I woke up, feeling rather refreshed. I hadn’t felt very... clean recently, I’d been feeling like an overused sweat towel for a while, and the change in comfort was gladly accepted.

I silently applied the clothes that I hadn’t worn into the bed with me, not counting the jacket, and a thought came to mind.

‘The hell is the dining area?’ I thought. I hadn’t been at the castle for much more than an afternoon and night, which I had slept through most of, and was escorted by her majesty for the rest, so I didn’t know jack about the layout.

Samantha butted in. ‘Like hell if I know. You know this place as well as I do.’

‘That tells me jack shit. Thanks for the tip.’

‘No problem, I can pull a tap dance just as well if you want.’

‘Shaddap, let’s go wander.’

‘Ok, fine. Whatever.’

Pushing the door open and walking out, I took to walking down the right side. I decided that if I took every turn I came across, I’d make it somewhere. So, that’s what I did. And eventually, that’s how I roamed around a corner... and bumped my nose... right into the face of the sun goddess... and broke it sideways doing so.

But the broken nose went quickly unnoticed, almost as if it were never there, and Celestia broke the silence, “Up and about, Samuel? I would have taken you for a late riser, but I have been wrong before. I was just heading for breakfast, care to join me?”

“Hmm... I would, actually, if there are carnivorous items on the menu. I can and do eat plant foods, but it’s not the only side to the human diet.”

“Omnivorous, I see? Yes, I’m sure that we have such options on the menu. It’s not uncommon to see a griffon of the government branch of Griffonia around here, so I have the chefs keep livestock for them.”

With that, Celestia went, and I followed. A question brought up by past experience came to mind as we were walking.

“Do they cook the meat?”

“Come again?”

“Do they cook it, like, as in, put it in an oven or on a frying pan?”

“Why would we cook meat?”

“If you cook it right, it tastes better, and it usually cooks most toxins and diseases out.”

“If you say so.”

“Mind if I go disturb the chefs while I prepare a rabbit for myself?”

“Go right ahead.We’re just about to arrive in the dining hall anyway, the kitchen is a door away from that.”

“Thanks!”

And with that, we passed through a door into a decently sized room, with a long array of neatly sidled tables topped with a white and blue colored vinyl cloth. The dining room, I could easily guess. By the way, did I not break my nose on Celestia's face earlier? I could have sworn I did.

I spotted a pair of spring closing double doors near the end, and assuming that it was the kitchen, walked through them. Several chefs turned to look at me, some with confused looks, others with looks of slight fear.

“It’s ok, I’m only here to cook my own meal. I was informed you had the ingredients, but didn’t serve the item. I have Celestia’s approval for it if you need.” I explained.

The confusion left, but a slight tinge of fear remained.

“Now where’s the livestock I was informed of? As well as a knife and a wastebin?”

One of the more confident chefs answered. “Animals are in the greenhouse, which is out the back door and to the left. The wastebin is in the corner and the knives are in that knife block mounted on the wall.”

“Nice, Thanks.” I replied, going to pull out a knife.

I found a rather sharp knife with a wavy blade to settle with and stepped outside with the wastebin, to turn to the small glass-roofed half-high-walled shed to my left. Animals of all sorts were grazing through the plant life inside, leaving me wondering how the ponies kept their own food levels up when the carnivorous menu was constantly consuming it.

Waving the thought aside, I searched the ground inside for a fairly sized rabbit, and when I found one, I magic’ed it over the half-wall and carried on with what had began to become my regular preparatory habit - Skin, Gut, Cook - over the provided trash can.

I used magic to do a microscopic cleaning of the knife, and came back into the kitchen carrying the meat in my magic and the wastebin and knife in hand. After going over the knife in the sink to reassure the staff that it was clean, I reseated it into the knife block and moved the trashbin to the corner. With that done, I took the rabbit meat out of my magic and carried it into the dining room with me, leaving the chefs with a thanks.

“That doesn’t smell nearly as bad as what our carnivorous guests normally eat.” Celestia replied when she spotted the lump of cooked meat in my hand.

“Yeah, I don’t much like the smell of raw meat myself. To each their own, though. I guess.”

“Hmm,” Celestia began, “All of my ponies who tried meat the way it’s served currently have always gotten sick. Do you suppose that your meat might be more edible for ponykind? You did say something along the lines of ‘cooking out diseases’ earlier, if I’m not mistaken?”

“A possibility? I’m not entirely sure I would recommend it, though.” I replied uncertainly.

“I don’t suppose I would, either. But for a test, may I have a slice? Any illness is on me, so don’t worry.”

I ripped off a piece and lay it next to an egg on her plate with my magic. “I’m not sure, but since you seem to eat eggs, I actually think the meat may be edible. An egg is an unborn bird, usually a chicken in culinary arts, correct?”

Celestia stuffed the meat in her mouth, either hiding disgust or not finding any. “Hmm, yoo mae fbe currekt...” she stopped to finish consuming the rabbit, “Excuse my manners, I tend to do that at table discussions, and I may actually ask you for that recipe later, I found the taste to be rather... unique in a good way. I still don’t know about side effects, so I may not hold up to that.”

“I predict that you’ll probably get a case of indigestion at the worst, but I cooked it to what I’ve found to be my personal point of perfection. Well cooked, but not burned.”

“Hmm, why haven’t you eaten yet, then?” Celestia questioned.

“Other than the piece of test meat, I could ask the same of you, Princess.”

True to each other’s word, both of our meals remained untouched. “Caught up in the discussion, I suppose. Let’s eat then, talk another time.” Celestia answered for both of us.

---~:~---

After we finished our meals, I stood from the table. “I have two promises to keep, and I plan on keeping to both of them today. I have to go collect some home world items for one of them. Could you escort me back to my room so I can pick up the rest of my stuff before I go?”

“I suppose, may I ask what you need?”

“Luna snooped in my dream last night and saw human weaponry, wants me to prove it exists. You can attend the crossbow range with her if you want.”

“Ahh, I think I will.”

“Then hurry up and escort me so I can get my stuff before I leave to get the weaponry.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

So I followed behind her as she led me. I wasn’t doing anything otherwise, so I decided to let myself zone out. I thought of the things that advanced weaponry would allow for me to do. I could settle wars in other countries, I could painfully disable criminals like the one I had encountered on my way here, I could... go mad and mass murder everything... become a contract assasin... damn, at least I know that I wouldn’t do horrible things such as that, I’ve never been that sort of person, even in video games like GTA. I guess that’s why I never completed story mode in any of those games.

We arrived at the familiar door of the room I had taken for the night. “I suppose I’ll see you at the gun range later?” I questioned.

“As a specific citizen of ponyville would say, eeyup.” Celestia mocked, conjuring a chuckle from me.

“Ok, I can accept that answer,” I commented, “See you later.”

As she left, I closed the door and collected my belongings.

‘I think we’re ready, sis.’

‘Ok, try to focus on something in your hand like last time.’

I pulled my shield out of my jacket pocket, and focused my will into bringing it with me.

‘Got it.’

‘Ok, I’ll take you straight to this time.’

With a moment of blankness, I found myself suddenly standing in Tyler’s backyard once again. This wasn’t where I needed to be, but as long as I was back, it wouldn’t take too long to get anywhere, especially with my new leg strength. If I could scale a mountain with a jump, who said I couldn’t run at high speeds without much effort?

I pulled out my shield and opened Google Maps- thank god I keep the local area map saved to the map cache -and set it to my home. It was Saturday, so no doubt my grandmother would probably be home. Oh well, she couldn’t handle me now anyway, so I shouldn’t worry.

I looked at the blue line on the map as I began to run down the roads it represented. I must have been running ridiculously fast, because the wind hit my face like a whip and the traffic going in my direction seemed to whizz past... backwards. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before I recognized the streets enough to put my shield away, and even less time to make it back home.

Surely enough, my grandmother’s van was parallel parked in its usual spot in the gravel, but I’d been missing for what, a week now? So at least I could assure her that I lived, and wasn’t in danger anytime soon.

I walked up to the door., pulled the screen half open, and knocked. *Thump, Thump, Thump* The floor was always weak, I know the sound. The thumping stopped about five steps later, and the door opened slightly, only to swing the rest of the way.

“SAM!” she shouted, pulling me into the tightest hug she could without straining her joints. She wasn’t a great parent; far too restrictive, worried too much about minor things. But better her than my grandfather, whom would have yelled at me and possibly have attempted to beat me, depending on how willing he was to break his truce with my father.

I pulled her off of me as gently as I could, “Yes, I know you’ve been worried, just know I’m probably doing better now than I’ve done in years, no, my whole life. I’m here to take my backpack and a few assorted weapons, to keep a promise and also to help protect myself if necessary.”

Seeing her in tears was not uncommon if she worried more than somewhat. She was in tears, again. This didn’t affect me in the slightest; she would have to get over it.

“But why, Sam? You snuck out of a hospital just after recovering from a coma, came here and took stuff when I wasn’t here, and you haven’t been seen since! I’ve been so worried about you...”

“Yes, that’s what you do, I know from experience. Rest assured, I’m in a perfect situation, solving physical problems that I’ve had my whole life, and severing the ties to the mental problems. I’m better now than any of those psychiatrists or therapists you forced me to attend could ever have made me. Heh, I could probably pick you up with one arm using this new strength.” I explained, pushing past her to grab the items I’d come for.

The crying had stopped, replaced by confusion. “But you don’t look any stronger, what makes you think you could do something that ridiculous?”

I was in the back bedroom by then, sorting through the mess of rifles, a few shotguns, occasional pistol, and rare SMG, “Just think of it as something magical, like in a movie.”

I’d already picked out a pump shotgun, and had sorted through the rifles and found one that looked like it could shoot to a half of a mile. Now for the pistols and SMGs. Any pistol would work, as long as I could find two of the same model, for symmetricality purposes. SMGs if I could find any two, I’d be fine with that. But one would work fine, I guess. I knew of at least one that he kept, so I would search for it surely.

My grandmother had decided to shut up for a few, but she wasn’t held quiet forever. “So, you’re leaving again? Are you going to come back at least occasionally?”

“Yes, I’ll be back here and there, but I can’t ensure I could make a fixed schedule for it.” I answered.

“So, you’re not going to be living here anymore. I guess I won’t have anyone to fuss at anymore.”

“I guess not.” I agreed. I found the SMG in the gunpile, and laid it out next to my other two chosen weapons. I had about five different pistols laid out, none of a similar model. I knew I didn’t want a revolver pistol, so I left those lying whenever I found them.

“Oh well, I assume you want to take clothes as well?”

“Oh yeah, I would’ve run out of a single pair of clothes soon anyway.” I joked, pulling out a matte black pistol that matched one of the five other pistols perfectly, even down to the color. I stuffed both pistols into my pants pockets on either side. “Looks like I’ve found what I needed. I’m sure Estill won’t notice the missing weapons, he has too many anyway.”

If I haven’t mentioned before, Estill is the name of my grandfather. Eileen the name of my grandmother. However Estill gets no title due to his abusive personality and Eileen has the title of “Mom” to me, because of how she worries about me even more than she does for her own children, including my father. I suppose that she’s just trying to make up for letting two of her three children become druggies. My aunt Sonya is probably the worst, at least my uncle Anthony tries to get away from that life.

“He doesn’t need them anyway” Mom joked.

“You could say that again, half the pile in this room purely consists of guns.” I said, in complete honesty... I’ll even draw it for everyone to see.

[AN: I’ll draw it when I get the chance. Just know it’ll be right here when I do draw it.]

“Anyway, if you need me, I’ll be in the living room doing my sweepstakes.” Mom told me.

“Ok, I shouldn’t be much longer.”

I went to my bedroom, which was still untouched to my suprise- I would’ve guessed that the police would’ve searched it for Missing Person evidence or something by now. I grabbed my good old backpack- a heavy duty multipurpose hiking bag that had managed to last me for a whole year without any sign of wear- best bag I’ve had in a long time. I went back and stuffed the rifle and shotgun into the main pocket- I half zipped it because they poked out of the top- and the SMG fit into a side pocket chamber down, leaving the handle sticking out backwards for quick access if need be.

After stuffing several sets of clothes into the secondary pocket, I decided I was ready to go. “I’m gone, I’ll see you again soon mom! Oh, I think I’ll take the bike as well.” I said to the woman on the plush living room couch.

“Just... Stay safe, and out of trouble.” she requested, putting her laptop aside and standing, to see me off, I guess.

“No problem,” I promised as I stepped out of the door, “Neither is hard for me right now.”

“Ok,” She said, following me out, “As long as you can keep that promise.”

“That I will.” I said, pulling my white mountain bike out of the high brush beside the wooded porch.

As I mounted the bike and rode off- in the 8th tire gear and 3rd pedal gear because I found the thing so much easier to ride- I ended up pushing so hard I spun the back tire on the road and left a smoke trail as I sped down the road. Next stop, Ammunition shop. I can probably conjure money and a fake ID out of thin air, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble unless the ‘probably’ part takes on a negative side. Then I guess I can still rob it and wipe the cashier’s memory or something. My shield says it’s about eleven in the morning anyway, so I have plenty of time yet. Just noticing, my shield is still on full charge. Hmm, maybe it has something to do with constant magical exposure. Whatever, works in my favor in the end.

Author's Note

I felt like writing a chapter, so I wrote a chapter. Who knows, if Celestia doesn't get any serious illness from the meat, she might just try to encourage ponies to go slightly more omnivorous. And the griffons will definitely have a new food choice once the word about 'cooked meat' spreads. And Luna might be awe'd by the power of human weaponry, or possibly be scared shitless on the inside by the power of such weapons. She won't know for sure until she sees them in action, though. So many things could go so many ways, it almost physically causes my head to spin! Anyway, We shall see next chapter I suppose.