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.