Brothers

Chapters

Jaws of Death
A Cry For Help
Three and Six
Party Pooper
Human Motive
More Than Man
Citizen Soldiers
A Bit of History and Behind the Walls
Happenings Found
I Need a Break

Jaws of Death

BOOOOOOOOM! The twenty three year old October Iron grit his teeth together as another bomb shook the trench that he and his brothers had taken shelter in. October looked over at Matthew, his oldest brother, who was thirty, with a look of question.
"We'll be fine October! They're on the verge of retreat!" Matthew shouted over the noise of the war.

World War Three had begun about one hundred years ago. It was the Russians that struck first, with the aftershock of ISIS that soon followed after in their wake. The two forces had dealt a heavy blow as they held their fists high against America. The war had brought in many nation that once tried to keep away from all the bloodshed, but found that there was no way around the destruction that rained about them. Unfortunately, America had very little allies in this war and to further their hardships, there was hardly an America left anymore. The country had long since fallen apart, though many stuck to their guns and refused to give up the land which their forefathers fought and died for.
It was never customary - and actually it was strictly avoided - for any family members to be in the same unit, nor was trench warfare much used anymore. This was the way of the war however; so hectic that they had to scrounge for any last man old enough to fight. Even then, there numbers were pitifully small against the enemy masses.

BOOOOOOOOM! Another bomb landed closer to the trench, destroying vehicles, turrets and allies all alike. Jason, October's second oldest brother, who was twenty-five, hurled a grenade out toward the enemy trenches with all his might. They all gave a small smile when they heard the Russian men cry out in pain and surprise. Jason looked up to watch for more bombers and for his thoughtfulness, his entire body went slack at the dreadful sight of an ISIS aircraft flying overhead as it dropped a single a bomb that was heading straight for the trench. His two other brothers looked up seeing, to their dismay as well, their fate befall them.

The bomb struck the ground around the corner of the trench, but without a sound. October noticed that there was no explosion, but he only had half a second to think about that as he felt himself being pulled from where he was standing. Matthew grabbed onto Jason, who grabbed onto October, who grabbed onto the corner of the trench once he realized what had happened. The bomb that the enemy dropped on them was not meant for explosion. It was an implosion bomb.

Fear put its tight hold over October's heart as he clawed at the corner of the trench with all his might. Even though he was the youngest of the three, he surpassed even Jason physically and now put that strength to its fullest for their lives. October's death grip was wrenched from his hand hold and they were pulled into the black vortex. October screamed out in pain as well as did his brothers without so much as an utterance of sound to be heard. It was much more painful than anything he had ever endured before in his life, as if someone was taking as long as possible to skin him alive. Then his vision went completely black.

October woke up with a groan. Why wasn't he dead? Hadn't he just been sucked into a swirling vortex of doom? Rather queer that he would still be alive and well. He stood up and looked to his right. "Gah!" he immediately took up a defensive mode only then to realize that his weapon was lying on the ground next to him with the bipod detached and not in his hands. But what he saw before him on the ground baffled the living daylights out from his mind entirely.

He saw two humanoid creatures with coats of a cool, grey fur, legs of a horse with coal colored hooves, the body of a man (except the head, which looked rather equine-like as well), and wings. To finalize it all, the hair atop their heads was as black as tar and hung low and long - going unruly compared to their usual, Army buzz cuts.

Speaking of Army indeed, as he also noticed that they were wearing tattered, camouflage Army uniforms accompanied with dog tags around each of their necks, though any sign of boots were long lost within the piles of dirt and bullet shells that surrounded them. The only remaining piece of any armor was a cracked helmet that lay on top of the largest creature's chest.

They both, started to groggily wake up and look at each other with confused and blurry eyes.

"HOLY CRAP!" one of them shouted.

"SACRED FECES!" yelled the other.

October looked down at himself, and noticed that he was too whatever the other two were. He had grey fur, horse like legs, black hooves, wings that felt misplace and alien to him, and he could only assume the rest. The man stood there in somewhat of a shocked state, completely unsure what was going on or what to do. With closer examination, he noticed that the nearest of the odd beings had a badge sewn into his camouflage shirt with the inscription M. IRON, and the other one's badge read J. IRON.

"Matthew, Jason? Is that...is that you?" they both looked down at themselves, then at each other, and then back at October.

"October?" they both asked at the same time as they shakily got to their hooves. The body form being as foreign as it was, Matthew seemed to trip a little before standing straight.

They all seemed about the same height as they should have been before, though perhaps they were just slightly taller, and their more horse like facial features still looked somewhat disturbingly like them. But it was just so strange, how could this have happened?

Without warning, Jason whipped around and gave Matthew a good, hard smack on the cheek, making a nice slapping sound. Matthew's headed whipped to the side, then quickly back to Jason as he carefully asked, "What...was that for exactly?"

Jason simply looked at his hand as it shook and mumbled, "Just making sure I'm not hallucinating. But, with that out of the way...where in the cotton pickin' world are we?"

"I have no clue whatsoever - except that we're in the middle of a forest for some reason," replied Matthew, he too not liking anything about the current situation, or being slapped in the face.

"So...what are we anyway?" asked October with mild interest at his new features, though not lacking in concern.

"Well, it seems to me,” replied Jason, keeping his worry down, "although it should entirely be against the laws of physics, that we are...anthro pegasi?"

"That's...weird. Beyond weird really," said October, looking back at his wings that were simply flopped down lazily. He focused his thoughts while trying to flap them, the other two trying to do the same.

October stretched out his wings to find that he had about a twelve foot wing span. It was odd, for even though these wings were not anything his brain had ever been hooked up to, he felt that he could use them with eerie ease. He tried flapping again and he went a few inches into the air before fell back down on his face for the lack of balance that he never expected he would need. The other two did the same with somewhat of similar results, though Jason had the better reflexes to prevent any tripping.

They began to laugh at the silliness and absurdity of the situation they found themselves in until a thought hit October square in the forehead. The war...the Army...mother.... October looked down at the ground with a look of depression about his face as this thought cut through him like a razor. This didn't go unnoticed by his brothers as the same thought came to them as well.

"They might think we're dead. What about mother? What is she supposed to think of it when we're reported missing?" Jason asked with a sad look.

"First let's find a place of rest, and then we can worry about that," said Matthew with somber face.

Matthew was a natural leader so he took the matter in his own hands from there. It wasn't really the first time they had to find a place to go in a forest before, and Matthew always knew what he was doing when it came right down to it. They picked up their weapons, backpacks, and October's ammunition bucket and began their attempt at walking.

Trying to walk on hooves was quite the trial for them, being built differently and all without those wide-surfaced feet or nimble toes, but they were simply going to have to get used to that until something changed.

They found a cave that opened up right next to a stream, which was so convenient that October had a hard time grasping how they stumbled upon such luck. They set up camp in the cave and in the driest place there was where they made three makeshift hammocks out of vines and twigs and set their belongings aside.

October went back outside as he took his tattered shirt off, exposing himself to the cooling air that lapped at his rippling body. He stood there for a moment thinking on how exactly he was to go about his ridiculous situation. He had wings now, so he figured he should learn how to use them.

"What're you doing?" asked Jason as he came out into the breeze beside October.

"Well, I figured that if we have wings, I might as well practice flying," replied October with a little bit of a smirk dancing across his face.

With that in mind, Jason called back to his older brother. "Hey, Matthew, come here. We're going to try to figure out our wings here real quick. Care to join?" but before any response by Matthew could really thought through, Jason abruptly interrupted, saying, "I know you do. Don't deny it."

Matthew laughed as he got up from his place to walk over to his brothers and said, "Alright, but we need to find food fast," as he too removed his shirt.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get to it. Come on." said Jason, taking his shirt off last. There probably wasn't much point in keeping those torn up things anymore anyway as they couldn't even keep the mosquitoes off.

Matthew decided that he would be the first to test his new body features and so his brothers gave him some room as he pumped his wings. He propelled himself half a foot off the ground and planted his hooves back on the ground with a solid thump with is arms put out at strange angles to keep his balance. He tried it again with two, light pumps of his wings and reached a foot and a half from the ground and landed back on his hooves. For whatever curious reasons, the wings on his and his brothers' backs felt seemingly weightless, and hardly made it as difficult to fly as many might think it would be.

"This is kind of fun," Matthew said with a goofy smile spreading across his face.

"Okay, my turn," said Jason as he warmed up his wings. He hopped, then pumped his wings, throwing himself two feet of the ground and almost landed on his face, but he managed to land upright with some last second balancing time.
October backed up, and began to warm up his wings as well; giving that odd sense of foreign familiarity with muscles that should not have been there. October leapt into the air with a heave and a huff, and then flapped as hard as he could, resulting in him reaching ten feet off the ground. He landed on his hooves with his own dirt solid thump. His brothers looked at him with wide eyes as he rose from his crouched position.

"Showoff," Jason snarked with a quirky smile at his little brother.

October did it again, but kept flapping. It felt rather odd to him as if he might get a charlie horse from any movement he made with his wings, but be stayed there at ten feet off the ground for a few moments until he slowly let himself down to the ground. His brothers tried the same method as October; they jumped, then flapped their wings and stayed in the air for a few seconds, then slowly let themselves to the ground just as their little 'showoff' demonstrated for them.

They all began to laugh out of excitement of this brand new feeling. Nothing they had ever done felt quite like this, but it seemed to feel rather nostalgic somehow to October. Perhaps it was because of his adoration of the lakes and rivers and other outdoor places of the woods that Matthew would always show him when they were children. They used to go out into the woods while Jason had his face in a book as they ran around for new adventure all the time.

"This is absolutely amazing." said October with pure bliss in his words, forgetting anything of the war.

They spread out a little further and began to flap in unison, creating a gust of wind beneath them, making the grass, bushes, and tree branches reel back in respect of their presence. October was the first to take the next action by tilting himself sideways in the air. This flying thing was much easier than he thought. He began to fly in different directions as his older brothers followed his lead. They all began to laugh again as they flew in a circle around each other ten feet above the ground. They slowly landed back on the ground in unison, still laughing with merriment that flowed between them.

"Okay, we really need to get some food, but let's stay on the ground for the hunt until we learn how to actually fly," said Matthew with a content smile.

"Alright, but I'm definitely going to be doing this a lot," said Jason in reply.

October crouched low in the tall grass as he looked up at one of the most pleasing sights he had ever seen. Standing at a good four feet tall, from hoof to shoulder, was two hundred pound, mule doe, eating with her head hung low without a care in the world.

With narrowed eyes, October spied Matthew looking at him through the brush, slowly waving for him to take the first move. October made sure he saw Jason to his left and gave him the warning before he leapt out at the deer that was only about fifteen feet in front of him. The grey man raised the stone in his hand left and his combat knife in his right at the ready and pushed forward at the frightened deer, which spun around to try and run away from October. In response, Matthew leapt out from his hiding place with a stone in his own hand and a massive kukri in the other. The doe retaliated by rearing up to its hind hooves and struck Matthew atop his crown with fierce blows to the head that Matthew only returned in kind as he pounded to stone into the beasts neck, but unable to land a blow with his blade. Jason popped up from his position, only gaining the deer's attention as he hurled a stone square between the eyes of the creature, knocking its senses away. The doe stumbled a bit in pain and confusion before receiving a stone to the back of the head from Matthew, dropping it right where it stood.

"Well," said Matthew at he rubbed his head, "that was different. I kind of wish we had enough ammo for this though."

Jason kicked the dead doe in the shoulder and replied, "Eh, we'll make do with what we got," and then tossed his stone to the side.
Jason brought over a decent log for a cutting board and slipped in unto the dead doe's neck. Then Matthew wound back his left arm (he was left handed you see), and struck the deer, severing it's head from it's shoulders with his massive knife.

They got back to the cave and put the freshly skinned and gutted mule hanging on a spit over a fire. As they ate, they contemplated the idea to see if they could actually fly around tomorrow; see if they could scout the land.

"Well, being that this was the first time we actually flew with...natural wings, we're likely to be sore in the morning. Perhaps we should just scout the land on foot...or would it be hoof? It's going to take some time to get use to this," Jason said as he fiddled with his dog tags.

"True, but I definitely want to practice flight more often. It could seriously benefit us with...all this," said October as he looked back at his wings and ruffled his feathers, feeling the excitement rush back to him. He flapped his wings lightly and folded them behind him again.

"So, what specifically do we have planned for tomorrow, Matthew?" asked Jason with a mouth full of food, getting an amused chuckled from his brothers.

"Well, like I said, we should scout on the ground, and see what we can find. But be careful, because something might find us instead. Again, I have no idea where we are right now, so we don't know what's out there. If you come across a bear, at least we'll have a clue, but if you find a jaguar then...we're no where close to home."

"Right. Well, I'm, going to bed," said October as he tossed the thigh bone he had been munching on into the fire pit before climbed into one of the hammocks. Matthew and Jason, before turning in for the night, opted to put out the fire after finishing what they had left in their hands and proceeded to hang the deer as high as they could get it; Matthew using his wing to get up higher so that nothing could come steal it besides a few pesky birds, then they climbed into their respective hammocks, following suit with October.

Jason sighed as he turned over in his rough sleeping place and said, "Do you ever think about what would have happened if Ivanov signed the Pact?"

Matthew turned over as well as in thought. With a sigh, Matthew stretched his neck and replied, "Sometimes. But when I think about it, I think it actually would have turned out worse. You see, for the longest time now, Russia has pretty much just hated us. So, if Ivanov signed, perhaps Russia would have rebelled anyway and caused more havoc then what we already got. What do you think October?" Matthew asked as he craned his neck to look at his little brother.

October opened his eyes a bit before saying, "I don't. It never actually crossed my mind before. But maybe if he signed the Pact, dad would still be around." And with that, he clamped his eyes shut again and said, "Good night," with a tone that wouldn't be argued with.

Jason lay back in his hammock and bit the inside of his cheek before shutting his eyes to rest.

A Cry For Help

It had been about a week after the brothers ended up in this strange place and with that time they had figured out, what they considered to be, the basics of flight down. They had found many different creatures in the forest that ranged from wooden wolves, to hydras, to gigantic, purple bears. Needless to say, their first encounters with these oddities caused them a bit of a fright, though they soon learned how to fight them off, but more importantly, how to avoid them altogether. They had been having a great time just hanging out together, seeing as they never really had time for shenanigans in years. They were still depressed at the fact that they couldn't figure out what had happened to them or where they were, only leading to the thought that they would never see their friends or their mother again. It seemed to them that they were nowhere close to the war, or home for that matter, just based on the things that lived in the forest, not to mention the fact that they looked like mythical magical mashups, it would lead most to assume just as much.

At the moment, the brothers were playing a game of tag, though not by running around in the forest as most would, but in the air, flying between the trees and rushing over creeks. They seemed to never become weary of flying, mentally or physically. For some unknown - yet well received - reasons, they didn't get very sore after flying around, even if at all just a little sore. Their wings didn't seem to ware, which seemed rather bizarre given the fact that they had never used wing muscles before and they were very familiar with burning after a good work out.

October propelled himself about two hundred feet in the air or so to escape Jason's impressive agility. Right before he reached his peak he did a spiral, turning five times. Then he simply hovered there with soft flaps of his wings as he smiled smugly down at Jason, knowing that none of them had been that high before and that they were very wary of risking a slip up. He then looked around to enjoy the view when something on the horizon caught his attention as it glimmered in the light.

"Hey guys!" yelled October to his brothers down bellow, "you might want to see this."

"Are you nuts? Get down from there before you hurt yourself! You know how wind works, right?" Matthew yelled back.

"No, I'm serious!" retorted October.

"...Alright, we're coming!" Jason replied this time.

As the two slowly climbed up to October's level, Matthew asked, "So what is it you need us to see?"
October pointed directly on front of them and what they saw made their jaws drop. On the edge of the horizon stood what looked like a big, purple palace with a brilliantly shining star atop its golden crest. They gazed at it for a while in wonder and as it confirmed for them that there was indeed intelligent life in this wild land.

"So, you think it's worth a visit?" asked October, feeling a bit giddy at the prospect of new adventure.

"Hold on...did you hear that?" Matthew replied as he narrowed his eyes and swiveled to the right and left.

"Hear what?" inquired Jason, curious as to what got Matthew so sharp.

"Listen," Matthew whispered as they all strained their ears.
Then they heard it; a faint cry for help. They looked at each other for a moment, then on a silent agreement, the jetted off in the direction of the scream.

They heard it again, but this time, they heard more audibly spoken words..."Help, somepony help!"
It sounded like a British girl, but how would that be possible considering the fact that...oh never mind. Nothing made sense anymore. They began flying even faster until they came across something they had never expected to see. What they saw before them was a very small, white unicorn...yeah, unicorn - with a purple mane and tail about to be pounced upon by six of those strange wooden wolves as it threw what looked like many assortments of gemstones at them, which harmlessly bounced off of the bark-like skin of the hungry dogs. October notice the fear in the unicorn's eyes and it was a fear that he knew well - the fear of death.

They only took a split second to determine that the unicorn was the source of the distress call. As ludicrous as the entire situation seemed, the three brothers spared little time as they proceeded to dive bomb the wolves, hooves first. Three of the wolves were suddenly knocked across the clearing with a loud *CRACK!* followed by a ground shuddering *THUD!* of the brothers landing as three of the six wolves were splintered to pieces. The other three wolves looked toward the noise in confusion, but before any reaction time was given to them, they each got their own personal hooves to the face as well, caving each of their heads inward. The wolves yelped in pain as they tried in vain to shake the pain away. Matthew pounced upon his target and buried its face in the dirt as October held the jaws of his opponent open while twisting its neck in painful positions. Jason on the other hand, had his wolf immobilized as he drug it from the ground and into the air where he ascended until a drop would sentence it to death. The wolf writhed as it fell from its fifty foot drop and landed atop his ally that had readied itself to pounce upon October. Both quite literally snapped without another sound, though Matthew was still left fighting his own enemy. With a quick sweep of his hooves, the wolf was down on the ground and pinned by the weight of the man. Matthew drove his knee onto the dog's throat and put it down with its last few gurgling attempts to flee.

As all of this was happening, Rarity looked at these strange creatures that dived in to save her with fear in her heart and wonder in her eyes. They simply came in and tore the threat away - metaphorically and literally - as if they had practiced this many times before. Once the wolves were no more, the three turned their eyes to her and slowly walked forward with confusion evident in their eyes. They were at least six feet tall on average, but perhaps even taller, making them about the size of a minotaur, though not quite as broad as most minotaurs were. They stood a bit more than twice as tall as she was if she were to put her head up high, and even with her horn she only seemed to come up just about an inch bellow their waste line. They each stood on two hooves just as a minotaur would, with tattered camouflage pants draped down from their wastes. They also each had wings like a pegasus with their entire body covered in a cool shade of grey while also having thick, long, black manes tumbling from their heads. Their torso and arms looked much like that of a dragon or a minotaur as well, and they were each very bulky, making them a bit top-heavy and seemingly clumsy looking.

As the men approached the unicorn, October noticed that she (he assumed it was a she by the postures, gestures and style) was examining them. October backed his brothers off a bit so he could approach her alone so as to not overwhelm her. As he examined her closer, he noticed three diamonds on either of her flanks. "What have we here?" said October in a mumbled voice. When October spoke, the little equine jumped in surprise but then relaxed a little as she could see no ill intent in the creature's eyes.

"H-hello, m-my name is Rarity," the unicorn stammered.

October took a turn to be surprised along with his brothers, but quickly regained his composer, though with narrowed eyes. "Hello...I'm October. These are my brothers, Matthew and Jason. So, what are you doing out here them miss Rarity?" In him mind however, he thought more along these lines: Wait a minute...WHAT!? A talking little unicorn with a but tattoo and apparent fashion scene?...Well at least it's not a giant purple bear I suppose...

"I was collecting some gems for a new fashion line," Rarity said in a more relaxed tone. "I don't mean to be rude, but what are you. I have never seen creatures of your like before." October smiled because of the increasing absurdity of the situation.

"We're humans, ma'am! Er, anthro pegasi I guess, so I suppose that means we're only half humans now. But we're still human at heart!" Jason replied, making odd faced at the concept that still boggled him.

"What might a human be?" Rarity asked with a little more interest. "I believe I may have heard of them before.

October furrowed his eye brows and the other two exchanged glances of confusion before Jason piped up, saying, "Humans are another race of beings that look similar to us - they themselves being classified as Homo Sapiens - but with little to no fur but on their heads, no hooves, no wings, no horns - as I see you have, but they are typically about our size. So they basically look like...shaved apes...except...they're not."

"I see...Well it seems I have acquired all the gems needed, so I must be heading back before my friends get too worried about my absence. Thank you again for the help. I very well have died if not for you," Rarity beamed with a smile, still being a bit shaken by the event.

October looked back at Matthew, who whispered, "Maybe we should follow?"

"Uh, miss Rarity, would you mind if we escort you home. We wouldn't want you to get into more trouble," October asked her.

"You may simply call me Rarity, and yes you may also escort me home," she answered with a giggle. It wasn't every day a lady could say she was escorted home by three handsome, foreigners.

Not to long after they had begun their walk with Rarity, it had begun to grow dark and Rarity was looking worried. She was about to voice her worry to her new companions before Jason cut in first, saying, "Perhaps, if you don't mind, and if you could point me in the right direction, we could fly you home?" suggested Jason. As for one he knew it would be faster and he really wanted to fly again.

Rarity bit her lip in thought. "Well, I'm not much of a flier-" she was cut off but a long, spine chilling howl that cut through the night and its shivering winds. She suddenly zipped up to Jason, hugging his right leg tightly. "Okay! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" she pleaded.

Jason chuckled at her antics as he picked her up in his arms and gently rose from the ground. Rarity held onto him for dear life while October and Matthew rose from the ground as well and followed Jason at an easy pace with Rarity pointed the way home.

The sun was down and the moon was up with thousands of twinkling stars to contest its brilliance. Everyone was in bed when they arrived in a good sized, very colorful town where Rarity apparently lived. They touched down and walked with her to the edge of the town.

"Well we had better head back; nice to meet you Rarity," Matthew said as they all turned to leave.

"Now wait just a minute. You can't go back into that dreadful forest, especially at this time off night. In fact I will let you stay at my place," Rarity beamed at them.

"That might not be a good idea Rarity. Besides we wouldn't want to impose and furthermore, cause a rumpus in town. Perhaps later though?" replied October.

"Oh nonsense - you simply must. After all you saved my life; this is the least I can do to return the favor."

October looked back his brothers, who thought for a bit before nodding at him. With a bit of a sigh, October replied and said, "Alright, we'll stay."

Rarity squealed in delight while clapping her hooves together. They made their way through a silent town to what seemed to be a clothing store. Jason opened the door and motioned for Rarity to enter first.

"Well well, what a gentlecolt," she said with a smirk before entering, leaving Jason confused at her grammar usage. The other three entered after her, October giving a light punch to Jason's shoulder to give him the hint. They took a look around the room, and the first thing they noticed was...it was a mess. Now, it wasn't that there were things all over the floor or that the carpet was spotted and soiled. On the contrary, it was hygienically quite clean - there wasn't even a spec of dust around. However, there were clothes, folded or not, put all over the place, a table with pins and needles, cloth, and other strange sewing items surrounding a sewing machine. In other words, there were just lots of misplaced items.

"Forgive me for the mess, darlings. I've simply been quite the busy pony around here lately," said Rarity rather sheepishly as the many things that littered the floor and desks were picked up by a light blue aura.

"That's quite alright Rarity, we could never stay very tidy either," replied Matthew with a chuckle as he hid his confusion as to what was happening with the items around the room, seeing them floating all over the place.

He wasn't the only one confused though, as October and Jason both looked a little shocked and confused at the sight of cloth floating about.

"Speaking of not very tidy," replied Rarity as she looked at the brothers’ attire with a sour face. "I think I'll have to make up some new clothes for you three tomorrow. I can't stand to see anypony in such dreadful apparel."

"Rarity, you really don't have to," Matthew piped up.

"Come now, you did save my life and I would be more than happy to help," Rarity rebutted.

"Even so, what of the cost, would we have to-" October began before being cut of by Rarity.

"Tut, tut. Not another word, young stallion. I won't hear any complaints about such things in my house. You don't owe me a thing, after all, it is I that owe you."

"Okay...if you insist, Miss Rarity, but just shorts would be fine for each of us I would think," Jason said with a smile as his brother nodded in agreement.

Rarity lead them to the guest room which only had one bed with many, many pillows. "You can make a bed on the floor with the pillows if you like. Sorry for the lack of preparation for guests, but I hope you can make it comfortable. Well I shall be off to bed now. Good night, and see you tomorrow," said Rarity as she closed the door behind her.

"So," began Jason once Rarity was gone, "a talking unicorn, huh?"

At that simple question, the three burst out laughing. Never had they seen something so odd and unlikely, but now that it was reality to them, there was nothing more to do about it than laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Huh..eheh...anyway, you think we should get our things tomorrow and come back?" asked October, still chuckling.

"Yes, but we should tell Rarity first that we have things back in the forest that we need," replied Matthew.

"Sounds like a plan," said Jason with a last light chuckle. "So, October, I suppose you can take the bed and we'll be on the floor."

Without hesitation, October collapsed on the bed just as Matthew and Jason wrenched some pillows out from under him. October groaned in protest, making his brothers chuckle at his expense.

"Well, good night," said Jason as he threw a pillow at October, who decided to block it with his face.

As October drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but to think of his mother and how much she must miss her sons, as for one, they had been at war for the past five years with little to no contact, and now they were more than likely reported to be dead on the field. The last thing he heard was the front door opening and closing before he slipped off to dream land.

October stood in the middle of a barren desert, with nothing but flat sand for as far as the eye could see. Not even a hill or a cactus was visible. The sun was hammering down on his back while the wind ruthlessly tore at his skin and eyes. Then he hear a powerful voice seeming to come from everywhere saying, 'You may have defeated me once before little princess, but this time, I will not fail.' Then everything began to shake as a crack formed in the sand only ten feet from him as fire erupted from it.

Three and Six

October woke up to Jason shaking his shoulder. "Bro, get up. We need to head back and get our things," whispered Jason.

"Alright, alright, I'm up, I'm up," October mumbled with a disgruntled moan as he threw the pillows off of him.

October looked out of the window to see that the sun hadn't quite even risen above the horizon yet, which was certainly usual for him at this point to wake up at such a time, even if someone still had to get him up. He got out of bed, feeling a bit groggy from the dream. It seemed so real to him, yet it was just a dream.

"I'm going to tell Rarity that we'll be getting our things, alright?" said Jason in a hushed tone.

"Alright, let's just hurry up before the entire town is out and about," replied October as he stood to stretch the sleep from his body. Jason nodded quickly before quietly leaving the room to head upstairs to Rarity's door.

Jason came back down about a minute later and joined his brothers, who were waiting at the door. He gave them the go, and Matthew peeked out the door, looking this way and that to make sure that they wouldn't be seen. Matthew gave the all clear and they exited the building with little to no noise. Almost as soon as the door was closed the three of them shot into the air, kicking up silent dust behind them with a powerful rush of wind. Jason led the way back as he had a better memory that the other two and he had been the one to better scout around there shelter, so if anything looked familiar, he would know.

They arrived at the cave within the span five minutes or so and quickly gathered their respective gear. Matthew took up his Mini 14 Ruger, Jason, his KRISS Vector, and October pick up his m134 Minigun...yes, he had a Minigun. October hastily stuffed his tripod in his backpack, though his ammo bucket wouldn't fit. October looked to his left to see Matthew and Jason putting away their dog tags and preparing to leave. He fingered his own tags a bit as memories came back to him before he too took them off and put them in a side pouch before joining his brothers. They carried their backpacks on their bellies, seeing as how it would prevent them from flying otherwise, and rocketed back to town in as short amount of time as possible

They arrive back at the Boutique only three minutes later. Regardless of their weaponry weighing them down a bit, the town was clear ahead of them, whereas their cave was harder to find in all the trees. There still wasn't anyone out at the time, so they had minimal difficulty heading into town, though they did make a bit of noise with all the equipment they carried with them.

As they entered the Boutique, they smelled something burning. October handed his things to Matthew before he headed to the kitchen where the smell originated from to find a little, white, unicorn filly with a pink and purple striped mane and tail attempting to cook what he assumed was breakfast. He also noticed that whatever she was cooking was indeed on fire and was catching onto several nearby objects.

In that split second, October clapped his wings together in front of him, creating a powerful gust of wind that put the fire out and knocked the filly on her rump. The little filly looked around in confusion until her eyes rested on October. She began to hyperventilate and was about ready to scream before October crouched down a bit and held out a hand.

"Shhhhh, it's ok. Rarity is letting us stay. You don't need to scream," October said in a soothing tone, just assuming that the pieces would fall into place for her.

The filly calmed down at the mention of Rarity's name and began to take several, large, calming breaths. "O-okay. So who are you then, and what do you mean 'we'?" asked the filly, still evidently in a bit of a fright.

"My name is October. I have my two older brothers with me: Matthew and Jason. They're in the other room. So what's your name if I might ask?"

"My name is Sweetie Belle. I'm Rarity's little sister. You know, you look kind of like a pegasus, but different." Sweetie Belle said with a new found curiosity that dashed away any fright she may have still had.

"So I've been told. Say, you need some help cooking breakfast there, Sweetie Belle?" asked October, looking at the charcoal that sat in the pan

"Yeah, I guess I do." she replied with a bit of a huff. "I was going to try and surprise Rarity by making her breakfast again, but it turned out pretty bad."

"So, what's burning?" asked Jason as he and Matthew walked into the room. "Oh, hello there," said Jason with a bit of surprise at seeing the little one.

"Matthew, Jason, this is Sweetie Belle; Rarity's sister. Sweetie Belle, these are my brothers; Matthew and Jason. So as I was saying before, what were you cooking?" asked October.

"Pancakes," Sweetie replied as she too took a gander at what remained of her cooking. "Or at least, that's what it was supposed to be."

"Pancakes huh? I can help with that," said October as he began grabbing ingredients from various places that Sweetie directed him to and put it all in a large bowl.

Rarity came down stairs a a few hours later to find the brothers and Sweetie Belle sitting around the dining table eating pancakes.
"Well, well. Look who's finally up. We made some pancakes for you." said October as he high fived/hoofed Sweetie Belle, who seemed rather proud of the pancakes that lay on the plates.

"Well thank you. I see you've got your things," said Rarity, looking at the Army gear with interest and confusion as she sat down around the table. "After I make some new clothes for you three, I had in mind to show you around town - if you don't mind that of course," she continued as she took her gaze away from their firearms.

"Um, Rarity?" asked Matthew, "are you sure that's a good idea. Keep in mind that - according to you and Sweetie at least - our likes have never been seen before." Which isn't all too surprising. Matthew thought to himself.

"Oh don't make such fuss about it. You're sure to get a welcome party," said Rarity with a knowing smile, which made the three brothers give Rarity some skeptical looks.

Sweetie Belle walked back into the main room of the shop after having insisted that she took care of the dishes. Though Rarity was rather hesitant to leave the girl alone for too long with fragile pieces of porcelain, it did give her the time she needed to make the clothes she promised the three brothers. Within a matter of minutes, the seamstress had measured, shaped, cut, and sewn three pairs of shorts with a lace on the inside to secure them to the waste. Rarity's work was amazing. She crafted simple, grey shorts for each of them to match their new fur by request, but regardless of the 'dull color' as it Rarity put it, it was still amazing. The fabric for one felt softer than silk, though it was still thick yet surprisingly breathable. You could barely see the seams without squinting but they were still there nonetheless and made very sturdily.

"Well, now that you are dressed...semi-appropriately, let's take a tour of the town. I still can't believe you picked the grey though. Such a dull color," remarked Rarity once again.

October rolled his eyes with a smile at her words. Having only known her for less than a day, she was apparently quite a generous girl with a knack for being ever so complimentary, and to further it all, she was already getting them a tour of her home town. This behavior seemed strange compared to anything the brothers would have considered usual back home, but they were certainly not ones to complain about such hospitality.

They headed out the door with Sweetie waving them off to keep watch on the boutique not knowing what exactly to expect from the townsfolk and all, but what happened almost as soon as the four of them stooped out from the shop was precisely what they had anticipated. Practically half the town stopped what they were doing and stared at the three big, muscled beasts that loomed over their local seamstress.

"Don't worry everypony, they're new here as you may have noticed. There’s nothing here to worry about at all," Rarity announced and, to the brother's surprise, most of them went back to their daily lives as if nothing happened, though, many of them did however give the brother a few more sideways glances of curiosity as was expected.

They walked through the town to the big purple castle that appeared to be made of crystal. This was the same castle, as October noted, that they had spotted the other day in the distance with its massive lavender walls, golden crown and shining star.

"I told my friends before I went off to bed that we would meet here today, which was...actually after I said I would be going to bed, but it was important enough," Rarity stated as the four of them walked through the massive doors, concluding October's thoughts as to why she would have slept in so late as well as someone going through the front door the previous night. They went down several long hallways and up a flight of stairs, and then through another massive doorway, entering into a room with six large - what appeared to be thrones - and one small seat located in the center of the room surrounding a circular table. It was rather curious, because from standing outside the castle it seemed that something of this magnitude would never be able to fit in a structure so small. Not regarding this however, October brought his attention to the center of the room. There were five ponies sitting on five of the thrones, while there was a small green and purple dragon sitting in the small seat, leaving only one seat empty. Rarity jumped up into this seat and looked at each of her friends.

"Matthew, Jason, October, these are my friends: Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Girls, this is Matthew, Jason, and October," Rarity said in introduction.

There were 'Hello's' 'Hi's' and a 'Howdy' from the throng of mares while the brothers greeted them in a likewise manner.

After being personally introduced, having a bit told about each of the mares, brewing some tea for all to enjoy, (Rarity's idea), and having a Pink Party Pony's mouth magically zipped shut, Twilight brought to the floor her first question. "What are you, if I might ask?"

"Well," Jason began, "according to the mythological beliefs of the Ancient Greeks - and although it would seem to me physically impossible to be so - as I have indeed stated before, we are anthro pegasi; the term meaning literally from the Greek: Anthropo-Pegasos; Human-Pegasus, or, perhaps if you prefer, half human and half pegasus. These days however, we like to refer to the Latin in our language, but Greek terms still stuck...that and they're more original."

Most of the occupants of the room gave Jason blank stares, leaving only the sound of a spit-take.

Twilight, being the one to spit out her tea, had an interjection to make. "What! Humans! Pegasi! Humans are mere fairy tales and myths to keep foal from misbehaving! Even if they do exist, their genetic code would have be so drastically different from a pegasus that it would be a simple impossibility for there to be a hybrid between the two!...Oh, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to explode like that," Twilight said when she saw all the eyes in the room on her.

"That...is pretty much what 'Mister Science' just explained...just...with different words. I still am not entirely sure what happened to us or why," replied Matthew after Twilight had calmed herself. "We've been here for about a week or so. Before we arrived, we were just normal looking humans, but we were dragged through - or more like sucked in - what now seems to have been, some sort of wormhole when we had a bomb dropped on us in battle."

This brought up a few more questions that Twilight didn't hesitate to ask with narrowed eyes. "In battle? So are you three some sort of Royal Guard, and what's a bomb?"

This time October decided to step in - him being the one well versed in his weaponry. "You could say that we are a form of guardians, but to be more precise we're soldiers. And a bomb is a device that uses solid flammables inside a large, metal, aerodynamic, container that is dropped from above the enemy. On impact, it will light the flammable substance, creating pressure inside the container. The pressure becomes so immense that it can't be held anymore and forces the container to break open and fly apart. What this does is it sends small fragments of metal flying everywhere, killing anyone or anything that happens to be nearby. If not delivering fatal damage, it will at least cause a significant enough damage to move some enemy soldiers out of the fight, even if just temporarily."

"That's...well, amazing," Twilight responded with an astonished tone, yet, a bit horrified, "But how would you get 'sucked in' if the purpose is to explode?"

"That's just it. Somehow, our enemy had the ingenuity to create this 'implosion bomb'; although how it works is beyond me," Matthew chimed with Jason and October nodding in agreement.

"Hmm. It's still just so amazing to know that humans truly do exist. The Princesses of course will need to hear of this. Um, Jason? You said something about...Greeks and Latin? What are those?

"Ah, yes well, the Greeks are just another kind of humans. The ancient Greek people, from whom we get many of our English terms, lived hundreds of years ago. They were a people obsessed with theories, science, and philosophy." Twilight perked up a bit at this information as Jason continued to speak. "They lifetime of the ancient Greeks had effected many nations around them in ways such as beliefs, habits, lifestyle, and language. As for Latin; that's the name for the language that the Romans usually used. Romans lived in a City called Rome, of course, which is located in a country called Italy. Not everyone in one, single country spoke the same language however, as the Romans spoke their language: Latin, with many other dialects spoken throughout Italy. Just as the Greeks (who the Romans conquered I might add), they have also effected the world around them. The language that we use is mostly influenced by the Latin language, which by the way is where we get the word 'Anthropomorphic', meaning 'half Man form'."

Twilight was delighted to say the least to be speaking with one who had an extensive knowledge of history and science to share who could speak so fluently with it. "I've also noticed your terms are different from some of ours, for example: somepony, nopony, and you say somebody, or nobody."

"Yes. For one, this is obviously a different planet (or so it would seem unless we it is proven otherwise) with the dominant species being a type of equine and if I had to guess, I'd say your species are called...Equidae Caballus? so I suppose using the terms you use makes sense. We, on the other hand, are of the species of the Homo Sapiens, the dominant species of not only our home planet Earth, but also of the universe. The term we use: somebody, nobody, everybody, each have the word 'body', implying not only humans, but any other type of being. We do use terms with the word 'one' attached as well. For example, to take the words I used before, we say: someone, no one, everyone. So it's just a general word for 'people'."

"You're actually quite close for guessing our species, but the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies make up the Equus Caballus, not Equidae. I can see why you would have concluded to that though. Anyway, you say your kind is the dominant species of the universe. What makes you think so highly of yourself?"

This time October stepped in, putting a little pride in his words. "We know this because we are for cleverer than other beings, hence our technology advancement, and we were created in the image of the one who created the universe itself. Actually - to be completely honest - humans even challenge Him at one point. Of course we lost, but that's what humans will do sometimes. We are the smartest beings to exist, but we can be so stupid sometimes. And this I say on the basis of documents written about our histories, not by my own witnessing of course."

"Wow," respond Twilight, hiding her great level of surprise, "pretty audacious, aren't you? Challenging Adonai Himself?"
Matthew tilted his head and craned his neck back a bit in surprise. "Adonai? First of all, you know who He is? Second, why do you have Hebrew words in this world?"

Twilight took her turn to be surprised and said, "Well, firstly, yes, we know. It's no mystery to me who He is, though many ponies deny His existence all together. Also, I don't know what Hebrew is, that's just older Equestrian. Some words just haven't changed with time. What do you call Him?"

"We simply refer to him as God," Matthew stated, getting a bit of a shelved lip from Twilight as she thought.

They spoke more in depth for some time of what each of them did, some Equestrian history, which Twilight took the liberty to tell them just about everything she knew, while only Jason really gave his full attention. They talked mostly of Earth, the current situation it was in, and the most recent events to have taken place in Equestria. Twilight had even decided to set a scheduled to have a meeting with the Princesses in Canterlot the day after the next in fact, with a detailed letter for how important it seemed to her that they arrange a meeting for them.

Pinkie Pie was constantly peppering questions about what they liked to eat because she was going to throw them the 'biggest-most-fantastic-delicious-super-duper-Welcome-To-Ponyville-Party'...ever.

October smiled as the hyperactive ball of fluff crawled all over him with her question. She suddenly went silent and backed away from him. To this they all frowned while Applejack asked, "Pinkie, what's the matter?"

"Carnivores?" she practically whispered with what almost sounded like spite rather than fear. All eyes turned to the three brothers.

"D-do you eat meat?" asked Twilight with a bit of concern in her voice, having herself never had a good time with meat-eaters other than Applejack's dog.

"Well yes..." Matthew began before he was interrupted by Rarity fainting and Twilight throwing up on the floor. Fluttershy jumped to help the ill feeling alicorn while Rainbow and Applejack were looking a bit queasy. Pinkie on the other hand simply shivered a bit as she tried to take her mind off of the prospect so as to keep her infectious smile.

"Whoa, okay, we aren't going to eat any of you. I mean come on. We may be brutal and ruthless but we have rules. Don't eat things that can talk back...unless it's a parrot," October said with a bit of a laugh in his voice.

"Actually, not only are we meat eaters, but we are also capable of consuming many types of plant matter as well, making us not simply carnivores, but omnivores," Jason said in hopes to cheer them up a bit, which it did.

"I'm so sorry about this," Fluttershy apologized for her friend as Twilight still looking a bit green while the yellow mare rushed off to get the mess cleaned up. Rarity on the other hand was being attended to by Spike as she hadn't recovered. Things were a little hectic after that.

It took about an hour for the dust to settle again. Twilight explained that meat-eaters were often very hostile and also gross. It wasn't just the fact that they ate meat that displeased her, but her experience with a griffin. As she explained it, watching a poor sheep getting devoured scarred her for life.

After some time had passed,Twilight looked out of one of her massive windows and just then realized how late it was. "Okay everypony, I think it's time to get to bed. Matthew, Jason, October, it was an honor to meet you - even if we didn't take you dietary needs too well."

The throng left the castle while the three brothers followed Rarity back to the Boutique where they promptly collapsed in the guest room.

"Uuuuuuugh! I can't believe that took all day," October said with a bit of exasperation.

"I rather enjoyed it myself. I don't get the opportunity to converse with one of such high intellect very often you know," Jason said happily.

October turned to face Jason, "Are you saying I'm not smart?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Jason immediately received a well aimed pillow to the face. Jason caught the pillow, though not before it hit him and threw it back at his little brother. The fight only escalated from there as pillow after pillow was sent sailing across the room until they were all laughing at their own silliness. Now being tired out from their horse play, they each snuggled into their respective places and swam off to blissful unconsciousness.

October stood with his hooves planted in the hot, desert sand once again. The wind whipping at his eyes and skin as he strained his eyes only to see that there was nothing in sight but sand, not helped by the fact that it was also rather dark this time. The ground then shook with a might tremor as the monstrous crack in the ground that he had seen the night before widened, spitting flames as it did so. A hand reached out of the crack, clawing at the sand and holding on to the ledge with a fierce hold. Then a deep, rumbling voice with the purest of evil boomed from everywhere.

‘I will find you.’

Party Pooper

POOF! October woke up to a pillow in the face. He looked at Jason, who smirked at him mischievously. October knew that smile. It meant it was time for them to do drills. A grueling full two hours of pure hardcore training agony. They had to do this in order to always stay fit and ready. Why the smile on Jason's face? Everyone knew that, even although he was strong, October...hated...drills. And at four in the morning no less.

"October, time to get up," Jason teased, getting a groan from his little brother.

October was introduced to another pillow, this one being a bit less friendly than the last. "Alright, I'm up! Jeez," October grumbled. He stood from his bed and stretched, though he let his wings drag on the floor as he felt far too tired to pick them up at the moment.

"Cheer up bro. At least flying is part of our training sessions now," Matthew said in hopes to get the grump out of him.

October heaved a sigh, picked up his wings, ruffled his feathers and folded them back up. They headed out side and behind the Boutique, so as to hopefully not disturb anyone that may have been out.

Drill One: Push-ups

The three brothers dropped down and simultaneously began the first drill. Ten...twenty...thirty...forty...fifty...sixty...seventy...eighty...ninety...one hundred - each popped tall at the call of one hundred.

Drill Two: Hindu Squats

Ten...twenty...thirty...forty...fifty...sixty...seventy...eighty...ninety...one hundred squats.

Drill Five: Six Inches

Each brother laid themselves on the ground with their hands under their bums for support and popped the feet...hooves...up six inches off the deck, laying there for about the next half hour. In Octobers opinion, that was the worst exersice ever...aside from cleans of course.

Drill Four: Load

The brothers found themselves a ten foot long, one and a half foot wide log to use for this drill. This work out was particularly challenging in its own way; because if one was out of sync with the others, it could cause the entire thing to run a muck, usually ending with October face down in the dirt with a log on his back.

They heaved the log up to their chests and began to jog to the edge of the forest and back five times. When done with those rounds, they stood in a line - one brother behind the other - and lifted the log to their right shoulders. They pressed it up and over their heads and brought it down to their left shoulder and alternated, and continued this for about ten minutes.

Drill Five: Flight

They drew a starting line at the edge of town and made a turn around point at the peak of the castle. Matthew signaled the go, and immediately they shot off in a cloud of dust. Ten times around the track they went before landing back at the starting line. That was when October noticed a small crowd of early risers forming to watch them. October chuckled and subtly pointed it out to Matthew and Jason, who chuckled to themselves as well.

They continued to do these drills in rounds and several more over, and over, and over again until it was the times when the sun rose up. By that time many ponies had gathered round about to see the spectacle of the three.

The ponies that watched these three from a fair distance began to mummer among themselves. What the brothers were doing wasn't altogether immensely impressive, but it defiantly showed their strength as a team with some of the things they did. But one particular rainbow maned mare stood out in the crowd with her face scrunched in thought.

Rainbow Dash had been sitting there, watching these three brothers do drill, after drill, after drill, while they were dripping with sweat and yet pushing through like there was no tomorrow. Of course, her pride wouldn't allow her to admit it but, they were showing themselves to be far stronger and tougher than she. She was amazed at how long they could keep this up, seeing as the Royal Guard never even trained this intensely. To put another paper on the stack, their wings were gigantic; far larger than even Celestia's. Nopony had wings of that size. There was something about October though that stuck out at her; something unnerved her for some reason, but she just couldn't put her hoof down as to what it was. So far as to what she had seen of him, October was a pretty cool guy, but there was something off about him -
she could feel it.

Rarity had finally woken up from her sleep and left to see about the party that was to be held in the castle. This was the first time that a party was to be held there, which made everypony that much more exited - and Pinkie Pie in particular, who had used up almost every bit of her time to dedicate her effort into this party.

Applejack busied herself to ask the Iron brothers if they could help Big Mac at Sweet Apple Acres to give them a good distraction for a while (though she never hinted to them about a distraction), seeing as how there were plenty of trees to buck and that she was to be helping with the party as well and the brothers couldn't be around while the party was in preparation, now could they?

At arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, the brothers were introduced to Big Macintosh, Applebloom, Granny Smith and a little hyperactive border collie with the name of Winona. Big Mac instructed them to the trees that needed bucking first and showed them how it was done. Mac gave a mighty kick to the trunk of an apple tree, causing each of the apples to fall and land into there respective buckets that were placed under said tree with acute accuracy. Jason wondered at the skill and years in practice it must have taken to be able to know just where the buckets should be under the trees as he watched Mac slam his hooves into the tree trunk.

They went over to the next tree, this one being for October to try. Although the man was used to picking apples rather than bucking a tree for them, he lifted his right hoof - more or less as was demonstrated by Mac, and gave it his strongest hip shot kick. The kick not only got the apples out of the tree, but left a large, deep hoof print in the trunk.

Mac looked at him with wide eyes for a solid five seconds before saying, "Maybe a little softer would do ya just fine. Don't want ya to be hurting our trees, now would we?" He began to chuckle a bit as they headed for the next tree nearest them. Jason quickly learned the method Mac used to catch the apples just right as he had observed Mac placing them. There was a small ring of buckets put under any general large grouping of apples, while there was another ring outside of that with buckets all snugged up to each other to catch any apples that strayed too far. Even after several tried however, Mac still had to arrange the buckets himself, seeing as how he had more practice with it and they couldn't afford to be wasting apples.

With four hundred sixty-three apple trees thoroughly bucked and at least five times as many full buckets, the sun was nearing the horizon, signaling for Mac that it was time to show the brothers to their the big party.

"Alrighty y'all," Mac announced with a satisfied nod at the brothers labor. "Thank ya for the help. I really appreciate the time and effort you've given so, this is yours." Mac hoofed three bags of many - what were called 'bits' to each of them. "We best be getting you three back to town now. Come on."

"Thank you very much, Mac. We really weren't expecting pay," said Jason as he uncinched the bag to look at the pieces of gold that the bag held

"Well, I would never work nopony for free," replied Mac as if it should be obvious as he began to walk towards Ponyville with the brothers in tow.

The walk to town was quiet, as they simply took in the scenery. Jason took notice of the obvious lack of occupants, prodding the question out of his mouth, "Where is everybody."

Mac took a second to register the difference in his grammar before looking around and gave him a well faced 'I-don't-know' look.

Jason didn't let the thought go as he thought of what Rarity had said about a welcome party...oh, duh, Jason thought to himself as he smiled at the townsfolk's lack of cover up skills.

October on the other hand was still spacing off, thinking of how cool it would be to get some horse shoes, not even noticing the fact that there was no one around town. They arrived at Rarity's Boutique, but to his confusion, they continued onward toward Twilight's castle. "Uuuh, Mac?", October piped up. Macintosh looked back, but before October could speak, he caught out of the corner of his eye Jason giving him the 'I-know-what's-going-on-and-you-don't' look, shutting Octobers mouth. He hated it when Jason was so observant sometimes.

They stopped at the door of the castle. October didn't understand way they were there and not a Rarity's, but he was about to find out.

"Do we have a spontaneous meeting with Twilight or something?" October asked Mac.

"Eyeup," replied Mac with a small smirk. That's when it bowled over October that the town was eerily quiet - as if a bomber had just flown overhead.

Mac opened the door to relieve the dark entrance hallway of the caslte to the outside light, though it still gave little illumination. The four walked inside as Mac closed the door behind them, cutting off all light that was previously available. They waited for a solid ten seconds before they were suddenly assaulted by light, and a very loud, "SURPRISE!"

October blinked a few times to adjust to the light before he looked around the main hallway to see that the entire town was there. Pinkie had even put up a 'Welcome To Ponyville' banner with streamers hanging off of it. So, very, cheesy...I like it., October thought to himself. There was suddenly a loud thunder to the right of him, causing his entire body to freeze up as he clenched his eyes and grit his teeth. There was only one device he knew of that made a bang quite like that. However, he slowly opened his eyes and turned right to what he believed was a mortar cannon, but what he saw was not quite that. With a blue tinted cast of what could have been carbon steel and a ten inch, smooth bore, Pinkie had fired off her famous party cannon - one of her signature belongings.

October, hoping no one had taken notice of his freight, played the noise of the cannon over and over again, determining to have the sound ingrained in his mind. As he thought about it within a matter of seconds, October thought to himself, The noise was far too hollow to be a mortar, so seeing now that it's a party cannon makes more sense. Hm. Actually, I don't think that's steel. It looks more like aluminum. But if they know how to purify the bauxite, then what else can they do that I don't give them credit for?

While October was not the most intellectual of minds, he made it his business to analyze anything that may be even remotely threatening and determine it's content. He was a survivalist that way. Needless to say, the fact that they have methods for electrolysis put him off, especial given the Medieval European style of everything - brick housing, thatched roofing, bladed weapons of combat for their military, etc. Though perhaps they never really developed the technology, but rather used magic by some means for the process. He thought as his mind trailed of to Twilight's magic demonstrations.

October was shaken from his thoughts as Jason's shoulder lightly brushed against his as he walked by. Jason had seen within that short moment that October was almost panicking and so gave him a subtle reminder to focus on the world around him. The brothers proceeded to walk down through the throng of ponies, being introduced to many of them by who else but the one and only Pink Pony of Parties herself. There was Colgate, Readheart, Clean Cut, Roseluck, Derpy Hooves, Time Turner, Cherilee, Carrot Top and so on and so forth down the line of ponies. There was one pony however, that seemed to be trying desperately to get their attention. October took notice of the sea foam green unicorn, towing along with her a peach colored earth pony with a pink and purple curled mane. She and her friend eventually made their way through the crowd to where the three were standing.

"Hello my name's Lyra and this is my friend Bonbon!" said the little unicorn with a very high pitched squeak. "Oh, sorry. Let me try again," she said in an attempt to correct her manners. "My name is Lyra Heartstrings and I'm Ponyville's local anthropologist. I've been fascinated with the legends of humanity all of my life and...oh sweet Celestia...hands!" she almost screamed.

"Uh, yeah. Lyra, for as long as I've known her, has had her muzzle poking through human mythology. She was ridiculed sometimes for her claims that humans were in fact real and that they made metal birds because they had no wings or that they had no magic...and some other odd things. Anyway, it's an honor to meet you three," Bonbon said for Lyra, who at this point was practically drooling over October's hands. "As for her thing with hands, she says they are the ultimate tool for acting upon the ingenuity of imagination, so there's that." Bonbon continued as she prodded Lyra's cheek a bit, trying to get her attention.

October reached out his hand to Bonbon in greeting, saying, "Nice to meet you Bonbon, and you as well Lyra. My name is October."

Lyra still had her eyes glued to his hand, watching every movement as she became entranced by the way the fingers moved in fluent waves and ripples. She suddenly shook her head with realization before too taking his hand with a firm shake.

"Uhh, Red?" Matthew put in. October inwardly cringed a bit at the name, as he didn't except it, yet managed to smile at the memories of 'earning' it.

"Sorry, these are my brothers, Matthew, and Jason," October said as he introduced them to Heartstrings.

"I'm sooooo happy to have met you three! It's just that everypony thought that I was crazy for thinking that humans could possibly existed and yet here you are! Excuse me, I have some gloating to do. It was wonderful meeting you three!" And with that Lyra skipped off, Bonbon following with a smile and a roll of her eyes.

The three brothers laughed as Heartstrings skipped off with Bonbon before being interrupted by a shout.

"TOOOOOOOOBYYYYYYYYYY!"

"Toby?" October inquired right before a mass of pink hyperactiveness covered his vision. October was tackled to the floor before he could move out of the way of the pink missile that he saw flash in the corner of his eye. Being hit before he could move was really not something he was used to, though that hardly mattered at the moment, seeing as he was being put into a vice-like hug by Pinkie. "Guys...a little...help," he managed out as he kept his breath in. Pinkie was surprisingly strong for her delicate looking frame. His brothers helped him up and tried to pry the girl off of their brother, only to be tackled themselves. "Matthew, Jason, I'm soooooo happy you all made it!" Pinkie shrieked with excitement.

"Likewise," Jason wheezed. "How come Red gets a new nickname? What about us?" he jokingly whined with a smile.

"Red?" Pinkie asked. Jason pointed to October, who was raising an eyebrow at his famed name, having not been called that for some time. "Oooooooh. Well ya see, I came up with Toby because October takes to long to say, so I just took the -tober part and turned it into Toby. But I can't think of something good for you two unless I called you Matty and Jasey, but that's just silly 'cause nopony says that." Then with a bound she was off again and said, "Berry Punch is calling for some sugar. Be right back!"

October found a chair to sit down in as he rolled over some thoughts in his mind. Last time someone actually took the time to throw a party for him was on his seventeenth birthday. April worked so hard to--Rrr! Can't be thinking about that.

"Hey," Matthew said as he place a gentle hand on October's shoulder. "April's fine. Heck of a lot better than we ever are right now."

"Do you have to constantly monitor me like that? I don't really like that 'mind reading' thing you do," October replied as he brushed Matthew's hand off, "First of all, your constant watching is sort of creepy. Second, I'm not a baby. I can watch myself. You of all people should know."

That being said October walked off in a huff. "Red, come on. He means well and you know it," Jason said as he walked up to him.

"Do you have to call me that?" October said as he whipped around, trying to control his emotions. When October got a little fumed, he was prone to stay that way for a while and his brothers only seemed to be fueling the fire.

"First off, you earned it. It may not come with the best memories but still, you earned it. Secondly, getting mad at welcoming party over something like this won't leave a good impression. Control your anger," Matthew rebutted

October sighed deeply as he relented his anger. " Yeah, alright."

"Now, what about that party. Bet you can't eat as much pie as I can," Jason said as he nudged October in the ribs, putting a smile on his little brother's face.

"Yeah right. Last time you tried to eat half as much as me, you nearly threw up," October replied with an evil smirk.

"Chicken?" Jason prodded back.

"Ohohho! Your goin' down boy."

"Watch who your calling 'boy' boy."

And with that they were off in a flash to the pie eating competition.

Everything was cold and yet, at the same time, blistering hot. The surrounding air was unbearably humid and like that of a thick, black fog. Here there was only pain and suffering for eternity. Most had given up all hope of escaping this hell, but the few that persisted were always found out and brought back in to be tortured. One, however, found the will to stand with all odds against him.

You might have defeated me once before little princess, but this time, I will not fail. Tirek thought to himself as he slammed his claws into the stone wall.

When Tirek was sent back to Tartarus, he of course lost all the power he gained...again. However, even with the very few magical creatures that ended up here, from them he was able to at least gain a bit of his former power.

Tirek climbed the side of a cliff that seemingly lead up to nothing but more cliff being shrouded in the darkness. After what seemed like hours, he finally reached a red, stone ceiling. According to his calculations, the next rift between Hell and Equestria should be about right here. With a mighty heave and a magic powered blow, Tirek cracked the ceiling above him. Several minutes of punching stone revealed light from above. Tirek drove his fist into the crack once more, making it big enough for him to put his hand through. He reached out to the top of the hole to feel hot sand beneath his claws. Just as he began to pull himself out with what he thought to be victory, he hear laughing from below. "You really believed that you could evade me, Tirek?"

The demon turned to see a misshaped figure dressed in black robes, hovering with massive, red, leathery wings. Satan, the supposed King of Hell himself, or formerly know as Lucifer. His name, 'Lucifer' , as unfitting for him as it was, meant 'Wielder of Light'. His new name however meant 'The Accuser', which suited him well. In one of his claw like hands he held a double bladed sword, the back side of which was crafted of steaming ice and the front of the blade was made from fire that rolled and licked along the length of the weapon as it hungered for flesh.

"You will not stop me, Lucifer," Tirek snarled as he looked at Satan with vengeful hatred.

"I'm so sorry, but Lucifer is not here. Don't you realize who your talking to?" Satan retorted with a smirk as his light, British accent flowed from his tongue like oil, though it carried the painful, cutting edge of truth in his words, for Lucifer had long since past to give way to the merciless beast he now was.

Without hesitation, Tirek fired a weak bolt of red magic at Satan, who deflected it with ease.

"Is that the best you have? You're pathetic," Satan said with amusement before he grabbed hold of Tirek by the neck and began to slowly pull him back, forcing him to let go of the ledge.

In a last ditch effort, Tirek fired another spell. This spell, being thought at the spur of the moment was meant for dominance of ones mind. This spell meaning little the 'King of Hell', was also deflected off of his chest. The spell bounced off of the Dark Lord and out the crack.

The crack was then sealed behind Tirek as Satan began to laugh at his failed attempt. "Without my permitting it you will never see your ever so precious Equestria. Honestly, how did Father approve of such a name? Oh, and by the way, Tirek..." With a strike too fast for the eye to see, Tirek was smacked the entire three thousand or so feet down to the cold ground, "I AM YOUR GOD!"

There was a sickening smack, followed immediately by that sounds of howling pain. Tirek lay face upward, bleeding out of every hole in his body while Satan laughed hysterically at his broken form. Satan plunged his sword into Tirek's chest and left it there to marinate in sizzling centaur flesh, while, at the same time, his body began to freeze over.

Tirek cried out in pain and, once again, the King of Darkness laughed at his antics. "I told you what would happen if you tried to escape, boy," Satan said as he wrenched the sword from Tirek's chest, receiving another cry of pain from the centaur. Satan dragged the centaur by his hooves and threw him into a frozen jail cell. "I'll leave you here until I can figure out what to do with you." The Devil said with a smug smile.

As the false king left, Tirek began to smile, and even laugh despite himself. Satan had been foolish enough to actually let Tirek's magic out into the mortal world. He felt his magic weakly move around the planet until it hit a large reptilian like creature near...Ponyville...how convenient.

"Hey, Pinkie!" October yelled, "Ya think you can get a bucket for Jason? He's not looking to well!"

"Oki-Doki-Loki!" replied Pinkie as she zoomed off, only to be back in the blink of an eye with a bucket. October grabbed the bucket and ran over to Jason, and just in time too. Jason heave up three apple spiced pies. What a waste.

"Jason, sack racing after eating three pies? You're nuts," October lectured.

"Yeah well you ate SIX, then went bobbing for apples. How do you eat so much?" complained Jason as his little brother patted him on the back.

"Practice dear Jason, pract..."

RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAH! An earth shaking roar echoed through the town of Ponyville, grabbing every single being's attention in an instant.

"What was that?" Matthew asked as he walked over to the both of them.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! The sound of thundering footsteps got louder and louder, until it could be confirmed that whatever it was was heading for Ponyville. The Iron brothers walked outside to see the problem. About a mile off from town, was a two story tall, five headed, flippin' hydra.

"Wow. Talked about a party pooper," October commented nonchalantly.

"We're in for a massive buffet, boys!" Matthew said, his teeth glimmering in a smile as he took flight.

The other two followed in his lead. October helped Jason to his feet, seeing how he still wasn't all too well.

When Fluttershy went outside with the rest of the Main Six and saw the hydra stomping towards the town, the first thing she did was run back inside the castle. The rest of them however, got ready for a little skirmish. Twilight and Rainbow Dash took to the sky for an aerial assault, while Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity began throwing all they had at the beast from underneath.

Twilight began throwing just about every kind of spell she could think of at the hydra. Anything ranging from Beast Bomb to Reptilian Replant she used, but nothing seemed to work for some reason. Rainbow Dash wasn't fairing any better, as she was tried to ram herself into one of the hydras eyes, only to be swatted out of the sky. The hydra continued to rampage, crushing the buildings beneath it's feet that, thankfully, were not being occupied at the moment. Rarity was throwing jewels - really big jewels - at the hydra's various heads to keep it distracted while Applejack and Pinkie stretched out a rope, hopping to make it stumble. At first the plan seemed to be working until the center head lowered, bit down on the rope, and tossed the two earth ponies aside.

"Wait, where is Fluttershy?" inquired Rarity as she dove for cover beside Twilight to get out of the way.

Just a few moment after her questioning, Fluttershy made her appearance. She looked to be no longer a shy , meek, little pegasus. She was furious. She flew straight up to the center head and said with a voice like thunder, "HOW DARE YOU HURT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT!"

She simply got a nasty roar in reply, so she decided to resort to The Stare. As she began staring into the eyes of the hydra, she saw what had the beast so angered. For a moment she peered into the mind of the monster. She saw not the peaceful mind of a hydra as would be normal, but instead she saw absolute pain in it's eyes; pain of insanity. Fluttershy stopped The Stare and simply looked at its eyes, eyes that were red hollows of madness.

BRRRRRRRRRRAP!

Fluttershy put her hooves to her ears from the sudden noise that cracked the air. Immediately after could be heard the shrieks of agony from the hydra. Fluttershy looked back at the hydra to see three of the heads hanging limp and pouring with blood, while the other two writhed about in pain for their loss.

Matthew aimed his Mini 14 as best he could as the last two heads flailed about. As if to make it all the more difficult, Fluttershy was hovering right in the way as Jason was flying about the beast keeping it occupied because of his demonstration of his superior agility to his brothers. This also prevented October from being allowed to go berserk on the thing for fear Jason and Fluttershy would get caught in the crossfire. This job needed precision, and although Matthew was no sniper, he could make a crack shot with his choice weapon any day.

BAM! One head went limp. The hydra began to stumble back to the forest, but as it reached the edge of said forest, Matthew took the last shot. BAM! The bullet sliced its way through the air, making it's path true and hitting it's mark, ripping a gaping hole in the eye of the hydra. The hydra stumble for a few more seconds before falling over and flattening out a few trees.

"YES!" shouted Matthew as Jason landed next to him and threw up again. Matthew patted him on the back. "That was awesome, Jason! How many guys do you know that can do that, huh!?" In response, Jason showed three fingers. "Okay well duh. Way to ruin a compliment." Matthew said to himself.

They all grouped together where there new kill had fallen to take a breather. October noticed that the entire town gathered round them. Then Fluttershy slowly walked up to Matthew with tears in her eyes. She looked at the hydra for a few second, then back to Matthew as she looked him directly in the eyes and simply asked, "Why?"

Human Motive

"Why?" Fluttershy asked with teary eyes.

"Why?" October replied, getting a little steamed that she would ask such a ridiculous question, as he never had the best temper to begin with. "Maybe because there was a fifty foot tall hydra jeopardizing your towns safety. Maybe because you obviously couldn't handle it on your own. Maybe its life was taken so yours wouldn't have to be!"

"But it didn't know what it was doing!" Fluttershy yelled back.

"What!? Your trying to defend something that just about killed everyone in the town, then criticize me for stopping it!?"

"It was under somepony else's control, could you not see that?"

"Look, there are rules that, whether anyone likes it or not, are to be follow, one of which is if an animal hurts someone, they get punished; kill or even threaten to kill, they die on the spot. That aside, what about being 'under someone else's control'? How does that make any sense?"

At this point the rest of the Main Six joined Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash flew right up in October's face and shouted, "What kind of rule is that!?"

Matthew interjected for October by saying, "Would you slap Princess Celestia because she told you to do something you didn't want to do?"

"No! Duh," retorted Rainbow Dash.

"Because?" Matthew offered.

"Because she's a princess you dodo!"

"Right. In other words, she's your boss. If you were to do such to her, don't you think you would be punished? Or perhaps if you were to make an attempt to kill her..."

That was all that was needed for Rainbow Dash to see the hole in her argument.

"But it wasn't under it's own control!" Fluttershy interjected, glaring at the three with a fearsome fire.

"How was I supposed to know that? And you still haven't told me how that's a possibility," October replied in a bit cooler of a tone.

Fluttershy dropped her glare, looked at the ground, and began to sob. The other five of her friends ran to her side as an attempt to comfort her.

Jason, who had be standing quite the entire time, broke his way in. "Sorry, Fluttershy, but being human, it's a natural compulsion to permanently rid ourselves of a threat no matter what. As the stories you have relayed to us said, ponykind tries to make nice. I mean, there's no shame in that, but the problem tends to come back. We saw the danger and got rid of it...permanently, and perhaps many more that may have come from that."

Fluttershy looked up at Jason, who was smiling a bit, making her smile in return.

"It's okay, Jason *sniff* I understand," she said, trying not to cry more.

October looked back to the mass of meat that was once a magnificent beast. "Maybe we should clean up the mess before morning. There are bound to be more than a few Timber Wolves willing to strode into town for some free food."

"I agree. Um...I don't suppose any of you ponies would like to help?" Matthew asked hopefully. October could actually see the crowd cringe and a few even gag at the suggestion. "Oh boy," he mumbled. But then to his surprise, he heard a joyful, silly voice call out.

"I will!" he looked up to see a grey, pegasus mare with a blonde mane and tail smiling at him. Derpy Hooves was her name. Then he saw a chestnut stallion with a green bow tie and brown back-spiked mane tug on her tail a bit. Matthew flicked his pony ears forward, taking just a few moments to pay attention the to scene before responding.

October turned his attention to Derpy. "Thank you...Miss Hooves was it?" The mailmare gave a few quick nods. "Thank you. Any, *Ehem* 'pony' else?"

This time three more stood out. Lyra Heartstrings (well...and Bon Bon...kinda), Vinyl Scratch, and Big Macintosh, all saying roughly the same thing, "I will!"

Little by little, more and more ponies joined the volunteers, until quite literally the entire town was willing to help.

"Alright!" shouted October for all to hear, "this is a big animal and therefore has to be cut apart to move it!" He could tell the poor ponies were trying not to gag, "so logging saws will be necessary. Once that is done we need to move the body parts into the woods...deep into the woods so that the wolves will get rid of it A.S.A.P. without being too close to town!" again they tried not to gag. "So then, we need three groups! All the unicorns in one group with the saws, one group off all the earth ponies with the ropes, and a group of all pegasi with ropes to keep the load off the ground! We need to get the parts over the trees, unless you want to try pulling trees down?"

All of Ponyville got right to work with the orders given. As they were busy with there jobs, the three brothers kept hearing the passing by ponies talking about them and how brave the "Iron Brothers" were as opposed to how cruel. The three looked at each other chuckling.

They decided that they would help saw, then help to lift the parts with the rest of the pegasi. Although the majority of the town were indeed female, they certainly didn't disappoint when it came to manual labor.

Limb after limb was cut and dragged away, until all that was left was the torso. "Alright!" shouted October, "I need everybody to help with this last part!" he looked around at the ponies of the town, seeing all of them with their heads down with exhaustion.

Octavia Melody, of all mares, jerked her head up and shouted, "Then let's get to it! I certainly wouldn't wish to be dog food tonight!"

Suddenly, each and every one of them were on the move again, tying ropes around the body of the dead hydra and hitching the ropes to each pony. Even the unicorns were pulling while using their magic to tug.

"One two three!" The brothers shouted as the crowd pulled and shouted back.

"HEAVE!"

Foot by foot, the rest of the hydra's carcass was dragged to the pile of hydra parts in the forest. Fortunately, the many ponies trudging their way through the forest while carrying the stench of death and making all that noise kept everything dangerous away. It was a good thing, too, being that the children were puling alongside their siblings and parents, and having little fillies and colts could be dangerous enough. But, with as many numbers as they had, the children were safe enough.

As they reached the massive gut pile they lifted the body up to the top where they made a bowl shape with it's other body parts to fit the torso.

"Alright!" October shouted untying the rope around his shoulder, as did everypony else , "On three we drop it!" He waited for a bit until he saw that they had untied all their ropes. "One, two three!" They let the body of the beast drop into the bowl of it's limbs.

There was one pegasus mare however that didn't get the rope undone in time and was jerked down with the weight of the hydra's torso. Matthew, being the first to notice, dived for the yellow mare at a blinding speed. He caught the pegasus just as he planted his hooves into the severed tail of the hydra as one of the heads came tumbling down in their direction. With no time to move out of the way, he pushed her to the ground and made a body dome with his wings spread to cover her as the head of the beast made impact with it's target.

"Gah!" Shouted Matthew as his back bent under the weight of the head while the pegasus whimpered underneath him. "Are you alright?" He whispered to her, to which she made a quick nodding motion.

"Matthew!" came the voice of October. His brothers, as well as several other ponies, had rushed to help him before the head hit them, but came a bit late.

"Oh, Matthew," Jason said, seeing the gashes on his back.

"Is it bad?" asked the mare under Matthew. Matthew looked back down at her and, under more careful examination, he could see she also had a pink mane and tail to accompany her yellow coat, a triple umbrella cutie mark and brilliant amber eyes.

"Hm? Oh, um, I'm not sure. Hey guys? How bad is it?" he asked his brothers as he got up with the mare blushing a bit in his arms.

"Well," said October with a chuckle, "Ya may need a few stitches."

"Oh, ok. Not too bad then?" he said with a chuckle of his own. He looked back at the pegasus in his arms and asked, "What would your name be if I may ask?"

"Oh, um, uuuuh...Parasol," she replied, blushing again.

"Well, nice to meet you Miss Parasol."

"Just Parasol is fine," she corrected.

"Alright then, Parasol," he responded with a warm smile, where as she blushed harder. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Um, yes. You just...you saved me," She said quietly. Then, she suddenly hugged him. The crowd went, 'Aaaawwwwwww!' making the both of them blush.

Jason chuckled a bit as he turned around to the throng of ponies asking, "Any, uh, pony here do medical?"

"Oh! I do!" came a voice out of the crowd. The voice of which belonged to none other than nurse Redheart.

"Thank you, Miss Redheart. Have you ever done this outside of the hospitable?" asked Matthew as the nurse approached him.

"Yes," she replied, "plenty of times in fact. Most of which were very recently, what with the battle with Nightmare Moon, then Discord, and then Tirek."

"Well thank you, Miss Redheart. That seems like quite the job," said Matthew as he set Parasol down.

"Why not just get him to the hospitable? Wouldn't that make it easier?" asked Parasol.

"No," the nurse replied, "Because it's a bit of a walk - or even if you flew it would take a bit - back to town and we don't want that muscle to be exposed like that for that long. Plus it might hurt him and/or hinder him for getting back to town, only worsening his current situation."

"Oh, right," Parasol said looking at the ground, thinking about it a bit.

"Uh, Parasol? Are you ok?" asked October.

The pegasus sighed and said, "I guess. I just feel kinda stupid sometimes, not thinking of things like that. Wouldn't it be common sense to realize that bringing him to hospitable could hurt him like this? Apparently not for me."

"Hey," Matthew took over again, "You know saying that you're stupid isn't going to help a thing?" he said lifting her chin as there was rubbing alcohol being poured in the wound and a sewing needle went into his back, making him cringe.

"I couldn't even get that rope untied in time," she rebutted, avoiding his eyes.

"Yeah well, October...made the knots. He makes knots that not even Jason can understand. Plus you've got hooves."

She finally looked him in the eyes, "You don't think I'm stupid?"

"No of course not. I think silly would be the right word, but not stupid. Actually, I'd wager to reckon that you're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for."

"T-thanks," she said as she blushed and hugged him again.

"Owowow!...carefull."

"O-oh, sorry I didn't mean..." she stammered as her wings shout out and blushed profusely.

"Ugh, t's fine, Parasol," Matthew replied through gritted teeth.

"...Wow..." said Jason as Parasol trotted off hastily while October suppressed his laughter.

"Wow what? Ow," he said as the needle went in again.

"You honestly don't see it?" asked Redheart giggling.

"See what?" Matthew asked, trying to sound clueless.

"She likes ya knucklehead," said Vinyl as she made her way in.

Matthew coughed several times, chocking on his own spit. "Pardon me!?" he more or less shouted, which was followed by a collective crowd shushing him.

"Oh come on," Vinyl continued, "it's kinda obvious. I mean the blushing, the wings. What, you don't like her?" she asked with smirk and a hinted suggestiveness.

Mathew deadpanned at her.

He then continued to get barraged by teases about how cute he thought Parasol was, who had thankfully flown off by now. Rarity of course was the teasing leader, and she was quite good at it too.

"Ok. Stop teasing him," said Redheart as she finished up the stitching.

"Thank you Redheart," said Matthew as he slowly got up.

They began to follow the path of Parasol towards Ponyville, all the while the three brothers listened in on what all the ponies were talking about....yeah, they were talking about the brothers mostly.

Twilight and her friends gathered together with the three of them as she said, "All the ponies here seem to really look up to you guys, especially the little colts and fillies."

"I noticed that as well," added Rarity, "You three seem to have quite the - how do you say - authoritative, motivating, hope giving effect? Yes, I believe that's it," she beamed.

"Uh well," began Matthew, "we tend to have...that kind of effect on others quite a lot apparently. I'm not too sure why. But as long as us three stand together and show others how to push, they seem to really want to push. It's a part of being human really. I guess you just need to know how to do it."

They walked in silence for some time before Rainbow piped up, saying, "So, Twi, you gonna send a letter to the princess about this?"

"Well I suppose I had better. I would be very convenient for her to know about this before we showed up," Twilight replied." Seeing as how we're back, I think I'll get started on that letter then."

Indeed they were back in town. All the ponies headed to their respective homes to get to bed, as it was quite late, or rather early now. Some, however, stayed with their friends, since many of the homes had been destroyed. The three brothers follow suit and headed for the boutique with Sweetie Belle walking with them and Rarity hugged up against Matthews leg.

"So, Matthew," Rarity asked "what do you think of Parasol?"

"I thought we dropped that already," he retorted, as, indeed, he watched Parasol herself walk into her house and shut the door, her wings still stuck out.

At seeing this, the four others of the company began to laugh a bit, making Matthew blush.

"Oh come on guys, now your just being mean."

"On the contrary my dear brother," stated Jason, barely holding his laughter "we are merely being observant."

"Oh come now, darling," Rarity interjected, "you don't have to keep it covered. You do think she's pretty don't you?"

"Cover what? I just met her. Besides, just look at me," Matthew said, motioning to himself, "And look at her. Even if...IF mind you. Even if I liked her the way you teased it to be, I wouldn't work. I'm human remember? Well, for the most part anyways."

"Oh darling, love conquers all!"

"Rarity I don't!...ugh!"

"Well, what do you think of her?' Rarity asked persistently.

"She's yellow," Matthew deadpanned. The unexpectedness of the comment made the group laugh.

October's happiness suddenly drained and his smile fell as he remembered the lose of his sister for the second time that night.

"We should uh, get to bed." October said as they arrived at the boutique and he held open the door letting them all walk in.

Sweetie Belle stopped before going and asked, "October? Are you ok?"

He paused for a moment before saying, "I'm fine Sweetie, thanks."

At hearing this, she hopped through the doorway happily, leaving October to literally duck in.

October followed his brothers to the guest room, and sat down in the bed. He pulled his backpack off the shelf, and took from it a fancy necklace. It had a sliver serpentine chain to put around the neck and the pendant of it was a silver skull of a four point buck with Celtic knots designing it all over. It was incredibly detailed to the point where it looked quite real if looking at it right. He flipped it over, and on the other side was engraved a name: "April Iron". He clutched the necklace and laid down in the bed, closing his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

In his dream, just as that last two, everything was in color as opposed to it's usual black and white. This time however, he wasn't in a desert, he was in a forest - a forest he knew quite well. This place was practically a back yard to him and his siblings. He remembered the old giant oak that he now stood before. This was the oak that the forest grew around; the oak that they would climb up and down all the time; the oak that he broke his first bone on. He chuckled to himself as he remembered that summer.

He heard the laughter of little children running up behind him. October quickly turned round to see something that took him by surprise. He took in a sharp breath as his eyes went wide. It was his brothers, his mother, his grandfather, and...sister...This was his childhood. Well, early teens really. He fell to his knees, watching as they ran up to him as if to embrace the man, only for the apparition to pass through him. He sucked in a heave of air as his wings sprung out in surprise. It's just a dream. He thought to himself as he got back up.

His memories piled even further as he remembered the three years before this day in his life. The war had taken his father away from him - the very same war that he and his brothers carried on to fight. But this memory was also the same year that their grandmother died of a heart attack, thus grandpa Richie coming to live with them. This was the first summer in a long while since they had grandpa visit. They were just too excited to wait to finally show him the Old Oak in the middle of the forest. That was what he was seeing now.

The children tried to hurry grandpa Richie over, who was purposely going slow for them. When they made it to the tree, Richie looked up at it with an impressed 'Humph'. The bows of the tree were the size of truck, and the trunk was the size of a two-lain road.

After play for awhile around and about the monstrous tree, they decided to go home, much to the children's disappointment. They first let April out of the tree, then October, then Jason. Just as Jason hit the ground they heard a grunt.

They all snapped their heads to the left to see a good five hundred pound, five foot black bear. This was no ordinary black bear though; this was the monster of the bears in the forest; this was Big Momma. Maybe not the most intimidating name ever thought of, but everyone around those parts knew just what the name stood for.

Now most people would run at the sight of this over sized beast, but the first thing that came out of grandpa Lynette's mouth was, "Matthew, get the bag!" Lynette was their mother, you see.

Upon hearing this, Matthew monkeyed up the tree until you could only see a dot of him within a matter of seconds. October's child self, along with Jason and April scurried around the tree, baiting the bear in circles, while Richie and their mother Lynette came up behind the bear, but keeping their far distance. Despite Richie's old age he was still had that umph of youth in him.

As the bear became confused as to which bait to take, Matthew dropped out of the tree, wielding in each hand, an M-48 Tomahawk. Matthew landed solidly on the bear and planted one ax into the neck of the bear and the other in the nose. The bear reared up, throwing Matthew off.

"Oi!" Shouted Richie, who was now holding a five foot, handmade spear, as Jason showed him where they kept them. "Come and get me!"

Big Momma, completely ignoring the old man, turned on Matthew, who was still on the ground.

"Shoot," Richie mumbled as he ran at Big Momma, stabbing her in the side.

October smiled as he watched this memory continue. He watched as his child self, along with Jason, April and his mother, ran at the bear from all sides, each piercing a hole in it's side with their own spears, causing the bear to go down.

Big Momma was hardly moving at this point, allowing Matthew to walk up to her, bringing one ax up high above his head, and bringing it back down hard on her head, leaving the beast motionless.

"Yeas!" shouted Richie, "We got Big Momma! Woohoo!"

"Let's get a picture before we forget!" Lynette squeaked with excitement before whipping out her ever-present iPhone, though she was also quite shaky, as was the rest of them.

The sound faded out but the scene could still be viewed as he could see the joy on his family's face. October looked about in confusion, before seeing a cloaked figure to his right.

The figure was in a plain, human shape, that much was obvious, but for some reason, if he looked to the opening in his hood, it was completely black. "Remember your courage little one. For their entire races will depend on it."

"Wait! What do you mean?" October asked. But before he got an answer, the dream faded into black.

October woke up suddenly before the rooster, still holding that necklace. He looked at the necklace, then put it on and got up out of bed.

"Weird dream," He said aloud.

October, seeing that he was the only one up this morning, decided to get a nice shower and make breakfast to clear his mind.

"Man," he said as his stomach rumbled a bit, "I wish they had bacon."

More Than Man

"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" Sang October lightly as he wildly flipped pancakes in 'stunt mode'.

Sweetie Belle was the earliest to wake after him, as she began to walk down the stairs, intrigued by the smell of October's breakfast. Walking up to October in his work she asked, "Are those the same kind of pancakes we made before?"

October looked down at the little filly with a bright smile, "Good morning Sweetie Belle. Uh, yes these are the same kind, but I added something special this time. My dad would say that these were the best pancakes that I made, so I figured I'd see how you ponies like it."

"Well what exactly did you put in it?" she asked him as she walked up beside him and put her hooves up on the counter top to get a better look. Sweetie Belle watched the expertise of October's cooking skills as he flipped and flopped the food on the griddle, giving it that perfect coat of brown. She tilted her head a bit and began to drool on the counter, which got a laugh out of the cook when he saw her mouth watering with an 'in-the-distance' expression on her face.

Grabbing a paper towel, he handed it to Sweetie, who took it in her magic. This caught October a bit by surprise, so he asked, "Been working on your magic hm?"

"Oh yes!" she squeaked with pride, "I have! I can levitate anything in the Boutique!"

October raised his well known eyebrow of skepticism. "Is that so?" he asked with a smirk, "Are you to say that you can lift me?"

Sweetie Belle tapped her hoof in her chin in consideration before she replied, "Although I'm quite sure you pretty well understand what I meant, I think I could give it a try, if you wouldn't mind?" She looked up at October with a smile, who himself had a odd look on his face. "What?" Sweetie asked, noticing his not-all-together look. "Oh, right. Rarity will kinda, uh, you know, get to me that way." she answered before October asked.

October, who indeed was not all there, had shut his mouth as she gave the answer to him. "Aight. Well that's not a bad thing. Learning how to talk is the first step in learning how to convey a message. But make sure to keep your drama levels low."

Sweetie Belle looked at him with her own expression of oddity, but simply shook it off as she readied herself to lift the man in front of her. Her horn began to glow with her signature aqua aura. October readied himself in a sort of squatted position as her glow enveloped him. Sweetie began to groan under the strain of his weight. It seemed as though she was just on the verge of lifting him into the air, for he could feel his weight leave him, but before such could happen, she dropped the glow from her horn, and October's heaviness came back on his with a horribly savage vengeance.

October grabbed his belly, and went down to his knees, so as to not hit his head anywhere. "Ugh." Was really all that could, or needed to be said.

Sweetie hurriedly rushed for a bucket, the closest of which was a box actually. She found that, as most of the things in the Boutique, it had something in it that was not to be soiled or played with. Thinking Rarity wouldn't appreciate her gems with a coat of vomit, she dumped Rarity's things in the corner for the moment, then rushed to October, who looked like he was barely holding in his dinner.

"October? Are you alright?" she asked as she put the box under his head.

"I think...I'll be...just fine." he said, pushing the box away. He stood back up, still with hand on his stomach. "Perhaps, it would do you good to gently release instead of just dropping." he advised the filly, who looked to the floor.

"Sorry. I didn't know that would happen." she replied apologetically.

October laughed a bit. "Well I didn't know that was going to happen either, so I'd say you're just fine."

Sweetie looked up at October with a bright smile at his words, but that smile soon drooped into a look of confusion. She sniffed the air, then looked to the griddle with alarm. "October, your pancakes!" she squeaked.

He followed her alarmed look to his cooking to find it was on fire. "Oh, Jiminy Cricket!" he shouted after her, though, is wasn't all that much to worry over, it was still on fire. He blew on the crisps of crust, (that turned out to be nothing more than ash now), putting out the fire. "Well," he said with a laugh, "Let's not do that again."

"Where in Equestria did you get molasses?" Rarity asked October after she took a bite of the pancake breakfast. She was quite thankful for the making of the meal of course, that was not to be misunderstood, but molasses was a rare thing to find, for not many knew how to make it. This was actually rather a queer thing for the Iron brothers to think, because molasses to them was a common household sweet.

"Well I just pressed the sugar cane stalks to extract the juice, and then reduced the liquid to form crystallized sugar. Once I had removed the crystals, (or most of them), I was left with light molasses. You had sugar cane in the cellar that seemed a bit old, so I figured using them before they were attacked by mice or bugs would be best." October replied, as if it was obvious.

"...Really!?" Rarity shouted excitedly, to which the table occupants jumped.

"Yes, Rarity. *Ehem* You didn't know?" asked Matthew, who contently munched on the molasses pancakes.

"That trade has been forgotten long ago darling. Sorry for my, eh, sudden enthusiasm." Rarity said with a awkward smile. "So, no I didn't realize how simple it was to make molasses. Where did you press the cane, October?" she asked the apparent cook.

"I just had to go take some, maybe two foot long branches, cut them to length, pin them to a tree stump as pivot points so they were right on top of each other as a roller, secure the bottom piece to immobility, and crush the stalks out for the juice between the newly made cane press into that jar up, uh, up there on the shelf." October said as pointed to the big jar full of cane juice and took another bite of his breakfast.

"Is that all? Well, I wonder how something so simple could be so easily forgotten, like dumping my jewels on the floor." Rarity said, finalizing it with a lecturing look at Sweetie Belle, who ducked under the table just a bit. "Well anyway, today is the day for the three of you, is it not?"

The Iron brothers looked from one to the other, and back to Rarity, who began to give them a look of confused curiosity. "How do you typically address royalty here in this land?" asked Jason, who ruffled his feathers at the look of astonished excitement on Rarity's face.

"Well well," Rarity said, almost...menacingly? October didn't like that face of her's one bit, and neither did the other two, whereas Sweetie Belle was obviously trying as hard as she could not to burst with laughter. "I have a remedy for that." she finished as she got up from her...actually she finished her breakfast.

"Come on you guys. This is gonna be fun!" Sweetie Belle squeaked as she hurried from the table with October's hand in her magical grip.

"That...was not fun." Matthew stated simply as they walked out of the back room with combed manes, shining hooves, and brushed coats. Yes, Rarity's bathed them.

That was one of the most uncomfortable things October had ever endured. He was a soldier, he had been through many pain staking ordeals, but that...ugh...

"Oh come now darlings, it wasn't that bad. You three look absolutely fabulous!" she squealed. Her look of eagerness only made their own faces droop more. "Surely you're at least a bit excited?"

"Well, yes, of course, but...uh...hoof shine? Really?" asked October as he looked at his hooves again. "All this prettying up just makes me feel weird. I mean, do we really have to do it like this?" he asked awkwardly.

"Completely, absolutely and without a doubt my dear." Rarity replied with a smile. "Now then, the chariot will be here soon, so, remember what I've said, and don't forget you things. But..eh.." she said, looking at the firearms all propped neatly against the east wall,

"Perhaps those...should stay here."

"Yeah, we didn't intend to bring those. Just are blades will do." Matthew said, patting his own Kukri that was buckled to his side.

"Well if you must." Rarity said, looking at October's blade in particular, with it's horribly painful frontal curve on it. She shivered as she thought how awful t would be to have that be used in a fight.

Not a moment earlier, did the chariot arrive precisely on the hour. Nine O'clock it was. As the chariot pulled in at the appointed time, Rarity levitated their backpacks to them. "Eeeee! Now hurry along! Don't keep them waiting!" she said, trying to get them going.

"Rarity, it's okay, we're going." said Jason, who fitted his backpack on. "Are you not coming will us though?"

"No no, I will, but in my own time. I will be taking the train you see. I will be with you in Canterlot not to shortly after your own arrival with the other five. So go go go!" she said, more or less pushing them out the door.

As they came out, the five stallions, (yes, five), that were attending the chariot said, "Greetings Iron Brothers." saying it more or less as a title. October raised his eyebrow as he stepped into the chariot, followed by his two brothers. "There are no harnesses, no belts, or any other body securing machines in this vehicle, so don't scare yourselves in not finding any. It will be about a three hour flight, so make yourselves comfortable. Are you ready?" asked the leading pegasus, who was a tan color, (perhaps orange) with a blue mane and tail, to which the three nodded in response. "Good. Now off we go." And with that, the stallions began to make a running start, until they were successfully in the air and on their way to Canterlot.

They arrived at the Canterlot Castle a bit behind the time because carrying the three brothers was a bit more challenging than first thought. Jason asked why they couldn't fly themselves to the castle, but the pegasi said the princesses wished them a relaxing ride, (which it was), and they insisted on them to stay in the chariot, and so they did.

At their arrival, ponies all about them began to stare. Of course one can't help but to look up when the guards bring in a chariot, but the chariot was not what they were muttering about. Although it was not supposed to be heard by the three brothers, hence the whispering, it was far too obvious what they all were talking about. As the guards escorted the three to the steps of the...palace actually, (at least by human standards it would), the posh ponies of the city moved far out of the way, with strange looks on their faces. Some looked at them with curiosity, some with minor interest, and some with...fear? In any case, all alike moved out of their way as they made it up the steps.

As they approached the gates, the guards there at their posts, opened them with their blue and yellow magic. The doors swung open without so much as a sound, which was quite odd, but not something to swoon over as was the inside. The interiors were beautiful, more beautiful than perhaps even Twilight's estate.

As opposed to the crystal walls that made what was Twilight's abode, this was seemingly constructed of smooth, clean cut, white marble. Something such as this was scarcely seen, if seen it was at all. The magnificent size of the place was enough to make October shiver with a queer delight. Along either side of the expansive room, where windows stained with many colors that were made into the pictures that the three began to gaze at with curious wonder. The head guard of their five escorts hummed to himself in amusement, seeing the looks upon the faces of the three brothers. "It does look rather stunning, doesn't it?" he rhetorically asked, to which they nodded in answer. "Well save the staring, for there are better things to see on the way my lads."

At the words of the guard October swiveled his ears in his direction, before painstakingly peeling his gaze from the glass artistry about him. He looked at the pegasus, who made a head indicator for their direction of taking. As they continued on their walk through the place, October as well continued his gazing at the windows, while also there were many cases with odd looking items in them.

October came to a sudden halt as his face was given the warm welcome of Matthews back. Matthew turned around to see the slightly confused little brother of his, looking up at him with an apologetic expression, while Jason who stood beside, put a hand to his mouth, so as to not let loose an inappropriate laugh.

The head guard cleared his throat for their attention, (as well as to prevent from laughter himself), and pointed to the magnificent set of double doors that were imprinted with many intricate designs before them as he said, “Behind those doors are the two ruling princesses of Equestria, and as such, you are expected to treat them with respect and reverence. In case you are unsure as to what all that entails, your first act upon entry is kneeling. You will also not speak unless directly spoken to, as well as to keep our rulers names in high regards. No insulting, scoffing, complain, or whining, though I’m sure you three can handle that just fine.” The blue maned guard laughed.

The brothers looked at each other with their own personally odd looks, just as the doors swung in on their hinges, being as silent as the last. The men brought their attention ahead of them, and as they did, they found it hard to breathe. As the palace was molded with the smooth white marble of what they could never hope to see from their war, the throne room was made likewise, but far brighter and more polished. As the many windows that filled the palace with light, here there was not much more room for walls. The windows were made of brighter, cleaner, illuminating colors, filling the room with layers and layers of them. But as their eyes were drawn to the center, they saw, sitting tall and proud on two thrones, side by side, were the princesses of Equesrtia.

October had heard of them and of their appearance, that much of no doubt, but the descriptions didn’t live up to the personal sight. The shorter of the two was a deep blue of the summers midnight sky. Her mane, all dotted with the many stars of the night, sparkling with every move of her mane that flowed with an unexplained breeze, while her eyes were as blue as her coat. She wore upon her head a black crown, placed carefully behind her horn, and around her neck, was a black caller with the white imprint of the crescent moon, much like the marks on either side of her flanks. Luna was her name.

Sitting beside her, was the older of them. Taller she was, and quite the contrast in color to her little sister. She was coated with an alabaster white, much like the room around them. The many colors of her mane flowed like a river of rainbow, (if ever there were such a thing), with her golden crown sitting atop her head behind her own horn. And of her horn, it was quite like a spear compared to the other horned horses of the land, and even to Luna. It would be quite a frightful dilemma to be met with such a weapon. Around her neck also was a caller, much thicker than Luna’s, and of a golden hue to match her crown. On it was a diamond, centered with perfection, but more than that, there were very intricate designs that was unidentifiable by October’s eye at his position, but nonetheless it looked fantastic. On either side of her flanks was the symbolic image of the sun, yellow in right. Her face though, was behind by an inexcusable pillar of parchment, which was then, lowered down to show here brilliant amber eyes that seemingly shown like the sun. Celestia was her name.

5 minutes earlier

Celestia and Luna sat straight in their thrones, waiting on the arrival, (and late one at that), of the much spoken of, 'Iron Brothers'. At the moment however, there was an unholy amount of papers to be dealt with.

"Dear sister," Luna complained, "must you go on with those papers? The Brothers will be here any minute."

Celestia took her eyes from her work to look at Luna. "Yes, I know, it's just, all these childish claims and bantering about this and that...takes a little to read right." she said with an annoyed smile. Luna leaned in to take a look at the parchment, the first thing that jumped out at her was the signature of Prince Blueblood. She groaned with understanding annoyance as well.

"So what is it this time? He needs a bubble bath?" he asked mockingly, to which Celestia chuckled.

"No actually. As trivial as he may be with his complaints, he does learn. This time it's...well, perhaps you should read it." Celestia said with a sour face as she gave Luna the peace of paper. Luna scanned over the text with a growing sour face of her own.

"Oh my. That's...disgusting." she said, trying not to gag. "This is certainly something to hoof. First of all, fire the three guards plus any that may have been attributed to the act, and send the prince a few new recruits." she said with finality as she thrust the paper away, trying to forget what she read.

Celestia slid the letter from her nephew in a desk drawer beside her seat, so as to make sure she gave a reply, for this is where she kept the more important letters. She returned her attention to the next paper. As she focused on her work, she flicked her ears at the sound of the opening doors on the other side of the room. To accompany this, there was an eminence sense of authority and power that entered the room. She kept the parchment in front of her as she swallowed down her...fear? Odd. But, succumbing to the curiosity of this feeling, she peeked over the paper to see that her guests had arrived.

Something felt rather quite queer though. There was more than just power and will in the room with her and her sister. She could feel fear, but not her own. It was fear and hate...but...why? Pushing the feelings aside for later, she beamed a smile at the 'Iron Brothers', as she heard it. Celestia giggled lightly at the amount of awe in The Iron Brothers' eyes. They looked around, gawking at the magnitude of beauty around them. But while Celestia liked to let them look around as much as they wished, her little sister, as she could see, wished to get on with the meeting. So, with a sigh, she called for everyone’s attention saying, “Hello Iron Brothers.”

At the call of that name, their turned back to the princess again, (or rather, the two older, since October’s eyes hadn’t left them, though, only from his curiosity did he stare mind you). In a moment’s time, the guards around them knelt to their rulers. By an unsaid decision, the three brothers didn’t kneel, but instead, gave a bow. The guards on either side of the three of them, began to glance looks of concern at them, for one had yet to displease Celestia.

Celestia, seeing this nontraditional act from them, raised a brow and asked, “So you don’t kneel. Why is that?” Though her question was simple enough as she thought, she hadn’t expected the oncoming explanation, for others only refused to kneel out of clear defiance.

Matthew, Jason, and October looked at one another, nodding for the election of Mathew to speak on their behalf. Mathew took a step forward, gaining the attention of all in the room. He cleared his throat and spoke, “It is not an act of defiance as some may mark it as, but a show of respect. Though we just now met, we still trust you to a degree. In the position of bowing, we leave ourselves vulnerable. Kneeling is very different to us as humans. Kneeling is beyond respect, kneeling is an act that one will perform to show their utterly unyielding loyalty to an individual or group. So again, we just met; our loyalty is not yours for the taking; our loyalty is not one to be bought; our loyalty is one to be earned.” And with that, Matthew bowed once again before falling back in with his brother.

The royal guards were visibly sweating now. Nopony ever spoke to the princesses like that but Blue Blood or Twilight, and only that because of their close relationship.

Unexpected to those in the room, Celestia began to laugh a bit...laugh? Why was she laughing? "I never thought of it that way, Matthew. However, I suppose, given your situation and such, you're right. But it's a little saddening that you seem no edge in this way. Be that as it may, I'm happy to see that you have the sense of honesty about you. Now then, sit down, I've heard much about you three, but I would like to hear more!" Celestia said as she levitated several chairs into the room. The two princesses walked down from the thrones to sit beside the brothers so as to make thing less awkward. Looking up at one sitting on the throne while speaking can be rather stressful in more than a few ways.

A few hours. Yes, a few hours of talk between the five of them, in that time the six bearers of the Elements had made their own arrival. A table was set and tea was served, seeing as their stay would be well into the hours as it was now. It actually took longer than expected, but that was of little consequence. It had been quite sometime since anypony had gotten the princesses so riled with laughter.

Matthew continued his talk as the guards as well couldn't help but smile. "So Brutus leans over and says, and he was a big man you see, a head and shoulders taller than I, and he says 'Is you gonna eat yo cornbread?' At that moment, October snatched up that cornbread like it was his only chance of survival!"

They shared yet another laugh, though October had to interrupt saying, "Oi! It was corn bread! Did you expect me to let him take it?" This only gained more laughter.

Luna, who had been rather quiet throughout the whole of their time, spoke up and asked, "So, how was it that you three began on the battlefield?" The chirpy nature of the three suddenly died down to more of a sullen chuckle. Oh dear, did I soil the mood? Luna! Why do you have to keep doing this! These thoughts kept a rage in her mind as Jason spoke back in reply.

"Well, just to start off, it must be said that our grandfather was the first to fight before we were born, then our father after him. Our father...fell in battle, as well as his entire unit. It's still unclear what happened there, but every single man simply when missing. Well, that's not true actually. There was Brutus." he recalled with a little smile. "Brutus was the only one that came out of whatever happened. He was shell-shocked, so we assumed they dropped a bomb on them, there was no evidence to say that any kind of explosive went off there at all though." Jason trailed off as him memory began to falter a bit, to which Matthew entered in.

"As far as we know, they may have either been kidnapped, ran off, or...something happened that we probably shouldn't know about." The ponies about gave Matthew a quizzical look, so he took up again. "Here you use magic on a daily basis. It's comes naturally to you, like walking, yes?" each pony gave a nod, so he continued. "I have read in a few books here and there that, according to what you people know about us humans, that we don't have magic. Now, it can be said that we don't, not like you anyways, but it's still there. The meaning of the word 'magic' is obviously different from here to there. As humans see it, magic is the name of anything that we don't understand, and albeit, I don't understand your magic here." he said with a chuckle. "Now with that said, yes, human do have magic. An example that jumps to mind right now is a man named Elisha. He was known for doing some very out of the ordinary things. One of which was that he blessed a widow and her son with an endless amount of flour an oil. How? Well, I don't understand. Besides the fact that he did what he did by the command of the one who made everything, then it's beyond any comprehension of physics to me."

Applejack took this time to speak her mind. "So, this is fascinating and all, but what does it all have to do with your disappearing unit?" her friends gave an agreed nod as they looked back to Matthew for an explanation.

"I was getting to that." he replied with a finger pointed at the apple farmer. "Just as was said, the unit was gone, with no trace of life but Brutus to tell what he remembered. The point is, that as crazy as it was, and even as no one wanted to say it, it seems that we all mutually agreed that something happened there that they didn't understand. Magic. From where we come from, if I was to just say that out to the captain, he would have made me run the course five times over to make sure I wasn't drunk."

Matthew paused for a breath before continuing, "Now, as odd as it may sound, this is what made us come to the battlefield. At hearing that our father and his unit were gone, just like that, we knew that we had to fight. Not just because we wanted to help, but because we were needed."

The throng settled back in their chairs in thought as they processed what Jason and Matthew relayed. October had his chair leaned back with his arms crossed and what looked like a scowl across his face. Whatever the matter was, he wasn't jolly as he was just a moments ago. "What's the matter Red?" Matthew asked as he noticed October's foul mood. Again, October winced with the recollection of the name.

"Nothing, I just...nothing." was all he said as he tried to remove his thoughts from April and grandpa.

"Hey," Pinkie chirped up, "why do you two call him 'Red' anyway?" She looked to see October become more sour still, as if he wasn't sour enough.

Both Matthew and Jason stumbled a bit, trying to say what they meant. "Well, actually, perhaps we just shouldn't talk about that." Jason said.

"Then why do you call him that if it can't be talked about?" Pinkie retorted. "I mean, if you call him that all the time, then what harm can there be in-" Pinkie was cut short by a sudden bang on the table, making them all jump out of surprise. Even the guards were startled a bit. They looked to see that October has his fist pressed against the table top rather firmly.

"Ya'll really want to know?" October said, trying to keep himself together. Pinkie, who brought up the initial question, hesitated before nodding slowly, a bit worried what he might say or do. "Alright, I'll tell you." October said. Matthew tried to say something, but was silenced with a look from October that said more than just 'shut it'.

"Not too long after my brothers and I were recruited, Russia was on the move, but they were not so foolish as to go alone..."

The three Iron brothers lay in their beds, laughing along with their friends and acquaintances until their stomachs ached. "Are you serious?" Brutus asked Caleb, "he just took it?"

"Yes yes and yes, he did, really!" replied Caleb, gaining another howl of laughter. Without a warning, Colonel Hogan walked into the barracks, causing the group of friends to quiet down.

"Matthew, Jason, October. The Captain wants to see you." Hogan said with a rather downcast look.

"What's the matter?" Jason asked in worry.

"Just come with me, please." Hogan replied. The Colonel lead them through the base to where the captain was, and showed them in. Hogan closed the door behind the Iron's, so as to give them and the captain some privacy.

"Ah, there you are." the captain said in a low, soft voice. This had the brothers worried, for it was almost a never heard account that the captain would speak this way. Having their attention, Captain Reilly stood up from his chair and grabbed himself and his guests each a glass, filling them with a bit of whisky. Reilly saw the odd looks he was getting from the brothers, and explained, "I have a few things I need to tell you three, but I figured with the way things turned out, you may need a drink."

Accepting the captains hospitality, they took their glasses in hand. "Please, sit." the captain offered, to which the brothers complied. "First off, we made a foolish move to take the Russian force without taking ISIS into consideration. It seems that this whole time, or for a good portion of it at least, they have had an alliance against us. It may not seem all that surprising, but it wasn't altogether expected."

"Okay, I see the problem, but what does this have to do specifically with us?" Jason asked as he stood from his seat

The captain raised his hand up to Jason, saying, "I'll tell ya son, just sit down, please." Jason complied as Reilly continued. "It came without warning, as we sent troops to meet the Russian soldiers, the Russians sent out an ISIS group to go around us, and invade while we were off guard. It worked. We had no idea what there had in store. They came in...and bombed everything. They didn't stop with the military bases either, they went further inland, into the towns...they...killed, you sister and grandfather."

The brothers were hit with a sudden, fiery wave of boiling hatred and pain. How could they do such a thing? Coming into the towns and slaughtering the people? What kind of insanity is that? October jumped up from his seat, forcing his chair hastily backwards and to the ground with a sharp crack. Reilly fixed his eye on October's, and, frankly, wasn't sure what he was seeing. He could see sorrow and anger, that much was expected from all three, but something was wrong now. October snapped.

October stormed out of the building, his brothers following with heavy, grief stricken hearts. October was as furious as the devil's fire. "October!" shouted Matthew as he struggled to hold back his tears. "Don't do anything drastic. You can have your vengeance in time, but you need to control yourself. Anything misjudgment you make could kill everyone here."

October looked his brother in the eyes, then around him, seeing that everyone had their eyes locked on the scene. Jason slowly walked by, with only resting in mind, he headed to the barracks. "Come on October, we should just sleep right now." And with that, Matthew followed Jason back as well, while October stood there for a little longer, stiff as a steel post, before he too found it best to sleep.

21:36

October opened his eye and clenched his jaw. He decided to do something drastic. He hopped out of his bed and gathered everything he figured he would need. He had no intention on coming back, in fact, he was quite sure that what he was going for would be then end. But did that matter to him? not in the slightest.

October dug around in Brutus' things, finding an empty jacked, waiting for use. October smiled as he took the jacket, and headed to the Armory. Once in, he flipped on the lights to get what he felt like. That all included his own gun, many many grenades to attach to the jacket, his knife, (as well as someone else knife), and a set of keys. October locked up the building as he left and set his sights on a particulate vehicle. The M2 Bradley. Was this insane? yes. Would it get him killed? probably. Was he going for it? Absolutely.

October smiled with a vicious bloodlust that could kill any man as he popped his 'belonging' down the hatch and hopped in. The vehicle started with a roar that didn't go unnoticed by anyone that was previously asleep. He raced the Bradley out just as people came pouring out of the barracks' with whatever they had on them, ready to kill whatever moved. What they didn't expect was to see their own vehicle leaving the base.

October chuckled as he sped the Bradley to it maximum capacity. "You wanna play dirty? then you get ready to play dirty." he mumbled to himself.

21:53

The Russians base was now in sight, but he didn't want to begin just yet. Just in a few more miles, then things got fun. As Octobers mind raced through was he had just done and what he was doing, he kept telling himself to stop, but another voice said that they deserved what he was there to serve. Hearkening to the black words of Satan, he jammed one of his knives to keep the accelerator to the floor as he jumped up to man the 25mm chain gun mounted on the top.

As the people slept in their beds, Russians and ISIS alike, they came to at the sudden thunder of Octobers fury and the hollering of alarms peeling a deafening shriek. Some hardly had time to wake at all as lead and copper tore through the walls of the more feeble structures. Other had their weapons out and ready to fire back.

October swept his firing across the whole of the base, making people fall and thing fly apart. As the Bradley got closer and closer, he dove under and grabbed his minigun and jumped out of the vehicle. The enemy kept their focus on the oncoming Bradley, whereas October got up from his savage tumble with a little limp. The Bradley slammed itself in the side of the armory, putting a nice hole in the side, while simultaneously causing a few more sensitive things to explode along with the vehicle.

October fired up his gun as he wrenched a grenade from his over-sized jacket, pulled the pin with his mouth, and threw it at the largest group of gathering opponents, causing them to try to skitter away from their inevitable death. With a sudden power packed shock wave. bit and pieces of things flew about, while October continued his onslaught.

22:00

The team that October left had followed after seeing October carryout an obvious suicide mission. Matthew, of course, somewhat figured that the boy would do something dumb, but not quite this dumb. The V8 diesel engine roared as Matthew pressed the petal further to the floor.

"Half a mile ahead!" shouted Brutus, who was less than pleased that October took his favorite jacket. "Permission to fire!?"

"Can you see October!?" Matthew shouted back.

"Yep!" was all he said as the giant of a man sported a huge grin on his face as he fiddled with the chain gun mounted to the back of the Humvee. "And he seems to be holding out well!"

"Fire!" Matthew shouted, letting his anger flow into that one word.

"Yes sir!" And with that, he lit up his chain gun, (being careful not to hit the little rampaging dot called October), and began to pepper all in sight. At seeing Brutus lay copper to the enemy, all the rest began as well. Suffice it to say, the enemy was already dwindling very quickly, which was probably helped by the fact that they were all in confusion due to the unexpected attack. Then again, they were pulled more than their fair share of rude entrances, so pay back seemed justified. But as they pulled closer to the enemy base, there really wasn't too much left to destroy, seeing as the place was practically flattened by the time they got there.

22:30

The enemy base was nothing more than a few smoldering bits of concrete once all was said and done. Although October made the stupid idea for suicide, he actually came through. Fortunately, he didn't try to attack any heavy weapons base, but instead they came to find that the particular location was a radio contact base. In other words, by Octobers idiocy, they managed to destroy a major communication system to the Russian/ISIS forces. But out of this victory there came a great loss. While October did survive, he was far from unscathed. Almost every part of him was covered in bullet holes. His legs, arms, even a few in his torso. Needless to say, no one though he would make it through...

"Regardless of the wounds, I managed to make it with about two months stuck in bed. Let me tell you what, the doctor was absolutely flabbergasted. As it turned out, the captain of the enemy base had enough time to send a message to a few other teams. In not too long a time, according to what was broadcast that night, a name began to float around. The name...was Red Rain. That's the name I was given after that night. That was the name that put fear in the enemy. But that's not who I am. I will tell you the truth, was happened that night...I didn't have much control over. Or I suppose I should say, I let something else get control of me. Either way, it wasn't me." And with that, October ended his story.

Matthew and Jason looked to the ground as the recollection of that fateful night hit them like a baseball bat to the head. All the rest of the room occupants however, looked at October with mixtures of pity, regret, and fear.

"October, I...I don't know what to say." Luna spoke softly.

October waved it off saying, "You don't have to say anything, princess. There was nothing you could have done. There's no amount of comfort you can give to fill the hole I dug."

Disregarding his words and mood, Luna walked to his side and draped a wing around him. "Don't say such thing, October. Seeing one like this, even if they are not subjects of my own...it hurts." she said as she too looked to the marble floor.

Luna let out a squeak of surprise as October began to pet her mane. As odd as this action was at first, she began to find pleasure in the feeling of his hands, and thus even leaned in a bit. "I'm sorry Luna. I didn't mean to make you feel this way." October said.

Now unexpected by all in the room, particularly October, Luna picked up her hooves and wrapped them around October's neck for a hug. "Don't fret about such things, October. No matter how hard things may be at times, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel." And with that, she slid herself back to the ground and said. "It's getting late, perhaps you all should get to bed. Also, I have a small offer for the three of you." she said, pointing to the three Iron Brothers. "But that will have to wait till tomorrow. Flash?" At the call of his name, Flash Sentry zipped up to Luna's side. "Please escort the Brothers to their room. Um, I hope you three don't mind, but you all have one room as of the moment."

"Oh, not a problem at all princess. We're quite accustomed to the conditions." pipped up Jason with a smile. Luna nodded in thanks as Flash took the lead out of the throne room with the three brother in tow. As they did, Twilight and her friends left the princesses alone as well, as they were already familiar with where it was that they were to go. And finally, the guards were all dismissed, so they too filed out of the courtroom.

When all were gone, and the silence engulfed the two princesses, Celestia looked over her younger sister, who bore a small smile and even a light blush on her face. Celestia took notice of this and pretty well knew the cause of her sister cherry face. "So, do you like that young one?" she asked with a small giggle.

"What do you mean dear sister?" Luna asked, truly not quite understanding the implications.

Celestia rolled her eyes and responded, "October? I saw they way you looked at him as he left the courtroom."

This brought a blooming flower of red to adorn Luna's face. "I..you..Tia! Why would say such things?" Luna retorted with a huff and puff of her cheeks.

"Oh come now Luna. No shame, no shame. He is a handsome young stallion, even if he isn't really a stallion." Celestia said as she nudged Luna a bit.

Luna pushed Celestia's hoof away and replied, "I won't speak about this with you." and turned her head away, but then found herself in a stitch. "Well..."

"Awwwww, Luna, finally going to admit it?"

"Quiet you. Not a word about this goes anywhere."

"I promise not to tell, dear sister."

Luna sighed in relief and got up from her seat. "Well, I suppose I had best get myself prepared for the night. And perhaps you should get yourself to bed, Tia."

So now, with an agreement among them, Celestia and Luna walked out on the balcony to work the magic of the days changing. The sun began to lower, and as it did, the moon made it yawing entrance into the sky. Luna closed her eyes as she relaxed with the moons rising. She smiled as she let one though drift out among the oncoming night. Good night October. Sweet dreams...

Author's Note

So yeah...that took forever. Sorry about that ya'll. I've been ridiculously busy...and maybe a little bit lazy. Anyway >.> I'll try to keep my chapters writing more frequent, but I can't make any promises. So with that being said, the 'Hiatus' tag will be left on, because, although it's not technically on hiatus, I don't know when I'll have the time to write some more. So one again, sorry for the massive delay, and I'll see you next time

~Crazy Jay

Citizen Soldiers

October awoke to the piercing rays of sunlight that relentlessly sieged his vision. With a groggy groan he flopped himself upright in his bed as he rubbed his hands all over his face in a drowsy manner. He smiled as he felt more refreshed than he had ever been since he began his life in the army. Unlike the previous morning however, October happened to be the last one up as he could see that Matthew and Jason were up and about for what may have been hours by now, though they seemed hardly bored at all.

Regardless of October's sleeping in, it was still early enough that the sun was only just climbing out from the yonder mountains. October stood up and stretched his night-stiffened limbs, which was rewarded with a few satisfying clicks and pops from his joints. Matthew smiled to see October so well rested as he asked, "So, did you have a good sleep last night?"

October let out a big yawn before he replied, "I've had worse." with a joking smirk. Matthew chuckled as he shook his head. October took a gander at Jason, who seemed to be oddly transfixed on the red, carpeted floor, which was apparently really interesting at the moment. October's face scrunched in curiosity as he cocked his head and asked, "What's on your mind Jason?"

Matthew, now noticing also his brothers far-off look, gave the same expression of curiosity, though with a little worriment. Jason only barely shook his head without taking his gaze from the floor as he replied, "I'm...fine...just fine."

October responded with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders as he ruffled his feathers. "So what do we have in mind for today?" October asked Matthew as he remembered the things Princess Luna said the previous night.

Matthew shrugged and said, "I don't really know. As far as I'm aware, we just stay here until we're called upon. I do recall that Luna had something for us today, but my guess is probably as good as yours as to what that might be."

So apparently Matthew had the same thought in mind as October, which was typical of him really. The two of them seemed to think a lot alike, though Matthew always was the better at deduction of general sorts.

October put his fist to his chin in thought, but didn't dwell on that much as he began to feel an odd itchy feeling in his left wings. He took a confused look at it, and located the odd itching to one of his fuzzy, tertiary feathers that seemed to be upside down. With a frown, he plucked it out with a little twitch from the unpleasantry of the sensation, and the itch immediately left as he held the feather in front of him and blew it into the air. October watched the feather make it's slow descent to the floor as he thought to himself, I should probably ask Twilight about preening habits.

His attention was then brought to the room's entrance as he heard someone knock on the door. The small door creaked open slightly as he saw a purple alicorn pop her head through the doorway. Talk about timing. October thought with a smile.

In came Twilight Sparkle with a shining smile as she looked over the three brothers.

"So," began Twilight, "how are you all doing this morning?"

The little purple mare seemed rather giddy today, so obviously this wasn't just a 'How you been?' check up.

Jason suddenly took the opportunity to ask a seemingly random question, "Twilight? Do you think there's a way that one could make bridging space easier than using teleportation spells?"

Twilight, taken aback a bit by the suddenness of such a trivial question, sat back on her haunches with a hoof to her chin. "Well, you see, the original teleportation spell was designed to deconstruct a pony's molecules and reassemble them back in order in the desired location. These days, the spell makes a wormhole effect as it warps space and time to bring two points together, making the moving of one place to another much faster. In either case, it's a very advanced spell, but as far as I know, there's nothing that works faster and more efficiently than teleportation. When given the proper focus, not even light can match the speed of the spell. So no, I can't think of anything that would be any easier that teleportation to move across space. Why would that matter though?"

Jason just shook his head with a shrug and replied, "I was just wondering."

But as he said this he came to the realization of what Twilight had said.

"So, what would mean to tell me is that you are capable enough to create, hold, and step through a wormhole; furthermore, before the wormhole effect was developed, pony's ripped themselves apart?"

When Twilight nodded in confirmation, (albeit with a sour look from the way Jason described the older ways of the spell), a small smile was brought over Jason's face. October would say indeed that, in it of itself, that the design of teleportation spell was an impressive feat, particularly considering that it took a bomb to do what Twilight just described, although on a much larger scale, it was still something to wonder about the power one single unicorn could wield. On top of that, it thoroughly surprised October that pony kind had never seemed, (or as far as he was aware), to use these kinds of abilities for more tactical purposes, such as the Changeling Invasion upon the Crystal Empire that Twilight had once mentioned. It seemed to be that they had specific spells for specific things, never thinking that a pen could be a great weapon, or a sword a reliable household tool.

"Anyway," Twilight said, veering back to her original subject, "I was wondering if you three would like to take a tour around the city before this afternoon?" she asked hopefully.

Matthew raised a quizzical eyebrow at the mare's implications and asked, "What's happening this afternoon? Does it have anything to do with what Luna mentioned yesterday about an offer?"

Twilight gave an amused smirk at Matthew's curiosity and replied, "Perhaps, perhaps not. Buuuut, you might as well walk around the city while you wait anyway, right?"

Matthew was about to reply before October cut in with his own random question, "Wait a minute. Let me ask you something, Twilight."

At this, Twilight cocked her head to the side, leaving October to continue, "How do pegasi usually go about preening?"

When the question was asked, she immediately noticed the fluffy, dark grey feather that lay on the floor at October's hooves.

Twilight looked back up to October and asked, "Have you three felt sore after flying around for a while?"

The brothers looked at each other and back to Twilight with a shake of their heads.

"Ah, that's what I thought. Well that's going to change and it seems that it'll change very soon. You see, that feather of yours, October, is the kind of feather you would find on a small foal. Feathers of this kind have a special made magic that allows the foal pegasus to not tire so easily when they fly. Those kinds are called relief feathers, or foal feathers if you prefer. The purpose of them is so that the little one will gain stronger wing muscles with a lower risk of harming themselves as they practice. However, when those feathers begin to fall out, that magic goes away with them and then the child will begin to tire in flight. The fact that you three have these feathers is rather odd, but I would guess you have them because you are new to the magic of this world, just as a baby pegasus would be. So technically, you three are newborns as far as Equestrian magic goes."

She finished with a beaming smile as if she really wanted to share that information with someone. October nodded, but the question was still unanswered. However, before he could say so, Twilight seemed to understand her own slip and continued on, saying, "As for preening habits; you shouldn't pull feathers until they give off an itchy sting. Be very careful when dealing with secondary feathers that you know which ones you can and can't afford to lose, and never mess with primaries. However, sometimes that itchy feel can be confused with Ornithonyssus Sylviarum, or Feather Mites, in which case you need to use a special soap that's designed to fend off and repel such mites, as well as clean the feathers. The soap tends to give your wings a nice glossy shine. I think I may have some if ever you need it. And if your wondering--since you seem to not have pegasi around where you come from--the word 'preen' has gotten a broader spectrum of meaning besides just cleaning of feathers, because for a pegasus, feathers are a lot like teeth in some ways. This is unlike the use of the term when referring to birds because it's generally a term meaning 'the cleaning of feathers'. Even so, having to pull feathers are few and far between. Pulling feathers can be caused by Ornithonyssus Sylviarum as well as just molting, so they needed to be attended to and cleaned regularly so as to stay sharp. This is how it fits into our definition of preening."

October seemed to understand, (although Jason looked as if his definition of 'preen' was absolutely shattered), yet something she said was a little queer and so he voiced more of his curiosity, saying, "How would you know that that particular feather is one of such magical traits? What makes it different from the others?"

Twilight responded with a light smile and said, "Well, I am the Element of Magic, so I can feel the particular magical difference really. But aside from that, if you take a close look at any flight feather, you can see it looks a lot like a simple leaf. Feathers with the magical traits of relief feathers resemble a compound leaf. As you may be able to see, the vane of a flight feather has just simple striations, whereas with relief feathers, you can easily see a fern-like pattern in the striations. Although, they both actually resemble a fern if you look at it with a high powered magnifier, from the perspective of the naked eye, you can't make out any compound branching on any feathers other than the relief, but that's the perspective I'm putting it in."

October nodded with his chin on his fist, "Well, thank you Twilight. So...that tour?"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot," said Twilight, rather sheepishly.

It seemed odd that Twilight would forget something like that in such a short amount of time, but perhaps it was this 'offer' that had her mind wandering. But in any case, the three followed Twilight out of the bedroom, in and out of several hallways, and ended up in the main foyer to the great palace where they had entered the day previous. It was there that they found the other five of the Elements of Harmony awaiting them, albeit with Loyalty herself having to nap as much as possible before leaving. It was rather queer that one such as Rainbow Dash could be so lazy at times and in the next moment jump up to be as energetic as a kid goat.

Fluttershy was trying, (rather futilly), to poke Rainbow Dash from her slumber. With each poke, Rainbow batted Fluttershy's hooves away instinctively with a drowsy groan. Rarity had engrossed herself in a magazine about architecture, while Pinkie and Applejack were busying themselves with a game of something akin to Pattie Cake. Applejack was clearly trying her best to strike her hooves directly on Pinkie's with the force of an experienced apple bucker, only for Pinkie to giggle every time she missed, which seemed to frustrate Applejack and provoke her to strike all the more forcefully.

"Alright girls," Twilight spoke up, grabbing the attention of all but Rainbow Dash as she lit up her horn with a violet aura, "I have here a schedule for where to visit and when with the activities that we can participate in when at said locations. I have it listed so that we can at least see thirty percent of the city excluding the mountain view before the morning is over. I probably could have fit in more, but I think that might make the tour a bit rushed."

As she said this, nine scrolls of paper came into view via Twilight's magic.

October took only a quick skim over the list that he now had grasped in his right hand with a shelved bottom lip. It was just like Twilight to have every bit in order. Even for as little as October knew of her, she had to have all such things just so. Regardless of the mare's obsession with organizing everything, it was probably better to have arrangements for places to see and when.

Rainbow was somewhat rudely awakened by Matthew, who decided to pick her up from her napping place and heave her from his one hand to the other. Rainbow flailed every limb she had in a frantic maneuver to keep balance as she hollered in surprise. Laughter and mirth filled the room at the expense of Rainbow's dignity, which resulted in the colorful mare struggling all the more to free herself from Matthew.

Matthew put her down after he seemed satisfied that she was awake enough.

"Don't...do that," Rainbow grumbled with a narrowed gaze up at Matthew.

The man simply chuckled in response as he ruffled Rainbows mane. Rainbow Dash scrunched up her muzzle as she batted Matthew's hand away while Pinkie Pie giggled some more at the sweet little moment.

With a smile, Twilight spoke up, "Now then, first on the list: walk out the door."

And with that, the purple mare took the lead for the entrance. October looked down at the scroll in his hand, and sure enough, the first activity was to walk out from the castle doors. October shook his head with a chuckle as he and his brothers followed the little group out of the grand castle.

October took the time there that he came out into the sunshine to see all that he missed on his way in. The first thing that came to him however, was not the sights, but the smells. There seemed to be a heavy usage of perfumes and cologne, though those things were almost masked by the smell of hot doughnuts and other deep fried goods. The entire throng took note to the smell of sweets as well with their noses now pointed up and sniffing the air.

"Ah, and that's our first stop of the day!" Twilight said with a little skip in her step as she turned to the right and began to make her way to a building labeled: [Doughnut Joe]. October assumed this was a doughnut shop because who wouldn't? The smell became much stronger and more potent as they approached the building. October didn't care at this point weather doughnuts were a suitable breakfast or not. Whoever was the culprit behind this insanity of delectability, they were about to have a little more jingle in their pocket pretty quick.

The group breached the doors of the shop, which were actually tall enough for the brothers to not have to stoop upon entry; the entry itself being accompanied with a quaint *ding-a-ling* of a little bell above them . A large, scruffy, tan, unicorn stallion with an ice cream cap and white apron turned around from one of his customers to greet the newcomers with a smile. His smile turned into a jump of surprise at the sight of the three, bipedal giants who strode into his shop. The customers all about looked at the three brothers with caution as they all seemed to be distracted from whatever they were doing previous to their arrival. The stallion calmed himself as he recognized the Elements before him and even without introductory first, the giants as the Iron Brothers, though he kept that to himself for the time being. With his well known smile regained, he walked up to the throng with slight caution toward the big boys as he greeted Twilight.

"Heyo Twi! How you been?"

Twilight beamed a smile at her friend and replied, "Oh, it's been a doozy for the past few days, Joe. First of all, I would like to introduce these three here."

She said this while gesturing to the three pegasus brothers behind the group. The Elements made a small isle as they stepped to either side to let the brothers a direct path the Joe. The three walked up behind Twilight, awaiting their introduction.

"This here," she began with a hoof pointed to the biggest of them to start, "is Matthew Iron, Jason Iron, and October Iron. These three were the ones that helped majorly in keeping Ponyville safe from a hydra attack two days ago. Matthew, Jason, October, this is Doughnut Joe. He's the fourth generation of his family to run the shop as well as the fourth generation to carry the name 'Joe' from his family."

"You can just call me Joe," said the doughnut pony to the brothers as he held out his hoof for each of them. October wondered why in the world they would have a gesture akin to a handshake, but it was of little matter as he already held Joe's hoof in his hand with a friendly smile on his face--one which Joe returned just the same.

There were more than a few audible sighs heard here and there from the shop customers, presumably because the strangers seemed kind to Joe. In any case, they resumed their idle chat and mowing of doughnuts while the group of ten clip-clopped their way to the counter. Joe took his place behind the counter and looked at the group expectantly.

"So, what'll it be for the nine of ya?"

Twilight answered with a smile and said, "A little box of hot doughnuts for everypony please."

"Right away ma'am," replied Joe as he turned on his hooves, calling a few of his bakers to the new order.

Twilight turned back to her little gathering and said, "I'll show you all to a suitable spot. Come with me," and headed for the back of the doughnut shop where there were several empty tables for the nine of them. The Irons sat down at a table with only Applejack to accompany them as she sat down in the empty seat beside October while the others sat at a table beside theirs. Needless to say, the fact that she was there with them brought out Jason's curiosity, and so he asked, "What makes you want to sit here with us, Applejack?"

The little farmer chuckled softly as she replied, "Well, to be honest with you boys, I find ya'll quite nice to be around... Well, that and...uh..." she trailed off as she pointed to a thick looking, velvet colored, unicorn stallion who was at least a full hand over Applejack and seemed to, every now and then, glance over at the orange mare with a questionable look about his face. October recognized the look, for he had seen it many times on the face of either a man with little sense of others personal comfort, or fools who thought they could deal and do with whatever card they had in their pocket. This he was particularly familiar with because many men took a first glance liking to his younger sister, and as you could imagine, October would become very...hostile toward them.

October lightly rolled his eyes with a small smile and said, "Don't worry about him. Most people are sensible enough not to abruptly confront a lady like you without thinking twice that it might end painfully. Besides, what makes you think you have to be magnetized to our side to be safe from people like him? Not that I'm presupposing that he is that kind of person of course, but you have five other friends that would certainly stand for your safety."

She smiled a bit at his 'subtle' compliment, and the fact that he seemed to refuse to speak with proper Equestrian grammar. Nonetheless, Applejack sighed and said, "Perhaps you're right, but I've never really had a stallion look me from head to hoof before except Big Mac when he gets serious about something. It just kinda gives me the creeps is all. Just having a bigger stallion to contest if anything bad happens makes me feel safer I guess. I mean, having my friends and I mob him sounds a little much considering the fact that it could just take one of ya to back him off."

October chuckled and wrapped his right wing around the orange pony, to which the mare responded with an almost inaudible yelp of surprise as the strength of the man racked her body around in the ferocious hug of his.

"I never knew you thought so...highly of us, Applejack," October said with a hearty laugh as he spread honey across his words. Applejack punched October's shoulder as she blushed ever so slightly at the possible implications he might have implied.

Needless to say, Rainbow had been listening to the chatting between them and leaned over with a snarky remark, "You scared of some random jerk, Applejack? I bet I could go hoof to hoof with 'em!"

Applejack only smiled at Rainbow's enthusiastic approach to such situations. "I know you don't like to think it, sugar cube, but he could very well take you down without even trying. I've never met him; never seen him before in my life, and so wouldn't want to test those waters uncharted. For all I know is some great wizard I've never heard of before. Just as well as I could give him a good black eye, that boy is just about the size of Big Mac anyway, and you of all ponies should know what it's like to push that stallion's buttons."

Rainbow, although clearly knowing of her several disadvantages, still wouldn't give as she mumbled, "Whatever. I could still beat him in ten seconds flat," along with a few other grumpily-grump things to which the four of them only chuckled at Rainbow's stubborn steel headed behavior.

The bars that held Tirek in his frozen shelter shuddered with a horrible harmonic chime as the door to his cage slowly swung open from being struck with a sword. In walked the haughty Demon of Terror with a malicious smile adorning his face as he secured his blade to his back.

"Hello my dear," Satan said with a bone chilling voice that shook the tombs of the dead.

Tirek gazed up at his tormentor with nothing more that an emotionless face as to what was in store for him this time. Satan chuckled and leaned up against the stone wall of the prison, forcing all the freezing air away as it was replaced by the sound of sizzling rock as he pressed his shoulder against it.

"I think I know what I'm going to do with you. What would you say to the prospect of going home?"

At the impossibility of the relayed message, Tirek practically jumped from his resting place in the corner and stood straight and tall, not regarding his withered body figure in the least.

Satan chuckled again, "Does the sound please you my boy? Because I have an offer to make. As much fun as you are to thrash around when I have nothing better to do, I would surely love to see something grand happen up there."

Saying this, Satan pointed upward to the ceiling as it was now flashing with present time scenes of Equestria that Tirek was so desperate for.

"I know how much you love that land, Tirek. It is no mystery to me that you would fight me for all eternity just to reach it again. So thus, this is my offer. I will simply give you the land. However, I want something out of you. Show the people what it is to fear; what it is to hate; what is it to barely breath for fear of losing their lives. What would you say to that?"

Tirek stood there with widened eyes at the thought of home. Never in a million years would he have thought that a deal with the Devil would truly bring him out of such a pit that he was in. The centaur looked down at his old, feeble hands that were barely capable of keeping hold of a sword at this point.

"What of my power? What of the next rift? How is this to come about?" Tirek asked in a soft, sagely voice.

Satan put himself in a dramatic pose against the cold walls of the prison and feigned his desperation, saying, "Oh dear boy! There are simply too many demons trying for my throne! Would you be my knight in shining armor so as to rid the plague that vexes my soul? Oh, and as for the rift;" the Fallen One continued in a more straightened and less flamboyant manner "by the coming of the next blood moon will it appear. As to where it will appear is not within my knowledge, but it can't be that hard to find one little portal in the infinite expanses of Hell, now can it!" shouted Satan with his arms raising in the air in gesture to his kingdom. "But you know, Equestrian blood moons are few and far between, so I'm sure you'll have time to figure it out."

Tirek walked up to the opposer of God's purpose with a face befitting that of a battle born soldier. Stopping only a foot from the demon that towered over him by barely under twice his size, he opened his mouth and gave a solid declaration, "If I am to be set free of these bonds that have been torturing me; if I am to be set lose of the shackles and fetters, then I will gladly be your warrior."

Satan chortled with a thunderous laugh that echoed through the caverns and caves more like a roar than anything else.

"Haha! Good! Now let us begin!" he shouted with glee as he swept his tail around behind Tirek to usher him out of his cell.

They began to walk together as if they had been friends that were long since awaiting to meet each other again through the dark bowels of Hell that for once in a long time, had a happy soul residing within.

"But do not fail me Tirek, for if you do, things will never go so smoothly for you again," were Satan's only words of warning before the darkness swallowed them up.

October gazed with wonder at the sight of the city from the mountain's peak. Never had he seen anything quite like it. While still nothing to some things he had witnessed in his homeland, it was still a breath taking moment for him, his brothers, as well as the Elements of Harmony, who had seen it before. It would perhaps look more brilliant at night with it's sparkling lights, but there was certainly no time for that at the moment, for it was now the eleventh hour of the day.

Throughout the tour, the brothers had a few honoring greetings from several ponies who seemed to be somewhat of celebratory types such as Photo Finish, Sapphire Shores, Jet Set, and Fancy Pants along with Fleur De Lis. Fancy was by far the merriest of them--quite content to talk about trivial things and share stories about many sorts of oddball adventures of his, while Fleur De Lis was more of the flirty type--perpetually grabbing for the brothers' attention. Fancy and Fleur even went on out of their way to show them the city proper, seeing as they seemed to need a little more get up and go rather than simply that list of Twilight's, (not to say the list was not a good idea, for Fancy thought it quite useful indeed).

As they stood there on that windy ridge, far above the city of Canterlot, Fancy piped up with a smile, saying, "Ah, quite a lovely sight now, isn't it?"

Most only regarded him with a few nods as they looked over the city. Jason, on the other hand, had a few words to say about it.

"What keeps the structure of the city hugged to the cliff side? Surely without some sort of magic there would be nothing to hold this all together, yes?"

In response, Fancy took a breath of the fresh air and replied, "Why yes, it's the magic that our princesses and wizards provide that keeps the city from falling. You see, the ground on which we stand is pelted with gemstones of all sorts--each radiating magic of its type. With this magic is the city bonded to the mountain side, like chains keeping firm, though invisible to the naked eye. I don't have the knowledge to alter the eye's...light reception settings I suppose you'd say to see these chains, but they are there and holding, that much I do know."

Each person looked back down at the city with a new found wonder for its making. Twilight on the other hand, (or hoof on her part I suppose), cocked a brow at Fancy and spoke, "How would you know that? I mean, I knew that because I was allowed into the Archives of Canterlot, which to my knowledge is for the wizards and wizardesses; restricted to all else but them and those of the royal family. Furthermore, how would you know that the chains are visible within another frequency of light?"

Fancy merely smiled at Twilight with now obvious wisdom about his face and said, "Connections and acquaintances my dear princess," and continued to let his blue mane flow in the wind as Fleur mimicked happily.

Rainbow took a leap from the perch where the throng stood and flapped out into the winds with a content smile on her face. October took a gander at her expression, thinking that he too would like to feel whatever is was a true pegasus felt that was making Rainbow so jovial in the soft hold of the high breeze. October straightened himself and began to spread his wings. The winds swiftly caught his wings and he could feel the force edging him to lift. October complied to the call and spread his wings all the more. While the breeze itself was certainly not enough to get a true lift off, it was enough to raise him to the tips of his hooves. No one seemed to notice October all the while he was slowly preparing to take flight, so it came as a bit of a startle to them all when a heavy gust blew past them and the man leapt to the air.

October flapped there to keep afloat as the wind helped him where he was. Rainbow laughed a bit, getting October's attention.

"Feels awesome, doesn't it?" she asked with a smile.

October could only nod in confirmation. Rainbow Dash flipped her body to a resting position with her belly up and her hooves behind her head and said, "Why don't you come out over here? It's better when you have a more aerial view."

The grey anthro looked down at the city below him with a bit of a queasy feeling. First of all, leaving the ground that stood five feet under him would make the city farther down than he had ever been up. Second, there would be nothing to break his fall if he did something wrong other than the stone streets, or perhaps the roofs of buildings if was lucky. October looked back up at Rainbow, who was now holding out a hoof, all to eager to offer help to the soldier. At least she could say she had the best of him in one aspect.

As October took her hoof in his hand, he leaned himself forward into the wind and off the edge of the cliff. Each of the observers there seemed to be waiting; almost holding their breath as October was slowly brought out into the open winds. To October's surprise, once the ground had left him and he was above the city, the strength it took to keep him afloat eased up and was significantly lesser than ever before. He could feel the wind push beneath his wings in a seemingly submissive effort to keep the man suspended in the air. The feeling was amazing and unmatchable by any stretch of the imagination. He may not have technically been human anymore, but this just might...might...be a good trade off.

October looked at Rainbow Dash with a smile, though his confusion was evident. Rainbow caught on and said, "Ya feel that? The wind under your wings?"

October nodded slowly, his smile growing bigger.

"Now, I'm no egghead," continued Rainbow Dash with a sideways glance at Twilight, "but that's the magic of being a pegasus. You have power over the air around you. If your good enough at what you do, (like me), you can do much more than just fly around and do a few party tricks. Whatever the motive in your mind may be, the winds obey. Kinda sound's like mind reading, but that'd just be weird."

The collection of friends chuckled at Rainbow for a moment. She almost sounded rather sage-like until she had to break it with that last comment. All Rainbow could say in her confusion as to what might have gotten that reaction out of them was simply, "What?"

October shook his head with a smile. The grey pegasus shivered slightly as he thought about what Rainbow said. Whatever the motive of my mind may be huh? Alright, let's try that. He thought to himself as he flapped harder than he had been so as to break his constant hover. The thought he had in mind was to do a simple altitude climb and glide. The air replied accordingly and pushed up under him by command, but stopped as soon as did he as he reached his wings to either side of him as if he were a ship on the high seas releasing it's sails for travel. And thus did his travel go; he sailed through the sky with the occasional upward turn of the wings to keep his height, but never a flap did he muster until he rounded back to land again.

Before he was within four feet of the drop off however, Matthew took a courageous leap over the cliff, tackling October as he did so while Jason merely sat back with an amused smile at his brotherly play. While October was certainly known for his bold and often poorly planned stunts, Matthew just had to have this one moment on his little brother. The two of them plummeted to the streets bellow as October was in a panic by Matthew's sudden jump. October, on pure instinct, flared his wings and thrust himself upward as did Matthew. October raced up with great speed as adrenaline pumped viciously through his sytem while Matthew followed suit, ending up passing his little brother with a smug smile smeared across his face.

When once again level with where Rainbow Dash was, he looked at Matthew, who still had a smug smile plastered to his face. No words needed any saying as Rainbow Dash roared with laughter at Matthew's playful attitude. October then landed back to the ground with Matthew, both of whom were now laughing.

"Whyyyyyyyyyy!?" laughed October with joking complaint.

Once October had his hooves on the ground again, the group let out a sigh of relief, while Rainbow simply said through her laughter, "Don't worry guys. I've seen that kind of trick played so many times in so many ways. Besides, you could tell by the look on Matthew's face that he knew what he was doing.

Fleur began to applaud the two with clapping hooves, "Very good, very good! Quite the display!" she cheered, "How long ago did you say you acquired your wings?" Fleur asked.

"It's been about a week and a half I'd say," replied October.

And in fact, as it was such, Fleur was quite impressed with the man's ability of quick learning and familiarity of his new, foreign structure.

Jason took notice of Fluttershy, who bore a discontented look on her face and asked, "What's the matter Fluttershy."

She didn't seem to like the question, neither did she appreciate the attention it now brought to her as she cowered from all the eyes now on her.

Rainbow Dash however, new full well what it was about her that got the yellow mare so down, and so replied on Fluttershy's behalf, saying, "I think it just hits her kinda hard that somepony that was born without wings can take a tier higher than her, considering also the fact that she never was a very good flier."

As it was spoken, Fluttershy ducked down further to the ground in her shame.

Jason stood with his mouth open for a bit until he decided instead to kneel down to Fluttershy while Rainbow patted her for comfort. Fluttershy looked up slightly at Jason as he neared her.

The man took in a breath and said in a soft voice, "You know, you're not the only one that feels that way."

Fluttershy looked a little confused, leading Jason to continue, "Me and October...don't have the fairest of backgrounds together. Although I could never really hate him, for a long time in my life, I was jealous."

Now, with the attention of all those about him, he continued, though October never liked talking about this subject, "Regardless of me being older than him, or that I trained longer, or that October ate like a pig, he was, for most of our lives, stronger than me. It was hard to go around with a little brother that could toss me around or use me as a punching bag. But I came to the realization that I wasn't meant to be a wall like he is. Sure, I may be pretty strong, but he's still stronger than me, but I can use his own strength against him in ways he still has yet to understand. My point is, Fluttershy, that while Rainbow is a strong flier, that's what she's meant to be. While October is stronger than me, as well as now snappy with his alien body, that's what he is meant to be able to do; that's just his skill. We can all do these things to an extent, but you are meant for something different. You can't be October or Rainbow any better than I could, so just be you. Just be the Fluttershy that races the butterflies, not the one that sulks because she can't be something she isn't. Does that sound good?"

Fluttershy slowly began to form a smile on her face with Jason's encouragement.

Pinkie Pie on the other hand said, "Uh, when was today's meeting with the princesses at?"

Twilight looked up in the general direction of the sun and replied, "We should probably get going right about now actually. We would't want to keep royalty waiting."

And with that she began to walk down the pathway they all came up from as Jason got Fluttershy back to her hooves and Fancy Pants waved them off goodbye along with Fleur before they headed back to the castle.

Princess Celestia had her nose buried in a book written by none other than Starswirl the Bearded. Even with her vast knowledge and power, Starswirl was a wizard she highly looked up to and particularly now. With the many myths and legends centered around the existence of humans, Starswirl simply had to put himself knee deep in the folklore, and of course write something on it. Needless to say, this information was now being put to good use. She read through many books about their anatomy and dietary needs, which was actually not what she was looking for, but it was interesting enough and proved of some use. The book she was in at the moment was called, The Nature of Man.

The race of Man, (or better knows as humans), has a blackened heart that was carried down by their first father and his wife. By the deception of evil, humans are, in general, a hellbent people by simple nature. As individuals however, they seem much like us ponies. They communicate, proliferate, establish civilized manner, and much more that I can't quite grasp. As fantastic and human are, there are a few aspects about these people that I found rather off putting though. Humans can be your greatest friend, or perhaps your greatest enemy.

Humans are held together by a few signature things:

a) Family

b) Honor

c) Love

d) Honesty

e) Trust

Never should one break any single one of these things directed to a human, for as the tales all say, 'they will hunt you down'. By hurting there family, you have wounded them, and such they never tolerate. Dishonor one, you bring dishonor to all. Break their heart, they learn how to shatter yours. Lie to their face, your word is second to none. Break their trust, you may never have it back again. These five things, and many more, are what hold them together; what brings forth their power. They are very wary of things they don't understand, and will tend to shy away from those things. Their braver figures however, will open up to alien things and ideas, but when struck at, they will sull up and become like a callus.

Now of their power, one must be wary of them as well, for I certainly wouldn't want to tangle with a human when it's mind is set on my demise. Tales of humans and their power are something I found frighteningly wondrous. There are two things that humans excel at better than all else. One of these things is the ability to build. When I say this, it's almost nothing like you might imagine. For their lack of wings, they build machines that can travel the skies. For lack of individual strength, they build machines that can tare the biggest of trees from their roots. For lack of magic, they use anything and everything about them in ways that nopony could imagine using them.

Unfortunately, what drives them further than their skill in engineering is their lust for utter destruction. Furthermore still, many of these wonderful things that they build and present with unreachable skill are their choice weapons. Who knew farm tools made the best weapons of war? They found ways to harness the power of the sun to sway their enemies to their liking. They flatten entire cities, far larger than our own, into nothing more than ash. This is what they do to their own kind, so what would they do to those of alien origin?...

His writing continued on in more detailed, gruesome description, though Celestia closed the book and quickly placed it back on the dusty, old shelf in one of the deepest places of the library where it had been for years untouched. She no longer had a desire to read much more about the nature of man. What boggled her further was the way Starswirl wrote about these people. It was as if he had been with them; interacted with them. As she made her way out of the library while shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she came across here younger sister--she too with her nose poking through a book of her own. It hadn't anything to do with humans though; just something she read on her free time.

Luna took her gaze away from it's pages as she passed Celestia who came to walk beside her.

Luna smiled at her sister and asked, "Did you find anything useful to us about the Iron Brothers?"

Celestia sighed and said, "Besides what to prepare for our lunch meal, nothing much. I find it odd though, because according to Matthew, humans sound vastly aware of magic, though all evidence I had read by the furthest records since before our time, and even by Starswirl himself suggests that they never had magic since their beginning. However, from the way Matthew said it, perhaps it's only a kind of magic that's different enough that we wouldn't recognize it. About the meal though, we should have something prepared for them soon. It's about noon and I've only just learned what precisely they prefer."

Luna nodded with a smile and teleported her literature back to her personal library of olden books in her private chambers. Luna then cocked an eyebrow as the two of them began to walk down the hallways and asked, "What is it that humans tend to eat exactly?"

Celestia took a second to remember her short readings about it and replied, "Their diet is somewhat like a minotaur in that they eat both plants and animals alike. Though, unlike minotaur folk, who prefer their fruits and vegetables, humans tend to like a heavier portion of meat over anything. Also, it seemed that not only do they find it more satisfying, they're required to have much meat whereas minotaur don't. So, while the closest thing we can relate them to are the minotaur people, they are still far different from each other to really compare and get anything too accurate out of it."

Luna furrowed her brow in thought as another question came to her from the events of the previous day, "I know it may be a bit abrupt to present them with an add-on to their citizenship, but I've been thinking; seeing how there were apparently soldiers before their arrival here, that they might like to enlist here for us? Again, it may be inappropriate since they have yet to acquire citizenship, and we know naught of what skills they posses, but they seem fit as a fiddle on the end of preparation for any situation. This to which I support with the event of the hydra attack on Ponyville not too long ago."

"Perhaps that question can be presented to them at a later time. I note well that they are battle born soldiers, but they were just recently relieved of war, albeit rather spontaneously and not in the most preferable of ways, but we should give them time to cool and refresh before we ever ask such of them," replied Celestia as they found their way to the royal banquet hall.

Being lead to the palace, (or castle as Twilight insisted it to be), the brothers looked around them at all the magnificent buildings that lined the streets of the famed, capitol city. None of them were city boys by any stretch of the imagination, but they still had to marvel at the refined architecture and the skill it must have had taken to create such beautiful structures. These ponies certainly had an imagination. While not as wild as the human mind, it still held much desire for exploration.

As they approached the castle, the two guards stationed at the doors opened them up to let the group of friends inside while giving the Irons some curious looks. Although most were very aware of the presence of the three men within their city, ponies couldn't help but to stare and gossip things and continuously try to get a look at them without being caught by the sightly giants.

"I probably should have mention it before," Twilight piped up from the head of the group, speaking specifically to the brothers in the back, "that we'll be joining the princesses for lunch at this meeting, seeing as you all might be a little hungry after that tour."

October put a hand on his stomach as it rumbled at simply the talk of food. While Joe's doughnuts were quite delicious, they were hardly something to consider more than a bit of a snack for the morning, which didn't help his hungry belly in the least. Twilight took a turn to an unfamiliar hallway to their left. As they continued down the corridors of marble, the scent of many foods filled the air, gaining everyone's attention. After the delightful smells of all kinds of grilled plant matter, there came a distinct wave of sausage scent. October perked his nose further to the air in anticipation as did his brothers. Their pony friends however, turned their own noses downward, seeming to have had enough sniffing the air. October thought it odd that they would have a people such as the griffons and still ponies seemed wary of meat eaters. Fluttershy was a bit of an exception, but in general, they didn't seem to take it all that well.

As they entered the banquet hall, the smell of food thickened in the air, making October's mouth water and his belly grumble. The table that helped with the other various pieces of decor, had seated on either head, the royal sisters: Celestia and Luna. The two alicorns greeted the groups of friends with brilliant smiles about their faces as Celestia said, "Welcome back, all of you."

Matthew replied with his own greeting on his brothers behalf, saying, "Thank you, your majesties," with a light bow to the sisters and proceeded to pull out his chair, as did October and Jason, sitting beside one another in order of age from right to left.

Applejack took quick notice of this and voiced her inquisitive thoughts to her human friends, "I noticed that I've never seen you three apart from each other since we met. Also I can see that ya'll are sitting in the same format as ya did the other day being oldest to youngest. Don't you three ever do things on your own?"

"Of course we do," Matthew replied, "But take into consideration the fact that we three were torn from our home, in which there was almost always constant war, and put in a place that we new nothing about. We only had the three of us, and even then after we made our many new friends here, we're still aliens; still oddities that people look at with curiosity of foreign things. Even if you were to tell me that we're not some odd ball lumps of weird looking things, right here, right now, that's precisely what we are. This doesn't at all mean that I'm uncomfortable to be an alien to you people...ponies; it just means that my brothers are the only ones who I can depend on to stand by my side under any trials or burdens of hardship."

Fluttershy was about to comment when Matthew remarked about himself being on 'oddity', but simply sat there with her mouth slightly open as he explained his shameless position for his entire situation. There was a brief moment of awkward silence as no one really knew what else to say on the matter until several waiters appeared pushing a few carts with food and drink.

Jason, being clearly aware of the herbivorous nature of the ponies, as well as the fact that most dumb animals to him were very much sentient beings here, had his curiosity peaked after taking another whiff of the freshly cooked, unidentifiable meat and asked, "Where, pray tell, did you acquire the meat here?"

Celestia, after having the waiters set each place with their respective preference in food, looked at Jason and responded, "As you may have taken note, the Everfree Forest is wild and untamed in nature ever since it's first trees grew in place. We get our various meats from it; usually at times when the animals come close or through town. Rarely do we as ponies harvest meat, but when we do, it would be mostly for the griffon populace of Equestria. They can hunt on their own of course, but we do need a place of shipment when we have an animal to get rid of."

Jason, now taking much more appreciation for the time the sisters must have had to put into the meal, smiled and said, "Well thank you very much princess for your consideration."

"It was no problem at all, Jason," replied Celestia with a smile of her own.

The meal then officially commenced as they ate with contentment over the food that satisfied their hunger to the fullest. Luna, after finishing up her salad, pushed her plate away and cleared her throat so as to gain everyone's attention. With all eyes on her, she looked over the three brothers and said, "Now, I mentioned that I had an offer for the three of you yesterday, and now is the time to discuss it."

October smiled, reason being that he and Matthew put the bingo on it.

"You three are aliens--not only to Equestria, but to all of Equis. Because of this fact, you have nowhere to call home. Albeit I'm sure there isn't a home like you're own true place of family and fellowship, but being here, right now, my sister and I would wish to take you three under the wings of Equestria; to become our citizens. This will have many benefits mind you. For one, you could establish a permanent and recognized household. You will also have full liberty over trading issues in our land, though foreign trade will have to go through inspection first. You will also be able to hold a high ranking in employment. This is not to say farming isn't worth its pain, but you can't have any sway in our national and/or political matters without citizenship. Furthermore from this, again I say that you three have no place to yet call home, and it would be mine and my sister's great honor to provide a shelter for Equestria's first humans."

Of all the things October could have thought of, citizenship never even crossed his mind. Of course, it would be a logical move, but he had been fighting with a people who weren't even considered to be a nation anymore. He never really thought about citizenship in the war, because at the point where America was at, they scrounged for any allies they could get, regardless of where they come from.

Matthew and Jason looked just as surprised at Luna's offer as October was, getting both Celestia and Luna to look a little worried with the silence and their stunned faces until Matthew found his voice, "You wish us to be your people?" he asked with a quiver of joy in his words.

When the royal sister nodded on confirmation, October abruptly stood from his chair. With everyone's eyes now on him, they seemed to think he was going to burst into another outrage, but one look at his face dashed that thought to pieces. His face was written with happiness unlike he had shown yet. Matthew took a stand as well, which was followed in suit by Jason.

Matthew again spoke for his brothers' behalf, saying, "As true as our hearts can be, it would be our honor to be one with your nation."

For as much as that was all that needed to be said, Matthew continued in a more poetic fashion without a thought of it, "We will stand under your name with pride as our hearts beat with the thunder of your names! Never have I enough thanks to express our gratitude to the kindness you have shown to us today! We are yours to call upon as you see fit; whatever you mean for to take upon our shoulders. You now have my trust."

And so finished, Matthew put himself down to one knee and bowed his head.

Jason was second to follow as he often was with a single word spoken, "Aye!"

And October, with as much reluctance as he held for putting trust in another he had yet to truly know, bent his knee and said, "Aye, your majesties. We have much still to learn of each other, but for the only two days we have known one another, you have shown better than most anyone that you are ones to trust and confide in."

Luna put on a smile for their respect and mannerism while Celestia practically jumped out of her seat with how joyful she was. Never had she publicly shown herself this way, but today was a rare exception.

Celestia called to them, "You may rise."

And thus they did so without hesitation.

"While you are not yet officially considered one of us until your citizenship is filed, you may still be recognized as such from hence forth."

The brothers wore goofy smiles of which didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room, causing laughter from their friends to rise. The three retook their seats at the table and continued on with their meal as did the others until it was finished.

As they finished the meal and the dishes were swept away by the ever so diligent waiters, Pinkie's face morphed with interest as she observed October pretty, silver necklace and asked, "Hey, Toby? Whacha got there around your neck?"

October looked down at his sister's necklace, as well as did his pony friends and brothers. While his brothers new what it was, the ponies still looked at it and to him, anticipating an answer.

"This was my sister's necklace." he stated simply, causing their ears to drop while Pinkie tried to spurt an apology.

October held up a hand to silence her and continued, "Don't fret over it, Pinkie. It wasn't you fault. Anyway, I bought this for her on her twelfth birthday. That was when I myself was just a lad of fifteen; that being the year my parents let me govern my own money usage. For as badly as I may have treated her sometimes, I never failed to surprise her with a birthday gift every single year since she was four. When I went to enlist in the army, she insisted that I wore this at all times to remember her. Although I didn't always have it around my neck, I did have it on me somewhere."

As October finished, he pressed the little trinket to his chest in remembrance of that day.

Luna, taking greater interest in the necklace, asked, "May I have a closer look at it, October?"

The man began to finger the silver necklace a bit nervously, but decided it shouldn't be to much of a problem as he then unclipped it and held it out for Luna, who took it in her magical grasp. Luna very audibly gasped as she inspected it in greater detail. She hurriedly showed it to her sister as the Elements began to crowd around for a better look.

"The detail! The sheen! The design! Oh my, it's beautiful, October! This must have been expensive!" Luna remarked as the others also began to talk about its refined, costly appearance.

October only smiled at Luna's appreciation of the necklace as she gave it back to him and he quickly snapped it back on while his friends were still looking at it. It was a little odd that it was only just noticed, but perhaps it was his new fur that kept it hidden.

Celestia stood from her seat and stretched a bit before she walked up to Jason's side and said, "Today has been wonderful and we still have three and a half hours of daylight before the moon must rise. You are excused to go about whatever you wish as I must attend to some things of my own."

And with that, she and her sister walked out from the banquet hall with all else following, though soon taking their own turns down bending halls and to their personal activities. Twilight was there with them still however, so as to show them to their room without them wandering too long lost in the castle.

When at their bedroom door, Twilight turned to them to speak. "If there's anything you need, there's actually a bell rope in the far right corner there. Sorry for not notifying you yesterday if it was an inconvenience." said Twilight sheepishly.

"Nothing of it was inconveniencing, but we still appreciate you telling us. Thank you, Twilight," replied Jason with a smile. "Say, I was planning on taking just a short walk outside the castle before the sun lays down. Would that be alright?"

"Well I hardly think you need to ask me, but my only concern is if you know how to get to the entrance and back to your room," Twilight said in return.

"Oh I think I at least can manage, being that I came in and out twice now," replied Jason as he navigated the castle in his mind.

Twilight nodded with a smile as she headed off to do whatever she was going to do and said, "Then go for it, and have a nice night," before turning the corner to another hallway and disappearing.

Matthew and October, who preferred to keep together together as always, followed Jason as he recalled the twists and turns to the castle with skilled accuracy. Finding themselves at the door, Matthew pushed it open with a heavy heave, letting it again swing in silence--an aspect still that left the brothers wondering--before being caught in the magic of the guards stationed at the door. As they stepped out into the fresh air with it scents and smells of the evening businesses, October turned and said, "Ya'll thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If I'm thinking what I think you're thinking," replied Jason, "than I'd say your thinking what I'm thinking. What do you think, Matthew?"

The eldest brother smiled almost menacingly at his brothers' shenanigans while the city folk still gawked at the sight of them and replied, "Let's fly," and jetted off to the reddening sky with a whoop of joy. His brothers quickly chased after him as they pushed off the ground, leaving the guards at the entrance of the castle with a powerful gust of wind in their faces as the Iron Brothers began to race out into the sunset skies.

Author's Note

Ok! So!...that took me a month.

Alright, so first off, I spent a lot of time going back over this and editing all the misspells and wording in this chapter, so feedback would really be handy if you want to point something out. If you do find something amiss, feel free to PM me about it.

Also, you may have noticed that I have been slipping P.OV.'s between the characters. I want to limit the confusion, so I'll state it simply. This story is mainly based around October, but he isn't the shining star of the show as I want a more panoramic view here. So there's that...

Also, another Satan and Tirek scene! Yay! But boy this chapter was certainly a lot longer than the others. I'm hoping to have chapters about this size more often, but there's only so much to a title.

So again, feedback...feedback is good.

A Bit of History and Behind the Walls

"Perhaps I shouldn't have done that." Matthew groaned as he stood hunched over from his aching back. After Redheart had thoroughly stitched up the man's bleeding back when he took the hit from the hydra head, he believed it wouldn't be bothering him all too much afterward. But of course, this was only another lesson to him not to assume the best out of anything. Matthew's back had been in pain since the morning after the offer for his and his brothers' citizenship, leading him to believe that it was the abuse he took when trying to fly without taking care not to hurt himself.

By Twilight's insistence, Matthew paid a visit to the hospital after he crash landed in the city streets from uncontrolled flight, this being from his back injury. It had only been six to seven hours in the hospital, but it was enough to have a few ponies worried about him. October on the other hand knew better than to fret over something as minor as a few dings and dents, so to speak, and so calmed his pony friends as they huffed and puffed in the waiting room.

"Now then," said a rather short, wide, unicorn stallion with a light blue coat and scruffy, brown mane, "as boring as it may be to you, you need to say on the ground for...eh, perhaps a week. You may be back in the air in less time than that if you take care of yourself, but even then when you do fly again you must take extreme caution with what you do. Needless to say, I'm actually quite impressed, Mr. Iron. Most would have a broken a wing at the very least if not various other bones, but you seem to only have hurt a previous injury."

Matthew sighed with relief at the doctor's positive report and replied, "Well thank you, Mister Lance. Are we good here or is there something else that needs checking?"

Steel Lance smiled as he set his clipboard aside and replied, "No, I think you're good to go. Just remember not to kill yourself." Lance laughed at the odd look Matthew gave him and simply ushered him out of the room to see his brothers and the six mares in their company, who began to gather about him with Twilight in particular being very worried about his health. Matthew was still a little off put about what Lance said about killing himself. It would seem that even though these ponies are a peaceful people with little like for discord and contention as such of war, some were not entirely alien to the idea.

October began to busy himself with Matthew's wings as he looked them over to see several feathers dyed with his brother's crimson blood. Rainbow too took interest in Matthew's wings, commenting on how 'ridiculously gigantic' they were. Twilight on the other hand had something of importance to say. "So, Matthew, Jason, October; Celestia and Luna would like to see you three one more time before we all have to head on back to Ponyville. I wasn't given any specifics on it other than it has something to do with your...weaponry."

The Iron boys looked at each other with a bit of uncertainty about where this meeting might go, but they had already pledged their loyalty to the sisters, so perhaps it wouldn't be anything too drastic. Matthew got up and stood, though still winced as his scabs wrinkled. Walking out of the hospital, the brothers this time took the head of the group. Being in Canterlot for a week gave them plenty of time to see the city in and out for the most part, and finding their way to the castle was certainly the easiest of walks. As the brothers walked their way to the castle, the six Elements took off on their way to the train station, being that there would only be one train coming through that day, and it was to leave a noon.

With the twists and turns to the throne room well imprinted in Jason's mind, the group was quickly navigated to the presence of the princesses. The brothers stood there once again in the royal court by request with Celestia and Luna smiling down at them. "Iron Brothers," called the elder of them, holding their firm attention. "It was reported some time ago about your dealings with the hydra that came through Ponyville. Only recently, when that topic was floating around the royal guard, did I hear how you dealt with it. What of these…oddly shaped, loud, steel clubs that kill from a distance?"

While the question was rather strangely put, it was still straightforward enough to make the three nervous. How were they supposed to tell a people of peace and prosperity how to wield the power to strike your enemy before they have a chance to defend themselves, and particularly since they seemed to ones that shunned the idea taking the enemy unaware? October stepped forward from the line and spoke up, saying, "The weapons we left back in Ponyville were devises built to throw small, metal projectiles at supersonic speeds that could punch holes in whatever the weapon is aimed at. Ours are specified for war, though the purpose can be improvised. What Matthew and Jason have can work fairly accurately at about one hundred yards, though they can still kill at a farther distance. Mine is for large groups, and anywhere from fifty to one thousand yards is within its range."

Short and simply said as it was, Celestia looked to be in deep thought with her hooves pressed together under her chin while Luna seemed to marvel at the power put behind such minute things that the humans made. Celestia lowered her hooves and looked back to the brothers and said, "I would wish you not to be using these weapons any more than you must, for I fear that word may get around and the power could fall into the wrong hooves. However, since I would request this of you, perhaps you would like something more...standard in exchange?"

The brothers took up expressions of worry at the prospect of having the firearms taken. It was clear that Celestia had her people's safety in mind, and that she didn't want this alien technology to become common knowledge, so in light of this reasoning, Jason stood out and asked, "Will our weapons be kept safe, and in a place we can easily access if needed?"

"Oh absolutely," Celestia replied apologetically. "I didn't mean to make it sound like I wished for you to simply hoof them over, but just that I'd prefer to keep it more or less secretive."

When the brothers seemed to nod to each other in agreement Matthew said, “I noticed you guards are only ever equipped with spears. I don’t suppose you have something a little different, would you?

Luna quickly piped up and said, "No actually, we don’t. Spears are in fact all the Royal Guard uses. But, we can make…arrangements. So what would the three of you take to replace your human weapons?"

Matthew replied with his wish, saying, "A sword. I don’t have any personal preference other that it would be longer than my right arm, and certainly for it to have a finger guard."

Jason, making his request simple as possible to his preference, said, "Perhaps just a spear for me. I would suppose you have them in stock." This he noted, of course, by each and every guard baring a spear, just as Matthew stated.

October, taking full advantage of this opportunity, said, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I think a thirty six inch, flange mace would suit me well." All eyes gazed at October with a bit of amusement, to which he tried to act natural. Of course the weapon's style fit him perfectly, but Jason gave him a light smack to the back of the head as a warning not to take offers of the princesses too far.

"Well then," Celestia said with a bit of a laugh, "it shall be done. We ponies of Equestria don't forge swords or maces, but I know for a fact that the griffon armies uses them, so acquiring them should be easy enough. The spear for you, Jason, will be quite easy as we have plenty of all kinds in our armory as you perceived. You may be escorted there and browse if you wish. Is this all, or would you like something to come with your choice of weaponry?"

"Well, we could certainly use a bit of foot protection. Perhaps, if it's not too much trouble, we could have special boots made?" asked Matthew as he looked down at his chipped hooves.

"I see no issue with the idea, but what would you like the boots to be made of?" Celestia asked with a bit of anticipation in her voice.

"Uh..." Matthew replied hesitantly, "leather I think would be the best choice considering the fact that you don't have the resources to build what we had before."

"I thought you were going to say as much. Unfortunately, Equestrians don't harvest skins of any kind. We can however, get into contact with Griffonstone as they do deal in leatherwork. But, if you want these to be made, we will have to have your measurements so that we can get a better idea of what to do and who to look for to do the job. I know several griffon leatherworkers who would be more than happy to make these pieces for a handsome price."

With an understanding and agreement made, measurements where then quickly taken to the brother's liking as they described their leather pieces while Luna had a pen with a parchment to scribble on as she wrote down and drew things according to their specifications. There was a bit of modifying here and there, but the basic design to the boots were simple leather, of course, which would be molded to shape and fit their hooves with a layer of wool padding from the base of the hoof and up. The boots would reach halfway to the hawks of their legs with a split down inside of the leg to lace up when being used. The bottom of the boots would be imprinted with steel shoes that bore rows of rounded, spike-studs. With the drawings made and the measuring refined to the nearest point, the brothers were dismissed to go about their business before they were to leave that day.

Matthew winced again as he leaned on October for support as Royal Guard Flash Sentry lead the brothers down a flight of stairs to where they supposed the armory was. "You know," Flash spoke up, letting his voice echo down the corridor. "Jason is really the only one who needs to come down here. Why do you three always seem to be stuck to each other?"

Jason laughed at the question while waving his torch in the air, writing confusion on the guards face. "Flash, the three of us? We're brothers. It's what we do." Matthew and October laughed with their brother as their mirth echoed down the hallway of stone. For the second time now they had been asked that, and it seemed that no one took to account the aloofness of the human and pony race that made them so different and alien.

Flash stretched a small smile on his face at the brothers, and continued down the stairs and through the hallway until they stood at a large, oak door—its boards held together by cast iron braces, while the entrances curved in a barrel arch. It was surprisingly fancy the way the door was designed for being down in the dark, basalt place—the curving of the cut metal, the stain of the wooden door, though it had no handle for some reason.

Flash pulled a key from the straps of his armor, unlocked the entry, then whipped around, and delivered a hard blow to the door, throwing it back on its hinges, and startling the brothers a bit. Flash smiled at the odd faces the three brothers wore and said, “Eh, it’s a heavy door. It was meant to only open by force.” With that, he trotted inside the dark room.

Jason followed him inside, and his brothers came in after. Seeing oil torches mounted on the walls around the circular room, Jason dipped his wooden one into the bowls to provide a much better lighting. With the light casting itself here and there, the contents of the room was indeed that of an armory. Along the walls of the room, there were racks of spears, and, even as Luna had said it, spears were the only weapons actually there. Alongside each rack of spears were pegboards of armor pieces. Constructed of brass, they shone in the firelight with an eye wincing glint. For as pretty and well made the pieces were, it was a shame that they were also entirely useless to any biped creature like the Iron brothers.

Jason strode from rack to rack, looking at each spear that was there with an eye of decisive detail. The spears were not all uniform, for as he passed by each rack, they held a spear of a different kind. Some spears had longer shafts, or thicker heads, some had reversing spikes for more damage upon trying to take it out of a wound, and others with spear heads on either end of the shaft. On the far right end of the round room, there sat a chest, laden heavily with chains and locks. This drawing Jason’s curiosity, he asked Flash, “What might be in that chest that’s so important to keep locked away in such an extreme manner?”

Now, having the guard’s attention on the large, wooden box, he eyed it oddly and replied, “In that chest are some rather…crude weapons I suppose you could say. They’re not ours, but of Changeling craft, and being of their making, they’re built to inflict as much pain as possible to any who receive a blow from it. Why they would need hoof crafted weapons, I can’t say, but they do make them.”

“Well,” Matthew questioned as he leaned on October to stand straight, “Changelings are a lot like you ponies in their own respects, so if they wouldn’t need weaponry, why would you?”

“Ah, you see, Changelings have the ability to change their physical shape into anything so accommodate for their needs. In their generic form, they have the raw magic wielding ability of a unicorn, the structure of flight for a pegasus, and the power of strength of an earth pony. Along with this, they have an insect like exoskeleton, though it’s certainly not as heavily patterned as an insect’s would be, as it’s divided into hundreds of plates. Ponies, on the other hoof, only come in those three separate forms—unicorns, pegasi, or earth pony. Of course, we have a breed with all three traits as well, but they are few, and with there only being two by birth left—Celestia and Luna—they may very soon die out. Because of our bodily separation, we can accommodate for our lack of individual prowess by banding together and building. Also, griffons and minotaurs are quite fond of using weaponry, so, in relatively recent events, ponies have had to…upgrade I suppose you could say, to protect ourselves.”

“That’s actually rather interesting,” commented Jason. “I don’t suppose you could open up that box there for us?”

“Well, not at the moment. I don’t have those keys with me. However, if you really want to take a look, I can acquire them for you,” replied Flash as he began to head for the doorway. “Hey, October, would you mind taking a torch for me?”

October hobbled Matthew up against the wall before he walked to Jason and took his torch. He then walked up beside Flash, who took the lead from there—through the halls, and up the stairwell.

“Sooooo…” Matthew began as he looked around the room, “are you just going to stand there trying to melt the spears with your eyeballs, or are you going to try them out?”

Jason laughed as he took his critical eye away from the rack of spears he was analyzing, and took one from its place. The first thing he took note of was that the shaft was made of some rather hard, ridged wood. By the simple smell of it, it may have been apple. The head was also a nicely tempered iron, making it a good weapon for thrashing an opponent. Jason wrapped his fingers around the shaft of the weapon and spun it, making timely transitions from hand to hand. His spinning started slow though, and so he determined that it would be harder for him to maneuver it in surprise situations. He laid the spear back in its place, and moved on to the next rack.

It had taken about half an hour or so before October and Flash returned with the proper set of keys. The poor guard was actually questioned by Luna concerning his sudden interest in the Changeling weaponry, but since October was waiting right outside, he could tell Luna was pressing hard on Flash, and took that time to enter in on the conversation. At simply October’s being there, and mentioning that it was Jason’s idea, the princess had had taken little time in retrieving the keys for the chest, which she seed to keep in her very chambers.
“You know,” Jason said as Flash fiddled with the keys in his feathers, “if it was really that much trouble to get the keys for the chest, we could have just skipped it.”

“Perhaps,” replied Flash, “but, you’re a guest in this castle, and as such, it’s my duty to serve you.” And with that, the main lock on the chest popped and creaked as various mechanisms began to move and shift. The lid to the large, rectangular box popped open with a dull thud as dust came off of it in a puffy cloud. “This chest hasn’t even been so much as touched within the last few centuries, so everything in here’s pretty old,” Flash said as he lifted the heavy lid of the wooden box.
With a heave, Flash pushed it open to reveal what it had inside. The first thing that came to each of the brothers minds was that it looked similar to the descriptions of orcish weaponry. There was an assortment of axes, swords, hammers, maces, daggers, spears, flails, and even bows. There were gnarled, sharpened angles on every piece of the weapons, leaving only the gripping for a place not to be injured by the savage cutlery. The cast of the weapons was nothing even October could identify. It was dark and heavy in color, giving it the appearance of raw iron—a foolish choice of forgery.

Curious, October set his torch in a wall mounted holder, and then reached his hand for the first of the weapons that caught his eye. He carefully picked a gnarled mace from the chest. It seemed like it was a weaponized version of Sauron’s tower if you had a vivid imagination. It was actually much lighter than he had expected. The head was rather weighty, but overall, it was no lighter than Matthew’s kukri. “What’s this made of, Flash? It doesn’t feel like anything I’ve ever held before. It feels hard and strong like any other metal, but it also feels as lightweight as magnesium, though it doesn’t look like it.”

“Ah, well,” Flash answered, “I’m not sure, but it would seem that it’s made of the same stuff that makes up their shells. I’ve heard, and only heard mind you, that they supposedly took their fallen to fight once more, so…I suppose…” Flash didn’t really need to continue, nor did he wish to. The thought was rather repulsive, even to the human brothers, who had seen so many vulgar things done by the cruelest of people.

Disregarding what the weaponry might have been made of, Matthew hobbled over, and put his hand to a cruel looking blade. He pulled the sword out, and as October described, it felt resilient, yet incredibly light. The blade was curved into a shallow crescent shape as it came to the top, while closer to the base, it remained straight. It was actually much like a demented, orcish version of the replica of Legolas’ duel elven swords that his great, great grandfather always had hung in his living room. Matthew ran his fingers up the flat of the blade, feeling many scars along its length as he did so. The blade seemed worn, but with a glance, one could tell it was loved and maintained. It could certainly use a good sharpening, and perhaps a rewrapping of the handle’s grip, but other than that, it was a fine tool. It seemed amusingly to be a rather harsh replica of the elven craft from many fantasy movies he had seen as a child. The man swung it in his hand, and, though he was no swordsman, he was rather well versed in using such blades.

Now, with Jason’s curiosity piqued, he chose his weapon from the bundle of his best personal liking. It was a spear like weapon, though it looked more like a short sword with an extended handle with an upward curving finger guard. This one wasn’t quite so painful and dank looking. It was actually cleaned, straight, and seemingly unused. One could even say it was beautiful.

Flash took notice of the brothers’ liking to the Changeling’s craft, particularly Jason eyeing the spear he held, and asked, “Does this mean that you all would like the weapons from the chest, or should we still proceed with your request to Griffonstone?”

Flash seemed a bit edgy when asking, though October hardly took notice as he replied, “I think we should talk with the princesses first, seeing that they have the original plan, but I think I like this mace right here.

“Likewise, I say,” Jason butted in. “While I do see your own spears as practical, I think I like was I have—this hybrid.”

“And what have you got to say, Matthew?” Flash asked, turning to the man in question.

Matthew was sitting down as this point, mainly from his extensive back pain, but also in thought. “I wouldn’t want to inconvenience her majesties with a sudden change of plans,” Matthew stated after a while of pondering, getting a relaxed smile from Flash. “However,” he continued, getting Flash to take his smile back, “I think that what we have here—these Changeling weapons—are actually much more beneficial. There will be no need to be putting others to work across the country for our sake, and these are right here, right now, whereas ordered weapons would take a lot more sweat and effort. Besides all that, these weapons seem as though they just need a bit of a cleanup, and they’d be as ready as ever.”

Flash sat back on his haunches as his eyes gazed around the room, but he wasn’t focusing on anything in particular. “You have a fair point there, so I suppose I should report to the princesses before the request is sent. There are sheathes, quivers, and coverings for blades, bows, and blunt hammers beside the third rack on the right of the chest. I’ll go tell the princesses your new request.” And with that, Flash swiftly flew up the wall, had taken the torch from its mount in his mouth, and was gone, leaving the brothers to their own affairs for the time being.

Matthew stood back on his hooves and walked over to the rack of spears where Flash had said there were coverings for the Changeling weapons. Just as was said, there were several sheaths and quivers for the various things in the chest. What caught the man as odd were the many different colors the sheaths had. Some were red, others blue, green, white, or black. What was even stranger was than they were scaly. Matthew knelt down to hold a particular, green, scaled sheath of a sword. Taking memory from his meeting the little dragon boy named Spike, it seemed that this material was similar to the boy’s own skin. The scaled were far too large to be any kind of lizard he had ever known, forming the conclusion in his mind that it must have been dragon hide. His two little brothers came to his side to see the weapon coverings, and to their surprise as well, they found it to be a variety of colorful, scaly skins. Matthew slipped the blade from his hand into the supposed dragon skin sheath, though it apparently wasn’t the right one for that sword, for it didn’t fit in quite the right way. “Not the best, but it’ll work,” Matthew commented as he stood, holding the sword and sheath out in front of him.

Jason had chosen out a silvery-white sheath that fit his spear well enough to work as well, and for October, there was nothing that could have kept his new weapon any safer than his own hands. Jason then noticed a black quiver full of crudely crafted arrows filling it. Thinking about a few option in his mind, he fetched from the chest a recurve bow that seemed to be the only one actually in there. Bringing it back to where the leathers were, he took an arrow from the black quiver, notched it, and shot it at the stone wall on the other end of the room. Whatever the bowstring was made of, Jason could feel that it certainly wasn’t horse hair. The arrow itself however, completely shattered on impact with the wall, and was now in pieced upon the ground. “Well, that’s really going to need some new arrows,” Jason mumbled to himself.

“Are you considering using a bow instead then?” asked Matthew with an odd face.

“Oh no, I like this spear-sword hybrid…thing just fine. I was thinking you would do well with the bow,” Jason replied as he offered it to his older brother.

Matthew looked at Jason with raised brow, but took the bow from him anyway. “I suppose, but I don’t think a bow for a sword is necessarily the best trade off.”

“Perhaps not,” replied Jason with a bit of a smile, “but if you take a look on the back of this quiver here,” Jason trailed off, leaving Matthew curious to take the black quiver from Jason. Matthew looked carefully at the item. He noticed that, instead of a round shape, the quiver was flat, and had several dividers in it to hold rows of arrows. But then he noticed a divider in the mouth of the arrow holder with a significant snap-button hanging from its lip. The only obvious conclusion to come to was that it was a divider to hold a sword.

Matthew smiled with a light shake of his head, and slipped his blade inside after removing it from the previous sheath. Sure enough, the sword fit it perfectly with the latch snapped over its handle to keep it in place. “Well well, I suppose I can work with a bow then.”

“You see,” commented Jason for the sake of clarifying the practicality of its making, though he was speaking more or less to himself as he rambled, “being broad and flat as it is, it makes the quick draw of the arrows much more efficient, and its flat shape would also compensate for the curved shape of a one edged sword as that one you have, Matthew. It would seem that both the sword and bow were meant to be wielded by one man...or a Changeling I suppose.”

“If that’s the case,” October spoke up, “then the Changelings are not ones to underestimate if they take the time to perfect their weaponry of war performance. Have the two of you noticed how relatively hectic the Royal Guard is? They seem too comfortable all the time, as if there wasn’t anything that could go wrong. I mean, heck, they’re not too good at making sure things are all right and tidy.”

“What do you mean, Red? What did you do?” Matthew asked in exasperation with a raised eyebrow. “You haven’t been messing with the guards have you? I know how much you like to test people’s defense.”

“Hey, I didn’t really do much. Three nights ago, I wasn’t sleeping well. The idea was to go for a little walk in the palace garden, but I ended up coming across a unicorn from the Guard. The unicorn had a light spell flashing around to make sure everything was as it should be. Out of curiosity, I tapped my hooves on the floor. It got his attention, but he never checked it out. For the past three days, I noticed that the guards were never really alert like I’m used to people being. What if something wrong happened? Or what if something was just awry? I doubt they’d take much notice. From only the weapons we hold, it looks as if the Changelings would be far better at what the Royal Guard is for.” October was right too. These supposed guards didn’t seem too efficient at their job as they should have been.

Matthew was just about to ask October what he was getting at, but Flash Sentry had come back at that very moment. “Iron Brothers, Celestia and Luna would like to see you…along with the weapons you chose,” he said after he had given the torch to Jason.

October immediately took the torch from his brother, and took the head. They headed back up through the dark hallway, and up to the sunlit halls of the marble palace. October swiftly swung the torch, putting the flame out, leaving it then in the wall mount at the entrance to the descending stairway. Flash guided them through the now familiar hallways to the throne room with a distinct frown on his face. October put his mace in his right hand, while Matthew took this time to buckle the quiver over his shoulder, as well as sling his bow there.

Not too long a time navigating the palace, Flash had faithfully lead them to the magnificent doors of the throne room. Flash popped in, and only a second later came out again and said, “Come in,” to the brothers waiting there.

Matthew stepped in first, followed by Jason, and then October. The first thing October noticed was the odd look the two princesses had as they eyed the choice weapons the bothers now carried. They seemed rather confused, though there was definant memory washing over Celestia as she looked at the Changeling crafted weapons that didn’t go unnoticed by any of the brothers. The princess of the sun seemed particularly warry of the spear like weapon in Jason’s hands. “Iron brothers?” asked Celestia with a bit of an inquirious tone, “It was reported that you took a quick liking to the cutlery in the chest, so I must ask you: are you quite certain you wouldn’t like me to follow through with the request to Griffonstone, or would you like to keep now what you’ve got? I know it would take more time and effort to request weaponry from the griffons, but, if it’s all the same to you, what you hold in your hands are feared and named weapons, the names of which you will find that not many don’t know. They were locked away for a purpose. I mean not to say that you are not permited to choose what you will, but some may not take good liking you carrying these around where you go.”

Matthew wore a look of thought, while October stared ahead with somewhat of a blank face. Jason was shuffling a bit as he was much more concered about well pleasing the rulers to keep an unmarked face of reputation, being as they were embassadors of humanity as the sort that they had become. Jason sighed with releif as Matthew took quick notice of Jason’s mild distress on the situation, and thus spoke on their behalf as he had usually done. “As warry as we are to make displeasing actions toward you and your sister, you said yourself that it would be a bit out of the way to aquire cutlery from another nation. We have here what we think would suit us best, and it’s right here with us as I said, rather than across the continent. Uh, you said that these were named, I believe? Would you wish to tell us more about that?”

Luna, who seemed a little clueless about it all, seemed to now have memory of it. “Matthew, the pair you have—the bow with its sword—were a common pair used by the quick and quiet. Those that you bare are called Dinaer. They were once wielded by a great Changeling warrior named Lugbûrzum. He was the one of the shadows. Known as such for lacking the common shapeshifting ability of the Changelings, he thus kept himself to his name—being one that slinked in the shadows, and never being seen. Yours, October, is also as famed. Unguer is its name, meaning ‘Hollow’. It comes from its famed wielder, Flokolgûl. As his name says, he was a crooked one. He named his weapon for its way of hollowing its every enemy—carving everything that made a living thing alive. And yours, Jason, is the most known for its use and make. Thaurer—The Abominable One. It was crafted by two forgers—Thaurer himself, the one for whom the blade is named, and the minotaurian forger, Bardin Lunnsson. It’s forged of chitin and steel. I know not how it was done, but it was. Thaurer’s weapon was named after his death. Of his death, ponies feared most that he could not die at all. He lived for nine hundred sixty-nine years, exceeding any other mortal by far. He was believed to be an invincible immortal, though Sombra was one to disagree. It was in a battle with Sombra himself that that Thaurer fell. Even for as long-lived and clever as Thaurer was, Sombra had dedicated his entire life to battle and warrior’s magic, making him far more equipped that Thaurer ever could be. Sombra claimed the weapon as his own, only furthering its legendary death streak. No one understands why Thaurer lived for as long as he did, but we can all thank Sombra for naming it in memory of him.”

There was a long silence. The guards, the brothers, and even Celestia herself—they were all speechless.
“Sister?” Celestia eventually asked with a nervous smile, “I knew of the origins of them all, yes, but Thaurer? How do you know this much of him?”

There was another silence. Though not as painful as the last, it was still hard to bear through. “I’ve…read a few things,” was all Luna said in a tone that ended any rebuttal that could have arisen. Celestia looked far from satisfied, but there were other matters to be concerned with at the moment, so she turned her attention back to the men in the court.

“Ah…yes, that’s why we had a few concerned thoughts about how and what you chose, but if it is what you wish, then you may carry them.” This was all she had to say, but now the brothers looked at their weapons oddly.
Jason, now with a frown creasing his face, thought things a little differently. “They may have been seen with great fear in the past, but this is a different time. Perhaps there can be a new legacy for old things?” This brought a bit of a smile to the face of the royal sisters as they admired the adventurous thinking of Jason.
“Oh, I suppose you’re right, Jason. We shouldn’t put fear in the material, but the one who wounded with it. You may keep what you’ve got, but be sure not to do anything that might provoke unkind tongues. They still have a reputation on them, and a reputation can be hard to change, making it only harder by the fact that they come from the Bad Lands.” Celestia said.
“I have a question though,” piped October, “I know that ponies find distaste in using skins, and eating meat, and other things that have to do with taking living things apart, so what about these dragon sheaths? At least, I would suppose they’re made of dragon skin.”
“Oh, actually,” Luna replied first. “dragon scales are an easy thing to come by, and are quite common for making weapon coverings. Dragons will often shed their skins in replace of a new. These shed pieces of their skin are collected by anypony who comes across them, and are used for many things. They actually make rather fair tunics as well. Dragon skin will last far longer than any other material we’ve got, and thus it’s been a rather popular material for many crafts.”
“Well, thank you, your majesties, for your permission and understanding,” said Matthew as be bowed his head, his brothers doing likewise. “I was a little concerned that you would be displeased, based on how fiddly Sentry had gotten through our talk.” Matthew finished with a playful smile as Flash, who in turn rolled his eyes at the man.
“It would be the least of a problem to be mixed up in our affairs with such concerns as yours, Iron Brothers. Indeed, it was our suggestion that you trade out what you had for what you’ve got now, yes? It would be trifling at the least to us as to what you preferred,” quoth Luna happily, putting the brothers at ease with themselves. “Now then, I do believe it’s been—” Luna began before she was cut off by a stifled yawn. “Hwæt, I’ve been up for far too long. Matthew, Jason, October, you are dismissed, as well as I. Rest has been prolonged for long enough. I must go. Farewell!” And with that, the princess of the moon walked by the brothers as two guard ponies opened up the doors for her.
The brothers were about to follow her out before Celestia called them back. “Brothers, it was told to me that you felt a little uncomfortable being taken by chariot here. What would you prefer contrariwise to the last? I personally thought the trains would be a bit…cramped to say the least. That isn’t even to speak of the little rooms they have, or how much longer it will take to get from here to there.”
October, who had been quiet long enough, spoke up, saying, “It did seem rather queer that we were treated so…well and formal I suppose, but it’s not too much of a bother to take a chariot back again, if that’s what you were asking.”

“Oh good then, I would prefer you to travel around a little less openly for the sake of keeping my little ponies calm, and now that you bare past fears as opposed to my subjects in the ways that you do,” replied Celestia with a light sigh. “I will show you to the chariot port then. Follow me.” Admittedly, the brothers were rather frightening to her. She was very powerful, as was her sister, but there was something about the brothers that was far from other worldly…—authoritative—That was perhaps the best way to describe it. Who convinces a town like Ponyville of all places to butcher a hydra and move it into the Everfree? The Iron Brothers apparently did. The princess of the sun shivered under the thought of what the brother went through to gather such authoritative respect that they could simply command and have it done. She had enough trouble with that herself, and she was the eldest of the Equestrian princesses, not to mention that essential caretaker of the sun.

Celestia waved with spread wings to the brothers in the chariot as her farewell to them while they waved her back. Flash had stayed with his princess rather than flying the brother back to Ponyville, for there was another assigned in his place this time—White Peak. That way, there would be at least one of us in Ponyville to check up on Bonbon..., Flash thought to himself. Flash turned and flew off to his post at the gate of the castle, while Celestia simply teleported herself back to the courtroom, where there seemed to be more than a few antsy patricians and aristocrats outside the door.

Celestia sighed with both anticipation of the nobles, and how to end the day properly with a book and a hot pot of tea. “Let the day court resume,” ordered the princess, leaving Arcturus and Rigel, two of the only earth ponies of the Royal Guard, to open the doors with a heave, thus letting a flood of blueblooded importance into the room. Blueblood…ah, yes. I shall be dealing with that later, Celestia thought to herself as she teleported a long, eloquently designed table with ten chairs on each side into the throne room, giving all the nobles plenty of places to sit.

Night—Flash loved it. It the only time he could get at least some peace from all the voices. Of course, they would always be there--shucking and jiving, never leaving, but he still had friends to help with that. And of his friends…Flash rounded the corner to a narrows alleyway. It was dark, damp, and cooler than, but as clean as, any other part of the city. “I believe this is it, unless we moved it again,” Flash mumbled to himself. He looked back out from the alley to make sure he hadn’t been followed, or being watched. He then examined the cobblestones at his hooves, seeing the tiniest, rectangular crease in it. He put his hoof on the stone, and pressed his body down on it. The stone sunk a quarter inch under him, and made a quite rumble of grinding stones. The ground pulled back to reveal a passage down below the city. He swiftly went down and shut the entrance behind him. There was nothing to see but the black that surrounded him once the passage shut its mouth. “Hello?” Flash asked out as the empty darkness echoed it back to himself.

“There ya’are, lad,” came a gruff voice that startled the pegasus into stepping back a bit. “Now now, calm yourself. You’ve known me for long enough.” And with that, there came a light of a sky blue color that filled the dark stairwell. The unicorn chuckled as Flash winced at the light. “Come along then,” said the unicorn through his bush-like, brown beard. “They’ve been waiting for you.”

Flash hopped along without hesitation, this being only his fourth meeting. He once thought that he was alone in his rebellion, but it was about three years prior that he learned otherwise. Down the stairs, through a few burrowed, dirt tunnels, jumping a few sinkholes, and they had come to a door that was reinforced with a magic embedded, dragon skin covering, leading to a small room. It was designed so that ponies whose blood was not put in the frame of it could not enter, and now that number had come to five.

“Steel,” began Flash in a bit of a nervous tone, “what of the thestral guards? They haven’t anything to see or hear of us as of yet?”

“Not yet they don’t. Those ones are a dangerous little bunch,” replied the unicorn as he tapped his horn to the door, causing it to silently open out toward them. “Always going about their nightly business may put us out. There’s no telling where one might be.”

“Flash, I’m tired of not seeing you more often!” a deep and jovial voice came from the room.

Flash turned his attention to the occupants of the room. There was a young, cream colored, earth pony mare with a light brown mane and tail standing beside a tall, dark blue, thestral stallion with a white man and tail. The mare had knotted muscles that spoke of nothing more than hard labor from her years of farming, with a cutie mark of a plain, wooden shield, which bore the emblem of a reared, yellow lion. The thestral wore the typical armor of the Night Guard, covering most of his body, though his helmet was set to the side. He was quite a bit peppier than his companion, and was about two hooves thicker than the mare, as well as one head taller. The mare was called Desert Firm, and the stallion was named, just simply, Lilac. It was a bit of an odd name for a stallion, but it was simply that his parents were expecting the birth of a filly, though, even knowing this, Lilac couldn’t be bothered by such things like a misfit name, and thus decided to keep it.

“Hello, Lilac, as well as you, Firm,” replied Flash with a wave of his wing. “I heard tell that you would be here in Canterlot, Firm, but what brings an Appaloosaian such as yourself here to the capitol?”

Desert Firm and Lilac smiled at Flash and Steel as Firm replied, “Let’s just say I heard there were more of us.” Desert Firm then looked a bit curious, and so asked, “Is Fancy not joining us then?”

Steel Lance shook his head, and replied, “No, he won’t be. He said he preferred to keep as much of himself out of our affairs as was possible. I understand why he’s so wary, but it hurts just a bit that even he is so edgy with us.”

“I don’t understand,” chimed Lilac. “Fancy Pants wants her off the throne just as much as any of us. He knows us better than perhaps even we know of each other, so why would he be missing this meeting? He is a rather important asset.”

“Yes, that’s true,” replied Desert Firm. “We need him for what we’re doing, but he has his own duties to attend to, and he’s practically a magic beckon, so going under the city once every month would be sure to make a few palace ponies wondering about him. Furthermore, we all know he hates going behind Celestia’s back. I for one say that he can be of great use up there. He can…sip some cider, if you understand.”

“Oh, yes yes, certainly, Firm,” quipped Lilac. “By all means, our most important member must get himself drunk, and go babbling secretive things.”

Firm knocked Lilac in the knee, getting the thestral to laugh. “Don’t be that way now, Lilac,” Firm reprimanded.

“You have a good idea there, Firm,” piped Steel. “He could be just as important up in the city as down here with us. He also seems rather well acquainted with Miss Rarity—the one that once bore the Element of Generosity. Knowing her, I would say if Fancy swayed her first, then that could lead to gaining the trust of the other Elements. This is perhaps the best opportunity we’ve got since we discovered Bonbon.”

“Yes yes,” chimed Sentry as he felt that the subject was veering, “as good as that is; what would be our next step from here?”

Steel, being the leader of this particular head, licked his lips with his eyes flitting around the room, until he replied, “How are the voiced.” Flash, Lilac, and Firm all looked to each other before looking down to the ground with different levels of distress. “Not too good then?” Steel was answered with the shake of the heads of his companions. Steel sighed and said, “Come here then. I can make it better.”

They did as asked; coming closer to the unicorn, and sat around him with their heads down. One by one, he touched their crowns with his horn aglow; one by one, their faces showed relief of hidden pain. Steel back away from them as he wrinkled his face into contorted madness as his head began to pound like thunder in his ears. He kneeled on the ground and rolled to his side as he began to sweat. His friends came to his side with worry. Once again, the kind unicorn had healed them, only from all that irritation to be taken to him. It hurt him every time to do it, but no matter the consequence, he had made it very clear that he wouldn’t put up with his friends dealing with it instead of him.

Firm, in her concern for the stallion, pressed her hoof to Steel’s jugular, causing him to sleep within a minute or so. It got harder to see him do this every time, because, each time, it put a heavier burden on him.

“Oh, Steel,” said Lilac once the unicorn’s breathing had softened a bit, “you can’t do this forever.”

“He should do just fine. According to him, his blacksmithing practices well does away with the voices. His wife and daughter are helpful contributors to his peace as well…Now then, Lilac. I presume you have our plans since Steel went in with the procedure a bit early?”

“I…only have half. Steel still doesn’t trust be that much after what I did. I believe Firm has the first half?” Lilac replied as he smiled a little awkwardly.

Firm nodded with an understanding smile to Steel’s distrust of the thestral. “Indeed I do,” said Firm.

Bonbon took a quick peak in Lyra’s room, making sure that her roommate wouldn’t be disturbed in her sleep as she slipped outside. Once outside, there was almost an immediate rush of wind behind her. “Peak,” she said, a bit startled. “You’re here right on the hour. I heard you were the new one, but how can I trust you?”

White Peak raised a brow as the mare’s questioning. Peak grunted, and his eyes shifted quickly from their grassy green color, to that of a solid blue. Bonbon smiled at his open show, and said in return, “Good. Now then, let’s talk.”

Author's Note

Just wanna put this here. If you need a better visual of the Iron Brothers' weapon choices, here are the links:
Matthew - sword&bow
Jason - spear-sword hybrid
October - mace
Yes, I know—Skyrim. Shush.

Happenings Found

Three days since Matthew, Jason, and October had returned to the little town of Ponyville, they had laid out blue prints, planned guide lines, and had a foundation dug where they had wished to build what was to be their new house. It was quite a happy time for them—building what was to be a place they were to really settle, instead of sitting down, just to get up and run the next day. Applejack had so graciously offered her help for the construction, since she had had more experience of that ilk than the Irons did. The house was being built a ways away from town. In fact it was just a quarter mile within the Everfree Forest. It was far enough from town for the brothers to do things like hunt without disturbing anypony, but also close enough for in-town convenience. Within another week, there was a swath cut through the forest. Trees had been taken down to make a clean path for one, and secondly, there were no sawmills. Apparently they were never invented on Equis, so it all was to be made by hand and hoof.

The Irons had dedicated all their daylight hours to the construction of their new home, and also got the help of a few willing ponies. Applejack, of course, was one to help, along with Macintosh to come later, with ones like Caramel, Bonbon, Thunder Lane, and Bulk Biceps. With the work put in to the project, the new home was made in a total of two weeks. It was simple, with only four rooms. The kitchen and dining place were the same room, and the living was connected to it by open space. The living room had a hearth, though it was empty other than that. In the downstairs, there was the main room, that was more or less to be made into a rec room, and then there was their bedroom. Again, they shared the same bedroom, because they had never had it any other way. The downstairs itself was actually the basement, being built into the ground, so from the outside, there was only one story to be seen. There was certainly much more work to be done, but it was now livable. What it really needed was some furniture. That could wait however, because it was Wednesday—they day they planned to hunt. Fortunately, they no longer had to use stones, but now had something more suitable for hunting. Matthew had made himself a new set of arrowed. They were made of pine wood, and tipped with steal heads, courtesy of Vulcan, the father of Thunder Lane. It turned out that Vulcan and his family was a band of smithies.

The Irons were swiftly in the depths of the woods with surprising stealth. They weren’t as quiet as the Injun hunters, but it was good enough for now. While the brothers sneaked into the forest, Twilight got the foolish idea to follow them to see what it was that they were doing. The little princess was too quite sneaky, as she kept out of sight as well as she could, and just a quiet.

It had been only one hour until the brothers stopped. They had been combing the forest floor when there was a loud splash of water. When the brothers had stopped at the noise, Twilight feared she would be spotted, but they instead slowly crept to the noise. At the edge of a burbling river was a golden manticore with a fluffy red mane and ten foot long scorpion tail. It stood about five and a half feet at the shoulders, making it quite a bit larger than any lion. The beast perked his ears as October swiftly took to the air, perching himself in a tree. He was followed by Matthew and Jason just before the manticore turned its head. It looked around the forest for danger, but found nothing, and so went back to drinking from the river.

There was a slight breeze that flowed through the trees that suddenly changed directions. It had Twilight downwind of the beast, but now it had provided the manticore with her scent. Twilight stood there, terrified and trembling. As soon as the wind shifted, she knew she was in danger. She was a powerful one to contest, but creatures that dwelt in the Everfree could care less about her magical prowess. The manticore turned its head, spying the mare in the bushes.

Up above, the brothers felt the wind change as well, though they were a little curious as to what the manticore was looking at. Jason looked through the foliage, thanking that perhaps it was a deer, or a bear that had come to drink as well. His eyes went wide and he gasped when he saw Twilight shivering in the bushes. Matthew had obviously seen as well. The manticore was only a few moments from pouncing upon the princess, but was stopped as an arrow was lodged in its eye. It roared in pain as it thrashed its head about, while Twilight took that moment to turn on her hooves and run. October jumped down from the trees with his mace raised in the air and his wings spread to soften his fall. He smacked the crown of the monster, tarring open the skin, as well as perhaps cracking its head. The beast plucked the arrow from its left eye while it became to strike out at October. Another arrow was planted in its side as Matthew came down with Jason following. Jason rushed up to the maticore and ran around it, striking it in sensitive places as it tried to follow him. All the while, Matthew continued to volley his arrows as he picked up those the manticore tore out of itself. October took to the air, and came down on the beast as it was focused on Matthew. It seemed to want him dead first, as he was the main danger. However, as the manticore took a few steps forward, October came down on it again, just as Jason came up under it. Jason thrust his spear into the throat of the monster as October slammed his mace in between its eyes. The blow forced the manticore’s head down onto Jason’s spear with a crack and a gurgle. The manticore suddenly stopped fighting and fell forward. Jason had just enough time to jet himself backwards into Matthew, who dropped his bow to catch his brother. They stood there for a moment, until October hopped down from the manticore’s head. Jason stood up and looked at his now bloodied blade as Matthew began to gather the arrows strewn across the forest floor.

“What was Twilight doing here?” October growled as he smacked his mace into the dead creature’s eye.

Jason chuckled a bit, though he was no less irritated with what she had done, and said, “Learning, studying, watching.”

Matthew was staring at their new kill with a frown on his face. “I’ll have a chat with that mare later. Right now, we need AJ’s axe.”

Twilight came running into town in quite a fright. She had a few tears in her eyes as she barreled through the market place. She ran into Macintosh, putting the princess on her rump. Mac grunted and looked down at Twilight a little curiously. When he saw her in tears, he immediately unhitched himself from his quarter ton chart and lowered his head to her, saying, “You aight, Twi?”

Twilight sniffled a little before she answered, “I followed the Iron Brothers into the Everfree to see what they were up to.” Mac raised an eyebrow in a glaring reprimand, though he let her continue. “They found a manticore, so they hid up in the trees while I hid in a bush. The wind changed and it got my scent. I—I didn’t know what to do. It was about ready to…and then, there was suddenly an arrow sticking out of its eye, so while it was distracted, I ran.”

Mac sighed and shook his head. Twilight was a good friend of his, but sometime she did the darndest things. “Twilight, they built their house out there for a reason. Hunting—that’s what they were doing, I’d think,” the red stallion told her, though the last part was more or less thinking out loud. “Don’t you be doing that sort of thing, Twi. You may get more study than you bargained for.”

Twilight nodded in response as she wiped her face with a hoof. She stood back up and said, “Sorry, Mac. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“It ain’t me you should be apologizing to,” quoth Mac as he hitched himself back to the cart and began to pull through that market place again.
Luckily enough, her conversation with Macintosh was on the edge of the market, so not many were there to watch it all. Twilight stood there for a moment until she headed straight for her crystal castle.

The day the Irons had returned to Ponyville was the same day Parasol left off to Trottingham for a little end of her family. Indeed, she was rather disappointed that she wasn’t able to welcome them back, but it was every year on the same day she went to visit her great uncle, and she certainly couldn’t disappoint her uncle. So off she went, early in the morning on the day of the Irons return, by way of the train.

Coincidentally enough, there was a mother with her young colt heading for Trottingham as well. Desert was her name, with her colt named Pipsqueak. They had just come down from Canterlot, and were now going back to the colt’s father in Trottingham, before Desert had to return to Appaloosa. It was a bit of a sad story—the divorce of Akin and Desert. Pipsqueak was quite a cheery little lad though, as he was now on his way to stay with his father for a few weeks.

The train pulled into the Trottingham station in the sixth hour of Saturday’s morning, being three days after her departure from Ponyville. Parasol awoke rather drably that morning to the call of the train conductor shouting out the arrival at Trottinham Town. Leaving the train, and bidding farewell to her newest acquaintance, since Desert and Pipsqueak had their own things to tend to, Parasol began her search for her uncle’s carpenter shop.

Ponies, griffons, zebras, and minotaurs stomped around the market place, each after their own business. Trottinham was a town with many races that abode within its borders. Her uncle was an easy one to spot, for, as most knew, he was the biggest minotaur in the town. Even if his great size and stature weren’t accounted for, his black colored fur and white horns would certainly give him away. Oddly enough, however, Abner, who was Parasol’s great uncle, was not at his shop stand. And a tall stand it was, reaching above her head, so she would have to stand on her hind hooves to reach the counter top.

“Arm thyself, ye scurvy dog, else I shall be fain to crack thy pate with thine very own cudgel!” came an angered shout from out behind the stand.

Parasol gasped in concern for whoever had gotten anger out of her uncle. Abner wasn’t easily provoked, but once he was, Tartarus was let loose against whoever it was that irritated him. The little, yellow pegasus ran back behind the carpenter shop where there stood a crowd of minotaurs and griffons mostly, as they were two rather fierce races with much sport of battling and such. What Parasol saw gave her a fright. On the ground, lying at Abner’s hooves, was a broken and bloodied minotaurian lad with a brown coat flecked with blood, grasping desperately for a wooden cudgel which Abner was not keen to let go of either. The minotaur at Abner’s hooves must have been only about fifteen by his looks, and faring quite poorly to his adversary. Abner brought his massive fist back for another blow to the lad who already needed a doctor for the damage done. Before Abner could lay another blow to his opponent, however, Parasol has put herself between the two, fearing for the poor boy’s life. Abner was taken aback by the sudden intrusion of his niece. A brow he raised at her as his fist softened and lowered. A smile then broke out on the black minotaur’s welted face as he brought his arms around the yellow pegasus in a ferocious hug.

“Parasol! Hast thou a brain in that head of thine? Know ye not the danger thou hast put thyself in a moment ago?” quoth a now merry Abner as he held his niece tightly.

“Uncle!” Parasol protested in reply, “You could have just ended that poor boy’s life! What were you thinking!?”

Abner, now looking a bit more ashamed of his actions at his niece’s disapproval, quickly dropped his smile as he set her down again. “You’ve gotten drunk again, haven’t you?” Parasol asked with a bit of disappointment.

Abner was one quick to wet his lips with ale for any occasion as an excuse to drink himself mad. Now was a blatant message why that was quite a foolish habit of his. “Indeed, I have drunk mine own head to it’s fill. A mad bull becometh I in mine drunken rage. I prithee thy pardon, Parasol,” said Abner as he held a red welt on his dizzy head.

“It’s not my pardon you should be asking,” retorted the pegasus as she pointed to the minotaurian boy that had just gotten up from the ground, now with his cudgel tightly back in hand as the leather grip creak in protest to the bullock’s strength.

Abner turned to the boy, only to snort in anger once again and stomp away, going back to his shop with a fuming head. The mad bull’s niece, however, softly flew to the beaten bullock’s side, looking up at him with sorry eyes as the minotaur stood twice her height.

“Ye be the niece of that ale-lusty rapscallion?” asked the bullock as he glared angrily down at the pegasus.

“Yes, I supposed I am,” replied Parasol bitterly as she watched the crowd round about them begin to disperse.

The minotaurian boy harrumphed as he stuck out a large, callused hand to her, saying, “Karadok hast been my name here.”

Parasol took the bullock’s hand in greeting, though, she was a little confused as she said, “Do you mean you once had another name?”

Instead of answering, Karadok said, “Be ye a wayfarer from Ponyville Town? Ye speak as if thou were indeed.”

“Well, yes. I came here to visit my uncle.”

“Ye should be fain to keep a stern pair of eyes on that bully bar bender.”

“I suppose I should,” said Parasol as she watched Karadok limp himself to the Trottingham Doctor with a hand on his swollen side, where there was no doubt a broken rib or two.
Shaking her head clear, Parasol, now a little anger coming back to her, stormed into her uncle’s carpentry shop, or, as well as she could storm about that is. She flew in through an open window to her uncle’s shop, spotting him rocking back and forth in a large, pine made rocking chair that creaked its old joints with each rock.

“Uncle,” Parasol said, only getting a grunt from Abner in return. “Why do you do this to yourself? You’ve been getting drunk earlier every day, then go beat some poor bullock. Why? ” she asked Abner. Getting nothing in response, she continued, “She’s not as gone as you think she is. Adonai—” though, she couldn’t finish as Abner suddenly stood from his old chair and faces his niece.

“Adonai!? What hath He ever done that my faith should lieth in Him!? Doth ye knowest not that thine own aunt was taken from me? Wot doth I owe to one who taketh my Jewel?” As he finished with his anger, Abner sighed and sat himself back down in his chair. “Ye speakest of a loving Maker, yet is it not He that hath taken?” Without a response from Parasol, he said, “Who would be this knave by the name of Matthew? I heard tale that he hath caught thine eye,” quoth Abner in a calm, rumbling voice.

Parasol began to sputter as she was presented by such an unexpected question. However, it seemed just like Abner to try and take the subject off of himself, and onto his niece. Abner laughed merrily as Parasol began to redden like a spring rose. “Uncle!” protested Parasol as her flustered state got the better of her. “He just helped me out in a pinch, that’s it!”

“Don’t ye be lying to me, dear lass. I hath lived a life that hath shown me better than to be following such rabbit trails. Now then, prithee, dear niece, who be this Matthew that I hath heard much talk?” quoth Anber with a retained, merry smile at his jesting Parasol. “Be he a stout, lusty stallion? Or perhaps a mighty minotaur, as am I? Be he a clever zebracian lad, or swift, lion hearted griffon?”

Parasol began to wildly blush again, but she couldn’t help but smile. It was odd, her first, personal encounter with that stallion. It was rather awkward for her, to say the least, to have someone of any race to be over her the way he was, but she could understand his motive for taking such action.

Taking a calming breath, she replied with rosy cheeks and a merry smile, “Well, he’s a kind of a pegasus, but different.”

“Different how, lass?” Abner interrupted.

“It’s odd, ye see, he’s built like a minotaur, but has traits about him like a pony’s head, with pegasus’ wings and uncloven hooves,” replied the yellow pegasus. “He says he came from a different world, and when he and his brothers ended up in the Everfree forest, they acquired pegasus traits, but still retained their ‘human’ body structure.”

Abner looked at his niece with a queer look and a cocked brow. “Wot ye speakest of be not of anything I knoweth. Be ye to tell me of a new race of creatures?”

The pegasus gave a bit of pause before slowly nodding in reply. “I knoweth naught of any brothers that cameth with this Matthew,” said Abner with a harrumph.

“Why yes, uncle, two brothers he’s got. Their names are Jason and October, Jason being the older of the two, and Matthew being the oldest of either two of his brothers,” replied Parasol with a laugh before the voice of a young heifer came from the window that Parasol came through.

“Abner! Lookest thou here!” she shouted with urgency in her voice as she ran back from where she had come.

“Starteth I a fight to endeth one not a moment later,” Anber grumbled in annoyance as he stood from his chair. He swayed a bit as his head spun from his early ale, but with a shake of his horns, he tromped out of his shop.

Parasol, on the other hoof, went to the doctor’s office to check on the Karadok fellow. What she saw when she walked into the office was not at all what she had expected. There sat in a chair, not the bullock Karadok she had seen come onto the office, but a black plated changeling with a swollen side and welted crown. She just about screamed in fright before the changeling had swiftly bulleted to her and covered her mouth with a now minotaurian hand as the changeling had shape shifted in a split second.

The nurse at the front desk looked up at Parasol and Karadok with a shake of her head. “Speakest ye not of what ye hath seen here outside this town, for Celestia may have my head,” Karadok demanded from her in a low voice.

Slowly nodded in her fright as the nurse said, “Karadok, ye spokest of a niece to Abner, may she be the one of which ye spake?” Karadok looked to the nurse with a single nod, and so she continued, saying, “Parasol, ye mustn’t be one with loose lips. Now, there beth much to discuss.”

Luna breathed in and out very slowly, taking every second with deep breaths. Standing before her, in her private chambers, was a thestral from her Night Guard. His name was Whippoorwill Nightjar. He had a coat of light grey that was streaked with spears of white along his sides. Down at his hooves, the color of his legs faded darker until they became black, and his leathery wings were a pearly white.

The princess released the stallion from her magic and sighed as she came back to her own mind. “October…concerns me,” she said after a while of silence.

“I understand, your majesty,” replied Nightjar. “He’s been able to toy with the Royal Guard with ease, as well as keep out of sight from the Night Guard. Perhaps it’s just by mere coincidence, but it would seem more likely that he knows of the Night Guard, and thus he keeps away. How though, I can’t be sure.”

“He’s a nice stallion, but I can’t help but feel on edge about him. Perhaps it was his war? I can’t tell what makes him act the way he does, but it’s eerily similar to Thaurer’s battle tactics of testing his enemy before an attack,” Luna commented as she shifted through the thoughts of Nightjar’s.

“Princess,” asked Nightjar, “you’re not…thinking about that again, are you?”

Luna, being a close friend to the thestral, wasn’t so jumpy about the subject of her ‘search for a stallion’, I suppose you could say. “Oh, he is a handsome lad, if a bit odd, but who am I to talk about odd?”

Nightjar chuckled and replied, “You really have an eye for the exotic ones, eh? First dragon, then minotaurs, now…whatever it is that October is”

Luna blushed and said with a huff, “Now, Whippoorwill, you of all my guards should know about exotic.” Nightjar took his turn to blush as he chuckled awkwardly. Luna sighed with a smile and said, “You’re excused now, Whippoorwill.” And with that, the thestral dipped his head and exited the room.

Luna sat in her bed as she readied herself for her nightly duties. She let out a deep breath as she released her magic out into from the castle. Her world warped from what was real into a dreamscape of wonders. Doors faded into the dreamscape, each representing the entrance to each individual’s mind. She began her job with one of her favorite subjects—Time Turner. His inventive mind was a world of wonder when he was continues, but much more mysterious and illusive in his dreams. She opened Turners dream door to take a look inside.

Far on into her dream job, as a bad pun would have it, she inhaled uncertainly as she came across three doors that she hadn’t come across very much. She had only seen them three times before, and still them, there was no doubt whose dreams they could be. There was an all too unique presence about them, one that the Iron brothers carried with them. What was quite queer about these doors was that, while most dream doors consisted of wood, these three were made of shined steel with some sort of advanced mechanism on each of them, keeping her out. Today, however, she was determined to open those doors. She tried to convince herself that it wasn’t prying, but only doing her job. So, as she had herself prepared, she concentrated her magic on the door to her farthest right.

It seemed to her that it had been at least an hour until a hollow, metallic, grinding sound came from the door. Will a new spark of determination, she pushed herself harder, causing the door to groan loudly before yielding to her prowess. She panted, as the work had taken much from her. She, very, slowly, opened up the door, but what she saw was something she couldn’t have ever prepared for.

Princess Luna had seen many wars in her life, and had dealt with many nightmares before, many by memories of said wars, but nothing could have compared to the nightmares she saw through that door. There were black clouds that billowed into the sky that smelled of burned flesh, giant machines that looked like metal-armored turtles with long cannons on their tops. The machines tore up the ground as they trekked through a lush, green prairie. Odd, bipedal creatures that stood on two legs ran about with these giant machines bearing little cannons that blasted fire, just that the weapons that the Iron brothers had. The last thing she saw was blood gushing from one of the creature’s eyes as another had a knife embedded in it. The noises, the smells, and the sights were horrifying as it was, but that was not all. Emotions poured through to her like a dam had just broken. She felt grief so deep that she was reminded of her exile to the moon. Hate so strong that it felt like standing in a raging furnace. Pain so excruciating; much more than physical beyond belief. She slammed the door shut, from thence it began to make fierce and loud grinding noises as the mechanism locked itself back in place.

She quickly ended her spell and tangled herself in her covers as tears came to her eyes. She didn’t even know who any of those creatures were, but she knew they had to be from the Iron’s world. Having the Irons tell her stories was one thing, but what she had just witnessed broke her heart. “What desecration of life is this?” Luna whispered to herself as she wished now to only sleep. “What pain and sorrow could any bear through like this?”

Author's Note

Okay...so...I got over that writers block pretty quickly. ^^U
Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I've got, and things and stuff.
Also, old English. I'm trying things :3

I Need a Break

Alright folks, I've got something to tell you all. I'm not going to be making a new update very soon. I've got a bit of a writers block going on so the update will take longer than I had hoped. So, sorry about that to all of you who were looking forward to the next chapter. However, I will be writing on something else that I have been working on for a bit whenever I need a break from my story Brothers. I haven't published this book yet, but since my update on Brothers it taking way to long, I figure that I should at least give you all something in the meantime. The name of this other book is called Hunter, so go ahead and be looking out for that. And if you don't like it...well...sorry.