Vanquish

Sam walked out of the old castle and followed Celestia. He was still cautious of her, but he couldn't really do much about it. If she wanted to kill him, she probably would have already tried it by now.

"And she was pretty nice to me considering that I shot some of her guards..."

When they got outside, he noticed that Celestia's horn was glowing.

"Wait...one of the guard ponies from earlier did that to...what if it's some sort of weapon?"

Sam wasn't taking any chances and raised his weapon up at her once more.  He shouted her name to get her attention and as soon as her name escaped his lips, she looked at him. Shock spread across her face.

"Sam, what are you doing? Why are you pointing that....weapon at me?"

She took a step back and her horn started glowing even more now. She had to try and defend herself if he was going to do anything to attempt to harm her.

"Sam...put that thing away. I don't want to hurt you, but I will defend myself if you try to harm me."

He kept his weapon held up at her. "Why the fuck was your horn glowing?"

Celestia was now sweating a bit. Her nerves had gotten the better of her. "Why am I so scared of him? I can defend myself....but...I still don't know what he's capable of or if my magic would even affect him..."

She finally answered his question after what seemed like hours. "I was sending a message to Steel Blade. He's a Lieutenant in the royal guard."

Sam still held his weapon up to her. "What if she's telling the truth, though? I'd be killing an innocent pony princess because I thought she was trying to kill me with her horn...then again...it's still a possibility. I have no idea what these things are capable of."

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard something coming towards him. He looked up and saw an armoured pony. Before it could barrel into his chest, he dodged out of the way. He turned around and shot at the pony that had just missed him. A bullet hit one of its wings and it came crashing down.

Celestia gasped. "No...Steel Blade..."

He heard a twig snap behind him. He spun back around to see Celestia. But, he could tell she wasn't happy with him right now. Her eyes looked as if they were full of fire. He raised his weapon and pointed it at her again.

"I don't want to hurt you, Celestia. Back off."

Celestia was fuming right now. Not only had her hurt some of her royal guards earlier (even though it was in self defense, she still had to retain her anger earlier when hearing about it), he'd just injured one of her Lieutenants, Steel Blade, right in front of her.

She stomped her hoof on the ground. "SAM. YOU ARE TO NOT HURT HIM ANY FURTHER OR I WILL HAVE TO RESTRAIN YOU!"

He stared at her under his helmet with a scowl on his face. "Listen, he nearly came flying into me. For no fucking reason. What do you expect me to do? Let him charge into me?"

Celestia was going to attempt to use a paralysing spell on him, until she realised what was more important right now. She looked behind him to see Steel Blade unconscious, but breathing. "Thank Equestria....he's not dead...but I need to get him to a hospital. Fast."

She walked past Sam and walked up to Steel Blade. Her horn glowed and she sent a message to her other royal guards that were currently in the Everfree.

About 20 seconds later, a chariot came down. 2 winged ponies were at each side, supporting it. Sam had lowered his weapon by now, but was keeping it gripped firmly in his hand. He didn't want to let his guard down.

The next thing what happened baffled him. Celestia picked up the injured winged pony with nothing. Literally nothing. All that he could see was a glow around the injured pony. She put him in the chariot gently. He noticed that Celestia's horn had the same glow emitting from it. He put it together piece by piece.

"Shit, she can levitate things? I'm guessing that's what the guard from earlier was trying to do to me when I saw his horn glowing. I wonder why he couldn't pull it off, though..."

Celestia was now talking to the other guard ponies who had come in with the chariot. "Get him to the nearest hospital, asap. As soon as you do, come back here with the chariot and I will escort the.....creature....to the castle." The two guards saluted and went back to the sides of the chariot, attached themselves to it via a leash sort of thing and pulled it into the air. They had gone by the time Celestia had walked back up to Sam. She looked at him with.....disappointment?

"You didn't have to do that, you know."

Sam was more confused than anything else right now. And annoyed at the same time. "Yes, I did. He was attempting to harm me. I can't allow that."

She scowled at him. "Listen, I understand that you hurt some of my guards earlier in self defense and you did the same now, but I don't want any more harm to come to my subjects. You're lucky that I can hold in my anger so well. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have been so nice with you. Just don't hurt any more of my subjects. Because, if you do, I will have to take matters into my own hooves. Do you understand?"

Sam was about to gob off at her when he remembered something. "I can't do anything towards her right now. If I do, then I've fucked my chances with the only creature that might be able to help me. If I'm going to survive while I'm here, I need to play it cool. Can't fuck things up between me and Celestia now, otherwise, I'll probably never get off of this damn planet."

He looked at her with flash of anger in his eyes, but as fast as it came, it was gone. He looked at her with a neutral expression. "I understand. I am sorry for bringing harm to your ponies, even if it was in self defense."

She was still incredibly annoyed at him, but she managed to keep a neutral expression. She sighed.

"Good. I don't want to have to hurt you, Sam. Now, come on. Our chariot will be here any minute."

He sighed. "That could have gone a lot fucking better..."