Her Majesty's Royal Guard

Chapters

Prologue: The Ritual
Prologue 2: The Witching Hour
The Forest
The Tree and The Castle
The Scream
The Discovery
The Talk
The Escape

Prologue: The Ritual

Chrysalis, queen of the changeling swarm, made her way down the dark, slime-covered tunnel towards her throne room.

As repulsive as the slime was to the casual observer, it was vital to her race's survival. Closer inspection of this slime would reveal the multitude of cell-like eggs that would eventually spawn into more of her subjects. Yes, this cavern was the nursery of her children.

Chrysalis sidestepped a changeling drone as he dashed past her, offering a quick bow as he passed his queen, before continuing on to the much busier birthing cavern behind her. Despite all appearances, changeling eggs only had a fertility rate of about ten percent, therefore any drones not assigned to any current task of gathering love from the various outposts near pony settlements were assigned to assisting in the hatchery for any eggs that made it past the slimy stage these eggs next to the queen were currently in.

Rest well, my children. Chrysalis thought to herself, a small smile coming to her face. We will soon need your strength.

The queen continued on her way down the dark halls of her colony, not noticing the black, oily substance starting to spread over the eggs in the cavern she had just vacated.

Soon, soon she would be able to make another attempt on those ponies who had decimated her subjects after her ill-fated bid on Canterlot. Her vengeance would be swift, her spies had already infiltrated their capital and began relaying vital information on guard placement and the new defenses, magical and physical, that had been erected in the last year.

The results were honestly disappointing. If anything, their defenses had only gotten weaker since her invasion about a year ago. The Elements of Harmony were no longer kept close to the princesses, Captain Shining Armor was no longer a member of the Equestrian Royal Guard, having moved to the Crystal Empire, so there was no longer any problems with a giant bubble shield being erected over the city to keep her vanguard from entering once she collapsed their flimsy house of cards from under them.

"Foolish ponies," Chrysalis muttered under her breath, "their arrogance will be their downfall."

Finally reaching the large, obsidian double doors to her throne room, she entered after they opened of their own volition, her guards saluting her as she walked regally past them.

"Greetings, Queen Chrysalis." said a deep voice from ahead of her.

"Who goes there?" Chrysalis said into the darkness obscuring the other end of the throne room, her guards rushing in and taking defensive positions on either side of their queen.

"Ah, forgive me, I was merely making myself comfortable." the voice said from the dark shadows at the other end of the room. As if on cue, the shadows began to retract as if being sucked in by a sponge, revealing a dusky grey unicorn reclining on an obsidian throne, her throne.

his mane was an inky black, his eyes were a mix of green scleras and scarlet irises, wisps of dark purple smoke emitting from either side as he bared his sharpened canine teeth in a grin. And atop his head was a long, curved horn that was tinged an unnatural red color.

The strange pony got up from the throne and stepped flawlessly into a low bow, "allow me to introduce myself, my name is -"

"King Sombra." Chrysalis stated, venom sneaking into her voice as she uttered the name of the famed warlock.

"I see my reputation precedes me," Sombra said, straightening up out of his bow, "I assume that we can skip the formalities?"

"What do you want?" Chrysalis said, her annoyance with the former tyrant growing.

"I wish to propose an alliance between us, your majesty."

"And what could you possibly offer me, former king of the Crystal Empire?" Chrysalis scoffed.

"Quite a lot, my dear." Said Sombra, a mad gleam in his eyes, "power for one, and an army so potent that not even their precious Elements of Harmony would be capable of halting our legions for even a moment."

"And where is this 'all powerful army' that you speak of, warlock? All I see is a mad king with no crown."

Sombra chuckled softly, "Why, that is where our partnership comes into play, my dear." The unicorn's horn flashed, releasing the spell that had been cast on the throne room.

That's when the screams of terror reached Queen Chrysalis' ears.

"What have you done!?" Chrysalis exclaimed, lighting up her own horn and turning to face the now cackling tyrant.

"I merely upheld my end of the bargain, my dear. My army should be complete once the screams die down." Sombra said, his mad laughter echoing through the throne room.

"You depraved tyrant!" Chrysalis screamed, tears streaming down her face as she and her guards fired bolts of green energy at the warlock. Just before the blasts could hit him however, they crashed against a wall of black crystals that sprang up from the floor between them.

"Tut, tut, your majesty. That lack of composure is unbecoming of one of your status." Sombra said, retracting the crystal wall and looking at the last surviving changelings in the hive as if he were chastising children for rude behavior. "I have not broken my word. We shall have our dark army, however, you shall not be the one leading it."

As if on cue, three blobs of inky black darkness seeped out of the floor where the wall of crystals had emerged, scarlet eyes glowing from within their depths.

"Don't worry, you will have your place." Sombra continued, drinking in the queen's despair like a fine wine, "We just need to make a few... alterations..."

And with that, the three blobs of dark matter fell upon the hapless queen and her guards. Sombra turned away from the grisly scene while the three once-changelings screamed in terror as they were consumed by the parasites that had now latched onto them.

A small smile touched Sombra's lips, "We're not done yet, every army needs a general. And unfortunately, you don't make the cut my dear queen." His horn glowed again as a red beam began to etch a circle into the floor of the throne room.

"However, I do know where I can find one..." He let his voice trail off as a batch of his newly created servants bought forth a large grandfather clock carved from dark crystal and placed it in the center of the completed spell circle.

"Let the ritual begin!" The dark king declared, stamping his forehooves on the edge of the circle. Six emerald flames sprang up at each of their designated areas, bathing the clock in the center a sickening shade of green. "Let the world distort!" Sombra continued, the six flames beginning to circle the clock until their motion grew so fast that it became a blur.

"I incite the chant of the thirteenth hour to summon a being of chaotic nature from across the reaches of reason!" Shadows began to gather around the pyre in the center of the circle.

"O equitem tenebrarum surge et servite domino vestro . Excita in tertiam percuteret cecidissetque hostes innocentium!"

In the darkness, a clock began to chime.

Author's Note

And there you have it! What unspeakable evil will Sombra unleash on our poor little ponies?

Who could possibly stop him?!

WHEN WILL SOMEONE TEACH ME LATIN SO I DON'T HAVE TO USE GOOGLE TRANSLATE?!

Find out whenever the next chapter comes out! :rainbowwild:

As always, your critiques are wanted and appreciated! :rainbowlaugh:

Prologue 2: The Witching Hour

The buzzer rang as the second to last touch was scored. "La belle!" Said the director over the obnoxious buzzer "Green touch!".

Damn it, that one hurt! I thought, wincing from the pain as I retreated to my side of the fencing strip, shaking the burning sensation out of my arm.

This guy was good, really good. He had barreled into me like a freight train, a huge departure from his earlier calculated cuts and feints that he had been doing for the past few engagements, he had caught me off guard.

I glanced at the scoreboard, four to four, it was match point.

I guess he would be pretty good, with this being the final bout of the tourney after all.

Reaching my en garde line, I gave my saber a quick twirl before turning to face my opponent. This was gonna be a tough last point, but I wasn't about to let my opponent steamroll me again.

Alright, time to tip the scales!

"En garde!" Said the director, "fencers ready?"

Both of us saluted to each other, an unspoken bond of mutual respect as equals before sinking down into our en garde stances.

The world seemed to slow as I took a deep, calming breath. Though the wire frame of my mask, I could see my opponent shift his stance forward just a little bit in anticipation. His mistake.

He's gonna rush me again. I realized, changing my grip on my weapon into a more solid one, I broke down my strategy in my head. A straightforward rush to finish the tourney and break right through my parry... he's getting impatient. I took another breath. In that case... when he does, jump backwards just out of reach of his lunge, parry head if you need to. Dart back in to feint his open side, but drop and get his wrist.

With a plan in my head, as well as several contingencies if things went wrong, I waited.

The Director bought his hands together, "fence!"

After a rush and a few clashes of blades, the buzzer sounded.

The cold wind bit through my college sweatshirt as I pulled my hood up tighter around my ears. "Why didn't I think it would snow on Christmas eve?" I grumbled to nobody in particular, readjusting the shoulder strap of my equipment bag as I made my way back home from the local fencing center.

I pulled my ribbon out of my pocket. It read: 57th annual Christmas Blade Dance Tournament First Place Winner. Seriously though, who holds a fencing tournament on Christmas Eve? Mom's gonna have my hide if I don't get back home for Christmas dinner...

Sighing heavily, I shoved the ribbon back into the pocket of my hoodie and continued my trek through the snow. I may have been the one complaining about it, but I was still the idiot who had gone to said tournament, and was now trudging through the snow as a result.

At least I'm wearing my boots and not my sneakers. I thought, just thinking about how cold my feet would have been made feel numb.

Somewhere a clock began to chime.

I pulled out my phone, the time was 7:42 PM. Crap! I'm late! Panicking, I began to pick up the pace and start running to the bus stop. Not my original plan, but it might get me home in time for me to sneak in with no one noticing.

one... two... three... four...

It didn't take me long to get to the bus stop, even though I was gasping for breath the whole time I was running.

five... six... seven... eight...

Where was it? The bus was usually here around 7:45!

nine... ten... eleven... twelve...

The street was deserted. I pulled out my phone again, but it wouldn't turn on. I had no idea what time it was.

...thirteen...

Author's Note

So originally this was gonna be longer but...

Well...

I kinda looked at the length of this thing and it was 666 words exactly.

It seemed fitting! :twilightblush:

The Forest

Where... where am I?

I groaned, cracking my eyes open a bit as a ray of sunlight hit my face.

That, was my first mistake.

I looked down and saw nothing but a huge gap between me and the ground, a large tree branch was the only thing keeping me from falling to my certain untimely demise. "Oh crap!" I shouted, gripping on to the branch below me for dear life, my motions causing a whole section of the tree to shake.

That, was my second mistake.

The branch sagged with a loud cracking noise, jerking me out of my panic and into a silent resignation. A quiet "Oh fuck me..." was all I was able to get out before the branch collapsed, sending me tumbling head over heels through the lower branches of the tree towards the ground below. I hit the ground with a loud "oof!" the impact of landing on my back knocking the wind out of me.

Fortunately for me, the fall hadn't been far enough to cause any serious damage, none that I could tell anyway. "Ow ow ow ow..." I muttered, pulling myself into a sitting position, my spine cracking painfully after being forced to move after so long. Using the branch that had fallen with me, I propped myself onto my feet. Now that my terrifying near-death experience was over and I wasn't dangling precariously from a high place, I began to take a look at my surroundings.

Green, green everywhere. Everywhere I looked, there was some form of plant life growing. From lichen on rocks, shrubs and bushes, and most obviously: the tree I had just fallen out of. "Okay," I muttered, still trying to breathe normally after my fall, "I'm obviously in a forest somewhere, but how did I get here?" I said to nobody in particular. I leaned against the tree and tried to remember everything that had happened up to this point, but I came up empty-handed.

Suddenly everything snapped everything into focus, the lingering pains of my fall completely forgotten. What the hell? Why can't I remember anything? I placed my free hand over my temple, trying to force my memories back by asking myself questions.

Who am I?

I don't remember.

What am I?

A human being.

Where did you come from?

I don't remember.

How did you get here?

I don't know.

Do you remember anyone from before?

No.

Frantic, I began to pound my hand against my head to try and jog some memories.

It didn't work.

And now I had a headache.

...fuck

I looked down at myself, maybe something on me would give me a clue as to who I was? I was wearing a set of grey cargo pants, a pair of sturdy-looking hiking boots, and a navy blue hoodie with a snarling wolf's head emblem on the front. Nothing, none of this was jogging any of my memories at all.

I began to hyperventilate.

Calm down... calm down... what's the first thing you can do right now to get yourself moving?

The answer came almost immediately: get the lay of the land, find civilization if you can and find a way there.

With a plan in my mind, I dropped the branch and began to climb back up the tree. At least this time I won't come crashing down again. I thought, sighing as I reached for another branch.

The world around me was a sea of green, a forest canopy so dense It would probably blanket out most of the sunlight once the sun began to set. I looked upwards towards the bright, golden orb in the sky, it looked as if it was just at it's apex. Assuming it's noon right now, it'll probably get dark in about five hours. Turning my attention away from the sun, I scanned the horizon for any signs of human activity. That's when I saw it.

The castle.

The ancient structure's tall stone towers stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of the forest, and where there was stonework there was likely people that built it. It's probably a tourist attraction, I reasoned, If I go there, I can probably find people. The castle looked to be several miles away, I might be able to make it before it got dark, but I would have to hurry.

After gingerly climbing down, I picked up the branch again and continued on to my destination.

It was dark, really dark. The sun had set really suddenly, almost as if ripped out of the sky by some large, unseen hand. Strangely enough, when night fell, the forest came to life. All around me, unseen creatures were making a cacophony of clicks, chirps, groans and growls. Even stranger, the dark didn't seem to impair my vision at all, I could see just as clearly as I had during the day. I guess there must be a full moon tonight. I thought to myself as I climbed over a fallen tree, thank god for moonlight.

A twig snapped off to my left, causing me to tense up.

Calm down, me. It's probably a bunny or something... reassuring myself, I began to inch forward cautiously, hefting my improvised branch walking stick like a baseball bat. I scanned the bushes for any sign of movement.

That's when I heard the growls.

I spun around, swinging the branch in a wide arc and catching the wolf in the side of the head, causing it to miss it's lunge and fall to the ground in a heap. More growling came from my sides as two more wolves slunk out of the bushes to support their fallen leader. It was then that I finally got a good look at the three things that attacked me.

At first glance they looked like wolves, right down to the snarling muzzles and dripping fangs, but the strange part is that they seemed to be made of wood. Their bodies looked like they were made up of various logs and plant materials, and their eyes glowed with a ghostly green light. The scariest part though? They were about as big as I was.

Their leader picked itself up, growling as parts of it's muzzle rearranged themselves to repair the damage my home run on it's face had done. Oh lovely, I thought as I backed up against the fallen tree behind me, holding my branch in front of me like a staff, they have a healing factor.

The wolf on the right made a splintering noise as his hackles rose, the color of his wood was much lighter than the leader's, almost as if he was made of plywood. Must be younger than the others. My thoughts were interrupted when the plywood wolf lunged at me, trying to bite into my leg, earning him a bash on the head with my improvised club.

The wolf recoiled, snarling at being denied what might have been its first kill. The other two wolves backed off, giving the two of us space. Plywood circled around, allowing me to step forward into the clearing, keeping my branch between me and him at all times. I could have my freak out later, right now all that mattered was getting the hell out of this situation.

Plywood's next lunge was deflected by the thick end of the branch, narrowly missing my leg. "Fuck off!" I shouted, kicking the downed wolf in the face and causing parts of it to splinter. Plywood snarled, slinking out of reach while his face regenerated the wood knitting itself together good as new. You've gotta be kidding me! At the rate this was going, I wouldn't have any chance to escape.

Plywood pounced, grabbing my branch in his jaws, and tried to force it from my hands. "I thought I told you to fuck off!" I shouted, punctuating each word with a kick to his muzzle.

The branch snapped in two.

Plywood growled, spitting the splintered bits of wood out of his still healing muzzle. "Welp..." I muttered, holding the two remaining pieces of my only defense, "time to go!"

I flung the thicker piece at Plywood, hitting him square in his still regenerating muzzle. I sprinted at him, jamming the other piece of the branch in his eye socket as I ran past.

I did't get far before the howls started.

There were only two at first, but the number grew. First three more, then five, then ten, I was pretty sure I had the whole damn pack at my heels at this point. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! The sound of hulking bodies crashing through the underbrush erupted everywhere, it was a miracle they hadn't caught me yet. It wasn't long before I learned why they hadn't.

The cliff face appeared so suddenly that I had to backpedal to avoid running right over it and into the river rapids below. I shot to my feet, searching for another way out of this obvious dead end, but it was too late. The sound of growling sounded from the forest behind me snapped me out of my frantic search, the wolves were done being subtle.

That's when I made stupid decision number three.

Turning around to face the wolves, I held out my hands, "Whoa, wait! There's something I need to say before I go." Amazingly, it worked. The wolves stopped in their tracks, snarling as if to say: "get on with it!"

Chancing a glance over my shoulder at the river below, I turned my gaze back to the wolves who were still waiting for me to say my piece.

"Fuck this shit, I'm out!"

And with that, I dove over the edge of the cliff and into the raging waters below.

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long guys! Also... that it's so short... :twilightblush:

Oh well!

Will he survive? Why are his memories missing? WHY HAS NO ONE TAUGHT ME LATIN YET!?

Of course he'll survive. I'm not done tormenting him yet!

The Tree and The Castle

I regained consciousness as a beam of sunlight hit me in the face, causing me to groan.

Stupid mistake number four.

I jerked awake, coughing violently, dislodging the little bit of water that had made it down my throat after my impromptu high dive act last night.

"Ugh, I've really gotta stop falling from high places..." I muttered, spitting out the last few drops of water from my mouth. I took stock of my body's current state. I was a little bruised, probably from clipping a few rocks downstream from where I dove in, some small cuts on my face and hands from my escape, and there were some small tears in my hoodie, but nothing too extreme.

I moved to get up, but a sudden amount of pain forced me into a prone position. "Okay, ow." I muttered, fighting through the pain to stretch out all the sore areas. Once all the kinks were out of my system, I picked myself up from where I was lying and took a look at my surroundings.

The area I was in was a hole in the ground, and I mean that literally, it was a small clearing surrounded on all sides by high rock walls. Various kinds of flowers dotted the grassy meadow at the bottom of the crevice, the stream that had bought me here was bubbling softly behind me. All in all, it looked like a very peaceful garden. There was a cave at the other end of the clearing, a light shining from it.

Panic started to set in, I had lost my bearings and had no idea where I was, everything I had met in this forest had been openly hostile, I had zero survival skills to speak of, and if I was attacked again... well, I didn't want to think too hard about it.

I forced myself to take a deep breath, ok me... whoever I am. Survive now, freak out later. Preferably when I'm safe from whatever's sharing this forest with me. I took another breath, steeling myself, I looked towards the cave again.

Where there's light, there's civilization. I reasoned, making my way across the meadow. As I was approaching the cave, a thought occurred, This obviously isn't the world I came from, those wooden wolves were proof enough. Whoever or whatever lives here might not be that friendly... With this in my mind, I turned left and looped around the side of the meadow. I'd rather not expose myself more than I had to, and staying hidden from the cave's inhabitants would probably be important to staying among the living. Probably... I thought, frowning as I approached the mouth of the cave.

What I saw inside was impossible.

The cave turned out to be much more shallow than its outward appearance showed. In the back of the cave stood a tree, one made entirely out of crystal, at the end of its five branches were crystal orbs about the size of a basketball. Inside of each was a gem of a different shape and color, a light pink butterfly, a sky blue balloon, a red lightning bolt, a purple diamond, and an orange apple. The branches flowed flawlessly into the trunk, centering on a larger gem in the shape of a pink starburst. Imprinted into the trunk were two images: one depicting the sun and the other depicting the moon. Small motes of light flitted around the branches of the tree, surrounding it with the unearthly glow I had seen earlier.

Approaching cautiously, I ran my hand over the imprints on the trunk, the tree pulsed with warmth at my touch.

"What the hell?" I muttered, pulling away from the warm crystal. One thing was for sure, as impossible as it was, this mass of crystal was alive.

The pulses got faster, the soft light that surrounded the tree growing more and more intense until it became blinding, causing me to cover my eyes.

It is dangerous to go alone, young one. Take this, it belongs with you.

"Who are you?" I shouted into the light.

"I am friend, young one."

The light began to fade, bringing my vision back with it. I blinked the spots out of my vision, rubbing my eyes as my blurred vision came back into focus.

A rounded chunk of crystal had seemingly grown out of the ground in front of me, and sticking out of the very top was a sword.

It was an altogether simple, yet elegant weapon. It had a single edge that formed an S-curve from it's point to the curved guard which extended from the blade. Below it, in a slot grown out of the crystal was a comparatively boring wooden scabbard and belt.

I reached up and touched the sword blade, tracing the line of runes. It hummed in response the same way the tree had, as if it also had a life of it's own.

"This has King Arthur written all over it," I muttered, climbing on top of the clear crystal mound. If I was going to be stuck in this forest with those wooden wolves, I was gonna make damn sure I had a proper weapon on me. That branch hadn't even slowed those things down.

I wrapped my fingers around the handle, causing the sword to pulse in response. A tingling feeling raced up my arm and exploded into my head. I cried out, falling from my perch on the crystal and crashing to the ground.

I awoke in a white room. Pulling myself up, I glanced around. "Who's there?" I shouted into the endless emptiness.

No response, but something caused the hairs on the back of my neck to prickle in anticipation.

I spun around to face the other presence in here. Standing on the other end of the room was a human figure clothed all in white.

They wore a glove with a scarlet palm on one hand, the same hand clutching a long, narrow blade with a guard that curved around the handle. Their face was obscured by a mask fashioned from a metallic mesh.

"Who are you?" I asked the figure.

No response.

With no warning, the figure lunged, crossing an impossible distance in less than a second, the point of their blade racing toward my heart.

I could only gasp in surprise as the blade passed cleanly into my chest.

In a far away city, a stark white alicorn looked up from her paperwork, "...Mother?" she said, shocked.

In a certain crystal castle, the floors of the map room began to rumble as the thrones shifted over to make room for the crystalline obelisk sprouting from the floor, startling the castle's inhabitants.

My eyes shot open, my free hand clutching at my chest in a panic, searching for a wound that wasn't there.

"What the fuck was that?" I muttered, feeling my pulse slow back down to its normal pace.

I examined the blade in my right hand more closely, it had a leather wrapped grip which seemed long enough that I could wield it with both hands if I needed to, and ended with a rounded pommel adorned with a silvery-grey gemstone in the shape of a flame, a design of an orbiting sun and crescent moon decorated the surrounding metal. A line of runes in a language I couldn't decipher ran along a curved tongue of blue metal on its blade.

I stood up and gave my new weapon a few practice swings. The blade was balanced perfectly and the hilt melded into my hand naturally, almost as if it were made specifically for me.

That's impossible. I thought, dismissing it immediately. Or is it?

I picked up the belt and strapped it on. The scabbard fit horizontally across my lower back, but I could still slide the blade in and out without any real difficulty. I just have to be careful to not stab myself in the kidneys. I thought dryly, turning toward the cave exit.

Returning to the stream, I began to gulp down water as quickly as I could get it to my mouth, turns out having a trippy dream about getting stabbed in the chest after being given a sword á la King Arthur gives you a terrible case of cotton mouth. Once I had drank my fill, I sat back and reviewed what little I could actually remember.

I was a human, I came from the human world, Earth. Wherever I was now, is definitely not Earth. I don't remember my name, age, or the names or faces of any family or friends. There are freaking intelligent wooden wolves that tried to one-v-one me last night, until I tried to run. I have no clue where I was, and had no way of getting my bearings until I got out if this hole in the ground. Granted, it was a very nice hole in the ground, what with the stream, meadow, and crystalline tree that gives you fever dreams if you take the weapons it tries to give you, but other than that, a very nice hole in the ground.

I shook my head, clearing that line of thinking from it. Whatever the hell just happened, it had happened. There was no point on dwelling on it when my brain could be trying to figure out a way out of this hole. Glancing at the stream that bought me here, I briefly considered trying to follow it back to where I jumped in, dismissing the idea on the grounds that I didn't know how far I had gotten from my starting point and that swimming upstream would likely be a terrible idea. That left scaling the cliffs around me somehow.

Turning back towards the cave, I began to walk around the circumference of the clearing, scanning the cliffs for any signs of decent handholds that would allow me to scale up to where I could confirm the location of the castle again. Using whatever protection the crumbling fortifications could offer as a home base was probably gonna be my best chance of making it out here. And hey, I could always raid the armory for some more hardware that any looters had overlooked, though I was less hopeful of the second prospect, the image of myself decked out in ill-fitting armor smashing a gauntleted fist into the wooden muzzle of one of those wolves from last night began to fade from my mind.

That's when I tripped on the bottom step of the staircase, my shin exploded in pain as I slumped over the bottom step.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have been as mad as I had been at that moment, the stairs had been disguised in such a way that you wouldn't have been able to see them unless you knew they were there or were looking at them directly. Whoever put them here probably made them in a way that wouldn't cause the natural beauty of the meadow to be disturbed by their presence.

Cursing my bruised shin in the most colorful of pained grunts, I made my way up to the lip of the cliff only to find myself staring at a high, crumbling stone wall.

There's no way- I thought to myself, drawing my gaze upwards, only to see the twin spires that had been my goalposts for what I assume to be the last twenty four hours.

I had arrived at the castle.

As it turned out, getting inside the castle was a relatively easy task. The huge, rotting remains of the once grand doors were lying flat across a short staircase leading up to what looked like what had once been a foyer or grand entrance hall for greeting guests. The long hall was lined with the remains of stained glass windows and lined with the rusted remains of several suits of full plate armor that looked like they had been designed for small horses, with either a sun or a crescent moon emblazoned on the front of them. The high vaulted ceiling had crumbled away in places, revealing the sky above.

"No outer walls, no murder holes above the entrance, looks like the only defenses here were the poor saps guarding the place, huh?" I said out loud, examining the rusty plate armor. This one had a crescent moon emblazoned on the chest, closer examination revealed two pretty sizable holes in the sides just behind where the horse's withers would be. "Doesn't look as though they were serious about crafting this decorative piece though". I picked up the helmet and found it to be surprisingly light, even for a show piece. "What did they use for this, sheet metal?" I muttered, tossing the helm over my shoulder as I continued on my way.

The entrance hall led directly to a grand staircase to the second level with several halls leading off to unknown sections of the castle, most likely to the kitchens and servant's quarters whereas the upper levels were for nobles. This entire estate was probably a vacation home or hunting lodge for some noble way back when, the lack of visible defenses or external walls pretty much confirmed my theory. I turned away from the staircase and headed for the servant's quarters. If, by some insanely lucky chance that there was anything remotely useable in this castle, it wouldn't be where the nobles had stashed any valuables.

The desolate halls echoed with the sounds of my boots hitting the stone floor, the soft thumps lulling me almost into a trance as I explored the various servant bedrooms and common areas I found. All I found were the occasional wooden furnishing that was probably too heavy for any looters to take with them, not that I hadn't been expecting as much, but the lack of anything useable did not bode well for the rest of the castle having any viable resources.

Sighing heavily, I turned into the last door in the servant's quarters: the kitchen.

What was once a shrine to the culinary arts was now only a collection of slightly rusted cast iron pots, an old oven, and the rotted remains of a central table. The cabinets looked to be on their last legs before breaking off the wall. Heaving another heavy sigh, I began to comb the room for anything that could conceivably be considered useful.

Why am I even bothering with this anymore? I fumed, slamming the doors shut on another rotting, dust-filled cabinet when a metallic glint caught my eye. Getting down to my hands and knees, I peered into the gap between the stone oven and the wall next to it.

There, a little further in, was a tube-shaped piece of metal about half a foot long and about an inch thick. Straining, I reached into the gap, brushing along cobwebs and dirt until my fingers wrapped around the base of the tube.

I pulled it out...

...and almost dropped it when the giant spider on the end was shaken off it's perch.

I shrieked like a little girl and dropped the rod, causing it to clatter to the floor, emitting a shower of sparks on contact, and scaring the spider back to its hiding place.

"Dammit! I fucking hate spiders!"

...wait, WHAT!?

I sat down cross-legged on the floor next to the tube of metal, placing my hand on my chin. That was a reflex reaction, right?

If that was true, then it was entirely possible that my memory loss didn't affect the gut reactions of whoever I was before I ended up in that tree. I grinned, apparently I was an arachnophobe.

Still grinning like a madman, I picked up the tube of metal. Pulling out the sword, I ran the edge of the blade against the metal firmly, resulting in a much more generous fan shaped shower of sparks. Oh yeah, this one was definitely going in the 'win' book.

I pocketed my new fire starter, sending a glare at the gap where I knew the spider was hiding before leaving for the upper floors.

The throne room looked to be in much worse condition than the rest of the castle. All the windows were shattered, their ironwork frames broken and bent outwards, the ceiling had been blown apart, pieces of rubble littering the floor. Across the hall stood two dais, one backed by a golden throne, the other backed by an ebony one. Above the two were what must have once been beautiful banners, the bright yellow and gold one torn up way too much for moths to have been responsible.

I looked to the other banner, this one depicting a regal, horse-like creature with a midnight blue coat and an azure mane, sporting wings and a horn. At the end of the horn, a silvery crescent moon shone ribbons of pale light onto the hills surrounding the one the creature was standing on.

Was this one of their deities? I wondered, stepping around large pieces of rubble. They sure seemed to like horses a lot, didn't really seem like all that much of a stretch to assume that their gods/goddesses would be more of the equine persuasion, and right now, my 'suspension of disbelief bar' was in low orbit.

My boot slipped on a piece of loose tile, snapping me out of my theological trance. Waving my arms, I tried in vain to regain my footing which only accelerated my fall backward onto the cracked tile floor.

"Augh, god dammit..." I muttered, rolling onto my hands and knees, "I've gotta stop falling, period."

I was about to stand up again when something caught my eye. I crawled over to the suspicious area that had caught my attention, brushing away some debris to get a closer look at the tile below. The tile in question was charred black and warped, as if at some point it had tried to support a sun standing right on top of it.

I cleared away more debris, exposing more tiles with a similar affliction. The pattern extended equally in all directions and formed a perfect circle, leaving me with just one question:

"What the hell happened here?"

Author's Note

YAY!!! IT'S FINALLY DONE!!! :pinkiecrazy:

This chapter took much longer than I had anticipated (probably because I do my own editing) but now I can release it! On the premiere day for season six no less! (This is starting to sound suspiciously as if I planned it this way... :trollestia: )

Anyways, please comment back with your feedback on how I did down below while I figure out a new meaning for the word "soon"! :pinkiecrazy:

The Scream

Quiet.

That was all the denizens of this particular area of the river knew, for the most part anyway. Just peace, quiet, and the flow of the stream.

Nothing really interesting happened here, at least until this day.

One of the denizens was investigating two strange objects that had appeared in his home. They were tall, brown, and covered in short, black, wispy strands of... something. It didn't seem like a tree branch that had grown into the river, and it had appeared when no one was looking. Curious, he began to approach the strange objects, to see if they were indeed a danger.

Suddenly, a piercing pain seared through his side, he barely had time to gasp in shock as he was forcibly yanked out of the life-giving water of his home and into the deadly air beyond.

"Got one!" I exclaimed triumphantly, raising the sharpened tree branch above my head. A reasonably sized fish was speared on the narrow, fire-hardened point at the top.

Thirty-four days.

That's how long I had spent trapped in this forest. The first few days were the hardest, as soon as I had found a reasonably safe place inside the castle, what I assumed to be an old noble's quarters, the loneliness had hit me like a hammer blow. I had been expecting panic, desperation, fear, but loneliness? Nope. I had cried myself to sleep that night.

The days after were even worse, a constant string of trial-and-error to determine which of the various flora near the castle wouldn't make me sick.

I almost never got lucky.

Honestly I had spent more time puking my guts out before finding the few species of berries and nuts I could eat. Spear fishing had been a skill I had only gotten the hang of a few days ago after I began to suffer from what I assumed to be a protein deficiency.

I pulled my new prize off the end of my spear and made my way to the riverbank, I would be eating well tonight. Pulling on my boots, and securely fastening the fish to my hip using the old drawstring of my hoodie, I began to climb the nearest tree.

Once I had reached a sufficient height, I leaped from branch to branch, making my way back to the castle. 'Tree-hopping' was another skill I had forced myself to learn, most creatures of this forest tended to be nocturnal, making it safe to leave the protective structure of the castle during the day... for the most part. The notable exception being those fucking wooden wolves.

With all the other creatures I had come across, I had been able to come up with a schedule of sorts for when they'd be the most active, but those wolves just seemed to show up without any sort of rhyme or reason to their movements, making them incredibly unpredictable. They had caught me with my pants down on several occasions... figuratively, of course. The only safe place was the castle, so far, nothing dangerous had come close to it.

Therefore, the easiest way to traverse the forest in near-complete safety was to hop from branch to branch and parkour my way through.

My train of thought was derailed when a child's scream pierced through the forest.

Applebloom was lost, she had gone to visit her friend Zecora at her hut to learn more about brewing potions and herbal remedies. After the lesson however, she had decided to try a shortcut, but had mistaken where she actually was and was now hopelessly lost within the Everfree Forest. Night would fall soon, and she was starting to panic.

"Where's the exit?" she murmured worriedly, readjusting the strap on her saddlebags as she scanned the surrounding foliage for anything that looked familiar.

*snap*

The sudden sound of a twig snapping caused the little yellow filly to snap her head towards the source, ears splaying back in fear.

"H-hello?" she called out towards the noise, "Zecora, is that you?"

She was answered with growling as a group of three timberwolves padded out of the foliage on silent paws, making splintering noises as their hackles raised.

Applebloom's breath caught, she began to slowly back away from her aggressors, eyes darting to each of the wolves in turn, before cycling back to looking for a way to escape.

One of the wolves stepped on another twig, the resulting snap breaking Applebloom out of her terrified trance.

She did the only thing she could do in that situation: run.

Turning, she bolted in the opposite direction, the wolves let out a collective snarl, giving chase as the yellow filly instinctively used her smaller size to weave in between the trees in an attempt to shake off her pursuers. The lead wolf let out a soul-piercing howl, one that resonated through the still forest, and into Applebloom's very core, heightening her fear.

Heart pounding Applebloom ducked through a hollow between two thick bushes, the leafy plants forming a temporary, flexible barrier between her and her pursuers.

Applebloom continued her gallop until she couldn't hear her pursuers behind her any more before slowing to a walk, allowing herself to breathe deeply again. She had lost her bags when she escaped into the bushes, and she wasn't about to go back the way she came.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Applebloom continued on her way to regain her bearings...

...only to bump into the wooden chest of another timberwolf.

Applebloom's eyes widened as she backed away from the predator, the wolf lowered its stance, bringing it's wooden muzzle to eye level with the terrified filly, revealing the branch jammed deeply into it's eye socket.

The wolf snarled, and the three wolves from before slunk out of the foliage behind her, trying to box her in. Applebloom's panic grew to a climax as she let out a loud, shrill scream that echoed through the forest, displacing a nearby flock of birds and stunning the timberwolves, whose sensitive ears caused them to cringe at the sudden assault.

Applebloom capitalized on her temporary advantage, juking around the wolf in front of her and galloping as fast as her tiny hooves could carry her, the wolves were right behind her.

She no longer had a head start, and the wolves were gaining on her. Frantically, she searched for a place to hide and evade her pursuers.

Her gaze fell upon a large, hollowed out log ahead of her, just large enough to shelter her, and small enough that the much bulkier wolves wouldn't be able to reach her.

Applebloom dove for the log, just barely making it inside before the lead timberwolf snapped it's jaws shut right behind her.

The little yellow filly huddled inside the log, watching the pack of wolves outside her makeshift bunker as the wolf that had almost gotten her began scratching at the log, prodding for some structural weakness that would allow them to widen the entrance. Meanwhile, the two other wolves began to circle around to either side, cutting off any escape routes should their prey try to run again. The wolf with a branch in his eye socket sat a short distance away, watching the scene play out.

Celestia help me, Applebloom's panic-stricken mind was racing as she thought about what would happen should her shelter fail her and she fell prey to this pack of predators. She wouldn't ever see her family or friends again, her eyes began to tear up. Sweetie Belle... Scootaloo... Granny Smith... Big Mac... Applejack. She was about to vanish from their lives forever, without a trace. She doubted the wolves would even leave behind a recognizable corpse.

*crack*

The wolf at the entrance to the log finally found purchase with its claws, seemingly grinning with savage delight as a small crack opened in the log before it. Applebloom began to sob profusely, praying to Celestia that somepony would come and save her.

*crack*

The small weakness widened, forming a small fissure in the wood and drawing a shriek from the little filly.

*crack*

The fissure opened into a hole, the timberwolf's snout right on the other end, "Back off! Go away!" Applebloom shouted, lashing out with her hoof, slugging the wolf in the nose out of desperation, causing the wooden beast to recoil in surprise and anger. Snarling, it redoubled it's efforts, using it's jaws on one side of the fissure, while it's claws pulled on the other, attempting to rip the log apart to get at the quivering prize inside, completely ignoring the filly's attempts to dislodge it's grip.

The log began to groan from the strain, Applebloom's kicks became weaker and less frequent as she began to surrender to her despair.

*splat*

Something impacted the side of the wolf's head, causing it to dislodge and attempt to shake the slimy, foul-smelling object off of it's muzzle. It finally succeeded, flinging the annoyance off to the side before refocusing on the task at hand, not noticing the figure descending upon it from above.

The wolf let out a strangled yelp as the blade sang through it's wooden throat and out the other end, pinning the creature to the ground. With a twist of the blade, the structure that served as the wolf's neck severed, beheading it and causing the body to crumple into kindling, the ghostly green light fading from it's eye sockets.

Applebloom watched, wide-eyed as the hooded figure rose on two legs, letting out a grunt as he pulled the blade from the wolf's corpse and turned to face the remaining three wolves.

Two of the three wolves began to advance on the strange, bipedal creature, letting out splintering noises as their hackles raised.

The creature roared, it was a loud, bellowing sound that shook the forest around it, causing the wolves to pause in their advance and look at the creature more warily.

The creature turned it's head towards the log, it's face obscured by shadow. All Applebloom could make out was a single, glowing red eye that seemed to pierce into her soul.

"Go."

That one, solitary word was all the encouragement Applebloom needed before she bolted, her savior turning back to face his three adversaries.

I turned my gaze back to the three timberwolves, I hadn't really gotten a good look at the kid, just got a glimpse of red hair tied up in a bow, but from the sounds that erupted behind me, they weren't injured. Not seriously anyway.

I gave my sword a twirl before sinking down into a fighting stance, blade raised, knees bent, and my forward toes were facing my opponents. This wasn't going to be like any of my run-ins with the wolves before, where I would fend them off as I retreated until they gave up the chase, I needed to buy the kid enough time to get to safety meaning I had to stand my ground. Worst case scenario: I would only last a few minutes before succumbing to the remaining three wolves.

I took a deep breath to calm my pre-fight jitters and locked eyes with the remaining eye socket of the wolf in the very back of the pack.

"Hello again, Plywood. Looks like you got a bit of a promotion since I stabbed that branch in your eye."

The wolf growled, his hackles raising with a splintering noise. Oh good, I thought ruefully, he recognizes me.

The wolf on the right lunged, attempting to snap at my forward leg and bring me down, his efforts were rewarded with the pommel of my sword smashing into the side of it's head, splintering the wood and causing the wolf to stagger off course, collapsing in a heap next to it's fallen comrade.

The wolf on the left leaped while my back was turned, the sudden weight on my back causing both of us to tumble to the ground. The wolf made to rip my throat out, but found my left arm in it's jaws instead. It bit down, eliciting a strangled cry of pain from me.

The wolf spat out the arm and made another lunge for my throat, only to find himself choking on the blade I had shoved into the side of it's neck. The green glow faded from it's eyes as I rolled it off my body and sprang up again, sword at the ready.

By now the first wolf had recovered and was advancing on me, snarling and drooling sap-like saliva as both it and Plywood began to circle around me.

I was at a tactical disadvantage, and while my injured arm wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, It wouldn't be landing any punches either. I backed up against the log , forcing the wolves to come at me from the front.

I raised my blade and pointed it at Plywood, "Come on then!" I shouted, "You wanna kill me so bad? Then come get it!"

The wolf on my other side leaped for me, but it was met with an upward slash with my sword, the recurve design of the blade allowing it to bite deep into the wolf's wooden body. Plywood sprang for my leg, only to get a boot to the nose as I ripped my blade free from the other wolf's body.

"You really don't like to change up your strategies, do you?" I mocked, taking a swipe at the still stunned wolf.

He growled and jumped back, snapping his jaws and yipping at his downed comrade. The fallen wolf slowly got up, sap-like blood dripping from the rapidly closing gash on it's chest.

"You've gotta be shitting me." I muttered. Looks like injuries that aren't immediately lethal just regenerate... lovely.

I vaulted over the log behind me, closing off the wolves' pincer and putting something solid between them and me. If lethality was what it took to get rid of these wolves, then lethality is what they would get. I twirled my blade around and sank into a three-point stance, ready for when the wolves would inevitably come around the log to get at me.

I didn't have to wait long.

The wolf I had slashed earlier charged around the corner, his quadrupedal gait causing him to skid on the tight corner.

That was his last mistake.

I charged, barreling into the wolf blade-first while bellowing a war cry as my blade found purchase in the underside of it's jaw. I kept going, our momentum lifting the wolf off it's paws while it's head was speared on the end of my blade. I kept going, tugging the now limp wolf as far as I could before planting my boot on it's neck and ripping the blade out before bringing it back down on it's neck, causing it to yelp as the ghostly green light faded from it's eyes.

Panting, I picked myself up and turned to face the last of the pack, raising my blade in a challenge, "Alright *pant* Plywood *pant* let's end this." The wolf growled his agreement, slinking towards me cautiously.

A sudden breeze caused the trees around the two of us to rustle, filling the air with falling leaves. The two of us watched as the final leaf fell.

It fell to the ground as we charged each other, blade meeting wooden fang as the two of us clashed.

Applejack paced in front of the entrance to the Everfree Forest, getting more and more antsy with every passing second. "Where in tarnation is that darned filly?" she muttered to herself. Applebloom had definitely gone into the forest alone again, not that Applejack minded her lessons with Zecora, what she had taught her sister had proven extremely useful when the trees in Sweet Apple Acres had gotten sick, not to mention that the Zebra hermit had been her friend for a little over a year now. What bothered her was that the rambunctious young filly would often leave for these lessons with little to no warning and return later in the day. This time though, she was late for dinner, and that never happened.

"She's never been this late before!" she said worriedly to her brother.

"Eeyup." said an equally worried Big Macintosh.

"Y'all think she got herself lost?"

"Eenope."

"'Reckon we should go look for her?"

"Eeyup"

Applejack turned back towards the forest. It would be dark soon, and that meant big trouble if they didn't find Applebloom soon.

Applejack took a step forward before being tackled by a small, red and yellow missile that exploded from the underbrush, knocking the wind out of her. Applejack struggled with the object that had wrapped around her in a bone-crushing grip, before realizing what, or more precisely who it was.

"Applebloom?"

The poor filly looked as though she'd been dragged through tartarus and back. Her mane and coat were a muddy, grime filled mess, her bow was in tatters, and she had scratches all over her. At the sound of her name, Applebloom began to cry, tears streaming out of her eyes as she began to nuzzle her face in her sister's orange coat, tightening her death grip around her barrel.

"Applebloom, what the hay happened to you?" Applejack said, wrapping her trembling sister in a hug.

Applebloom just continued to sob silently into her sister's chest.

"MMMMMMMPHHHHH!!!!!" I screamed into the small wad of cloth I had clenched in my teeth as I pressed the hot metal on the bite wound on my left arm, before submerging my forearm and the blade into the cool water of the meadow's stream.

I pulled the stinging arm out of the water before wrapping what remained of what had once been the forearm portion of the left arm of my hoodie around the cauterized injury. I untied the fish I had caught earlier, the bark on the wolf's face had stripped the scales from one side, but had ultimately left the flesh relatively unharmed. Picking up the blade from beside me, I began to gut the fish, stripping it of its innards and tying them up in a piece of cloth to use as bait later.

"Fucking wolves" I spat, beginning the ascent up to the castle. I never did end up catching up to that kid from before, I just hoped they got out okay.

I made my way through the throne room, carefully avoiding the warped and broken tiles and rubble, making my way to the staircase behind the twin thrones.

At the very least, I have a goal in mind now. I thought to myself as I climbed up to the room I had taken for myself, If I can find where that kid came from, I can finally find a way home.

I entered my room, there actually wasn't much in here, just a fireplace and what remained of an ancient vanity mirror as well as the makeshift bed I had made out of the two tapestries from the throne room. The mirror itself was mostly fractured, but I could still get a decent reflection.

I lit some kindling in the fireplace and tossed in some wood I had salvaged from the corpses of the dead wolves before spearing my fish on a branch and setting it to cook in its own scales before sitting down in front of the mirror.

I shuddered, not because I was cold, the fire took care of that, but because what I saw in the mirror always unsettled me.

The face staring back at me was lean and hungry, that was to be expected, I hadn't been fat per se, just a little bit that spilled over the belt line. Turns out that living stranded in a forest with little to no food and the need to constantly climb trees to avoid other predators would do wonders for your physique... if not for the need for food.

My skin tone was a light, cinnamon brown with a thick blanket of stubble growing in around my lower jaw. My left eye was a deep, dark color that looked almost black to the casual observer, the whole thing was topped off with an ever-growing mat of raven-colored hair.

All in all, the face looked fine... with the exception of two small details.

I had a shock of silvery-white hair that covered a sizable patch on the right side of my head, and situated right below that was my right eye, which, unlike it's twin, had an iris that was a bright crimson color. Call me crazy, but sometimes I could swear I saw the damn thing glowing.

I shuddered again as the fish began to sizzle a bit on it's spit. Tearing my gaze away from the unnatural features, I got up and prepared for the typical evening ritual of eating and sleeping until dawn.

At least now I knew I wasn't alone.

Author's Note

What? Don't look at me like that! Of course I wasn't going to kill off Applebloom!
Jeez, have a little more faith in me will you? :facehoof:

After all... emotional and physical torment are only for the MC to bear... :pinkiecrazy:

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading! As always, leave your feedback in the comments below! :twilightsmile:

The Discovery

I crouched among the branches of the tree I was hiding in, watching the three small equines below with interest. They kind of looked like horses, but at the same time, I knew they were too small for that. The one in the lead had an orange coat with a purple mane and tail and bore a pair of wings on its back, though they looked underdeveloped. A pegasus? I looked to the other two, the one in the middle had a white coat with a two-tone pink and light purple mane and tail with a horn growing out of it's head. Unicorn? The final one of the trio didn't have wings or a horn, but had a yellow coat and a red mane and tail with a pink ribbon tied up in it's mane, a pair of tattered saddlebags was on it's back. Each of the three bore a mark of a shield on their flanks, most likely marking them as someone's property.

Maybe they belong to a farm that kid might have been from? I wondered as I reached back to grip the hilt of my sword, Well, whatever. Sorry little horsies, but unfortunately for you, you're made of meat.

I prepared to drop down on the one with the bow on it's head, it would be an easy kill, when the unexpected happened.

"Where did you say it was, Applebloom?" The orange one said.

"It's a little further ahead, Scoots." Said the yellow one.

"We're almost there guys, just a little further." Said the white one.

"Let's go find us a phantom!" cheered 'Scoots', followed by two cheers from the other two, the yellow one was noticeably quieter than her friends.

I nearly fell off my perch.

What!? What the fuck!? My mind screamed as it tried to make sense of what it had just picked up. Those little horses had just talked? sheathed my blade, the yellow one's voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place where...

I considered my options, on the one hand, it was quite possible that I was going insane and had only imagined these horses talking, but if I was insane, why would I recognize it? If I was insane, wouldn't my insanity seem like normal behavior to me and therefore not raise any alarms in my head?

I'll follow them for a bit. Either way, these three could possibly lead me back to civilization where I can get help... whatever kind I need, anyway.

With a game plan in mind, I began to slink silently along the tree branches, doing my best to avoid attracting the attention of my three marks down below.

"There's nothing here except for a few piles of wood." Scootaloo said, searching through the bushes around the small clearing, "You sure this is the place Bloom?" Applebloom only nodded once, her knees still shaking from her memory of what had happened here.

It had been three weeks since Applebloom had run back home in tears after the timberwolf attack, but she still hadn't told anyone any details of what had transpired that day, all she had said was: "The Phantom saved me." Since then, Applebloom had finally worked up enough courage to enter the Everfree Forest again, along with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, both to look for her lost saddlebags and to find out what had become of her mysterious savior.

"These aren't just wood piles Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said, turning over a particularly large piece of wood in her lime-green magic aura, revealing the upper half of a timberwolf head, the lower jaw was missing, "these are dead timberwolves" She said matter-of-factly, releasing her weak levitation spell, causing the dismembered head to fall back over to it's original position next to one of the three piles of wood that dotted the area around the log.

"B-but there were four of them..." Applebloom said quietly, the sight of the broken timberwolf head acting as a fresh reminder of that day three weeks ago when that particular timberwolf had almost managed to drag her out of her wooden shelter. "Where's the fourth?"

"I don't know," Scootaloo said, poking her head into the log Appleboom had hidden in during the incident, "but if something bad did happen to the Phantom, then wouldn't we have found his body here?" Applebloom started to turn a little green at the thought of discovering the corpse of her savior lying in the forest somewhere after the wolves had done their part.

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle snapped at the orange pegasus.

"What!? It -"

*snap*

The three fillies turned rapidly towards the sudden noise, ears instinctively perking up to focus on the source.

In the bushes at the far side of the clearing two glaring, yellow eyes were fixed on the three fillies, a look of pure malice and hunger radiating off of them.

The creature growled and stepped out of it's cover, eliciting a scream from the three terrified fillies.

Shit shit shit shit shit! My mind screamed as I pressed myself tighter against the trunk of the tree overlooking the area the three small equines had ended up in. Below me, was a creature that looked like it had hopped straight out of the perverse mind of a mad scientist, and I hadn't even heard it coming.

It's general body shape was that of a lion, with an orange coat of fur and a reddish mane. That's where the similarities stopped though, instead of the typical tail you would expect on it's normal counterpart, this... thing had a scorpion's tail with an angry red carapace, the wickedly curved barb on the end glistening with a substance that I would most likely not want to touch, ever. Folded across the creature's back were a pair of leathery, bat-like wings, and two large fangs curved up from it's lower jaw. It's yellow eyes were focused like lasers on the trio of small, vulnerable prey in front of it.

Looks like it hasn't noticed me just yet, if I can just stay quiet... I thought, inching towards the next branch in order to make a break for the castle.

*snap* A small section of the branch I was standing on gave way under my boot.

Well fuck you too, Murphy.

Luckily, the branch had attracted more than just the attention of the monster below, ahead of both of us, the three equines' ears had perked up, causing them to turn towards the noise.

The creature below me growled in annoyance, it's ambush ruined, as it slunk out into the open area growling at the trio as they quivered in fear.

Not my problem, I thought, turning away to leave, I'll just follow whatever search party shows up, if any do at all.

The scream of three frightened children echoed through the trees, easily reaching my ears.

No. Don't you dare, me!

My body turned away from my escape route.

No, don't!

My sword pulsed as I drew it.

Et tu, suspiciously convenient sword? I thought darkly as I hopped down from my hiding spot, my body moving on autopilot.

"Ah, fuck it all!" I groaned angrily, I just couldn't leave this alone, could I? Damn conscience.

The manticore was drawing closer, moving in a wavering pattern so as to corner the three fillies against the log. Applebloom almost shrieked when her flanks bumped the rough wood of one of the timberwolf corpses.

This is how we die... Applebloom's eyes widened, as for the second time that month, she was facing her imminent demise, and this time she had bought her best friends with her.

The manticore raised it's tail, venom glistening around the barb at the end, no doubt ready to deliver its toxic payload into the three quivering fillies before it.

Applebloom closed her eyes...

"LEEEEEEEEROOOOOOY JENKIIIIIINS!!!!"

The pained and angered roars of the manticore echoed throughout the clearing.

Applebloom opened her eyes, before her stood the hooded figure that had appeared three weeks ago and saved her from the timberwolves.

"Why the hell are you still standing there!?" It growled, "move!"

The three fillies didn't need any more prompting as they turned tail and ran for the cover of the nearby bushes. Once they were through, Scootaloo turned her head to see Applebloom lagging behind them. "Applebloom! We gotta go!" She shouted, snapping her friend out of her stunned stupor. "We can't go, Scoots."

"What?! You saw the size of that Manticore! And you want to stay?" Scootaloo asked, turning to her friend in shock.

"I'm with Scootaloo on this one, Applebloom," Sweetie Belle said, joining up with her two friends, "We're in way over our heads here!"

"Don't you see guys? That's him! That's the Phantom we've been looking for!" Applebloom said, frantically pointing back towards where the strange bipedal creature had saved her for a second time.

"That's the Phantom!?" Scootaloo said excitedly, almost all her fear forgotten as she peered through the vegetation at the scene unfolding before them, her friends joining her.

My blade pulsed again as I raised the blood-slicked edge toward the monster in front of me.

"I bet you're so proud of yourself, aren't you?"

The blade pulsed again. Yep, definitely proud of itself. I thought to myself as the monster snarled in fury, blood dripping from it's ruined eye.

"I don't suppose we can kiss and make up, right big guy?" I said, chuckling nervously at the huge ball of pissed-off lion-bat-scorpion-thing.

The creature roared, rearing up on it's hind legs swiping at me with it's forepaw. Shit! I rolled, the forepaw tearing into the cloth of my ragged hoodie, leaving a large scratch on my back. I sucked in a breath as white hot pain lanced across my shoulder blades, Its not that deep, survive now, bitch about it later.

I swung my blade wildly at the creature's face, just barely missing it's other eye as it leaped backward, giving me some room to breathe as I took up my stance again.

The creature began to wind up another swipe with it's forepaw, rearing up on it's hind legs. As if I'd give you another shot at me, you big bastard! Dashing forward into it's newly-created blind spot, I bought my blade around and slashed it along it's midsection, tracing a red line which erupted into a spray of blood along the creature's side, drawing a pained roar from it. "Not done yet!" I shouted, spinning my sword around into a backhand grip before plunging it into the creature's hind leg.

The monster roared as I ripped my blade free before retreating out of striking distance of it's massive forepaws. "Come on then! Is that all you've got, you oversized pussy!?" I taunted raising my blade in a challenge, despite the pain between my shoulders and the fact I was almost out of breath.

My false bravado didn't seem to have any effect in psyching out the severely injured creature before me. It turned to face me, hobbled by it's injured leg, it's remaining eye bloodshot with sheer rage.

That can't be good.

I only had a half second to react before the beast roared in uncontrolled fury, shaking the air around it from the sheer force. I yelped as I narrowly dodged it's scorpion-like tail, the deadly barb making a whistling noise as it raced past. Shit.

I slowly retreated, parrying or dodging the stinger as the creature slowly advanced on me, shaking with uncontrollable rage as it unleashed another flurry of strikes with it's stinger.

I frantically parried, retreating until my back bumped into the log, Shit! my mind raced as the beast closed in, raising it's paw for a blow that would definitely put me out of commission if it landed, all while continuing it's poison-laced assault.

Not today, cat. I'm not dying today! I turned and hopped up onto the log, the monster's barbed tail impaling the wood with a loud *thunk*. Using the log as a springboard, I vaulted over the monster, slashing at it blindly as it passed under me. The tip pf my sword found purchase in one of it's bat-like wings, tearing the delicate membrane as I sailed overhead.

It wasn't long before I realized I should have just run.

The beast roared in annoyance, spinning around faster than it should have been able to with it's wounded leg, the motion ripping it's barbed tail from the old log. I turned out of the crouch I had landed in only to receive the barbed tail to my abdominals. I let out a strangled gasp, clutching blindly at the offending barb with my free hand as it pulsed. I could feel the monster's venom flowing, pumping into my body.

It burned.

It felt like someone was injecting burning gasoline into my stomach in some insane attempt to turn me into a human conflagration for their sick amusement. This is how I die, huh? Doing something stupid because of some horse creatures that sound like kids and my thrice-damned conscience. I thought to myself ruefully as the pain began to fade away into nothingness.

Huh... didn't expect death to be so... peaceful. My vision began to blur and dim as I began to lose focus.

The burning feeling returned, but this time it felt... different. It wasn't painful, more like a focused, cold fury that refused to let this situation stand. Just what the HELL do you think you're doing!? a somewhat familiar voice screamed in my head, do you really wanna die that badly?

no...

DO YOU!?

No.

Well? What will you do now!?

I won't die here, I REFUSE!!!

With that, the cold burn ignited into a raging inferno, my free hand clamped down on the poisonous barb, refusing to release it. My eyes snapped open, my vision filling with absolute clarity, fixing the monster with a look of pure rage. I lifted my sword high up and bought it down on the tail with a roar that made even the creature wince in either pain or surprise, as the blade bit into the hard, red carapace of it's tail.

I continued to chop at it's tail, oblivious to the creature's frantic attempts to pull it's barb out of me and get it's sensitive tail to safety before the inevitable happened. Still I continued, screaming in blind fury the whole time, oblivious to the various bits of chitin, blood, or other body fluids that began to cover me as I continued my bloody work.

With a wet ripping noise, the tail severed, leaving the barb and about half a foot of tail left dangling from my abdominals. The creature roared in pained fury as it stared at the dripping stub of it's tail. Gritting my teeth, I tore the barb out of my abdominals, holding it up in front of me with a grim smile, "what? Were you looking for this?" I tossed it aside, clamping my now free hand against the dripping wound. At the very least, it doesn't look like it hit anything major, just gotta drain some blood to get the poison out.

"Well? You gonna do something or are you gonna just stand there?" I said, pointing my blade at it's still uninjured eye, "I could still go two-for-two with your other eye."

The creature only growled, now wary because I had taken it's most dangerous weapon from it. It began to pace back and forth, as if waiting to see if I would keel over from either exhaustion or the toxic effects of it's venom.

Guess bravado only gets me so far with this thing, I'll have to force it to leave.

I bellowed out a war cry, charging blade-first towards the monster, thrusting it towards the creature's undamaged eye. My show of force had the desired effect, the monster cowed, seeing it's supposed prey remain unaffected by it's venom, and limped as fast as it could away from me, not even glancing back to see the result of my ruse.

As soon as I was sure it was gone, I collapsed to my knees, my adrenaline rush spent. I propped myself up on my sword, scanning the surrounding foliage for any other hostile creatures that wanted a go at me. I stopped when I saw three pairs of large, wide eyes watching from behind a bush, damn kids didn't leave at all, don't they know this place is dangerous?

I coughed into my hand, my chest suddenly seizing. I pulled my hand away, only to find it slick with blood. Guess this is it for me. I thought, flicking the gore off my blade before shakily sliding it back into it's scabbard, whoever pulled it from my corpse probably wouldn't appreciate a rusty blade anyway.

I clamped my hands over the bleeding hole in my side as my vision began to fade again.

It wasn't much longer before I blacked out.

Applebloom galloped out of their cover, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle following closely behind, eyes and ears scanning the surrounding forest for any sign of the manticore. Reaching the slumped-over body of the Phantom, Applebloom lifted a hoof up to it's mouth. It was faint, but a soft puff of warm air blew against her frog.

"What are you doing, Bloom?" asked a curious Scootaloo, her nose wrinkling at the heavy scent of blood. "We have to go before that manticore comes back!"

"Don't tell me you're scared, Scootaloo" chided Sweetie Belle, nervously watching the surrounding brush for any sign of a disturbance.

"Am not!"

"Would you two hush!? I need 'ta concentrate." Applebloom said, turning her ear towards what she hoped was the Phantom's chest, she slowed her own breathing to hear better.

There.

It was faint, but Applebloom could hear the faint lub dub of a heartbeat echoing inside the Phantom's chest cavity.

"Girls, help me lay it down." Applebloom said, slipping off her saddlebags.

"What?!" Both fillies exclaimed in unison, fixing Applebloom with wide-eyed stares.

"You heard me," Applebloom said calmly, rooting through her bags for the potions she had been brewing with Zecora on that day three weeks ago, "lay it down."

"Applebloom, we're in over our heads here, we need to go while we have the chance -" Sweetie Belle began, before being silenced by Applebloom's raised hoof.

Applebloom took a shaky breath to steady herself before fixing her friends with a determined look, "Look, I left the Phantom behind once, and I ain't doing it again, its saved my life twice now and an Apple always repays kindness."

Her friends shuffled nervously for a moment before Scootaloo broke out into a grin, "well, when you put it that way, I guess we owe him too. Come on Belle, give me a hoof with this."

Sweetie bell nodded, bracing herself against the Phantom's back and easing it down gently, careful not to aggravate the large scratch from the manticore's claws.

"Found it!" Applebloom said excitedly, pulling several small vials filled with a glowing green liquid.

"What's that?" asked Scootaloo, eyeing the concoction curiously.

"Minor restorative potion," Applebloom explained, "Big Mac split his hoof the day before I got attacked, so I wanted 'ta get Zecora's help in makin' something for it."

"That's nice and all," Sweetie Belle said, her face even paler than usual, "but I don't think it will be enough for this." She said, gesturing towards the large hole in the Phantom's side.

"Maybe not, but at least it'll stop the bleedin'" Applebloom pulled the cork out of the first vial with her teeth and spat it out over her shoulder, "C'mon big guy," she said softly, lifting the Phantom's head up with her free hoof and pouring the three-week-old concoction slowly down it's throat, "drink up."

Applebloom looked up to her friends, still supporting the Phantom's head, "Scootaloo, you're the fastest, I need you 'ta get to Zecora's an' get help. Sweetie Belle, I need you to put pressure on the hole until the bleedin' stops." Applebloom yanked the second cork out of another vial and tossed the empty saddlebags to Sweetie Belle. "Got it!" Scootaloo saluted before dashing off in the direction of Zecora's cottage.

"I guess all that first aid Applejack drilled into me is gettin' some use after all." Applebloom muttered, slowly pouring the contents of the second vial down the Phantom's throat, "don't worry, you ain't dying today, not until I can properly thank ya'."

Pain.

Such a simple word for such a terrible sensation, had I been able to form a coherent thought, that probably would have been something I would contemplate.

However, every time I regained some semblance of consciousness, the pain would put me under again.

...Not before I caught snatches of various voices.

"What is that... thing!?"

"Quarantine for now... put it in my lab..."

"...a log: log one, subject... unconscious... magic of... work... unknown intelligence"

"...subject seems... initial magic probes... irresponsive..."

"vitals... active... body temperature... higher than..."

"unknown motives... connected to irregular... activity?"

I slowly regained consciousness, mentally bracing myself for another bout of pain, only to feel a dull, throbbing ache throughout my body, mostly concentrated on the stab wound on my abdomen. Come on eyes, it's not like you're responsible for my most important sense or anything. I chided myself, slowly cracking them open gradually to avoid blinding myself.

Well... this looks normal, metal floor, metal ceiling, metal bars... wait, BARS!?

My eyes shot wide as I flipped over onto all fours, that's when I noticed my second inconvenience.

I was naked.

I was naked and in a god damn cage.

...fuck

Arc One: Arrival

~FIN~

Author's Note

Well... this is awkward... MC is naked and afraid.

... god damn it... :facehoof:

As always, post your comments/opinions/suggestions/insane ramblings below! :twilightsmile:

The Talk

"Uhhh, Twilight? You mind explainin' what's goin on here?" The orange mare with the stetson asked, her eyes shifting back and forth between me and the new throne.

"I-I don't know! There's never been a precedent for something like this!" Twilight replied, staring at me with wide-eyed wonder.

"Forget that! We have him right where we want him!" The cyan pegasus cried, zooming towards me at full tilt.

"Wait! Rainbow Dash don't-" Twilight began, only to be interrupted by a pained grunt as I smashed my fist into the pegasus' muzzle.

"Piss off!" I snarled, grabbing and throwing the stunned pegasus back towards her friends before raising my blade again, a soft blue light pulsing from the now gleaming metal.

"Look, just calm down-" Twilight began.

"Calm down? Calm down!? Lady, I don't know if you've noticed, but I have every reason to be pissed right now!" I shouted, taking a threatening step forward, "I am not going back in that damn cage so you can gather data on me before cutting me open!"

Starlight stepped up, levitating the pegasus to her hooves and repairing the damage to her nose, "Look, we didn't know anything about you, so we had to learn!"

I couldn't help it, I laughed. The harsh sound echoing through the chamber as I doubled over, clutching my sides, "Oh, you didn't know? You had to learn? Well that just makes everything forgivable, now doesn't it? Fuck you."

Starlight's pupils narrowed to pinpricks, shock etched across her features.

"You ponies had every indication that I was intelligent and not a damn animal, but you still took my things and kept me locked in a cage! Took samples from me while I slept! What possible excuse could you have for doing that?" I snarled, my gaze piercing into each and every set of eyes in the room.

"Hey! Don't you be talkin' to my friends like that!" The orange mare shouted, taking a more aggressive stance.

"Or what? You'll try to lasso me again? How'd that work out for you last time?"

The mare made a noise similar to a growl, pawing at the ground with her forehoof.

"Come on, then! Come at me!" I growled, lowering my stance a bit, pulling back my blade so I could lead with a lunging stab.

"ENOUGH!!!" Roared a voice from the back of the group of ponies, startling everyone in the general vicinity.

Everyone turned their heads to stare at the seething butter yellow pegasus who was glaring at her friends as if daring any of them to make a sound.

Then she turned her attention to me.

I would love to say that I matched that glare with one of my own, that I stood my ground against a seemingly weaker creature, but I didn't. Instead, I instantly rose out of my combat stance and into a more defensive one, my blade raised in front of me to ward off any incoming attacks.

"First of all, Applejack and Rainbow Dash!" The two mares in question stood to attention, "exactly why did you resort to attacking this poor creature when we had him 'right where we want him'?" She questioned sternly.

"B-but Shy!" The prismatic pegasus stammered, obviously not used to the tongue lashing she was getting from her friend, "he started it!" She said, pointing an accusatory hoof in my direction.

"No 'buts' Rainbow! And how exactly did he 'start it', hmmm?"

"Shy, I really think yer missin' the point here..." the other pony, presumably Applejack began, only to be silenced by a stern glare from the pegasus.

A part of me was highly amused at the sight of my two biggest aggressors getting chewed out by what I assumed to be the physically weakest of the group, a slight smirk made it's way onto my face.

"Twilight and Starlight Glimmer!" She called, the two mares in question stiffened at the sound of her voice.

"Y-yes...?" Starlight asked tentatively, a nervous grin on her muzzle.

"When you and Twilight told us that you were quarantining the Everfree Phantom, you said it was because of any side effects being exposed to so much manticore venom would have on him with his species being entirely unknown," 'Shy's' glare intensified, causing the unicorn to begin sweating nervously, "and yet here he is, completely healed and with no visible side effects of the venom!"

Starlight blanched under the piercing gaze of the normally quiet and soft-spoken pony.

"It was to satisfy my curiosity," Twilight said plainly, stepping forward, "I asked Starlight to assist me in my research, she can't be blamed for this."

The pegasus turned to the purple pegacorn, "and what were you researching?" she asked sternly.

Twilight sighed, "when we carted him back from the Everfree, I immediately did a blood test to see if any of the manticore venom had remained in his system. However, I soon discovered that the proteins that formed the molecular structure of the venom had been severely broken down in the Phantom's bloodstream, and I wanted to know why. And when we found out about his uncanny resistance to magic..." She turned to me and bowed her head in shame, her ears drooping, "in my search for an answer, I ignored the needs of my subject, and for that I'm sorry."

I stared at the purple mare, putting on my best poker face.

She seems really sincere about that apology, and I doubt she would lie when my one benefactor in this place... wherever this place is, is standing right there...

"And don't think I've forgotten about you, mister!"

And just like that, I was on the defensive again, crouching behind my blade as if it would somehow save me from the stern glare of the butter yellow pegasus currently staring daggers at me.

"Y-yes?" I stammered sounding like the total wuss I was at that moment.

"What gave you the right to hurt my friends like that? Poor Spike would have had a concussion if he was anything other than a dragon! And you could've seriously hurt Applejack the way you wrestled her to the ground like that! What do you have to say for yourself?" Her eyes were locked onto mine, but they weren't angry like I was expecting. Instead they were filled with... disappointment?

"I owe 'Spike' an apology, but I needed to get him out of the way to make my escape. As for the others... what I did was in self-defense, I believe I was justified with what I did." I stood up more confidently, posturing myself as though to intimidate a pack of those wooden wolves, "and had lethal force been necessary... so be it." I said, hoping and praying that my final gambit to get out of this situation would pay off.

"If that's true, why did you bother tying up Applejack and shutting Spike in your cage?" The pegasus questioned, looking pointedly at the blade in my grasp, "you certainly had the means to use a more... permanent solution, so why didn't you? I don't believe you're a bad creature, so please let me help you."

"I..." I stammered, no! What are you doing you idiot!? She's with THEM! Don't waver now!

I steeled myself, "bullshit! What could you possibly gain by helping me? Don't forget, I can still cut through the lot of you and find my own way out of here!" I snarled, showing my teeth as I crouched lower into my stance, my blade at the ready.

The other ponies tensed, slipping into their own combat stances, something akin to grim determination on their faces.

"Fluttershy, ah don't think talking him down is workin', you'd best get away from him now." Applejack said in a low tone, only to be silenced by a raised hoof from Fluttershy.

"If that's what you truly believe, then do it. Prove me wrong, attack me and prove to us that you're the monster you want us to believe you are," She stared into my eyes, "but I don't think I'm wrong about you."

I raised my blade in both hands, a clean strike to the neck, quick and easy. She won't even feel any pain.

I met her gaze, my face a stoic mask as her friends watched the spectacle unfold.

My hands shook slightly, still poised to strike, why am I hesitating!? She's a tiny horse! A dumb animal! This will be just like spearing a fish back in the forest!

I grit my teeth, raised the blade a little higher in my shaking hands.

Her gaze didn't waver for a second.

I couldn't do it.

I spun the blade around in my hands and bought it down, stabbing deep into the crystalline floor, "DAMMIT!!!" I cried, tears leaking from my eyes as I slumped to my knees and rested my head against the flat of the blade, "I can't do it! There, you happy?" I sobbed, knowing full well that my escape was now impossible.

A hoof landed on my shoulder, causing me to stiffen slightly as it moved in gentle, circular motions, "there, there..." Fluttershy cooed in a soothing voice.

I reached out and pulled her into a hug, drawing a squeak from the pegasus as I wrapped my arms around her neck as I buried my face in her pink mane, "I... I can't... do it..." I choked out softly my voice cracking.

"I know... I know..." Fluttershy murmured, rubbing the back of my head.

I just knelt there and cried.

After I had calmed down, mentally kicking myself for my meltdown earlier, I sat in the new throne bearing the silver flame gemstone. I don't know why, but sitting there just felt... right somehow, as if I was truly meant to sit there. I had left my sword in the floor as a sign of trust.

Six of the other ponies sat in their own respective thrones, with Spike taking his seat next to Twilight's throne and Starlight summoning her own wooden stool to sit on.

"Let's start with the obvious question," Twilight began, levitating a scroll and quill in her magic. I could see a small pile of blank scrolls and spare quills next to her throne, "what exactly are you?"

"Are you seriously gonna take notes on this conversation, princess? Don't you think you've had enough?" I asked, receiving a stern look from Fluttershy, "what? She's been doing that the entire time I was conscious! It kinda gets a little old after a while."

"Just humor me for a bit here," Twilight sighed, "though I think we should start with your name first, you do have one right?" she asked, setting the quill and scroll down and looking at me intently.

My... name...?

With all that had happened since my arrival to this weird world, the fact that I didn't have a name I could remember had completely slipped my mind, "I... I can't remember..." I murmured under my breath, my eyes widening.

"Is something wrong?" Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I can't remember my own name..." I said a little louder.

"What do you mean ya can't remember!?" Applejack exclaimed from her throne, "yer smart enough to talk, I know yer parents must've given y'all a name!"

"Applejack!" Fluttershy scolded before looking back at me, "please explain what you mean."

"Exactly that, when I woke up in the... 'Everfree Forest' was it?" Twilight nodded in confirmation, "I couldn't remember a single thing about myself. My past experiences up until that point had been completely erased." I crossed my arms, scratching at my chin with my hand, "I still remember all my general knowledge of where I came from, but the only thing about 'me' personally that I've been able to recall is a fear of spiders."

This caused Rainbow Dash to roar with laughter, "t-the big scary Phantom's scared of spiders!?" She choked out while gasping for breath... before laughing again, clutching her sides and almost falling off her throne.

"Hey! It's not funny! Spiders are horrible little hell-spawn!" I yelled, my cheeks heating up from embarrassment.

"Anyways," I growled, glaring at the snickering pegasus, "I have a feeling that my memory loss is linked to however I ended up in the Everfree. And before you ask: no I don't remember it." I said, intercepting the question before it left Twilight's muzzle.

Twilight chewed her lip a bit, her brow furrowing. "What do you remember then?" Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It'll be easier to explain things if I have a map. Do you have one on hand-er-hoof?" I asked.

Twilight nodded, a beam of light emitting from her horn and striking the table in the center of the circle of thrones, a holographic map of what I assumed was the country I was in appeared over the top of the table's flat surface, "This is a map of the Principality of Equestria and it's surrounding territories and neighbors," explained Twilight, "why did you need this?"

I stared at the map for a while, studying it. "Does it zoom out? I don't recognize any of these places."

Twilight's horn flared again, another beam of light striking the map as it zoomed out further, revealing a world map with several continents and gaps that I assumed were oceans and seas between them, "this is a map of Equus, the name of this planet," Twilight explained, looking at me expectantly.

"Nothing, not a single recognizable landmass," I muttered, studying the map intently, memorizing as much of the geography as I could.

"What exactly are you saying?" Starlight asked.

"That this isn't even my world," I replied, looking up at the seven mares and dragon around the table.

"What, you really think we'll believe you're an alien?" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously, looking around and taking in the expressions around the table, "... you're serious, aren't you?"

I nodded.

"Y'all don't look like yer too concerned 'bout that fact," Applejack remarked, the doubt clear in her voice.

"Trust me, I'm probably gonna have a massive freak out session later," I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose, "I'm just using my default survival strategy I've been using since I showed up here."

"Which was...?" Twilight asked tentatively.

I looked her in the eye, "shove aside anything other than cold logic, panicking wouldn't help me, and neither would crying. Those can wait until after I've survived, and I haven't stopped surviving yet."

I sighed, rubbing my temples, "but enough of that, I don't think I'll be solving my memory problem anytime soon. To answer your earlier question Twilight, I'm what's known as a 'human' back where I'm from. We're an omnivorous race that walk on two legs, and we're the dominant species on our planet. Does that answer work?"

I looked over to see Twilight furiously scribbling notes on her scrolls, multiple quills levitated in her magic as splatters of ink flew from the quill tips.

I guess I caught her off guard by answering her question after dropping the 'I'm an amnesiac alien' bombshell...

"What kind of magic does your race inherently use? What form of government do you employ? Why do you have nipples?" Twilight rattled off, not taking her focus off the numerous scrolls she was jotting various notes and hypotheses on.

This time, it was my turn to be caught off guard.

"Ummm... excuse me, WHAT!?" I exclaimed, my face burning a little at the pointedly sensitive question asked in such a clinical tone.

Twilight looked up at me with a confused expression, "you're clearly a male, so why do you have nipples? Do human males lactate instead of females?"

She asks with child-like innocence... I thought as I stared incredulously at her, "Twilight," I began, "I'm gonna pretend that was a totally normal, and non-awkward question and say no. No we do not."

"But then why do you have them?"

"We're done talking about this."

"But-"

"DONE." I growled, glaring at the purple mare.

Fluttershy shot me a look, "what!?" I said, "that question was super awkward!"

"Be nice," Fluttershy said simply, staring at me.

"Fine," I grumbled, looking back towards Twilight, "I have a question for you now."

"What is it?" Twilight asked, giving her quills a much-needed rest.

"What exactly are you? I'm kind of familiar with unicorns and pegasi from what I can remember about my world's mythology, but I have no clue what you are."

Twilight looked genuinely confused by the question, "mythology? You don't have ponies where you come from?"

I shook my head, "no, we have ponies, they just don't talk... or have wings and or horns."

Twilight shot me a weird look before continuing, "I'm what's known as an alicorn," she said, placing a hoof on her chest, "although I was once a unicorn like Rarity and Starlight, I was ascended to alicorn hood after completing my final test as Princess Celestia's student."

"Ascended?" I asked.

"Alicorns are ponies with the magic of all three pony tribes within them," she explained, "the increased strength and constitution of the earth ponies," she gestured to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, "the flight and cloud walking ability from the pegasi," she gestured to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, "and finally, the ability to use Equus' latent magical field in it's natural form, courtesy of the unicorns," she finished, gesturing to Starlight and Rarity.

She looked back at me, "alicorns are living symbols of the harmony between the three tribes, and represent the founding of Equestria as a whole."

I nodded slowly, "uh huh, is that why you're a princess then? Can I also assume that this 'Princess Celestia' is an alicorn as well?"

"Yes, why?" Twilight asked, giving me a curious look.

"No reason, just curious." So this nation is ruled by one race that 'supposedly' represents all of them, huh? Along with a monarchy? Talk about backwards thinking...

"You know... we still don't have anything to call you by, we can't keep calling you the 'Everfree Phantom'," Rainbow Dash remarked, "so, you got anything we can call you?"

I thought for a moment, "imagine that everything you knew was taken away, nothing but a gigantic gap in your memory to replace it with. You know that you had to have had history at some point, but for some reason you can't remember any of it. Following me so far?"

Everyone's heads nodded.

"Then," I continued, "imagine that because of whatever wiped your memory, you also ended up in a place with zero understanding of how things work, what's going on, or where the hell you are. Everything you may have done up to that point has been rendered entirely pointless, leaving you as just a face attached to a living body in a world that doesn't know you. You could have been anyone, but instead you've become completely anonymous."

I cock my head, looking up at the ceiling, "now then, because I've been 'anonymous' for at least a few months after vanishing from my world, I've likely already been presumed dead," I grin before looking back to the ponies, "and since I'm now -technically- an anonymous corpse, why not give me a name to match? I think my temporary name should be John Doe."

"John... Doe?" Twilight said, cocking her head to the side, "why that?"

I looked at her, "it's a name given to unidentified corpses. And it's only temporary until I get my memories back."

Twilight levitated a quill and scroll, scratching what I assumed was my new name down onto the parchment, "John Doe it is then."

Still creeps me out... I thought as I covered my scarlet right eye and the shock of stark white hair with my hands.

I was currently staring into a mirror, part of the adjoining bathroom that had been delegated to me as part of my room in the castle, I had left my sword in Twilight's lab for her to study the next day (as well as a sign of trust), but at the moment it had been decided it was better for everyone to turn in early.

When I had asked for my clothes to be returned, Twilight had sheepishly told me that they had to cut them off to treat my wounds (and for a fiber analysis), at which point Rarity had volunteered to make me some new clothes by way of apology for the way I had been treated, the measuring was taking place tomorrow as well.

"Heh, it's a wonder what starvation and running for your life will do to burn calories," I mused, flexing a bit in the mirror.

I had never really gotten a good look at my body in the cracked mirror back at the ruins, looking at myself now, it was easy to see why I had been mistaken for some unknown beast of the Everfree. The hunger had really done a number on my body fat, despite my efforts to keep my diet as balanced and as big as I could manage, leaving my body and face gaunt, hunger etched into every detail. My muscles had also developed due to my excessive tree climbing, my muscles were lithe and strong, like those of a jungle cat. And finally my skin had tanned to a darker shade of brown and the stubble on my face had grown thicker and more wiry.

All in all, I looked every bit like a phantom that had spent it's days wandering the Everfree in search of it's next meal.

I sighed, grabbing the cutthroat razor resting next to the sink and began to work on shaving my face and set about making myself human again.

Finally, Princess Luna thought as she finally managed to pierce the veil of the mysterious dream she had been sensing for the past two months, she wasn't sure exactly what being this dream belonged to, but it certainly did not feel like any race she was familiar with. All of a sudden, the majority of the illusions, logic traps, and mental barriers around the unknown mind that had stymied her had suddenly vanished, as if the being had decided to drop it's guard.

I must be careful, there is no telling what creature is lurking in this dream... Luna prepared her own mental defenses, encasing her own mind in several layers of protection before stepping into the unknown dreamscape.

What stretched out before her as a seemingly endless, featureless plain of bone white grass growing out of black soil, a sky filled with black clouds overhead. The monotony of it all was only broken by a dead tree, it's branches clawing rebelliously at the dark sky, it's bark the color of the darkest ebony, with a rope with paper talismans attached to it wrapped around it's trunk, the talismans swaying in the nonexistent breeze.

"A shell dream?" Luna murmured as her gaze swept across the desolate landscape, her ears swiveling, trying to pick up the slightest hint of noise. She tried to use her power as a dream walker to force her way through the false dream. A set of wooden double doors suddenly appeared directly in front of her past the black tree in response.

The grass around her hooves made an unsettling rustling noise, sounding more like bone being scraped against stone as she slowly made her way towards the doors.

Just as Luna was about to reach the door however, three large, white feathers embedded themselves into the earth before her, halting the lunar diarch in her tracks.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, your highness." A mysterious voice said, the voice echoing through the area around her as a portcullis dropped down over the double doors, causing them to vanish.

"Who goes there!" Luna cried, spinning about and reaching out with her power, seizing the presence she felt and yanking it into a physical form.

"My, my. I'm impressed, you got me to manifest! Good for you!" The voice said, echoing from the direction of a stark white raven sitting in the branches of the black tree, preening it's feathers absentmindedly.

The bird was about the size of a medium sized dog, a set of dichromatic blue and red eyes sat above it's ebony beak, which it was using to align it's three regrowing primaries on its right wing.

"What are thou? be warned, we are not one to be trifled with!" Luna shouted, snorting and stamping her hoof aggressively at the large bird.

"No, I suppose not." The Raven said, ceasing his preening and giving Luna her full attention, "now then, why have you come here?" It asked, it's beak unmoving.

It is speaking directly into my mind? But that's...

"Impossible?" The Raven finished, cocking it's head. Luna could only imagine the smug grin the Raven was no doubt giving her, "understand this, little pony. You may be a very powerful psychic, but it pales in comparison to what I can do in this realm, is that clear?"

"Then why have we been allowed entrance thus far?" Luna questioned, tightening her defenses even further, allowing this aspect to read her thoughts any further would likely result in her losing her mind.

The Raven ruffled it's feathers, huffing in annoyance, "you are here because the idiot you tried to reach decided he was in a safe enough place to lower his guard, which in turn caused more work to suddenly crop up for yours truly."

Suddenly, a piercing shriek erupted far off into the distance, the sound barely reaching the pair. However, the immense ripples through the dreamscape could be felt greatly by the pair.

"What was that!?" Luna asked, glaring at The Raven.

The Raven sighed, seeming to massage the bridge of it's beak with the joint in it's wing, "that, would be the other troublesome pest that prevents me from resting, I'm afraid you will have to go." With that, a portal of swirling black mist opened behind Luna, chains of bone-white metal shooting out and wrapping around her hooves and chest, dragging her back into the portal.

"I highly recommend you don't attempt to break in again, I won't be so lenient next time," The Raven said, just as Luna's dream aspect began to fade, screaming into the portal.

Luna awoke with a start, throwing off her sheets roughly as she immediately departed for her sister's chambers, not bothering with putting on her regalia. The doors to her private chambers slammed open, startling the two thestral night guards watching the hall as their princess stalked out, a look of grim determination on her face

Celestia needed to hear of this immediately.

Author's Note

Aaaaaaaand done! *whew*

A little bit of wind down from the previous chapter, and a bit of a teaser for some future events.

Regarding John's name... don't worry, he'll remember it at some point :trollestia:

The shell dreamscape is sort of a mass fusion between Hueco Mundo from Bleach, Dark Link's miniboss arena from Ocarina of Time, and the arena where you fight the Shagaru Magala in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Just thought it would look cool.

As always, be sure to comment down below with feedback, theories, and questions that I may or may not directly answer!

And as always, thanks for reading! :twilightsmile:

Edit: Fixed some problems with the early dialogue, sounded good when I wrote it, but afterwards... not so much.

The Escape

How long is she gonna keep watching me? I wondered as I lazily opened an eye to regard the lavender equine scribbling notes down on a scroll with a scarlet quill, both of which were suspended in a purple aura.

"Hmmm, bipedal, claw-like appendages on the end of forelimbs, very dexterous..." The mare muttered to herself as she sat in front of my cage, fluttering her wings slightly, "supposed pony-level intellect, but has refused contact for the past two days since capture, remains in a seemingly meditative state..."

Well... she's not wrong. I thought to myself, closing my eye and fading back into my trance. As relatively safe as it was here compared to the forest, waking up in a cage did not give me too much faith in the intentions of these equines. So I went to my default plan: observe, adapt, and escape. I grinned inwardly, my face remaining stoic, at least the last part will be somewhat easier, those little horses didn't even bother to move my sword.

I allowed my eyes to crack open again as I swept the room. The entire chamber seemed to be carved entirely out of crystal, lab equipment was set up neatly on shelves, large metal tables dotted the room, various ongoing experiments on bags of blood and... various other samples from me dotted them, and one exceptionally large table was set in the center of the room, surgical implements placed all around it. Needless to say, I would very much not want to be put on that table.

I tore my gaze away from the dissection table and to the far side of my room where two large double doors took the role of the room's only entrance and exit. Next to said door was a rack of lab coats and lying haphazardly underneath them was my sword and belt. For whatever reason, neither of the two equines I had seen since I regained consciousness two days prior had been able to move the damn thing. Unbuckle it? Sure, but anything more seemed to be out of their ability, much to the chagrin of a certain winged unicorn now busily scribbling notes about my sudden attentiveness to my surroundings.

I closed my eyes again and began to compile all the information I had accrued over the past two days.

Alright me, location first. I'm in a laboratory of some kind owned by the lavender pegacorn currently jotting down notes on me. The entire place is made of crystal except for the various shelves, tables and lab equipment, which were obviously bought in after this place was made. The lack of windows suggests that we're underground.

I took another glance around to confirm my assessment.

Next is the people... ponies in this case, I suppose. The pegacorn's full name seems to be Twilight Sparkle, she's been referred to as 'princess' a few times, so she's likely the one in charge here. Probably good hostage material when I get out. Next, is the unicorn that shows up every now and then to help with the experiments, answers to the name 'Starlight'. My best guess is that she's probably the princess' aide or student from how she seems to defer to Twilight. Again, good hostage material. Other notable names mentioned are 'Spike', 'Princess Celestia', 'Princess Luna', 'Applejack', 'Rarity', 'Pinkie', 'Rainbow Dash', and 'Fluttershy'. They keep using horse puns like 'everypony' in everyday speech.

Suddenly, the doors on the other end of the opened and Starlight trotted in, levitating a plate of apples in her magic. My mouth instantly watered, those delectable red fruits were the only vice I had developed during my time in this cage, which was kind of expected as they were the only thing they tried to feed me.

Starlight passed the fruits through the bars of my cage, setting them on the floor before I eagerly snatched them up.

"For all it's stoicism, it sure is excitable when food comes around." Starlight remarked, chuckling behind a raised hoof at my apparent antics.

Hey, fuck you lady! I'll eat my apples however the hell I want! I thought angrily as I viciously devoured the savory fruit.

"It's a 'he'." Twilight said offhandedly, off-hoof-edly? To her assistant.

I'm not even sure what's more disturbing, the fact that a horse just admitted to examining my junk, or the fact that she's so nonchalant about it. I thought ruefully as I took the core of the last apple and shoved it into my mouth, munching on it slowly.

"Right, because the cryptid can completely understands us." Starlight said dryly.

Fuck yeah I can understand you! I thought as I continued to chew on the apple core in my mouth.

Starlight turned to Twilight, "the others are here for the meeting, I actually came here to get you."

Twilight jumped as if she'd been shocked, "they're here already!? Oh no no no no no no!" She began to rush around the lab, hurriedly putting away various objects and grabbing a stack of notebooks that rested on one of the metal tables.

"What about the Phantom?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, princess. Spike volunteered to watch him, and I don't think he'll be getting out of that cage anytime soon."

As if on cue, a short, lizard-like creature with purple and green scales and emerald eyes entered through the double doors while carrying a comic book in his tiny claws.

I watched him warily, new faces typically meant new variables, and I really didn't need new variables right now. Regardless, my escape plan hadn't changed, these two mares had been talking about this meeting to discuss what should be done with me since yesterday and I needed to be long gone before they reached a decision, especially if that decision involved a lot of incisions on my corpse.

I shuddered as I watched the two ponies make their hurried exit, leaving me alone with Spike, dissection was not an option.

"I'd better not catch you doing any funny stuff, buster." The tiny lizard said from across the room. He pulled a stool up and sat down on it, flipping open his comic book, "nope, no one gets past Spike the Dragon." He muttered, emerald irises scanning the page.

I mentally facepalmed, A dragon, why the fuck not? We already have unicorns, pegasi, and magic wooden wolves, why not throw a fucking dragon into the mix!? Well, at the very least that eliminated one of his possible trump cards...

I waited until he was getting really into his book, muttering excitedly whenever something really caught his attention, before spitting out the chewed-up apple core, one end chewed to a narrow point. Grinning, I carefully slid my fingers up to the lock on my cage, the comically large keyhole wide enough to almost slip my pinkie finger in.

Did they really think I was dumb enough to be fooled by a lock this simple? I scoffed inwardly. The lock itself was a simple affair, rotating the metal plate inside would move the deadbolt enough for me to open the door from the inside. Gingerly, I slid the narrow end of the apple core into the lock, my improvised lockpick finding purchase on the all-important rotating plate. Come on, come on!

*click*

With that soft noise, the plate rotated under the pressure of the narrowed apple core, sliding the deadbolt far enough that the door to my cage swung open with a slight metallic groan. Piece of cake, I thought, grinning madly as I crept out of the cage, phase one, complete!

The noise caused Spike looked up from his comic book, our eyes locking for a single panicked moment. Oh fuck me sideways with a chainsaw.

Before the young drake could react, I was sprinting towards him, swinging my foot around in a roundhouse kick that sent the tiny drake flying off his chair and into a nearby wall, he slumped over, dazed from the impact.

"Sorry kid," I muttered, grabbing one of the discarded lab coats and tying him up with it, "nothing personal, but I'm not gonna be the next specimen on that table." And with that, I tossed him into the cage, closing the door and forcefully stuffing the remains of the apple core into the lock, barring anyone from getting a key in there.

With my guard securely locked away, I made my way back over to the double doors and picked up my sword and another lab coat, I knotted the coat around the sword belt in several places before cutting holes for my legs and slipping the makeshift diaper-pants on over my exposed nethers. "Hope this holds." I muttered as I pushed through the doors and into the halls outside.

Spike groaned as he slowly recovered from the mild concussion he'd just received from the supposedly 'harmless' cryptid.

Suddenly his eyes snapped open, the phantom's loose! He tried to use his arms to pull himself back up, only to find them bound in Twilight's favorite lab coat.

"Sorry about this Twilight," Spike muttered, blowing a jet of fire onto his bindings, burning through them.

He had to warn everypony, who knows what a monster like the Everfree Phantom was capable of! Reaching down to the burning lab coat, Spike rummaged through the pockets until he came up with the quill and notepad Twilight had been using earlier. He quickly opened the pad to the next blank page and jotted down a quick note:

Twilight, the Everfree Phantom's loose! Help!

Spike tore the page out and rolled it up before blowing a small puff of emerald flame over it, watching the smoke as it curled away.

He hoped it would reach her in time.

"Fer the last time, Ah'm tellin' you it's dangerous!" Applejack said, slamming her hoof on the central table of Friendship Castle's throne room, "any creature capable of fightin' off a manticore by itself is way too dangerous to be anywhere near ponies!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Applejack on this one, Twilight." Rarity chimed in, "the tale of what that... brute did during the fracas with the manticore is positively ghastly!" She shuddered, "I'm just glad our siblings got out unharmed."

"But they all said that he saved them!" Fluttershy said as loudly as she could, which amounted to a normal speaking voice by other pony's standards, "I'm sure he's just misunderstood."

"Sorry Shy, but I'll have to disagree with you there," Rainbow Dash said, "he ripped off a manticore's tail and survived a more than lethal dose of it's venom! As awesome as that is," she glanced around to the six pairs of eyes staring at her around the table, "which it's not. This thing is obviously something we shouldn't be messing with."

"Oooooorrrrr, he could be really super duper nice!" Pinkie Pie chimed in, bouncing in her throne with her usual energy, "Also, isn't the author structuring our statements the same way to keep track of who's already spoken in this scene? That's just lazy! Bad Villain!" She shouted, pointing with her hoof

Nopony, and I repeat, nopony knew what the heck she was talking about.

"Everypony! Calm down!" Twilight said, slamming her hoof on the table to break up the squabble, "its obvious that something has to be done with this cryptid. However, releasing the Everfree Phantom back into the forest might not be a viable option."

"What do ya mean, Twi?" Applejack asked.

"What I mean," Twilight began, gesturing to Starlight Glimmer, who bought over a stack of notes and charts levitating in her magic, "is that his appearance correlates with the appearance of that pillar," she pointed to the crystalline obelisk that had grown between her and Rainbow Dash's thrones, "and more worryingly, the strange monster activity that's been occurring in the Everfree." Starlight unrolled a large overhead map of the Everfree Forest before clearing her throat.

"As all of you are aware, monster sightings and encounters have increased in both the Everfree and White Tail Woods," Starlight explained, pointing to a series of multicolored circles dotted around the center of the Everfree, "these are all the typical hunting grounds of the major predatory Everfree species. Red are timberwolves, blue are hydras, and black are manticores. And these," she traced her hoof to a series of circles much closer to the edge of the forest, "are where our latest estimates place them now."

"So you think that this 'Everfree Phantom' is the cause of all the monsters moving closer to Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked, cocking her head to the side.

"That's the only viable theory we have to go on," Twilight said, rubbing her eyes with her forehooves, "there aren't any signs of deforestation deeper in the forest, so the sudden appearance of the Phantom is the only thing we have to go on. His species is so dissimilar to anything in the entire taxonomy of Equus that-"

At that moment, a flash of green flame burst out in front of Twilight as a rolled-up piece of note paper landed on the table.

"Is that a note from Spike? Poor little guy probably got lonely being stuck with-" Rainbow Dash began, stopping when she saw Twilight's paling features as she read the note, "what's up Twi? What's wrong?"

"The Phantom got out, he's loose in the castle. We have to recapture him before he gets into Ponyville."

"Where the hell is the exit to this goddamn place!" I gasped, slowing my jog to a stop, letting myself catch my breath a bit.

This place was built like a maze, all the crystalline halls looked the same as all the others, and there were doors everywhere. How the hell those ponies had been able to navigate themselves through this place was beyond me. I wrenched open the nearest door to reveal yet another broom closet which promptly spilled it's contents all over me.

"Fucking broom closets!" I yelled as I roughly shoved aside broom and mop handles which had smacked me over the head.

If I ever lay eyes on another goddamn supply closet, it would be too soon, I thought darkly, casting a hateful glance back at the spilled cleaning implements. Seriously, how many fucking broom closets does this place have?

I continued my way down several halls, my eyes darting around for any sign of an exit. Leave it to me to get lost in a maze when I need to get gone as soon as possible! The longer I take, the more likely that they've already discovered my escape.

"There it is!" A voice cried from down an adjoining hallway.

FUCK YOU, MURPHY!!! I spun and barely managed to bring my arms up to deflect a flying kick from a rainbow-maned cyan pegasus, the hardened keratin of her hoof grazing my forearm and forcing me back a step, gritting my teeth as the pain of the impact set in. That's gonna bruise.

"You're going right back in that cage, big guy!" The pegasus cried out as she dove in for another kick.

Too close to dodge! I thought as I shifted my stance, grabbing the pegasus' leg as she dove in and flinging her back the way she came before sprinting down the opposite hallway.

Can't let them find me, gotta lose them!

"Where do you think you're going?" The pegasus called, rounding the corner gaining on me.

Dammit! I spun around to face her, raising my arms, looks like I'll have to do this the hard way.

She twisted around to kick at me again, but this time I was ready. Stepping aside from her line of attack, I bought my arm around in a hook and clotheslined the mare, causing her to gag as I twisted and flung her to the floor before raising my left fist for a knockout blow.

Only to find that same arm caught in a noose, being yanked back the way the pegasus had come from. The fuck!?

"Ah gotcha, Dash!" Called an orange pony with a blond mane, her southern accented voice slightly muffled by the lasso clenched between her teeth.

"Thanks AJ!" The pegasus said as she popped up and slammed her forehoof across my face, causing me to see stars.

Growling, I grabbed the rope that had tied itself around my arm with my left hand, pulling on it. The orange mare held her ground, leaning backwards to compensate for the sudden tug. That's when I made my move.

Sprinting back the way I came, I hooked my right arm around the mare's head, yanking her upwards. The mare, yelping as she lost her balance from the sudden slack in the rope came along easily as I slammed her onto her back, allowing myself to fall onto my own back before pulling myself up and winding the rope around her legs multiple times, hog-tying her before pulling my hand from the noose.

"Hey!" Cried the pegasus, flying at me with fury in her eyes, "get off her!" She tackled me, forcing us both to the ground, the both of us fighting for purchase, I snarled as I threw her off after slamming the my fist into the side of her head, dazing her.

I'm not going back in that cage, you can all go fuck yourselves. I thought as I scrambled to my feet, sprinting down the hallway away from my two opponents.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, clearing the fog from the blow to her head, "ugh, did somepony catch the driver of that cart?" She moaned.

"This a'int the time fer jokes sugarcube," Applejack said, using her teeth to try and undo the knots the Phantom had used to tie her legs together, "you've gotta get after that varmint, ah'll be fine, just go!"

Rainbow Dash nodded, pulling herself up to her hooves and unfurling her wings, "don't worry AJ, I've got this!" She said, taking off, chasing after the fleeing cryptid.

Fuck off already! I thought as I heard wingbeats growing closer.

Growling in annoyance, I rounded a corner, ducking into the next door I saw, forcing my breathing to slow as the sound of wingbeats flew past.

"Finally," I sighed in relief as I slumped down next to the door, catching my breath. "Goddamn horse people, just couldn't let me die in peace could they?" I muttered, running a hand across the large, star-shaped scar on my abdomen. Not that I really wanted to anyway.

With a sigh, I pulled myself up and examined my surroundings.

The room I found myself in was a lot larger than the lab I'd been caged up in, it had a large domed roof and several crystal tables seemingly grown out of the floor, but what really caught my eye were the bookshelves. There were bookshelves everywhere, even built directly into the walls, "someone sure likes to read..." I muttered softly, running my hands over the various tomes on the shelf nearest to me. What drew my curiosity even more was that some of these books looked half-destroyed. Some singed, others with torn-up covers, some of them even looked as if they'd been ripped in half or crushed.

"Guess this isn't the first place you guys have been stored, huh?" I said, pulling a newer tome from it's brethren. The book was a hardcover tome with a brass plaque on the cover inscribed with what I assumed was the book's title. I examined the script-like writing on the plaque, but I couldn't make out a word for the life of me. But I can understand them, and from the responses of the three kids in the forest, they can understand me. I wonder if there's some sort of magical influence involved that translates speech... Judging by the conversations about magic I'd heard during my captivity, these ponies had a spell for just about anything. But who cast it? And why?

And that just begs another question: do I try to salvage the situation with diplomacy? I shook my head and replaced the book on the shelf after mulling it over a bit, no. They had every indication of my intelligence both from witness testimony and the fact that I was wearing clothes that were likely made with professional handiwork. Despite that, they still stripped me and put me in a cage like some animal. I don't know they're motivations or thought process, so escape is my only option. I can decide my next move once I'm safe.

Resolved, I turned back towards the door, only to be stopped cold, my hand on the doorknob, by a high-pitched, overly-cheery voice, "hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

I turned around, only to come face-to-face with the barrel of a cannon.

OH FU-

*BOOM*

The sheer force of the blast sent me flying through the doorway and into the hallway beyond, sending me crashing to the floor, pieces of confetti raining down around me. FUCK THAT STINGS!!! I screamed inwardly, suffering in silence at the multitude of new paper cuts that now covered my body.

"SURPRISE!" Shrieked the same voice as an offensively pink mare with a curly mane and baby blue eyes popped out from behind the cannon.

I scrambled to my feet and took off in the opposite direction.

Nope, not dealing with that. Nope! Nope! Nope! SO much nope!

"Hey wait! Come back here!" She cried, shoving the cannon into her mane before chasing after me.

I added another 'nope' to the growing list of 'nope's'.

"Not so fast, monster!" cried the cyan pegasus from the other end of the hallway, "we've got you now!" She cried triumphantly, galloping at what I assumed to be her top speed, wings outstretched.

I don't think so, I grinned madly, picking up speed towards one of the walls.

"Where do you think you're going, buddy?" The pegasus asked, nearly right on top of me.

My grin widened as I leaped onto the wall, running along it for three steps using the friction of my bare feet and hand before kicking off, sailing over the shocked expression of the pegasus while flipping her the bird. Yeah, you just got juked hard. I thought, laughing inwardly.

I landed on one knee, thrusting out a leg to kick her in the flank, causing her to fall flat on her face with a soft shriek. I snickered before sprinting down the hall, leaving the downed pegasus and her friend to eat my dust.

"Wow Dashie! He sure got you good!" Pinkie said, standing over her friend.

"I'm gonna get that pervert..." Rainbow Dash growled, a furious blush blooming across her features.

Pulling herself up, Dash took off after the fleeing cryptid, "come on, Pinkie!"

"Comiiiiiing~" Pinkie Pie tittered, following after her friend with her usual bouncing gait.

"This has to be it," I muttered gazing up at the immense double doors before me, the monolithic structure almost mocking me with it's sheer size. Bracing myself, I began to push against the door, only to have it swing open effortlessly as if it were a normal sized door made of wood. I yelped as the loss of resistance caused me to fall facedown on the floor.

"More magic I guess. No way those doors should've opened this easily." I groaned as I pulled as I looked up to see yet another hallway. Are you kidding me!? God, just kill me now and be done with it! I sighed and waited for the big man could load up his Remington when the sound of hoofsteps reached my ears. There are well defined gaps in between each hoofbeat... not the ones chasing me then. Their pace is too slow for that.

Nodding, I crept silently as possible down the hall to avoid drawing attention, only to have the source of the hoofsteps come around the door behind me.

"Was this door open last time?" Twilight asked her three companions.

"Ummm... I don't think so," said a butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane replied.

"Then who-" A white unicorn with a purple mane began before all four mares stopped dead in their tracks, all of us doing our best 'deer in headlights' impression.

Did I mention I despise you, Murphy? I thought ruefully before taking off in the opposite direction.

"He's headed for the map room!" Starlight cried, her horn flaring.

"Wait, Starlight! Don't-"

All I heard was the sound of shattering glass and a pained yelp from Starlight as I continued down the hall, the hell was that? I wondered, reaching the end of the hall and entering a room with a round table.

The room was structured similarly to the library, a high-vaulted ceiling in a circular room. Directly in front of me was a round table, surrounded on all sides by six large thrones, each bearing a different-colored gem towards the top to the thrones. With a start, I recognized them as the exact same gems from the weird crystalline tree in the forest. Directly above the table was a giant chandelier made out of the roots of a giant tree, strings of multicolored crystals dangling down from various points across it, glinting in the light of the windows above. A large, out-of-place obelisk sat between two of the thrones.

I frantically looked around, spotting another set of double doors across the room. I ran for them only for the doors to slam shut and vanish into the walls. "No no no no no no no!" I mumbled, feeling for any sign of the wall there, only finding smooth crystal in it's place.

The hoofsteps reached my ears again, "Dammit!" I hissed, turning to face the group of ponies, the pegasus leading the charge as all seven mares and the tiny dragon I'd kicked across the lab.

"End of the line, buster!" Crowed the cyan pegasus, "nowhere to run now!"

I reached back and gripped the handle of my blade, "you're totally wrong about that, horse." I said, the stunned silence from the eight other beings in the room was all the encouragement I needed, slowly drawing my sword with a rasp of metal on wood, "there is a way out, through all of you!" And with that I charged, sword at the ready to cut the persistent pegasus down and carve a path through her companions.

Don't hate me for this. I thought as I raised my blade against the pegasus, ready to bring it down.

Only to be stopped when golden chains wrapped around my arm and the blade.

"What!?" I shouted, looking back to see the chains extending from the obelisk in the center of the room. With a metallic clanking noise, the chains began to retract, yanking me backwards, "NO! NOT LIKE THIS!!!" I cried, scrabbling at the chains to break them off, to no avail.

I continued my struggle as I was dragged sword-first towards a slot built in to the obelisk, the ponies and dragon watching with looks of horror on their faces. With a final tug, the chains forcibly pulled the blade into the slot, lines of blue light appearing on the pillar in a circuit-like pattern before a female voice echoed through the chamber.

Bearer of Courage confirmed, lifting restrictions and downloading Bearer consciousness... complete.

With that, the obelisk spat out the blade and began to glow with a blinding white light. When it faded, what I saw was something no one could've seen coming.

Standing in place of the obelisk was a crystalline throne. One with a gem shaped like a silvery flame on it.

Author's Note

OH SNAP! not sure if anyone saw this coming or not...

Who caught the Bronies React reference?

Do you think Randy Orton would approve of the use of his signature move?

In all seriousness, the MC will be revealing his temporary name in the next chapter. (Amnesia, remember?) But I'll leave the decision up to my readers this time! You have three days to input your answers here.

As always, leave your opinions and feedback below! THIS WRITER LIVES FOR FEEDBACK!!! :pinkiecrazy: