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