Always look before you leap through a portal.

As we stood at the foot of Mt. Thunder Roar, I looked up to the winding mountain path, wiping a bead of sweat from my brow, as the heat from the sun beat mercilessly down upon us.

Putting Rusty's distraught face in the back of my mind, I walked over to Tesla and Widget who was discussing something about the usage of portals for transportation if permanent portal gates could be made.

"So, shall we get to it? It's noon now and it would be nice to at least make it back down while it's still daytime, I'm not too fond of the idea of camping on a mountain with wild beasts, even if it's outside their hunting season." I told them and they both nodded in agreement.

"Right! Captain Steel Wing, are we ready to head up the path?" Tesla asked.

The captain who had been busy going over the plans with the two rookies turned to us.

"Yeah, I've just now finished briefing Snowflake and Sunny Skies on how we'll be going about this." He replied.

"If we move out now, we should be able to make it to the summit before evening and hopefully back down before midnight."

He then turned towards the road to Canterlot.

"We can then stay for the night in the guard cabin over there." he said, pointing a hoof towards the wooden roof of a cabin popping up over a group of trees a few hundred meters down the road.

Turning to the cadets, he then started barking out orders.

"Cadet Skies! You will be in charge of protecting Miss Widget!" He boomed at the young sky blue pegasus with his sunlight yellow mane and tail, his golden eyes lighting up at the chance of protecting a cute mare like Widget.

"Sir, yes sir!" He said with a goofy grin on his face, before walking over to join Widget.

"Cadet Snowflake! You will be in charge of protecting young Munck and pulling the cart up the mountain path!" Captain Steel Wing boomed again.

"Sir! YEEEEAAAAAAH!! Sir! He shall be in safe hooves! If anything tries to hurt him, I will send it flying!" Snowflake boomed back while flexing his muscles.

Captain Steel Wing facehoofed before speaking again.

"I will personally see to it that you stay safe, Professor Tesla." he said as he walked over to the professor.

"Now then! Move out!" he finally boomed, as I joined Snowflake who was busy hooking himself up to the cart.

We then started on our long trek up the mountain trail.

__________

~Earlier that day~

It was almost noon when I woke up.

Having spend most of the night worrying about yesterday, I was thankful that my parents had let me sleep in.

Trotting downstairs, I heard talking coming from the living room, so I sneaked as close to the door as I could.

"... And that's why. It's not that I don't care, it's just, it's that big of a taboo where I come from, but at least you know why I..." He stopped mid sentence as if he sensed my presence, even though I was still in the hallway... I wonder how he does that.

"Aaanyway, topic change." He said to my dad, who seemed to get whatever it was that I didn't.

"Right! so today is the day that you take off for Mt. Thunder Roar?" I heard my father asking.

"Yeah, gotta go get some of those Lightning Lacrima before we can continue the project and that mountain is the only one where we can get any in the nearby area." He said.

The one who spoke that line was one who has been on my mind a lot lately.

He's only a year older than me, yet he feels so much older and wiser than the colts I know.. It's kind of attracting.. Though, ever since I kissed him om the cheek yesterday, it's been a bit awkwa- OMYGOSH! He's looking this way!

"Good Morning Twi!" He said with his biggest smile beaming at me.

Does that mean he didn't mind? Or did he just shrug it off.. Would be typical.

"Good morning dad, Munck." I said, trying not to blush under the gaze from his calming grass green eyes.

I guess from the look on his face, he probably thought nothing of it.. *Sigh* I need some fresh air to clear my head.

"Dad? I'm gonna head outside and read for a bit." I said before grabbing one of my books on Advanced Levitation Techniques and heading outside.

"Alright Twi, but don't come back too late, you hear? You still have a lot of stuff to pack before Sunday, so you're ready to move to your new place at the castle!" He yelled after me.

"I'll be back soon." I said before closing the door and heading towards the town square.

When I arrived at the square, I ran into a certain minty green filly that I had gotten to know.

"Hey Twi!" She yelled before rushing over to me.

"Hello Lyra." I said, levitating my bookmark to the page I was at and closing the book.

We both continued over to a bench under a big tree casting it's cool shade over the area.

I put my book on the bench and jumped up to lay down, Lyra on the other hoof, was struggling to sit in the same position that Munck does.

"Why are you even sitting like that?"

"Two reasons" she started.

"One: I need to sit like this in order to play my lyre properly."

"And two: It's really comfortable to sit like this! I'm so happy that Munck taught me how." She finished.

I just shook my head and asked the question that was our main reason for meeting up every now and then.

"So... Any progress with him?"

Lyra and I had started meeting up to discuss any progress we had with Munck, seeing as we both liked him, but also knew just how dense he seemed to act about it.

She just shook her head.

"None.. It's like he knows what I'm trying, but he doesn't react to it.." She said with a sigh of defeat.

"I know what you mean.. I kissed him on the cheek yesterday, and while he was a little flustered right afterwards, this morning he was straight back to being himself.." I let out a deep sigh as well.

Lyra then looked at me with huge eyes.

"YOU WHAT!?" She boomed, earning us some weird looks from the ponies passing by.

"Sorry.." She mumbled with an apologetic smile to the startled passerbys.

"But still.. You kissed him!?" She said, this time in a low voice.

"On the cheek, but yeah.. Still, I'm kind of sad that he didn't really react to it.. Maybe he's not into fillies younger than him.." I said with a defeated voice.

"Ha! I'm older than him.. But, why doesn't he react to me then?" Lyra said, as she looked like she was pondering why.

"You're still too close, if he's into those older than him, it would be mares, not fillies like us." I told her with an educating tone.

"But.. Does he even know any mares besides your mom? I never see him talking to any when he's in town." Lyra said while in deep thought.

"Well.. He does talk allot about one named Widget, but the way he talks about her, is more like one would of a big sister, but who else does he.."

Then realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Oh sweet Celstia no.." I started as Lyra's eyes suddenly met mine.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!!" We both boomed in unison, startling every pony in the area.

I jumped off the bench and started pacing around in a circle.

"No no no no no no no no! How can we possibly go up against HER!? No, calm down Twilight.. It's probably not the case.. We're just jumping to conclusions.. But what if we're right!? Oh sweet Celestia, please don't let that be the case!" I started rambling.

Lyra then jumped down and shook me out of it.

"Come on! We have to go find him and tell him what we feel, I don't mind having you as my rival, but the princess? We could never win!" She said as she started galloping towards my house.

"Wait! Lyra!" I shouted, "He's not at my place right now!" this got her to stop and I trotted over to her.

"He's going on an expedition to Mt. Thunder Roar today, so they're probably at the town gates, getting ready." I told her.

"Good! Let's go, we just have to join him on that expedition so we can get some alone time with him!" She said with a smile while doing a little bounce.

"But.. Won't that be a bad idea? I mean, what if we all run into trouble?" I asked.

"Well, do you think they'd let him just wander off to Mt. Thunder Roar like this if it was dangerous? Besides, he probably has some guards with him, so it'll be super safe!" She said, giving another bounce.

"Now, come on! We can't be late!" She said and started galloping towards the town gates, me following right behind her with my book on my back.

And with that, we were off on our first adventure.

__________

We had been walking for almost 4 hours now, only taking a little break every now and then.

It had been quite the uneventful trip so far, but at least that better than trouble.

The sun was still beating down on us, but I could see that it was starting to get quite low on the sky.

I had found a book on 'Advanced Levitation Techniques' in the cart, guess Tesla brought some light reading.

Still, more entertaining than watching Sunny Skies attempts at hitting on Widget and getting shot down for the fortieth time today, the poor guy never learns.

Letting his failure out on a nearby rock, he kicked it off the side of the mountain, before smiling at his idea for the forty-first attempt.

Had to give him that, he always saw things on the bright side.

Snowflake was too busy pulling the cart to be of much use conversation wise, besides, he didn't seem like the type for idle chatter.

I was just finishing up a chapter on self levitation, when Captain Steel Wing stopped us.

"There it is! The summit! Now let's go harvest those lightning lacrima and get the hay back down.. I have this feeling in my gut that something bad is going to happen.." He said.

Snowflake then parked the cart and got out of the yoke, relaxing a little after pulling the cart the entire way up.

I closed the book and walked over to Tesla to find out what we'd do from here on out.

"So, professor, how do we go about mining the lacrima? I doubt that we just use a pickaxe and mine away."

"Well, we have a lacrima detector in the back of the cart, it picks up the elemental waves coming from the crystals, allowing us to locate them faster.. By the way, I didn't know you studied magic." he said with a puzzled look in his eyes.

"What, I thought this was your book..." I slowly turned to the others, "Any of you who owns this book?" I asked, only to get no's and head shakes.

Suddenly I realized what was wrong here.

The movement from under the carts tarp that I dismissed as the wind.

And Shining Armor's distressed look just before the portal closed.

Swearing under my breath, I stomped over to the cart, before ripping it's tarp right off.

What I saw brought me over the edge and something I hadn't said for a long time burst our of my mouth.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!" I cursed, making everypony around me cringe from the harsh language.

Sitting there, were two silly fillies named Twilight and Lyra, ears folded back from my loud outburst.

"For crying out loud! What the hell are you two doing here!? Have you no idea how dangerous it could get here at a seconds warning!? What if the cart had rolled off the mountain side!? What if Mountain Lions had attacked!? What if something happened and you got hurt!? Or worse! Died!? Oh goddess.. Shining Armor is going to buck my face into last Tuesday!" I rambled on, a mix of fear, anger, shock and relief in my voice, pacing around in a circle.

Tears were starting to form in their eyes.

"We.. We're sorry, Munck, but we just wanted to be together with you.." Twilight said with a cracking voice.

I instantly calmed down a little, letting out a huge sigh.

"It's fine, Twi.. I was just shocked, mad, scared and relived.. I mean, anything could have gone wrong, that's why we each have a guard to protect us," I turned and pointed to the three guards who had joined me along with Tesla and Widget at the cart, "What if something had gone wrong? Suddenly we'd be undermanned to handle it! Sure, I have trained mixed martial arts for the past three years, so I could probably handle myself long enough for help to arrive, but you two are still little fillies, not meant for fighting off monsters."

They both stared at the wooden floor of the cart with shame.

I let out another huge sigh, before pinching the bridge of my nose.

"At least you're both safe and that's what matters," I said and turned to the others, "So, shall we get started? The sooner we mine the lacrima, the sooner we can get the girls back home!" I said to Tesla.

"Right, if you'll just take that spherical device over there, I'll explain how we'll find the lacrima," he pointed his hoof to a clear crystal ball with a sort of metal hoop around it, that had runic words inscribed in it, "That there is a lacrima detector! One of my earlier works. It works by igniting a magical spark inside it, that spark will then point in the direction of any nearby lacrima, it's color changing depending on it's element." He said.

I picked it up and turned it around for a bit, it fit quite nicely in my hand, since it was only the size of a tennis ball.

"Right then, here you go professor, you're the only one here who can work it, we can't have Twi and Lyra running off now, can we."

"Right, but you can use it as well, you know. It's made so that anypony can activate it, by focusing on it. Even an Earth-Pony can use it!" He said with glee.

"Hey! Ah'm right 'ere ya know!" Widget said, annoyed at the comment.

Tesla's ears flopped back a little, "Sorry Widget, you know I don't mean it like that.." he apologized.

I decided to save the poor guy, before things got any messier than they already were.

"So, what you're saying is, that I will be able to hunt for lacrima using one of these? Without using magic? That's pretty darn cool!" I said, giving him the biggest smile I could muster, all the recent events considered, "Just one question.. How do I use it?"

His ears perked up at the chance of a topic change.

"Right! Just focus on the runes you see in the metal band, think about what you want to search for and it should start activating."

I did as he said, and true to his words, a spark ignited inside it, quickly pointing a weird rainbow colored bolt of energy towards me.

"Umm.. Professor? What does a rainbow colored output mean?" I asked, showing him the reading.

"I.. I have no idea.. A lacrima usually only holds a single element, so why would it show every single element there is? And.. It points directly to you no matter what direction you hold it... Interesting.. Do you have any lacrima on you?"

"Only the one that tackled me a few days back, you know, the one that got charged with Twi's magic burst... Hold this for a sec, please." I said as I handed him the device so that I could pull the lacrima out from under my t-shirt.

I then tried waving it around and the spark kept following it, so now we knew the source at least.

"Huh.. Didn't think this would be it, I mean, it does nothing, except tackle me when I leave it.." I mumbled.

"Right, we'll have to look into that when we get back, but for now, touch the lacrima detector with it, so that it will be registered as "found" and then we can move on to the next piece." Tesla explained as he hoofed me back the crystal ball.

I did as he told me to and just as he said, the rainbow spark disappeared, replaced by an electric yellow spark pointing towards the nearby edge of the mountainside plateau we were on.

Walking carefully over, I peered over the edge, and sure enough, around ten meters down, were a yellow looking crystal jutting out from the cliff side.

"There's some over here, but they're on the cliff side, should we try moving closer to the summit? We might find some that are easier to mine." I asked while walking back.

"But really, this device of yours is awesome, with this we'll be able to harvest a good deal of lacrima without having to scour the entire mountain for it!" I said giving a little chuckle.

"Not counting the stowaway incident, it feels like nothing else can go wro-"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!"

I froze at the sound and slowly looked up the mountain side.

"Me and my big mouth..."

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!!"

"OH FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFU-!!!!"

__________

*Sigh!*

Nothing much to do in town, with my best friend being out on a date with his marefriend and all... Maybe I should try finding one as well.

*Sigh..*

At least I can go home without that freak being there to piss me off.. At least he's gotten more civil lately.

Wait.. Was that Twily and Lyra? I wonder where they're off to at that speed.. Oh well, almost home, it's gonna be so nice with a Munck-free day~!

Snapping out of my thought, I opened the door, only to be greeted by my dad.

"Shining! Have you seen Twi? She was supposed to have been home now." He said with a worried tone.

"Whoa! Calm down dad, if you're looking for Twily, I just saw her and Lyra running off in that direction." I said, pointing a hoof towards the main gates.

His eyes narrowed at that bit of information.

"Dear Celestia, no! Shining! You have to get them, now! Munck is there, on his way to Mt. Thunder Roar! They're gonna try to sneak after him!" He boomed.

"They're WHAT! Why would they even do something crazy like that!?" I yelled.

"I know why, but that will have to wait! Hurry up and stop them before it's too late!" He ordered.

"Right!" There's no way in Tartarus that I will let two fillies go out on a journey like that!

Doing a 180 in the door, I galloped off towards the main gates, bumping into ponies on the way, but this is no time to stop an apologize!

"By Celestia, if Munck brings them with him, I'll buck his stupid face into last Tuesday!" I swore as I raced through the streets.

There it is! The main gate! Time to stop this madness!

Blasting around the corner, I saw Munck and his party on the other side of some portal as it was closing.. And not only that, I saw Twily peeking out from under the carts tarp!

"OH BUCK NO!!" I boomed as I reached the gate, stopping one of the scientists with my outburst.

"You! Scientist! Open that portal again, right now! My little sister has sneaked aboard the cart!" I yelled at one of the scientists.

"I.. I'm sorry young one, but we can't open it from this side, there's nothing we can do to help you.." He apologized.

Oh Celestia no..

Wait a minute..

"PRINCESS CELESTIA! She can help!" I yelled, before galloping off towards the castle.

It took me probably ten minutes to reach the castle gates, but it was closed for the day.

Not giving a darn, I ran up and bucked one of them in, alerting every guard in the area.

"STOP RIGHT THERE! CRIMINAL SCUM!" One of the guards boomed as they swarmed around me.

Anger took over.

"I have no time for you losers!" I yelled, letting a huge shield spell loose, blasting away everypony I deemed dangerous.

With my path cleared, I ran through the hallways and finally reached the throne room, hoping that the Princess was still there.

But of course she wasn't.. And to make it worse, the guards were back, with reinforcements.

"I don't have time for this! I need to speak with Princess Celestia!" I yelled, but they didn't stop to listen.

Letting another spell fly, I effectively tossed them all into the surrounding castle walls, knocking a good deal of them unconscious.

Right then, there was a white flash behind me, almost blinding me, as none other than Princess Celestia stood there in all her glory.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" She boomed in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

"Your majesty! You have to help! It's Twily.. Twilight Sparkle!" I started.

"What!? What's happened to her?" Celestia asked, dropping the Royal Canterlot Voice.

"She's sneaked aboard the cart for Munck's expedition! She could be in danger as we speak! You have to help!" I half ordered, half pleaded.

She pierced my eyes with her gaze before speaking again.

"Shining Armor! I will send you to the foot of Mt. Thunder Roar, from there, you will have to travel the same path as they, hopefully you should catch up."

She started charging her horn with her light aura.

"I will also send out a medical team as soon as possible, so that they can help if anypony gets hurt on the trip, but let's hope that won't be the case."

And with that, I felt my body twisting, turning and being pulled in every direction at once, before standing at the mountain foot.

I started galloping up the path, but soon found that it wasn't a good idea, after all the stuff I had just done, my body was weak.

So I decided to just trot as fast as I could drag my body.

It had been almost four hours now, having had to take a good amount of breaks along the way, I had yet to catch up.

I started wondering how they could be so darn fast with a cart and all, but then I remembered Snowflake and let out a deep sigh.

But then it happened! I heard voices!

Stopping to look up and see if I could spot them, I saw something.. Something falling..

*Crack!*

Everything went black.

I slowly opened my eyes, regretting it since the light from the setting sun hurt like the day after a hard cider drinking contest.

I then remembered where I was and quickly got up.

Not knowing how far they'd gotten, I started galloping with all my might.

It only took another forty minutes, but I was starting to see the summit.

"Almost the-"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!"

"Oh Celestia no!" Was all I could say.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!!"

"OH FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU-!!!!" Was the last thing I heard before I galloped as fast as I possibly could, ignoring everything around me, only focusing on getting up there as fast as possible.

__________

"-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Everypony turned in the direction I was looking and fear filled their faces.

There on a rocky slope was two creatures that could easily be mistaken for boulders, if they had just laid down and kept still.

They looked kinda like a cross between a lion and a bear.

Big, around Celestia's height and muscular enough to give Snowflake a run for his bits.

Their faces were rather flat, but that didn't make their huge fangs protruding from their broad mouths any less scary.

Their fur and manes were grayish and looked like it changed tones depending on the terrain, allowing them to blend in.

On the tip of their tails was a sharp rock, most likely for piercing their target.

They proceeded to let out another primal roar that would send shivers down anypony's spine, before their claws, sharp enough to shred through the rocky ground they were standing on, helped their strong legs launch them down the mountain side at great speed, straight toward us.

"SNOWFLAKE! YOU HANDLE THE ONE ON THE RIGHT! SKIES! YOU HELP ME WITH THE ONE ON THE LEFT! PROTECT THE CHILDREN AT ALL COSTS!!!" Captain Steel Wing boomed.

They instantly moved in as if they had practiced it for years.

Snowflake took to the skies, buzzing his small wings at incredible speed as he dropped down, delivering earth shattering bucks to the mountain lion, it's hard furry armor cracking at each blow, but it refused to go down, instead it kept trying to swat him out of the air.

The Captain and Sunny on the other hoof, were busy confusing the lion, while taking turns at doing flybys.

Since they didn't have Snowflake's awesome HORSE POWER, they were forced to take a slower, more careful approach, relying more on speed and dodging.

It was obvious to anypony that they weren't doing any serious damage to the two beasts, but that wasn't the point either.

They were trying to distract them, so we could escape, so motioning Tesla, Widget, Twi and Lyra to follow me, we made a mad dash towards the path down, only to freeze in place.

There on the path, stood another one of those fearsome beasts, it's beady yellow eyes sizing us up while it was busy licking it's chops at the feast in front of it.

I motioned for everypony behind me to start backing away and did the same, never breaking my gaze away from it's hungry eyes.

For each step back I took, it took another step forward.

It knew we were trapped.

It knew that we couldn't do anything.

It knew that no matter what, it wouldn't go hungry for the night.

And I knew that we were more fucked than ever, but no matter what, I would not just go down without a fight.

Too many lives were at stake here.

Giving the beast a mean glare, I got into my fighting stance.

I could hear angered whispers of objections behind me, but I didn't care.

If that beast wanted a feast, then I'd be sure to make it fight for it.

Curious about my weird behavior, the grotesque lion stopped in it's tracks, eying me to see what I did next.

I took this as my signal and set off with as much speed as I could muster by myself.

The lion was stumped, never before had such a little creature been the one to attack it.

Letting my punch fly with every ounce of power I could, my fist connected with it's jaw.

*CRACK!*

I don't know which one of us took the most damage, but by everything holy, my arm hurt like hell!

Glancing at the lions face, I could see that it was in no way amused, as it reared on it's hind legs, preparing to swipe me with it's razor sharp claws.

I tried to jump backwards to avoid the swipe, but suddenly intense pain filled my body, all my nerves writhing as blood splattered across the ground that I was rolling over.

As I came to a stop, I glanced over my left shoulder, it was torn apart, blood streaming from the shredded flesh.

Pain...

That was all that filled my mind, I was about to black out, when I saw the lion nearing, glancing behind me, I saw the teary faces of my friends and colleagues.

No way in hell I'm gonna let it have them!

Mustering every ounce of my fading strength, I shakily rose up to meet it's gaze yet again, only to cough up blood from the strenuous activity.

My body screamed out for rest, but I refused.

The lion's and my eyes met again and I glared back, my vision getting blurry.

It was then that I noticed a white blob with a bit of blue on it's top, running at full speed towards us.

"TWILY! I'm coming little sis!" It yelled, getting the beasts' attention.

No doubt, it was Shining Armor.

Letting a huge blast of raw magic fly from his horn.

The blast connected with the mountain lion's abdomen, sending it flying through the air as it crashed into the nearby mountain side with a sickening thud, falling limp to the ground near the edge of the cliff.

The last thing I saw before collapsing, was the white blob moving towards us.

Lying on the ground, I could feel my life blood flowing out of my body.

Everything was blurry, even the voices from the ponies around me.

I could still recognize them, Twi and Lyra's sobbing voices, Tesla having a panic attack, Widget crying and even Shining Armor sounded sad.

Funny, never knew that my death would be all it took for him to stop hating me, hehehe... Bad jokes aside... This is bad.

Unless they have healing magic, I won't live to see tomorrow, I will never get home! I will die in a world that isn't mine... Maybe that isn't too bad, I mean, I did manage to keep them all safe long enough for help to arrive.

But then all my thoughts stopped.

The gray blob that had damaged me this badly started moving again and none of the ponies around me seemed to notice it.

Oh goddess! It's gonna attack!

I have to do something!

I have to warn them!

But how!?

Suddenly the beastly blob roared and ran towards us, Shining quickly turned and tried blasting it again, but it looked like he was out of magic.

In an instant, my head cleared and time itself seemed to come to a crawl.

My bodily functions returned as a familiar voice spoke up.

"What are you lying around for, you lazy bum!" It said with a sarcastic tone.

"Who me? I'm just in the middle of dying, and you?" I replied pouring as much sarcasm in it as I could.

"Yeah.. I don't think we'll make it, but I'll be damned if we don't go out fighting!"

"But what can we do? If you hadn't noticed it yet, we're pretty much missing our entire left shoulder and we're about to die from blood loss!" I said.

"And that's where I come in"

"I've set your system up to break every single limiter in your body, so right now, you're perceiving things at such a speed, that the world seems to have stopped and once we break the final limiters, you should gain enough speed and power to handle that lion... Unfortunately it comes with a heavy price and your body will probably start ripping itself to shreds once you start moving... But, at least you'll be able to protect them all." Bob said.

"Wait.. A complete Limit Break? There's no way my body could handle that as it is right now! We'd die the moment we released it!" I boomed, shocked at the idea.

"Yeah, I'm kinda re-routing the stress to the Intelligence Bullet, slowly letting it break down and be assimilated into your body, so if you should somehow survive, I won't be around to protect you anymore..." He said in a sad tone.

This was too shocking, Bob was willingly letting me absorb him, becoming a part of me and losing his own being.

"I... I can't allow you to do that, Bob." I said with a stern voice.

"You have been a part of me for too long, you're like a friend, and I don't want you to sacrifice yourself like this, not it there's still a minimal chance that we can live through this."

"Hah! As if you have a choice!" Bob said, letting out a hearty laugh.

"Actually, I do! Have you forgotten that I'm the one in control of my body?" I asked him.

"Ooooh... Right, that... There's one thing I forgot to tell you about that."

"And what might that be?"

"I lied!"

"Bob! NO! Don't do it!!!"

"Too late... Goodbye, my friend!"

"LiMiT bReAk!!!"

With movements that would impress any speed demon, I rose from the ground, slamming Shining Armor out of the way as the lion's claw came crashing down.

Parrying it with my gauntlet, I then proceeded to punch it right in the wound from Shining's blast, causing it to slide backwards, stunned from what just happened.

Not even giving it a chance to recover, I instantly leapt in it's direction at such a speed that it looked like I was flying towards it, slamming my elbow into the mountain lion's gut, tackling it at enough speed to send it flying it over the edge of the mountain.

This was all good and fine, but in a last ditch effort, it planted it's claws in my back, causing me intense pain as it pulled me with it over the edge.

We still struggled while we both plummeted towards our certain doom.

With a sickening crack, the lion hit the ground with it's back, splitting it's head open as blood and brain splattered everywhere.

I was still caught in it's legs, I had survived the drop, but that didn't matter, I could feel deaths shadow closing in on me, as my body lost it's last life blood and everything turned black.

__________

As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a pitch black darkness that no light could ever hope to penetrate.

The first thing I noticed, was that my shoulder was whole again, and the pain form where it had inserted it's claws on my back, was gone.

Deciding that just standing there wouldn't get me anywhere, I started walking through the darkness.

I wandered for what felt like hours, nothing ever changing and it was really starting to get to me.

"This is not the afterlife I signed up for..." I grumbled, looking around the area, trying to spot something, anything, through the wall of black that filled my vision.

I let out a deep sigh.

"Is this really my afterlife?" I asked the empty space.

Suddenly a deep laughter broke the silence.

"That's a rather easy question to answer, my boy.. You see, you're not quite dead, yet." The voice said.

I spun around, trying to locate the voice, but all I saw was darkness.

"Who or what are you!? Show yourself!" I yelled.

The voice let out a chuckle.

"Let's just say that I'm here to give you two choices.. Choice number one: You die! or choice number two: You get to live, giving you another chance to protect those dear to you, I'll even throw in some special powers!" He said with glee.

This totally blew my mind, I'd been given the chance to live again as well as the power to protect my friends, no need to even think about it!

"I choose number two! If what you say is true, it's only the right thing to do!" I yelled, eager to get back up and help them out.

"This is just fantastic! Gift granted!" He said and I could almost imagine him smiling.

But, the moment he granted it, something started nagging me in the back of my mind, and a question took form.

"Just one question, though... Why would you resurrect me? You don't really stand to gain anything." I asked.

The voice let out a hearty laugh.

"Two reasons, again! Number one: I feel generous at the moment and number two: Because you're a human~!" He said, his voice filled with glee.

I stared at the darkness, most likely with quite the dumbfounded expression.

"Ok.. I can kinda see the first reason being legit, if you can raise the dead, you have to be a godlike being, so taking pity on a poor subject and granting it a second chance out of generosity could be a good reason... But what does me being a human have to do with anything?"

At this lightning tore through the darkness, as his laughter turned maniacal.

With a flash of light, a creature I had only seen in books of fantasy creatures, rose from the darkness.

He Was like the sick mix of a griffin, lion, pony, goat, deer, bat, pegasus, lizard and a dragon... The model picture of what a chimera looks like.

"Hello my young human~! My name is Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony! As you may have guessed from my lovely visage, I am a proud Draconequus."

I was pretty scared by now, but my curiosity was the stronger of the two.

"So.. What does the ruler of chaos want with a human? It's not like I'm some sort of chaos source." I asked.

His face turned to a grin as he disappeared, before popping up right behind me, slinging his lions paw over my shoulder.

"Maybe not now, but in the future you will come crawling to me, begging for me to make you my conduit of chaos~!" He said while clapping his lion paw and eagle claw together.

I just glared at him the best I could.

"And what the hell makes you think that I'm gonna stick around long enough for that to happen!?"

At my question his face suddenly turned very dark and menacing.

"One day, boy.. One day you will understand, and that's the day when Chaos will cover the world~!!!"

Letting out a loud cackle, he wiped a couple of tears away from his asymmetrically-sized eyes.

"You should see the look on your face right now! Priceless~!"

"Aaah~ I could do this all day and never get tired, but it's almost time for you to wake up, so sit down and listen to what daddy Discord has to tell you." He said, giving me a creepy grin.

I was feeling a grand mix of confusion, dread, curiosity, joy and amazement.

Here I was, talking with a chaos god, about to get resurrected from the dead, so that I can see my friends again.

Doing as he told me, I sat down and listened.

"Good! Now, I took the liberty of using that funky lacrima you had, to give you some useful powers, normally this isn't possible, but me being me, it was easy as.. Cake!" He said as a piece of cake popped out of nowhere.

Eying the cake, he took a bite, only for it to disappear, "Bah! Looks like this cake was a lie!" He said, giving a chuckle.

I was still lost at the whole lacrima and powers thing, which he saw.

"Now! You probably want to know what your powers do, but really, what fun is there in that? Instead, I'm gonna wake you up now and and let you play around with it yourself!" He said and snapping his eagle fingers.

My eyes was filled with blinding light as I woke up, lying on top of a mountain lions corpse.

Gasping for the air that my dead body had lost, I looked to my left shoulder which took the most damage during our battle.

What I saw literally freaked me so bad that I screamed and was about to black out, thinking my soul would leave my body again.

There was no skin where the lion's claws had stripped me of it.

Instead there was a crystal like substance, a glowing purple as it's basic, with a prismatic sheen.

Calming down enough to breath properly again, I tried touching it, it felt just like Lacrima, hard and smooth, yet soft and flexible, like skin.. It was a freakish weird experience, that's for sure.

I then noticed that from my shoulder, ran lines of lacrima under my skin and down my arms, until they formed a a tear drop on the top of my hands.

You wouldn't notice it unless you really looked hard, which I was at least thankful for... A freaky purple shoulder was more then enough trouble, if you ask me.

After a few more pokes to my shoulder, to see if it was real, I suddenly realized why I had come back to life in the first place.

Looking to the sky, I saw that the sun was at the same position as before, so even though it felt like hours in the dark space, it must only have been a few minutes out here.

Rising from the lion corpse, I start walking back towards the path up, wondering how I could possibly get back up in time to be of help.

It was then, that I noticed a slight pulling in my new shoulder, like it wanted to show me something.

Walking in the direction it was pulling, I soon noticed a faint glow coming from the lacrima veins in my arms, slowly lighting up more and more of the vein as we got closer to the target.

When the tear on my hand finally lit up, I was standing in front of a big dirt brown crystal, earth lacrima I guessed.

My left hand then started pulling itself towards the lacrima, it instantly turned into some sort of liquid when I touched it, and started crawling up my left arm, reaching my torso, covering them both in a lacrimae armor that was quite flexible.

What happened next was pure nightmare fuel.

I suddenly had that sinking feeling, as I looked down, I saw that I was standing in earth to the knees.

I was stricken with panic, as I started sinking faster and faster, until my head finally went under.

Struggling for dear life, I was scared shitless, as I kept on sinking further down.

My thoughts went from pure panic, to just one single thought.

"UP! UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP! I wanna go UP!!!" I screamed.

Somehow, it worked, as I shot upwards, flying out of the ground and faceplanting myself in the now solid ground.

"That went fucking great..." I grumbled.

At least I knew what this power could do now.

I apparently had the power to directly manipulate different types of lacrimae, drawing upon their elements to aid me.

Earth lacrima seemed to let me move through solid ground, I wonder if it works on cliff walls as well... Only one way to find out!

Slowly touching the cliff side, willing myself to enter it, I slowly walked through it.

This time I wasn't scared, I knew what happened and how I should use this power.

It was almost like second nature, perhaps thanks to that freaky shoulder of mine.

Looking up, I willed the lacrima to move my body upwards, and up I went, all the while, my lacrima armor slowly crumbled away as it's energy was drained.

I guess that once I run out, I'll be a part of the mountain until the day some archaeologist pony digs me out.

Shaking the thought of being revived from my DNA by mad scientist, like in that movie about dinosaurs, I instead focused on moving up as fast as possible.

It was now like swimming with the current, I slowly gained more and more speed, and I soon noticed that I was nearing the summit.

Even though I was inside a cliff, it was like I knew what happened outside the cliff and how far along I was, as if the entire cliff was my eyes and ears now.

I was almost at the top when I noticed the lightning lacrima that I had seen earlier, knowing that I would need something with a punch to defeat those lions, I dived out and touched it with my left arm, letting it liquify and coat my gauntlet with a lightning armor.

Good thing I did, because suddenly Snowflake came tumbling over the edge, badly bruised from his long battle.

I reached out and caught him, dragging him inside the cliff with me, causing him to panic, much like I had.

Willing the lacrima to drag us up as fast as possible, I emerged from the ground dragging Snowflake with me, causing every pony and lion to freeze in shock.

Letting Snowflake drop, I turned mid-air and glared at the beast that had hurt him, it was still in shock.

"Hey rockface! Ever wondered what the inside of a mountain looks like!?" I yelled at it, as I fell towards it.

Grabbing it by the mane, we both sunk under the rock surface again, as the lion's eyes filled with fear I let go of it, watching as it's body got encased in the cliff, practically burying it alive.

Willing myself back up, I slowly rose from the ground, glaring daggers at the other lion, that was shocked over it's partners sudden disappearance.

Everypony around me was still gaping at the fact that someone they just saw die, was now standing there after killing another mountain lion.

I slowly strolled toward the last remaining lion, electricity coursing around my right arm now.

This lion, however, wasn't about to just go down without a fight, so it charged at me, roaring as loud as it could, in an attempt to scare me.

"Come at me, stoner, it's time to light you up!"

I said giving it another glare as I raised my right arm, focusing on the lightning lacrima that covered it, watching in awe as it started letting lose a barrier of pure electricity around me, catching the lion in midair as it had tried to jump me.

It being a barrier though, meant that it didn't do too much damage, however, so I willed it to concentrate around the lion, wrapping it like a blanket, forcing the lacrima to let every ounce of energy out in one go.

The lion started sizzling inside the barrier, as it slowly roasted it to a charred mess that could no longer be called a lion.

Dropping it's corpse, I finally moved towards my friends as my lacrimae armor crumbled, showing off my shiny new shoulder.

"Is everpony alright?" I asked, as Twi and Lyra both ran over and hugged my legs for dear life.

The rest just nodded, except for Snowflake who was still on the ground, Sunny Skies and Steel Wing tending to him.

"Good," I said, "'Cause I'm gonna faint now.. Good night~!" I said as I fell to the ground, drained from everything that had happened.

The last thing I heard, was Twi and Lyra's shocked gasps as the world around me went black again.

__________

I opened my eyes to the familiar darkness where I had met the draconequus.

And sure enough, there he was, with a big grin forming on his face.

"So, I see you figured it out!" He said with glee.

"Yeah, though I still don't see why you'd go through the trouble of resurrecting me, when you know I won't join you."

"This world is too beautiful for me to wish any chaos upon it." I told him.

He let out a maniacal laugh.

"Don't you worry about that, boy.. I have already planned for this to be a long-term plan." He said, a big smirk forming on his face.

This bit of information felt quite unnerving.

"What do you mean "long-term plan"?"

"You'll see soon enough~!" He cackled.

"But for now, I bid you farewell, boy!" He rose up to his full height, preparing to snap his eagle fingers.

"Arrivederci~!" He said with a smirk on his face.

*Snap!*

My eyes shot open as they darted around in their sockets, trying to figure out where I was now.

It weren't a room I was familiar with, that's for sure.

Looked like the inside of a wooden cabin, a pretty cozy little room, not too spacious, but big enough to be a bedroom, with two doors, one most likely leading out to a bigger living area and the other was probably the bathroom..

I was currently lying on a cot, Twi and Lyra sleeping soundly with their forelegs and head resting on the side of the cot.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I tried sitting up, an action I quickly regretted as every nerve in my system started screaming out in pain.

"GAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH!!! FUCK THAT HURTS!" I shouted, tearing the two fillies out of their peaceful rest as they tumbled to the floor from the shock.

Their eyes instantly locked on me, as they started getting teary.

"You're awake!" They both shouted in unison, before they launched at me, causing my already hurting body to torture me some more.

Giving out another guttural scream of pain, two pegasi wearing nurse caps, burst into the room, one of them shuffled the two fillies away from me, as the other started checking up on me.

Apparently all my minor wounds had been healed, but they didn't know what to do with my shoulder, since the lacrima had effectively merged with my body and was now as much a part of it, as my skin was.

The reason for feeling pain, was that my body had been pulled way over the limit during my battle.

While it may have been healed, I should expect at least one week of recovery before I could move around painlessly again.

They helped me up, so that I could get to the bathroom.

I had died, come back to life, swam through a mountain and beaten some mountain lions, but I had yet to have had a toilet break, and now that things had finally calmed down, nature decided to start it's nagging.

When the deed was done, I took some time to check out the damage in the mirror.

My shoulder was indeed quite purple, and it didn't help much that it shone with every color of the frickin' rainbow when light reflected off of it.

The rest of my body was littered with small scars from the tumble down the mountain, before we dropped off an edge and fell to our deaths.

Even my face had gotten a few scars, nothing big though, and would most likely disappear with time.

But then I noticed my eyes, something had changed.

They were still their brilliant green, but around my pupils, a red ring had formed.

A last sign that Bob really had merged with me, besides the fact that I felt a constant urge to make snarky comments.

Letting a few tears fall at the loss of my friend, I dried my eyes and limped back to the room were my cot was.

Sitting there, was Tesla, Widget, Captain Steel Wing and Shining Armor.

When they saw me, Widget shot towards me, but I quickly held up a hand to stop her.

"Please, Widget, I'm happy to see you all alive and well too, but right now just standing up hurts like you wouldn't believe it and let's just say that physical contact doesn't help it." I told her.

She sat down, giving me a teary smile.

"Ah'm jus' so happy to see ya alive an' well.. We all thought ya gone an' died when ya tumbled off the edge!" She said.

I coughed nervously before opening my mouth again.

"Actually.. I did die, I was just lucky enough to get a second chance." I said, scratching the back of my head while giving them a sheepish smile.

All their faces took on different expressions.

"YA WHAT!?" Widget boomed, her expression showing a mix of fear, relief and anger, probably at me going off and dying.

Not that I could blame her, I would be dead right now if not for a certain draconequus.

Tesla trotted over to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder

"Easy now, Widget. He's alive and that's all that matters, so let's just be happy about it." His face showing mostly curiosity at how anything could live through death.

Having calmed down, they both returned to their places by my cot, and I slowly moved over so that I could lay down again.

I then turned my head, now resting on the pillow, towards them.

"How's snowflake holding up? He looked pretty roughed up when I last saw him." I asked.

Captain Steel Wing cleared his throat, still having been in thought about all that had happened.

"He's gonna be just fine. He's currently resting on a cot in the other room, Cadet Skies will get us the moment he wakes up again." He said.

Letting out a sigh of relief at that bit of news, I turned back to staring at the ceiling, only to be interrupted by none other than Shining Armor.

"I.. I just want to thank you..  You know, for protecting Twily from that lion, even though you could just as well have run away.." He said, oddly polite for once.

"It's all fair, Shining, and besides, you protected me too, when you came to the rescue."

"Yeah.. Wait, did you just call me Shining?" He said in disbelief.

"Well, D'uh. You saved me and that's more than enough to redeem you in my book." I said, giving him as big a smile I could without wincing in pain.

"Hah! Well, you saved me too, Munck, so I guess we're even... Friends?" He said, reaching out a hoof.

I closed my hand, as fist and hoof met in a glorious moment of bonding... If only it didn't hurt so fucking much.

Tearing up I dragged my hand back and rested in on the cot.

"Oh, right.. Sorry dude." Shining said with a sheepish smile.

"Eh, it's fine, just give me a week and I'll be as good as new, but for now.. I think some sleep would do wonders.." I mumbled.

"Right, we'll be returning to Canterlot tomorrow, so rest up." Tesla said, as all of them, besides Shining, returned to their cots in the other room.

He levitated a blanket over me, before turning towards the door that the others disappeared through.

"Thanks again, Munck, for everything. I know we didn't start off on the best note, but I still want to thank you for looking out for Twily." He said as he left the room.

With a smile on my face, I slowly drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

__________

When I finally awoke, I was in an entirely new place.

I sat up to better look around my new surroundings.

It was a half-circular room, with a small table filled with writing utensils and a chair to the side of the door on the opposite side of the room from where I lay, a window with red curtains on each side of the bed that I was currently resting in, and a red rug with a golden pattern in it.

Judging from the design of the room, it looked like a tower room in the castle, but that couldn't be right, I only closed my eyes to rest for a bit...

I then heard a gasp from the door, as a maid, a light gray earth pony with light yellow eyes, a dark yellow muzzle and a mane and tail that were dark yellow and dark pink, tied together with two small bows ran up to me, to see if I was alright.

"Oh sweet Celestia! You're really awake! We were starting to think that you would sleep forever!" She yelled.

I looked at her, confusion clear in my eyes.

"How long have I been out? Because it doesn't feel like I took more than a twenty minutes nap." I grunted in a raspy voice.

She giggled a little at that, before looking me straight in the eyes.

"Six days.. That's how long you have been out cold. You were in such a deep sleep, that no matter what we tried, shaking, shouting, dumping a bucket of ice cold water over you, you didn't budge at all, just kept on snoring away." She said, stifling a laugh at the memory of it.

I just blinked a few times.

"Wow... I must have needed it then," I said trying to stand up from the bed, "Huh.. At least I can move without too much pain now... But why the heck am I naked" I said looking down myself.

The maid started giggling a little but she instantly froze as my stomach let out a ghastly growl that reminded me of the mountain lion's roar, before causing me to start writhing in pain, falling to my knees while clutching my stomach.

"Maid... Food... Now... Please!!" I yelled as she flew out the door and returned probably around ten minutes later with a basket of apples.

"Here you go, eat, you need it." She said with a kind smile.

Grabbing two apples, I started munching down on them both, not taking the time to savor their taste, I just needed food in my system, now.

The maid let out a giggle at the sight.

"You really must have been hungry, just stay there and eat, I'll go notify the Princess about your awakening." She said, trotting towards the door.

"Thanks!" I shouted, spitting apple pieces everywhere.

I Had moved to the bed and was wrapped in the blanket, relaxing and still busy eating, almost through my thirteenth apple, when a flash of bright light appeared in front of me giving me quite the scare, leaving the majestic Alicorn princess in it's place.

Dropping my half eaten apple, busy choking on a piece of apple that went down the wrong pipe.

She quickly moved to my side, rubbing a hoof on my back.

"Are you ok? I didn't mean to startle you like that, I was just so happy to hear the news, that I kinda teleported here without thinking." She said with a sheepish grin as the chunk finally left my throat.

"It's fine, Princess, but you hadn't needed to rush like that, it's not like I'm going anywhere without clothes on." I said with a raspy voice.

She looked at me with her kind light magenta eyes.

"I just wanted to apologize.. I've heard of all that happened and if I knew the mountain lions would be this active, I would never have send you off to the mountains.. We're still investigating the reason as to why they were that close to the mountain path, they usually never hunt in that area."

I thought it over for a bit, before it all clicked together.

"Discord..!" I growled, causing Celestia's eyes to narrow at the mention of the draconequus' name.

"Tell me why you know that name!" She demanded.

Not wanting to incur her wrath, I did as she said.

"... And that's all that happened.. My guess is that he manipulated those lions into doing what they did, to get his hands.. claws? or maybe paws? Why does that freak have so many random body parts.." I grumbled, "Anyway, he was probably using it all to get to me." I finished.

The princess was deep in thought, mulling over all the disturbing information she had just received.

Slowly, she looked towards me, as her horn started flaring it's magic aura, lowering it towards me.

I instinctively backed away, but she could easily reach my forehead anyway, preparing for pain, I felt her horn touch me, as a loving warmth wrapped around my head.

"There.. I have placed a barrier in your mind, preventing Discord from ever entering it again without your permission." She said as she rose back up, beaming me a kind and loving smile.

"Thank you princess, but it doesn't erase the fact that I made a pact with a god of chaos and to be honest, I'm scared of finding out what the cost will be.."

She gave me a knowing look, as she sat down beside me.

"Don't worry, young Munck. I swear that whatever it is, you will be safe here. But for now, I think you should rest and then I will let the others know that you're ok." She said, before she disappeared in another bright flash.

After the Princess was gone, the maid pony from before entered the room.

"Is there anything else that I can be of help with?" She asked.

My stomach let out another growl.

"Yeah.. Seeing as I'm still running on empty, could you fetch me some more food and a jug of water, please?"

"Of course! I'll be right back." She said, as she trotted back towards the door.

"Oh! Wait! I was wondering, what's your name?" I quickly asked her.

She turned around and bowing slightly, "My name is Dusty Doves, Sir. Munck," she said as she rose back up and beamed me a smile.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Doves." I said, giving a bow from my bed.

She smiled again, before turning around and leaving the room.

Dusty Doves soon returned with more food.

A plate filled with grilled carrots and dip to go with 'em plus an entire apple Pie.

I eagerly started munching down on the carrots, good stuff and the dressing was nice too, tasted like a mild curry dressing.

Dusty Doves turned to leave again, "I still have some work to do around this tower, but I'll be back to check up on you from time to time, so please don't hesitate to ask, if you need anything." She finished as she left.

I mumbled a 'thank you' through the food in my mouth, before I continued eating like a starved dog.

After a most delectable apple pie, and some nice cool lemon water, I decided that some rest would be in order, so I laid back down, letting sleep take over my still not fully recovered body.

It was gonna be another dreamless sleep.

__________

The next couple of days went by quite peacefully.

Later that same day that I had awoken, I was visited by the Light's and Lyra with her parents who brought me some fresh clothes and other stuff, like candy and soft drinks.

They thanked me for protecting their daughters, which I told them not to make a big deal out of, I just did what any crazy bastard would do when his friends were in trouble and laughed it off as they all gave me weird stares.

Guess Bob really is a part of me now, not that I mind, I'm just happy to have a part of him live on through me.

We kept the whole Discord thing a secret from them, of course.

No need to tell them that I made a deal with their equivalent of the devil.

Shining Armor really started to spend a lot of time with me, just chatting, telling me of his days around the city, as well as stories of his friends.

It was really nice to talk just with him as a friend and we even got Mr. Light to snap a photo of the two of us, pounding our fist and hoof together, like we had tried in the cabin.

On the second day, I even got a visit from Widget and Tesla.

They were both very relieved to see me up and about again.

While I wasn't allowed to leave yet, I could at least get up and move around my room.

Tesla told me that the princess had sent out a squad of pegasi to scan Mt. Thunder Roar for anymore lions, but it seemed that having their three strongest hunters killed, forced the rest to move on to another group.

So thanks to that, the lab ponies had harvested a great deal of both lightning and earth lacrimae.

This was awesome news and I couldn't wait to get back to experimenting, not only with my magitech gaunlet, but my new powers as well.

Discord be damned, these powers were awesome.

Though, I couldn't help but wonder what things I could do with other elements.

I already had Earth Phasing and an Electro Barrier, so I couldn't help but think up all sorts of other powers.

That night, I dreamt for the first time in a while.

About being a powerful hero, with awesome powers, defeating the evil Doctor Discord.

The day before I would be allowed to leave, Captain Steel Wing dropped by to see how I was doing.

He told me that his Wife had begged him to retire because of how much of a close call it had been.

Seeing as he has a young son at home, he decided that it might be a good chance, so he had just handed in his letter of resignation.

Even got a nice retirement pension out of it.

Later that day, Snowflake and Sunny Skies dropped by.

Sunny instantly flew over and ruffled my hair, saying that it was good to see me alive and kicking.

Snowflake on the other hand went completely silent, before letting a tear of joy trickle down his cheek.

Seeing that big guy doing something as unlike his usual self as that just really hit me hard, so I got up and gave the big fella the strongest bear hug I could manage.

He instantly cheered up and let out a booming "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

So after a few hours of just small talk, I bid them both good night, tucking in for the last night in this room

__________

The next day came and I was finally deemed fully recovered.

So as I got ready to leave, Dusty Doves came in, telling me that Shining, Sunny, Snowflake, Steel Wing and I had been called to the throne room by the Princess.

So we both went on our way there, meeting up with the rest outside the doors to the throne room.

When the guards saw that we were all there, they stood aside, to let us enter.

What we saw, was some of all the ponies we all knew, like the Lights, Lyra and her parents, Joe, Tesla, Widget, the rest of the science team and some of the others friends and family were gathered there, as well as Celestia who waited for us by her throne.

A fanfare played as we walked up the path to the throne, as everypony started stomping their hooves.

As we reached the stairs to the throne, the princess rose to address us all.

"We are all gathered here today, to honor five brave souls who put their lives on the line to defend those who couldn't do so themselves." She started as she walked down to us.

We all knelt down before her, as she walked over to Steel Wing.

"Rise Captain! With your quick command in the face of danger, you ensured that the two Mountain lions didn't get far and you valiantly stood up to it in unarmed combat," she started, as Steel Wing rose back up, "I know you have requested retirement, and I must admit that I'm sad to see you leave the royal guard. You have been one of the greatest captains in many years and it will be a challenge to find somepony who can fill your place. Still, I would never think of keeping you from doing what you believe is right, so I wish you all the best in the future, may it be a long and happy one." She said as she levitated a medal over his head.

"Thank you, your majesty. I have never been more proud, than when I was promoted to Captain of the Royal Guard and got to defend my beloved country and it's ruler." He said, kneeling back down again.

"Rise Cadet! As loud as you may be, you have always had a heart of gold, staying strong and true to your friends, family and kingdom! I am proud to have one such as you, who had the courage and power to singlehoofedly take on a fearsome beast, in my guard. You are most loyal and protective of those around you and for this, I would like promote you to captain of the guard devision in Ponyville. They recently lost their captain in a freak accident, and I believe that you are the pony who can set it all straight again. I also know that it's where your family lives, so I'm sure they'll be thrilled to have you back home, guarding your birthplace." She said as she levitated another medal over his head, instantly causing Snowflake to rear up and let out his loudest "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" yet while flexing his muscles.

"It would be an honor, your majesty!" He happily boomed and knelt back down.

"That's my boy!!!" A thin little pegasus pony yelled, causing us all to laugh.

"Rise Cadet! Just like your best friend, you have show incredible courage and I know you don't want to part with your him. So, seeing as you have proven yourself to be just as loyal and hardworking as him, I hereby promote you to vice-captain of the Ponyville guard devision. Please do keep an eye out for him and assist him with your new subordinates. They are still in unrest after what happened, so your optimistic view on life might be just what they need." She said, giving him a wink before she levitated a medal over his head.

Sunny Skies quickly knelt back down.

"Don't worry, Princess! I'll make sure he doesn't do anything too rash! And of course I'll do my best to help boost their morale!" Sunny said, beaming her a big grin.

"Shining Armor, it takes a lot of guts and determination to barge into my castle, blowing my guards away and demanding my help like that, yet I know that you did it out of love for your family and love is a powerful force. You have also shown great potential! Your shield spell is one of the most powerful I have seen in years and with proper training, you could become powerful enough to protect everypony in Canterlot! That is why, I want to ask you if you'd be interested in joining the royal guards." She asked, while levitating him a medal.

Shine knelt back down with a big smile plastered on his face.

"It would be an honor, your majesty! To be honest, I've always wanted to join, but since you have to be sixteen, I had to wait till this year." He said, his voice full of joy.

"I am happy to hear you say that, Cadet Shining Armor." She said with a smile.

She then reached me.

"Rise Munck! Standing up for your friends in the face of danger takes more courage than most ponies have, but giving the ultimate sacrifice, your own life, to keep them safe, requires either complete selflessness or just pure stupidity.

But seeing as you managed to live through it to tell the tale, I'll go with the first, plus a hefty dose of luck," she said, giving me a wink, "What's more, you came back stronger than ever and managed to save everypony on that expedition from certain death.

Keeping that in mind, I can see a great potential in you, one that it would be a crime not to polish, therefore, I would like to request you to join the ranks of my private knights, The Order of The Solar Knights!

Doing so, you will be able to get the training you need to grow as a pony, or rather, a person and recieve the correct training for your newfound powers.

Of course, there's also other reasons factoring in, but they're best left unspoken to the public." She said, while levitating my medal over my head, letting it rest around my neck.

"It would be an honor, Celly~!" I said, winking back.

She blushed a little at my casual nickname, but she quickly cleared her throat.

"I am most happy to hear that, Squire Munck!" She said with a warm smile.

She then trotted back up to her throne and addressed us all again.

"I once again thank the five of you! You have done Equestria proud!"

She then lifted her hoof and pointed to the great doors.

"If you would all kindly follow the guards, they will take you to the banquet hall, where a feast will await us all!" She boomed happily.

Everypony started filing out, me included, but I was quickly stopped by Celly.

"Munck and Dusty Doves! I would like you two to stay behind. The rest of you may start the feast!"

We did as told and as soon as everypony was gone, Celestia came down to us.

"I would like you two to follow me, please." She said as she started trotting out into the castle halls.

Dusty Doves and I shared a questioning glance before following her.

The walk to our destination was a quiet one.

None of us really had anything to say, since we knew that Celestia would show us soon enough.

And sure enough, she soon came to a halt, the rest of us stopping as well.

We were now in front of a big spiral staircase.

"These stairs leads up to the royal chambers." Celestia said.

She then pointed a hoof to the huge doors on each side of the staircase.

"Those door leads to the two knight orders we have."

She pointed to the left one.

"The Order of the Lunar Knights. While they're currently not on duty, we still train knights in order to be ready for their masters return." She said.

She then moved over to the door on the right side.

"And in here," she said, opening the door, "We have The Order of the Solar Knights, who work directly under my command." She said and walked inside, Dusty Doves and I still following her.

Inside was a long hall, that forked out in 3 other paths, like a big cross.

On each side of the hall, was a bunch of doors, leading to Celestia knows what. (She most likely does..)

coming up to the cross roads, I saw wooden training dolls and some sparring rings down the path to the right.

And down to the left, were big longtables where you could fit at least fifty ponies around each.

Some already had ponies sitting down, chatting and drinking, most likely after a hard session of sparring.

They wore heavy plate armor that covered most of their bodies, unlike the lighter armor that the royal guards wore.

It was still gold, though, but the plates looked thicker and they had Celestia's Cutie Mark engraved on the flank part.

One of them even wore a helmet, not one of those silly ones with a feather duster on top.

These were plate armor helmets, meant to grand the best protection they could.

We continued down the hall, until we reached the end, where a big set of wooden doors with Celestia's mark on it.

I could hear some loud yelling on the other side of the door, but it was too muffled to make out the words.

Celestia waited for it to quiet down a little, before rapping her hoof on the big door and using her magic to open it.

Inside were two earth-ponies.

One, a rather young one, probably only a couple of years older than shining, with a dark red coat and a short dark brown, almost bordering on black mane and a big bushy tail bolted out of the room, his deep blue eyes narrowed and angry.

The other was a much older earth-pony, with a buff physique, not overly muscular, like Snowflake, but buff enough for you to know that there's no fucking around this one.

His coat was a dark dusty tan, with old battle scars covering it, his old gray mane hung down, covering his left eye, as he glanced us over with his right eye, which was a clear, soul piercing red.

He cleared his throat, before addressing us.

"Hello, princess. What can I do for you on this fine day?" His wise old voice said, yet it sounded as strong as he looked.

"Hello to you too, Grand Master Sol." she said, giving him a slight bow, which he returned.

"I am here today to talk with you about enlisting young Munck here as a Squire for knight training." She said as she pointed a hoof in my direction.

He then pierced my soul with his ruby red eye again.

"So he's the one.. I heard he took down three mountain lion hunters singlehoofedly.." He said, deep in thought.

As Celestia started re-telling what she knew, I decided to look around the room.

The floor was carpeted with a big red rug, like the one in the room I had stayed in, except, this one didn't have any golden designs, it was just red.

I then noticed several bookcases coating the walls with volumes upon volumes of books and documents, except for the wall behind his big desk which were filled with half done documents and maps, by the wall there stood a weapons rack, armor stand, bed, cupboard and there was also a door, most likely to a bathroom.

On te rack rested a giant dark double-edged battle axe, it looked quite old, but was still kept in top shape.

I guess that it's Sol's preferred weapon.

Next to it, was the armor stand, where his plate armor sat, ready for when He needed it.

It pretty much like the others, except, his seemed to be made from a mix of mithril and the same material as the others.

I was quickly stirred out of my sightseeing by Celestia, as she poked me with her hoof.

"Are you still with us, Munck?" She asked with a grin.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Celly. I was just taking in the room is all." I said, still letting my eyes drift around for a bit.

Grand Master Sol chuckled slightly.

"Ya like what you're seeing?"

My eyes fell on the battle axe again.

"Yeah... That axe is pretty awesome."

He let out a hearty laugh.

"So ya think a tool of murder is awesome?" He asked, stifling his laugh.

I tore my eyes from his weapon and looked at him.

"The tool doesn't choose what it becomes. So one shouldn't blame the weapon, only the wielder, since they're the ones in control of it's destiny." I said, piercing his gaze with one of my own.

His face turned a bit more serious before softening up.

"You have a good head on those shoulders, kid. You'll make a fine knight one day and I'll make sure you get there!" He said, beaming a big ol' smile.

He then trotted over to the door and opened it, before motioning for us all to follow him.

We followed him over to the training grounds, where he stopped and turned to me.

"First, I want to see what ya got! Pick a weapon and try attacking one of the dolls. We can't have a weakling in the knight's after all." He commanded.

I looked the weapon racks over, trying to find a training weapon that I could use.

The swords all seemed nice, but I'm not exactly a swordsman.. But then my gaze fell upon a wooden battle hammer, just the right size for me.

Picking it up, it was a bit heavier than I expected, but nothing I couldn't wield.

"A battle hammer, eh? It's been some years since we last had anypony who picked that as his first weapon." Sol mused.

I tried a few practice swings, to get used to it's weight and once that was over with, I got in position a few meters from one of the training dolls.

"So, I just attack the doll?" I asked.

"Yeah, show me what ya got, kid! Now, GO!" Sol boomed.

Eying the pony shaped doll one last time, I opened my mouth and shouted out, "It's hammer time, punk!" Just for effect.

I started running, holding the hammer low, using the force from my run to swing my upper body, causing the hammer to fly upwards as I neared the doll.

The hammer connected with the muzzle of the doll, giving a satisfying ripping sound, as the poor doll's head flew off.

Using the momentum from the swing, I jumped up, letting the hammer boost my jumping height before twisting my arms, so that I could bring it back down, and with enough force to rattle the nearby items on a shelf, I brought the hammer down on the dolls would-be spine, hay and dust whirling around the area as it was smashed down on the floor.

Turning away from the now smashed doll, I leisurely strolled back to the others, noting that some of the other knights had stopped to watch me smash the doll.

"That was fantastic kid! Most ponies only think to smack the doll in the side when they pick the hammer! But not you, you used it's traits to your advantage." Sol said, beaming me a big grin.

"Hay! I'll bet that with enough training, you could probably wield my axe better than me and that says a lot coming from the greatest axe wielder in the country!" he said with pride.

He then turned back towards the cross roads.

"Now, put that hammer back and I'll show you to your room."

Doing as he said, I quickly walked back to Celestia and Dusty Doves, as we all three followed Sol down the hall towards the exit.

We came to a halt when we were halfway down that part of the hallways.

Grand Master Sol then turned to me again.

"As you will be training here as a knight, you will also need to live here with the others." He started, but was quickly interrupted by non other than Celly.

"Sol, I would like for you to give him a two-pony room," she started, before turning to Dusty Doves, "and this is where you come in, Dusty Doves. I would like to make you Munck's personal maid and assistant here in the castle. He has yet much to learn about life here in Equestria, so I would like it if you would be there to give him a helping hoof when the rest of us can't. Would you do me this favor?" She asked a now stumped Dusty Doves.

Snapping out of it, she took a deep breath.

"It would be an honor to serve under a future Solar Knight! My mom is gonna be so proud~!" She nearly squealed with joy.

I was about to object, but a stern look from Celly stopped me before I could even open my mouth.

She then turned back to Sol, who looked a bit confused.

"So, do you have a two-pony room?" She asked him again.

Shaking himself out of it, he nodded and pointed a hoof to the door next to the exit.

"We have one vacant two-pony room." he said as he trotted over to the door and opened it.

"Thanks, Sol," Celestia said, "now, why don't you two go check it out, while I discuss the second part of your conditions with Sol, Munck?" she half asked, half commanded.

Not wanting any more of her stern stares, I quickly made my way into my new room with Dusty Doves.

I could hear Celly and Sol leaving towards his quarters again, and calmed down a bit.

Might as well just check out my new room.

It was a big square room, much like Sol's room.

A big rug, dark green this time, the wall to the left had a few almost empty bookcases.

By the back wall stood two beds with a big cupboard between them, windows over each bed, showing us the outside training grounds.

On the right wall, stood an empty weapon rack and some shelves adorned the walls, filled with writing utensils.

There was also a door which I tried opening.

On the other side was a little bathroom with a toilet, sink and a shower.

Suited me just fine, at least I wouldn't have to use some big public showering room like I had expected.

I stepped back out and looked at Dusty Doves, who were busy checking out the bed nearest the bathroom.

"Dibs on this bed!" She said as she plopped down on it.

I just shook my head and went over to the other bed, plopping down on it as well, burying my face in the fluffy pillow.

"While we wait for Celly, I might as well try thinking about all that has happened lately..." I mumbled quietly to myself, before drifting back in my memories.

I'd arrived in a strange new world and been lucky enough to meet some friendly ponies.

Night Light and Twilight Velvet had been very welcoming and had even let me live with them for the past almost three months, pretty much accepting me as a part of their family.

Twi and I had become really good friends over the time I'd been here and while I can't respond to her feelings right now, I still hope that we'll all be friends for years to come.

And while my first meeting with Shining had been bad, it all worked out in the end and we were now good friends as well.

After all that, I'd even gotten to meet their leader, Celly and managed to convince her of letting me use their best lab.

There I had met none other than the father of Equestrian Electricity, Tesla Coil and his young assistant, Widget.

We had worked together, laughed together, cried together and all in all, they were like a second family to me, much like the Light's were.

Of course there were my other good friend, Lyra, whom, like Twi, also has feelings for me.

But I mean, it being a taboo on earth, means that one does not just arrive in a new world ruled by a non-hominid race just to start dating the first female creature you meet, there's got to be some sort of universal law for that.

It's gonna take a while to get that taboo out of my system, but I might be long gone before that even becomes a necessity.

Other than that, I had met Joe, Steel Wing, Sunny Skies and Snowflake as well, who had all been open and accepting towards me, even though I'm still a child.

And really, I don't think I could possibly get any better friends than them.

To top it all off.

I had fused with my other friend, Bob, an Artificial Intelligence who had lived in my brain for the past four years.

I had died, only to make a deal with a chaotic god.

Gotten new weird powers over elemental lacrimae.

I'd then dived through a mountain, beaten up some mountain lions.

After which I had then passed out, been dragged back to Canterlot, received a medal and now I was about to start my life as a squire, with the goal of mastering my powers and prepare me for whatever it was that Discord has in store for me.

But no matter what, I swear by everything holy, that I will find my way back home someday!

And while I honestly think that I'll be really sad when that day comes, I know that I will be going back home with so many happy memories that I will never feel lonely again.

But for now, I think I'll just enjoy my second life here as much as possible.

__________

• To be Continued! -

__________

AN:

Sooooo... Yeah, this took longer than I wanted it to.

But unfortunately, I don't really have much control over my brain, so it just does whatever the hell it feels like.

On the bright side, I have the outlines ready for about three new chapters, I just need to write them, at some point.

Also a huge thank you to Sixteen, The Ever Helpful Binary Scourge, for pre-reading, grammar-nazi'ing and bearing with me and my random ideas for where to go with this fic.

Without him, I'd probably still be figuring out how to work it all out.

I'm also looking for someone to make a good cover art for the fic, I do know how it should look, but not being able to draw a straight line myself, even if my life depended on it, I can't really put it on paper.

I have tried, believe me.. I have tried.. Wasted a good amount of trees on it.

So if any of you artistic readers out there feels up for it, please throw me a PM.

That's about covers it.

I hope you enjoyed my first venture into adventure and stuff.

Cheers~!

-Munck