Soldier of Fortune by starfox64xChaptersPrelude / Ch 1Ch 2 BearingsCh 3 Moonlight MeetingThe New RoutinePrelude / Ch 1Prelude It was a simple mission with a simple plan. Get close, see what they have and who they are, and get out; too bad that plans have a knack for going horribly awry when in the military. I had only been in the unit for a few months. Long enough to have grown attached to, and become one of the group. I was the thin guy, built like a runner, a hair taller than average, weaker in terms of brute strength than the rest of the unit… oh yeah, and I wore glasses. A real “ladies man” *snort*. We were at war with… oh it’s been so long I can hardly remember anymore. I was twenty-one at the time and we were fighting in the forests. We had to scope out what was reported to be a small enemy camp just a few miles off of our forward camp. Little did we know the whole thing was a trap… *** “Lance Corporal Connors, you still listening? Repeat back to me what I just told you.” Shaking my head to get my mind back on track I took a deep breath and began relaying the orders back to Sergeant Neil. “You and Johnson will head down the middle while West and Smith flank right. Marcus and Terry will flank left while I hold position here to cover our escape.” Connors grunted an affirmative and the mission began. Five minutes in Terry broke radio silence. “Sir; I’m a hell of a bad feeling about this. The place seems empty.” West was the next to chime in. “You sure that ain’t just your time o’ the month?” “Its woman’s intuition you southern reject.” “Can it all of you. Place is deserted so lets see what Intel we can get from here. Regroup in the middle of the camp, we will go from there. Connors, hold position till further notice.” Five minutes later they had regrouped. Ten minutes after that I pulled out my binoculars to get a good look past the camp. “Sir, we have incoming on the base opposite your retreat. It looks like they’re holding position watching you. Turned out they were watching them and holding a detonator. A few moments later there was a loud – WHOOSH – and the camp went up in flames. The camp was a trap filled with Napalm. My squad was cooked and tangos were on their way. I panicked and ran. I ran as fast and as hard as I could. I ran as long as I could. I knew there wasn’t anything I could have done, but I still felt bitter guilt gnawing at me. When I was nearing the end of my strength I turned back to make sure I wasn’t being followed. Funny thing about looking back when you sprint, you can’t see where you’re going. My foot caught on something and just before I hit my head on what I assume was a tree I saw a strange creature. Yes I know. Weird thing to notice when being chased by bad guys in a forest and falling to a concussion, but what are you going to do? Is that a dragon… Horse… Griffin? That was my last thought before the world went black. Chapter 1 Adaptation When I came to the forest looked different. It felt hostile, yet with the prospect of bad guys being behind every tree, why wouldn’t it? I had to get up and start moving again. I got up onto my feet and fell backwards. I must have gotten a concussion from hitting that tree. I reached my hand up to feel the back of my head noticed that something didn’t feel quite right. My hair went right down the middle of my head and way down my neck. My hand felt even weirder, almost as though my hand was one giant thumb. I moved my hand into view to see a hoof. Correction, I have gotten a concussion…and I must still be asleep. I looked for a source of water and found a brown stagnant pool of what looked like brown water. Wait… is that… it can’t be… I took a sniff. It smelled like chocolate milk. I took a taste. It tasted like chocolate milk too. Why the hell is there a pool of chocolate milk in the middle of a forest? Focusing on the problem at hand… hoof again, I looked at my reflection in the pool of chocolate milk. I was a freaking pony. My mane was cut short and a brown color. My coat was a uniform grey underneath my camouflage jacket. My glasses thankfully weren’t broken by the fall and seemed to have reshaped themselves to fit my new face which seemed to have a plate of bone in the middle of my forehead, not like a unicorns. It was strange, just a flat piece of bone. I hope I didn’t scrape the skin off of there. My camouflage jacket also seemed to have reshaped to fit my new body, but felt strangely tight. I pulled it off and found that I had wings. They were leathery, much like bat wings, as opposed to bird wings. Alright then; concussion check, illogical chocolate milk check, me having been somehow turned into a Pegasus check. *** What remained of my gear after the change was: my glasses, canteen, and my K-bar. My M-1 rifle was nowhere to be found. If people were looking for me they would find me easy enough and the best hope for rescue would be to wait here; not that I expected to be found. I had set up a camp in a place not far from where I woke up. The place I made wasn’t much more than a small shallow cave I had found. A door I had made covered the entrance and was built from wood and some saplings in place of rope, it wasn’t the best door but it kept the elements out; and the wolves. I had learned, through trial and error, what was safe to eat for my new body. I could gnaw on bark (from certain trees), eat grass, and any fruits or berries I could locate. I didn’t dare try any mushrooms. *** I had been foraging farther from my campsite than I normally did when I had heard a distressed voice off in the distance. I galloped in that direction as fast as I could; desertion and betrayal to my team still fresh in my mind. I refused to let that happen again. When I reached the place the voice had come from I didn’t see any humans; a purple unicorn pony with a blue mane, pink and purple highlights within it, and a matching tail backing away from a manticore. Okay, that’s new, but who was yelling for help? “You don’t want to eat me Mr. Manticore, I’d taste terrible, and I really don’t want to hurt you.” I stared at the purple pony dumbstruck. SHE CAN TALK? Of course she can, she has highlights. I thought as though the highlights made everything make sense. I charged to get between the pony and the manticore making as loud and threatening a sound as I could, while pulling my K-bar out. Manticores scared the hell out of me and I had hoped they would react like a lone wolf, loud noises startling it off. Sadly this one didn’t scare, it looked right at me. My coat stood on end; I bared my teeth and growled as threateningly as I could. The manticore, having never seen a pony act this way, probably thought I was mental and was unsure how to act. It decided to look elsewhere for an easier meal. “Thank you for helping me. My name is Twilight Sparkle. What are you doing all the way out here in the Everfree Forest?” She really was talking…How hard did I hit my head? Pony talk now, figure that out later. I shook my head to bring me out of my thoughts. “I’ve been lost out here for over a month now and have no idea where civilization is.” “Well Ponyville isn’t that far from here, I could take you there.” She winced at the bone plate on my forehead. “And maybe get Doctor Stable to take a look at your head.” “I’m fine, it happened… a while ago. If it was going to get infected or anything, it would have by now. I just wish I could get this jacket off, it’s sweltering out here.” Not having I calendar I could only assume it was late summer, based on when I left where I came from, it seemed about right. I tugged at the buttons managing to pull one off. Most I’d been able to do since I wasn’t trusting of my knife skills in my new form. The coat started to shimmer shortly after. The remaining buttons un-did themselves and the coat pulled itself off of me. I jumped backwards as it was pulling off my front hooves and saw that Twilight’s horn was glowing the same color and brightness as my coat. My mind was reeling as I stared slack jawed at said unicorn who proceeded to fold the coat with what I could only assume to be magic. The now folded coat was placed on my back between my wings. “You look like you’ve never seen magic before”. Twilight giggled at the dumbstruck look on my face. Magic… I’m so not in Kansas anymore. “Let’s save that for later and just head to that town you were talking about earlier.” Ch 2 BearingsChapter 2 Bearings The walk to the town was done in silence much to my relief. There were quite a few questions I would rather not have to answer, particularly the ones pertaining to where I came from. True to Twilight’s word, the town was not far from where we had been. It was perhaps a fifteen minute walk away from where I met her. “Well, welcome to Ponyville.” The unicorn said as the trees parted before us. The Ponyville was a small village reminiscent of the old English villages back when King Arthur was said to have lived. In front of me was a large apple orchard and to my left was a sod house with mostly small animals around it. “Let me show you around since you’ve never been here before.” “Thanks.” Real eloquent aren’t I. Twilight started the tour where we were pointing out Fluttershy’s house and Sweet Apple Acers, her friend Apple Jack lives there. After that was a short trip down a dirt road to a building made out of Gingerbread. Shortly after seeing this “gingerbread” building there was a loud “GUAH” followed by a flash of pink racing into said building. “What was that?” “That would be Pinkie Pie. Now that she has seen you she’ll start planning a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party for you in Surgarcube Corner, the local bakery. I wouldn’t recommend leaving until after her party tonight. She’s a little… illogical, but nice.” “I’ll take your word for it.” The next place she pointed out on the tour was the Town Hall, perhaps the biggest building in Ponyville. Just past that and over a bridge was a multi-story building she called the Carousel Boutique, a clothing shop her friend Rarity lives and works at. After a few more stops along the way we came to a rather large tree with a door in it. “And this is where I live, the Ponyville library.” She opened the door and went in hollering up at the second floor. “Spike! What happened in here?” Curious as to what the commotion was about I came in behind her to see three little ponies… foals moving books all over the place. “What’s the matter Twilight? AH! The books! When did this happen?” This new voice came from a small green and purple dragon. Alright, did I land in a fantasy book? Never mind, let’s just see where this is going. “Apple Bloom, what are you all doing?” The yellow one with red hair responded, “Were tryin’ to sort the library to get our cutie marks.” In perfect unison the three fillies shouted, “We’re Cutie Mark Crusader Librarians!” After which they began fussing over their flanks in disappointment over something. I slowly backed out of the library before something else happened. I wanted to help with the book sorting, but not being used to hooves and all I figured it would be best to fall back. I hadn’t gotten far from the library before I heard the voice of the one called apple bloom. “Mister, wait jus’ a second.” I sighed but stopped. The filly looked at my side and nodded as if she had just confirmed something important. “Would you like to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders mister?” “What’s a Cutie Mark Crusader?” The little filly got a gleam in her eye before she began explaining it to me. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders are ponies who don’ have Cutie Marks yet who try lots o’ different things to try and find out what their special talent is. I don’t have one yet which is why my flank is still blank, and I noticed that yours is too.” I looked around for a moment at some of the nearby ponies and noticed that they all indeed did have some sort of design on their flanks. I looked at my own and saw that it was blank, much like that of this little filly’s. “So what’s yer name mister and do ya wanna join?” “I’ll think about it and my name is Bastion.” I was shocked. I lifted my dog tag from around my neck. Bastion Bulwark, Blood type: A-pos, it was official. My form had changed when I came here, but it seems that my name had to. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about my name sounding weird. “Bye Bastion, I gotta’ head home now or mah sis will be mad.” Little Apple Bloom ran off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. I was almost too shocked to notice. I needed to calm down and get my thoughts in order. A walk around Ponyville seemed like just the ticket. I took the tour that Twilight had taken me on in reverse while I organized my thoughts. I’m probably going to be stuck here for the rest of my life. My name has changed, which isn’t that big of a deal but still something to get used to. I’ll have to adjust to having hooves and a new diet. At least it seems peaceful here, unlike all that war back at home. I’ll need a new job and home; I had to become a marine though because I wasn’t exactly good at anything else. For now I think I’ll talk to Twilight for some help with all of this. She seemed to be more than just a librarian… Damn clichés. *** By the time I finished walking I was standing outside Sugarcube Corner and the sun was getting low. Twilight did tell me that there was going to be a party here for me tonight. I might as well see if there’s some food to be had. The instant I opened the door to Sugarcube Corner a pink pony popped up in front of me and yelled “SURPRISE!” I jumped back a step, startled even though I knew it was coming… “Well, come in come in, this is YOUR party!” The pink party obsessed pony stepped out of the way to permit me entry. Beyond the door I could see eight more ponies and one dragon there; including me eleven people total. Twilight and Spike, Apple bloom and her group, another unicorn with a white coat and purple mane, Rarity I would guess. An orange pony with yellow ponytails and a large Stetson hat was there. That would be Applejack. The last of the ponies I could easily name was Fluttershy due to her shy and demure nature. The only pony I couldn’t put a name to was the cyan and rainbow colored pegasus who was talking with Applejack. The cyan pony looked in my direction and something about me seemed to have caught her eye because she left Applejack who was in the middle of a saying something. “So, how fast are those wings? I’ve only ever seen Luna’s guards have wings like those.” I shrugged, “No clue, I don’t know how to fly.” The cyan pony’s jaw dropped. “How can you not know how to fly? You’re a pegasus aren’t you?” “I would guess, considering the wings and all.” The cyan pony looked me over with a scrutinizing eye before finally saying, “I’ll teach you. Your lessons will be at least twenty percent cooler than anypony else’s.” “Rainbow Dash, did ya walk away just so you could go boast to the new pony?” “No. I’m going to teach him how to fly. It sounds crazy, I mean, what pegasus doesn’t know how to fly.” I attempted to fade into the background and taste some of the food left out. I admittedly didn’t know what anything other than the desserts were, but my god was it good. Note to self, Pinkie Pie makes some mean party snacks. *** When the party ended I thanked Pinkie Pie and everyone else before I walked Twilight to her place. Alright, try not to sound like a crazy pony… ‘Crazy pony’, I’ve been here to long already. “Twilight, I need some help with something.” She turned to look at me with Spike still asleep on her back. “I’m not a pony, at least not originally, I was a human; hairless ape if you will. When I told you I had been living in the Everfree forest for at least month that was because I got sent here by… well I don’t know what it was but I looked like a bunch of different animals put together. Point is though I’m here now and I don’t think I want to go back to my world, but I need a place to start.” Her eyes got wide for a moment before something seemed to click in her head. She started to try to wake Spike up who elicited a groan before batting at her. We moved into the library where Spike eventually woke up. “What is it Twilight, I’m tired.” He groaned. “Spike this is important, I need you to take a letter.” I listened to her dictate the letter to Spike and was rather surprised to see how it was sent. The letter said: Dear Princess Celestia, I met a pony today named Bastion. He saved me from a Manticore on my way back from visiting Zecora. He claims to have come from another world and would like to stay here. According to him he was once a hairless ape or human. I think that, from his description of how he got here, Discord had a hoof in it. He claims that it was at least a month ago, but as you know a year has passed since then. As it stands I will teach him about Equestria and Ponyville so that he will be able to fit in better. Neither of us have told anypony else about his current situation except for Spike who is currently writing this. Spike: ‘Hi’ Rainbow Dash seems to have taken it upon herself to teach him how to fly. I think it will probably be for the best, a pegasus who can’t fly would stick out. I’ll ask Rarity to teach him how to fit in with other ponies and proper manners. PS. He looks almost like an alicorn except where his horn would be there is a flat bone and he knows nothing of magic as far as I can tell. PPS. His wings are leathery like Princess Luna’s guards. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle Ch 3 Moonlight MeetingCh 3 Moonlight Meeting Chapter 3 Moonlight Meeting Twilight said a reply would show up in just a few moments but I needed some air. I left before she could make any arguments against it. By now the sun had long since set but it seemed almost as bright as a nightlight in a hallway. The moon was about half full waxing, brighter than the moon of my world at such a state. I hadn’t gone far before I realized I was walking back to the Everfree forest. While the place had been evil, it was home to me for what felt like a month. How could a year pass and yet only feel like a month. I laid down at the edge of the Everfree forest where I had first seen Ponyville and looked up at the stars in the sky. The constellations that were there looked like the ones from my world, yet different, more pony-fied. I found Orion’s Belt and it looked more like Orion’s Saddle. The North Star was still where it always was, at the tail of the Little Dipper. The Big Dipper was also still right next to it. The sound of flapping wings pulled me from my stargazing. Soon the flapping turned to a landing and muffled hoof steps. I heard the clinking of metal in time with the steps. I glanced in the direction of the sound to see a regal looking blue unicorn with an ethereal starry mane and a moon cutie mark on the field of black. Flanking her on either side was a guard pony with blue armor and yellow eyes with slitted pupils much like a cat’s. The armor had a fin on the top going down the middle where the mane would be if it could be seen through the armor. Their wings were leathery and the same blue as their armor. In the back of my mind I knew it was disrespectful to just keep laying there while royalty was just feet from me, but in all honesty I was to tired from the day to really care that much. I returned to my stargazing and waited to find out what they wanted. A guard was the first to speak. “I do not like this one. He is disrespectful to her highness. A pony should bow when in your presence.” His voice was gruff and quite annoyed. A more regal voice spoke up, sounding firm, yet gentle. “Thou art here to protect me, not to judge this new pony.” The voice was directed at me this time. “Thou art Bastion art thou not?” “I am. I would assume that, based on your Cutie Mark and the wings of your guards you would happen to Princess Luna. I would also assume that since a person of royalty is here I’m either about to go to prison, be killed, or put under observation by one of your rather zealous guards there.” Luna looked slight stricken at the mention of me being killed, but quickly recovered her composure. “We are indeed Princess Luna and we wouldn’t dream of ‘killing’ anyone. Our worst penalty is banishment, which is quite terrible enough.” There was sad tinge in her voice when she mentioned banishment as though she knew all too well just how painful it could be, it also became several times louder as though she were shouting. “We… I am here to determine if thou… you are a threat to Equestria and then to determine your fate. Since you have decided to stay, what do you plan to do here? Where do you plan to stay?” The change in her speech was noticeable, she was talking more like a regular person, volume and all, still regal in bearing however, as befitting of royalty. The guards looked rather upset and like they would like nothing quite so much as dragging me to the dungeon and feeding me nothing more than bread… hay and water. I thought about her questions for a few moments. When I had gathered my thoughts I spoke them to her as best I could. “I’m not entirely sure what I will do here or where I will stay yet. I have been told that my Cutie Mark will be a representation of what I am best at, but I don’t yet have one. As for what I will do in the immediate future… I think I will ask the Apple family if they could use an extra farm hand if I could sleep at their barn, just until I figure out what where my life is heading. I came to this world of peace from one of war due to a decision that I will regret for perhaps my entire life. It tends to make one need time to organize their thoughts and rethink their life. So, am I still seen as a possible threat?” Luna seemed to think this over for a bit, she nodded as though coming to a conclusion on something before she spoke. “I find it unlikely that we will need to take any further actions. Twilight Sparkle will keep an eye on you and keep us informed of your comings and goings. I believe that that is all that was needed from you.” She turned to leave but before she could take off I spoke up. “Wait. Before you go I have to ask. Your Cutie Mark is a moon on a field of black. What is your special talent?” She looked at me like it was perfectly clear what her talent was before explaining it. “It means that I move the moon at night and paint the night sky with stars. I am the keeper of the night sky.” Magic… why does it need to break every law of science I know? “That’s… more than I ever could have expected. You have a beautiful night.” With that I actually did get up and bow as best I could… it sadly ended with a face plant but I got back up into a proper bow… the third time. I heard light and happy laughter coming from the princess. It was a sound that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. She flew off while the guards continued to glare at me pointing their hoofs at their eyes then me before taking off after her. I knew what I wanted to do now. I wanted to make Luna happy and keep her safe. I needed to learn how to fly first, figure out if I COULD learn magic, and I needed to learn manners. Marines don’t generally need too many manners, which could make learning them be quite difficult. I figured that since I was a pony now, and all I knew about them was from my world (and what I had gleaned from here) that I’d just use my jacket as a pillow and sleep here. Ponies and horses from my world did it all the time so why not. The New RoutineThe New Routine Sleep was difficult that night. So much had happened, a party, new town, freaking royalty, and Magic (yes, with a capital M). Tomorrow is the first day I’ll be spending in town. I’ll have to plan out my stops and make a schedule based on that for when I’ll be learning to fly, use magic if at all possible, and manners. Note to self; hit the Apple place first, early to bed early to rise and all that jazz, they’ll be the first ones up. With a plan for the day ahead my mind finally began to calm down enough for sleep to reach me. *** I woke covered in dew that morning just as the sun was breaking the horizon. The smell of grass and earth filled my senses as I took a deep breath to get ready for the day. I pushed myself up and grabbed my coat, throwing it over my back like saddle bags. Looking around to get my bearings again I could see the Apple’s orchards not far from me and a small cottage off to my side. I made my way around the orchard and eventually reached a cleared out area with a barn and a two story house just behind it on a hill. The sun was about halfway above horizon by now and as I approached the barn I could hear the sound of people–err Ponies hard at work. The barn doors were wide open so I looked inside. There were two ponies, the one I had come to know as Applejack and a large red pony with a cross section of a green apple on his flank. This red pony looked as powerfully built as Applejack and a good bit taller than myself. “Applejack, I can see that you’re busy, but do you have a moment?” She glanced at me, said something to the large red pony then trotted over to me. “What’cha need?” “Do you need another farm hand? I don’t know how long I’ll be here for and I need both a job and a place to get back on my hooves.” This pony lingo is starting to stick. “I think we could use another bucker, it’s getting close to bucking season anyway. Big Mac! You think you could show Bastion here how to buck apples and land them in a bucket?” Big Mac, the large red pony, replied with a loud deep, “Ayup”. He grabbed a large stack of baskets before sliding them over to me and grabbing a bigger one for himself. Dragging his large stack of baskets he headed into the orchard to an area with large very ripe apples. “Find where the ripest apples are, put the basket there, and then buck.” He moved the basket under a large group of almost over ripe apples before heading over to a tree and kicking it with is back legs. The tree shuddered from the force of the blow which echoed throughout the orchard as dozens of apples fell into the basket. One or two fell around the basket but they seemed to be over ripe and fell with a splat. “We leave these as compost for the trees, now you.” I put a basket under where I thought the ripest ones were and hoped for the best before kicking as hard as I could against the tree. The shock running up my legs from the impact was like hitting a metal pole with metal baseball bat. Painful to say the least however, the apples hit their mark… mostly, I got about two thirds of them. The rest fell next to the basket. Big Mac picked the cleanest ripe ones up and put them in the basket, he put the rest in another basket. “We’ll clean them later. You’ll get it sooner or later.” He grunted in what seemed to be approval and then went to work on his own trees. I went to work on some in the area doing what I was shown till about what I assumed to be nine o’clock. A triangle (you know; the instrument) starting ringing up at the barn. Upon hearing this Big Mac started dragging his baskets to the barn. He had about twice what I had because I had to stop to grab missed apples, and to let my legs feel better after each blow. I followed his example and when we had finished Applejack, who had been ringing the triangle, asked me to eat with them. “You put in as much work as could be needed fer a meal so eat up and relax for the rest of today. I recon that you’ll be hurtin’ tomorrow since I doubt your used ta this kinda thing.” I ate and thanked them for the meal and the job. I was told that I could sleep in the bar from here on out, there was enough room in the house but I didn’t want to impose. I figured that Rarity’s place would be next since I would be too tired to argue or get upset when things didn’t work out quite right, which they probably would. I took a shower before leaving; I didn’t think Rarity would be particularly happy if I came in smelling like hard work and dirt. *** The Carousel Boutique wasn’t too hard to find. It actually looked a bit like a carousel and was one of the pinkest buildings in town. I opened the door since it was a shop rather than just a house and heard a bell chime. “I’ll be with you in just a minute.” Rarity’s voice chimed from further in the building. The entrance room appeared to be somewhat of a show room. There were clothes dummies here and there with extravagant dresses, some with tuxes, and some with more conservative styles that could almost be called clothes, but I’m a marine and a guy. I know nothing about fashion. When Rarity came around the corner she looked slightly shocked that I was the one who was there. I take it I wasn’t exactly expected. “I was wondering if you could help me with learning how society works around here and… basic etiquette… since it seems I have none here.” Her shocked expression became slightly more shocked after what I had said. Is that a no? “Darling, I knew there was a reason I thought I would like you. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one.” Oh god, what have I gotten myself into. *** Just after lunch, I also needed to learn how to eat correctly. By the end of it all, Rarity’s hair was slightly frazzled and she looked exhausted. I’d broken a few of her cups and a plate on top of only getting a quarter of what were the rules to a ‘proper’ conversation correct. We both needed something to work off our stress. Exercise worked best for me so I escaped by saying I needed to meet Rainbow Dash soon, and asked where I MIGHT find her at this time of day. The Cutie Mark Crusaders tree house at Sweet Apple Acres was not what I was hoping to hear. She said she was going to meet Fluttershy at the spa. When I found the tree house I heard the groan of a blue and rainbow colored pony. Rainbow was there indeed, and was groaning over the fact that the cutie mark crusaders weren’t there to talk about how cool she was. “Rainbow Dash! You were going to teach me how to fly?” Dash flew towards me looked me in the eyes. “You sure you’re up for it. It’s going to be hard; I’m going to train you ruthlessly till you’re as good as I am. I’m going to work you till you can’t move a wing muscle. Do you think you can handle my training?” I looked at her snorted. Then openly laughed, it reminded me of boot camp. There was a small Drill Instructor who had to get a stool every time she wanted to chew someone out, and while Rainbow Dash wasn’t much shorter than me, her coloration just set the memory off. “Looks like I’m back in boot camp.” Rainbow Dash looked at me like I was nuts for a second before deciding I was just pumped and ready to go. She lead us to hill that over looked a lake. “You need to learn to glide before you can fly. Spread your wings, lock the muscles, run and jump off the cliff. Once you do that just keep your rump up to prevent your wings from tilting up to high or you’ll start going backwards. Also, try not to look down yet, you don’t want to go into a dive when you don’t mean to.” I followed her directions, took a deep breath, jumped, and looked down… why did I look down? I was in the water in seconds. As I dragged my soaked self out of the water I could hear Rainbow gasping for breath. “You jumped, and started to glide, then fall SPLASH!” *gasp* “Hilarious. I mean… you’ll do better this time.” My wings felt five pounds heavier when coated with water, after a few minutes of trying they lightened up. I tried again and managed not to look down but failed to keep my rear up and level like I was told. I started to tilt back and over corrected going ‘top over teakettle’ into the drink. On the third time I finally got it right. After that Rainbow had me do it countless times, said I needed to work on my wing strength by gliding before I could fly and I had to do it with my wings drenched… my back was killing me after just three attempts. By the end of ten attempts I was allowed to rest for the day. You try counting ten exercises when your body is beat and see just how hard it is. “You didn’t do to bad for a first try. I’ll see you here tomorrow at the same time.” With that she left and I headed for Twilight’s place. It was around evening now. *** It was easy enough to get back to Twilight’s place, it was the only one built out of a giant tree. I knocked on the door and heard a voice from the inside that sounded like Spike from what I could remember. “Were closed because Twilight is out on business today, come back tomorrow.” “So where can I find Twilight?” The door burst open and Spike looked at me with a slightly stunned look. “Where were you? Twilight has been looking everywhere for you! First at Sugar Cube Corner asking Pinkie, then Applejack’s place, after that was Rarity’s, and now she’s out checking Fluttershy’s cottage.” “Will she be back soon?” “Yeah, but she’s in ‘official duty’ mode so she might be a little cross with you. Well, come in and wait for her, it will be worse for you and me if you don’t.” I followed the little dragon into the library and found couch to sit on. The library looked like everything had been put back in order since the events of the day before. It was lit by a few electric lights and some candles scattered around the place. Odd how there were some modern day things and some medieval era things all in the same area. They couldn’t possible have the technology of my world to work those things. Magic… Twilight got back after a few minutes wait, Spike had grumbled something about making extra just before and now I knew why. “Spike! I couldn’t find him today. Maybe he does know magic and was hiding. I hope dinner is ready I’m… WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?” I flinched a bit; it seems she was rather bothered by the fact that I wasn’t where she expected me to be when she searched. I can’t imagine why. “Never mind. Where were you, what did you do, did you cause trouble, why weren’t you here, I have to write this down and report it to Princess Celestia.” I looked at Spike who was just setting plates on a nearby table. “Is she always like this when her schedule doesn’t work out?” “Every time. You get used to it. You two eat and talk; I’ll go get a quill and paper so we can write that report when we are done eating.” It took a while to actually get to eating because of Twilight’s questions, eventually I reminded her that Spike made food for us all and it was getting cold. A letter was sent off to the Princesses shortly after eating. About this time, which was rather late, I decided to bring up a question I had for her. “So this world has magic. You can use magic. Can you teach me how to use magic?” Twilight spluttered for a second. “I can teach you the theory, formulae, history, and how it works; but you’re not a unicorn. I can’t you how to ‘use’ magic, but I can teach you how you ‘would’ use magic if you were a unicorn. Just let me grab a few reference materials.” There was a loud groan from Spike before he proclaimed he was going to bed. Three stacks of books later. “Alright, these are the rudimentary guides on the theories of magic; these are ones by Starswirl the Bearded and his contributions to magical advancements. Over here we have the ‘Compendium of Magic Types’ and ‘How to Tell Something is Magic’…” I grabbed one in the ‘Rudimentary guides’ pile and began reading… she droned on for a while. I fell asleep on her couch after the first chapter entitled, ‘Where does magic come from?”.
Prelude / Ch 1Prelude It was a simple mission with a simple plan. Get close, see what they have and who they are, and get out; too bad that plans have a knack for going horribly awry when in the military. I had only been in the unit for a few months. Long enough to have grown attached to, and become one of the group. I was the thin guy, built like a runner, a hair taller than average, weaker in terms of brute strength than the rest of the unit… oh yeah, and I wore glasses. A real “ladies man” *snort*. We were at war with… oh it’s been so long I can hardly remember anymore. I was twenty-one at the time and we were fighting in the forests. We had to scope out what was reported to be a small enemy camp just a few miles off of our forward camp. Little did we know the whole thing was a trap… *** “Lance Corporal Connors, you still listening? Repeat back to me what I just told you.” Shaking my head to get my mind back on track I took a deep breath and began relaying the orders back to Sergeant Neil. “You and Johnson will head down the middle while West and Smith flank right. Marcus and Terry will flank left while I hold position here to cover our escape.” Connors grunted an affirmative and the mission began. Five minutes in Terry broke radio silence. “Sir; I’m a hell of a bad feeling about this. The place seems empty.” West was the next to chime in. “You sure that ain’t just your time o’ the month?” “Its woman’s intuition you southern reject.” “Can it all of you. Place is deserted so lets see what Intel we can get from here. Regroup in the middle of the camp, we will go from there. Connors, hold position till further notice.” Five minutes later they had regrouped. Ten minutes after that I pulled out my binoculars to get a good look past the camp. “Sir, we have incoming on the base opposite your retreat. It looks like they’re holding position watching you. Turned out they were watching them and holding a detonator. A few moments later there was a loud – WHOOSH – and the camp went up in flames. The camp was a trap filled with Napalm. My squad was cooked and tangos were on their way. I panicked and ran. I ran as fast and as hard as I could. I ran as long as I could. I knew there wasn’t anything I could have done, but I still felt bitter guilt gnawing at me. When I was nearing the end of my strength I turned back to make sure I wasn’t being followed. Funny thing about looking back when you sprint, you can’t see where you’re going. My foot caught on something and just before I hit my head on what I assume was a tree I saw a strange creature. Yes I know. Weird thing to notice when being chased by bad guys in a forest and falling to a concussion, but what are you going to do? Is that a dragon… Horse… Griffin? That was my last thought before the world went black. Chapter 1 Adaptation When I came to the forest looked different. It felt hostile, yet with the prospect of bad guys being behind every tree, why wouldn’t it? I had to get up and start moving again. I got up onto my feet and fell backwards. I must have gotten a concussion from hitting that tree. I reached my hand up to feel the back of my head noticed that something didn’t feel quite right. My hair went right down the middle of my head and way down my neck. My hand felt even weirder, almost as though my hand was one giant thumb. I moved my hand into view to see a hoof. Correction, I have gotten a concussion…and I must still be asleep. I looked for a source of water and found a brown stagnant pool of what looked like brown water. Wait… is that… it can’t be… I took a sniff. It smelled like chocolate milk. I took a taste. It tasted like chocolate milk too. Why the hell is there a pool of chocolate milk in the middle of a forest? Focusing on the problem at hand… hoof again, I looked at my reflection in the pool of chocolate milk. I was a freaking pony. My mane was cut short and a brown color. My coat was a uniform grey underneath my camouflage jacket. My glasses thankfully weren’t broken by the fall and seemed to have reshaped themselves to fit my new face which seemed to have a plate of bone in the middle of my forehead, not like a unicorns. It was strange, just a flat piece of bone. I hope I didn’t scrape the skin off of there. My camouflage jacket also seemed to have reshaped to fit my new body, but felt strangely tight. I pulled it off and found that I had wings. They were leathery, much like bat wings, as opposed to bird wings. Alright then; concussion check, illogical chocolate milk check, me having been somehow turned into a Pegasus check. *** What remained of my gear after the change was: my glasses, canteen, and my K-bar. My M-1 rifle was nowhere to be found. If people were looking for me they would find me easy enough and the best hope for rescue would be to wait here; not that I expected to be found. I had set up a camp in a place not far from where I woke up. The place I made wasn’t much more than a small shallow cave I had found. A door I had made covered the entrance and was built from wood and some saplings in place of rope, it wasn’t the best door but it kept the elements out; and the wolves. I had learned, through trial and error, what was safe to eat for my new body. I could gnaw on bark (from certain trees), eat grass, and any fruits or berries I could locate. I didn’t dare try any mushrooms. *** I had been foraging farther from my campsite than I normally did when I had heard a distressed voice off in the distance. I galloped in that direction as fast as I could; desertion and betrayal to my team still fresh in my mind. I refused to let that happen again. When I reached the place the voice had come from I didn’t see any humans; a purple unicorn pony with a blue mane, pink and purple highlights within it, and a matching tail backing away from a manticore. Okay, that’s new, but who was yelling for help? “You don’t want to eat me Mr. Manticore, I’d taste terrible, and I really don’t want to hurt you.” I stared at the purple pony dumbstruck. SHE CAN TALK? Of course she can, she has highlights. I thought as though the highlights made everything make sense. I charged to get between the pony and the manticore making as loud and threatening a sound as I could, while pulling my K-bar out. Manticores scared the hell out of me and I had hoped they would react like a lone wolf, loud noises startling it off. Sadly this one didn’t scare, it looked right at me. My coat stood on end; I bared my teeth and growled as threateningly as I could. The manticore, having never seen a pony act this way, probably thought I was mental and was unsure how to act. It decided to look elsewhere for an easier meal. “Thank you for helping me. My name is Twilight Sparkle. What are you doing all the way out here in the Everfree Forest?” She really was talking…How hard did I hit my head? Pony talk now, figure that out later. I shook my head to bring me out of my thoughts. “I’ve been lost out here for over a month now and have no idea where civilization is.” “Well Ponyville isn’t that far from here, I could take you there.” She winced at the bone plate on my forehead. “And maybe get Doctor Stable to take a look at your head.” “I’m fine, it happened… a while ago. If it was going to get infected or anything, it would have by now. I just wish I could get this jacket off, it’s sweltering out here.” Not having I calendar I could only assume it was late summer, based on when I left where I came from, it seemed about right. I tugged at the buttons managing to pull one off. Most I’d been able to do since I wasn’t trusting of my knife skills in my new form. The coat started to shimmer shortly after. The remaining buttons un-did themselves and the coat pulled itself off of me. I jumped backwards as it was pulling off my front hooves and saw that Twilight’s horn was glowing the same color and brightness as my coat. My mind was reeling as I stared slack jawed at said unicorn who proceeded to fold the coat with what I could only assume to be magic. The now folded coat was placed on my back between my wings. “You look like you’ve never seen magic before”. Twilight giggled at the dumbstruck look on my face. Magic… I’m so not in Kansas anymore. “Let’s save that for later and just head to that town you were talking about earlier.”
Ch 2 BearingsChapter 2 Bearings The walk to the town was done in silence much to my relief. There were quite a few questions I would rather not have to answer, particularly the ones pertaining to where I came from. True to Twilight’s word, the town was not far from where we had been. It was perhaps a fifteen minute walk away from where I met her. “Well, welcome to Ponyville.” The unicorn said as the trees parted before us. The Ponyville was a small village reminiscent of the old English villages back when King Arthur was said to have lived. In front of me was a large apple orchard and to my left was a sod house with mostly small animals around it. “Let me show you around since you’ve never been here before.” “Thanks.” Real eloquent aren’t I. Twilight started the tour where we were pointing out Fluttershy’s house and Sweet Apple Acers, her friend Apple Jack lives there. After that was a short trip down a dirt road to a building made out of Gingerbread. Shortly after seeing this “gingerbread” building there was a loud “GUAH” followed by a flash of pink racing into said building. “What was that?” “That would be Pinkie Pie. Now that she has seen you she’ll start planning a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party for you in Surgarcube Corner, the local bakery. I wouldn’t recommend leaving until after her party tonight. She’s a little… illogical, but nice.” “I’ll take your word for it.” The next place she pointed out on the tour was the Town Hall, perhaps the biggest building in Ponyville. Just past that and over a bridge was a multi-story building she called the Carousel Boutique, a clothing shop her friend Rarity lives and works at. After a few more stops along the way we came to a rather large tree with a door in it. “And this is where I live, the Ponyville library.” She opened the door and went in hollering up at the second floor. “Spike! What happened in here?” Curious as to what the commotion was about I came in behind her to see three little ponies… foals moving books all over the place. “What’s the matter Twilight? AH! The books! When did this happen?” This new voice came from a small green and purple dragon. Alright, did I land in a fantasy book? Never mind, let’s just see where this is going. “Apple Bloom, what are you all doing?” The yellow one with red hair responded, “Were tryin’ to sort the library to get our cutie marks.” In perfect unison the three fillies shouted, “We’re Cutie Mark Crusader Librarians!” After which they began fussing over their flanks in disappointment over something. I slowly backed out of the library before something else happened. I wanted to help with the book sorting, but not being used to hooves and all I figured it would be best to fall back. I hadn’t gotten far from the library before I heard the voice of the one called apple bloom. “Mister, wait jus’ a second.” I sighed but stopped. The filly looked at my side and nodded as if she had just confirmed something important. “Would you like to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders mister?” “What’s a Cutie Mark Crusader?” The little filly got a gleam in her eye before she began explaining it to me. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders are ponies who don’ have Cutie Marks yet who try lots o’ different things to try and find out what their special talent is. I don’t have one yet which is why my flank is still blank, and I noticed that yours is too.” I looked around for a moment at some of the nearby ponies and noticed that they all indeed did have some sort of design on their flanks. I looked at my own and saw that it was blank, much like that of this little filly’s. “So what’s yer name mister and do ya wanna join?” “I’ll think about it and my name is Bastion.” I was shocked. I lifted my dog tag from around my neck. Bastion Bulwark, Blood type: A-pos, it was official. My form had changed when I came here, but it seems that my name had to. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about my name sounding weird. “Bye Bastion, I gotta’ head home now or mah sis will be mad.” Little Apple Bloom ran off in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. I was almost too shocked to notice. I needed to calm down and get my thoughts in order. A walk around Ponyville seemed like just the ticket. I took the tour that Twilight had taken me on in reverse while I organized my thoughts. I’m probably going to be stuck here for the rest of my life. My name has changed, which isn’t that big of a deal but still something to get used to. I’ll have to adjust to having hooves and a new diet. At least it seems peaceful here, unlike all that war back at home. I’ll need a new job and home; I had to become a marine though because I wasn’t exactly good at anything else. For now I think I’ll talk to Twilight for some help with all of this. She seemed to be more than just a librarian… Damn clichés. *** By the time I finished walking I was standing outside Sugarcube Corner and the sun was getting low. Twilight did tell me that there was going to be a party here for me tonight. I might as well see if there’s some food to be had. The instant I opened the door to Sugarcube Corner a pink pony popped up in front of me and yelled “SURPRISE!” I jumped back a step, startled even though I knew it was coming… “Well, come in come in, this is YOUR party!” The pink party obsessed pony stepped out of the way to permit me entry. Beyond the door I could see eight more ponies and one dragon there; including me eleven people total. Twilight and Spike, Apple bloom and her group, another unicorn with a white coat and purple mane, Rarity I would guess. An orange pony with yellow ponytails and a large Stetson hat was there. That would be Applejack. The last of the ponies I could easily name was Fluttershy due to her shy and demure nature. The only pony I couldn’t put a name to was the cyan and rainbow colored pegasus who was talking with Applejack. The cyan pony looked in my direction and something about me seemed to have caught her eye because she left Applejack who was in the middle of a saying something. “So, how fast are those wings? I’ve only ever seen Luna’s guards have wings like those.” I shrugged, “No clue, I don’t know how to fly.” The cyan pony’s jaw dropped. “How can you not know how to fly? You’re a pegasus aren’t you?” “I would guess, considering the wings and all.” The cyan pony looked me over with a scrutinizing eye before finally saying, “I’ll teach you. Your lessons will be at least twenty percent cooler than anypony else’s.” “Rainbow Dash, did ya walk away just so you could go boast to the new pony?” “No. I’m going to teach him how to fly. It sounds crazy, I mean, what pegasus doesn’t know how to fly.” I attempted to fade into the background and taste some of the food left out. I admittedly didn’t know what anything other than the desserts were, but my god was it good. Note to self, Pinkie Pie makes some mean party snacks. *** When the party ended I thanked Pinkie Pie and everyone else before I walked Twilight to her place. Alright, try not to sound like a crazy pony… ‘Crazy pony’, I’ve been here to long already. “Twilight, I need some help with something.” She turned to look at me with Spike still asleep on her back. “I’m not a pony, at least not originally, I was a human; hairless ape if you will. When I told you I had been living in the Everfree forest for at least month that was because I got sent here by… well I don’t know what it was but I looked like a bunch of different animals put together. Point is though I’m here now and I don’t think I want to go back to my world, but I need a place to start.” Her eyes got wide for a moment before something seemed to click in her head. She started to try to wake Spike up who elicited a groan before batting at her. We moved into the library where Spike eventually woke up. “What is it Twilight, I’m tired.” He groaned. “Spike this is important, I need you to take a letter.” I listened to her dictate the letter to Spike and was rather surprised to see how it was sent. The letter said: Dear Princess Celestia, I met a pony today named Bastion. He saved me from a Manticore on my way back from visiting Zecora. He claims to have come from another world and would like to stay here. According to him he was once a hairless ape or human. I think that, from his description of how he got here, Discord had a hoof in it. He claims that it was at least a month ago, but as you know a year has passed since then. As it stands I will teach him about Equestria and Ponyville so that he will be able to fit in better. Neither of us have told anypony else about his current situation except for Spike who is currently writing this. Spike: ‘Hi’ Rainbow Dash seems to have taken it upon herself to teach him how to fly. I think it will probably be for the best, a pegasus who can’t fly would stick out. I’ll ask Rarity to teach him how to fit in with other ponies and proper manners. PS. He looks almost like an alicorn except where his horn would be there is a flat bone and he knows nothing of magic as far as I can tell. PPS. His wings are leathery like Princess Luna’s guards. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle
Ch 3 Moonlight MeetingCh 3 Moonlight Meeting Chapter 3 Moonlight Meeting Twilight said a reply would show up in just a few moments but I needed some air. I left before she could make any arguments against it. By now the sun had long since set but it seemed almost as bright as a nightlight in a hallway. The moon was about half full waxing, brighter than the moon of my world at such a state. I hadn’t gone far before I realized I was walking back to the Everfree forest. While the place had been evil, it was home to me for what felt like a month. How could a year pass and yet only feel like a month. I laid down at the edge of the Everfree forest where I had first seen Ponyville and looked up at the stars in the sky. The constellations that were there looked like the ones from my world, yet different, more pony-fied. I found Orion’s Belt and it looked more like Orion’s Saddle. The North Star was still where it always was, at the tail of the Little Dipper. The Big Dipper was also still right next to it. The sound of flapping wings pulled me from my stargazing. Soon the flapping turned to a landing and muffled hoof steps. I heard the clinking of metal in time with the steps. I glanced in the direction of the sound to see a regal looking blue unicorn with an ethereal starry mane and a moon cutie mark on the field of black. Flanking her on either side was a guard pony with blue armor and yellow eyes with slitted pupils much like a cat’s. The armor had a fin on the top going down the middle where the mane would be if it could be seen through the armor. Their wings were leathery and the same blue as their armor. In the back of my mind I knew it was disrespectful to just keep laying there while royalty was just feet from me, but in all honesty I was to tired from the day to really care that much. I returned to my stargazing and waited to find out what they wanted. A guard was the first to speak. “I do not like this one. He is disrespectful to her highness. A pony should bow when in your presence.” His voice was gruff and quite annoyed. A more regal voice spoke up, sounding firm, yet gentle. “Thou art here to protect me, not to judge this new pony.” The voice was directed at me this time. “Thou art Bastion art thou not?” “I am. I would assume that, based on your Cutie Mark and the wings of your guards you would happen to Princess Luna. I would also assume that since a person of royalty is here I’m either about to go to prison, be killed, or put under observation by one of your rather zealous guards there.” Luna looked slight stricken at the mention of me being killed, but quickly recovered her composure. “We are indeed Princess Luna and we wouldn’t dream of ‘killing’ anyone. Our worst penalty is banishment, which is quite terrible enough.” There was sad tinge in her voice when she mentioned banishment as though she knew all too well just how painful it could be, it also became several times louder as though she were shouting. “We… I am here to determine if thou… you are a threat to Equestria and then to determine your fate. Since you have decided to stay, what do you plan to do here? Where do you plan to stay?” The change in her speech was noticeable, she was talking more like a regular person, volume and all, still regal in bearing however, as befitting of royalty. The guards looked rather upset and like they would like nothing quite so much as dragging me to the dungeon and feeding me nothing more than bread… hay and water. I thought about her questions for a few moments. When I had gathered my thoughts I spoke them to her as best I could. “I’m not entirely sure what I will do here or where I will stay yet. I have been told that my Cutie Mark will be a representation of what I am best at, but I don’t yet have one. As for what I will do in the immediate future… I think I will ask the Apple family if they could use an extra farm hand if I could sleep at their barn, just until I figure out what where my life is heading. I came to this world of peace from one of war due to a decision that I will regret for perhaps my entire life. It tends to make one need time to organize their thoughts and rethink their life. So, am I still seen as a possible threat?” Luna seemed to think this over for a bit, she nodded as though coming to a conclusion on something before she spoke. “I find it unlikely that we will need to take any further actions. Twilight Sparkle will keep an eye on you and keep us informed of your comings and goings. I believe that that is all that was needed from you.” She turned to leave but before she could take off I spoke up. “Wait. Before you go I have to ask. Your Cutie Mark is a moon on a field of black. What is your special talent?” She looked at me like it was perfectly clear what her talent was before explaining it. “It means that I move the moon at night and paint the night sky with stars. I am the keeper of the night sky.” Magic… why does it need to break every law of science I know? “That’s… more than I ever could have expected. You have a beautiful night.” With that I actually did get up and bow as best I could… it sadly ended with a face plant but I got back up into a proper bow… the third time. I heard light and happy laughter coming from the princess. It was a sound that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. She flew off while the guards continued to glare at me pointing their hoofs at their eyes then me before taking off after her. I knew what I wanted to do now. I wanted to make Luna happy and keep her safe. I needed to learn how to fly first, figure out if I COULD learn magic, and I needed to learn manners. Marines don’t generally need too many manners, which could make learning them be quite difficult. I figured that since I was a pony now, and all I knew about them was from my world (and what I had gleaned from here) that I’d just use my jacket as a pillow and sleep here. Ponies and horses from my world did it all the time so why not.
The New RoutineThe New Routine Sleep was difficult that night. So much had happened, a party, new town, freaking royalty, and Magic (yes, with a capital M). Tomorrow is the first day I’ll be spending in town. I’ll have to plan out my stops and make a schedule based on that for when I’ll be learning to fly, use magic if at all possible, and manners. Note to self; hit the Apple place first, early to bed early to rise and all that jazz, they’ll be the first ones up. With a plan for the day ahead my mind finally began to calm down enough for sleep to reach me. *** I woke covered in dew that morning just as the sun was breaking the horizon. The smell of grass and earth filled my senses as I took a deep breath to get ready for the day. I pushed myself up and grabbed my coat, throwing it over my back like saddle bags. Looking around to get my bearings again I could see the Apple’s orchards not far from me and a small cottage off to my side. I made my way around the orchard and eventually reached a cleared out area with a barn and a two story house just behind it on a hill. The sun was about halfway above horizon by now and as I approached the barn I could hear the sound of people–err Ponies hard at work. The barn doors were wide open so I looked inside. There were two ponies, the one I had come to know as Applejack and a large red pony with a cross section of a green apple on his flank. This red pony looked as powerfully built as Applejack and a good bit taller than myself. “Applejack, I can see that you’re busy, but do you have a moment?” She glanced at me, said something to the large red pony then trotted over to me. “What’cha need?” “Do you need another farm hand? I don’t know how long I’ll be here for and I need both a job and a place to get back on my hooves.” This pony lingo is starting to stick. “I think we could use another bucker, it’s getting close to bucking season anyway. Big Mac! You think you could show Bastion here how to buck apples and land them in a bucket?” Big Mac, the large red pony, replied with a loud deep, “Ayup”. He grabbed a large stack of baskets before sliding them over to me and grabbing a bigger one for himself. Dragging his large stack of baskets he headed into the orchard to an area with large very ripe apples. “Find where the ripest apples are, put the basket there, and then buck.” He moved the basket under a large group of almost over ripe apples before heading over to a tree and kicking it with is back legs. The tree shuddered from the force of the blow which echoed throughout the orchard as dozens of apples fell into the basket. One or two fell around the basket but they seemed to be over ripe and fell with a splat. “We leave these as compost for the trees, now you.” I put a basket under where I thought the ripest ones were and hoped for the best before kicking as hard as I could against the tree. The shock running up my legs from the impact was like hitting a metal pole with metal baseball bat. Painful to say the least however, the apples hit their mark… mostly, I got about two thirds of them. The rest fell next to the basket. Big Mac picked the cleanest ripe ones up and put them in the basket, he put the rest in another basket. “We’ll clean them later. You’ll get it sooner or later.” He grunted in what seemed to be approval and then went to work on his own trees. I went to work on some in the area doing what I was shown till about what I assumed to be nine o’clock. A triangle (you know; the instrument) starting ringing up at the barn. Upon hearing this Big Mac started dragging his baskets to the barn. He had about twice what I had because I had to stop to grab missed apples, and to let my legs feel better after each blow. I followed his example and when we had finished Applejack, who had been ringing the triangle, asked me to eat with them. “You put in as much work as could be needed fer a meal so eat up and relax for the rest of today. I recon that you’ll be hurtin’ tomorrow since I doubt your used ta this kinda thing.” I ate and thanked them for the meal and the job. I was told that I could sleep in the bar from here on out, there was enough room in the house but I didn’t want to impose. I figured that Rarity’s place would be next since I would be too tired to argue or get upset when things didn’t work out quite right, which they probably would. I took a shower before leaving; I didn’t think Rarity would be particularly happy if I came in smelling like hard work and dirt. *** The Carousel Boutique wasn’t too hard to find. It actually looked a bit like a carousel and was one of the pinkest buildings in town. I opened the door since it was a shop rather than just a house and heard a bell chime. “I’ll be with you in just a minute.” Rarity’s voice chimed from further in the building. The entrance room appeared to be somewhat of a show room. There were clothes dummies here and there with extravagant dresses, some with tuxes, and some with more conservative styles that could almost be called clothes, but I’m a marine and a guy. I know nothing about fashion. When Rarity came around the corner she looked slightly shocked that I was the one who was there. I take it I wasn’t exactly expected. “I was wondering if you could help me with learning how society works around here and… basic etiquette… since it seems I have none here.” Her shocked expression became slightly more shocked after what I had said. Is that a no? “Darling, I knew there was a reason I thought I would like you. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one.” Oh god, what have I gotten myself into. *** Just after lunch, I also needed to learn how to eat correctly. By the end of it all, Rarity’s hair was slightly frazzled and she looked exhausted. I’d broken a few of her cups and a plate on top of only getting a quarter of what were the rules to a ‘proper’ conversation correct. We both needed something to work off our stress. Exercise worked best for me so I escaped by saying I needed to meet Rainbow Dash soon, and asked where I MIGHT find her at this time of day. The Cutie Mark Crusaders tree house at Sweet Apple Acres was not what I was hoping to hear. She said she was going to meet Fluttershy at the spa. When I found the tree house I heard the groan of a blue and rainbow colored pony. Rainbow was there indeed, and was groaning over the fact that the cutie mark crusaders weren’t there to talk about how cool she was. “Rainbow Dash! You were going to teach me how to fly?” Dash flew towards me looked me in the eyes. “You sure you’re up for it. It’s going to be hard; I’m going to train you ruthlessly till you’re as good as I am. I’m going to work you till you can’t move a wing muscle. Do you think you can handle my training?” I looked at her snorted. Then openly laughed, it reminded me of boot camp. There was a small Drill Instructor who had to get a stool every time she wanted to chew someone out, and while Rainbow Dash wasn’t much shorter than me, her coloration just set the memory off. “Looks like I’m back in boot camp.” Rainbow Dash looked at me like I was nuts for a second before deciding I was just pumped and ready to go. She lead us to hill that over looked a lake. “You need to learn to glide before you can fly. Spread your wings, lock the muscles, run and jump off the cliff. Once you do that just keep your rump up to prevent your wings from tilting up to high or you’ll start going backwards. Also, try not to look down yet, you don’t want to go into a dive when you don’t mean to.” I followed her directions, took a deep breath, jumped, and looked down… why did I look down? I was in the water in seconds. As I dragged my soaked self out of the water I could hear Rainbow gasping for breath. “You jumped, and started to glide, then fall SPLASH!” *gasp* “Hilarious. I mean… you’ll do better this time.” My wings felt five pounds heavier when coated with water, after a few minutes of trying they lightened up. I tried again and managed not to look down but failed to keep my rear up and level like I was told. I started to tilt back and over corrected going ‘top over teakettle’ into the drink. On the third time I finally got it right. After that Rainbow had me do it countless times, said I needed to work on my wing strength by gliding before I could fly and I had to do it with my wings drenched… my back was killing me after just three attempts. By the end of ten attempts I was allowed to rest for the day. You try counting ten exercises when your body is beat and see just how hard it is. “You didn’t do to bad for a first try. I’ll see you here tomorrow at the same time.” With that she left and I headed for Twilight’s place. It was around evening now. *** It was easy enough to get back to Twilight’s place, it was the only one built out of a giant tree. I knocked on the door and heard a voice from the inside that sounded like Spike from what I could remember. “Were closed because Twilight is out on business today, come back tomorrow.” “So where can I find Twilight?” The door burst open and Spike looked at me with a slightly stunned look. “Where were you? Twilight has been looking everywhere for you! First at Sugar Cube Corner asking Pinkie, then Applejack’s place, after that was Rarity’s, and now she’s out checking Fluttershy’s cottage.” “Will she be back soon?” “Yeah, but she’s in ‘official duty’ mode so she might be a little cross with you. Well, come in and wait for her, it will be worse for you and me if you don’t.” I followed the little dragon into the library and found couch to sit on. The library looked like everything had been put back in order since the events of the day before. It was lit by a few electric lights and some candles scattered around the place. Odd how there were some modern day things and some medieval era things all in the same area. They couldn’t possible have the technology of my world to work those things. Magic… Twilight got back after a few minutes wait, Spike had grumbled something about making extra just before and now I knew why. “Spike! I couldn’t find him today. Maybe he does know magic and was hiding. I hope dinner is ready I’m… WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?” I flinched a bit; it seems she was rather bothered by the fact that I wasn’t where she expected me to be when she searched. I can’t imagine why. “Never mind. Where were you, what did you do, did you cause trouble, why weren’t you here, I have to write this down and report it to Princess Celestia.” I looked at Spike who was just setting plates on a nearby table. “Is she always like this when her schedule doesn’t work out?” “Every time. You get used to it. You two eat and talk; I’ll go get a quill and paper so we can write that report when we are done eating.” It took a while to actually get to eating because of Twilight’s questions, eventually I reminded her that Spike made food for us all and it was getting cold. A letter was sent off to the Princesses shortly after eating. About this time, which was rather late, I decided to bring up a question I had for her. “So this world has magic. You can use magic. Can you teach me how to use magic?” Twilight spluttered for a second. “I can teach you the theory, formulae, history, and how it works; but you’re not a unicorn. I can’t you how to ‘use’ magic, but I can teach you how you ‘would’ use magic if you were a unicorn. Just let me grab a few reference materials.” There was a loud groan from Spike before he proclaimed he was going to bed. Three stacks of books later. “Alright, these are the rudimentary guides on the theories of magic; these are ones by Starswirl the Bearded and his contributions to magical advancements. Over here we have the ‘Compendium of Magic Types’ and ‘How to Tell Something is Magic’…” I grabbed one in the ‘Rudimentary guides’ pile and began reading… she droned on for a while. I fell asleep on her couch after the first chapter entitled, ‘Where does magic come from?”.
