CANTERLOT CASTLE, EQUESTRIA

I was abruptly awoken from a dreamless sleep by a loud knocking on the door.

"Wha- who the hell knocks on a hospital room door like that? Oh wait, that's right...old life.", I mumbled to myself, quickly remembering where I really was again.

"Archangel! It's Lieutenant Swift Spell. I'm here to escort you to your carriage, time to get up!", yelled Swift, muffled behind the door.

I sluggishly oozed out of bed and shuffled towards the door. "Alright. Alright, I'm coming! Hold your horses...or, ponies."

I opened the door to the somewhat impatient guard pony. It was just him this time.

"Good morning sunshine, sleep well?", Swift joked.

I just rubbed my eyes and looked back at my room's window. "Morning?! It's pitch black out there. What gives?"

"It won't be dark for much longer. Also, most things get started at sunrise in Ponyville, so Her Highness suggested a very early start for you. If we leave in the next five minutes, we should arrive with the sunrise.", Swift explained in his more professional tone.

"Ah darn no continental breakfast? Oh well, lets leave right now then. It's not like I have any clothes to pack or anything.", I joked back, now feeling more invigorated by the good nights rest.

Swift chuckled a little at my now usual issue. "Right, that being said, I think we might drop you off near that one seamstress's house. I can't recall her name at the moment."

I just smiled over the answer in my head, and decided to keep it there after remembering Celestia's ground rules. "Good idea, I just hope she's feeling generous."

"Lets get going then shall we.", Swift said as he made his way out into the hallway.

I followed him out, taking one last look at my luxurious room, and we made our way out to the same courtyard as yesterday. Instead of going straight through this time, we took a left through a small garden walkway. At the end it lead to a large open platform. The dark early morning sky was now fully visible. Such a beautiful work of art on a cosmic canvas by Luna's magic. I for one love her night.

My stargazing was interrupted by Swift chuckling at my side. "You really are one for the sights huh. Anyway, we're here."

I brought my gaze back down to earth and refocused my vision. There ahead of us was a large golden, open front carriage with two burly looking pegasi ponies hooked up to the front.

"And here I thought I might be taking the train or something boring.", I said now excited.

Swift just smiled. "Nope. This is standard travel for royalty and their students. Well, you better get going then. From what I here, you've got a lot of work to do."

"You have no idea...Alright Swift, hopefully I won't be away too long. I like it here after all.", I said approaching the carriage.

"Good luck Archangel.", Swift said waving me off.

"Thanks. Lord knows I'll need it.", I replied, waving back and taking a seat. I then looked at the two pegasi in front and decided to break the ice with my ride.

"Good morning gentlecolts, how are you?", I said a little too happy for the early hour.

They both looked back at me seeming a little surprised at me speaking. Then one decided to reply. "We are just fine sir, are you ready to get going?"

"Good. Yea, ready when you ar-aaahhh!", My tongue was flung into the back of my throat as we thrust off of the platform with surprising speed. "Damn.", I whispered.

When I regained my bearing, I sat back up in my seat and leaned over the edge of the carriage. I took a look below and could barely see the ground. We had to be over a couple thousand feet in the air. I just sat there for a while, zoning out in deep thought about everything that had happened in such a short time. 'It's all real, and I'm really here. It's almost hard to accept, but too good not to.', I reasoned in my head.

The dawn started to break the horizon while I was thinking and it made me think about Celestia. Her and how things felt awkward, and so uneasy between us. I can understand her being on guard about me because I'm actually here and I have a lot of potential abilities. Her attitude towards humans in general however, I found very surprising and unsettling for a being as old and wise as her. Maybe all she ever did see, when she could, was bad times and events, but still. I guess I will just have to prove otherwise and show her a better view, through myself. She is after all giving me the benefit of the doubt, I suppose I could give her the same. Now that I think about it, I got off lucky. If one these ponies were to just appear on Earth, there would be no end to their harassment, by the government and the general public...and bronies, dear god especially them.

I was snapped out of my train of thought by one of the pegasus guards. "We are about five minutes away now!"

"Oh. Okay thanks.", I replied as I leaned back over the edge. I was just about to zone out over the dawning horizon some more when something caught my eye from below. Far off in a distant treeline, a glimmering black streak rocketed into the sky, then appeared to stop...I thought.

I was wrong, that streak didn't stop. It changed course, right for us in fact, and it was coming just as fast. Out of nowhere my skin started to crawl with energy, just like when I fell from orbit. Strange again, but whatever, we had other issues! I turned to the clueless guards and screamed. "Incoming! Land this motherfu-"

There was an ear splitting crack and boom, and I was ripped from the carriage with extreme force. My old body would have been bloody bits and pieces after something like that. Everything went black, so quick.

~~~

Out in the scattered tree lines of the Equestrian valley, the Dark One lowered a smoldering obsidian staff and smiled maliciously as he watched the antimatter orb he just fired connect with it's intended target. The destructive effects were magnificent, a once regal royal carriage, now shattered falling debris.

"Aww, too bad.", was all he said right before vanishing again in a burst of black smoke.

~~~

I was quickly awoken by the sickening feeling of spiraling out of control and falling, my energy gone again. I quickly managed to right myself into a shabby skydive and scanned my surroundings. I saw both of the pegasi guards, intact but falling unconsciously towards the edge of Ponyville, which was coming quick. There was no time to freak out, I knew I had to do something, and fast.

I pulled my arms in and dove faster through the air towards the unconscious guards. I slammed into the first, then managed to grab and pull in the second guard pony. One in each arm. There was maybe a few hundred feet left. "Okay... Uhh, energy fly?! Power, float?!", I screamed, desperate for something, anything to happen.

It all happened so fast. I reeled around in the air and put my back towards the ground with the guards over top of me hoping to take some of the impact away from them. "Stupid energy do something now goddamnit!", I cursed.

The last thing I heard before darkness claimed me was something that sounded like an electro-static hum that intensified right before the expected thump of the ground. I stopped cringing and tried to move. It didn't happen, in fact I couldn't even feel my entire body. But this all felt a little familiar. Just when I thought about that, the darkness faded into bright white light.

"Back already?", boomed that thunderous voice I immediately recognized.

"Whoa shit! Am I dead...again?", I asked, a little freaked out...again.

The voice chuckled a little before answering. "You never did die Jon, you transcended remember?"

"Right, yeah I remember. But why am I here again? I thought I had a job to do. I thought I was given incredible power too!", I yelled, still bewildered by the current situation.

"I was just getting to that. You were given power. And I will remind you, that I told you your power will need to be discovered slowly. You see, you never really left your old body and mind. A body and mind that isn't accustomed to such great and powerful things. Even though your particular mind is very accepting, these things still aren't natural to you, you might call them supernatural.", the voice said sounding a little amused by the subtle pun.

I was getting impatient. "Ha-ha, seriously though, how can I make it work? It does things all by itself, but how do I control it? I feel like it has a mind of it's own."

"That's just the problem. You, in your current state, are trying to completely tackle a universal power source of almost limitless proportions all at once. Discover slowly remember? Anyway, I will try to simplify it for you as much as I can. You must free your mind from expectations, empty it, let things be as they are. This energy is yours, it flows through you regardless of what your mind accepts or not. Right now though it merely acts as a reflex to danger and strong emotions, like adrenaline, as I'm sure you've noticed. You can however learn to focus the flow and output of this power. It is similar to controlling your emotions. After all, an emotion is energy in motion. Over all though, when the time is right, you will know and feel what to do.", the voice explained.

"I guess I didn't think of it that way. I did expect way too much way too fast. Like I was gonna have the power of 'the Force' or something right off the bat. It makes enough sense though, I'm not gonna question every little detail about it. Just, empty the mind and lets things flow mostly, right?", I asked trying to sum it all up.

"Yes that's a start, all things will come to pass in due time. Now then, I have to ask, do you want to go back now?", the voice asked.

"What?! Yes of course I want to go back, I'm just getting started.", I blurted out, surprised by the question.

"I know you do, but I have to ask, it's your will and choice after all. Very well then Jon, until next time...again.", the voice stated.

"Alright, until then. Good-", I got cut off by the white space ripping away once more. I get cut off a lot it seems. This time though, I was looking up at the sky rather than falling from it. "-Bye.", I wheezed. I then felt the sensation of my body rapidly returning and sat up. I was in a knee deep crater facing Ponyville, which was just across an open field now. One of the guards was laying over my legs and the other was just behind him. I checked his vitals, amazingly he was still breathing and had a decent pulse. I then pulled him off and crawled over to the other guard. He wasn't as lucky. He had a clearly broken leg, and his pulse and breathing was weak. That pissed me off, somebody was seriously gonna pay for this cheap shot.

Just as I was about to pick up the injured stallions and bring them into town, a wagon that resembled an ambulance came speeding out of Ponyville. Two husky looking stallions were pulling it and they weren't wasting any time. They were upon us in seconds, and screeched to a halt. The two stallions, both earth ponies, unhooked themselves and two unicorn mares jumped out of the back. They all gave me a short strange look, but quickly returned to their duties.

"What happened here? Are you alright?", one of the mares asked as they all ran up.

"I don't know for sure, I think we got shot down by something. I'm just fine, but they're not, him especially!", I explained, pointing to the more injured guard.

"Shot down?! What? Who would or could do such a thing? Are you sure you're alright sir?", asked the other mare, appearing thoroughly unsettled by the thought.

"Yes I'm good to go, again, don't worry about me.", I insisted.

I helped them load up the casualties and they were about to go when one of the stallions came over to me. "Sir, last chance go if you need to, I highly suggest you get checked out."

I was getting annoyed. "For the last time, I AM FINE! And, you don't even know what I am so how could you treat me anyway? Hmm? Now get those poor guards to the hospital ASAP! And one last thing, make sure this immediately gets reported to the princesses!", I scolded in my former military tone.

The medical pony jumped at my serious tone and quickly hooked himself back up to the carriage. "Uh, uh, yes sir good point, right away. Umm, good luck.", he stammered as they started to pull away. And then they were off as fast as they came.

I stood there staring at the crater for a moment, deciding what to do. Part of me would love to go gallivanting off into the woods to try and find the prick responsible for all of this. However, I had no clue where to start, and I really needed to get things sorted out with myself. Not to mention, I still have to go meet the locals and hopefully find a place to stay. So I made my way into Ponyville.

It was a beautiful day as one would expect from a dream world like this. The buildings, plants, and whole town was just exquisite. But as I made my way further into town, I never felt more like a stranger. Everypony around was quiet and staring at me, whispering to each other. I could have sworn I heard one little filly blurt out something like hornless minotaur . I just sheepishly waved and smiled at the surrounding ponies and kept walking.

A few minutes passed and I came to what I think was the center of town. Only more awkward stares and whispers met me there. I was really starting to get uneasy about things, then I heard hoofsteps coming up behind me and a loud gasp. I just froze, and one single thought passed through my mind. 'Oh shit...Pinkie!' I slowly turned around and was completely shocked at how wrong I was. There stood Lyra Heartstrings with the biggest shit-eatin' grin I ever saw on a pony.

"OH! MY! GOSH! You really do exist!", she blurted out suddenly.

I just stood there and stared at her, probably with a dumb expression on my face, before finding my tongue. "Umm, yea I exist alright. Thanks for noticing?", I said, not sure what to make of this situation yet.

Lyra only seemed to get more excited. "Wow! You speak our language too? That's so great! Oh where are my manners, I'm Lyra Heartstrings and I am the only pony in town who studies and knows anything about humans."

Damn, how could I have forgotten that one. She was one of my favorite background ponies from the show and stories when I was young. And for the record, she is much prettier and cuter in real life. "Well Lyra I must say after this awkward morning, it is wonderful to meet you. My name is Archangel and I could use some help finding my way around here."

"Aww, I'm sorry about that, everypony can be a little shy of newcomers but they'll come around. Also I would love to help you Archangel. Anything at all.", she said with genuine kindness.

"I really appreciate your kindness. I just need to find Princess Twilight Sparkle or one of the other Elements of Harmony. Can you point me in the right direction?", I asked with a smile.

Her expression changed to one of slight disappointment. "Well I heard they're all out in the Everfree forest at the old castle ruins. But, your'e not actually thinking of going all the way out there now are you?"

I thought about it for a second. I had no idea how to find my way out there or anywhere, and I don't think anypony here would be my guide for a trek like that. I just sighed. "No, I guess not, I don't know my way around here. Hell, I don't even know what to do with myself.", I said kicking the dirt in frustration.

Lyra looked down and away a little while sheepishly rubbing her hoof on her leg. "You could umm, stay with me, I mean, if you'd like to that is. Until they get back or however long you need to.", she said shyly, but with hopefulness evident in her voice.

I gave her a big smile. "That is really nice of you to offer, but I don't want to be a burden or take up space in your home though."

All of Lyra's shyness disappeared at once with my answer. "Are you kidding?! I would love to have you, a real live human, at my house. Which is fairly big by the way. So burden? No way, and there is plenty of space, even for a big fella like you. It would be awesome!", she said with a playful smile.

'Big fella?', I thought for a moment, then realized that I was actually pretty big compared to the average sized pony like Lyra. On all fours her head only came about as high as my belly button, but if she were to stand on her hind legs she'd probably be close to level with my face. The Princesses were a different story, especially Celestia.

"Well when you put it like that, how can I refuse? After all, I really don't have anywhere else to go and it's been an interesting morning.", I said laughing at her excited nature.

"Great, it will be my pleasure. Follow me.", she said with a tone that I was almost certain was alluring. She then turned around, obviously over swaying her flank, and began to strut away towards her house.

I finally snapped my eyes off of her friggin' ass and shook my head. 'What the hell? That was a bit, friendly.', I thought. But I did notice something definitely different from the show. Let's just say these ponies aren't missing anything...back there. Anyway, I caught up with her and we walked another way through town on the way to her house. Along the way more ponies looked at the both of us a little perplexed, but not as awkwardly now. Must have been Lyra I guess. Surprisingly, we didn't say anything to each other along the way, just exchanged the occasional smiling glance.

We finally came up to a nice, well decorated, two story red house. It had flowers outside of every window and was overall, very girly for lack of a better term. Oh well, it's a place to stay none the less.

"Well, here we are, home sweet home. Come on in.", Lyra said, using her magic to open the door.

Having to duck slightly through the doorway, I stepped inside with her right behind me and looked the place over. There was a wide open living room with a wrap around couch right in front, and stairs to the second story directly on the right. To the left was a doorway that I assume led to the kitchen and on the right, under the stairs was another doorway to a bathroom. It was cozy to say the least. I walked further in and turned around to Lyra, wondering what she wanted to do next.

"What's the matter silly? Go ahead and sit down, make yourself comfortable.", she said bumping past my hip and taking a seat on the end of the sofa.

I took a seat and chuckled at her question. "Nothing, it's just a nice place. I used to own a nice house, quite a while ago though. I had better clothes too.", I said, shaking my head at my excuse for clothing, which was now tattered and slightly charred from the explosion earlier.

Lyra suddenly looked a little surprised by me saying that. "You had a house? Like this one? And better clothes? But I thought humans didn't have things like that. From what I've read and seen in books, they lived in trees or caves and their clothing was similar to what you have on now."

I now looked equally surprised. "Yeah, I did. Most humans do. That's all a bit strange, you said you saw all of this in books? Where did you get books like that?"

"Yep! I found a few of them under some rocks in the library of the old castle ruins. The whole archive was supposedly completely cleared out, but obviously not!", she shouted with a tone of pride.

"Interesting, do you mind if I take a look at one of these books Lyra?", I asked, very curious to see what Celestia may have recorded on my race so long ago.

Lyra was halfway up the stairs by the end of my request. "I'll be right back with them."

A minute later she returned down the stairs, hovering three large books in her magic aura. She set them down on a coffee table in front of me and opened one up. Inside were several familiar illustrations. No doubt these drawings were of humans and there daily activities. The only odd thing was that these humans looked to be from around the early tribal periods. They wore animal skin clothing resembling my disheveled blanket setup, and their homes were indeed in caves and low lying trees. 'My god Celestia, you've been watching since the retched beginnings haven't you, incredible.', was all I could think.

My thoughts were cut short by Lyra staring at me excitedly. "So...what do you think? Looks like you, just a little more rough around the edges, right?", she eagerly asked.

I closed the book and smiled at her. "Thank you for showing me this. It truly is interesting to come across a record like this, but this is really old right?"

She looked to be in thought about where I was going with this before answering. "Well yes, I'm sure these documents have to be thousands of years old."

"Right, I thought so. So doesn't that make you wonder how far the human race may have progressed over that many years? I mean you don't honestly think we stayed like this for that long do you?", I questioned while pointing at the book I just looked at.

Lyra pondered my words for a moment then replied. "Wow, you know I guess I didn't look at it like that. Maybe because these are the only records I found and also because hardly anything changes in this world. Common things have been the same in Equestria for millennia."

"It makes sense, you've had the same leaders that whole time. Continuous rule, continuous lifestyle. My world is just the opposite. No one rule abounds, so there is always war and disagreements. Sure we have advanced heavily, but all the bad things just advanced right along with us.", I said sighing in disappointment.

Lyra seemed concerned about my sudden mood change. "Oh dear, it sounds like a rough place. I have to imagine you are happy to be here then aren't you? Which, by the way, how did-"

I cut her off because I knew where she was taking this conversation and my ground rules were clear. I then got up and sat closer to her and looked her in the eyes. "Lyra, I know what you were about to ask, and I'm sure you have a ton of questions about me and my world. But listen, I really like you and I would love to tell you all about it, but for reasons I can't say right now, I just can't go into it that much. But honestly and to sum it up, I pretty much just appeared in this world, and now I'm in training to discover my hidden, let's say talents, by direction of the Princesses'. That's it."

"That's it? Alrighty then. That's a little weird, but hey if you say so, rules are rules. Don't worry I won't push it big guy.", she said somehow just as happy as usual.

"Thank you for being so understanding, after all, I'm still trying to figure quite a few things out for myself. And Big Guy? You have a nickname for me already?", I asked with a grin.

"I can call you whatever you want me too, I just liked that one.", she said blushing a little.

I just gave her a smirk. "I think I can live with it. I've definitely had worse."

"It's a deal then.", she agreed. She then leaned back into the couch, stretched and looked around the house in a bored manner. "So what do you want to do now?"

"Hey it's your house ponygirl, you decide.", I shot back, hoping to kill her boredom.

"Ponygirl! Don't tell me that's gonna be my nickname now!", Lyra laughed.

"Okay maybe not that, but I'll be thinking. Back to what to do though, I got nothing. But I gotta say I'm pretty tired from this morning.", I said failing to hold back a yawn.

Lyra just giggled. "Aww, is the Big Guy human sleepy? That's fine, you should take a nice afternoon nap. I have to go out and run some errands anyway. That's what I was on my way to do earlier when I ran into you. Rest up now, I look forward to seeing you when I get back."

"Me too. Thanks again Lyra, I really appreciate all of this. See you later.", I said, laying down and seeing her off.

"No problem. Later buddy", she said as she made her way out.

I rolled over on the sofa and got comfortable, which was easy because the couch was amazing. "Man, everything here is just so damn perfect.", I mumbled as I fell into a deep slumber.

It felt like only minutes passed before I awoke from yet another dreamless sleep. I was about to drift off again, but I felt an odd draft. I sat up and quickly realized the issue. My clothing was nowhere to be found! I jumped to my feet and surveyed the room. It was getting dark outside so it was hard to see inside the house.

"Geez, how long was I out?", I asked myself, looking out the window.

"About six hours! Geez is right sleepyhead.", Lyra giggled as she flipped on the light, making me jump.

I reeled around to face the laughing pony. "Lyra! Why the hell am I naked?!"

Lyra stopped giggling and her expression changed to what was an unmistakably naughty smile. "What's the matter buddy, you don't need clothes that badly do you? We don't wear anything most of the time, so why do you have to?"

I looked down at my exposed area then back at her. "Isn't it just a tiny bit obvious?", I said, not sure if I felt more awkward or annoyed at the moment.

Lyra started coming closer. "Oh I definitely wouldn't say tiny.", she giggled devilishly.

"Oh come on! Really? Why are you coming on to me Lyra? We aren't even the same species for goodness sake!", I reasoned, while backing away into the sofa.

"Because, you are a big, muscular, sexy human and I want to learn every, little, thing about you, any way I can.", she said lustfully, putting a hoof on my abs and gently pressing me down onto the sofa.

I just went down with her hoof almost helplessly surprised by what was actually happening. She then crawled slowly up onto my lap with her hooves pressed against my chest, and her face only inches from mine. She smelled like sweet flowers and her flank was dangerously close to my humanity. My heart was pounding, and I was beginning to sweat. 'This pony is about to fuck me!', my mind screamed, not helping anything.

I finally snapped out of it, grabbed her by the shoulders, sat up straight and looked her dead in the eyes. "Lyra, please just wait. I can't do this. It's just, I don't know, it doesn't seem right. Oh damn, how do I say this? You are such a kind pony, and I really didn't expect this out of you. It really caught me off guard. I thought maybe we could get to be good friends someday first at least. Not this, not right now."

Lyra's face suddenly went blank and she backed off of my lap and sat her flank on the coffee table behind her, never breaking eye contact with me. Her lip started to quiver, then out of nowhere she hung her head and burst into tears. "I'm so sorry Archangel, I don't know what I was thinking. It's just that, I've been so lonely for a long time and I really like you. I guess I just got infatuated with the fantasy of playing around with the very thing I've studied for so long. And finding you, a real life human, got me all fired up. Oh my gosh, I feel terrible, can you ever forgive me for this?"

As much as I thought I would be, I really couldn't feel angry towards her. Everyone has fantasies and so few actually get to physically be with their fantasy, so I could hardly blame her. I put my hand under her chin and picked her head up. I couldn't help but smile at her big tear soaked eyes. "Hey, it's alright. We all do things in life we regret. I won't hold this one against you, and if it makes you feel any better, I'd still like to be your friend. And, I forgive you...ponygirl."

Lyra couldn't stop laughing through her tears and sniffles, overjoyed by my unexpected patience with her. She then jumped forward and threw her forelegs around my neck giving me a tight hug. "Thank you. You're the best, most understanding friend anypony could ever ask for. I'll be your ponygirl friend for as long as I live. I promise."

"It's official then, Lyra Heartstrings, you are my first friend in Equestria. Now, is there a chance you could grab another blanket for a friend?", I said trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh dear, yes of course. One second!", she yelled back while trotting into the other room.

She came back with a nice, new looking, black and white checkered blanket. I put it on much like I did with the last one and made sure it wasn't going anywhere. Once I was done, another set of yawns forced their way out. It was getting late and that nap didn't completely kill my fatigue. Lyra noticed this and appeared to be a little distraught in her expressions.

"What's wrong now Lyra?", I questioned with concern for her feelings.

"Well, it's almost bedtime, and I know you're tired, but I understand if you wouldn't want to stay here. You know, after what I did and all. I could find you another place to spend the night, or maybe even get you a motel room. If you'd like to that is, it's the least I could do.", she said, timidly shuffling her hoof on the floor.

I put my hand on her head and ruffled her already messy hair. "I appreciate the offer but, I'm in the house of a friend, and friends put things behind them, remember silly filly?"

"Hehe, yea okay. I'm glad you see it that way. Let's get some sleep then shall we, I'm sure you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow. I'll be right upstairs if you need anything.", she informed, obvious happy I decided to stay.

I got comfortable on the couch once more and started drifting off. "Thanks Lyra, I'll be fine. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Archangel, sweet dreams.", she whispered as she ascended the rest of the stairs.

I closed my eyes and once again sleep claimed me swiftly. But my trail of dreamless nights was about to take a very different, and interesting turn.

Author's Note

Finally! This chapter was supposed to be short lol, but hey, writing is a river. Just gotta let it flow I guess.This was an odd chapter for me because I'm still working through a lot of ideas and how introduce them. Don't have a lot of time to think lately, with work and life, also about to go into the police academy, so yea. But as usual comment and critique. Thanks!