Chapter 36: Magic poisoning

So as it turns out... MOST of the ponies were excited for the appearance of us humans. Some... however...

Were most DEFINITELY not.

"You know I should have seen this coming..." Luna said as we walked through the castle.

I took another look out a nearby window and noticed the huge crowd of ponies gathered at the gates.

"So why are they so angry?" I asked getting Luna to sigh.

"Nobles... trust me they will get mad over ANYTHING. They'll get over it eventually... I hope." She said as I nodded.

I walked down the hall with my armor on but the helmet retracted as I clicked my tongue a few times.

"Oh! I forgot. I need to give this to you." I said as I reached to my hip and a small socket opened up as I grabbed what was inside and handed her a small rectangular piece of glass.

"Oh..." She began as she took it in her magic. "...what is it?" She asked as I moved forward and waved my hand over the screen.

It lit up with a number pad.

"It's a phone. Go ahead and make a password." I said as she nodded.

4-2-3-2

"Alright, now I guess you don't really know how this thing works. Here let me show you." I said as I stepped a bit closed to her as we walked and started my lesson.

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It had taken quite a while to get her to understand it, being so far behind in the tech side of things. But she eventually got the hang of it.

"So if I tap here then-" As she tapped a spot on the screen, a tune started playing from my suit.

I tapped a button on my wrist to end the call sound.

"Yup." I said as it almost immediately sounded through her phone. "Neat huh?"

Nodding she spoke into the phone. "H-Hello?" She said as it rang through my speakers before she jumped a bit with giddiness.

"Ahhh the feeling of new tech." I said to myself as I hung up the call. "Anyway, the reason I'm giving you this is in case you EVER need to contact me. For any reason." I said getting her to nod. The phone suddenly vanished into thin air with a small flash, and we continued walking.

Suddenly a wave of nausea washed over me in an instant, making me lose my balance. I placed a hand to my head and leaned against the wall, causing Luna to look at me worriedly.

"Whats wrong?" She asked as I shook my head.

"N-Nothing. It's gone now, just a bit of dizziness." I waved it off as I straightened myself and motioned forward. "Let's keep going. We should probably try and hurry up a bit and settle this little riot the nobles are causing out there." I said as she nodded and picked up her pace.

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The gates parted as we both walked out of the castle and looked ahead of us at the large group of rioters. Some guards were currently trying to keep it from breaking past the main gates as the ponies tried to push their way through.

"What's going on here!?" I called out getting many of the ponies to quiet down.

"My subjects! Why must you all protest so!? These are times for celebration!" Luna called out.

"We don't want celebration!"

"We don't want change!"

Many ponies shouted random bits of hatred towards me but I just shook my head. I was about to say something when a sudden shield shot up around us.

"Magical discharge!" A guard yelled out as he held up the barrier.

Just as he said those words, a pony from the crowd fired off a shot from his horn as it was quickly absorbed in the shield. He was swiftly subdued by a few more guards and had something placed on his horn, as the other ponies became much more cautious.

I held back another wave of sickness as Luna charged her horn and we both vanished in an instant. A moment later my vision cleared and we were in the throne room, currently occupied by Celestia and another pony. I fell to my knees, breathing a bit heavily as I stared at the spinning ground. I looked back up to see Celestia and the pony arguing with each other.

"What do you mean it's just GONE?" Celestia said to the pony.

"I'm sorry you're highness... but the cake simply vanished!" The pony said aloud as Luna shook her head.

"Sister!" She said aloud getting Celestia's attention. "The nobles are out of control! They actually tried to attack Jake! We cannot let this go unanswered!" Luna began as she looked to me. "Right Ja-" She cut herself off with a gasp as she saw my condition. "Jake! Whats wrong did you get hit?"

Shaking my head I shakily stood and let out a slow breath. "N-no. Just feel a bit unwell. I think it be best if you took care of this without me." I said getting her to slowly nod.

I slowly made my way out of the room and watched as the doors closed behind me. Almost immediately I heard shouting from the other side, mostly from Luna. Chuckling a bit I lay my hand on my stomach as I turned to a nearby guard.

'Maybe I'm just really hungry... low blood sugar or something I don't know...'

"Is there someplace I could get a bite to eat?" I asked while he nodded.

"Yes sir right this way." The guardspony said as I followed him quickly.

After a few minutes of walking the pony opened a set of doors leading into a very large room, filled with tables and benches, which in turn were filled with ponies. All of them donned different colored armor, ranging from black, to blue to gold.

"Is this the...?" I asked as the guard finished.

"Yup. The mess hall. There are some ponies here you want to meet you, and you can get a bit to eat as well." He said as I gave him a nod.

As the guard left, I took a look around the room. Some of the ponies were looking at me but the rest seemed to be minding their own business.

"Never thought I'd see you here." Voiced a pony from behind me.

I quickly turned around and smiled at the face of Shining Armor.

"Well why not? If our armies are gonna work together might as well take a look right? I was also told that someone wanted to meet me?" I asked getting him to nod.

"Oh yeah. A lot of the recruits and vets here want to see you all right. But for now I was about to get something to eat. Care to join me?" He asked smiling.

He began to walk towards a open window and nodded to the pony on the other side. A few moments later a tray came out with some food on it. Apples, a glass of water, and what I had to guess was a sandwich with... flowers in it.

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at the tray then back up to me.

"Oh!" I said as I reached forward and grabbed the tray, getting him to release his hold on it.

He quickly grabbed another one and we both walked to a nearby empty table.

"So, what do you think about our guard?" He asked as we both sat down and I inspected the sandwich, slowly lifting up the corner of the bread and clarifying there was, in fact, flowers in it.

I just decided to munch on the apple.

I took a bite out and chewed for a few seconds before answering, pushing the food to one side of my mouth. "They are well trained, but far from soldiers I'll tell you that." I said getting him to nod and take a bite out of his sandwich.

"Tell me. What makes the difference?" He said getting me to stop mid bite and think.

"Well... how many of your guys have been in a firefight?" I asked before face palming. "Wait never mind... no guns." I said getting him to shake his head.

"Nonono I know what that is. But here it's with magic. Well... the last one I know of was... about seven years ago over in downtown Canterlot." He said as he began to go into details. "If I remember correctly... there were about eight ponies, all using magic enhancers." He paused as I raised my hand.

"Magic enhancers?" I asked.

"Yeah. They're these things you put on your horn and it amplifies your magic immensely. Highly illegal. Anyway... these guys were held up in a bank and were trying to get out with over three million bits."

I held up my hand for a moment, getting him to pause. "Wait, three million? How the hell could they carry that much?" I asked getting him to look at me blankly. "Magic... right. Go on." I said as I took another bite of my apple.

"The fight was stuck in this stalemate for a good four and a half hours, each side taking potshots at each other. Until finally Celestia called in the Elites." He said nodding over to a group of ponies in the corner.

The ponies were wearing black armor and all consisted of Unicorns with very sharp looking horns.

"Anyway, the elites came in and ended the dispute in a matter of minutes." He said smiling.

"How?" I asked looking over at the group.

"Well, their armor there has an enchantment on it that allows itself active camouflage. Personally enchanted by the princesses themselves. Highest grade armor we have. They're also trained in every magical art I know of... except time spells for obvious reasons." He said as I nodded.

"Jeez. So those guys are the real deal huh? I'd like to see how they stand up to my own boys." I said as I turned to see him grinning.

"That's kind of what I wanted to ask about. Think you'd be up for a little sparring match? Some of my guards are still a bit... shaken up by the sudden addition to our army. Maybe seeing us fight, captain to general, would ease their worries a bit?" He asked as he raised his eyebrows a bit and smiled.

"Heheh... you know I won't go easy right?" I asked getting him to smile and stand. "Alright guess we're going. Lead the way."

I followed Shining to a set of doors that led to an outside field, with a number of noteworthy things. There were all kinds of different exercise materials along with a medium sized track and an arena which was currently occupied with two ponies in the middle of an intense duel. I quickly shed my armor, setting it next to a wall and caught back up with Shining, getting a few looks as I did so.

"Nice place you got, much more open that the ship's training yard." I said aloud as I followed him to the ring.

"Hey boys! Mind if I take this from you for a few minutes?" Shining shouted aloud, getting the two ponies attentions.

"Yes sir!" They both said as they quickly jumped out of the ring.

"Alright, weapons or no?" I asked as I stepped up into the arena.

The arena was square and made of concrete, sitting a good foot off the ground with bleachers a bit away from the edges to let guards spectate. Currently there were only a few ponies sitting there but more began to flood in as word got out there was going to be a fight between their captain and a human.

"No weapons for now, hoof to... hand first." He replied.

We both stood opposite to each other, and waited.

"Begin!" He shouted as we both jumped into action.

He immediately went for my lower body and tried to land a few punches which I swiftly dodged, along with a few of my own thrown. Kick, punch, grab... it went on like this for a while. Both sides holding their ground but not really gaining any advantages. However... slowly the fight began to pick up pace, as cheering began to raise in volume around us. Within a few minutes, we weren't playing around anymore, making each swing and dodge count.

"You're *Huff* not bad *puff* for someone... half my height!" I said as I sidestepped a buck he made.

Letting out a small laugh, he replied as he jumped back, avoiding one of my own blows. "There's nothing to it. You're basically *Whew* a Minotaur."

He jumped forward again, trying to land a strike on me, but didn't pull back in time as I sidestepped and hit him with an open palm strike on the right side of his barrel. He followed up with an elbow to my chest as we both separated and held our affected spots.

Smiling, he spoke up. "Heh... Nice hit."

"Yeah but I wasn't fast enough to get out." I said under my breath as he visibly calmed down and sat on his haunches.

I did the same by relaxing my muscles and sitting cross legged on the ground. We both sat like that for a few minutes catching our breath as I looked at the ponies around me sitting on the bleachers. There was at least more than forty ponies, a mix of Day, Night, and Elite forces among them all sitting on the seats as they placed bets on either of us. From what I could hear, Shining was the most highly bet on here, which came as no surprise to me. I spotted a certain pony however, sitting on the bleachers and waving at me trying to get my attention as he munched down on some cake with an emblem of the sun on it.

"Woooo! Go Jake!" Bolt yelled out as I rolled my eyes and looked back to Shining.

"Alright, you ready for round two?" Shining asked as I turned and saw him holding a spear and a sword both with flat ends.

I nodded to him and he motioned to the weapons.

"Which do you prefer?" He asked as I pointed to the spear.

He tossed it in the air and I caught it as I stood up, readying myself for the next fight.

"What weapon are you using?" I asked as his horn lit up and two short swords appeared in a pink light, both with no sharpened end. "Oh..." I said getting into position.

"BEGIN!" He shouted again as he charged forward, going on the offensive.

I immediately took the spear in both hands and held it up, blocking the downswing of his two weapons. He jumped back for a moment then tried again with a side swing which I quickly evaded and tried for my own stab. He smacked the attack to the left and went for a quick counter attack but I jumped out of the way.

However... as the fight continued... I felt the same uneasiness start to rise in my stomach again, slowly going up to my chest. I quickly parried another attack, and the feeling intensified, causing me to lose my balance and get dizzy as the sound of cheering began to get more and more dull.

Shining took note of this and immediately stopped his advances, causing his weapons to vanish.

"Jake? Jake is something-" He began before I lurched forward and puked onto the ground.

I almost immediately began to violently cough. It felt like an unholy fire was in my lungs, burning me from the inside out.

I fell to the ground and lay there for a moment, trying to breath before a few moments later I was rolled over onto my back. I could barely hear anything going on around me and my vision was blurry and tunneled. Voices cut in and out as I lay there trying to stay awake.

"-EDICAL TEA-"

"....magical poisoning-"

There was a sound of thunder, a feeling of emptiness, then all I saw was black.

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Perspective: Shining Armor

'What the hell is this guy made out of! He's almost faster than me!' I thought as I backed up and readied my weapons.

As I prepared myself for another attack, I saw Jake's expression suddenly change from determination, to unease. He began stumbling a bit and I immediately recalled my weapons.

"Jake? Jake is something wrong?" I asked but before I could get an answer, he lurched forward and puked out a purplish blue liquid that evaporated almost instantly into the air.

He collapsed on the ground and began coughing violently as I turned to the bleachers.

"GET A MEDICAL TEAM HERE NOW!" I yelled as some ponies quickly flew off.

I turned back to him to see an elite guard rolling him onto his back as he examined him with his horn.

"He's got magical poisoning. His body is burning up itself to make room for the excess magic." He said quickly.

I was about to pitch something in when I saw him jab his horn into Jake's arm.

"What are you doing!" I said as he squinted in pain.

A few moments later he stomped the ground, cracking it and filling the air with static electricity which quickly faded. He slowly stood back up and cleaned the blood off his horn.

"Some magical pressure had to be relieved or he'd be ashes by the time the medical team got here. He doesn't have a horn so I had to make an outlet for the energy." He said stoically as a team of ponies flew down with a stretcher.

I sat in silence as the team scooped him up and slowly flew off, careful not to move him too much.

"WHAT?!" A voice screamed from inside the castle.

'Oh I'm definitely dead...'

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