The Man Who Wears A Mask

Chapters

'Chapter 1 A second chance at a new begining'[edited]
'Chapter 2 the day of tragedy' [edited]
'Chapter 3 thrusted into the unknown' [edited]
'Chapter 4 Awakening and Realization' [edited]
'Chapter 6 heroics and Inprisonment' [Edited]
'Chapter 7 questions and answers'[edited]
'Chapter 8 things that follow'[edited]
'Chapter 9 heading out part 1[edited]'
'Chapter 10 Ponyvillie day 1 part 2 [edited]'
'(pre-prolog) the theory'
'Prolog'
'Chapter 5 Primary Objective:Intell' [Edited]

'Chapter 1 A second chance at a new begining'[edited]

September 12th, 2011

It was the end of the first day of school. Kids were still enjoying the summer temperatures of the air around them, wanting one last taste of their previous before they would have to endure the long, arduous, fall school year. I, like any other kid, was just glad to be out of school, back at home with my da-.... Oh, I’m sorry, I meant to say, to be home with Mr.Johnson. My name is James. James Miller, if you want to be formal that is.

Anyways, if you haven't already guessed, yes, Mr.Johnson and I are not related in any way. He adopted me some time ago, and has been watching over me ever since. As for my real parents? Well, I lost them ten years ago, September 11th, 2001, during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. They were working in the top floors of the first building when flight 11 hit, and, suffice to say, they didn't make it.

The only closure I have to that day is my mother's anniversary locket, the one that my dad had bought her earlier that same year, and even that didn't feel like it was enough.

Let me tell you, growing up without them hasn't been easy. Even my birthdays are minefields nowadays, because every year, no matter how much I tell myself not to, I break down into tears, missing them missing them more and more with each passing second.

Every year, its the same thing... I wish they would come back, but I know that that's never going to happen. Though, I'm determined to make it so that this year will be different.

Since the day that I lost my parents, I have always wanted to make a difference in the world. To stop meaningless bloodshed so that no one, and I mean no one, had to go through what I went through all those years ago. To be the hero, in a sense, and lend a hand to those who need it.

Walking down the last few blocks to Central Avenue, where I had agreed to meet with Mr.Johnson after school, I could see him sitting there by his truck, a smile on his face just like every other day.

"Well James," he said, standing from his place next to the truck. "ready to go visit your parents again?"

"Yes Mr. Johnson, I have a few thing to say to them before we go home." Mr.Johnson gave me a curt nod as

I took my book bag and threw it into the truck, hopping into the passenger side while Mr.Johnson took his own place on the driver's seat, the truck whirring to life with a twist of his keys as we drove off to the local cemetery.

As soon as we arrived, I was, as usual, the first to get out and head over to my parent's graves, but this time, rather than follow me out, Mr.Johnson stayed in the truck. Turning to him, I saw him lower his window and poke his head out, leaning his arm against the door as he looked to me.

"James, you go ahead and tell your parents what you need to. I’ll keep the motor running. I can tell
what you want to tell them is personal, so I'll stay out of it."

He always did seem to be able to tell whenever I wanted some privacy or not, and by the looks of it, today was no different. Giving him my own nod of silent thanks, I turned again and made my way further into the cemetery, passing by rows and rows of stone headstones, each seeming to have their own unique designs to them, until, eventually, I reached a pair of similar looking graves, the names 'Johnathan Miller' and 'Martha Miller' etched into the stone fronts. My parents.

Their bodies, like many others of that incident, were never found in the wreckage of the twin towers, but they were given these memorial tombs nonetheless, some of their older friends, like Mr.Johnson for instance, having funded the ceremonies.
I missed them so much it was unbearable at times, but speaking to them when I came down here always made me feel better.

Now I know what you're thinking.
'How can you talk to them when they're dead?'The simple answer is, I can't, but I can still imagine exactly what they would say to me after I spoke to them. It sounds crazy, I know, and to an extent, it is, but, I've just gotten used to doing it after all of these years. Old habits die hard, huh?

"Mom, Dad, I came by to say hi, and I really miss you both so much. It hasn't been easy without you, and I just wish that you were here to see me at school today. I'm really glad to start my new year at school. Hopefully, I will be able to pass this year just like the last. With flying colors." I chuckled at my own joke, silently making up what I thought my mother would say to me at this point.
"Yes, I know mom, you're proud of me no matter what I do." She was always so sweet, and kind. Next, my father came in, 'ruffling my hair' and telling me how he was sure that a 'big, strong boy like myself would be able to pull off anything I put my mind to'.
"Dad, you always know how to make me smile, no matter what. Oh, and Mrs.Missouri told me to say hi."

After a couple of hours of talking to them, I gave them both my farewells, standing up from beside the graves and heading back to the truck. Mr.Johnson was there waiting for me, just like he said, watching as i made my way inside and Mr.Johnson drove us home, neither of us saying a word as we did so.

As we drove, the asphalt roads soon turned to dirt, and building slowly began to decrease in their quantities. See, Mr. Johnson didn't live in the city of New York, but in a more rural area, where there wasn't much traffic and the surroundings were
decently quiet. Eventually, we arrived at a lone house, pulling into the driveway as Mr. Johnson turned off his truck and the both of us exited the vehicle, myself grabbing my book bag as we did so.

As we opened the door to the house, the first thing to grace my sight, as per usual, was the shine of light from the golden piece that had stationed itself in the center of the room. Mr.Johnson wasn't really just a normal guardian, but a war veteran as well. He received the medal of honor for saving a squad of United States soldiers, during his time in Afghanistan, from being killed by an AL Qaeda terrorist who had stole an allied tank from one of the bases in the middle east, killing him, as well as 30 other followers of the terrorist organization as well.

Mr. Johnson hangs that very same medal over his fireplace, as well as his old rifle, which is mounted on the wall to the left of the fireplace. Mr.Johnson also used to work at the N.I.A (National Intelligence Agency) during his spare time as a soldier, but he resigned for reasons that, no matter how much I would ask, he wouldn't tell me.

Mr. Johnson is in the kitchen making dinner, while I’m just sitting on the living room couch, watching 'Worlds Wildest Police Chases'.It’s pretty interesting what some people will do just to avoid being arrested. Some are just crazy and dangerous, while others are just plain stupid, like that idiot that circles a neighborhood again and again just to run from the police. People these days just have no sense sometimes.

Right as the show was ending, Mr.Johnson called me over for dinner. Now, the normal diet of any New Yorker I know has a basic, yet filling, food group hot dogs, pizza and...

“Oh boy, Stromboli, my favorite! Thank you Mr. Johnson!”

“ No problem James! Just like any other great chef, I know what the customer likes.” He said, giving me a playful wink.

The both of us exchanged a laugh while we ate, and, just like that, I started telling Mr.Johnson how my first day at middle school went. He nodded politely as I went on, clinging on to every detail while he silently ate. Once I was done, I asked him how his day went.

“Sorry, I don't want to talk about it James.”
I rose a brow as I heard this, swallowing another mouthful of strombolli. He wasn't sad or anything when he had said that, but something was telling me that he was hiding something. I’ll just have to wait until he tells me then. He has just been so secretive lately, and I don't know why, but eventually, I'm sure I’ll find out.

After we finished eating, I took a look at the clock and saw that it was 8 o'clock. Time for me to go to bed. I grabbed my plate and I rinsed it off before I stuck it in the dishwasher and headed to my room. Then, I got into my pajamas and got under the covers of my bed, turning off my lamp light. Mr.Johnson opened the door by a crack a minute or so later, telling me good night.
I replied, “Good night Mr. Johnson, see you in the morning.” And with that, he shut the door and I quickly fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Mr. Johnson}
After closing the door to James's room, I knew that he was the one. Even from the start when, I first found him by his parents graves, in the rain, a face full of tears, I didn't have the heart to just leave him there, so I took him under my wing and got to know him.

Over the years he has shown to be a devoted, strong, friendly, helpful, and caring young man, which is why he has proven himself worthy enough to take on this job, and I know he can do it. Besides, I've seen first hand that he is able to hold his own, a good example being that school fight that had happened. Crazy thing really.

He had helped some random student with a bully who was threatening to hurt him if he didn't give him his money for lunch. At least, that's before James stepped in. The kid tried to hit James and take him, down but James was too much for the kid, and knocked him out cold with one good uppercut to the chin.

After that, he stayed there until the school security showed up. I arrived moments afterwards, having gotten the call from the school principal, and soon found myself sat in the office with James. The principle was in no way mad with James. In fact, he was smiling at the both of us!

“Son, in all my years of running this school, never have I seen such a heroic act unfold on these grounds. You really did teach that boy a lesson, and since you technically did not begin the fight, Im more than willing to let it slide this once. Just don't make a habit of getting into fights though. Hero or not, this school still has a reputation to keep.”

I had even asked for a copy of the security film and, though admittedly, it was on an impulse, I sent that into ABC, which was then featured in their morning show and has over a million hits on YouTube. Funny, huh?.
Now that I know he has the potential though, I think, no, I'm sure he's ready for this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(P.O.V. SWITCH)~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 30th, 2011
{James Miller}
Today was my birthday, and what a beautiful day it was at that. 90 degrees with a slight wind coming in from the south, making it the perfect day to go out and do... well, something. Getting out of my bed, I changed into my regular clothes and made my bed. As soon as I was finished though, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in, its unlocked!” I yelled, turning to my bedroom door as it clicked and opened. Almost instantly, Mr.Johnson walked in with a huge smile on his face.

“Mr. Johnson, why are you so happy today? Is there something special you have planned?” I asked jokingly, a smirk on my face.

“Yes there is James, and I've been saving it for your 15th birthday. So come and join me in the living room. I'll show you your gift there.”

I nodded and left my room with a smile, an overwhelming sense of anticipation spreading over me. Once we sat down in the living room I looked around for the gift he had mentioned. Oddly enough though, I couldn't find or see it.

“So Mr. Johnson, where did you hide the gift? Am I supposed to look for it or something?" I asked, raising a brow as I looked to him.

“No James, its not here. And you don't have to look for it either, because you’ll never find it up here.”
I didn't really understand what he was saying, so naturally, my brow rose even higher in confusion.

“What do you mean by 'up here'?" Mr.Johnson chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

“Here, I’ll show you James.” Mr.Johnson then got up out of his chair and walked towards the fireplace. He put his hand on the medal he got as a soldier and he turned it sideways. Then, all of a sudden, the fire from the fireplace went out, and the fireplace opened up to reveal what looked like a small elevator. As you can probably tell, I was shocked, my jaw having dropped and eyes widening.

“Well James, are you coming?"

Mr. Johnson said jokingly. Shaking my head, I hesitantly followed him into the elevator, glancing around the metal insides as I did so. As soon as I stepped completely inside, the elevator closed shut, eliciting a small yelp of surprise from me, and we started going down. A number at the top of the elevator started to go down little by little, making a slight singing noise as it reached every other number. Eventually, letting out one final 'ding', the elevator doors opened up to reveal what looked like something out of a history film on World War Two. In the middle of the room was a table, though it had no legs underneath it. Just a solid wooden block really, and to the left and right were two boards with what looked like blueprints, of sorts, and a couple of papers with something written on them that I couldn't really understand. Mr.Johnson stepped over to the front of the table and, just as quickly as he did so, there was a loud click. The top of the table flipped over to reveal, what I could only describe as, a suit of armor with some modern day weapons, gear, and the like attached to it.

“Well, here it is James! This is what I think you're ready for.” Um... What? Surprise was one thing, but complete and utter shock was another.

“What is this Mr.Johnson?” I asked, looking around the room as I made my way to his side.

“This is a top secret project conducted by the N.I.A., code named, 'Project Knight Stalker'. This suit was designed to be used for a new division of the army. One that would need even more training then the navy seals. This suit is wired with state of the art computer technology and would only be used for nocturnal missions. Not only did it come with gear, but also a sleek black stealth jet to drop the soldier into position, and the user able to control the jet’s flight pattern remotely so it could either pick them up or give them covering fire if the mission went bad. You remember that one futuristic movie the two of us saw together a couple of years ago?" He asked. Almost instantly, I was bombarded by memories of the odd film, though I couldn't seem to remember the name. Flashes of futuristic weaponry and machinery flowing through my mind.

“Yes.”

“Well, its the same basic idea, except you're not in a drop pod falling from space to the ground.” He added, nudging me with a smile.

“Well, Mr.Johnson, why do you have this then? I mean, why isn't this in service?" I inquired, further looking over the odd suit that laid in front of us.

“Well James, because of a lack of funding from the government, the program was shut down and the army team never came to be. This suit is the only one still in existence... Which is exactly why this suit is more capable at fighting crime.” That one threw me off.

“Excuse me?!"

“You heard me James. This suit is more than capable enough to keep the streets of New York clean without worry.” Excitement surged through me as I looked to him.

“You mean, I could be like a superhero?!?” He looked to me and smiled, crossing his arms and leaning against the wooden table.

“Yes James, like a superhero.”

“ I don't understand Mr. Johnson, why me?Of all other people?”

“Because James, you have the heart to do it and I've seen you use it. Remember the school fight last year?” I slightly cringed at the memory, but I still pushed on.

“Yeah, what about it Mr.Johnson?’

“I've seen it in your eyes James. You like to help people and lend a hand when necessary. Youre kind and caring, but also strong, in both heart and will, which is why you're perfect for this, and you, and only you, can help prevent stuff like what happened to your parents from happening to someone else.” I was skeptical at first, of course, but, thinking in it now, I guess that he did have a point.

“I... guess you're right. But... I have one question.”

“And what would that be?” He asked.

"How am I going to be able to get around New York? Even in this suit, I doubt that I'll be able to get anywhere fast enough." I asked, crossing my arms as I looked to him.

“True James, but your forgetting something.” I rose a brow at this, unsure of what he meant.

“Remember the jet I mentioned earlier?” He said with a smirk.

“You mean-...”

“Yup, I also have one of the jets designed for the suit.” Yet again, I felt my jaw drop, before eventually shifting into a smile of both excitement and happiness.

“Well, what are we waiting for?!?Let's get started!” Chuckling, Mr.Johnson reached over and ruffled my hair.

“That's the spirit James!”

Author's Note

Tell me what you guys think. over all I think this is an improvement over the first story

'Chapter 2 the day of tragedy' [edited]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{NYPD Radio Channel}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drunk drivers, muggers, car jackers. In the city of New York, these crimes simply made up another night on the job for a policeman, or policewoman. In average, 10 arrests in one night would usually make an officer's slow night, so it was only natural that some be sent out throughout these hours in which the city sleeps, but the crime does not. Though, as of recent, there have been more and more caught criminals popping up out of seemingly nowhere. Criminals that, much to the surprise of both citizens and law enforcement alike, would often times be tied up or incapacitated by the time the officials would arrive.

“Bravo 17 to control.” A lone policeman called in, releasing the button to his radio so as to allow his attempted station to answer. A second or two of static, followed by the sound of a woman's voice, quickly allowed him to decipher that they had heard him.

“This is control, go ahead.” The woman's static riddled voice returned.

“Have there been any more sightings of 'the shadow' reported into the station?” The woman took a moment to respond, likely checking through her available paperwork dealing with the subject, before the familiar sound of static signified her return.

“Only one other report, made by a white female in her early 30’s. Says that it stopped a purse snatcher, ended up hanging him upside down on a street lamp.” Looking ahead if him, the policeman let out a chuckle, taking a sip out of the, now cold, coffee cup that he had with him, the caffeine in it waking him up, if only a little, before he radioed back to control, an obvious tone of arrogance in his voice.

“Well control, I would like to make another report.” He said smugly, looking outwards from his police car at the very figure that he, along with half of the New York police department, had been looking for.

“10-4. What is your 20, Bravo 17?” The woman asked, the sound of a scribbling pen just barely audible in the background.

“West, facing broker street.”

“And what is the current situation 17 bravo? ” The officer chuckled even more at this, slowly shaking his head as he responded.

“I have a subject hanging off the side of a billboard.” Had the officer ever heard himself say that earlier in the week, he likely would have thought himself crazy. Now though, it seemed like sightings like these had become a common occurrence.

“Does the subject have an ID on him?”

“10-10 control, but I recognize him. Subject is a 'Jimmy Smits', small time cat burglar in the area.”

“10-4, Bravo 17.”

“Control can I get a 10-70, and 2 10-32’s over here.” The officer requested, nonchalantly placing his coffee cup back down.

“10-4, Bravo 17." The officer switched from the private channels to the public ones, laying back in his chair as he waited for the announcement to go out. "Attention, any units in the area, we have another report of shadow related incident on west broker street. We have an officer on scene and he’s requesting a 10-70 and 2 10-32’s. Any unit responding identify, code 2.” It wasn't any more than a few seconds before officers started replying left and right, though only a few were put through to the radio.

“This is delta 12, I’m 10-17, my 10-26 is... 5 minutes.” The policewoman said, a tone of confidence to her.

“This is supervisor car 13, I’m also 10-17, my 10-26 is 3 minutes.” A more high ranked officer, by the sound of it, his voice practically screaming his authority.

“This is Victor 7, I’m 10-17, my 10-26 is one minute.” A newbie, by the sound of it. Fresh out of the police academy, as can be told by his seemingly nervous, yet still excited voice. Letting out another chuckle, the initial officer turned on his car's engine and siren.

"This ought to be good."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James Miller
October 7th, 2011
I cant believe its already been just over a week since I started doing this. I mean, I knew that doing this would feel good, but I didn't realize that it would be this good. Man, this makes me feel great, helping the people of New York while managing to get a sort of... Rush, out of it as well. The suit feels amazing in every way, but I think preferred it the way it was before Mr. Johnson had a point for us to change it, just so it wouldn't be recognized by the government. It wasn't the most favorable decision, but it was the smart decision.

Even better, we came up with code names of our own for this as well. Since everyone was calling my crusades 'the work of a shadow', Mr.Johnson and I had taken to calling me that, 'The Shadow'. Mr.Johnson ended up calling himself 'Blackhawk' because, well… because he admired the black hawk helicopter and its traits. Random, I know, but it worked out for him. Reliable, sturdy, and stealthy. I can't blame him for that, heck, even I have to admit that it sounded kind of cool.

The suit came with a built in communication system, which made it a lot safer than using a phone, and it was thought this system that Mr.Johnson would contact me.

“Blackhawk to Shadow, come in Shadow.” Like now, for instance.

“This is shadow, go ahead.” I told him, taking a glance around the rooftop that I was standing on.

“Just wanted to check in on you. You're doing a great job out there, despite the fact that your training still isn't technically over. There are reports of the streets being cleaner then they have been in 2 years, and that's no easy feat to accomplish. Keep this up Shadow, you are really sending a message out there.” I felt myself smile as he said this.

“Thanks Blackhawk. I feel great being out here! I wonder if the kids will be talking about me in school. Or should I say, 'the shadow.” I said in a sarcastic tone, a smile on my face which was impossible to see with my mask on, the only thing visibly open being the eye holes of the mask.

“Yeah, Yeah.”

“Anyways Blackhawk, I’m going to call it in early. It’s 2 am and I don't want to be late for school tomorrow.”

“Roger that Shadow. By the way, how is the predator doing on fuel.” Looking to my wrist, I turned on my maintenance systems, checking the predator's fuel. By the looks of it, the needle pointed it at about half-full.

“Not bad Blackhawk. I figured if I landed it somewhere far off while I’m on a rooftop, then I can save on fuel when I need it most. ”

“ Smart. You're definitely learning. I'll see you at home Shadow.”

“Roger that. I’m on my way now. Shadow signing off.”

October 8th, 2011
It was about 2 PM and school had just ended. My last period teacher, Mr.Wilson had tried to knock the class out with a pop quiz, but I was ready for it. I managed to pass with a 99%, despite my exhaustion from last night, and that didn't really seem to surprise Mr.Wilson. 5 other students passed, but their grades weren't even close to mine. I was the only one in the class that passed with an A while others were C’s B’s and D’s. At least there weren't any F's.

After receiving my test paper Mr.Wilson asked if he could talk to me after the bell. I was confused, and a little concerned, as to why he asked, but I said yes nonetheless, and when the bell rang I waited for the room to clear. As the past student exited the room, leaving just Mr.Wilson and I, he closed the door, moving behind his desk and taking his usual seat as he addressed me.

“ James," he said simply, adjusting the glasses on his further to be further up to the bridge of his nose. "I believe that I am speaking for all the teachers in this school when I say, 'wow'." I rose a brow at this, honestly unsure as to what he meant. "Its not even the 2nd marking period and your grades are as high as a jet plane. Not only that, but I think you may want to take a look at this.” Opening a drawer in his desk, he started looking through the various papers that laid within, eventually settling on one, particularly colorful, laminated paper before pulling it out into my view. It was a pamphlet,and on it, was The University of New York.

“Why are you giving me this Mr. Wilson?” I asked through my surprise. I hadn't even reached high school, yet here he was, offering me a document about a university. Definitely not one of the more expected things I figured would happen.
“Remember that test the class took on the computers in the library?” That was about a week ago, yeah.

“Yes, what about it?” I asked.

“It was no ordinary math and reading test, like we normally give students near the beginning of the school year. It was an IQ test. And do you know your results?” I shook my head in response, still not seeing what he was getting at.

“Compared to the entire school that took the test, the entire county, you scored higher than any other middle school student. Your IQ is equivalent to that of a college graduate... Which, may I so happily say, is precisely why you have been formally invited to attend the University. It's not a pamphlet I gave you James, Its an invitation.” My eyes widened as I looked down to the paper, opening it up and seeing that Mr.Wilson actually wasn't joking or anything. Written inside was a message that they had made out to me, mentioning their interest in me as a student, my bright future, and so on. Even more so, it had been personally signed by the dean of the school.

“Wow Mr. Wilson … I don't know what to say.” He chuckled as he adjusted his glasses again.

“Then don't say anything. Go show that to Mr. Johnson tell him what I told you. I’m sure he will be happy to hear the news.” I nodded, a smile coming to my face as I looked to him.

“Thanks Mr. Wilson.”Grabbing my things and putting them in my bag, making sure that the invitation was in a safe place, I zipped up my book bag and was about to leave when…

“Oh, and James…”

“Yes?” I asked, my book bag already slung over my shoulder as I turned to him once more.
“This is just my opinion but, I'm sure that if your parents were here to see you now, they would be proud of you.” An even larger, though slightly saddened, smile was brought to my face as he said this.

“Thanks Mr.Wilson. That means a lot.”

“My pleasure James. Now, you better get going. We don't want to leave Mr. Johnson waiting, do we?”

“No sir.” I told him with a shake of my head before I rushed out of the class, closing the door behind me and heading outside the crowed of students had begun to thin as they hurried into the school buses. I couldn't wait to see Mr.Johnson and tell him the news. Running across the street. I could see Mr. Johnson coming towards me. I guess that he was worried because I've never stayed that long in school.

I got to the middle of the road when, waving my arm at him for his attention as I called out his name. "Mr.Johnso-"
Before I could even finish calling out for him, the sudden sound of far off gunfire resounded through the air, paired with the siren of police cars, the remaining students who were back at the school widening their eyes in panic and beginning to start a ruckus.
I rose a brow as well, slowing to a walk as I, and more than likely, Mr.Johnson, turned to the horizon.

At first, nothing happened, and eerie moment of silence filling the air, then suddenly a red mustang came out of nowhere, it's wheels screeching and engine roaring as it drove down the road... Right towards me. I felt like a deer in headlights, not knowing what to do with the shock of the situation, and just stood there.

Moments before the car had hit me, I felt a strong push from my left, knocking me off my feet and clear off the road. Letting out a groan, I turned back to the road. There, standing where I just was, was Mr.Johnson, his arms outstretched and hands out. Mr.Johnson had pushed me out of the way, and before I could even call out for him to move, there was a resounding thump that rang through the air, as the car hit him full speed, sending him flying to the nearest sidewalk, laying limply across the floor.

"Mr.Johnson!" I shouted, running to him as fast as I could. I tried to keep him alive, I really did, until I got help, but... I- I couldn't.
I stayed there for some time, ignoring the passing police cars as they chased down the criminals, ignoring the cries from the other students as they yelled at one another to call for help, just... Crying as Mr.Johnson's eyes lost their earlier glint, becoming pale and lifeless.

By the time the paramedics had gotten there, he was already gone, long dead in my arms.
I swear, to myself and Mr.Johnson, that I will find the people who did this. And once I'm through with them, I would hunt down all the crime and evil in this city, and end it. THEN. AND. THERE!

Author's Note

the last bit about James promise to Mr. Johnson was taken because it is not possible for him to speak with his rib cadge being impacted like that he couldn't speak even if he wanted to.
and the idea of the police chase came from this on of my favorite games of all time

'Chapter 3 thrusted into the unknown' [edited]

May 5th, 2012

Its already been a year since that incident, but there still isn't a day that passes by that I don't think about him. Mr.Johnson, that is. To me, he was like a second father. He was the only family I had after my parents had died, and now, he was gone. Even in death, he had cared for me, leaving everything that he had owned to me in his will. His truck, his house, all of it went to me. Since then, I've been making sure to take care of these things of his, in the hopes that I'd make him happy, even in the afterlife.

I was going through my normal morning routine, keeping the house in check after I made sure everything was up to modern standards. Dust the rooms, vacuum, the usual. I sat down on the couch with a cup of coffee in my hand, taking a few sips every now and again as I watched the television news, when suddenly, the doorbell rang.

I felt a brow of mine raise as I took one last sip of my coffee before I placed it down on the living room counter, standing from the couch with a grunt and making my way to the door. "Hello-" I had begun to greet while pulling open the door, stopping as I noticed that, much to my surprise, nobody was there.

“What the heck?” I stuck my head out of the doorway and glanced around, figuring that I'd at least be able to get some view of whoever had knocked, but, as luck would have it, that didn't help at all, still leaving me with no idea as to who had come by.

"Hmph. Probably just some elaborate ding dong ditch prank."

I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes, beginning to make my way outside to seek out whoever had decided to bother me. As I did so though, I was nearly tripped as my foot crashed into something, myself giving a mental thanks to the fact that I was wearing sandals at the moment.

There, at the doorstop, was a box. Now, it wasn't a UPS box, or any regular U.S. postage box, but rather, just a plain,ordinary, cardboard box. Curious, I picked it up to see if there was anything on it, like an address or something, to figure out who has sent it, or from where, but there wasn't anything on it. No stickers, stamps, or even a hastily written marker note. Nothing. I took one last glance around me before, shrugging my shoulders in confusion, I took the box into the house, closing the door behind me so I wouldn't let the air out, or anything.

Putting the box on the kitchen counter, I grabbed hold of the flaps and slowly, cautiously, opened it. Weird, there wasn't even any tape holding the box shut. When I opened the box, I was surprised, and moreover, confused, to see that, inside, was some sort of... Gem. It reminded a lot of the kind a person would see in a video game, but, real.

Looking over the red jewel, I tilted my head as I tried to see… well, anything unique about it. In truth though, it just seemed like a pretty piece of jewelry. Heck, I could probably get something really nice with this, or maybe just keep it around for decoration.
Odd thing though. As I held the jewel, I could have sworn that it let out some sort of... Glow. Almost ethereal, really. I shook my head and glanced back at it, noticing the glow was now gone, before I put that little... Incident, off as just a bit of an early morning hallucination. I had a pretty over-active imagination, after all.

Anyways, as to why I had gotten this, I wasn't sure. Maybe someone had mailed it to the wrong address? No, that wouldn't explain why it was unmarked, or untaped. Was it, like, a good luck charm, or something? I wasn't sure, but, nonetheless, it did look nice, and valuable too. In fact, I know the perfect place to keep this.

Walking over to the fireplace, I turned Mr. Johnson's medal sideways, as I had long grown accustomed to, and stepped into the resulting elevator, flipping the switch to close the fireplace and leaning against the back wall, the gem firmly held in my right hand as I continued to look it over, as I waited for the elevator to reach its destination.

Soon, with a loud ding to signify our reaching the bottom of the elevator shaft, the door opened once again, revealing the room that Mr.Johnson had originally showed me when I first got the suit. I put the gem on the middle table to the room, figuring I'd found out more about it later, before I got to work on a little... Project, of mine.

It took about two hours, but I finally managed to finish what I had been working on. A small compartment had been added onto the utility belt of the suit Mr.Johnson had left behind for me, giving me more inventory space and convenience for whenever necessary. I figured, since I’m on my own, I'd need all the luck I could get, and this gem may be just what i need. Now, placing the gem into the compartment, I glanced to the built in wall clock of the from I was in, noticing that it was still only about 3 PM. All I had to do now, was wait.

At around 8 PM, I got into my suit and hopped into the predator jet, mentally preparing myself as I went for another 'night on the town'. The Jet took off as well as usual, my location set for Manhattan, where I had heard a new spree f crimes were starting to pop up. For the next few minutes, everything was fine. As I rode of the edge of Manhattan though, something... unexpected happened. The jet started to glow.

“Odd. This jet isn't nuclear powered. Heaven knows I've had to refuel it enough times to prove that. So, why is doing this now?" I mused to myself as I glanced to the maintenance monitors of the vehicle, hoping that it would give me at least a hint as to what was happening.

The glow itself was unpredictable. I say this because the outside of the jet was pulsating every color at once, from what the cameras showed, and they always seemed to go in different distances from one another. The glow stopped for a moment or two, much to my curiosity, but soon enough, it started up again. This time though, it wasn't around the jet….. it was in front of me. I was flying head first into, though this may sound ridiculous, a rainbow colored portal.

I tried to turn away, but by, I was already too close, and all I could do was watch as I was taken into the hole, the portal closing almost immediately behind me with a flash. Then, the portal changed its direction, tossing me straight down as I desperately tried to pull the jet up, the steering wheel jammed and unallowing me to stop my downwards pivot. Soon enough, the alarms started to go off, warning me of my rapidly decreasing altitude and to pull up.

After about 5 minutes, the jet started to spark and shake as a bolt of white electricity collided with it, followed by another, and then another, eventually knocking out the left jet turbine, the others still in working condition as the steering was knocked out of place, both bolts having hit the tail and angled it to the left and facing up while the wings pointed opposite, essentially sending me into a spin.

This was not good!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ponyville

May 5th

10PM

Golden Oaks Library

During the time when most colts and fillies would normally be asleep, a certain lavender mare was outside on her balcony, her telescope out as she admired princess Luna’s brilliant display of stars that were out tonight.

“I really wish that some ponies took the time to look at the stars like the ones out tonight." Twilight Sparkle mused to herself as she stood there on her balcony, stargazing.

“Spike," she called, waving her hoof to attract the attention of her dragon assistant while still not turning away from the telescope. "can you give me a parchment? I want to see if I can-” She was cut off as the snoring of her #1 assistant broke through the silence of the night, signifying his boredom and drowsiness as he slept. Twilight let out a smile as she saw this, giggling as she rolled her eyes at the dragon's behavior.

“...Well, I guess it can wait for tomorrow night.” She said, returning to her telescope for one last glimpse of the night sky. Then, much to her surprise, a rainbow colored vortex appeared broke through the above horizon, eliciting a gasp from the unicorn as she focused the telescope to get a closer look at it. No sooner than she had done so however, an odd, black object shot out of it, billowing smoke coming out of the back while it spun wildly to the ground, a loud sound coming from it before it finally crashed into the Everfree forest.

Reacting as quickly as she could, she ran towards her sleeping assistant, trying to wake him up,but to no avail. After a few more frustrating attempts, Twilight then focused her magic, her horn beginning to glow as she let out a 'humph' of annoyance, materializing a wooden bucket of in her magical grasp and dumping it on Spike.

“ABANDON SHIP, FOALS AND MARES FIRST!” He started screaming, sputtering from his sudden water-themed wake up.
“SPIKE, SNAP OUT OF IT!” Twilight yelled, trying to get Spike's attention. Shaking his head, some of the water splattering onto Twilight and around the room as he did so, he turned to his friend, rubbing his eyes in tired, groggy, frustration.

“Huh? TWILIGHT?!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? I WAS HAVING THE MOST AWESOME DREAM!!!” He complained, crossing his arms as he looked to her and let out a yawn.

“ Because Spike, something just crashed into the Everfree forest, and whatever it was, it could be dangerous! I need you to take a note to the princess.” Spike obeyed Twilight's wishes and got out a blank scroll and feather pen, looking to Twilight as she quickly began to tell him everything he was to write down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(P.O.V. SWITCH)~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Unknown

Date: Unknown; Possibly May 5th

Time: Unknown

By the time I was able to see again, I could clearly tell that I wasn't where I used to be before. At the moment though, I couldn't really care less, more focused on trying to stabilize the plane so I wouldn't crash. Despite my efforts though, I just couldn't get it out of a tail spin, the wings and tail being thoroughly jammed. The best I could do was to angle it into the forest I saw ahead, or at least I thought it was a forest, and hope for a soft landing. With the G-force of the plane pushing down on my chest, i felt black out before, to my utter helplessness, the jet crashed and landed into the unknown forest that surrounded me.

Author's Note

tell me what you think guys, feed back helps any story!
oh and also used this sound for added effect to give more detail into what it sounded like better then what I could describe

'Chapter 4 Awakening and Realization' [edited]

Location: Unknown
Date: Still possibly may 5th
Time: Uh... Screw it, lets just say it's nighttime

... I don't know how long I was out, but what I did know was that I was awake now. I opened my eyes to be met with a blurry, but familiar sight, as well as a flashing red light in my face. As soon as my vision cleared, I realized I was still inside the predator, and that red light was just something telling me that my engines were both offline. That aside, I let out a groan as I shook some of my dizziness away, undoing the safety harness that kept me in my seat, and reaching for the emergency release hatch. After feeling around for it for a while, I let out a mental sigh of relief as I felt a handle among the normally smooth surface of the interior metal walls, grabbing it, and pulling back with a twist.

The jet canopy quickly popped off of the cockpit, the sound of it clanging against the ground nearby audible from where I sat. Now that that was done, I just had to be sure that I wasn't too seriously hurt from the crash before I exited the jet. I twisted and turned, patting myself down as I tried to see if I had any noticeable injuries. Aside from a headache, I actually felt fine. I couldn't really be sure, considering my suit was still covering me, but since I’m still conscious and the like, I must be okay for now. After that was said and done, I took a look around the interior of the jet to assess the damage done after the crash. From what I could see from the inside, aside from a few loose wires and dents, the interior had gone without any visibly major damage. Now for the outside.

I gripped onto the cockpit's sides, lifting myself up and over with a grunt before I managed to stand myself on the grass floor below me. Odd.

The outside of the jet was, obviously, much more damaged than the interior. Dents and scratches all over, a few punctures in the metal layering, and some visible circuitry. Not to mention the jammed tail and smoking engines. Sighing, I shook my head as I looked over the damage. I'd have to deal with that later, but right now, my priority was just figuring out where exactly I was.

I could just venture out and try to get a lay of the land, but then again, I don't want to leave my jet behind so some random person can come and messed with it... So, how do I do this... (idea imminent in 3...2...1...) Wait a minute! Doesn't this thing still have an anti-theft system?

Pulling up my wrist screen, I brought up the jet maintenance systems menu, desperately hoping that the systems for the jet would work. Surprisingly, despite the damage, against all odds, the system was still functioning. Smiling, I activated the security systems, as well as turning on the tracking beacon,so that, case I got lost, I would be able to find my way back to the Predator.

Now, lets just hope I can figure out where the heck I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Ponyville, just outside the Everfree Forest.
Fluttershy’s cottage
Time: 11 pm

“Come on Fluttershy! I want to go kick some alien flank! Just let go of the couch already!" said a cyan pegasus, eager to see what Twilight had informed them had crashed into the Everfree. Despite her excitement however, her other pegasus companion still hung onto her large piece of furniture for dear life.

“N-no thank you. W-what if it wants to eat us, o-or rip us open and d-dissect us." She let out a sudden gasp. "Or what if they abduct my animals to study on?!” She exclaimed, adding an 'eep' as he grip on the couch was further increased. Truthfully, were it not for her friends, the timid, butter yellow pegasus would've been afraid of her own shadow, were it not for her friends, let alone an alien.

“But Fluttershy,” groaned Twilight,

“we need you just in case the alien, or whatever it is, isn't friendly, and we can't use the elements of harmony without you.” She explained, surrounding her friend in a purple magical aura before lifting her off of the sofa, though not without some difficulty.
As Fluttershy was gently placed down to the floor, she quickly went into thinking as she though over her friend's explanation.

“...Okay Twilight, but I’m going to put my animals somewhere safe, including Angel. I don't know what I would do without him.” Twilight smiled and gave her friend a nod, leading the rest of the elements with her out of Fluttershy’s cottage, waiting by the edge of the Everfree Forest as they saw Fluttershy move from place to place within her home, likely telling her animals where she was going, when she's be back, and to stay safe, before she then exited her home, closing the door behind her as she made her way to her friends.

Now, with the six all together, each of them carrying their respective elements of harmony in their saddlebags, they made their way into the forest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Continuing through the forest….}

After walking for about, I'd say, half an hour, through the forest, I managed to find a small dirt path along the ground. It led in two directions, north and south according to a display in my mask, one seeming to lead deeper into the forest while the other went to a clearing. I took the latter path. For the next few minutes, everything was going smoothly, though I was still pretty confused as to how this forest could be so deep, until, suddenly, I heard this 'clip-clopping' sound. The kind a person would hear from horses as their hooves hit the ground.

Thinking that I was still in New York, and where I had crashed to be the central park, since, often times, some members of the police department would ride horseback through the park, and that could possibly be the NYPD on horseback, I looked around for a place to hide as the sounds became louder and louder, heading in my direction. I managed to find a thick layer of brush nearby, quickly leaping into the plant layering and crouching myself down to keep the visibility of others on me as low as possible. After all, I didn't want to be spotted.

I managed to move the brush to the side so I could see what was coming towards me without giving away my position, the leaves and branches scratching harmlessly against my suit as I waited.

The sound of hooves came closer and closer, until, eventually, the source came into view. What I saw next though, was something I was not prepared for. 6 horses, the lot of them traveling together in what seemed like a group...

Well, maybe not horses.They weren't near as tall enough to actually be considered horses, and I easily could tower over them. I figured that I would just go with 'ponies' instead.

The 6 ponies, as I called them, were nothing like what I had expected. Each of them were a different color, ranging from white to purple, and among them, two of them had wings, another two had horns, and the last two just seemed like normal-as normal as I could call them that is-ponies.

'Wasn't there something like that mentioned in my greek history class?Oh, that's right! The ones with wings are pegasi and the ones with horns are unicorns. At least, that's what I can remember.'

One of the ponies even had a stetson on its head, as well as...

'Oh, what the heck?'

Each pony seemed to have some sort of marks on their flanks, each of them unique, but I just couldn't get a clear view of them. Over 3 million dollars worth of taxpayer money just to build one part of this suit, and they couldn't even afford to have added night vision?

'Wait a minute are they heading towards-... Yeah, yeah they're heading towards my jet. Dang it.'

Letting out a silent sigh in both frustration and confusion, I decided to follow the group, quietly moving out of the brush as they past and climbing into one of the trees above, figuring that, if I was to be stealthy, an acrobatic approach would work better. Now, lets just hope I still remember how to do this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Walking through the Everfree...}

“UGH, this forest is just so dreadful at this time of night!" exclaimed the complaining marshmallow white pony known as Rarity, utterly repulsed by the fact that they had to trek through so much dirt and grime just to reach something that quite possibly could no longer be there.

“Come on Rare, t'ain't that bad.” said the southern orange cowmare known as Applejack, giving a friendly nudge to her friend as they went on. As this occurred however, Fluttershy, who was currently cowering behind her friends, though she still kept on, felt an odd feeling overcome her, sending shivers through her spine as she sped up her pace to make her way closer to the girls.

“Um... girls?" She asked. "D-do you have the feeling that we're being watched?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Following the 6 ponies….}

Sweet mother of god, these ponies can talk! Now I know I’m not in New York anymore, to say the least. Well, that, or I hit my head harder than I thought I did in that crash. As much as the concept of talking ponies stunned me though, I still had to know why they were heading towards my jet. I had to stay focused.

A few minutes of following the group later, moving from tree to tree, brush to brush, as I followed them out of sight, we eventually made it back to the jet, the ponies all seeming to stare in wonderment as they looked over the Predator jet.

“Twilight, what is that thing? And, more importantly, why is it such a ghastly color!?” The white unicorn asked, cringing at the sight of the jet, though I wasn't sure if it was because of how threatening it looked, or just because of the 'ghastly colors', as she had put it.

“I don't know rarity." Answered the purple pony, who I assumed to be Twilight, as she took a few steps closer to the vehicle and began to lean in for a closer look.
Suddenly, the cyan blue pegasus flew over to the top, her head tilting as he as well gave it a once over.

“Hey, check this out! It has equestrian writing on it! But... I don't get why there is just a huge 'X' in the middle of it, or why its red and black.” She said, rubbing her hoof against her chin (I didn't even know ponies could do that) as she floated steadily in the air.
“ Rainbow, ya'll be careful up thar! We still ain't sure of what this contraption's capable of.”

'Okay, so the cyan one is Rainbow... Well, that makes sense. Even I could have figured that one out.
My attention was brought back to the pony I now knew as rainbow, watching as she rolled her eyes dismissively at her friend and waved her hoof to her.

“Don't worry Applejack, I’m fine! Besides, its gonna take more than something like this to take me…. What the hay is that?” Rainbows attention was, at the moment, directed towards the cockpit of my jet, herself flying in closer and leaning her head inside as she took a look around.

“ Woah! Girls, look at this!” The 5 other ponies quickly gathered around their friend, circling the cockpit of the ship as each one of them began eyeing every button, switch, and light like a kid with the candy in a candy store. The lavender one, Twilight, was staring curiously at the same light I was looking at when I crash landed.
“'Engine Offline'? Huh, I wonder what that could mean?” She asked herself aloud.
“Beats me Twi. This durn thing looks like a bunch'a mumbo-jumbo ta me.” Said the orange pony with a stetson on her head, who I
had overheard to be called 'Applejack'.

Next, I looked towards a pink pony, who, might I add, was barely even staying on the ground half the time she was there. She was talking nonstop as she hopped up and down, mentioning and explaining about throwing me, the 'alien' a party after they found me, when suddenly, she stopped, her eyes going wide as she started to vibrate up and down, like a jackhammer, for a good 3 minutest

“ Wowie zowie girls! I don't know what that was, but it means that one heck of a doozie's coming!” I had no clue what she talking about, nor did I think that I would understand, but what I did know, was that, despite everyone else's caution around the jet, Rainbow went ahead and pushed one of the many buttons on the jet, and when she did...

Well, I can safely say that the security function of the jet works well. An icon was displayed on my wrist screen, showing that it had gone into security warning 1, activating it's alarm as a timer, likely for the alarm, began to count time from ten seconds. The ponies all quickly removed themselves from the jet, backing away as the sound continued to echo through the forest for another 8 seconds. Eventually, the forest was plunged back into silence again, the jet's alarm running out as it set itself to it's security warning 2 settings, but by then, the sound had already invited some unwanted guests.

The sound of growling filled the air as, diagonal to me, opposite of the ponies, a group of 4 animals that, as I could only describe them, seemed to be made of wood came through the brush, their wooden teeth bared as they stared at their targets with narrow, yellow eyes.

All 6 ponies cowered in fear as the animals closed in on them, eyeing them deviously as if it had captured its food. I didn't want to see those beasts, whatever they were , make a meal out of those ponies, so, reaching for my belt, I grabbed a few throwing stars, each of them in the shape of an X, as I took a deep breath, drew back the throwing weapons, and shot them directly at the monsters. Four satisfying 'shinks' came through the air as each of the wooden wolves fell to the ground, lifeless, the throwing stars embedded in their chests and heads. 4 stars, 4 wolves, 4 direct hits.

Thinking to myself that now would be the best time to leave, I turned to make my way out of the brush, when suddenly, I heard something that could actually prove to be... Useful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Twilight Sparkle}
When I opened my eyes, I saw that the timber wolves that had just surrounded us, ready to gulp us up and have us for dinner, were now laying sideways and flat against the ground, the yellow glow of their eyes now conpletely gone they laid still. Sticking out of their heads and chests, a red X-like thing was half bedded in each of them. Whoever, or whatever, did this had saved us from becoming those wolves' meals!

“I need to tell the princess about this!" I exclaimed, gesturing for the girls to follow me as I enveloped each of the sharp object that had hit the wolves within my magical grip, lifting them up and out of the bodies of lumbar before bringing them together in a neat group before me. "We need to take these things to canterlot with us!”

“Alright Twi, lets get going!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And as all of the mares left for the Golden Oaks Library to write to their princess about what they had found, and the events that had transpired, they all remained blissfully unaware of the black, shadow-like figure that followed close behind them.

Author's Note

there is a portal 2 reference in here try and see if you can find it

'Chapter 6 heroics and Inprisonment' [Edited]

Location: Canterlot

Date : May 6th, possibly

Time: Morning Interval/Quite Some Time After 12:00 AM

... Huh? Wha-? Shaking my head slightly as a shake from the cart I was resting in awoke me, I let out a tired yawn as I stretched my arms out, my bones groaning in contentment as I did so. I must have dozed off there for a bit.
Standing myself up, I nearly fell over again as all of the momentum of the train seemed to double forward, the train screeching to a slow and steady halt. Had we already reached 'Canterlot'?

I stepped over several bags of luggage as I moved to the back most door of the cart, pulling it open by a small crack as I peered outside. Opening the back door slightly I took a look around the... Different place.

Honestly, it looked like an amusement park, or some sort of midieval fair, or maybe just a flat out combination of the two. The large, well built structures. The colorful surroundings, filled with just as colorful ponies of all shapes and kinds.

The castle itself was surrounded by an incredibly large wall, guards in white armor standing firmly in their place nearby, likely as a precaution for their monarch. Figures that it wouldn't be easy. If I wanted to get to the castle, I'd need to use my head.

As the station was cleared of ponies, little by little, I darted towards the nearest alleyway before any of the ponies could see me. I figured that, maybe, if I had a higher vantage point, then maybe I could figure something out. So, reaching around my belt, I grabbed my suits grappling gun, which was basically a high powered hydraulics system at a small scale to launch a small, yet powerful, hook, and pulled my way up one of the two buildings that I his between, my feet touching the roof with a slight tamp and clang as I crouched and started to look around, desperately hoping that none of the winged ponies from before would fly by. While I was there, I tried to get a look around the castle walls. There had to be someway I could get there, right?

Psh, I wish. They had the place more locked down than Alcatraz was back home. Guards were stationed both on the walls, and below, and even if I could somehow manage to sneak by them, the flying guards would be likely to spot me.

Not having very many options to go on, I let out a sigh as I racked my head to try to think of something. Before I could though, a scream pierced through the air. My eyes widening, I turned to the source, noticing a far off plume of smoke, about 10 blocks away. My eyes narrowing, I glanced around me as I took a running start and started to move from rooftop to rooftop, the roofing below me clanging as I did so.

When I was about a single block away, I finally caught sight of what was causing the smoke. A fire, centralized along a relatively large, two story building, was currently causing chaos around the small neighborhood. Onlookers watched as ponies desperately tried to put out the inferno, including, oddly enough, the six ponies that I had seen before. Hadn't they been told to stay in Ponyville?
The scream echoed through the air again, pushing my train of thoughts to a still as I looked to the group of onlookers, eventually finding the source. Among the guards that were keeping the ponies away, a single female pony, at least from what the screams had shown me, was pushing desperately against them, vainly trying to pass through the 'wall' they had created.

“Please, let me through! My foals are in there!” She pleaded, her voice falling on death ears as the guards continued to hold her back.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. MoneyBags," one of the guards said, drawing a raise brow from me as I heard the odd name, "the building is too weak. It could come down any minute.”

"Then do something to save them!" She exclaimed, tears starting ti stream down her face. Now, I was faced with a dilemma. I wanted to help this pony and her... Foals, with all of my heart really, but if I did, then there's no way I would go without being seen by the guards. Then, I'd be arrested, or something like that, and taken to the prin-... Actually, I think that's a win-win situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Outside the burning building…

Twilight Sparkle

As it had turned out, though Princess Celestia didn't want for us to stay at the castle until we figured out whatever it was that had come to Equestria, she still wanted us to come over for a conference, thinking that we'd be better off discussing this issue face to face with one another.

No sooner than my friends and I had gotten off the train however, had the screams of a mare caught our attention. When we got here, the guards told us to stay back, despite the fact that we could help. Now, the mare's crying, pleading with the guard to let her pass and help her foals. I just wish that we could do something!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grabbing my grappling gun again, I fired it at the building rooftop, the hook letting out a satisfying 'cling' as it caught, attracting the attention of several ponies, who looked to me with gasps and murmurs. Well, here goes nothing! I grabbed hold of the rope as I ran off of the roof, shortening the rope and sending myself straight into the building, glass from the second floor of the building falling around me as I rolled into a landing, stopping myself with my hands and kneeling on my knees. Shaking my head from the impact, I took a look around the room, listening carefully as I tried my best to control my breathing. The smoke was so thick up here that you could cut it with a knife.

At first, I heard nothing but the roaring of the fire, or crumbling of the building. Through this though, a faint sound came. High pitched, and heavily contrasting with the other sound around me, I heard crying, and coughs. My eyes narrowing, I followed the sound, making my way around the flames and falling debris that surrounded me as I did so.

It was in a small room, near the end of a hall, that I found a crib with two small ponies inside, likely the foals, bawling because of the intense heat from the fire. I couldn't blame them, I was sweating myself. Carefully, I grabbed the two, wrapping them in a nearby blanket to keep them from inhaling the smoke and holding them close to me as I left the room, a support beam collapsing right where the two were as I did so, and ran for the window I had come from. Now, lets hope I can stick the landing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moments after a mysterious, black figure crashes into the window of a burning building.

“What the hay was that?!” Rainbow Dash asked, and she wasn't the only one. The crowd around the building were also curious as to what exactly had transpired, and, like Rainbow Dash, they found themselves unable to answer.

“Ah'm not sure, Rainbow." AppleJack replied, her forehoof against the back of her was in unsureness.
It was barely a moment more of this confusion before, much to everypony's surprise, the black figure once again moved, this time carrying an unknown object in it's arms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was almost pure luck that I managed to get out of that building when I did, the entire floor that I was on buckling shortly behind me, along with the rest of the structure, collapsing with a loud crash. Firing my grapple gun yet again, I hooked it onto a nearby lamppost, shifting the two, still covered, foals to my other arm as I lowered myself down to the ground.

The ponies looked on as I did this, most of their attention having been shifted from the fire, to me, as I made my way over to the wall of guards that surrounded the, now ruined, building and I, hoping to talk to the mare called 'Mrs. Moneybags'.

She, the crowd, and even some of the guard ponies, looked to me in shock and fear, backing away slightly as they looked to me in silence. Okay, maybe I should try the more careful approach? Stopping myself, I shifted the two, currently squirming, and wrapped, foals in my arms, looking to the mare calmly.

“Excuse me-Mrs. Moneybags, is it?-but I believe these two belong to you.” I said as I unwrapped the two, putting them into the view of all the ponies there. At the sight of her children, the mare's eyes widened, a smile coming to her face as she shoved her way past the gaurds, practically pushing a couple of them to the floor, and made her way to me. I lowered myself slightly, due to the difference in height between us, and carefully handed the two to the mare, both of them seeming to smile and laugh at the sight of their mother again. Mrs. Moneybags embraced the two with tears in her eyes, overjoyed at the sight of them.

“Oh! Penniesworth, Loosechange, I thought I'd never see you two again!" Again, I'm kinda questioning these names, but I guess
shouldn't judge. "Oh, thank you for saving them! Thank you!” Chuckling, I shook my head, waving her off.

“No problem miss. I was happy to help.” I gave her a small gesture of farewell as I walked past her, over to the guards who, having apparently gotten over their shock, made their way to me.

“Mr... Um, whatever you are.” Well, that was rude. "While we are grateful for your act of kindness, I'm afraid that we will have to take you in." Oh, perfect. Shrugging my shoulders, I crossed my arms as I looked to them.

“Fine by me. If anything, I was wondering when you were going to say that." That took them by surprise, to say the least, their eyes widening as they shared glances between one another, before returning their gazes to me.

“You're not gonna put up a fight?” One of the guards asked.

“No, I think i'm good... So, are you going to cuff me, or do we just go?”

Their brows raising, one of them to the other. “Um... Right... Bring in the shackles." The guard quickly responded, one of the group levitating a pair of iron shackles over to me as I voluntarily held out my hands, wrapping them around me with a click before asking for them to follow. I nodded in return, well aware of the fact that, if need be, I could break out of these easily.

“So then, I can guess you don't get too many that don't put up a fight?” I deduced. The guard in front of me nodded, glancing to me as he did so.

“Yeah... Guess you're the first." Some of the guard ponies exchanged smiles at this, slightly amused, before returning to their more stoic positions. At least they weren't as emotionless as rocks, right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Canterlot Castle Throne Room

Princess Celestia

"Yet more paperwork for me to sign, as usual."

Sighing, I filled out another of the many papers of business and policies, doing my best as co-monarch of Equestria to keep everypony satisfied. I had yet to send a guard to Ponyville to retrieve the odd objects that my, student Twilight Sparkle, had written to me about, I was so busy. As I signed my name on another of these tedious forms, there was a knock at the throne room doors, both my guards and I shifting our attention upwards to the noise.

“Come in." I said, placing down the forms into a neat pile. The doors heaved open as another member of the guard entered, bowing as he made his way before me.

“Your majesty, we have found an odd creature here in Canterlot. He appears sentient, and has surrendered himself to us without struggle. What would you have us do with him?” My brow raised, my thoughts rose as I relayed what he had told me in my mind over again. Was it possible that this creature that they had found had been the source of those odd occurrences in Ponyville?

“Hm... Wake my sister and ask for her to join me in the throne room. As for this being, tell him to await outside of the throne room. We will bring him in once we have consulted what we must do with him.”

“Right away, Princess.” With one last bow, the guard left the room, likely seeking out my sister and passing my orders.
I was beginning to wonder what this creature looked like, or, more importantly, what it was here for. My thoughts, however, were interrupted as a scroll from my student, Twilight, materialized before me, myself grabbing it within my magical grip and rolling it open. On the scroll, it was written that, upon entering Canterlot, she, and her companions, had come upon a nearby house fire. It was then that this being had come into view, taking action and, not only rescuing two trapped foals from the blaze, but also peacefully giving himself to the guard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Canterlot Castle, Outside the throne room

Date: Possibly May 6th

Time: Afternoon Interval

I've been sitting in front of these doors for the past half hour, with nothing to do but look around, not that there was much to look at, aside from the guards who surrounded me. At this point, I was starting to get drowsy, my eyelids feeling heavy, likely from the few hours of sleep I had gotten on that train. It got to the point to where I actually almost fell asleep, my eyes closing completely. The only reason I stayed awake, honestly, was because of a voice that came out of nowhere.

“Thou shoulds't know that it is not polite to fall asleep near the throne room.” I would've jumped in surprise were it not for the shackles that I had around my wrists and legs, which, might I add, was pretty unnecessary.

“Um, sorry." I said, still not turning to the voice as I rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes. "I've just been sitting here for awhile. Nothing to do, and all that."

“Nonetheless... So it would seem the my sister was not incorrect. Thou doth hath the ability to talk." My brow rose at this. Both the way she talked, and the mention of her sister.

“Sister?” I asked.

“Yes, my sister, Princess Celestia. I am co-ruler of Equestria, Princess Luna.” Wait, she there were two princesses? And she was one of them?!? Trying to keep a calm demeanor, I continued to converse with her.

“Princess Luna, huh? That's a nice name." She didn't respond immediately, oddly enough, taking a short moment of silence instead.

“Thank you, creature. Tis very kind of you to say." I felt the corner of my mouth fall slightly at this, having apparently been called a 'creature', but I move on nonetheless.

“Excuse me Princess?”

“Yes?"

“I would prefer it if we talked face to face, if you don't mind.” I requested.

“Oh, of course”

The sound of her hoovesteps coming through, she soon came into my vie- woah... That was pretty much all I could say, actually. Navy blue fur with emerald green eyes, a mane that waved around as if an invisible wind was blowing it, and her mane shined as if it had stars in it. Just...

“Wow.” I said mindlessly, mentally kicking myself for that moment of idiocy and caused her to blush.

“Oh, um, sorry! I think I might be... tired, yeah, tired! And... Well, look, do you think there's anywhere I could get some rest until your sister and you are ready to see me.”

“But of course. If thou arth too exhausted at the moment, thou shalt be able to rest until thou arth ready.” Thank goodness. For a second, I thought I had no way getting off that sinking boat I had caused. “We shall take thee to a guest room for thou to rest.”

“Thanks. Should I wait for someone to take these shackles off first or-..."

“No need. We shall carry the ourselves.

“Excuse me?” Is what I would have said, but then, before I could really do or say anything, I was lifted into the air, and odd sensation surrounding me as this happened.

“Okay, this is new!” I exclaimed as I wobbled slightly in the air. Princess Luna smiled as she carried me to the the guest room, the guards forcing themselves to hold in their laughter as this went on, though I could still clearly hear them. When we arrived, a similar aura to the one that held me enveloping, and opening, the door. She carefully placed me down into the room, undoing my shackles and floating them away as I got up and moved around a little bit, rubbing the slight soreness off of my wrists. Looking around, I noticed a small balcony near the far wall of the room, the night's moon radiating through. It had already turned to night again? No wonder I was so tired. As the door behind me closed, Princess Luna leaving the room, I let out a sigh as the night breeze hit me, moving to the bed at the center if the room for some rest. I was just about ready to pass out, really. I flopped onto the bed and... Holy crap this is comfortable! Eat your heart out Tempuredic!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the hallways of Canterlot Castle

Princess Luna

That being was... Interesting. He seemed quite nice as well. He had even brought about a blush from me. Something that few other suitors of mine had done over the many years. Hm. I wonder what tomorrow may bring.

Author's Note

let me know your thoughts guys I need it

'Chapter 7 questions and answers'[edited]

Location: Canterlot Castle Guest Room

Date: Possibly May 7th

Time: Morning Interval

Waking up, I felt much less tired than I had in the past few... Well, days, actually. I stretched my arms outwards as, letting out a yawn, I opened my eyes with a groan, the sunlight beaming at me with an almost 'good morning' like gesture. I pulled myself up, getting a look around my surroundings as I did so, just barely remembering what had happened the night before. How I had gotten here, why here specifically, and my reason for having come here in the first place. Finding and asking the princess- Er, princesses, to let me deal with my own belongings, mostly my jet. Different species or not, I didn't want any of these ponies to get hurt... I may never get used to saying something like that.

Lifting myself out of bed, I quickly realized that, much to my embarrassment, I still had my suit on. The muscle strain definitely helped to prove that. I really need to find something else to wear other than this suit, sooner or later. Plus, this isn't exactly made for daytime operations. Like Mr. Johnson had said, it was called 'Project Night Stalker’ for a reason. Shrugging off the muscle pain to the best of my abilities, I stood myself off of the bed, stretching my arms and back in some early morning exercise to help relieve some of the muscle tension. As I finished up though, rolling my shoulders with a satisfied sigh, there was a knock at the door.
“You can come in. The doors unlocked... I think.” Besides, do they really have to ask for permission to enter a 'prisoner's' room? Either they're really polite, or they're too nice for their own good... I'm gonna go with the former.

A small moment after I had given permission to enter, one of the pony guards, like the ones from before, opened the door and came into the room, taking a statue-like pose as usual. “The princesses request your presence in the throne room.” He said.
Nodding, I replied, “Okay then. Lead the way."

The guard nodded as well in return, turning around and gesturing me to follow with a move of his head. I quickly complied, following the armored pony out of the room and into the long hallway, the sound of his hoof steps, and my footsteps, echoing as we went on.
Eventually, the two of arrived at the familiar, large pair of double doors that I presumed to be the throne room. What had made it better this time, was that I wasn't in shackles this time. Much more comfortable, really. The guard, still stoic as usual, walked, or trotted, over to the left of the double doors, much to my dismay, as the doors were each individually surrounded by a gold and blue ethereal glow, opening before me. Taking in a deep breath, I walked into the room as calmly as possible, while at the same admiring some of the decor used around the room.

Looking ahead, I noticed the two monarchs of this land sitting upon their thrones, one of the two being the one that I had met last night, and the other, a white furred one, with a flowing rainbow mane, and a larger stature than the former. Along with them, the six ponies that I had previously seen in the village, Ponyville, were spread about them, each of them sporting the necklaces and crown that I had heard them call 'the elements of harmony'... I'd need to take a careful approach at this.
Considering that I was before the presences of monarchs, I bowed at the two, mentally hoping that that tradition hadn't changed in between worlds. "Arise, creature." The white pony monarch said, likely the 'Princess Celestia' that I had heard Twilight so prominently speak about.

Follwing what she said, I stood straight again, looking to the monarchs blankly, though truthfully, i was kinda nervous on the inside.
"Okay James, you need to present yourself in a professional and orderly manner. In other words try not to sound hostile." Mentally nodding at these thoughts, I silently gulped as, with a deep breath, I began to speak. “Good morning," I began, "I assume that
everyone is ready to start?“

At this, all the ponies gained questioning looks, the monarchs raising brows as well as they looked on. “Everyone? Don’t you mean everypony?” Twilight asked, her head tilting slightly as she did so.

“No, I mean every-... Oh, heh, I’m sorry, I'm missing the proper vernacular here, aren't I? Very well, everypony then.” I corrected, looking to the purple pony as I did so. "Thank you Twilight."

... Did I just? My eyes widening, I slapped my hand against my face and mask as everyb- pony, gained a shocked look to them.

"Way to go, James. Now you're royally screwed... No pun intended."

Though shocked, Twilight spoke up again. “How do you know my name!?!"

Next, the cyan colored pegasus spoke up, flying herself higher as she did so. "Yeah, were you spying on us? Trying to plan an invasion, huh?!?"

I shook my hands as head at this, desperately trying to clear up this little flub that I had caused.

“No, no, no, you have it all wrong! Believe me, there's no need to be paranoid, everypony! I have no intention of causing an invasion, or anything like that!" I explained, crossing my arms as I moved on to some other matters. "And a few things. One, I have a name. Being called a 'creature' isnt exactly the least demeaning thing, you know? Two, I took an oath to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and never would I even consider harming any one of you unless you have given me reason, like committing an evil or fowl act, in which case I devote to chasing down and eradicating that evil. Now, since thats out of the way, I'll move onto your questions.” I said, continuing on shortly after.

“Starting off with what Twilight and Ranbow Dash-was it?- said, yes, I did spy on you. And yes, I know your names. But I found that out in a different way than you think. You can ask in between while I tell you how I got here in the first place.” The surprise, and waryness, on the six ponies continued as I went on, but the princesses, who currently held neutral expressions, looked to one another, and nodded, returning their gazes to me shortly after.

“Very well, you may continue." Celestia said, gesturing to me with a hoof, to which I responded with a nod.

“Alright, where to start?" I mused to myself, putting my hand to my chin in thought. "...Well, I was flying over Manhattan on my usual rounds of the city-”

“Manhattan? Darling, don't you mean 'Manehattan'?" The white unicorn known as Rarity asked.

“No, I don't, but you do bring up a strange connection. Where I come from, it's called Manhattan. Maybe this world, or universe, or even dimension, holds more similarities than I thought...” 'Manehattan','Manhattan'. Honestly, it's a real play on words, and a resemblance to them too... Hm…

I would have continued in my thoughts, but was soon interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, you said that you were 'flying'. How do you do that without wings?” She asked, flapping her wings a couple of extra times for emphasis.

“Oh, I use my jet to fly. It gets me to places faster than I would walking there.” The pony's mouth opened to say something, but I cut her off before she could. “Now before you start asking what a jet is, let me tell you first. That way, I can continue with my story." She nodded at this, waiting patiently for me to explain. "A jet is an object that uses super heated air to propel itself forward, and metal 'wings', of sorts, to lift itself into the air fast enough to stay in the sky for a while. Back where I'm from, air travel is one of the many preferred modes of transportation, because it can get you from one place to another in a few minutes, where it would normally take hours and the like. Some are big, and some are small, like mine, but mine is only used for smaller distances, making it easy for me to get from point A to point B in a matter of seconds.” At this, she seemed to grow even more curious.

“You said it was fast, right? How fast is it?” She asked. I smiled as she said this, though she couldn't really see it below my mask.

“Think of it this way. If I wanted, I could get it to break the sound barrier second after launching.”
This seemed to get her excited for some reason, but, shrugging it off, I continued with my story.

“Like I was saying. I was flying over Manhattan when, all of a sudden my jet was enveloped by a strange, colorful glow. Don’t ask me why in that regard, because I'm honestly clueless. It was crazy in there, colors changing every second, like red, blue, green, yellow, and so on, and so on. Eventually, it stopped, but then, it got worse, a bright light coming out of nowhere as what looked a portal formed, sucked me in. I don't remember much of that night, really. All I remember is, I crashed into a forest, and then I woke up a few moments later to find you ponies going towards my jet.” The ponies all nodded at this, looking to each other in silent acknowledgment before returning to me.

“ Now, this is where I found out your names. When you were speaking to each other, I noticed your eye contact and body position directed towards the pony, you were talking to like Rainbow there would be talking to Applejack, and so on. It wasn't that hard to guess either. Then, after one of you pressed a button in the jet, you sounded off the anti-theft alarm, which, by my guess, lured that wooden wolf that I had stopped. When you had left the forest, I followed you to that tree house, literally, to see if there was anything else I could find out about while I was here. I listened in on you, which I understand is rude, so I'm sorry, and heard how Princess Celestia wanted to study the jet. And thats why I came to Canterlot shortly after. To try to have her reconsider that idea.” One of the princess's brows rose at this, as she looked to me questioningly.

“Why would you want me to reconsider that?" Princess Celestia asked.

“Because, it has a weapon system on it, and one of you six had already triggered it's first stage defense systems. I didn't want you to risk your researchers, or anyo- anypony,"

"Now I'm starting to catch on."

"Else."

Celestia cringed at this, gaining a worried expression to her, which made me curious as to the reason.

“... Princess Celestia, may I ask why you seem so-….” It was right then that my wrist screen alarm went off, myself closing my eyes and letting out an exasperated sigh as I once again slapped my hand against my face.

“... Its here, isn't it?” I asked, looking up to the princess with a peek, the princess closing her eyes and nodding.

"... Okay... Stay calm... It's not necessarily that ba-"

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT DANGER THEY MAY BE IN RIGHT NOW?!? WHERE IS YOUR LAB WE NEED TO GET THERE NOW!” Well, so much for keeping calm. Her eyes narrowing, Celestia stood from her seat, followed shortly by Luna, didn't even hesitate to tell me.

“This way!” She exclaimed, as she, Luna,Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy,the pink one (note to self: need to ask her for her name), and I, all darted out of the throne room, hurrying after Celestia to the lab where Celestia’s researchers were in. Hopefully, they wouldn't do anything they would regre-

I and the other ponies stumbled slightly as the ground below us shook.

... Tell me those weren't the missiles.

Author's Note

editing credit goes to brightlight please comment and tell me you guys thoughts

'Chapter 8 things that follow'[edited]

Location: Canterlot Castle

Date: Possibly May 7th

Time: Morning Interval

Current Objective(Priority 1): Disarm Predator weapon systems as quickly as possible.

As the nine of us rushed down the halls of the castle, our combined foot and hoofsteps echoing through the halls while we followed Princess Celestia's lead, I sped myself up slightly, closing in on Celestia as I turned my head to her to ask a question.

“So... Celestia... how much further?”

I asked, panting slightly as I struggled to keep up. I mean, no offense, but when you compare a pony's speed and stamina to a human's, its not really much of a contest. Even for me, and I had been trained to do things like this.

“Not much further. It's the next left down this hall.” The princess replied. Nodding, I sped myself ahead even further, overtaking the princesses and company as we came up on our destination.

Sliding to a stop, my hands planting themselves on the ground so that I wouldn't miss the turn, I stood and shoved my way through the large door that led to the next area. Immediately after the door, I was stopped by a stomach high metal railing, nearly crashing into it as I came in. My eyes narrowing in both confusion and frustration, I looked downwards, noticing that, at the end of the lowering staircase, was a smooth, almost sterile, white floor. Definitely the lab.

"Everypony get down!" I heard an unspecified pony from below call , shortly followed by loud sound of a nearby explosion, my eyes widening in panic as the floor below me shook.

As the sound of the princesses and others hoofsteps came closer, signaling that they were entering the room, I didn't bother to wait any longer, jumping over and through the opening in the staircase, I fired my grappling hook upwards yet again, the ponies who were catching up to me gasping in surprise as the hook grabbed onto the metal railing, slowly lowering me to the ground.
Soon, the entirety of the lab came into my view, tables and white walls now burnt and charred, my jet taking up most of the large room as I spotted several ponies hiding behind cover, none of them seeming seriously injured.

"Alright, simple enough, all I had to do was access the jet's wireless network and-... Where's its network?" One of my brows raising as I continued to scroll through the options of my wrist screen, a sense of confusion coming to me. "I don't get it, it should be here!"
My eyes narrowed as I looked up to the jet, the vehicle letting out a loud series of beeps and whirs as it opened one of its weapon chambers, a barrage of missiles launching upwards, many of them hitting the cieling, though surprisingly not doing more than damaging the paint job.

One of these missiles, though, was strayed by the aftershock of the explosions, heading straight to me. My feet were almost moved on their own as I rolled out of the path and into the nearest cover, one of the scientists who had also been taking cover there scooting over slightly as the explosion's heat hit us, not really hurting us, but still working up a sweat. Seriously, why can't I connect to this things net-

Before I could even finish that thought, the sound of clanging metal interrupted me, as a smoking and sparking fragment of machinery flew over the pony and I, crashing into the ground in front of us... I could see where this was going.
Looking to the pony next to me, who just looked to me slightly fearfully, I felt myself deadpan. "Don't tell me... You removed that from it's control panel, didn't you?" I asked. In response, the pony nodded, just as quickly covering his head as another round of futile missiles hit the roof of the room, shaking it slightly.

"... Figures that, out of everything they could have taken out, they would remove the wireless transceiver."
Sighing in exasperation, I looked over the piece of cover I was using, looking to the open canopy of the jet. If I was going to turn off the jet now, I'd have to do a manual override... Now... How do I do that again?
Another round of missiles, followed by a shake of the ground, signaled my next chance, myself sprinting over my piece of cover and rushing to the jet, jumping into the driver seat and pulling up its electronic control screen.

'Lockdown Initiated' it read, a groan of annoyance coming from me as I read it. Pulling up my wrist screen, I input a series of commands, hastily grabbing an extendable cable from the small monitor and connecting it into the main computer of the jet.
An encryption key was the first thing to pop up, a smile coming to my face as I unscrambled the password with ease. After all, I was the one who had input it in the first place.

'846091101'

Sighing as the Predator began to power down, its weapon systems closing themselves with a whir as I all but flattened myself against the pilot seat in exhaustion. Looking upwards, to the entrance of the lab, I noticed several of the scientists make their way out, at the same time, the princesses and six ponies from before standing there, staring. I guess they had seen the whole thing.
“Alright," I said, "we're good. Your scientists are safe." Putting my hands of the side of the canopy, i lifted myself up and over with a grunt, landing squarely on the ground before making my way to the right. "Now, if you would like, we could continue our conversation where we had left off.” The ponies continued to stare on in almost amazement, their silence eventually broken as Rainbow proved to be the first to speak up.

“That... was... awesome! Mr. Whatsyourface, you just came in Daring Do style and totally stopped that thing!" Oh yeah, I forgot to tell them my name... And what the heck is a 'Daring Do'?

“Yeah, thanks, it was nothing.” I said, trying not to gloat... And doing pretty badly at it, huh? I made to say something else, but was quickly preempted as my stomach spoke for me, letting out a loud growl as I felt my cheeks warm in embarrassment. When was the last time I ate?

“Sounds ta me like somepony's hungry.” Applejack said, a smug and knowing smile coming to her face.

“Then it's settled. We shall continue this meeting of ours over lunch. Is that alright with you... Um..." Celestia trailed off, looking to me for an answer.

“James. Just call me James.” I said, Celestia giving a thankful nod in rerun.

“Very well then. James. Would you care to join us for lunch?”

“Sure thing. I don't think I have had anything for 3 days now." I replied, scratching the back of my head at this subject.

“Shall we head back up the stairs, darling?” Rarity asked, myself chuckling at the question

“Thanks, but I think that I'll just meet you all up there.” Excusing myself past the group, I nonchalantly pulled out my grappling hook for what felt like the 100th time in the past few days, quickly lifting myself up the stairway in a matter of seconds, looking downwards and expecting to see the group... Only to see a clear floor.

"What the- JESUS CHRIST!" I nearly sprang myself back over the railing as I turned myself back to the door that led to the railing, the group of ponies having somehow appeared out of thin air in front of me, Rainbow and Applejack having smug smiles on their faces.

“Um... Lets get going then, shall we?” I suggested, trying to reclaim a small amount of my dignity.

Everypony nodded at this, as we then walked down the long halls of the castle, eventually reaching the dining room, where we all took our individual seats around the large, oval shaped table, Celestia and Luna sitting at the head, of course, while the other ponies and I were spread about the table, myself seated between the pink pony, who I still had yet to ask for her name, and Twilight. Considering that fact that I was about to eat, and that three days of wearing this suit of mine had begun to make it uncomfortable, I reached upwards and removed my mask with a sigh, the ponies watching me intently as I did so. I mean, normally, I wouldn't do this, considering I'd be at risk of revealing my secret identity, but honestly, I don't think that concept mattered at my current situation.

It was only about a minute or two afterwards, as I felt the cool air refresh my long covered face, that I noticed Twilight looking to me curiously.“...What are you, James?” She asked.
Chuckling, I responded, passing a head through my messy hair as I did so.“I'm a human." I said simply.

"Oh... Wait, what?!?" She and the rest of the ponies at the table seemed to do a double take at my response, which caused me to raise a brow in confusion.

“I thought that human's only existed in myths, a-and fairy tales!” Um... What? Humans are myths here? Well, can't say that they're really myths in my world... Oh, wait, unicorns and pegasus. Yeah, they are. Oh, the irony.

“Oh, this is soooooo exciting! I get to learn something from a real human!” She squeed as she bounced herself up and down in her seat, and squealing like a little girl... Adorable.

Holding back a laugh of mine as several ponies dressed in what looked like servant attire came and placed a menu before me, along with everypony else, I picked it up and gave it a quick once over. It seemed it had every sort of vegetarian meal, which is to be expected, cosidering there were nothing but ponies here, written on it clearly... Well, except for one thing. One of the waiters came out from the kitchen double doors, and, instead of going to one of the ponies first, the waiter came to me.

“Excuse me sir, may I take your order?” I couldn't help but to feel some sort false pretenses from this situation. After all, it felt kinda like the reason that they had suggested this was to figure out what I ate. A little rude, but not a bad move. Though, I wonder how they'd feel when they realized I was an omnivore... Eh, I'll wait and see.

“Um, sir?”

“Oh, sorry about that." I said, snapping out of my momentary thought filled state. "Well... I don't have an order yet, but I am curious about something.” The pony rose his brow at this. "Um... Do you think... You can manage... A pizza?" Not exactly the most mature food of choice, or question, but hey, I was hungry, and that's what I was craving. Curse my inner New Yorker!
Rather than answer me though, the pony's all looked to me as if I had grown a second head, honestly seeming unsure as to what I had meant. In the end, it was Luna who as broken the silence.

“Pray tell, what is this 'Pizza' you speak of?" She asked quizzically, a slight sense of shock coming to me as she said this. Honestly, I probably should have seen this coming, being in another world and all, but still!

“You don't know what a pizza is? Any of you?” All of them just shook their heads, myself letting out a mental sigh as they did so.

“Girls, you have no idea what you're missing." Speaking of ideas. "Hang on a second, I’ll be right back.” I said, standing myself from my seat.

“Where are you going, James?” Celestia asked, looking to me curiously.
A smile came to my face as she said this, though I continued on my trip to where I presumed to be the kitchen. “Im going to make
the first... Um, where did you say I was again?"

“Equestria.” Answered Luna.

“Right. I'm going to go make the first Equestrian pizza! You girls all wait here. Believe me, you wont be dissapointed! I know a thing or two about cooking where I come from.” ... I hope.

As I walked into the kitchen, several pony chefs and servants speeding around me as I went on, too busy to really give me a moments notice, I rolled my eyes at the sight, making my way around the room as I slowly grabbed as many as I recalled I would need. Good thing Mr.Johnson taught me how to make these, huh?

"Now, lets see... eleven and a half cups of hot water, one package of active dry yeast, thirty one and a half cups bread flour, two tablespoons of olive oil, two teaspoons salt, one teaspoon of sugar, and that should do it for the dough." Bringing the ingredients together into the bowl, I let them settle shortly after mixing them, glancing over the pizza ingredients.
"Olive oil, cornmeal to easily slide the pizza into the stove, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, or parmesan, shredded feta cheese, mushrooms, thinly sliced bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, thinly sliced italian sausage... Don't really have that here, but an omnivore can dream. Chopped fresh basil, pesto
Pepperoni, again, not here... Dang it. Thinly sliced onions, still no meat."

As for kitchen tools, they didn't really have the wheel cutter that I would need, so I'd just have to work with a knife. But, as far as everything else, I had everything that I needed. Now, it was time to get to work.

One pizza pie and 8 mares doesn't really add up for them to enjoy... Two will probably do the job.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2 hours later, dining room…

As the ponies waited for time to pass, the tapping of Rainbow Dash's hooves could be heard as she impatiently awaited for this 'pizza' that he was making.

“Tch, I wonder what's taking him so long." Rainbow Dash she mused to herself.

“Im not sure, Dashie, but I bet it will be super duper awesome!” Pinkie Pie optimistically exclaimed, jumping slightly in her seat.

“...Sister, arth thou certain James isnt attempting to escape?” Before Celestia could even open her mouth to answer, the kitchen door peaked open, James peaking his head out and looking to the princess with a raised brow, flour staining his hair and face as he looked to her and the other ponies.

“Believe me Luna, if I wanted to escape, I'd have been long gone by now.” He said, drawing a red blush of embarresment from Princess Luna.

“Oh, and by the way, 5 minutes left till it's ready, and about... 10 seconds until it takes effect in the air.” At this, the princesses, and all the other ponies, raised a brow in confusion.

“What dost thou mean by, 'take effect in the air'?” Luna asked. Chuckling, James glanced back into the kitchen, seeming to bob his head as he mentally counted down.

“Lets see... 3….2….1….. okay! Now, if all of you could just smell the air for a moment, you will see exactly what I mean.” James said, a smile on his face as he ruffled his hair, some of the flour coming off as he did so.
Though they seemed questioning of this at first, all of the mares eventually took a whiff of the air, and, much to my amusement, their mouths shifted to into pleasant smiles, a couple of them watering.

“Oh darling, that smells divine!”

“Darn tootin! smells great!”

“Wow! What is that?”

“Oh my. That smells nice.”

“CUPCAKES!" Um... Okay?

“Is this the 'pizza' thou hath spoken of? If so, we cannot await for such a meal.”

“It is quite a wonderful smell, James. What exactly is it?” James stood there with a smug smile on his face, happily listening to their exclamations of enjoyment. And to think, they hadn't even tasted or seen it yet.

“That, my fair princess, is the smell of basil, garlic cheese, parsley, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and mushrooms... Actually, I think it should be finished right about-" A loud ding rang through the room, the smile on James' face growing as he heard it. "now."
As he disappeared into the kitchen again, the mares all listened carefully, hoping to hear what was occurring behind the closed doors.

“Okay then, I’ll need two volunteers to help me bring this out! Anypony?... Okay, great! Can you two help me pull it out of the oven? Careful, its hot!" It was but a short moment afterwards that, with a small sense of fanfare from the mares, the doors to the kitchen opened, two metal trays with the long awaited meals of the ponies, steaming and sizzling with a satisfying warmth, as James watch over the service.

“Okay, now just place them in the middle of the table, and we should be good. Oh, and can one of you bring a knife! I need to make enough slices here for everypony.” One of the male stallions quickly made their way into the kitchen, just as quickly coming out with a small, covered knife, removing the small tissues that sheathed the blade of the knife before floating it carefully into my hand, to which I gave a thankful nod.

“Thank you.” Grabbing hold of one of the plates, James began to cut out the pieces he needed, the blade of the knife barely touching the outer cheese layering when-

“WHAT IS THAT DOING HERE?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(5 Minutes Earlier)~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a certain prick- er, pony, walked down the halls of the castle, having been thorough drawn in by the new smell that came from the kitchen, following it like he had been in a trance, he opened the door to the dining room, more than eager to see what the servants had prepared. Upon opening the doors, he was quickly greeted by the sight of his two aunts, Celestia and Luna, and the six elements of harmony, including a certain white unicorn that had done well in keeping his suit clean on a certain occasion, involving a flying cake and stains. Along with them, there was-... A BIPEDAL CREATURE WITH A KNIFE IN ITS GRUBBY CLAWS!?!

“WHAT IS THAT DOING HERE!?!” He exclaimed, Rarity rolling her eyes as she planted a hoof over her face, saying 'here we go' as this went on.

“GUARDS! GUARDS! THERE'S A MONSTER IN THE CASTLE WITH A KNIFE! HELP!” As he went on, two of Celestia's royal guards passed by, glancing at the prissy pony, and the so-called 'monster', before walking on, ignoring his calls.

“WHERE ARE YOU TWO GOING? STOP THAT MONSTER”!

Raising a brow, James felt a sense of confusion, and a bit of annoyance, hit him.“Is he always like this?” He asked.

"We wish that we could speak otherwise.” Luna responded, rolling her eyes at her nefiew's overreaction.
Shrugging his shoulders, James cut out a separate piece of pizza for the panicking pony. After all, he was here now, so he was probably hungry too.

“Excuse me, sir?” He asked, the pony only panicking even more as he spoke.

“BACK AWAY, FOUL BEAST, AND RELEASE MY AUNTS AT ONCE!” The unknown, yet infamous, pony exclaimed.

“Look, you came here for a reason, right?" James asked, to which the pony nodded hesitantly, yet quizzically.

“Well then, take a seat. I was about to serve everypony here a slice.” One of the many waiter ponies brought out another chair, though he could easily be seen with an apprehensive expression as he caught sight of who he was bringing it out for, placing it to right of both the princesses, as custom when dealing with a member of the royal family.

“... Okay then... Now that that's settled, may I have your name so that I may refer to you correctly?” James asked politely.

“Blueblood, Prince Blueblood.” The pony responded, a sense of snootiness about his tone. As for James, he couldn't help but crack a smile at the name, desperately holding in his laughter. After all, there couldn't have possibly been a more fitting name than that.

“Alright then... ahem, Blueblood, I have two pizzas here, and since there are ten of you, including myself, each pony will get two slices each. And so, on behalf of human kind, I hope that you enjoy." After quickly slicing the pizza, and placing two of these slices into every individual pony's plates, James served himself as well, taking his seat and looking on with a smile.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Dig in." At this signal, one particular pony, a certain cotton candy maned, and over-caffeinated pony, showed exactly how eager she was to try it, literally slamming her face into plate, the sound of muffled eating audible as James looked on at this... Odd sight.

“... Well, that’s one way to do it.” Said James, as the ponylifted her face up once more, sucking in the first slice like a vacuum as, much to the shock of James, the pony defied and VIOLATED every form of physics known to mankind, firing up into the air like a rocket, and floating down as if she was wearing an invisible parachute.
(James.exe had stopped responding)

“Girls, you have got to try this! It's soooooooo good!” She said, before she just as quickly dove into her next slice.
Luna was the next to take a bite, her reaction, thankfully, not proving to be as logic defying.

“We have not had such a delectable meal as this for centuries! Huzzah!” I rose a brow at this.

"Centuries? How old are they?... Actually, that's not the kind of question I should ask. Especially if you don't want to be eradicated."

Shrugging, I took one of my own slices at hand and started to eat as well, the ponies asking me questions as they are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James Miller

The first question came from Twilight, her having wiped her face off with a napkin, having floated it to her mouth, before asking.

“How old are you James?”

“16”

“WHAT?!?" Everypony, aside from Blueblood, exclaimed, causing me to jump slightly in surprise.

“Is there something I am missing here?” I asked with a raised brow.

“How could somepony of your age be able to do what you do?!?” Twilight continued, to which I responded with a shrug.

“There are no barriers for age, as long as the heart is willing, and the mind is set. In short, D.D.D. Dedication, devotion, and determination.”

“Dedication? What dost thou mean by 'dedication'?” Luna asked.

"Oh, you know, doing what you do because you have you're mind set to it. In my case though, I do it because-" It was at that point that realization hit me like a truck, my heart sinking as a sudden thought came to mind.

“... Luna, may I ask what day it is?” I asked, putting on a blank expression.

"It is the 7th of day of the 5th month. Why dost thou ask?" She replied.

"So, in other words... May 7th..." My stomach sank, along with my hunger, despite the fact that i hadnt eaten in three days, as I realized the importance of the day, and how it ha completely gone over my head in recent events. It was my mothers birthday today...

Clearing my throat, I silently stood from my seat, attracting the gaze of everypony as I excused myself from the table. “...If you will all excuse me, I will be heading back to the guest chambers... Sorry, but I don't feel like answering any more questions right now.” I left the room without another word, heading towards the guest chambers, as I remembered the path to be... Though, it wasn't as far as I had thought it would be. This castle a lot like a maze, honestly, but for some reason, it was east for me to find 'my room'. Maybe it was just because I was paying attention earlier, or maybe it was just pure luck that I had found it. Anyways, opening the doors to the room, I went inside and sat on the bed, with my head tilted downwards as my hand reached for something I had in my belt. The very same thing that I had kept to remember my parents, and at this point, to remember Mr.Johnson as well. My mother's locket.

So many good memories. So many good times that I had spent with them... And so many lives lost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(POV Change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not far from the guest room where James was staying…

Princess Luna

Some part of me wondered why James got up and left so abruptly, and why he had seemed so upset. Perhaps, was it something I had said?

As soon as I arrived at the doorstep of the guest room, I could hear James mumbling something through the door, though I could not make it out. A brow of mine raising in a mix of confusion and curiosity, opened the door as quietly as I could, catching sight of him with his head down, and odd object in his grasp...

“James, if we may ask, what hath thee in thine possession?” I asked, James practically jumping out of his skin as he stood up to face me.

“Uh... Its nothing Luna, really.” He said, drawing a sense of skepticism from me.

“James... thou shalt know it is wrongly to lie to a princess.” I said firmly, quietly urging for him to speak the truth. For a moment, he was silent, taking in a deep breath before, with a glance to his grasping hand he spoke again.

“...I knew I was going to have to bring this up at some point. Alright Luna, you win." Revealing to me the object that he held, its golden, and engraved shape seeming enchanting to me, he began to explain. "This is my mother’s locket. It's the only thing I have to remember her, my father, and an old family friend of mine, by.” I sat there in confusion, unsure of what to say.

“... Look, Luna, like I wanted to say back in the dining room, the reason Idedicate myself is because of my family... I lost them years ago, when I was just a kid. And, even more recently, I had lost the only caretaker, and friend, that I had... Since that day, I would put on this, dropping my name, James, and becoming 'the shadow'. I'm basically a vigilante.” I had known that the clothing he wore was odd, but not that it had been specifically made to fight off evil... To an extent, I knew how he felt... Being alone for so long...

“Dost thou have any other family of thine?” I asked, to which he shook his head.

“No, not really. My grandparents passed away before I was even born, and, aside from Mr.Johnson, my family friend, my parents were the only family I had." James turned to me, a saddened aura about him as he spoke on. "Today was supposed to be my mother’s birthday, but its hard to celebrate when the person you know and love is no longer there with you...and now that I have been sent here for some reason! I have nothing now! Absolutely nothing! No friends, no family... Just...”
Pity, and sadness, were the first of emotions to come to me, knowing that, by some unkown event, James had been left utterly alone, much like I had been on my time on the moon... Actually, perhaps not!

“Thou could obtain companionship here! There is a lovely little village called Ponyville that we are certain that thou would fit in!” I suggested excitedly.

“I’m not sure, Luna. Besides, there's no way for me to know how kindly your subjects will react towards me.”

“We are sure that thou will do just fine.” I insisted, mentally hoping that he would accept.

“... Well, alright, if you say so." He finally agreed, myself letting out a small mental cheer as he said so.

“Then it is settled! Thou will be given residence in Ponyville for the time being, until thou arth able to return to your home!”

"... Heh, yeah. I guess so... Though, you may want to keep those options open... Believe it or not, I'm not that sure if I want to return or otherwise yet."

Nodding, I smiled as he said this. "We do not see why not!"

Author's Note

IT"S FINALLY ALL EDITED NOW WE CONTINUE WITH THE STORY

'Chapter 9 heading out part 1[edited]'

Heading Out(Part 1) (Day 1)

Location: Canterlot Train Station

Date: May 8th

Time: 9AM

After the little... chat, I had with Luna, I had decided to take her up on her offer and, well, move into Ponyville. Now, I wasn't by myself, mind you, being accompanied by the six female ponies, or mares to be more accurate, I guess, that I had a habit of running into time and time again. I've gotten a little better acquainted with them, for the most part, since we had first gotten to this train station. After all, what else was I supposed to do with all of my free time here? Watch as the ponies stared at me? Anyways, I actually managed to get their full names this time, rather than the small bits that I had managed to gather. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and last but not least, the same pink pony that had been a longtime mystery to me, and still is, in a way, Pinkie Pie. Funny how her name matches her look, huh? I don't know how I could have missed that one. It was practically staring me right in the face and I didn't pay any mind to it! Darn, I’m usually more perceptive than this...Im starting to get off subject.

Where was I? Oh, right! The mares and I were sitting at the station, patiently awaiting for the next train to arrive. On our way here, which, might I add, was accompanied by many odd stares in my direction,I had absentmindedly put my mask back, hiding my face once again. The station was, from what I could tell, a lot like waiting in the metro ways back at New York. The only problem though, is that, in this station, there was nothing to do other than stare at the clock at the center of the plaza. I remember how, in New York, the train stations there at least had music playing, and was at least stimulating enough for you to bear the wait. Though, I suppose the difference is to be expected. This world, or universe, or whatever, was still much less advanced than mine, technologically that is, so expecting otherwise would probably just be idiotic.

Glancing to the clock for what had to be the one-hundredth time, I saw that the time was 9:20AM. According to what Twilight had told, the train wouldn't arrive until 9:30, so I had a good 10 minutes to kill. Leaning further back into my seat, I was ready to take a short nap, when-...

“Hey James?” I heard the tomboyish voice of Rainbow Dash ask, my eyes peering open as I glanced to her.
“Hmm?” I muttered as a reply. By the looks of it, she seemed rather excited, so I could honestly only be left to guess what she wanted.

“So... Um... D'ya think you show me some those moves you made over at the castle?" She asked. "I think that I could use some of them in this totally awesome trick that I'm trying perfect!" Raising my brow at this, I silently thought through her request as I adjusted myself in my seat, sitting myself up straight and stretching out my arms.

"Eh, what the heck. It will give me something to do anyways. Besides, I forgot to do my morning exercises earlier today in my rush to get here, so I guess this will just have to do." Shrugging my shoulders, I stood myself from my seat, my back and neck cracking in approval as I did so, before turning to her.

“Sure," I said, "it'll be a good way to pass the time.” She cracked a big smile at this, practically launching herself into the air as he wings began to beat faster. Excited, I take it?

"Alright, let's see... By 'moves', she must have meant what she saw when I was trying to disarm my jet... Ah, the triple back somersault! That could probably do it!" I gave myself a mental nod as I crossed my arms looking to her, my own small smile being given, though she couldn't really see it below my mask.

“Okay, here is my most standard evasion maneuver. It's called the triple back somersault.”
I said, adjusting my footing and position for the movement as Rainbow Dash looked on intently.
This maneuver consisted of a couple of somersaults, as the name mostly implied, before transitioning into one back flip, usually used in the case of avoiding oncoming fire from a weapon, mainly a firearm, obviously... But, considering I had yet to see even a handgun in this world, I'd say that I wouldn't have much need for that regard. Nonetheless, during this movement of mine, I would usually use my gained opportunity in the air, during the back flip portion, to immediately draw one of my many throwing stars, throw them at my opponent and, if done correctly, disarm him long enough for me to take him down. Easy, especially since most criminals that carried a firearm were a lousy shot, or just had a hard time trying to hit a moving target.

Taking in a breath, I pushed myself back off the ground, landing back with a quick movement, allowing me to roll backwards a couple of times, and, using the same momentum, I propelled my arms into the ground, bending my body to the movement as I launched myself upwards, flipping myself back onto my feet with a soft thud. I crossed my arms confidently as I looked to the wide eyed, and smiling Rainbow Dash, before, much to my surprise, the other mares of the six, along with a few random ponies as well, began to stomp their hooves on the ground, cheering as they did so.

"Hmmm... Must be the human equivalent of clapping... There are a lot of links between this world and mine, aren't there?" As the cheering came to an end, a blush of embarrassment being covered by my mask as I absentmindedly scratched the back of my head, the loud sound of a train's whistle blew through the air. Sure enough, as I looked to my left, I could see an oncoming train along the tracks. It, for the most part, looked like an old steam locomotive, a small trail of smoke coming from it's exhaust pipe on top as it soon came to a halt in front of the station, letting out a loud screech and hiss in doing so.

“Huh, that was fast. Time sure does fly, doesn't it?” I said in a joking tone, the girls all smiling in return. Soon enough, a pony, who I assumed to either be the conductor, or the ticket checker, came out of one of the train cars, a comically large hat on his head, reminiscent of old train workers. Ponies practically flooded in and out of the train, myself and the six mares somehow making it through this chaos with little to no issue as we made out way to the colorful and large machine. Probably had to do with the fact that I, in comparison to the ponies here, was a good height higher, and maybe a bit of wariness from the other ponies.

The train worker, though slightly bothered by me, asked the seven of us for our tickets, which we quickly gave to him, each of them courtesy of Princess Celestia and Luna. Looking the tickets over, the pony gave us a nod, telling something to Twilight, though I wasn't really able to hear it, as she then gestured for us to follow, the pony moving aside as we moved into the train, myself ducking slightly at the door height, and sought out a good place to seat, eventually finding an empty car, each of us taking our own seats with a sigh. It was about six minutes afterwards that I finally heard the customary 'all aboard' of the train conductor, the train's whistle loudly echoing as we began to move.

“So...” I said as I glanced out to the now moving landscape. "What's the plan?"

Looking to me, Twilight smiled as she began to answer. “Well, I was thinking that, when we get there, we could go to town hall organize an introduction of you to Ponyville, and maybe find a place for you to stay.” Raising a brow, I mentally looked over this suggestion of hers, a smile coming to my face as I did so.

“That… doesn't sound half bad. Nice thinking there." I said, drawing a gleeful smile from the purple unicorn. "Then, how long till we hit Ponyville?"
"Oh, about a half hour." She said simply, myself raising brow in confusion at this.
"Only half an hour? I'm pretty sure that, when I first got here, I was asleep on that train for a longer time than just thirty minutes... Then again, it was the last run of the train that day. Anyways, shrugging my shoulders, I sat myself further back against my seat, the soft bumps and movements of the trains slowly lulling me... Just... A quick... Nap..."
********************************************
'Strange', was the first word that came to mind as I looked around the... whatever it was I was in. It was dark, extremely dark. Heck, I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, despite my attempts.
It was silent, for the most part, and, oddly enough, I felt as though I couldn't move. As though... I was floating. This went on for what felt like hours, until, finally, I began to hear something. Whispers. Faint, and almost inaudible, but then.

“...James...” I heard, a voice that sounded like a woman's echoing through the black void, a small chill accompanying it.

“...James...”

“ Who are you? What do you want?”
I asked aloud, muttering in confusion as I noticed that my voice didn't echo, like the woman's.
My question seemed to fall on deaf ears though, as, opposite of what I wanted, the void became silent. It stayed like this for I don't know how long as I floated there.

Eventually, the voice once again returned, though, this time, it was garbled, giving mixed messages, saying things that didn't make sense at all. It was as if it was playing the same transmission twice over again, interlacing with one another, and creating an almost continuous loop.
“ConductorsstaffheroofworldsthegoldengaurdianthedarknesshasbeenliftedIamyourswordIamyoursheildthelegendofthesillouetedarknesscomesontheroadaheadstarswirllthebeardedyouwillbecomethesymboleandfullembodymentofjustice…” It just kept on, and on, some its messages making little to no sense while the others just went by too quickly for me to understand. Some, though, came through clearly. Few, but still.

Soon enough however, a portion of the voice became magnified, sounding louder and louder as it gave out a single word.

“James…”

“Wake up you silly little colt!" I heard a high-pitched, and, might I add, hyper sounding voice exclaim, myself groaning as I slowly opened my eyes.

“No wait, you're not a colt... Yourrrrreeeee... A big, fun, two-footed, flippy-dippy, super duper colt!" Now fully opening my eyes, I-

“Crap!" I yelled in surprise as I came face to face with the smiling figure of Pinkie Pie, flailing in surprise before, ultimately, falling flat on my face. Good thing I had my mask on, of that would have hurt a lot more. “Ouch.” I said as I began to pick myself up off the ground, the girls laughing, which I honestly couldn't blame them for, as I dusted myself off.

“We're here, James. You ready?” Twilight asked, trying to keep her composure, despite the laughs that obviously fought against her to escape.

“Ready.” Glancing out through the window, observing out new surrounding. “Yeesh. Like I said, time really does fly. Especially when you're asleep." Giggling, Twilight yet again gestured for us to follow, the six of us slowly filing out after her into Ponyville.
Leading us out of the train station, and further into the small village that I had first arrived near, we made out way to what I guessed to be town hall. As I figured would happen, I began to get some mixed looks from the townsfolk. Some were scared, as could be expected, some were astonished, likely interested in the fact that there was a 'new species' among them, a few of them even waved, to my surprise. Maybe they had heard about the fire.Or, if I'm lucky, they were just friendly.

Though, on our way, there was this one mint green mare, who just seemed to ogle at me, almost without blinking. Creepy. Ignoring this small issue, I continued with the girls, eventually reaching a large building, bigger than any of the others, that sat at the center of the town. Likely, our destination, Town Hall. The door let out a ring as it hit against the bell that hung near the door, signaling the entrance of somebod- pony- Man, I've got to train myself out of that.- as they entered. The secretary pony who sat behind the desk, or at least that was the best that I could describe her as, didn't seem fazed by this, continuing her paperwork as Twilight walked up to her, the other ponies sitting in the waiting area while I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall.

“Hello. I would like to speak to mayor mare. There's a new resident in Ponyville that I would like to introduce, and maybe a house for him to stay?" Twilight requested, pony momentarily stopping as she glanced to Twilight.

“Ah, yes, Twilight. I will see if Mayor Mare is open to see you.” The pony said as she stood from her seat, walking to a nearby door and, with a quick knock, addressing the pony behind it.

“Mayor Mare, Twilight and her-" Glancing back to us, the mare's eyes suddenly widened as she finally noticed my presence, myself waving to her nonchalantly as she slowly, and awkwardly, waved back to me.
“... Friends, are here to see you."

"Alright. I'll be out in a moment!" I heard another mare say through the door, followed shortly by the sound of trotting hooves.
The door creaking open, a tan furred mare came out, with a white and gray mane. She wore what looked like a collar, with an odd green bit of cloth attached to it, seeming like a ball of fluff. Looking to the six mares, her expression eventually changed as she looked to me through her glasses, an honestly hard to read emotion about her. Seriously, I couldn't tell if she was terrified or didn't mind the sight of me at all.

“Mayor Mare, I'd like you to meet James!” Twilight said, gesturing to me. "He's moving into Ponyville, and would like a place to stay, and a residency." Shaking her head, Mayor Mare looked to Twilight.

“Oh- Um, of course? Let me just, um, take a look at what's available." She said, walking back into her office as she did so. The sound of rustling papers and the like could be heard though the door as the seven of us patiently awaited for the mare's return.
“Let's see... ta-ta-ta... Ah-ha! Here it is!" Soon enough, the mare came out, holding what looked like a file in her... Mouth... Well, I guess that they have to hold their stuff somehow without any fingers.
"We have four houses that are vacant, but two of them are currently being worked on. As for the other two, one's relatively close to the Everfree forest, so I'm not that sure the you'd like that one. The other is in the town itself. It's two stories, and it faces the marketplace." Mayor Mare said, pointing out the different properties. As she had mentioned the second house though, a smile came to my face.

“So James, which would you like?" Twilight asked, looking away from the papers and to me.
Nodding, I made my way over to the two. "Actually, yeah. Personally, I'd prefer this one." I said, pointing to the house near the Ponyville marketplace. After all, if it was as busy as I thought it was outside, it would be just about as similar to New York as I could hope, with all the business and bustle.

“Excellent choice. I hear that house is very spacious and comfy." Mayor Mare said.
"Heh, I like it already. Say, is the house furnished, or not?" I asked.
“Sorry, but the house is unfurnished. You'll need to purchase furniture of your own, I'm afraid."

"There's always a catch isn't there" Nodding, I stood myself up straight again, continuing to look at the paperwork for the property I wanted to purchase as I began to miss to myself.
“Hm... Guess I'll just have to find a good place to work then, huh?” I said.
Almost immediately, Apple Jack spoke up. “Y'all could come work fer me and mah family, if'n ya like.” Turning to the orange mare, I smiled as I have her a nod.

“Yeah, that could work. Though, Im probably going to need some new clothes. I'm not going to be wearing this thing 24/7." I said, gesturing to my combat suit. "I’ll need a new wardrobe for work clothes, regular clothes, and some casual clothes, for home.” At the mention of clothes, Rarity's eyes seemed to widen, a smile coming to her face as she stood from her seat.

“Oh! I run a boutique in Ponyville! Perhaps I could prove to provide some assistance in the regard of clothing!” Well, that's convenient. Now, the only thing I'd need would be to raise enough money for a bed.

“Okay then, I've made up my mind then. I will take the two story house near the market.” Mayor Mare nodded as I said this, closing the file again and gathering up the papers.

“Excellent! I will fill out the proper paperwork and, after the down payment, you'll be able to move in!" Oh, right, the pay... The princesses are covering this, right?

“Well, now that we have you settled in, I think its about time to introduce you, don't you think?" Twilight said.

Honestly though, I just hope that this goes well.

Noon

Mayor Mare sat behind the podium before what I surmised to be the whole population of Ponyville, having gathered them together at record time after being requested to do so by Twilight. As for me, I was behind the 'stage' that she was using, awaiting for my que to head up. I was nervous, to say the least, but, hey, if this was really the best way to introduce myself, then, so be it... I guess.
“Mares and Stallions of Ponyville, I’d like you to meet our newest resident, you're new neighbor, James!” Here we go.Taking a deep breath, I walked onto the stage with a smile, my mask off since I didn't really have any reason to have it on, and several of the ponies stomping their hooves in what I guessed to be a polite applause.

“Hello everypony," I greeted. "glad to make your acquaintance. Now, I myself am not really good with speeches, so instead I’ll answer any questions you may have."

... What? I'm serious, I'm really bad at speeches.

Author's Note

ok I'm on my way to writing part 2 it shouldn't be long

'Chapter 10 Ponyvillie day 1 part 2 [edited]'

Chapter 10: (Day 1) (Part 2)
Almost instantly, a menagerie of color and hooves rose, creating a viable sea of multi-toned fur. I was slightly detected by this, as I wasn't expecting the entirity of Ponyville have questions to ask me, but, after that initial sense of surprise, I managed to mull over a decision, picking one of the many colored ponies at random.

"Uh... Alright. Three rows down, yellow pony." I said as my eyes shifted to the yellow, bouncing hoof, barely making out a small, smiling child pony.

"Well, I guess that, considering the way things are around here, it'd be more appropriate to say she's a filly, not a child... It is filly, right?... Oh, to heck with it."

"Would you mind moving closer a bit? It would be a big help." The filly, though I could barely see it, nodded her head happily at this, her red mane and bow shaking slightly as she did so, before, without another word, she began to move her way in through the crowd in front of her, some ponies making way for her, while other had to be scooted to the side.

Truthfully, the reason I had chosen her, out of everypony else, was because, when I was younger, being the shortest among a group didn't exactly help when it came to situations like these. I'd usually be picked last, or not at all, for questions. So, I figured I'd give one of the smaller ponies here a chance.

Finally making her way near the front of the crowd, her small self differentiating greatly among the other ponies, I gave her a smile as I looked to her.

“Whats your name?” I asked kindly, the filly smiling even more broadly as she spoke up.

“Mah names Applebloom!” She said, almost proudly, at that. These names were starting to get a little to odd at this point. And a little too puny too. But, hey, what can you do?

“Okay then, Applebloom. What's your question?" I asked, to which she quickly responded.

“Do ya have a cutie mark?” ... Well... Okay, the hell is a cutie mark?

“Uh… Pardon?” I asked, honestly clueless as to what she meant.

“You know, a cutie mark! Somethin' ya'll get when ya find your special talent.” Uh... Okay? That's a new one.

“Uh... Forgive me, I'm not much when it comes to pony anatomy. Where exactly does a 'cutie mark' appear when a pony gets one?”

“On a pony's flank." She said simply, looking to me with a raised brow. Really?
First thing I did, and admittedly not the brightest, I glanced to a nearby mare, looking to her flank and quickly catching sight of a rose on it... Like I said, not the brightest thing to do. It took me all of a millisecond to realize what I was doing, putting my eyes back to Applebloom as I noticed the blush appear on the mare's face.

"Idiot, pervert, idiot, pervert..." I mentally shouted at myself repeatedly, letting out a nervous chuckle before clearing my throat and addressing to Applebloom's initial question.

“Well, to answer your question, Applebloom, no, my kind, do not have, or get, cutie marks for finding out our special talent. For us, it’s just something that you find out, and once you do, you're more aware of it.” I explained, the filly giving a small nod of understanding as I did so. Honestly, when it came to this whole 'cutie mark' concept, the closest things that we humans had to it were tattoos. But, not really wanting to give these ponies any ideas, I refrained from telling them this.

Almost as soon as I finished my explanation, two more fillies made their way through the crowd. “Then, what exactly are you?” Said the dark orange furred and purple maned filly, her voice sounding tomboyish, and slightly reminiscent of Ranbow Dash. She had small wings, like those of a pegasus that still hadn't developed, and it was kind of cute, honestly.

“And whats your name?” I asked.

“Scootaloo.” Okay, where did that name come from?

“Well, I, and my species, are referred to as 'humans'. Or, 'Homo Sapien', if you want to get all technical about it."
As I finished, I heard a scream in the background, causing me, and pretty much everypony else, to jump as I quickly looked to the source. Oddly enough, I saw the mint green unicorn from before, jumping up and down in the air in what looked like excitement, somehow managing to jump high above the crowd despite her distance.

“I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!” She screamed, drawing a raised brow from me.

“...Okay then? Anypony else have anything that they want to ask?” As a multitude of pony hooves shot up, none of them seeming too deterred from the green pony's outburst, I quickly shrugged the incident off as well, eventually picking out another pony at random.

"Um, Gray fur, blonde mane." I said, the pony, who I surmised to be a mare, smiling in return. She was a pegasus, and, an odd thing about her was, as she looked to me, I noticed that one of her eyes was... Off.

"Okay then. Your name, ma'am?" I asked.

"Derpy Hooves." She said, myself mentally flinching as I heard this. That name's a little... Harsh, isn't it?

"Derpy. Alright, then. Your question?" I asked, gesturing for her to continue.

"Do you like muffins?" ... Uhhhh.

I was about to say something, anything really, but, before I could, most of the crowd started to burst out laughing, aside from a select few who just looked at the rest with faces of irritance. Derpy, her face suddenly red with embarrassment, looked to the floor in silence, her lips seeming to quiver in sadness.

As this went on, I could feel my anger flare. This whole scene, well, it just reminded me of that time back at school. How people would make fun of one another, bullying them, if only for a certain trait, or worse yet, no reason. To say the least, I was ticked.
Putting on a blank face, I slammed my fist against the podium as hard as I could, the resounding bang seeming to echo as everypony quickly quieted themselves, looking to me in shock.

"... Allow me to make something clear." I said, my voice lacking any emotion. "I do not, nor will I ever, enjoy the sight of somepony being laughed at, or made fun of. And, I suggest that you all think the same." None of the ponies made a sound as I cleared my throat again, looking to the currently teary eyed pegasus from before and giving her a smile.

"Now, Derpy, was it?" She nodded. "Yes, I do like muffins. More particularly, I enjoy blueberry muffins." At this, the pegasus seemed to brighten, a small smile coming to her face as she looked to me.

"There you go... Any other questions?"

1pm

It had been a good hours worth of questions from all of these ponies, and, aside from that small 'cutie mark incident', which I'm sure will haunt me for a bit, everything had gone well. Soon enough, the crowd thinned, little by little, all of the ponies questions slowly being answered as they dispersed returning to their previous, daily schedules.

Now, since the 'town greeting' had finished, I, and the other six ponies from earlier, were on our way to Rarity's 'boutique', as she called it, to get me some better, more comfortable, clothes.

It was a few more minutes before, finally, Rarity spoke up again, seeming to add some flair to it as she did so. "Ah, here we are. Darling, welcome to the Carousel Boutique." She said, gesturing to the large, decorated building before, which, might I add, was, fittingly enough, seemingly an actual carousel, hollowed out and decorated like a store. "Come now, we simply must get started."
Though I was a little... Skeptical, about this whole thing, I followed after Rarity nonetheless, the other five coming along shortly behind.

As we entered the store, a bell hung above the door giving a small ring as we did so, I quickly found myself glancing around the entire floor, noting article after article of clothing, each hung from what looked like pony mannequins, and actually looking pretty nice. A few were a bit too... Gaudy, but still.

"Now then, if I could just get you to stand over here, dear." Turning my attention to Rarity, and my eyes widening slightly as I saw that she had already set up a lot of things around where I saw her, I gave her a nod as I followed her lead, standing myself according to her directions until I was standing as stiff as a statue, my arms spread outwards to my sides.
“I’m going to take some measurements dear. It'll only be a moment." She said, levitating over--
I may never get used to saying that--

a roll of measuring tape, before quickly putting it around my waist... Or, at least trying to. She had some difficulty acquiring some accurate measurements, my utility belt often snagging the tape, or just plain making things inaccurate. So, with a sigh, Rarity pulled away the tape again, looking to me.

"Do you think you might be able to take that off, darling? This would go much more smoothly if you did.” Shrugging my shoulders, I quickly undid the belt, moving from my stiff placement and placing the belt onto a nearby table, before quickly returning to my statue-like form before Rarity.

Now, normally, I would be much more wary about taking off my belt, considering it held most of my tools in it, but, I think I can make an exception here. After all, its not like somepony's going to attack me, or anything like that. They seem way too nice for that... Though that green unicorn from before does worry me a bit.

"Ah, perfect!" Rarity said as she quickly set herself to measuring me again, this time acting much more quickly as she took my measurements inch by inch, writing them down on a far off pad of paper as she scribbled the pencil against it.

As she did this though, I noticed, out of my furthest peripherals of vision, that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were both looking over my belt, the others watching from afar as the two fiddled with it. Suffice to say, this worried me. Like my jet, most of the objects that I had in there were pretty dangerous... Huh, it's only now that I realize just how dangerous, actually. Guess a person doesn't see that until they start to list off their lethal equipment.

“You girls be careful with that." I said. "All of my gear is in there.” Rainbow Dash, who obviously wasn't listening to a word I was saying, reached into one of the compartments, grabbing hold of my grappling hook with her mouth.
"I’m probably going to need to clean that later." I thought to myself as Rainbow Dash turned to me, the object of her interest still in her mouth.

“phey thamth, phats phith?”
she asked... I think, myself barely able to translate it to her asking me what it was.
"Now thats a mouthful... Oh great, now I’m doing it." I thought to myself, mentally giving my mind a good kick at it's adaption of the puns that surrounded me.

“Be careful with that! It's my…” My voice seemed to fall on deaf ears, as the sound of a firing grappling hook brought about a mental sigh of mine, watching as the hook made its way down the room, grabbing hold of the railing of a nearby stairway before just as quickly pulling itself towards it, the grappling device snagging against my belt and taking it with it, opening up one of the compartments as a familiar, red gem fell out, and onto the floor.

Finishing up her measurements with a sigh at her friend's behavior, myself catching a glimpse of a sheepish smile that Rainbow Dash now held, Rarity turned herself away as she magically rolled up the tape again and moved it away, her eyes quickly lighting up as they caught sight of the red gem of mine that laid on the floor.

“Oh my! What a beautiful jewel!” She said. Well, I could already see where this was going.

“Yeah, I guess. It's my good luck charm. I found it on my doorstep, actually, inside of an unlabeled box. Strange, right?” Moving from my stiff position, I made my way past Rarity and towards the gem, meaning to grab it, along with the rest of my now messied gear. Surprisingly enough though, I found myself stopping as the jewel began to glow, I, and the ponies behind me, looking to it in shock.

"Well that's... new.” I said, the sight of the glowing crystal quickly bringing me back to a similar sight I had seen of it the morning it had arrived, though I had just pushed it off as a truck of the eyes.

“You mean, its never done that before?” Twilight asked.

“Not like this.” Grabbing the dimming crystal, along with my utility belt and caught grappling hook, before placing it, and my other tool, into their respective slots, turning to the ponies as I looped the belt around my waist again.
“So, on another note, Rarity, how long do you think it'll be when you're finished with the clothing?” I asked, my belt letting out a satisfying click as I finished setting it together.

“Hmmmm... Should be by tomorrow morning, at the earliest!” She said, myself doing a bit of a double take as she said this.

"Holy crap, that fast?! Guess that magic provides a hell of a speed boost to that, eh?" Giving Rarity a nod, I was ready to verbalized my response before, embarrassingly enough, my stomach let out a rather loud gurgle. My face turning slightly red, I glanced to a nearby clock taking note of the fact that, according to it, it was 4 PM...

"WHAT?! I'VE BEEN HERE FOR 3 HOURS?!? HOLY CRAP!" My eyes widening at this realization, I heard Applejack chuckle, drawing my attention as I turned to her smiling face.

“Well, ah reckon that, since ya'll are going to be workin fer me fer a while, y'all wouldn't mind meetin' may family over some dinner?" My stomach growling in agreement, drawing yet another chuckle from the pony, I quickly gave her a nod.
“Sure. It'd be nice to know where I'm going to be working. Besides, I can't really pass up dinner."

... My god that sounded horrible.

4:30pm

After a while more of talking, and then eventually saying our goodbyes, the six of us, having left Rarity behind at her home, walked outside, each of us splitting from the group as we went along.

Twilight had to leave to check up on Spike, which, if I remember right, was the baby lizard thing that she had back at her house. Fluttershy said that she needed to go and check on her animals, which she had left unattended for two days, and felt terrible about. Rainbow Dash had to leave because she said something about weather duty, which is odd, since I never pictured her as a meteorologist, no offense to her. And finally, Pinkie left saying something about a party and planning... Well, they were the only two words I could make out from the five second essay she gave me, so I'm just guessing here.

So, now. that just left me, and Applejack, as she continued to lead me to her homd, which, from what she had told me, was a pretty long walk. The chances of me getting there and back before dark would be slim to none, but hey, maybe, she'd offer me the night? If just this once, that is.

As we walked on, I tried to make small talk, glancing to Applejack every now and then as I did so.

“So, Applejack, what's your home like?" I asked, honestly curious as to my soon-to-be place of work.

“Ah live on an apple farm. More apple trees than anypony can see, an' all of 'em are among the best." Huh. Wow.

“Sound like a big place then. You must have your plate full most of the time, eh?" I asked.

“More than ya know. Everypony in the apple family does their part in that thar business. Well, 'cept for Granny Smith, but that's cuz she's retired." Nodding at her explanation, I asked on, hoping for some more detail.

“So, your siblings and parents, basically?" The look that she got felt like a punch to the face as she gazed downwards at the mention of her parents, the matter obviously being more... Personal.

"Oh... Sorry about that. Didn't mean to-”

“It's fine pardner. Jus'... Not somethin' we talk about too often.”

“Oh... Um... I see...” I said, not entirely sure of how to respond to that. I sure as hell hope that her parents aren't... Gone, like mine. Otherwise, I'd feel really-

"Somethin' happened to your Ma and Pa, didn't it?" My eyes widened as she said this, myself bringing my gaze to her as I looked to her questioningly.

"How'd you guess?" I asked.

“I saw how plum upset ya were when we talked about mag parents and... Well, like ya said, I took a guess.” Smart mare. Looking ahead now, I let out a sigh as the memory resurfaced yet again.

"Yeah... There was... An accident... I guess you could say... Though, it wasn't really an accident, so much as it was in purpose." At this, Applejack's eyes widened, likely having understood what I was hinting at.

“Oh... Ah'm sorry.” I shook my head as she said this, waving her off dismissively.

“Not a problem. After all, its because of their deaths that I do what I do today. I try to make sure that nobody ever had to go through what I went through. Or worse." I said, a small smile coming to my face as I did so.

"Well, ah think that's a mighty fine thing y'all are doing thar. And look over yonder. That thar's mah family's farm. Sweet Apple Acres." Glancing ahead, I felt my own eyes widen as I saw the huge-- and I mean HUGE farm ahead of us. Applejack wasn't kidding when she had said that there were more apple trees here than the eye could see.

Leading me further into the farm grounds, Applejack and I eventually came up on a relatively large, wooden house in the middle of the farm, a big red ranch of to the side of it. At the front of the house, sitting on a rocking chair, was an old, green pony, her mane gray and tied back, and her age clearly shown by her appearance, and how she moved. Applejack gestured for me to stay where I was, leaving a small awkward moment as the pony, who I assumed to be Granny Smith, and I glanced at one another, before I heard her shout from inside the house.

"Big Macintosh, Applebloom, come down here fer a moment." At this, I felt my brow raise, looking towards Applejack as she made her way back outside

"Applebloom's a part of your family?" I asked.
“Yup. She is mah sister, after all." She responded. Honestly, I probably should have seen that coming, especially since-... Wait.
"Applejack... Big Macintosh... Applebloom... Granny Smith... Oh my god, they're all named after apples! Now I really feel like an idiot."

“Good tah see ya back, Applejack." The elderly voice of Granny Smith said, smacking on her lips slightly as I heard clip clopping of other hooves come from the house. First, came a large, red stallion. The first one I had seen in a while, actually, considering most of the ponies here seemed to be mares. Turning to me, Applejack quickly began to more properly introduce the stallion and the elderly mare to me, as the small, familiar filly from before, Applebloom, also joined the three.

“This here's mah big brother, Big Macintosh, though we jus' call 'im 'Big Mac'. He's not much of a talker."

“Eeyup.” The stallion simply agreed, drawing a mental chuckle from me.

"Next up's Granny Smith. She's been workin' on this farm her whole life."

"And ah plan tah keep it that way!" The elderly mare added. She was definitely commited, I'd give her that.

"And, finally, I think ya'll have already met Applebloom. She's the youngest in the family, but that don't mean she ain't willin' to give her work her all." The filly gave a confident nod as Applejack said this, slightly puffing out her chest cutely as she looked to me.

“Heh, wow. You've got quite the family here, Applejack." I said, Applejack chuckling in return.

“Well? Ain't ya gonna introduce us to yer friend here?” Granny Smith asked, gesturing from Applejack to me.

“Oh, heh, right. Everypony, this is James. He's a-”

"He's a human!" Applebloom interrupted, finishing of her sisters statement as I gave my own chuckle at this.

“Yeah, and I'm happy to make all of your acquaintance.” I said. Quickly after, Big Mac stuck his hoof out in what I guessed to be a handshake... Hoofshake... Whatever. Shrugging, I took his hoof in my hand and gave it a firm motion up and down, him and I lowering our arms shortly after.

“Well, y'all are just in time fer dinner. Come and get it, if'n ya like.” Don't have to ask me twice! As the ponies made their way inside again, each of them opening the door as they made their way in, except for Granny Smith, who, honestly, I couldn't help but to hold the door for-

"Thank ya kindly."

-I followed shortly after, the inside of my mouth starting to water as I quickly laid my eyes on a smorgasbord of apple related treats, laid neatly throughout a large, wooden table.

"I am okay with this... Like, a lot!"

Everypony soon sat themselves down at the tables, serving themselves as I followed suit, sitting myself at one of the spare chairs and serving myself two slices of apple pie, some apple strudel, apple sauce and a big mug of apple juice... It's a lot, I know, but I was starving. At first, I had a hard time choosing from what to take a bite of first, so, closing my eyes for a second, I randomly dug my fork into one of my servings, opening my eyes and seeing that I had grabbed a piece of apple pie, before bringing the piece into my mouth, chewing it and-

... Holy crap this is heaven in pie form.

“and then he says, 'Hey fella, why the long face'?” Everypony soon burst out laughing as I said this, drawing a bit of relief from me, considering that fact that I wasn't sure if they'd take to the 'horse in the bar' joke too well. But, hey, it worked. In fact, Applejack's family and I were having a great time. I had even gotten Applejack’s brother to speak a whole three sentences! And that's saying a lot!

Glancing out the kitchen window, I felt myself internally curse at myself as I noticed the pitch blackness that surrounded the house. "Ah shoot." I said, censoring myself as I remembered that there was a filly among us.
Seeming to notice my worry, Applejack quickly spoke up. “Y'all could sleep here if'n ya like. It's make yet gettin' tah work faster.” Looking to her, I gave her a smile as I nodded at her offer.

“That'd be great. I'd just need to pick up my work clothes from Rarity tomorrow though.” I explained, Applejack nodding in understanding.

“No problem. Thar's a spare bedroom upstairs. Y'all make yourself comfortable."

“Thanks." I returned, excusing myself from the table as I made my way upstairs, glancing from room to room before, eventually, I found a relatively empty room, with nothing more than a bed, and a couple of drawers. The guest room.

Letting out a sigh, I closed the room door behind me, letting out a sigh as I laid myself on top of the bed, lazily covering myself with the blankets as I closed my eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

“Ah cant get 'er tah sleep. Ah’ve tried every thing that ah could think of, even some warm cider, but it just ain't doin' the trick like it used tah.”

I heard Granny Smith's voice as I slowly was awoken from my sleep, letting out a quiet yawn as I did so.

“I dont know what teh do. We all got us a full day of work 'head of us and we all need a full night's sleep.” I heard Applejack say, myself giving a silent groan as I made my way off the bed, rubbing the drowsiness out of my eyes as I opened the door to the guest room, making my way into the hall, much to the surprise of the three ponies that stood there.

“Maybe I can help?” I offered, making my way over to the three, in front of Applebloom's room. "Let me take a crack at it." I said, my hand already at Applebloom's door handle. Glancing to one another, Granny Smith gave Applejack a shrug, as she then looked to me.

“Ah guess... If'n ya think ya can help.” I gave her a nod as I slowly opened the door to Applebloom's room, quickly being met by a still fully awake filly as I closed the door slowly behind me.

“Hey there kido." I said. "I hear your having trouble falling asleep?” Applebloom nodded, twiddling her hooves together as she looked down to them.

“Uh huh. I know ah can't stay up, but I plum can't fall asleep niether.” Giving her a nod, an idea came to mind as I smiled to her. Whenever I couldn't sleep, my mom would usually sing to me, back when I still had her that is. It always put me to sleep. So, maybe?

Though I had forgotten more than just a few words, I had managed to get the song out as well as I could. And, in the end, it had been worked, Applebloom having fallen fast asleep worth little to no effort as I sang her a good night... Though, maybe it had worked too good.

I realized this when I made my way outside of Applebloom's room, soon met by three sleeping ponies as they laid on the floor. Sighing at this, I made started to pick each individual pony up one by one, taking them back to their rooms. which I only found out to be theirs by the cutie marks molded onto the doors, and laid them down in their beds. Oh, and I'm pretty sure I broke something while I was carrying Big Mac.

Sighing as I finished, a small bead of sweat going down my forehead as I did so, I made my way back to the guest room, this time taking off my boots as I plopped myself onto the bed, wishing myself, and the rest of the apple family, a good night.

Author's Note

on a temporary hiatus so I can get to work on some new story ideas
(editors note will change once hiatus has been lifted)

'(pre-prolog) the theory'

It is a known fact that, throughout the vast universe, there are stars with large enough mass to be capable of collapsing upon themselves. It is during these catastrophic implosions that new, still virtually unknown, entity known as a 'black hole'. It is thought that within these 'black holes' there is a point called a "singularity", on which all physical laws are thought to cease.
In the singularity, the curvature of space and time becomes infinite. Something that, even with the most advanced pieces of modern technology, human's cannot begin to comprehend. Even Einstein's theory of relativity, one of humanity's more intricate points of reference, cannot determine what sort of effect singularity will have on an object, forming an uncertainty of the unknown throughout our universe.

It is from this uncertainty that many more theories have arisen surrounding singularity. Theories such as the existence of tunnels to other worlds, or perhaps even universes, beyond these unstable points. These "wormholes" could be the key to interstellar travel, or in some regards, the key to meeting other life.

However, several flaws and complications surround this theory. Most notably is the fact that the gravitational force of a black hole would crush any interstellar spacecraft within milliseconds of it entering a black hole's range, which is a necessary factor that needs to be accounted and adjusted for, no matter how long it would require, be it decades, centuries, or, quite possibly, millennia.
Nonetheless, while this theory about singularity is questionable, at best, and will likely be left as another simplistic idea of science fiction, there is another, more widely renown, theory about the center of a black hole that has been gaining more acceptance from several respected physicists and specialists throughout the world. One that gives to us, a whole new view about our known universe in its entirety.

Within the point of singularity, it has been agreed that it is impossible to predict physical behavior. This could mean that, beyond this point of singularity there, may be an entirely new set of physical laws. It is quite possible that, after singularity, there may be an absence of such basic forces as gravity, electromagnetism, and even the existence or function of strong and weak nuclear forces. If this were to be proven true, if just one of these forces did not exist or was changed, then technically, it would no longer be a part of this universe.

Our universe is defined as the observable, if not explainable, aspects of the cosmos that involve the galaxies, stars, planets, and life that we know. Should a basic component of our physical laws be changed, none of what we know would exist any longer.
According to a well known text by the name of 'Before the Beginning', by Sir Martin Rees, 'If nuclear forces were slightly weaker, no chemical elements other than hydrogen would be stable, and there would be no nuclear energy to power stars. But, if the nuclear forces were slightly stronger than they actually are, relative to electric forces, two protons could stick together so readily that ordinary hydrogen would not exist, and stars would evolve quite differently.'

This demonstrates the small chance that it took for things to actually turn out as they did, and implies that it may be difficult for things to ever duplicate themselves should this idea of a "Multiverse" ever prove to be more than just a theory.

As of recently however, this Multiverse theory has been widely accepted, further describing the continuous formation of, not just worlds, but universes, through the collapse of stars and the formation of black holes. With each of these black holes there is a new point of singularity, and in term, a new possible universe. As Rees describes it, 'Our universe may be just one element - one atom, as it were - in an infinite ensemble: a cosmic archipelago. Each universe starts with its own big bang, acquires a distinctive imprint (and its individual physical laws) as it cools, and traces out its own cosmic cycle. The big bang that triggered our entire universe is, in this grander perspective, an infinitesimal part of an elaborate structure that extends far beyond the range of any telescopes.'
This puts our place in the Multiverse into a much smaller spectrum for all of human-kind. While the size of the earth in relation to the sun is minuscule, the size of the sun, the solar system, the galaxy, and even the universe, could pale in comparison to this proposed 'Multiverse'. It would be a shift in thinking that may help explain big bang theory, and quite possibly give light to the idea of parallel universes, and even the creation of life itself.

While the idea of a parallel universe may sound farfetched, a recent book from an Oxford physicist named David Deutsch entitled, 'The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes - And Its Implications', describes the possibilities of tapping into these parallel universes. He proposes that, through a parallel universe, one would be able to find an identical counterpart to themselves within the other universe, and collaborate with it to increase knowledge of the each other's reality's. This involves the collaboration of many theories that, as of yet, do not have much proof to them.
However, it is still another branch of the Multiverse theory that has become widely accepted in recent years that could possibly yield positive benefits for society, both ours, and that of the parallel society's.

The Multiverse theory itself, regardless of parallel universes, has many implications. Most notably is the unique, complex process from which our own universe was born, and how easily it could have been different. It may imply that, out of the possibly thousands, millions, or even billions of universes, ours was unique enough to develop life, which in itself is special. Perhaps life in another universe has a different meaning, but we know that our universe, at the very least, is special, in that, it houses our kind of life.
If just one physical law were slightly different, then there would be nobody to appreciate the beauty that we can see on an everyday basis. This brings up one ultimate question though. If every universe began from another universe, where precisely did it all begin? Recent physicists imply that there is no room for a creator under the current model of thinking. However, with such a complex system of laws, principles, and forces that allowed life to exist in the first place, one must never give in to the possibility of there not being a creator behind it all.

Author's Note

I did not write this myself and therefore the credit belongs to the site I found it
no copyright infringement intended
you can find the site here if you wish to look at it

also editing credit goes to Brightlight24 for all of this
"thank you so much dude"

'Prolog'

PROLOG

You know how sometimes, life has a way of working out, but its not always the way you expect it to? Well, to tell you the truth, that's basically what I'm going through right now.

Personally, I never thought that things would lead to... Well, this. Its pretty weird, if you ask me. Being a christian, I've often wondered to myself as to whether this was a work of god, or maybe an entirely different force altogether. Whatever it may be, all I want to know, is if this is really my destiny. If this is what I was born for.

So many questions, and yet, no answers. Oh, and there is another thing... I think I may have fallen for one of them.

'OH GOD, I THINK I’M GOING MAD!'

She is one of the most beautiful being's that I have ever-.... You know what, forget it. She's out of my league anyways, let alone a completely different species! It would never work out.

God, why are you doing this to me?!?

...Sometimes I don't even know what to think these days... You probably think that I'm completely crazy right? Rambling on and on about something that you don't even know about, that is.

So, let me start from the beginning...

Author's Note

all editing has been done by brightlight24 everyone be sure to give him a pat on the bacK

'Chapter 5 Primary Objective:Intell' [Edited]

Location: Unknown

Date: Possibly May 5th

Time: Unsure/Nighttime interval

Primary Objective: Seek out the 'princess' that the lavender pony, Twilight, spoke of.

Secondary Objective: Follow the ponies to an eligible area to begin Primary Objective.

I've been following these ponies for about, maybe, 10 minutes now, and I had managed to learn a few things about them. First off, they were all female. Honestly, I probably should have guessed by the pitch of their voices. Second, they had this thing called the elements of harmony, though I had no idea what it was. All I knew was that there was someone holding onto them, just in case things went south, and then they could use them as, what sounds like, some sort of weapon. I’ll have to ask about that when I get the chance.

We finally made it to the clearing but there was... something, that was holding onto what looked like some multi-colored diamond necklaces, and a crown. We're those the elements of harmony? The creature in question had purple scales, with green spikes and a white underbelly. I had heard about things like these from Mr.Johnson, when he had told me stories when I was younger. A dragon? And a male dragon at that, judging by the pitch of his voice, who was currently complaining about how tired he was.

Secondary Objective: Complete

Peeking my head out as soon as the ponies were gone, I looked around to try and get a lay of the land. From what I could see, there was a small town, or village, ahead, due north. Even further still, northeast, laying near the edge of the town, was a small cottage.

Curious, I quickly made my over, looking inside to see if anything was there. Other than some furniture, and some random white bunny that was sleeping on the couch, there wasn't really anyone there.

A brow raising, I backed away from the cottage and quickly made my way somewhere where I wouldn't be seen. I didn't stay long because I didn't want to risk getting spotted, so I continued down the path towards the small town, hiding in the shadows as I did so. Eventually, I came across a square wooden sign, and a small bridge. On the sign, it said 'Welcome to Ponyville'.
For a moment, this threw me for a loop, unsure of what this really meant. After a bit of time though, I felt my eyes widen as realization hit me. Those ponies from before, they weren't the only ones. Not knowing where to go from here, I saw the group of ponies that I was following in the forest earlier out of the corner of my eye, rounding a corner as I quickly followed after them, glancing around to make sure nobody saw me.

Speeding off, while still keeping quiet, I followed them all to a tree house near the center of the town. Oh, and when I say 'tree house', I mean an actual tree house. A house that was carved out of a tree. I actually thought that it was pretty cool.
Anyways the ponies had all gathered around one another, talking to one another, each one seeming to try to figure out what had happened as Twilight levitated…. Wait, what?!?

She could do that?! She levitated one of my throwing stars, that she more than likely taken from that wooden wolf I killed, before the group, spinning it slightly as they all took a good look at it.
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Golden Oaks Library
12 AM
“Well Twi? Whad'dya reckon it is?" Applejack asked, eyeing the odd device with a sense of confusion just as great as the other's were.

“I'm not sure Applejack. All I know is that it was jammed into that Timber wolf's head when I saw it.” Twilight answered, her magic flaring slightly as the object did a slight spin in the air.

“ I still think its weird. I mean, why red? And why an X, just like that X on that thing we saw in the forest?” Rainbow Dash asked, scratching her head as she flew closer to the item and took her own close look to it.

“Speaking of which, what did you say you saw on it, darling? You said it was written in equestrian?”Asked Rarity, a brow raising a she looked to her rainbow-maned friend.

“Yeah, well, it had the word 'predator' written on the side of it, and then a bunch of numbers and random letters.” Rainbow Dash recalled, a hoof to her chin as she did so.

“Spike, take a message to Princess Celestia.” Twilight told her assistant, a sudden look of confidence about her.

“Right away!” Spike sped off into the other room, the sound of rustling and tumbling objects entering the room as he desperately searched for a piece of parchment and his usual quill, soon rushing back into the room as he exclaimed 'found it!' Nodding, Twilight cleared her throat as Spike put the quill to the paper, more than ready to write to his friends request.

Dear Princess Celestia,

We found something in the Everfree forest, and Rainbow Dash managed to find some things written on it, in equestrian at that. The entire thing was black, except for a red 'X' near the center of it, and words written on the side, saying 'predator'. I humbly request that we can take this subject to a more secure, and able, setting such as the castle to be studied on. Also, while we were in the forest, a timber wolf pack had attacked us. We're fine, but the only reason is because, as they were walking towards us something hit their heads and... killed them. I have the object that stopped it with me, and would be more than willing to show it to you. Perhaps you may have an idea what it is?

Your Faithful Student, Twilight.

With one last scribble, Spike added the last period to the message, marking what he presumed to be the end.“Is that it, Twilight?” He asked, looking upwards from his written parchment.
“Yes, that should do it. Thank you Spike.”
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Outside the treehouse….

Primary Objective: Seek out the 'princess' that the lavender pony, Twilight, spoke of.

Secondary Objective Updated: Find Intel on the princess's location.

As Twilight levitated the scroll over to the dragon, who she had apparently called 'Spike', which was a pretty amusing pun of you asked me, the dragon blew a green fire at the letter, enveloping it in a smoky mist that then flew off on its own.

Not knowing what to expect I waited a good 5 minutes, myself having been seated on a branch and looking into the building to one of the windows, before something fib sly happened. A response came in the form of another scroll that, believe it or not, the dragon had belched out in a green flame, re-materialized before my eyes, a odd, official looking seal on it. Twilight opened the letter and read the note out loud.

My dear student Twilight ,

I am glad to hear you are well after that encounter with the timber wolves. Also, regarding this 'object', I will send a guard to retrieve in object in the morning. One of my high council scholars are likely to know of it. if not, then perhaps they can study it. Whatever had saved you must have came with the black object you stated, as well as the metal that stopped the timber wolf. I hope to meet this new being. As for you're request to come to the castle, I'm afraid that I must decline. The castle is currently filled with nobles of all sorts for this coming month's events, and I'm afraid that there would currently be no room to suffice. I ask that you, along with your friends, remain in Ponyville to attempt to learn as much of this creature as possible.

Signed, Princess Celestia

Oh fan-fricken-tastic. Now? I’m really screwed if they take my jet and study it. They might accidentally activate the weapons system, let alone the fact that it's defensive systems are currently in phase two, which is basically 'neutralize'. I don't need to start with a bad name here, so I’ll have to convince this princess to let me handle my own belongings, otherwise, she might risk injuring her own scientists, or worse.

Since it's still dark out, I think that I may be able to find out how to get whatever castle they're talking about. After all, how hard can that be?

Though, I wonder what modes of transportation these ponies have. So far, all I see is some pretty primitive stuff.

No sooner than that thought had come to mind, I heard what sounded like a train whistle come from nearby, as smile coming to my face as I caught sight of the steam train pulling into the station that wasn't too far away from where I was.

"Okay James,you're going to have to be quick about this, but stealthy. I'd say that my best option is to dart in between alley ways to avoid being spotted."

Nodding at this mental plan of mine, I set it into motion jumping from the branch I say on and quickly making my way to the alley, starting my zigzagging trek to the train station.

“So far so good.” I whispered to myself as I passed another two blocks.
Soon enough, the station finally came into view, but there was a pretty big problem. There was a pony there, sitting by a ticket booth, waiting for any late travelers. To my surprise though, there was also a clock on the top of the ticket booth.

"12am huh? Well, that solves the time issue."

Anyways, getting back on track, no pun intended, I would need to direct that pony’s attention away from the street so that I could sneak into the train. Trying use my surroundings to my advantage, I found a stone by my foot, along with some garbage pails in the next alley across from me. Letting out a silent chuckle, I picked up the stone and threw it at the garbage cans as hard as I could. The pony looked over with a jump, a brow of his raised as he sought out the source of the sound. As he did this, I got into the train as quickly as I could, hiding myself in the baggage cart where no-one else would see me.

Shaking his head, the ticket pony came back and boarded the train, muttering to himself as he did so.
“Must have been those stray cats again. I thought Fluttershy said she had gotten them already.”

The train let out a sharp hiss as it started to move again, the voice of another pony just barely ringing through as it went on.

“Let's get this back to the depot in Canterlot before sunrise! Then we can get this on an early start for its morning run!”

Well since, I’m on a straight shot to 'Canterlot', which I hope is where that castle is, then I guess that there's nothing more to do then just lay back, and enjoy the ride.

Author's Note

chapter edited by brightlight24

and for those of you reading now the sex and gore tag will be taking place in future chapters just not now