non-pony music was going to be actually enjoyable to listen to. But her cursed curiosity has peaked.

Song: Teya Dora – Dzanum.

Barricade then leaned over to Twilight and then held the small headphone up to her ear, but the moment that he did so, she heard it! Music! The song was unusual, but not in a strange or weird way. The music had what Twilight could describe as a melancholy melody as it played, but then when she focused on the words, they were unintelligible to her. as she could not understand what they were saying…but somehow, she felt like what the words were portraying. The unknown words brought a small swelling sadness to her chest, as the female voice continued to sing in her unknown language, like she was singing about a sad memory of her past. But then the song changed! The singer then picked up the tempo of the song, repeating a series of words that just made Twilight’s eyes widen as the melancholy feeling turned to one of, beautiful tragedy. Or something close to it. it was hard for the pony to accurately describe exactly what she was listening to, and why this song made her feel such emotions. As the singers voice tapered off into the background as if fading away, like smoke being blown away by the wind, Barricade removed the headphone away from Twilight before looking down at the mare with an inquisitive expression.

“So, What did you think?” Barricade simply asked as Twilight just sat there in her seat, mulling over the song she just heard.

“It was sad, at least that’s what the music and the singer sounded to me. it was as if the singer was recalling a sad memory. But even so, it was so beautiful sounding.” Twilight said as she continued to mull the song over in her head.

“Does the song have a name?”

“It’s called Dzanum.” The mare blinked in confusion as she heard the word.

“Daznium?” Barricade just shook his head as Twilight tried to repeat the word.

“Close. But I’m glad you liked it.”

Twilight then asked if she could hear more of the music that Barricade was listening to, and the human obliged her. though this time Barricade removed both of his headphones and placed them in a small container, which he then stuffed into his backpack, and then played more music from his phone. The device playing them for all in the train cart to hear. Twilight and the other ponies in the cart all simply listened, and enjoyed the unknown songs and music of the humans world. some were just as lovely and beautiful as the one the unicorn first heard, others sounded like something Rainbow Dash would listen to with their thumping and heart pounding rhythms, then there were ones that were more sweet and wholesome that acted like a palate cleanser. After listening to at least a dozen songs the train ride finally came to its stop, which caused Barricade to put his phone away, which in turn made the passengers mope in disappointment as they departed the train. Same goes for Twilight as she leads her human companion off the train, and onto the station.

“Welcome to Canterlot, Barricade!” Twilight said with pride as she looked towards the tall creature while gesturing to the city itself, while other ponies on the station or coming to the platform all gawked at Barricade. Barricade didn’t initially responded to the unicorn’s announcement for a moment, but he did eventually recovered from the look of shock and surprise he was in. but his comment wasn’t what she was expecting.

“It’s so brightly colored here, it’s like it was washed with bleach. It’s kind of blinding.”

Again, not the kind of response that the mare expected, but she just brushed it off as she remembered the time that they needed to meet princess Celestia at, so she ushered Barricade to quickly follow her. leading the human through the city wasn’t too difficult, but what was difficult, if not a little disconcerting was all of the ponies just gawking at Barricade. Ponies stopped what they were doing to look at the human as the pair walked by, and unlike the ponies from Ponyville, the Canterlot ponies weren’t ashamed to just outright blurt out some rather rude comments. Calling Barricade a strange, or even ugly creature. Some even talked to each other about Barricade being an exotic pet that Twilight owned, which made Twilight visibly upset. And those were just the majority of stuff the mare heard as they trotted along.

Turning to look at Barricade to see how he was handling the gawking, and the rather rude comments that they were saying, the human didn’t seem all that bothered by what the ponies were saying. If anything the human seems more preoccupied in just, examining everything around him, eyes constantly moving scanning everything from the paved roads, the buildings, even the street lamps. The unicorn felt a little more calm seeing as her companion being put off by the lack of hospitable greeting from her fellow Canterlot ponies.


~~~~

‘Jeez, this place really does look like a child’s toy set. Everything is so neat and clean to the point where I swear it looks like this place came freshly off the assembly line.’ Was all I could think to myself as I followed behind my little chaperon pony.

I’ll admit that the city looks nice. It has this weird yet cool, whimsical type of feeling or aesthetic to it, as a good amount of the buildings we passed by weren’t straight. By that I mean vertically stiff, some looked like they were bending to one side, or looked like they were leaning or curing in one direction. Also the bright white, yellow, pale pinks, and other very light colors that almost everything was painted in, really made it looks so cotton candy  dolly girl house play set. Honestly after walking the streets for ten or so minutes, seeing a building that wasn’t one of those colors, seemed to be rarer and rarer.

As for the locals they were just like the ones in Ponyville, all various shades of color combinations and bodily designs. but there is one key difference between these Canterlot ponies and the Ponyville one, and that was that these Canterlot ponies seemed to actually wear clothes! Though so far most of them were either wearing some kind of shirt, or even a saddle, there were some that wore like a fancy suit jacket, but aside from those ponies there was only a handful of them that seemed to be wearing a full outfit. So far I’ve only seen two stallions wearing a full suit, with jacket, shirt, and even pants. Which honestly looks really weird. There were also a few mares wearing dresses, like really fancy lady dresses, which looked just as weird. Actually, I think seeing these ponies wearing clothes is just weird in general. Turning my attention to my tour guide of the city after we walked, maybe like a few blocks or so, I started to notice that the buildings started to look more fancier…and a bit more sparce. Until we finally came to a section of the city with no building, but a strip of land that looked like the front yard of a wealthy person’s mansion.

That’s when I finally took notice of the lone structure we were approaching. A goddamn castle! And this castle looked like it would fit right at home in Disney World, cause it really did look like castle from a cartoon show. Though given the world I’m in now and my previous statements I made about the ponies, that shouldn’t be too surprising.

“Um Twilight?” I said aloud as we got closer to the castle.

“Why are we going towards that castle? I thought we were going to meet your mentor, in the city back there.” I remarked as he pointed to the city just a block away from us.

“No, we’ll be meeting my mentor in the castle. Did I not explain this to you?” the mare stated to me as I shook my head.

“No, you didn’t.” I retorted back, before remembering something else.

“Actually you never really said who your mentor was. Who is she anyway? Some scholar or something?” the mare shook her head before turning to face me.

“My mentor is princess Celestia, one of the two governing rulers of Equestria!” Wait what!? This mare is taking me to meet…her ruler…

My mind immediately started to spiral down as thoughts flooded into my mind. This mare was going to take me to one of the rulers of the country, a ruler of an entire nation, and who this mare is a student of! And if she is a student of this ruler, that might also mean she’s also a government agent to these rulers! That’s why she was asking so many questions the night before! Trying to probe me for information about me, and about others like me! is that why she brought me here, did she bring me here so that her mentor could integrate me?! if that’s the cast, and since she’s a queen or whatever of these ponies, she would have guards to ensure I couldn’t escape!

“Barricade? Are you okay?” I heard Twilight’s voice as I looked down at her, seeing she was reaching towards me!

“Don’t touch me!”

On instinct I raised up my force field, knocking Twilight away by a few feet. And before she could say anything, I manipulated the energy of my field to levitate myself in the middle, then as I turned to face back toward the city I used the energy suspending me to launch myself a good 25ft. I heard Twilight yell something, but I didn’t really pay attention to it, I just kept creating a new field before I landed on the ground, and then launching myself until I reached the train station. But as I touched down I saw Twilight just, appeared before me in a flash of light!

“Barricade what’s going on? Why are you running away?”

“Your taking me to your ruler to interrogate me!” I yelled accursedly at her, notice the look of hurt expression she now has on her face.

“I’m not going to be locked up in some room and be poked and prodded like some kind of science experiment!” I was about to create another field around myself but then the mare launched herself at me, wrapping her forelegs around my waist.

“Get off me!” I yelled as I tried to pry the mare off.

“Barricade I’m not trying to do any of that! and princess Celestia isn’t going to lock you up!”

“I said get off me!” I yelled again as I used the energy of my field to pry the mare off me, by having it envelop her and rip her off me. but just as I got her off, Twilight disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing just behind me where she again tackled me.

“Barricade just please listen to me!”

“Hold it right there!” I heard a gruff male voice call out amongst a gaggle of other voice. I looked around and saw ponies scattered around the stations platform, while several pegasi landed around my field, all of whom were decked out in gold armor. then a few unicorns and earth ponies galloped in from behind me.

“What’s going on here?” one of the earth ponies, a white mare, asked as she approached my field.

“I knew it! This was a set up!” I yelled as I tried to look at Twilight.

“I knew something was fishy when you said your mentor wanted to meet me, and now you’ve got your security goons here to take me in!”

“Barricade I don’t know why your acting this way, but I’m telling you its not what you think!” the mare yelled back, her voice sounding a little cracked. And as I managed to get a better look at her, I saw that she was starting to get teary eyed.

I was about to saying something else, but I then noticed that the armored ponies—and the local ponies—all looked up for a second before dropping into a bow. Even Twilight let go of me to suddenly bow. Uncertain at what was going on I looked around myself at what could be making the ponies drop into a bow. But that’s when it hit me…she’s here! And my suspicion was made clear when I heard something land directly right behind me. Turning to face what landed I saw a that there was a mare, just as tall as me, and was looking directly at me. Her coat was just as brilliantly white as the city itself, with a long ass horn sticking out her forehead, she even had a pair of wings furling back to her sides. But the most striking trait about this mare was he bellowing mane & tail, which aside from flowing in a non-existent wind, was the same color as an aurora borealis. If I wasn’t nervous, or panicky before, I was now as I stared at this mare while she stared back.

“Twilight, what is going on here?” the mare asked in a frankly stern mom voice.

“One moment I was going over documents before our meeting, and then the next moment, I get a report from the guards saying that something is happening at the train station involving you, and a strange bipedal creature.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what my next should be, I mean I’m surrounded by security, and I have the ruler of the ponies directly in front of me. and since she’s Twilight’s mentor, who knows what tricks or powers she has up her metaphorical sleeves. Right now, I think I’m virtually trapped, so all I can do is wait and see what happens next. And bide my time until I see an opening to make a quick escape. No that won’t work, these ponies can fly, and if the unicorns are just like Twilight, they can just teleport to wherever I was, and then grapple me. or worse, they could just teleport me to a cell!

“Barricade?” I looked over to the white mare as she stared back at me, though this time with a more concern look.

“Why did you try to run away? And what’s this about us imprisoning you to interrogate you? or that Twilight was tricking you so that we could capture you.” what do I do in this situation?! What do I say here?

“Barricade.” The mare’s voice & face grew a bit more firm for a moment before softening.

“You must believe me. We are not your enemy. We want to help you, that’s why I asked Twilight to bring you to meet me, so that we both can help you.” I just stared at the mare, suspicion clearly portrayed on my face.

“And how do I know I can trust you?” I simply retorted.

“I’ve spent most of my life not trusting other people, or people in government positions. cause they either try to trick me, trap me, or imprison me. and if it’s the later, I would be stuck in that cell until either I die, or until someone kills me.” the princess and the ponies at her sides all looked horrified as I spoke.

“So forgive me if I don’t believe you. Especially considering the fact I know nothing about of you or your race, and that I’m airing HEAVILY on the side of caution.”

The tall pony, horse, whatever she is, looked hurt at my accusation, and my declaration of not trusting them. which actually seemed to make the princess look more hurt than my previous statement of being cautious and skeptical of others. She then approached my field until she was almost pressing her snout against it, and looked me square in the eye.

“I understand that your scared, and that you want to be cautious, but being afraid of something before it even happens & untrusting of others before you get to know them, will only make you feel more isolated and fearful. Then you’ll have no pony, or anything, that could make you feel safe or that you can believe in.”

“I’m not sure of what happened to you back in your world, but trust me, you are safe here. You don’t need to look over your shoulder to see if some pony is going to get you, or that some pony is plotting something.”

“…”

“Your safe here. You don’t have to be afraid.”

“…” Am I really?

Am I really safe here in this strange land or talking ponies? How do I…how do I know I can believe her. trust her, or any of them. It’s been years since I could trust anyone, or that I allowed myself to trust anyone. As I thought those words I reached a hand over to my left shoulder, trying to reach the scar on my back, as a grimace expression steadily grew on my face. It’s been, I don’t remember how long, since I last trusted someone. Trusted enough to call them friend, or someone I could trust to have my back. I looked at the princess who was looking back at me with a worried look, and for a moment we just, stared at each other.

“…Can I really trust you?” the mare gave me a genuine smile as she nodded her head.

“Yes. And I swear by my sun, that you will be safe here, and that you can trust us.” I just stared at the mare for a bit longer, really gauging whether or not I believed her, or if I should.

“Alright. I’ll trust you.” I said as I took down my field, freeing both myself and Twilight.

“Thank you Barricade, and I promise that we will ensure that you can truly trust us.”
> Chapter 5: An Even More Strenuous Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s been an hour & a half since I’ve arrived in Canterlot, and had my little scene down at the train station. Since then I finally came to the castle and had my meeting with Twilight’s mentor, but even after I said I would trust her and her people, I still kept my guard up around them. despite me saying that I would trust them, I wasn’t going to, until proven otherwise.

When I started speaking with the princess and starting to get to know who she was, I learned that she was only one of the two princesses that govern the nation. Which confused me a little bit, especially when it came to regarding her title. I asked her why the two princesses, who I learned were a race of ponies called an alicorn, weren’t called queens, or at least have one of them carry the title. Celestia simply stated that the title of queen is only given when there was a single ruler, and while she has governed the country by herself for a long time before her sister returned, she didn’t take the title of queen because she felt like she wasn’t worthy of being labeled as one. When I asked why she didn’t feel like she was worthy of the title, she simply stated because of her hubris and naivety, she was forced to banish her sister until recent events brought the two together. Now the pair rule the nation together as they did before, and strived to not repeat their mistakes from the past.

Aside from me asking my own questions of the alicorn, the princess asked her own questions which were mostly repeated questions that Twilight has already asked, though the princess asked for more details when she inquired. But what the princess, and by the same mind Twilight, really wanted to know is what was it really like on my world. They both wanted to know everything from the history of my people, how the Un-Naturals actually came to be, and of course how Un-Naturals like me are treated amongst the rest of the populace. And when I explained everything to them, and I do mean everything, to them from how the Un-Naturals were created by a machine that initially was meant to commit global genocide do to the grief, or deranged mind, of a mad man that believe humanity should be wiped out. To how the non-meta powered humans, which were referred to as Norms, all feared those with powers, simply out of fear that they could not trust them to not abuse their powers to cause chaos and panic among them. And finally how the government eventually created a task force that not only hunted down people like me to either kill, or capture to cage us up until we die, or so that they could experiment on us. Where they could learn how our powers work, and how to cultivate them so that they can use them…all the while subject us to torturous experiments all for the sake of, national security.

To say that neither of the mares liked what I had just told them, would be an understatement as I looked at their horrified expressions as I sat across from them.

“Barricade, tell me this is some kind of joke.” The princess asked me, almost in disbelief at what she had just heard.

“Your people couldn’t…they wouldn’t do, any of that, to each other…” I just gave the princess a blank stare as I just leaned into the couch I was sitting in, and it appears my silence has answered the alicorns question as she looks distraught.

“You’ll be surprised just what fear and paranoia does to people princes, especially when their sense of normalcy is literally flipped on its head.” Though I’m not one to talk, pot calling the kettle black and all that.

“Is that why you don’t trust any pony? Even other Un-Naturals?” Twilight asked me.

“Un-Naturals pretty much learned to trust each other over the years, in fact there are self-created communities of Un-Naturals that look after one another…but even so, not all Un-Naturals get along with one another. For one reason, or another.”

“What kind of reasons?” Celestia asked as she seemed to have recovered from her prior shock. I rubbed the bridge of my nose before I spoke and start to explain.

“Not all Un-Naturals powers are very, stable.”

“What do you mean by that?” Twilight asked as she leaned over the table more to hear what I have to say.

“Some Un-Naturals powers often times cause horrible side effects to them. Most times they cannot recover from the sudden changes of their bodies, or adapt quick enough to resist the changes. These side effects range from bodily deformations, to bodily functions not working, to having mental instability. Then there are times where an Un-Naturals power is too much for them that it drives them, mad or insane, for lack of a better word.” A few Un-Naturals come to mind as I rattled off symptoms and side effects to the two mares, and remembering reading about certain Un-Naturals that met there end due to their own powers.

“Some Un-Naturals are even regressed to being nothing more than basic animals, or mindless monsters, because of their mutations and powers.” one particular Un-Natural comes to mind after making that remark, mostly due on how they met their end…all at the age of 15 to.

“And none of the regular humans ever attempt to try and help the Un-Naturals?” Celestia asked me with a hopeful expression, I just gave her a neutral expression as I spoke.

“There are sympathizers to Un-Naturals that do what they can to help them, but those types of people are one in a million. And can’t really do much without getting looked down on by others, or outright ostracized by their communities.”

“I see.” The alicorn said in a low tone as she slouched in her seat.

“Princess, are you alright?” Twilight asked the older mare with a worried tone as she nuzzles up to the alicorn.

“I’m fine Twilight. I’m just a little, disheartened is all.”

“Sorry princess but when it comes to my world, expecting to have a nice life is nothing more than a pipe dream if you’re an Un-Natural.” I mean it’s not completely like that, at least for the Un-Natural’s like myself don’t have any physical definitions that announces that their Un-Natural’s.

Both the princess & Twilight look incredibly depressed after our talks and discussions about my world, I tried to steer the conversation into more uplifting topics, like explaining to them that there were a few factions back home that sought to change the state of things. From the group called Freedom Skies, led by an Un-Natural named Red Hawk, who tries to work with some government officials to change things, but has been difficult if not impossible. This did bring the two ponies back into a better mood and asked more questions about Freedom Sky & Red Hawk, and I told them all I knew about the both of them, but it wasn’t much, but the fact that there was someone back home trying to change things made them at least more happy. I even told them that there was another Un-Natural that helps both Norms and other Un-Naturals, all of which left the modern world because of how things were getting, and lived out in the woods as a self-reliant community. When they asked who this Un-Natural was, I told them that her name was Evergreen.

“Hold on Barricade, there’s something I’ve been wondering about the Un-Naturals.” Celestia asked as I took a moment to drink from a cup of water.

“What’s that?”

“From what you’ve said about Un-Naturals, and of the ones you’ve talked about, most of them are male.” Ah, I see what her question is going to be about.

“And you want to know why there’s more males with powers than females.” The mare nodded her head, while Twilight looked surprised that she didn’t think to ask about this question.

“I’m not an expert on this, nor did I really pay much attention to the fundamentals when being taught stuff. But the reason why men develop powers more so then women back home, is because the energy from the initial event that created Un-Naturals, affected the male genome down to its very DNA structure. So now all men have the potential to pass down the mutated genomes to their children. The reason why women don’t develop powers as often as men, is because they don’t often have the required genomes in their DNA that develops powers, but it’s not impossible for them to become Un-Naturals if they have inherited a lot of their fathers genes.”

“So it all comes down to if a human has the right genes in order to acquire powers?” Twilight asked as she was furiously jotting stuff down again. I just nodded my head in response to her question.

“Basically. After all its not a hundred percent guaranteed that when a boy or girl to develop powers when they reach the adolescent.”

“How often do humans develop powers?” Celestia asked.

“I’m not certain, but for males its close to being ten percent out of a hundred. For females the odds are even smaller, being around five percent, if not one percent out of a hundred.” At least that’s what I’ve been told by others that I used to know who studied this stuff, and from what I’ve read from science logs and papers.”

“So…its more like a coin toss if somepony develops a power?” the little unicorn asked which I just gave a shrug to.

“I guess.” Just then a knock came from the door to the room, and a moment later Celestia permitted the person on the other side to enter and one of the guards popped in with a white unicorn with a few stuff folders held in her magic.

“Sorry to intrude princess, but its getting close for your meeting with the mayors of Manehatten, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia for the annual board meeting.”

“Oh my goodness I nearly forgot!” the princess quickly rose from her seat and trotted to the door, but not before turning to look my way.

“Thank you for indulging in my questioning Barricade, and telling me about yourself, and of your world. If you want, both you & Twilight are more than welcome to stay in the castle for as long as you want.” With that the princess left, with the cream coated mare and guard following after her. now it was just me and Twilight alone in the room, though when I looked over to the unicorn she seemed down for some reason.

“What’s wrong Twi?” the mare didn’t respond right away as she looked deep in thought about something, but eventually the mare came around to responding to my question.

“I’m…I’m just taking everything you’ve said in, and its hard to believe that somewhere out there, there’s a world that sounds so unfair and cruel to its inhabitants.” Tell me about it girl.

“Well there’s no use mopping about it, as far as I’m concern you won’t have interaction with my world, or anyone else from it. so try not to dwell on it for too long.”

After that my stomach started to grumble, making me realized that I’ve yet to actually eat anything substantial since arriving in this world, aside from a few baked goods and water, and a few fruits and a salad that I got from the towns ponies during my nightly wandering. I asked the little pony if she knew where we can get something to eat, and the violet mare’s mood quickly shifted to a more upbeat and cheerful one before she got up from her seat, and guided me out of the room and head to what she called the main dining hall. Following the little unicorn through the castle I noticed that the guards, and the castle staff that we pass by gave me the same looks I got from the other ponies. Though the ones that seemed to give me the most attention as I pass by them are the guards, as they looked to be on edge or curious as I catch them eyeing me up & down. Aside from the castle staff & the guards, Twilight and I passed by a few more, well there’s no other way to describe them as, but rich and noble ponies. All of whom wore really expensive looking outfits, and really had that air of superiority about them. Thankfully none of them really paid us any mind, in fact, it seemed that whenever one came into view, Twilight would guide us down a separate path before getting back on our initial course.

I guess she was trying to spare me from being gawked at, and hearing them make comments about me being weird or freakish, like those from the city on our initial journey to the castle.

Ten or so minutes of walking and my little guide has brought me to a set of doors that when opened up, revealed a really spacious room that has one long ass table down the majority of the room, with one side having a line of tables splayed out with various foods spread out. I was actually surprised to see a variety of foods that weren’t just sweets & salads, there were actually cooked dishes and stuff that looks like various soups or stews, or other cooked dishes. What was more surprising was that when we approached the tables, all of the food looked like it had just been brought out of the oven, or just finished cooking. Twilight explained that the reason all the food looked like that was due to the serving plating that the food was in, as apparently they had enchantments that kept whatever food they hold fresh, and preserved in the state they were in when they were put out. which was really interesting to hear as I watched Twilight get a bowl of salad, and what looks like a small plate of lasagna that was still piping hot. As for myself I got a plate of what looks like a steamy vegetable bowl with a tomatoes sauce, as well as a few bread rolls, and a small bowl of what smells like spicy pork stew.

“Huh. That’s interesting.”

“What is?” Twilight asked as I finished taking a sip of the soup for a taste test.

“This soup smells like it has pork in it, heck it even taste like it does.” I retorted before taking my food and a fruity drink to the table, joining Twilight as she started eating her lasagna.

“That’s probably due to the chef using special ingredients to give it that flavor.” Twilight responded before taking a drink of what looks like ice tea from her glass.

“I’m assuming you ponies don’t eat meat right?” to my surprise Twilight shook her head before she started talking.

“Not as a rule. Ponies do eat chicken, fish, and eggs, the only things we don’t eat is red meat.” The mare looked a little grossed out just mentioning red meat. I was just surprised to hear that ponies actually do eat other creatures, though it sounds like its more of an acquired diet.

“That’s surprising to hear. Then again, your not exactly like equines from my world so I shouldn’t be too surprised.”

Just then the door to the dining hall opened up and before I looked to see who entered, I saw Twilight make a visibly annoyed if not disgruntled expression. Looking towards the door I saw a few ponies come trotting in, most of whom were guards ponies in some fancier looking armor, by having a bit more details engraved on the helmets and chest plate, and they seem to be the only guards that actually carried a weapon on their person which was a short sword & a small shield. Then there was the pony in front of the guards, a white stallion that looked to be bigger than most of the stallions I’ve seen so far, with a combed and styled mane & tail that was blonde in color, and weirdly enough the only article of clothing the stallion had was a collar like from a fancy suit & cufflinks around his hooves. And it seemed that the stallion was mostly talking to himself, as none of the guards following him seemed to be conversing back, or even looking like their paying attention to what he was saying. Guess this guy just likes hearing himself talk.

“Well, well, well if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” The stallion said, his voice sounding like a typical rich snob, as he approaches Twilight. Who looks visibly uncomfortable to being spoken to by this guy.

“What brings you back to the castle my dear?” Twilight practically forced a smile onto her muzzle as she spoke to this stallion.

“Hello Blueblood, I was just having a meeting with princess Celestia and my friend, Barricade.” The mare said as she gestured to me. I’m not sure if I consider ourselves friends yet, but it is nice that she feels that way. Although, the stallion seemed baffled as he looked in my direction, like he was searching for what Twilight was gesturing to, but after a second he looked me straight in the eye as I just stare him down while eating my food.

“And what in the world is this Barricade?”

“He’s a new friend of mine.” Twilight reiterates as she sounds a little upset, but it seems that this Blueblood guy didn’t appear to pay attention to Twilight’s response as he just kept eyeing me up and down.

“Take a picture pal, it’ll last longer.” I said to the stallion as I was getting a little irritated that he was just, examining me. though it seems my words offend him as he looked shocked.

“Such a rude tone! Do you not know who I am creature?!”

“Nope, and I have a name pal. Use it.” again the stallion looked like I just slapped him as he took a step back from the table.

“I am prince Blueblood, nephew to princess Celestia herself, and you will show me respect!” I just snickered at this guy as he spoke. Is this guy for real, someone certainly is a spoiled brat.

“Are you mocking me creature!”

“Blueblood that’s enough!” Twilight said in a huff as she stood up from her seat.

“Please just leave us be, we’re trying to enjoy our meal.” At first the stallion didn’t seem to acknowledge what Twilight said, not before a smile came over his muzzle before looking back to the unicorn.

“My apologies Twilight. I didn’t mean to disturb your mid-day meal.” The stallion then lit his horn with magic before picking up Twilight’s glass in his own magical aura.

“Perhaps I’ll speak to you some other time my dear.” The stallion then looked like he was going to take a drink from the glass, but then his magic appeared to have sputtered out while the glass was flung towards me.

“Woops!”

Oh you gotta be kidding me, is he really trying to pull this crap on me? Well jokes on him. I quickly created a small disk like force field no bigger than my hand, and created it right in front of the flung glass, and bouncing it back into the stallions face! smacking him right in the muzzle while the drink splashes across his face!

“AGH! My mane! You vulgar peasant how dare you strike me!?” and just like that the four guards with Blueblood drew their swords, their eyes focused on me, and pointed their weapons at me.

“Arrest this thug at once!”

“Blueblood!” before Twilight could say anything, or before the ponies could take a step closer to me, I created a larger barrier around them all.

“Wha—what is this!”

“I think you and your friends need a time out.” I said in response to the spoiled prince, however as I looked at him & his little band of guards, I noticed that one of his guards was gone. That’s when I got a feeling that something was behind me, so I created a field around myself and the chair I was sitting in. A second later after bringing the field up something collided with it before I heard something being flung across the ground, accompanied by the sound of metal clattering on the floor. Looking behind me I spotted the missing guard picking himself up and grabbing his sword in his aura.

“What’s going on here?”

a stern female voice spoke, filling the room with a sense of dread as it felt like the air vibrated. Facing the doorway to the hall I saw a dark blue mare, who was the second tallest pony I’ve seen so far. and by the black crown and fancy collar around her neck, she must’ve been a fairly high rank pony. But what caught my eye was her flowing mane & tail, which looked like the night sky as it flowed behind her. wait, is this Celestia’s sister that she mentioned before? I then watched as the mare trotted over to the table, causing the guards to stand at attention while Blueblood tried to clean himself up. But the tall mare only spared them a sparce glance, before looking to me and then Twilight. That’s when I noticed that she to was also an alicorn as she stood just off to my side.

“Twilight Sparkle. Please explain to Us what hast happened here?”

“Auntie Luna this vulgar—” the dark mare snapped to look down at Blueblood causing him to stop in mid-rant, and looked ready to pee himself. I can’t see the look she’s giving him, but it must be one hell of a death glare.

“We will hear your side in a moment Blueblood, but for now We have asked young Twilight what has transpired.” Strange, it sounds like she’s speaking in old Shakespearian lingo, but also trying to talk normally. Twilight then started to explain to the dark alicorn what happened, afterwards she then looked to me, giving a stern look.

“Wouldst thou please lower your barrier sir Barricade?” to not piss off a ruler of this nation of ponies I did as she asked, which caused the mare to give me a small smile.

“Thank you sir. Now then…” she then turned to Blueblood who stiffened up a bit as she continued.

“Blueblood is it true that you try to instigate a conflict with Barricade?”

“Of course not auntie! This vulgar, creature, threw a glass of tea in my face!” the bratty prince said as he gesture to his damp mane, and to his nose trying to convey that it was struck by the glass, but had nothing to show for it.

“After you ‘accidently’ flung it at him first?” the stallion flinched a little since Twilight didn’t state that Blueblood tossed the cup at me. guess this mare was watching us just as things started to play out.

“We advise that you leave these two alone, and clean thyself off of the tea, while We take care of matters here.” The stallion looked like he wanted to say something but stopped before huffing as he, and his guards, trotted out of the hall. all the while the stallion muttered to himself. As for the dark mare, she turned to face the both of us fully before speaking.

“We…I, apologize for our sisters nephew’s behavior, so please accept my apology.” The mare said, correcting her speech in mid-sentence, before she bowed her head.

“It’s fine princess its not your fault, plus, no one got hurt so no foul.” The mare then lifted her head before she looked me dead in the eye. I don’t know why, but as she and I locked eyes with one another, I felt like she was searching for something. Its strange, it’s like she’s trying to peer right into my soul as her large bright blue eyes just, stared at me.

“I thank you for accepting my apology.” The mare then turned to trot down the hall.

“I shall leave you to finish your meals now.” As the mare left the hall I looked over to Twilight who has seemed to calm down as she slumped into her seat.

“So I take it that’s Celestia’s sister?”

“Yes. That was princess Luna, she’s in charge of governing the nation during the night. And again Barricade I’m sorry for Blueblood’s behavior, he’s always been a hooful.” Hold on, I just noticed something.

“Hey Twilight, can you clear something up for me.”

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“If Blueblood is Celestia’s nephew, then wouldn’t Luna be his mom?” the violet mare shook her head quickly before speaking up.

“No! Actually, Blueblood is only a prince in name only as he was adopted by princess Celestia. He actually has very little authority over the nation and the ponies of Equestria.”

“Wait, if Blueblood is adopted, then wouldn’t that make Celestia his mom?” again Twilight shook her head before responding.

“Celestia adopted Blueblood from an old friend of hers, who was her previous secretary. She passed away and had no remaining family left, so Celestia adopted him, which legally made him a prince…though as you can see he didn’t turn out so well.” Twilight said with a bit of shame in her voice as she fiddles with her food.

“Was Celestia not a good caretaker, or was she just too busy to raise him?”

“It’s a little bit of both. Celestia tried to raise him, but due to her work load, and her inexperience as a parental figure, made it difficult for her to really spend that much time around him. So it was mostly up to the staff to raise him. And because he was now a prince, they pretty much spoiled him, which obviously made him feel like he’s entitled to everything and get away with acting like a total jerk.” I guess that explains a lot, the guy pretty much was raised to expect everyone to dot on him, and do what he says.

After our little talk the both of us went back to eating our lunch, which thankfully was still hot and fresh. Gotta love these magically enchanted dishes. It didn’t take long for the two of us to finish our meal, and once we did and stored our plates on a table on the other side of the hall, Twilight then asked me what we should do next. Honestly I wasn’t sure what to do next, as I don’t know anything about this castle, or what it has to offer for someone to just explore.

“Twily!” another unknown voice called out from down the corridor. At this point I shouldn’t be surprised, or thrown off by this. Though the name did get a chuckle out of me. 

“Shining!” Twilight charged right past me and galloped over to another large white stallion, though this guy was decked out in a different set of armor, being purple & blue instead of the solitary gold color. the two ponies nuzzled up to each other before Twilight was lifted up and spun around, all the while she laughed like a little girl.

“When did you get back to Canterlot you little goober?” the stallion asked the mare.

“I’ve been here for about an hour.” The little mare said as she was placed down on the ground.

“So big bro how have you been doing.” Oh so this guy is her brother, I was just thinking that he was her boyfriend.

“Not much. I just finished going over the latest applicates for the royal guard, but now I gotta set up training regiments for them on top of everything else. I wish somepony would already make the rank of captain as well to lighten my load.”

“Your still the only captain of the guard?”

“Unfortunately.” The stallion then looked over towards me, finally noticing that I was there as I watched a dumbfounded expression pop on his face. Twilight noticed the look her brother was giving me before she spoke up.

“Shining this is my new friend, this is Barricade.” I just waved at the stallion who kept looking at me with a shocked expression, but he quickly got over it before he trotted over to me.

“My name is Shining Armor, I’m Twilight’s brother & captain of the royal guard.” He then stuck out his foreleg for a handshake.

“It’s nice to meet you.”
> Chapter 6: A Test of Power
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It’s nice to meet you.” Shining Armor said in a pleasant manner as he held out his foreleg for a hoof shake. Barricade bent over slightly before taking the stallions hoof in his hand, wrapping his fingers around the stallions hoof, and giving it a few shakes before releasing it.

“Sup.” the human said in a monotone voice as he stood up straight & showing that he stands twice as tall as the stallion.

“So what are you guys up to?” the stallion asked Twilight as she stood off to the side.

“Nothing much. We just finished having a little meeting with Celestia, and having a little lunch. Now though we were just wondering what we should do next.” Twilight rambled off the events that just occurred, though she did gloss over the fact that Blueblood tried to pull one of his little stunts. The less of that stallion that Twilight has to think about the better.

“Well in that case why not give your friend here a tour of the castle?” Shining suggested which caused the mare to perk up in excitement, while the human just quirked an eyebrow at the stallion.

“Oh that’s a great idea Shining! Why don’t you join us, we both can give him a tour, and I’m sure you’ll need to do your rounds around the castle anyway.”

“Two birds one stone. I like it Twi.” The stallion praised the mare before petting her on the head, causing Twilight to giggle cheerfully.

“What do you say Barricade, up for a little tour around the castle?” the young man thought for a moment before looking down at the smiling unicorn pair before nodding his head as he puts his hands in his coat pockets.

With that the duo began to lead Barricade through the castle, showing him various locations of the royal structure. From visiting and showing the human Twilight’s favorite place in the castle, the library, to showing him the grand hall where most court affairs take place, to even showing him the ceremonial hall where more theatrical events take place. The pair even brought Barricade to the grand ball room where they explain that this is where the majority of festive events take place. Next up on the little tour around the castle was the castle gardens, which so far got the most reaction from the human, he even commented that he was surprised that there was such a massive garden here. Especially considering that the castle is situated on a mountain.

Barricade’s surprise was increased when the siblings showed him the hedge maze, the nearby garden of virtues, and finally the part of the garden where all of the animals Celestia keeps reside. That part was particularly interesting for the ponies to watch as the animals gathered around Barricade, looking at him curiously as they circled him, though the human wasn’t as amused with the situation as he quickly left the garden and headed back to the castle. Re-entering the castle the ponies continued with their tour by showing Barricade the west wing of the castle, which acts as quarters for guest to rest & occupy when visiting the castle. Also in the west wing of the castle the ponies showed some of the private meeting rooms further down from the living rooms, this is where ponies and guest can talk amongst themselves without others accidently, or initially, overhearing. Or they just want to have personal time alone with one another.

Shining Armor even showed the human where the office quarters of all the most important ponies do most of their work, from the princesses own offices, to their secretaries. Shining Armor even showed Barricade his office that was further down the hallway that led to the east wing of the castle, which was off to the side of the training hall. Once the little party has entered the training hall, the group saw various collections of guards training and practicing their skills. From earth ponies wrestling with one another, bashing, and slamming into each other, and using staffs & shields to aide in their techniques. Pegasi were practicing aerial movements, and combat techniques not only on each other, but also against dummies for take down maneuvers. And finally the unicorns were practicing their spell crafting, from casting and countering each other’s spells and practicing their reaction times, while also using their magic to manipulate wooden weapons and shields.

“Your boys look like they’re putting in work.” Barricade remarked as he watched the various ponies go about their training exercises.

“And they make sure to always keep themselves in shape. One never knows when trouble will spring up, so the guards always have to be ready whenever trouble pops up.” Shining said with pride as he looks to his guards. While the trio watched the guards go about their training, Twilight then developed a curious expression as she then looked over to Barricade, her mind thinking back to seeing his bare body. And remembering how fit and fairly muscular he was.

“Barricade, do you train to keep yourself in shape?” she asked as she looked at Barricade directly, while he simply nodded his head.

“Back on earth most Un-Naturals try and keep themselves in shape, though its mostly out of necessity, rather than anything else than trying to stay in shape or fit.” Barricade responded with a solemn tone as he rubbed one of his shoulders.

“Because of the, state, of the world, most people will often times either run from Un-Naturals…or they try to fight them. and in the latter category sometimes we fight government goons, and their weapons specifically meant to tangle with us. so Un-Naturals always have to be in peak physical condition for such situations.” Both Shining and Twilight frowned as they heard Barricade speak about the plight of his kind back on his home world.

“Training also helps Un-Natural try and gain control over their powers, learning their limits, and see if there are any other changes to their body.” Shining Armor looked like he was about to say something, but was stopped when one of the guards shouted…

“LOOK OUT!” a mare cried out as the trio looked towards her, and saw a fairly large magical blast coming their way! 

Before any of the ponies could even do anything, guards getting out of the way, to Shining Armor igniting his horn with magic, Barricade quickly swung out a hand and created a force field that surrounded the blast catching it in mid-air before it struck a group of earth ponies. As the projectile collided with the field’s interior it then exploded, causing the field to shimmer for a moment while its surface rippled, but otherwise remained intact. Once the magical blast phased out after detonation, Barricade brough his field down as he flexes his fingers.

“I am so sorry sir!” the group looked over to see the guard mare rush over to them with a stallion by her side.

“What happened?” Shining Armor asked the duo with a slightly stern & commanding tone of voice as the two ponies skid to a stop, and gave the stallion a salute as the other stallion spoke up.

“We were doing our usual magic training regimen, but I accidentally reflected the blast towards the others. I apologize for my negligence sir!”

“So long as you remember next time to be careful, I’ll let this slide.” Shining said to the pair who gave another salute while vocalizing that they would be careful from now on. After talking to the pair the stallion turned back to see his sister talking to the human, and sounds to be praising the humans skill in deploying his force field, which Barricade tried brushing off as nothing.

“I didn’t know you could use defensive magic Barricade?” the stallion remarked as he approached the pair.

“I can’t.” Barricade retorted which instantly confused the stallion, but that’s where Twilight pipped up to clarify things for her brother.

“Barricade doesn’t have magic Shining. He has a power that, kind of, acts like magic which allows him to create force fields. Kind of like you!” the stallion then wondered something as he looks up to the human.

“Mind showing me what your capable of Barricade? I’m curious to see what a human can do.” the young man thought for a moment, mulling the question over before looking down at the stallion.

“What exactly do you wanna see from my power?” the human asked.

“Twilight said that your powers is like my brand of magic. I specialize in using defensive spells, so I like to see how your power works.” 

Barricade thought for some time before deciding why not, while also stating that it would be a good way to keep his own skills sharp as it has been a while since he’s practiced and trained with his power. Walking further into the training hall with Shining Armor the two made their way to the central area, where the guards all ceased their own training and moved out of the way to give them space, and simply wait to see what the two would do. even Twilight was curious as to what would happen that she joined the guards, standing off to the side and watch her brother take a stand at one end of the area, while Barricade stood on the other while he tosses his coat to the side before he starts doing some stretches. Once Barricade was done with his stretching, the ponies waited in anticipation to see what he will do, but instead of taking a battle ready stance Barricade just looked around himself for a moment, seemingly examining the combat arena before looking at Shining Armor.

“Does this training area have any safety features to ensure that no one outside of it will get harmed?”

“No unfortunately. Keeping up a protective field active around any of the fields to ensure no pony will get hurt during training, can be draining to any unicorn that casted the spell, and wouldn’t last for very long. And using spell components to do the work will be costly, both in getting the materials and charging the ponies to load them with magic and ensure the spell remains active.” The captain said to the human who just listened intently to the stallions explanation.

“In that case…” Barricade then raised his hands in front of himself for a few seconds, his palms brimming with a dull yellowish light, then he swung his arms out. At first nothing appeared to have happened, but a split second later the entire perimeter of the 25ft wide combat area was encased in a massive yellowish golden dome!

“That should do the trick.”

“What did you do?!” Shining asked the human as he looked around at the dome along with the guards outside it, who began tapping on it and seeing its surface ripple like water.

“To put it simply I created a barrier to keep them—” Barricade said as he gestures to the ponies that are outside the field. “—safe in case of something happening during our little sparring match.”

“But won’t this inhibit your ability?” the stallion asked the young man.

“Not by much. But don’t worry, I’ll have more than enough strength to give this spar my best.” With the human’s proclamation the stallion smiled before lighting his horn with magic.

Once charged Shining armor fired a quick blast of magic at Barricade, who instead of raising a field to block the attack as he thought the human would do, Barricade just simply leaned to the side and then let the blast pass by him, before it struck the field behind him rippling the dome on the point of impact. The guards & Twilight then watched as the energy of Shining’s attack dispersed into the field, as if the field was absorbing the attack into itself. As for the captain he was surprised that Barricade was able to dodge the attack, as the blast itself was traveling quite fast through the air. So the stallion fired another blast at the human, and again the human just side stepped and let the blast brush past him, but for a mix up Shining fired another blast when the first one was halfway towards Barricade. Thinking that Shining has the human where he wants to make him use his power, the captain was given a surprise as he watched the second blast closed in on Barricade that it looked like it was going to strike him, but then simply watch the young man then twist his body that he spun low to the ground, letting the blast rocket above him before he spun back up. all of the ponies were astonished not just by Barricade’s reflexes, but also his degree of flexibility to lower himself to the ground quickly, then spring back up in nearly one fluid motion.

“My turn.”

Was all Barricade said as he stood up before spinning in place, before he swung back around and lashed his right arm out as if he was swinging a weapon. Though the weapon in this case was a yellowish gold field no bigger than an apple, before it was flatten into a disk shape a few seconds after it was slung out. As the disk swiftly crossed the area towards Shining, matching the speed of his own attacks, and growing brighter as it spun in the air as it raced towards the captain, the stallion decided to guard against the attack rather than evade it. Rasing a shield spell in front of himself to block the disk, Shining thought that he was prepared to tank the hit, but the moment that it clashed with his spell the stallion actually recoiled at the feed back as the disk, literally, shattered against his spell. And nearly broke it as it caused a massive spider-web crack to appear on his shield! However the damaged shield was quickly shattered to pieces as another disk collided with it!

From the guards and Twilight’s perspective, after Barricade launched his own attack he didn’t stop. No, the human spun around fully in a full circle, before he launched another attack when the humans initial attack was halfway towards Shining!

When Shining’s shield spell was shattered, and the captain was recoiling from the full feedback of the ethereal backlash, the ponies outside the dome then watched as Barricade created another dome around his lower half, before he was rocketed ten feet forward! Just as Shining Armor watched as Barricade makes his way towards him, the stallion readied to cast another spell. But just as he did Barricade created another small field to catch him and then further rocketing him towards the stallion, though at a much faster pace! So much so that the moment that Barricade was shout out of the second field, he was directly in front of the stallion, covering the last fifteen feet in nearly a few seconds. Startling the stallion so much that he lost his concentration of his spell for a moment, and in that instant, the human had his left arm cocked back and had his hand covered in a small field. Like a make-shift boxing glove, ready to strike the stallion in the face! Yet the moment that the young man shot his arm forward, the stallion used his magic to instead create a forceful shockwave to send both combatants backwards five feet away from each other. However, even as he was pushed back Barricade didn’t stop his attack, he managed to power through the shockwave and kept his attack going.

Only this time, Barricade’s fist rushed through the field that encased it before it was stopped, and connecting to the field’s interior, causing the field in its entirely to ripple…but also glow with energy. Once the human skidded to a stop he pulled his arm fully out of the small field, left suspended in the air, before striking it on the outside with seemingly all his strength. And with that punch the ponies outside the area watched as it pulsed with light and energy, before watching a bolt of energy being shot out on the other side of the small field! and now racing towards Shining Armor who was still regaining his balance from his own shockwave. Unfortunately due to the short gap between the two, the human’s projectile reach the captain of the guard before he could react in time to counter it, or simply try and dodge out of the way. Getting struck right in the center of his chest!

“Shining!” Twilight cried out as she watches her brother be knocked back another five feet, though this time rolling on along the ground as he was knocked down.

“That was crazy!” a female guard said with shock. “He closed the distance on the captain, and even though he got pushed back, he managed to continue with his attack and still got a hit in!”

“All in the span of half a minute!” another guard said as he watches Barricade straighten himself up while Shining Armor took a moment to recollect himself, and then stand back up.

“By Celestia…your good.” Shining wheezed as he rubbed his chest, but his face quickly took on a baffled expression as he looked over to Barricade.

“But, Twilight said your power was putting up barriers. So how could you do all that?”

“The base line aspect of my power is creating barriers.” Barricade replied as he holds one of his hands up, and created a small force field ball in his palm.

“But my power has other aspects. Such as the energy that my fields are created from are manifested kinetic energy, which means the more movement, impact, force, and motion that is applied to it…the stronger my field becomes.”

“So the spinning…it wasn’t just to evade my attacks…you were also building up momentum to power up your own attacks!” Shining summarized as he, and by extension the ponies watching the sparring match, looked to Barricade who nodded his head.

“And that last attack I did, I just used the kinetic energy I generated by striking it to build up power, then on my second strike I manipulated the barriers energy flow to gather the stored up energy—” Barricade then outstretched his right arm and held two fingers out, pointing directly at Shining Armor.

“And lunched it right at you.” the ponies were dumbstruck by what the human had just said as he explained what his power is capable of.

“And that’s only a small portion of what I can do with my power.”

‘What else could he do with his power?!’ Shining thought to himself as he stood ready to continue the sparring match, and Barricade looked happy to continue as well as he took a more traditional looking battle stance. But before the pair could continue with their match, another guard came galloping into the hall.

“Captain!” the guard cried out before skidding to a stop.

“Fleet Feather what’s wrong?” the captain asked as he approaches the edge of the area, while Barricade dropped the field surrounding them.

“We got an incident brewing in the residential area, some pony is stirring up some kind of ruckus.” The guard, Fleet Feather, reported which caused the captain to look back at the rest of the guard.

“Suit up ponies, we got work to do!”

“Sir!” the guards said back before scrambling to leave the training hall, while dawning their armors and taking their weapons from the side walls. Meanwhile Shining Armor looked over to Barricade as he reached down to grab his coat.

“Sorry Barricade but we’ll have to put our sparring match on hold.”

“No prob.” The young man said as he ties his coat around his waist by the sleeves. Soon the hall was empty of its former occupants, leaving Twilight and Barricade standing at the entrance watching the small horde of guards gallop down the corridor.

“You think your brother will be alright? I did hit him pretty hard, despite him wearing armor.”

“I think he will. His armor has a basic defensive enchantment on it, so it lessens blows it receives.” Twilight said with confidence in her brothers endurance, and his armor to keep him moderately safe. with the guards now out of sight, the pair left the training hall and decided to find some place to relax. And the little mare knew just the place to unwind and relax.


~~Elsewhere~~

Out in the country side, about a good ten or so miles from both Canterlot Mountain & Ponyville, a bright purple flash appeared in the skies above the country side. But just as quickly as it appeared in the world, that purple flash disappeared in the same brilliant shade of color. Though it would seem that whatever that purple flash was, it left something behind in its wake, as something struck the ground with such force that it cause quite the miniature earthquake. Causing the nearby trees, bushes, and rock formation around the impact sight to shake and tremble. Even the animals in the area were startled by the sudden force and quickly scurried off. meanwhile in the newly formed crater, a plume of dust and smoke wafted from its center while the shadowy image of a figure started to move. And this figure was huge! Slowing standing to a stunning fifteen ft. tall figure, as a pair of slitted blue eyes glowed in the dust cloud. A moment later the massive figure made its way to the edge of its crater, its form being reveled as dust and smoke finally wafted away from it, revealing an entity wholly unknow to this world! A towering robotic figure made its way out of the crater, its small head imbedded within its body scanning its surroundings, as it hefts its massive weapon in both its hands.

“Preliminary scans inconclusive. No data available of current position.” The robotic giant said aloud in a deep monotone voice.

“Connecting to HQ.” a small antenna emerged from behind its head as its eyes rapidly blinked.

“Unable to connect with HQ mainframe. Unable to establish wireless connection to network.” The robot stood in silence for a moment before it spoke up.

“Directive: seek out and contain any and all Un-Naturals.” The weapon in its hands thrummed with energy as parts of it glowed with a brilliant blue light, before it snapped to look off to the right of its position, where it found a large manticore emerging from a tree line. Snarling and growling as it flared its wings, and flexing its scorpion tail.

“Scanning.” A flourish of blue light was projected from the robots eyes, scanning over the monstrous creatures body as it lashed out at the light.

“Corrupted biological scan detected. Multiple animal DNA mixed together, and unknown energy signature radiating from individual.” The machines eyes then shifted to a deep red color as it turned to face the manticore fully, weapon trained at it as the beast roared before lunging at the robot.

“Un-Natural detected, threat level, A.” was all the robot said as the barrel of its weapon shimmered with blue energy as steam began radiating from them

“Commence with extermination.”
> Chapter 7: A Meeting With A Dreamwalker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Within a starry night landscape that stretches as far as the eye can see, princess Luna was trotting about the ambient dreamscape at a leisurely pace as her eyes scanned over the myriad of doors that drift, or float by her as they hovered within the starry void. As the princess of the night trotted about she would look at each and every door that passed her by, her eyes seemingly piercing through the woods frame, seeing directly into the very dream of a pony that lied behind the door. thankfully most of the dreams that she peered into were happy, joyful, and hopeful dreams, but once in a while the princess would come across a pony that was being plagued by a nightmare, and so she would enter the dream to help her subject resolve whatever is causing the dream. And once she was done she would emerge into the dream-like landscape that the doors occupied. Aside from perusing the dreams of her subjects, and ensuring their mental states were safe & secure, the night princess would occasionally turn and swivel her head about, her eyes darting in all directions. As if she was keeping on the lookout for, something.

As the princess trotted through the land of dreams Luna made her way over to a collection of doors, seven in total, all of which were gathered up and placed in a half circle formation. With a thin veil of blue light wrapped behind them. The doors were arranged with a larger white and golden door with a sun symbol in the center, then having three separate doors on each of its sides. A smile came to Luna’s muzzle as she peered through each one of the doors, seeing her sister, along with Twilight & her friends have the most pleasant of dreams each one could have. The princes then lit her horn and with a small flourish, a cloak of a starry night sky was summoned above the doors, and gently floated downwards towards them before turning into silvery dust. Causing each door to glow dimly with a light blue hue for a few seconds.

“Dream well sister.” Luna mused in a caring voice before looking to the other doors.

“And to you all as well, my friends.” With a gracious bow the princess bid the doors farewell and went to her typical task of shepherding dreams.

“It seems it will be another peaceful night.” The princess said to herself as she rounded a corner of a collection of doors. But as she did so she found something strange just a few paces away from her, and the doors of the dreamscape as a whole.

The thing before the princess of the night was a strange, swirling cyclone of what appears to be black smoke. The cyclone wasn’t spiraling in a rapid rotation, in fact, it was spinning in a fairly laxed state. The princess has only encountered this, smokey cyclone, once before, which was the day prior before it really got into the late night hours. But before she could investigate what it was it suddenly, vanished without a trace. Yet now it has returned to the dreamscape, and this time the princess was determined to see what it was.

Trotting up to the smokey cyclone Luna began by pacing along its perimeter, studying the exterior of the cyclone and as she did so she tried to see if she could peer into it, as she would’ve with a ponies dream door. And as she did so her mind was, not quite assaulted, but flood with vague and abstract images of shifting and strange masses, while glimpsing very few solid images. Though these images were not exactly all that pleasant. The things she saw were of unfamiliar buildings and objects, with towering figures of steel looming over smaller beings. The beings were mostly obscured, but they were tall as far as Luna could see, though that was it. turning away from the cyclone the princess shook her head as it was starting to feel foggy, while her eyes felt like they were burning, but she also felt that her eyes were getting moist. Bringing a hoof to her face the princess found that there were tears in her eyes.

“Just what are you?” Luna asked aloud before she saw something bright blow & yellow erupt in the cyclone, before seeing vivid shades of red being mixed into the cyclones black smoke.

“One thing is for certain, I will not find answers unless I venture into it.”

Steading herself, Luna made her way into the cyclone. However upon entering it she was immediately assailed with more vivid images, and this time, with sound flooding her ears. The stream of sights and sounds became so intense that the princess had to stop a few times to either shake her head because her eyes stung, or to cover up her ears in order to tune out the sounds blasting in her ears, but to no avail. So the princess practically galloped her way through the cyclone until she came out of the smoke, coughing as she did so as her vision cleared up, allowing her to see something extraordinary. 

Luna now found herself in a large city, with buildings taller than any she has seen in Canterlot, or in the other cities that her sister has taken her to see so she can adjust to the modern age. There were various metallic wheeled objects, all varying sizes, that were scattered around along what appears to be wide roads. There was also various bobbles and strange looking objects scattered around, some toppled over or looked like they were destroyed, some of the large, wheeled objects also were either toppled or destroyed. Now while the princess was aware of the strange city she was now standing in, she was more focused on the beings in front of her. Standing before her within this city were various tall bipedal creatures, most of which were running away from these, towering bipedal metal creatures who appear to be fighting with some of the smaller bipeds. Though the ones that were fighting were unlike the ones running away. One was engulfed in fire all but their head which had long flowing red hair, another appeared to be levitating in mid-air and was somehow picking up the wheeled objects with pale blue electricity and throwing them at the giant.

There were also other creatures that were fighting back against the giants, who just lashed out with iron fist and feet, shattering the ground, or striking destructive blows, or used some kind of weird weapon to fire blue magical blasts. And the fighting seemed to be more in favor with the giants than the bipedal creatures fighting them.

“What is going on here!?” Luna called out, but nothing in this strange place so much as acknowledged her, and either just ignored her…or ran right through her. as if she was a mirage.

“What kind of dream is this?” the mare said to herself before she noticed one of the giants facing her, its towering body looming over her, its metal face unfeeling as its narrow red slitted eyes peers over her…its weapon aimed in her direction!

The giant then fired a stream of energy that reached her within seconds, not letting the princess to try to shield herself, or even fly away! Luckily the princess didn’t feel like she was being struck with an attack. Opening her eyes she noticed that the giants attack was passing through her, but her attention was quickly brough behind her as she heard thrumming energy. Turning around Luna saw that the giants attack was clashing against a spiraling yellowish dome of energy, its blue energy being sucked into the dome before changing into the domes own coloration, then a moment later the giants ray blast ended which then lead the dome to fire off a barrage of yellowish magical blasts! All racing pass & through her, before colliding with the giant, whose body just inflated and then curled up to guard against the attack. Then with one final attack the energy dome began swirling with incredible speed, before its entire mass was formed into what looked like a crescent moon before racing through the princess, and striking the giant with so much force that it was toppled over!

“Incredible!” was all Luna could say as she turned to see the creature who managed to topple the giant, though as she did so her face flushed with surprise.

“That’s the creature that Twilight was having lunch with.” the princess stated as she looked at the creature, and even though his mouth was moving Luna couldn’t make out what he was saying, or any of the other creatures in this strange dream.

“Why is he dreaming—wait! What’s going on?!” A few seconds as she was wondering why Twilight’s companion was having this dream, everything shifted as lights and sound started blend into nothing.

Then as soon as the scenery vanished, it changed to a different scene, though it was more weirder than anything, as the scene was now in some kind of underground tunnel. However instead of any of the bipedal creatures, or giants, there was only the one creature that Luna was familiar with, although this time he looked younger. He was sitting all by himself and looked to be wearing some worn out and torn clothes, not only that, but Luna could see that parts of his clothing was covered in blood. But aside from that, the creature looked like he was injured, with blood oozing from the tears in the clothes.

“Just what is going on here?” Luna asked herself as she just watched the younger creature just sit there, looking lost and defeated. If not hopeless. While the princess was unable to hear what the creature was mumbling and crying to himself about, she was able to feel the intense emotion of loneliness and despair that the dream was emanating. Much like the previous dream as she was able to feel the desperation, the anger, and fear from all of the bipedal creatures. Before the princess could try and decipher more of what this dream was about, everything around her started to fade away.

“Wait! What’s going on!” just as half of the of the tunnel was gone the princess looked over to where the creature was, who himself was vanishing away as a blinding bright light started to fill Luna’s field of vision. The next thing Luna knows was that she was standing back in the normal dreamscape, leaving her utterly baffled at what she had just seen.

“Whatever that was…it was no dream. It felt different, it felt more like…” Luna pondered for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

“A memory.”


~~~~~

Seated within the throne room, Luna’s body laid at the top of the podium where the throne sat, her eyes closed and her horn emanating a low field of magic. moments later the glow around the midnight alicorn’s horn has faded away, while the alicorn slowly opens her eyes as she wakes from her dream walking, and once she was fully awake the mare began to stretch out her body as she was feeling stiff. Laying in the same position for hours while dream walking tends to have that effect. when the princess was fully awake, and limbered up, she began to make her way out of the throne room and towards the dining room for a mid-night meal, but as she trotted towards her destination her mind was still wondering about that strange dream—memory---whatever it was. And as she still thought about it she continued to ponder over various things that she’s seen, and what could it all mean.

As far as she knows of Twilight’s companion, from what her sister has told her hours ago after their initial meeting, this creature has come from a harsh and cruel world. Where others like him who are different, are treated like monsters, ostracized by the rest of their race, and are even hunted down to ensure that the ‘common’ folk are kept safe from them. Thinking back to the memories she has glimpsed of from the creatures mind, Luna was uncertain what she should do. on the one hoof she wanted to help the creature, especially after partially witnessing the things he went through, and from what she heard from her sister, Luna would like to try and aide him in feeling safe in Equestria. but on the other hoof she knows that this would be difficult as she also recalls that this creature is VERY, slow to trust and believe in others. So she thought that if she did try to reach out and help him, she thinks that he would either dismiss the gesture, or just outright ignore her attempts.

“Perhaps I should as Tia her thoughts on the manner.” Luna contemplated to herself as she rounded a corner as she closes in on her destination.

“I know Tia is also trying to come up with a way to help him, but what could I do to help him?” the midnight mare asked herself as she continues to trot, an annoyed expression steadily growing on her face.

“Maybe I should try and get to know this, Barricade, before trying to come up with a plan. Other than what Tia has told me of him, and our brief encounter in the dining room, I know nothing about him.” the princess then reached the doors to the dining room where she used her magic to open them.

As the doors open up and Luna was about to head inside, she was surprised to see Barricade sitting at the table and eating. After entering the room the human looked over to Luna for a moment just to give a nod before going back to eating. Deciding to not disturb the human while he ate, Luna quietly gathered her own food and took a spot at the table across from Barricade. After sitting down and she started to eat her meal, the two sat there in silence, making the midnight alicorn feel a little awkward. Though as she sat there the princess took the opportunity to get a better look at the young man, as her initial encounter with him was brief and didn’t really give her much of a chance to really examine him. in appearance the princess was intrigued with Barricade’s overall physic, which wasn’t as covered as he was when she initially met him, as he was wearing no shirt and was wearing only that pair of pants. Though as the midnight alicorn looks over the human’s body a frown touches her muzzle as she looks upon the old scars on his body.

“You might as well take a picture princess. Not only will it last longer, but you can ogle it without making the person your staring at feel awkward.” the humans words caught the princess off guard as she was in mid observation, and seeing a disapproving look on Barricade’s face, his deep brown eyes staring right into her own eyes.

“I’m sorry for my staring Barricade. I just couldn’t help myself in looking.” The princess apologized as the human’s staring softened before he went back to eating, and finishing, his meal.

“Well in that case I’ll let it slide.” With that matter settled the princess also continued to eat her meal, while minding not to stare at Barricade. Soon the pair have finished their meals and the princess watched as the human started to head to the exit of the room.

“Are you heading back bed now?” the princess asked to which the human shook his head.

“Actually right now this is the time of day that I’m awake.” Luna perked up when she heard those words.

“Does that mean that you frequent the night hours prominently?”

“In a way. From what I could gather from both Twilight & Celestia it seems that the times of day are reversed.” Barricade explained as he stood by the doors to the dining hall while crossing his arms.

“On my world it would be morning right about now, I’m still getting used to the time differences.”

“I see.” The princess remarked as she looked up to the young man, before an idea came to her that would allow her to spend some more time with him, and get to know him more.

“Pardon me Barricade but would it be improper of me to ask you a question?”

“Depends on the question.” The human said in a more guarded tone, while giving the princess a somewhat stern look.

“I was wondering if I could spend some time with you, so that we may get to know each other better.” After the princess asked her question the humans expression softened quite a bit, and seemed to be pondering over the question. Though his contemplation didn’t last for to long as he spoke up a few seconds later.

“That’s fine with me. honestly I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for the whole night, so it would be nice to have someone to talk to at least.”

With that the princess gave a gracious smile to the young man before following him out of the dining room, and off towards the guest room where he was staying. Hopefully by conversing with one another, while getting to know each other more properly, Luna might be able to learn more about him and if possible help him. At least, that is the plan the princess of the night was hoping would play out. As the two made their way to Barricades room Luna would occasionally look towards the lunar guards, or the castle staff, that they pass by and give them a small bow of the head as they either saluted her, or gave her a gracious bow. But as they did so Luna would also noticed the odd look that they gave Barricade, especially the guards as they seemed to eye the human up & down. Eventually the pair reached Barricade’s room and as soon as they did the human made his way to where the hearth was, were he unceremoniously flopped down onto a sitting cushion before reaching over to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a couple of glass, and a bottle of a light brown liquid.

“Don’t suppose you princesses drink alcohol do you?” a smile touches the princess muzzle as she joins the young man by the hearth.

“It has been awhile since I’ve partaken of a hard drink.” Barricade shared a smile as he uncapped the bottle and poured a little bit of the liquid into one of the cups, before offering it to the princess who took it in her magic. once the young man filled his own glass the princess then used a little bit of magic to create a sizable ball of ice in each of their cups, causing the human to look to her with a slightly bigger smile before offering his cup.

“Cheers!” the princess chortled as she clinked her glass to Barricades, before they both took their first sip.
> Chapter 8: Out On the Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I gotta say that when I met princess Luna last night I expected her to be more conservative, and more…posh? Or would lady like be the right phrase? She just seemed to carry herself with this air of royal regalness that was different from Celestia, as she seemed to be more like the one to act like a prim & proper princess, but no! She’s surprisingly easy to actually talk to, and she knows how to handle her alcohol to, which makes her a good person to talk to over drinks. But it was nice in general to talk to her, she had a really calming vibe about her, and this maybe just the booze talking, but she actually seemed interested in wanting to know who I am, and not just what I am and what my people are like. it’s been awhile since I’ve gotten fairly personal with someone, though last night the princess didn’t ask me much about my powers or anything like that, she just seemed more interested in what I like and how I see things.

Speaking of which, when I told her of my stance of giving ponies a trial run on earning my trust, she actually thought that I was right in making that decision, especially how the circumstances of my life both here & on earth has been so far. If Twilight and I stick around in Canterlot Castle for a while longer I’m gonna see if I can talk to Luna again, though given that she is royalty and works nights, that might be tough. As last night’s meeting was only possible because she was taking a break from her duties. Since then I’ve spent the rest of the night by myself which was, as I suspected, overly boring. I did go out and wander the castle grounds to find something to cure my boredom, but my options were fairly limited; since I can’t read whatever the language the ponies have I can’t read any of their books, and while I did have a few brief chats with the guards on the night shift it didn’t last long as they were on the clock. Speaking of those guards; turned out there’s a fourth race of ponies called thestrals, or more colloquially known as, bat ponies. Which was pretty interesting to learn, though from what I could gather from the few I was able to talk to, there race seems to be one of the more rarer ones when it comes to ponies. Especially since unlike the three main tribes, thestral’s as a whole have only been around for a few hundred years, so their still a young race in comparison to the others.

But at the moment though I decided to go have a look around the city. I mean as far as I was aware of, I wasn’t purely confined to staying in the castle, also, I was starting to get really curious what a pony city was like.

So now I’m just strutting along the city street, browsing the shops and buildings as I walk past them, along with the ponies that look and stare at me as I approach or past them. Most of them kept quiet as I got closer to them, but every now and then I’d catch them whispering to one another, or just talk loud enough that everyone can hear them. though the stuff they say is pretty much the same stuff I hear from back home, or some of the stuff that I’ve heard the ponies of Ponyville say. However I do catch one or two ponies out right say some hurtful stuff, like referring to me as a monster, or a mutant minotaur, or even a deformed diamond dog…whatever that last one is. But I’ve mostly just ignored them and just went about doing my own thing.

‘So far I’ll have to admit, this place is not that bad.’ I mentally stated to myself as I made my way into what looks to be a lane that had nothing but restaurants in it, given that I was smelling food. And boy does some of this stuff smelled good!

“Hey there!” a gruff voice called out to my left, which belong to a burly looking sterling grey earth pony stallion wearing a green shirt with an apron over it. I just gave him a sparce glance before I continued to walk along the street.

“Hey there big fella! Hold up sec!” I heard the stallion cry out before seeing him gallop in my peripheral vision, then seeing him come to a stop in front of me.

“Need something?” I asked as I stared the stallion down.

“Just a moment of your time, you seem like you could use a good meal.” Ah I see. This guy probably thinks I’m a tourist, and wants me to try his food so I would gossip about it and spread the word about how good his stuff is.

“Appreciate the offer but I got no money, or bits, to pay for a meal.”

“No worries then, I’ll treat ya to a meal!” I narrowed my eyes at this guy as he gave me a big ol’ smile.

“…What’s the catch?” I said with a slightly stern tone as he just looked at me with a curious look.

“Catch?”

“Nothing is for free bub. So, what’s the catch to treating me to a free meal.” The stallion then laughed before he spoke up.

“Your certainly a suspicious fella aren’t ya.” He said with an air of understanding as he continues.

“No tricks, no catch. Just consider it as a show of good ol’ hospitality. I know that Canterlot ponies can be a little harsh to outsiders, so I’d like those that visit the city to feel welcomed.” Okay, I’ll admit that’s a nice gesture and all and a cool thing of him to do, but still. Giving random people free food might cause more trouble than its worth, although, all these delicious aromas in the air is making me feel hungry.

“…alright. Let’s see what you got.”

The stallion again gives me a big ol’ smile before guiding me to his restaurant, which actually turned out to be more of a bar, or a pub based on the interiors design and the atmosphere. Nice and comfy, but you can just feel that distinct pub or bar vibe that’s in the air, the smell of smoke or grilled food also added to the overall atmosphere, add in the low to mild lighting in the building and the calm and comfy feeling of the place is further expanded upon. And I gotta say, this place looks spotless! No stains or any sign of smudge, grime, or dirt anywhere that I can see. This guy really seems to keep his bar in pristine condition, though given that this world has magic I would assume that cleaning is barely a concern to ponies, as they can just ‘magic’ any mess away.

The stallion brought me over to a table that was near the center of the building, and before I could sit on any of the small stools, he quickly called for a pony to bring a larger seat for me, and in a flash a pale pink unicorn mare came out of the back with a chair in her magic. though the moment she saw me she nearly dropped it as she squawked in surprise…and by squawked, I mean she squawked like a chicken! It was actually kind of cute.

“Easy there Hickory, don’t go and be breaking our chairs now.” The stallion said as he looked to the still surprised mare as she slowly approached my table.

“Sorry Barbecue Chip—” Pft! I couldn’t help but snicker a little as I heard the stallions name. “I didn’t expect to see a…a…uh.” The mare seemed to be grasping for an answer as she stared up at me, both curiosity and hesitation, clear on her face.

“If you’re wondering what to call me, I’m a human.” I said to the mare who then nodded her head before setting the chair down by the table, and trotted back to where she initially came from, though she kept her eyes focused on me as she did so. 

“So big fella—wait, what’s yer name first?”

“It’s Baricade.” I simply stated as I got into a comfortable position in the chair.

“Alright then Barricade, what would you like to try?” Barbecue Chip then handed me a menu from a nearby table, and as I browsed through it my hunch that this place might’ve been a grill of some kind was right, cause most if not all of the stuff on this menu was grilled, seared, flame broiled, and other similar cooking techniques. But as I browse one of the items caught my eye.

“I’ll take this hickory smoked rack of ribs.”

“Coming right up!” As Barbecue Chip left to head into the back of the building, I just sat there and wondered what this rack of ribs is going to be like. I mean it can’t really be actual ribs, right? well I’ll just have to wait and find out.

While I was sitting at my table waiting for my improved to meal to be cooked up and served, I was able to over hear what the other ponies that were inside the building from the staff, to a few other patrons, were talking amongst themselves. Though as per usual, their initial conversations all seemed to shift to talking about me, with the staff trying to figure me out, while the customers were wondering if I would try to cause some kind of scene or something. Again I mostly just ignored them and just waited silently at my table, and as I did so I wondered what I should do next after I’ve eaten. I’d probably continue to wonder around the city a bit more, see more of the sights that it has to offer, than make my way back to the castle and rest up and wait to see what Twilight, or the princess have in store, whether we’re staying or heading back to Ponyville.

“Excuse me.” I looked to my left and saw the pink unicorn, Hickory, standing just a little ways off to the side with a tray holding a glass of water & a small bundle of napkins. 

“I’ve brought you a glass of water to drink, and also your meal is almost ready.” I reached over to grab the glass and napkins, before looking to the mare and giving my thanks before taking a sip of my drink. After taking a sip of my drink I noticed that Hickory was still standing there, looking right at me.

“Something I can help you with?” I can probably guess what it is that’s on the mares mind, but I think its better to let her voice her burgeoning question. But instead of asking her question the mare just shake her head, and then trotted off.

A moment later and Barbeque came out of the kitchen with a tray being balanced on his head as he came towards me, and sliding the plate of food off it and onto my table. This smells great! it really has that amazing smokey barbeque smell to it, and…holy shit…it really does look like a rack of ribs! I can even see the bones inside them. the mash potatoes also look really good, especially with the butter still melting on it, and the beans in the little bowl smell like brown sugar and barbeque sauce. Barbeque told me to enjoy, and if I had any questions I was free to ask. Well I took him up on his offer and asked if these really were ribs, he chuckled before shaking his head before explaining that this is actually a special meat substitute blend that is cooked in the same way as meat. So it’s like that veggie meat stuff, this should be interesting.

Ripping one of the ribs from the rack I took my first bite, and wow not only dose it taste like an actual rib, but it also feels like actual meat! And the crisp and char on it is legit, usually non-meat products can’t get this level of charring, or at least the stuff that I ate haven’t. after finishing the rib I then ate the beans and mash potatoes, both of which were rich and savory. As I ate I caught glance of some the ponies watching me, seemingly interested in how I was eating my food. Understandable, Twilight did the same thing when I ate in front of her, and last night Luna did the exact same thing. it is a little annoying that I’m being stared at while eating, so I just gave them all an irritated look and they all quickly went back to what they were doing earlier.

“So how is it?” Barbeque asked as he came trotting over to my table as I finish off the last of the ribs and wiping my mouth and fingers clean.

“Pretty good actually.” I said honestly before taking the last bite of the mash potatoes, cleaning my plate of all its food which seemed to make the stallion even happier.

“Well I’m glad you liked it!” the stallion said with pride before he raised a hoof to pat me on the back, but before his hoof touched me I instinctively raided a small barrier at the spot where he was gonna smack me.

“Whoa! What was that?” he asked confusedly.

“That was my power. no offense, but I don’t like being touched without my say so. Even if it’s a pat on the back.”

“Hey no offense taken. I probably shouldn’t have tried so anyway, I just get so excited when I hear folks complement my food.” I can understand that sentiment.

“Well in any case thanks for the meal.” I said to the stallion before getting up and making my way to the door.

“No problem, feel free to drop by anytime, though next time I will have to charge you!” I just waved to the stallion as I exited the building.

“Now then, what should I do next?” I pondered aloud as just examined my surroundings, taking note of all the other restaurants and diners that are around me. 

“Goodness gracious!” I looked to my left when I heard a very feminine voice say loudly, with a French accent no less, and when I looked to the source of the voice I found two ponies standing there. I really lanky pale pink—almost white—mare with a flowing mane & tail, with a smaller yellow unicorn wearing a maids outfit carrying a few bags in her blue magical aura. The both of them looked shocked and afraid of me as they stared up at me, I just sighed in response.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m a freaky creature—”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” the taller skinnier unicorn said as she then suddenly starts circling me? What the heck is she doing?

“Look at these clothes! They are filthy, and full of creases, I think there might even be a few tears here & there! Not only that but they are also incredibly shabby! Who sent you out here wearing such things?” wait, that’s what she’s wigging out about, my clothes?

“Well sorry if my clothes offends you miss, but these are the only set I have?” the mare then looks up to with a questioning look.

“Then why not simply forgo them and wait until you have a much better set?” What?

“And what am I supposed to do then? Walk around naked?” the mare legit just gave me the most sincere looks of ‘of course’ while nodding her head. that’s when I remembered that I’m basically in a world of nudist, so wearing clothes is more about fashion, or viewed as an accessory instead of necessity.

“Sorry but my kind don’t walk around naked.” I said to the mare as I go about walking around her, but the mare stopped me by quickly getting in front of me.

“In that case then at least allow me to give you something more suitable to wear!” I just groaned before creating a barrier around my feet, extending it upward in a pillar shape, before launching myself a good few feet from the mare. Then I caught myself with another barrier which I used to lower myself to the ground.

“Sorry miss but I don’t think you have anything that’ll actually suit me.”

I then started to make my way back to the castle before the mare could say anything, last thing I need is a mare trying to fit me into clothes meant for ponies, or whatever it is she has planned. I think it might be best to head back to the castle, before I meet any more odd ball ponies. Making my way back to the castle wasn’t all that hard, however when I started to walk up to the front gates I saw a whole slew of guards came rushing out, and they all looked like they were ready to go to war. All of whom had weapons at the ready as they galloped past me. guess something really bad sprang up from the last time I was at the castle, and when I finally entered the castle I caught sight of a few more guards scattered around talking to Shining Armor, along with Celestia.

“Hey there guys, what’s going on?” I asked the pair as I walked up to them as they looked at me with worry.

“A pegasus came flying to the castle about an hour ago and said that some monster is ravaging the country side.” Celestia said before Shining Armor further elaborated.

“Not only that but apparently something is killing creatures in the area as well, or even taking them somewhere. one of which was the pegasus’s brother.”

“So the guards that just ran past me are being sent out to deal with the issue.” Both ponies nodded, though the princess looked incredibly worried…if not disturbed.

“But it’s strange though, we’ve haven’t gotten any kind of reports like this in years. Its rare for anything to just kill anything with no reason, and kidnappings are also unheard of.” Huh, then what could be doing all of this? If those wooden wolves are anything to go, then I wouldn’t be surprised if some other strange monsters would be wondering around causing problems. Well it’s not my place to worry about this stuff, besides the guards seem more than capable of handling it.


~~West of Canterlot Mountain~~

the pegasi draw chariots eventually reached their destination in where the reports of something ravaging the country side was made, once the platoon touched down the earth ponies & unicorns all hopped out of the chariots, while the pegasi un-hitched themselves from the vehicles. Once all the ponies were dispatched they split up into three groups, six members in each one, and split up to search for the large creature they were sent to stop, while remaining within visual range of one another.

“Signal if you any pony finds anything out of the ordinary.” A large unicorn stallion called out as they marched through the woods.

“Rodger!” the other ponies said in unison.

The earth ponies in each group took the front lines of their group, all of who either wielded a spear or a short sword in their mouths, while the unicorns followed behind them using their magics to hold up the groups shields, meanwhile the pegasi hovered just above their teams and were acting as their eyes and ears in case the others missed something. Trudging through the woods the ponies haven’t been able to spot much, but after ten or so minutes of wandering around the space, they eventually found something. The platoon found a series of foot prints, large ones, and they were all mixed with several other types of prints ranging from what looked to be canine, feline, but most of which were ponies.

“What do the pegasus say that the thing looked like again?” a unicorn mare asked the group as some of them studied the prints, trying to track down where the creature they were searching for went to.

“From what Captain Shining Armor could make out its something big that walks on two legs, and has some kind of weapon.” A pegasus stallion recalls as he kept surveying the area from the air.

“Then it shouldn’t be that hard to spot.” An earth pony mare said as she looked around, but then she stopped her search as her ears flicked about before flattening.

“Do all of you feel that?” the mare asked the platoon as a whole. The rest of the guards stopped what they were doing and wondered what their comrade meant, but that’s when they all noticed what their ally mentioned. The ground was trembling.

“I think it’s here!”

The ponies all circled up in a defensive position, earth ponies forming the front line, unicorns forming the second, and the pegasi still remaining air born but kept their eyes and ears open. Soon the entire platoon could hear the dull thud of something big, and something heavy coming their way. That’s when the ponies saw something emerge from the tree line, and what they saw all shocked them. Stomping a few meters from the platoon was truly a large bipedal creature, sharing some similarity to Barricade, but its overall form was drastically different. And its oddly shaped face looked so, cold, and unfeeling as its narrow blue eyes looked down at all of them. As the ponies stared up at the towering creature they watched as a pulse of blue light wafted over them, their entire bodies emanating with a blue light. But the light quickly turned red and dissipated.

“Scanning complete. Corrupted biological scan detected, unknown energy signature radiating from individuals detected.” The towering creature said in a drowning voice before raising the arm wielding the massive weapon in its hand, and pointing it right at the platoon.

“Commence with extermination.”

The platoon then watched as a massive blue energy blast comes rocketing towards them! the unicorns all positioned the shields in their magical auras in front of the group, compacting them together to make one larger shield to tank the hit…but their shields were all rendered asunder as they were reduced to nothing but wrecked metal, while the rest of the blast scattered the ponies as it slammed right into them. all of the earth ponies were sent crashing into either ground or nearby trees as they took the brunt of the attack, even if the shields cautioned the initial blow by a small margin. The unicorns were sent scattered about as they skid across the ground, the cancelation of their telekinesis & enchantment on the shields causing a painful feedback to their minds, causing all of them to cry out in pain. The pegasi were the only ones that weren’t to thrown off by the attack, so they were able to recover much faster and launch right into a counter attack, coming at the towering creature from all sides, blades, and armored hooves ready to strike! But their target seemed to have been ready to meet them head on.