Monster: Retribution

Thomas winded his arms backward, provoking a series of satisfying cracks to scurry up along his spine simultaneously while he rose from his slouched posture on the edge of the bed. His alarm went off just moments ago, waking him from his ambient slumber. Nonchalantly, he lumbered his way to the kitchen, opening the fridge with a subtle yawn, grasping a bottled water from within the chilled container.

He removed the cap on the walk over to a medical cabinet in his bathroom, obtaining a few pills from transparent orange bottles, popping them in his mouth and swallowing them down. After doing so, he closed the medical cabinet and began to strip himself of his sleeping attire; a tank top, and black basketball shorts.

Thomas stared distantly at himself in the mirror, observing his physique. He traced his fingers over the scars and marks laced along the surface of his nude flesh, exhaling thinly before he stepped into the shower and began to bathe himself.

After he left the shower, Thomas ventured out of the bathroom in the nude. He entered the kitchen once more, preparing some coffee so it would be close to done by the time he returned from getting dressed. There was suddenly a loud thunk heard coming from the living room. He glanced over, blinking as he noticed Ditzy, the mare that delivers his mail, pressed tightly against the window; it appears that she had crashed again.

Her eyes were usually pointed in individual directions, however, this time Ditzy’s eyes were focused on one particular area. Thomas glanced down, noticing his nudity. He glanced back up at Ditzy, making eye contact with her…sort of.

Reaching over to an apron hanging on a hook nailed to the pantry door, Thomas put it on, giving him ample decency. He then ventured over to the window in the living room, slowly opening it, watching as Ditzy toppled in clumsily.

“Howdy stranger” Thomas spoke in a sarcastic tone.

“U-Uh, special delivery!” Ditzy spoke with a stutter, tripping over her words as she dug around for a moment in her mail-bag, before lifting up a royal letter.

“Thank you” Thomas replied blandly, grasping the letter between his fingertips, tucking it into a pocket on his apron.

“Is your head alright?” Thomas asked, noticing the red mark on her forehead.

“I-I’m fine, Mr. Crowley, sir!” Ditzy replied, her muzzle hued red.

“I see…be careful” Thomas said, staring down at her.

Thomas towered over the average pony height of four feet. Thomas, stood well over six feet tall, nearly two and a half feet taller than Ditzy, and many other ponies. Ditzy had to crane her neck backward in order to make proper eye contact, sheepishly smiling as she fluttered her wings, hovering up to eye level with Thomas shortly before turning around and darting out the open window.

After the brief and awkward encounter with the mail-mare ended, Thomas shut his windows, this time closing the blinds, as well as the curtains to avoid another incident such as the one that just happened. Letting out a long sigh, Thomas ventured to his room while the scent of brewing coffee filled the air. He gathered up clothing from his closet and dresser, laying them out on the bed. It was getting rather cold outside, so he picked out a thick beige t-shirt, athletic briefs, and cargo jeans.

Thomas ventured out into the kitchen once more, preparing himself a cup of coffee; pouring the mug half-full of plain coffee, added milk, creamer, and a teaspoon of sugar. While drinking his concoction of caffeine and sugar, Thomas ventured into the living room, staring at the letter he received from Ditzy.

“From: Princess Celestia, To: Thomas Jay Crowley…” Thomas read aloud the cursive font written on the front of the letter.

Thomas examined it, sniffing it, trying look for any signs of fraud or traps. He didn’t smell anything funny, nor did he see anything abnormal, so this must be the real deal. Thomas opened the letter by removing wax hallmark holding it shut.

“Dear Thomas, as promised by your request, I have granted you sufficient time to adjust to a normal society, living in a temporary home until further notice. That was three weeks ago, and now, it is time for you to hold up your end of our agreement; your presence is requested in Canterlot Castle. I’ve taken the liberty of paying for your travel fees, you will travel in a private class train cart accompanied by guards hoof-picked by me. We will be holding a meeting discussing your orientation, it is advised to answer to the best of your ability. Sincerely, Princess Celestia.” Thomas read aloud, his eyes trailing over the words rather calmly.

Thomas inhaled deeply, before releasing a long and heavy sigh. After staring absentmindedly at the letter in deep thought, he folded it back up and tossed it onto the coffee table.

It was a little over three weeks ago, when Thomas earned his freedom. He served as a slave near the border of the Griffon and Minotaur territories, being owned by a merchant who traded and marketed all around the border, profiting by buying and selling both Griffin and Minotaur merchandise. One day, his owner went bankrupt, leaving the merchant no choice but to sell Thomas to a Minotaur slave-runner, who winded up selling Thomas to a noble in the Griffin territories.

This noble, a former general, ended up training Thomas; molding him into a gladiator. Under the global law, to which a gladiatorial slave may earn their freedom through completing fifty matches and eight trials. These fifty matches were consisted of a gradual incline of difficulty, the fiftieth match being the hardest. If one were to complete, let alone survive the fifty matches, but decline the eight trials; they would be free of slavery, but they weren’t allowed to leave the territory. If they completed both the matches and the trials, they would be granted both freedom and privilege to venture anywhere they wish.

Having completed the fifty matches, and the eight trials; Thomas was finally given the freedom promised to him. However, despite having earned his freedom, the matches and trials that granted his rights, also cursed him to forever be haunted by the blood and carnage that followed. When Thomas left the Griffin Territories and entered Equine Territories, he was given a specified amount of time to adjust to a normal society before an evaluation would be hosted by the monarch(s) that rule the territory; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

Thomas’ days of adjusting were over, and now the time called for him to find out whether or not he will be fit for society.

[Four hours later, Canterlot Train Station]

Thomas exited the train, accompanied by two royal guards; one belonging to Celestia, the other to Luna. Thomas was still wearing his morning attire, however, he had added some additional clothing to contrast the cold weather. He wore a leather bomber jacket, black leather gloves, leather work boots, and a dark-gray radar cap. His hair was tied in a ponytail, in order to avoid it being tossed around wildly in the strong winds.

“Mr. Crowley?” Shining Armor inquired, craning his neck to make eye contact with Thomas.

“Yes, sir” Thomas replied rather blatantly, almost like an emotionless soldier.

“At ease, I was sent here to relieve your current escorts, if you follow me I will lead you to the Castle” Shining spoke, “I am Captain Shining Armor, by the way” Shining added on, glancing back as he began to trot away.

“Pleasured to meet you” Thomas calmly replied, tucking his hands into his pockets while following along beside the stallion.

A half hour passed as the two trekked side by side, receiving stares from some of Canterlot’s more wealthy residents. Thomas simply ignored any stares or hushed whispers which most likely regarded him. Shining armor glanced over, breaking the atmosphere with a clear of his throat.

“You appear to be much more, experienced, and ominous, than I expected” Shining spoke, earning a brief glance from Thomas’ cold blue eyes.

“You don’t say?” Thomas responded in a sarcastic tone.

"I heard that you were both a slave, and a gladiator; I figured that you were an escapee, since not many are known to complete--"

"Fifty physically demanding, non-stop, no break in between death matches against the most ruthless of all corners of Equestria; followed by eight trials that are a hundred times more difficult than the fifty trials endured beforehand?"  Thomas intervened, cutting Shining Armor off as the two gradually legged their way to the front gates of the castle estate.

"Captain Shining Armor and guest" Shining spoke to the guards that were posted at the gates, allowing the human and stallion duo to enter.

"You seem far more less threatening and sadistic than the Captains I've met" Thomas remarked, glancing down at the stallion.

"Perhaps so, but here within the confines of Canterlot and Ponyville, we tend to have a much more--" before Shining could finish, there was a series of loud yelps followed by a lavender blur crashing into Thomas.

"Ow ow ow!" Twilight groaned, wincing as her wings twitched.

"Bwahaha!" Rainbow Dash howled in the distance, causing the lavender mare to growl, whipping her head up towards Dash's direction.

"Shut it, Dash, you know I'm still inexperienced with these wings!" Twilight declared.

"Sure you ar--uh...Twilight?" Rainbow Dash's tone changed from a chuckling fit to a shaky and intimidated whimper.

"What, what is it?" Twilight asked, turning her head towards the direction of which Rainbow Dash's pinprick pupils focused on.

Twilight's ears splayed back, her eyes widened, her pupils shrinking to the size of a dust spec once she realized what, or rather whom, she landed on. Thomas' eyes were locked in an eerie solid stare, syncing with Twilight's eye movements as he slowly sat up, pushing Twilight onto his lap as he stared down at the trembling alicorn mare. Thomas had not said a single word, nor moved a muscle in either of his arms, he just stared eerily at Twilight, observing her closely. Twilight bit her lip, whimpering under Thomas' cold icy gaze.

"Oi..." Thomas spoke in a low tone, staring at Twilight eerily.

"U-Uh... y-yes?" Twilight choked out, quivering.

"You're crushing my boys" Thomas ever so calmly spoke, gesturing towards his crotch, where Twilight's haunches were currently rested.

Twilight released a yelp, flying off of Thomas at lightning speed, joining her brother's side, her face enveloped in a bright crimson shade as she lowered her gaze.

"I-I'm sorry, mister... uh..." Twilight stuttered, looking up at Thomas awkwardly.

"Thomas, Thomas Crowley. He has been requested by Celestia for an Evaluation, you and your friend Rainbow Dash may join if you wish, you may learn a few things" Shining spoke, winking at Twilight, further flustering his younger sister.

"Some things worse than others" Thomas remarked, earning a confused gaze from the two until their banter was interrupted by the sound of somepony clearing their throats.

"I see that you've met my former student, Twilight?" Celestia spoke, glancing over at Thomas as the giant human man rose to his feet.

"Aye" Thomas replied, brushing himself off.

"I apologize that the meeting of you two wasn't as pleasant as I'd hoped" Celestia spoke, glancing over at Twilight who gave a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I was pushing Twilight a bit with some... encouraging words, in order to help her fly better" Rainbow Dash stepped in, hovering down beside Twilight with her ears splayed back.

"It matters not, what's done is done; could we move on?" Thomas spoke, cutting the conversation short.

"Why yes, of course. Come now, I shall lead you to where me and my sister will begin our evaluation of you Mr. Crowley"  Celestia spoke, turning around, walking back into the castle; Thomas, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Shining armor following in tow.

Moments later, the group arrived in a rather empty room; looking to be a conference hall cleared of all furniture, with only simple examination tools centered in the room. Twilight and Rainbow Dash hovered to the side of the room, watching from the sidelines as Shining Armor stood ready to aid the monarchs if needed. Thomas just yawned, a rather nonchalant demeanor about him.

"Alright, Mr. Thomas, please strip to your undergarments" Celestia spoke, hovering a clipboard before her.

"Why are the... Princesses... examining him personally?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, because it is a monarch's obligation to personally evaluate and form a intelligent affirmation on--" Twilight was cut off by Rainbow Dash's hoof.

"Normal talk, please?" Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Oh, right. Well, basically, they're seeing for themselves if Mr. Crowley here is suitable for Equestrian Society" Twilight rephrased, clearing her throat.

"Didn't he stay in a house for like, two weeks though? He didn't need the test beforehand?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, no, not necessarily. There were multiple, if not many, guards posted around his quarters twenty-four hours a day. If anything were to happen, they would have documented it and reported it--if it were an important matter" Twilight explained.

"Oh" Rainbow Dash spoke, returning her eyes to Thomas, before dropping her jaw at the sight--Twilight did the same.

Even Princess Luna and Celestia gawked; gazes of awe, shock, and sympathy. Thomas did as Celestia requested, stripping down to his undergarments; however, what she didn't expect was the rather... saddening scene she laid witness to at this moment. Thomas indeed had a muscular physique, with the usual body hair around his chest, arms, abdomen, armpits, and back--however, what they didn't account for, was the horrific scars that stretched along his body. Knives, shivs, claws, arrows, nails, talons, teeth, stone, fire; they were all the cause for many of his scars.

"Oh my..." Celestia finally spoke up, as she raised and lowered Thomas' arms, examining them, as well as his more scarred areas.

"You certainly hold many flesh-bound memories of many battles, Sir Crowley" Luna spoke, examining as well.

"It's what happens when you're born into the darkness" Thomas replied rather casually, as if it was a well known fact, which only caused a series of awkward stares among the mares and single stallion.

"We expected scars, since thee has achieved the goal of fifty gladiatorial matches, as well as completed the eight trials" Luna spoke, walking around Thomas.

"You should see the ones I've buried" Thomas replied, causing a cold chill to visibly run up Celestia and Luna's spines.

"You two obviously haven't seen the carnage and chaos that I've witnessed, even if you have, you've seemed to have forgotten the sting it gives your dulled senses" Thomas spoke, causing Celestia to clear her throat.

"Let us move on, shall we?" Celestia spoke, as she then had Thomas step on a weight measuring platform.

"Sure thing" Thomas sighed, remaining silent, retaining his emotionless visage.

"Wow..." Celestia exhaled, looking at the results.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"His weight, is approximately three-hundred and eighty-five pounds" Celestia informed.

"That's more than Big Mac!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, before quieting down with a sheepish smile.

"On with the exam" Luna spoke, as she then hovered the measuring tape in a vertical alignment with Thomas' stature.

"Six feet, eleven inches" Luna stated aloud, causing a few whispers and murmurs to travel among the small group, excluding Thomas.

"Alright then, time for stress testing" Celestia spoke, hovering a orb into Thomas' grasp.

"Tell me when it starts to get heavy" Celestia spoke.

With a single intensification of her magic, the orb glistened, Celestia looked at Thomas for confirmation.

"Not heavy" Thomas spoke, causing Celestia to nod, once more making the orb glisten.

"Still no" Thomas sighed, rolling the orb around in the center of his palm.

After a few moments, perhaps ten minutes, Thomas soon let out a slight grunt, causing Celestia to look up with intrigue.

"Is it heavy?" Celestia asked.

"No, just got a cramp in my leg" Thomas replied, holding up his leg for a moment, before setting it down.

"Alright, the test is over"  Celestia spoke, looking down at the clipboard.

Thomas shrugged, slowly putting the orb down on a steel column-like table. Celestia quickly looked up, her eyes widening, gasping.

"Wait no, don't set it down!" Celestia exclaimed, just as the orb touched the surface of the table, the entire table collapsed in on itself.

"H-How much did that thing weigh!? " Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight nodded in agreement, wanting to know herself.

"A little over... one-thousand one-hundred and eighty pounds" Celestia spoke, causing silence to fill the room.

The rest of the examination went rather, bumpy, yet calm, to say the least. About forty minutes afterwards, Thomas' examination was complete, and was now standing before the alicorn monarchs waiting for their judgement call to be made. Thomas stood with his arms folded respectively behind his back, his feet had a matching alignment with his shoulders, his posture was straight as a vertical line; the air was rather tense.

"Thomas Jay Crowley, after me and my sister examined you personally ourselves, we've concluded to provide you with the best fitting job for your well-fitted requirements, you shall--" Before Celestia could finish, she was interrupted by the sound of the two doors to the throne room being thrown open.

"Auntie-e-e-e!" a rather whiny voice groaned, followed by hoofsteps.

"Blueblood..." Twilight and Rainbow Dash spoke through gritted teeth.

"The blacksmith gave me an absolutely unacceptable helmet! I demand that you fire him immediately!"

"Blueblood, I'm in the midst of evaluating an associate!" Celestia spoke in a controlled tone, though annoyance could be heard woven within her words.

"But look at it, it's way too big, I--" As Blueblood continued to rant, Thomas reached over, grasping the helmet with his singular massive hand, raising it up to his face, examining it.

"Hey!" Blueblood sneered, leering at Thomas as he examined the helmet.

"Who is this brute!?" Blueblood exclaimed, huffing as he glared up at Thomas.

"This, is an associate to whom we, me and Luna, are evaluating" Celestia explained in a calm tone.

"He's touching MY property!" Blueblood huffed, leering up at Thomas still.

"You know what, you're right. this helmet Is way too big..." Thomas spoke, looking at Blueblood straight in the eye as he then, with one hand, crushed the helmet like an aluminum can, causing the entire room to fall silent, and Blueblood's mouth to drop to the ground.

"In my experience, you are correct, this is a rather poorly made helmet--caring more about fashion than you did quality. If you were to wear this into any sort of conflict, you would be met with brain damage--which at this point wouldn't make much of a difference, considering your outstanding personality" Thomas spoke, adding a strong spice of sarcasm towards the end of his sentence.

"How, dare you, I--" Blueblood was once again cut off by Thomas dropping the helmet in front of him, causing a loud clang.

"I've seen and spilt more blood than your arrogant hide will ever even imagine. I witnessed and performed the most gruesome and gory forms of execution to a fallen opponent in the heat of battle, nothing compared to your pussy sparring matches and pathetic fight pits held within the outskirts of Canterlot; the difference between fight pits and gladiator arenas: you walk out with your life in a fight pit. So, just ask yourself this: do I give a fuck about your problems, do I have the patience to endure your bullshit,and how long will it take until I've gutted you alive; showing you your own intestines the second before you die?" Thomas spoke in an eerily calm voice, causing deafening silence.

Blueblood simply picked up his crushed helmet with his magic, backed away, turned around, and walked out of the room. Thomas let out a subtle sigh, shaking his head as he watched Blueblood go, turning to Celestia and Luna before crossing his arms.

"So, where were we?" Thomas asked.