Across the Ages

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Tommy desperately blinked the spots from his eyes. He was warned that there would be a bright light when he went through the teleporter, but nobody told him he would completely unable to see for fifteen minutes. Although, the blindness didn’t worry him, what worried him was the fact that he could tell he was in the wilderness.

Now, not being in the right location was to be expected. In fact, he was warned he could be as much as a quarter mile off from his intended target, but his target was one of the many deserts around the country. There shouldn’t have been anything close to a forest for well over four thousand miles.

Tommy’s studies of history told him that the country was nearly covered with forests, some bordering on jungles, a hundred and fifty plus years ago. Hell, even the deserts were full of life, plant and animal both. Unfortunately, the citizens thought that electing someone who was fun to watch was a good idea. They learned quickly just how wrong they were. What they all seemed to forget was that, while they did get to vote, they didn’t get to vote on everything. The first sign that something was wrong was the sudden gun control laws, which was always the first act of a dictator. Then the tax hike, followed by the suspension of elections, and then came martial law.

When the president became supreme ruler, he decided he needed more. The President Supreme invaded the country to the north. That country, whose name Tommy could never remember, had fought valiantly, as had their allies, but the president used weapons that the world had hoped to never see again. After the war, the president sold land rights to industries from around the globe. Those industries stripped the land and poisoned the air. It had gotten so bad, that the only hope left was to simply leave it all behind and try to start over.

That was where Tommy came in. He was in prison and volunteered for the teleporter experiment in exchange for much shorter sentence. Now, Tommy wasn’t a criminal, unless you used the standards of the new regime. No, Tommy was simply broke. Tommy was in debtor’s prison. An old concept that had long ago been abandoned. Simply put, you couldn’t pay your debts, you went to jail.

A week ago, some scientist came to the prison and offered Tommy, and everyone else, the opportunity to ‘go down in history’. They said that this teleporter was the next step in the search for a better life on a new world. Tommy jumped at the chance, not because he was desperate or too stupid to see the risks, he did it because he needed to get out. Not to find his family, because he didn’t have any. Nor was it to return to a job or escape an enemy/rival. No, he simply couldn’t take the food anymore.

The plan was simple. The scientists would do their mumbo jumbo, Tommy would step through some portal or something, finally, Tommy reappears exactly one mile due east of the starting point. The only thing Tommy was uncomfortable with, he had to go through without any clothing of any kind.

Of course, as the old saying goes; the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Now, Tommy was wandering through a woodland that shouldn’t exist and he was completely without. Without clothes, without tools, without skills, and without hope. All he knew was that up ahead, the trees thinned, maybe even ended, and he was heading in that direction.

When Tommy broke through the foliage, he was shocked. Not only should there not be any forests on this continent, there should certainly not be any this full, lush, thick, and healthy. Nor should they surround what appeared to be some sort of playground for adults. There was what appeared to be exercise equipment, uneven bars, balance beams, etc., all surrounded by a track coated in some rubber like substance.

The most surprising thing, however, was not the track, trees, or equipment. The thing, or things, that most surprised Tommy, was the two… things jogging around the track. They were humanoid, tall, winged, and very female. The blue one wore a tee-shirt that read ‘BLAME MY SISTER’ tied to expose her midriff and spandex shorts. The white one, which was a little taller than the other one, wore a sports bra and sweat shorts emblazoned with the word ‘PRINCESS’ on the back. They both had their hair pulled back in tight ponytails.

Tommy watched them for a few moments, he had been in prison for some time after all, from the relative safety of his shrub. As they came closer, she could hear them talking.

“…I’m happy to hear that, Luna. Plus, the more ponies that come to see you, the fewer of those insufferable nobles I have to deal with,” White said

“Remember, Sister, I started my evening court because it was the way things were done before. If I want ponies to see me as anything other than… her, then I have to be more visible and accessible.”

The two jogged on in silence for short time, allowing Tommy to get a better look. The both were beautiful, but different. Their faces were stretched, as if they had small snouts, and their hands had only three finger and a thumb, and those fingers seemed… wrong. It was like they were missing a knuckle but not quite, as they were still slender and feminine.

“How fairs young Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked White.

“She’s doing alright. I mean, she no longer sends me friendship reports, but I suppose that’s to be expected. She and her friends certainly do keep busy.”

“Yes. Who would have thought that when you sent her off those years ago and instructed her to simply ‘make some friends’, that she would form bonds strong enough to save us all time and again.”

“True enough. I don’t think anypony could have foreseen that outcome. Not even Mother. Still, I do miss…” White froze midsentence and started to frantically look around.

“Tia? What’s wrong?” Luna stopped and looked back at Tia

“We’re not alone.” Tia lowered her stance slightly, raised her fists, and spread her wings defensively. “Show yourself! We know you’re there!” Tia scanned the woods, she could tell someone was there, but she couldn’t tell exactly where.

Tommy knew better than to push his luck. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he called back.

“We care little for what you think. Show yourself! Now!” Luna ordered.

“That’s kinda the problem.”

“Guards!” Luna demanded seemingly of no one. “Seize the intruder!”

“Aw, come on!” Tommy turned to run, but before he could take his first step, a very large… guy with golden armor and a horn was in his way.

Tommy didn’t even bother to put up a fight. He had seen far too many people try to fight the guards only to find that the guards don’t fight fair. This guard was the same way. Tommy was thrown free from the brush and exposed to the world. He lay on the ground, waiting for the inevitable. Seemingly in an instant, three more guards were grinding his body into the grass. Tommy could only grunt in pain.

“Stop! Can’t you see the poor stallion is hurt?” Tia ordered. The guards stopped trying to force feed Tommy the field, but continued to hold him in place.

“Sister, what are you talking about?”

“Look at him. He’s obviously ill, all his fur has fallen out. He needs help and it is our duty to provide it.” With a wave of her hand, the guards all stood and released their hold. Tia offered said hand to Tommy. “Please, rise.”

“Um, before I do that, I gotta warn you.”

“Warn me of what?” Tia asked, not moving her hand but preparing a defensive spell.

Tommy indicated with a thumb over his shoulder his bare assets. “I’m kinda lacking in the clothing department.”

Tia giggled. “I can see how that would pose an issue. Polish. Shine. Could one of you ladies bring over something for this stallion to cover up with?” Two females in maid uniforms, with the exception of black pants instead of skirts and flats instead of heels, rushed to Tia’s side with towels in hand. “Thank you ladies. Here you are,… I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“It’s Tommy,” he told her as he carefully wrapped a towel around his waist and draped the other one over his shoulders to protect his chest and back from the sun and stood before Tia, “Tommy Fareday.”

“Hmm, Fair Day. I like that name.”

“Princess?” a guard behind her got her attention.

“Ah, yes. Mister Day…”

“Uh, it’s Fareday, one word, but I prefer Tommy.” As he said this, one of the guards gave him a silent warning by squeezing Tommy’s wrist.

“My apologies, Tommy. My name is Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna.” Luna nodded when she was introduced. “Now, why are you out here by this training field, which is off limits to the public by the way, and why are you naked?”

“A teleporter experiment gone wrong.”

Luna raised an eyebrow and smirked a little. “You wouldn’t happen to know Twilight Sparkle would you?”

“Who? Never heard of him. No, my government was trying to get off the planet and I volunteered for the teleporter experiment to cut some time off my sentence. I was only supposed to go one mile east, but…” Tommy looked around, “guess I got a little off target.”

“Why was your government trying to leave the planet?” Luna asked.

“Because it’s dying.” Tommy looked at her like it was the most obvious answer. He was confused over why they were all looking at him like he was crazy.

Luna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The planet was dying? But ever since her return, they citizens of Equestria, indeed all of Equus, had been working harder and happier and the land was reaping the rewards, so to speak. This strange looking stallion had to be insane, especially if believed that any government wanted to, or even could, leave the planet.

“And is this experiment the reason for your injuries?” Luna asked.

“What injuries?” Tommy quickly checked himself for any marks.

“Your fur is gone and your face has gone flat.”

Tommy touched his nose. “Oh, no this is natural. I’m a human. No fur, no tail, five fingers.” He held up a hand and wiggled his fingers for good measure. “I don’t know what you all are, but that’s what I am.”

“Then you are taking things remarkably well,” Celestia complemented.

“Well that’s because I’m either delirious, dreaming, or flat out dead. This can’t be real, so it isn’t. No point in getting all worked up over it.”

“While your logic is… logical, I can assure you that I and my sister, as well as everypony around you, are real.” Celestia’s motherly voice was reassuring and difficult to distrust. But Tommy knew that this was just his mind trying to convince him his madness was real.

“Now see, there’s another thing right there. You said ‘everypony’ instead of everyone or everybody. Just more of my brain playing tricks.”

Celestia giggled, “I hate to disagree with you, but we say ‘everypony’ because we are ponies.”

“Wrong again. Ponies don’t stand upright, have hands, or talk. There may only be a few left in zoos and private collections, and I may have never seen one in person, but I know that ponies are basically small horses or skinny cows. They are not six foot tall with smoking hot bodies.” Tommy heard a growl behind him from one of the guards. “What? You don’t think she’s got a great body?”

The guard couldn’t answer without either sounding like colt with a crush or, possibly worse, like he didn’t think all her hard work and training over the past few millennia had all been for nothing.

“I believe the lieutenant was merely trying to advise you to show a little more respect. The guards tend to get a little defensive of Sister and I. It is their job after all,” Luna surmised.

“Speaking of defensive,” the lieutenant started, “earlier, you said you were in prison?”

“Yeah, debtors prison. I took a loan and couldn’t pay it back. Simple as that.”

“Uh-huh.” The lieutenant whispered into Celestia’s ear, which was a trick because she was about six inches taller than him. “I don’t know about him princess. If nothing else, he thinks he’s telling the truth. That could make him very dangerous.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. “Suggestions?”

“We keep an eye on him. Maybe see if your student can uncover anything about these humans.”

“Mhmm… see to the preparations, I’ll watch after Tommy for now.”

“Are you sure about that, your highness?”

“He does not even possess claws and I sense no magic from him. I’m sure my sister and I can handle him.”

The lieutenant bowed. “As you wish.” He turned and signaled to a few other guards. Those guards followed the lieutenant into a chariot and made for the palace.

“And now, Tommy, that simply leaves the question of what to do with you.”

“Well, Tia, I’ve got nowhere else better to be.”

“You will not address your princess in such a familiar manner,” Luna warned.

“Sorry, but my people don’t bow to anyone. Puts your neck at cutting height.”

“It’s alright, Luna. Although, perhaps it would be better if you did use my title and you certainly should not call me by my sister’s nickname for me.”

“Whatever you want, Princess.”

“Good. We shall head back to the palace shortly. But first, Sister and I need to change into more appropriate attire.”

The group walked off the field and came to a large tent and several chariots. Luna and Celestia went inside the tent followed by the maids. Tommy was going to go in too, since it was his delusion, but the firm grip of the guard’s hand on his shoulder changed his mind. While they waited, Tommy couldn’t help but notice that while Celestia was his height and Luna was a little shorter than that, the guards were barely up to his chest and the maids came up to his stomach. He was starting to feel like some sort of giant. He was already starting to have fun.

The two princesses exited the tent. Luna was wearing an ankle-length, dark-blue dress that faded to black around the hem. It hugged her slim waist and showed off her bust without revealing any of it, as it came all the way up to her neck but had no sleeves or shoulders. Celestia also wore a dress the hugged her body, but it only came down to her shins where it started gold and transitioned into pearly-white. The other difference was that Celestia’s dress showed just a hint of cleavage between the shoulder straps.

“Well then,” Celestia said, “Shall we go?”

A nudge from the guard told Tommy he had no real choice in the matter. “I suppose so. Might as well see what I got myself into.” When the princesses turned to board their chariots, Tommy had a different thought, ‘I’d follow that ass just about anywhere.’

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Much to his disappointment, Tommy did not get to ride with the two strange looking, but beautiful princesses. Instead, he was riding in the second chariot with all the guards. It had taken him a minute or two to get over the fact that this chariot was not only flying, but being pulled through the air by a pair of these human/horse hybrids with wings. Now that he was over the initial shock, he was faced with another one; this world was alive. Very alive.

The world, when he left, was on its last leg. He was beginning to hope that he would never wake from this dream. Though, if this was all a dream, illusion, delusion, trick of the mind, what have you, it was the most real one yet. It was as if he could actually feel the wind, smell the fresh air, he could certainly feel the guards’ grips. He thought he heard somewhere that, in a dream, you weren’t supposed to be able to do any of that. That, and he had never once dreamed up such creatures as these before. They all looked so close to human, yet still animalistic. He had seen such things on the web before, maybe that’s where his mind pulled these… ponies, they had called themselves, from.

Besides, there is no way he’d be allowed anywhere near a place like this huge palace they were heading for, let alone inside it. It was beautiful beyond words. In fact, the whole city was beautiful. It just wasn’t fair.

The chariots touched down behind the palace walls. They all walked along a path through some garden filled with chittering animals. At the end of the path was a large hall with tall columns and windows. Inside, the hall seemed to be designed with only elegance in mind, white marble and red carpet were everywhere. It was just one more thing that proved that this world was a dream.

“Princess Celestia! Luna!” A purple woman in a pleaded skirt and sweater vest came running up to the group. She probably thought the sweater and skirt hid her assets, but Tommy had been without a woman for so long that his imagination etched out every single curve she had. She ignored the guards, maids, and Tommy to go straight to the two princesses and enveloped them both in a tight hug.

“It is good to see you, Twilight.” The hug was released and Tommy could see that this Twilight girl was only a little taller than the maids. She also had the same extras as the taller princesses. “Did you finish with those files?”

Twilight had been rearranging all the palace’s files, including the daily court minutes, for the past few months. Some would consider it a punishment fit for a war criminal, but Twilight had volunteered. Insisted on being allowed to do it. Celestia was all too happy to let her do it too.

“No, not yet. There’s still a few centuries left to go. I keep getting distracted with reading them.”

Celestia laughed and patted Twilight on the shoulder. “Oh, Twilight. I’m so happy to know that making you a princess didn’t change who you are.”

“Speaking of change, who is this?” Twilight asked, pointing toward Tommy. “He looks like he needs some medical attention, by the way.”

“I’m Tommy Fareday and don’t worry, I’m fine. I’m always this handsome.”

“O-kay. Well if you’re not injured, then why are you so different?”

“Because I’m not a horse-person. I, am a human being,” Tommy stated with a flourish and theatrical hand waving.

“Wait, so you’re a non-equine, sapient species? That is fascinating. You have to let me study you!”

Tommy’s first thought was very obvious. ‘Only if I can study you.’ What he said though was, “I suppose I can spare some of my fantasy to answer some questions.”

“Fantasy?”

“Twilight, Tommy here seems to be under the impression that he is experiencing some form of delusion brought on by mental stress,” Celestia clarified. “Did you happen to bring Spike along with you? I’m sure Tommy would get a kick out of seeing your number one assistant.”

As if on cue, a stack of folders, binders, books, and scrolls with blue jean covered legs came running into the hall. These legs, however, did not end in hooves like everyone else he’s met today. No, these legs ended in broad, clawed, purple feet.

“Ah, here he is now. Spike!” Twilight called.

“Yeah, Twilight?” Spike responded right before he walked right into a guard, spilling his stack everywhere and dropping him on his rump. “Uh, sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it, Spike.” The guards of the palace had all been around to watch the young guy grow since he was hatched and were used to him and his sporadic bouts of clumsy.

Tommy, on the other hand, had never seen anything like this strange creature before him. The legs were shorter than they should have been for any biped that came up to his waist. There were green spikes sticking out of the top of his clearly reptilian head that ran down his back, through his shirt and down his tail which ended in a spade. The most unnerving things were all those fangs and claws.

Cooly and collectively Tommy remarked on the newcomer with a, “What the fuck is that!?”

“This, language, is Spike. He’s a dragon and my number one assistant,” Twilight told him as the little guy in question hid behind her. “I hatched him from an egg a few years ago and he’s been helping me every day since. I’m very lucky to have him.” The drake smiled up at Twilight lovingly.

“Whoa, a dragon? My imagination is having fun with this one. Next there’s going to be a griffon in a chef’s hat and a mustache.”

As if on cue, “Ah, Princess, I am zo ‘appy to find ‘ou ‘ere. I ‘ave finished your ordair ‘nd ‘ave delivered it to thee kitchens.” That has got to be the most forced French accent ever.

“Thank you, Gustave, I look forward to enjoying it later. Now, Twilight, I’m afraid that you’ll have to wait to investigate into the mystery that is Tommy Fareday. For now, I would like to have him seen by our physician, psychiatrist, chef, and, quite possibly, our jailor.

“Jailor, Princess?” Twilight asked.

“What she’s referring to is the fact that, up until a few hours ago, I was locked away in a prison cell. She’s just being pragmatic and I appreciate that. Though I have to reiterate that it was debtor’s prison and this is all unnecessary.” ‘It’s my fantasy, so why is there so much clothing here?’

“Be that as it may, I would still like to take those steps.”

“And I have no plans to get in your way. I’m just enjoying the ride right now. Guard, take me to see the doc,” Tommy said as he turned and started heading for a random door.

“He’s an… interesting individual,” Luna said as she watched him walk toward the restroom with a guard close behind.

“Agreed. The question remains, though,” Celestia turned to her sister, “what should we do with him?”

“Princess,” one of the remaining guards spoke up, “I recommend keeping him in the dungeon. At least until we can get a better read on him.”

“So you think we should lock up a new creature on the very first day?” Celestia looked at the guard with a cocked eyebrow. “Do you not think that will make us look cruel?”

“I was not suggesting we keep him in there indefinitely. I merely meant that we should house him there instead of the normal guest quarters. That would allow us to limit his movement and to better protect the staff and, ultimately, the citizenry.

“I see. Very well, see to it. Just try to make it as comfortable as you can for him. He already seems to have suffered enough of a shock as it is.”

“Of course, your highness.” The guard bowed and left to follow Celestia’s orders.

“Do you really think it’s necessary to lock him up, Princess?” Twilight asked.

“I certainly hope I’m overreacting, Twilight, but anypony who thinks they are in a fantasy, thinks there are no consequences for their actions. Somepony like that can be extremely dangerous.”

“True enough,” Luna added. “While Tommy may completely benign, it is better to be safe than regretful.”

The other two princesses nodded in agreement.

*****

It had taken a few hours, but Tommy had been thoroughly poked, prodded, measured, weighed, questioned, examined, and even fed. Now, he was being led to his accommodations, AKA the dungeon.

He was being led down the stone halls by a female guard named Turn Key. The hallway wasn’t particularly long, but it was clearly a dungeon with all the iron bars and the thick wooden doors. However, it was a very nice dungeon. The stones were white and the wood was highly polished cherry. The cells were also fairly large and very clean with large bunks and fresh linens. It was possibly the nicest detainment facility Tommy had ever even heard of.

“…and the princess simply thought it would be prudent to keep you here overnight until we knew more about you and could determine whether you were safe or not,” Turn Key said as she opened one the of the wooden doors and unlocked the cell within.

“Makes sense.” As Tommy looked around his cell, an idea popped into his head that was simply too good to not try. “Besides, it’s kind of sexy.”

“Wh-what?”

“Oh, come on. I’m sure you’ve thought of it.” Turn Key simply stared blankly at him in confusion. “Really? I mean, I saw that look you gave the guy at the front desk, so I just assumed… Anyway, night after long night, you work here. You get no recognition, no respect, no one even says thank you. Despite that, you still give up your time and social life and, worse yet, your love life. Every night you come in and walk these corridors and no one pays any attention to you… except for him,” Tommy pointed to the empty cell. “He listens to what you have to say. Slowly, over time, you two build a rapport. You’re not friends, but he listens to you. It isn’t long before you start to realize that not only is this guy a good listener, but he’s also easy on the eyes. Every now and then, you just happen to catch him washing or you drop your keys outside his cell and bend over to pick them up.” Tommy was sure that he had Turn Key’s attention, and judging, by the darting eyes, he was close to his goal. She only needed a little push. “Then, one day, you walk in on him exercising in his cell. His bare, muscular chest glistens in the torchlight and his smell wafts in the air.” Speaking of smell, Tommy hadn’t been able to spend much time around women, so he burned every detail about every one of them he could into his brain. Also, the fact that her knees were grinding together was a dead giveaway. He lowered his voice another half an octave. “You know you shouldn’t. He’s your prisoner and you’re his guard. It’s forbidden. But you just can’t stop yourself. Slowly, you unclasp your armor and slide it to the floor as he comes up to the bars and reaches down to the waistband of his pants and-”

Tommy wasn’t able to finish his thought. Turn Key had spun on her hooves and disappeared up the hallway. A few seconds later, Turn Key came back the other way, dragging the other guard behind her. Tommy chuckled to himself, then he let himself out of his unlocked room and headed back up the stairs and through the gate that never got locked. Just as he was turning the corner, he could just hear the sound of a slamming iron gate and armor hitting the hard stone floor.

“Heh, that’s my cue,” Tommy said as he started a light jog back up the hallway toward the palace.

Tommy was starting to have fun. Getting that guard so turned on that she nearly raped the other guard was so easy that it was like the thing was scripted. Now, he was ducking around corners and hiding in closets to avoid being spotted. He even managed to sneak a cupcake out of the kitchen, despite the thing being secured in lockbox (lock picking was a skill he learned in prison and this one beyond antiquated). In fact, Tommy was having so much fun, he decided to up the ante by climbing along the outside of the building, using the lattice, vines, and stonework as handholds.

While he was going from one balcony to the next, he got to see some interesting sights. At one, he saw some maids simply cleaning. At another one, there was a sky blue girl playing tea party with some dolls. The next room also had maids in it, though they were also cleaning, it was pretty obvious that they were the ones that made the mess. He almost got caught when one balcony turned out to be attached to an occupied office.

Finally, Tommy came to a large, empty bedroom. It was dark, but there was enough light to see everything by, thanks to what looked like a few gas lamps turned down low. The rug was an orange gradient, starting at gold in the center and turning to a red-orange around the rim. The bed was huge and had a similar color scheme as the rug. The walls were a pale pink while the floors were a shiny white marble. Even the art on the walls were beautiful, scenes of fields of flowers and mountain ranges. But, the most important thing about the room, no one else was in it.

Tommy climbed onto the balcony and walked through the open doors. Casually, Tommy walked over to the bed and felt the sheets. He couldn’t help but think the mattress was so soft, there had to be a cloud or something inside. Tommy kicked his shoes off and then took off the rest of his clothes, leaving his underwear in place, and put them under the bed. Afterward, he slid inside the sheets and snuggled in for a good night sleep.

Just before he slipped off to dreamland, the door opened. There was a muffled conversation from outside the doorway, one of the voices was familiar. Worse, he recognized that white face. Tommy carefully brought the covers up as high as he could without completely hiding his eyes.

He watched as Celestia walked across the room. Her mane and tail stopped flowing on the non-wind and turned pink and floppy. Her horn lit up and her dress unzipped itself and floated over her head and dropped into a hamper in the corner, thus giving Tommy a view that he tried very hard to burn into his long-term memory. She then stepped into a closet, shortly after, her bra and panties floated out and into said hamper. Celestia walked out of the closet in a fluffy, pink robe. She then went into her washroom and closed the door behind her. Tommy, seeing his chance, started to climb out of the massive bed. It was too late, though. He had only just made it back in before the door opened.

Celestia went straight to the bed and went around to the side opposite Tommy. She then took her robe off and draped it over the chair at her vanity next to the bed. Tommy barely managed not to whimper at the sight of her silk panties and night gown, the color of which was a shade of blue that matched her sister’s fur. As she sunk into the mattress, Celestia let out a long, tired sigh and closed her eyes.

'Perfect,' Tommy thought, 'now I just have to wait for her to fall asleep and I can sneak back out the window.'

Once again, he didn’t get the chance. Celestia rolled onto her side, which placed her right up against him, pressing her large breasts against his arm. As Tommy’s face was starting to glow brighter and brighter about the chest flesh, (warm, squishy, and plump chest flesh) she made it worse by wrapping an arm around his chest and a leg around his waist. Then, when she rested her head on his shoulder, he knew he couldn’t last long. It had been a while since he had been this close to a woman, prisons aren’t co-ed after all.

Tommy was on the verge overheating when, “You know, it’s been many centuries since anypony has tried to warm my bed, even longer since they had tried to do so without my permission. I commend you on your achievement and as a reward, I shall grant you ten seconds before teleporting you to the deepest, darkest, dankest cell I have and then I will have a conversation with my guards regarding your freedom of movement. Okay, ready? Ten, nine, eight…”

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Celestia stood on the balcony with her sister as their charges switched places on the horizon. Both alicorns stifled a yawn. Despite their many millennia of experience, it never got any easier to be awake at this time of day.

“*Yawn* So, Tia, rumor amongst the guards is that you had a visitor last night.”

Celestia glared at her sister and her smirk, though one would have to have known Celestia very well to know that she was glaring at all. Few on Equus could match her diplomatic skills, and that included her control over body language. Celestia turned back to observe the peaceful land she had just awoken.

“Yes. It was quite a surprise. I may long for a… companion, but I can’t say I want one to simply appear in my chambers. Especially one that is new to the world and an admitted criminal.

“He never said he was a criminal, merely… lacking in funds. A single citizen cannot be blamed for how their government is run. Either way,” Luna turned back out to the view, smirk still present on her lips, “he is resourceful. Not many can talk their way out of a prison cell only to scale the side of the palace and sneak into the bed of the most powerful pony in the country.”

“Hmmph… indeed.” Celestia sipped her tea. “One can only hope that we shall hold ourselves to a higher standard than his leaders.”

“Not to push you, Sister, but what exactly do you have planned for our guest? Surely we cannot keep him locked away for the rest of his life.”

“No we cannot.” Celestia took a bite out of her waffles, which were covered in syrup, honey, whipped cream and half a dozen different berries. “Besides, he’d probably just sneak out and wind up in your bed the next time.”

Luna rubbed her chin in a gesture mocking deep thought. “Well, it has been over a thousand years…”

“Lulu, if you’re that desperate I can have a maid select some random stallion off the street then erase their memories after. Then you can erase mine after that.” Celestia stuck out her tongue and shook her head as if she had just eaten something awful.

A grin spread on Luna’s lips as she raised her tea to them. “I appreciate the thought, and the image, but I have not quite reached that point yet.”

“Well I’m certain that the ponies of Equestria will sleep better knowing that they don’t have to worry about their princess snatching them up in the streets and dragging them back to her chambers.” Celestia sipped from her tea some more. “However, I can think of quite a few stallions, and mares, who would be very happy if that were to happen to them.”

“Hmph. At least you do not have to see their dreams. The things that some ponies would like you or I to do to them… or each other.”

“Oh, I am aware. I have come across several different literary pieces with such themes.”

Luna shuddered. “Ugh, no matter how old I get, I will never get used to the depths of depravity ponykind can plunge.”

“Nor will I, Sister. Nor will I. For now, though, let’s change the topic to something more pleasant. Do you have any plans for next Nightmare Night?”

“None so far. As it is still several moons from now, I feel I still have time to think on it.”

“Well, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

The two sisters continued to enjoy their breakfast and their light conversation. Luna talked about some of the more interesting dreams she handled the previous night while Celestia discussed how much she was loathing the approaching Day Court. While Luna felt sympathy for her sister, she would never volunteer to take over for her. Nopony could deal with those suck up nobles better than Celestia simply because she hasn’t flung a single one of them off the mountain.

Once they were finished, Luna left to get some much needed rest before her Night Court. Normally, she would rest her body while her astral form traversed the dream scape, but last night was different. Celestia, on the other hand, was going to have to visit with, and explain things to, Tommy. They said their farewells and headed off to their separate destinations.

Celestia strolled through the halls, moving so elegantly that she might as well have been floating along the carpets. She nodded to maids and servants, greeted bowing nobles and clerks carrying barley balanced stacks of paperwork. The only ponies she didn’t address were the guards on post as they weren’t supposed to move anyway.

After some time strolling through the beautiful, marble floored hallways, Celestia finally reached the heavy, but still stylized, steel doors that led to the dungeons. She walked through, nodding to the guards, and proceeded to descend the stairway. She passed by scores of empty cells built for when the kingdom was a little less peaceful, some guests of the crown needed to be kept somewhere more secure than a jailhouse. Once she reached the bottom, she smoothed the few wrinkles on her dress gained during her journey and continued on toward the strange visitor’s ‘quarters’.

The sound of her golden shoes tapping gracefully along the smooth stonework floor was interrupted by laughter. The audible evidence of merriment caught the immortal princess of guard, causing her to pause momentarily. It was only a few moments before she could make out more than garbled voices.

“…so he says to the guard, ‘hey, I only told him to kiss my ass. I never thought he would actually try.’” Tommy’s voice was drowned out by the chuckles of her guards. After a few moments, she interrupted their merriment.

“Ahem,” she said plainly.

No one wasted time looking around to see who had made the noise, they all knew it as if it was instinct. The guards all snapped to attention, backs pressed firmly against the nearest wall. In one case, one guard had accidently pressed up against another guard as if stacked like playing cards. The scene made it very difficult for Celestia to keep a straight face. Luckily, she had a few thousand years practice.

“Good mornin’, Princess. I was just sharing some laughs with your guys here. They’re so much cooler than the guards I’m used to.”

“Indeed.” Celestia looked to the nearest guard, “Leave us.” The guards quickly filed out of the cell and back up the stairs. “So, still believe this is all a dream do you? A night in this cell didn’t change your mind?”

Tommy stood from the bunk and approached the bars. “I’ve told you before, there is no other explanation. There is no way that any of this, or any of you, could be real.”

“Oh? Why do you say that?”

“You’re horse-people. The only reference to things like you is in mythology. Well, that and some weird porn stuff. Not only should you not exist, but you damn sure shouldn’t be good looking.”

“I’m not certain I should not feel offended, but I think I know what you’re getting at,” Celestia said as she crossed her arms under her bust. “Perhaps that could be attributed to selective breeding.”

“You mean, something like pretty people banging pretty people to make more pretty people?” Celestia half nodded, half shrugged. “I guess that would make sense. But what about our language? There is no way we should be able to understand each other right now.”

“Ah, I have a definite answer for this one. You see, the land of Equestria is a land of magic. Because of this, any sapient species within its borders will hear any language spoken in their own tongue. For some reason, this doesn’t work with written languages, however. We don’t know why.”

“Aha! Now I know this isn’t real because there’s no such thing as magic. Wait, what’s happening?” Steve asked because he had started to float off his bunk.

“Do you still believe magic does not exist?” Celestia asked with a cocked eyebrow and a glowing horn.

“Fine, I was wrong. Please put me down.”

Steve wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but the fact that he was just unable to control his body terrified him. Having spent some time incarcerated had taught him to never give anyone the upper hand, especially physically. He had seen what happens when someone in a position of authority or, worse yet, other inmates get power over a person. When a person no longer sees someone as an equal, their inner animal comes out. He had witnessed some serious depravity in his time and he never wanted to be on the receiving end of that. Not again. He was only grateful that the attacks against him had remained physical, the sexual assaults he had witnessed, but carefully forgotten he had, had been anything but gentle.

Celestia set him gently back onto the bunk. “While I am here, please tell me how you got from your cell into my bed.”

“Ah, that’s actually an amazing and funny story.”

“Good. Walk me through it, please.”

“Well, first I started by getting your guard super turned on. By the way, that part was way too easy. Lady needs to get out more.”

“Ahem.”

“Sorry, but I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em. So, anyway, after cranking her throttle a little bit, I went and left the dungeon. After getting into the castle, I snuck my way outside. Once there, I got bored and decided to scale the walls. By the way, your guards suck compared to the ones I’m used to.”

“Apparently. I shall have a word with my captain of said guard.” Celestia let out a small huff. “So, again, how did you find yourself in my bed?”

“Well, it wasn’t my first choice. I simply didn’t think I should interrupt the maids cleaning, the maids cleaning after banging, or the little blue girl having a tea party.”

Once again, Celestia cocked an eyebrow. “Little blue girl you say?”

“Yeah. A cute little girl with blue fur and hair. She was in a room about as big as yours and she was having a tea party with her teddy bears. Weird that she was doing it so late at night.”

This, while not bad in itself, could leave to trouble. Celestia had to keep the ‘blue girl’s existence a secret for national security. Moreover, if anypony found out, that girl would be not only at risk, but embarrassed too. Unfortunately, at this stage Celestia didn’t exactly know what to make of Tommy. So far, it seems he’s been completely honest with her, but that didn’t mean he meant Equestria no harm. He was just as likely to be a threat as he was to be a hero. She could trust him to keep this a secret, or he could go and tell the griffins or the yaks despite being ordered not to. Either way, she had to do something.

“You said you scaled the walls, correct? Perhaps you would be kind enough to show me where you accomplished this?” Celestia asked, uncrossing her arms and indicated the cell door.

“Sure.” Tommy stood from his bunk and walked out into the corridor. “First thing I did was get out of this damn dungeon.”

For the next few minutes, Tommy led Celestia on tour through her own palace. He showed her the different passages, rooms and even closets he had used to hide from guards and staff. Eventually, the two made it outside.

Tommy approached the wall and indicated several gaps in the masonry. “Here we are.”

“You’re telling me that you managed to climb the walls of my palace, essentially a fortress, using only these cracks and your bare hands?”

“Oh yeah. We didn’t have much to do in prison except work.” Tommy lifted on of legs. “Plus, it’s a lot easier to climb with feet rather than hooves. A benefit to being primate based I guess.”

“Hmm, so it would seem. Could you show me your exact route so as I can have my masons effect repairs and prevent intruders from following your example?”

“Yeah, sure. Not like I have anything else planned for the day.” Tommy started to make his way to the first gap before Celestia interrupted him.

“Oh, no. That will take fa too long. Here, allow me.”

She spread her wings wide and lit her up horn. Tommy was soon enveloped in her magic and found himself being lifted off the ground. For him, it only got worse from there.

“W-what are you d-doing?”

“Don’t worry. I’m just going to take you up so you can show me. Just don’t squirm and I won’t drop you.” Celestia grinned to herself, not knowing what she was doing to the human.

“P-please, don’t drop me,” Tommy said, doing his best to keep his voice level.

He knew that the only thing worse than being overpowered was letting them know they had you. Flashbacks to his first experience with a similar situation where plaguing him. He had taken a beating that day, and had the scars to prove it.

With a flap of her huge wings, Celestia took to the air. Tommy was dragged up with her, fear locking every muscle rigid. She followed along what she assumed was his path by spotting the gaps and cracks that he had shown her. Upon closer examination, it was a fairly obvious path.

“So you managed to climb all the way up here?”

“Y-yeah.”

“But you couldn’t use these quarters because they were occupied?”

“Right.”

“Okay, so then where did you go from here?”

The two continued to explore the palace’s wall, one against his will. They floated up along the path Tommy had taken the night before. Celestia asked him several questions, though she only got single syllable answers in response. Tommy’s brain had all but shut down in defense, locking himself away inside his own mind.

Soon they came to Luna’s balcony. “And is this where you saw the blue girl?”

“Yea.”

Celestia touched down on the black marble and folded her wings. “Good. Since we are here, there is something we need to discuss.”

“Sister!? What are you doing?!” Luna yelled as she came storming out of her quarters.

“Ah, Luna. I apologize for disturbing your rest, but Tommy has discovered our little secret.”

“So you saw fit to torture him?!”

Luna reached out with her own magic and plucked Tommy from Celestia’s grip, brought him to the floor and released him. As soon as Tommy touched the stone he came back to life and sprinted, nearly on all fours, as fast as he could and hid behind Luna’s crescent moon shaped bed. Celestia watched the proud man who hadn’t shown a hint of fear since his arrival hide from her as if she were a monster prepared to devour him alive.

“Tommy?” Celestia stepped closer only to have her path blocked.

Luna stood before Celestia with her arms outstretched. “You’ve done quite enough, Sister. Go. I will see to our visitor.”

“But I…”

“Go,” Luna pointed to the door to her chambers. “Remember, fear is my domain.”

Celestia sighed and nodded in defeat and a little shame. “Yes, of course. Please, help him, Luna.”

Luna watched her sister, heavy with guilt, exit her chambers. Once alone with the human, Luna returned to his side. She lowered herself to the floor, carefully tucking the hem of her gown so as to keep her dignity. Luna watched Tommy for a moment to better assess the situation she had before her.

Tommy seemed withdrawn, though that was an understatement. After dealing with nightmares for millennia, she had grown adept at not only recognizing fear, but also knowing exactly how to deal with it. Many ponies thought the best thing to do when someone was in this state was to try to bring them around, but that can sometimes serve to only make them spiteful or agitated. Instead, Luna simply sat in silence next to Tommy. She would do nothing more than watch over him until his own mind decided it was safe, no matter how long that would take.

It wound up taking almost half an hour. Eventually, Tommy’s mind came back from its self-made shelter and returned to the real world. He looked at his surroundings, taking them in. He saw the luxurious, night-themed room, filled with beautiful furniture. The ceiling painted to resemble the night sky, complete with drifting clouds. There was even a moon shaped bed. The last thing he saw, was that he wasn’t alone.

“Hello there,” Luna softly greeted.

“Yep. I knew this was still a fantasy. There’s no other explanation for such a pretty young thing to be sitting next to me in her nightie,” Tommy curled into the fetal position. “Especially when I’m simpering like a child in a thunderstorm.”

“While I appreciate the compliments, this is indeed the real world. Also, as far as the,” Luna made air quotes, “‘simpering’, phobias affect each of us in a different way and there should be no shame associated by anypony for that.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t exactly change things.”

“Would you like to talk about it?”

“No. There are some things a man likes to keep locked away in a dark, deep place. However, I would like a nap.” Luna cocked an eyebrow at him. “What? I spent the night climbing the walls and thinking about your sister. By the way, she got weird after I mentioned seeing that little blue girl.”

Luna paused for only a moment before responding, “Yes, Sister gets protective of that girl. I feel it would be best if you simply forgot about her.” Tommy shrugged and nodded his head. “Good. For now, you may sleep on the fainting couch,” Luna summoned a duvet and a soft pillow which she handed to him. “I hope that will be adequate.”

“It will be great. Thank you.”

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tommy awoke from his nap several hours later in the early afternoon. He was a little disoriented at first, being in an unfamiliar place, but he quickly remembered that he was in Luna’s private chambers. He had fallen asleep after Celestia… a shiver ran up Tommy’s spine. She had completely immobilized him and he had acted like a scared puppy. He slapped his forehead and dragged his hand down face, stopping at his mouth. Tommy dropped his hands to the couch on either side of his hip and pushed himself up. Again, he looked around the room and took in his surroundings. In all, he felt that, while they weren’t to his tastes, the decorations were nice.

He soon spotted his host, Luna, asleep at her desk. Tommy grinned to himself and approached her. He thought “She really is pretty, despite not being human, and that soft snoring is really cute.” He also thought that if he let her stay hunched over her desk like that, she was going to be really stiff and sore when she woke up. Very carefully, he slid her chair out some and scooped her up. “She’s a lot heavier than she looks. Man, if only she were a little lighter.” He began imaging how easy it would be to carry her if she weighed a few pounds less and his thoughts seemed to manifest. “Huh, mind over matter I guess.”

Carefully, Tommy laid Luna down on her weird bed. He didn’t mean to see anything, but her top had raised up. It wasn’t anything serious, but her toned tummy was completely exposed to the world and more would be if things were to progress. With warming cheeks, Tommy pulled the sheets over her torso, pulling them up to her chin.

“Sleep well, Lulu,” he whispered, using the name he had heard Celestia address her by. Luna smiled upon hearing his words and pulled the sheets to her muzzle.

Tommy was making his way towards the door when he passed by Luna’s desk. He looked at all the things she had sprawled out upon it. There were scrolls stacked in pigeon holes, there was a small puddle of drool (which he wiped up with his sleeve), and a few framed pictures. There was one of her and Celestia in formal attire at what appeared to be a wedding hugging a pink bride in white groom in a military uniform. There was another one of her surrounded by the citizens of some small town that appeared to have been decorated for Halloween. The last one to catch his eye was one that showed six girls and one little boy. He recognized the boy as Spike and one of the girls was Twilight, the others he didn’t know, but if they were anywhere near as beautiful in person as they were in this photo, he would love to meet them. Preferably one-on-one, or two-on-one if he were lucky. Really lucky if it were that white one and the orange one.

His curiosity sated, Tommy went to the door and opened it. He was stopped by the guards only briefly, though somewhat violently. They had been told about his presence, but they were still caught off guard. Cautiously, Tommy lifted his open hand and waved at the guards.

“Um, hi,” Tommy nervously said.

“Greetings, Mister Fairday. Princess Celestia has informed us to send you to meet her when you awoke. You can find her in the throne room.”

“Great. Thank you.” Tommy walked off down the hall.

“Ahem! It’s the other way,” one of the guards advised as he pointed the way.

“Yep, got it.”

A few moments later, Tommy managed to wander into the throne room and found Celestia sitting on her raised dais. She was speaking with a robust and handsome stallion in a white tux with white fur and a blond, styled mane. Next to him was a tall, slender mare in an emerald dress with a slit up to her waist. Upon closer… inspection, he saw that she was not like anyone he had ever seen before. She had insect-like wings, holes in her arms and legs, green mane and tail, and fangs that protruded from her mouth. The weirdest thing was that she was wearing a small crown and seemed to have a black carapace instead of flesh and fur.

“…and thanks to the quick actions by several drone guards, the problem causer was quickly expelled and business was able to proceed as normal. Oh, what have we here?” this last bit from the stallion was directed at Tommy and his unexpected entrance.

“Oh, Tommy, you made it,” Celestia said as she stepped down from her throne. “Please allow me to introduce you. Tommy Fairday, this is my nephew, Prince Blueblood.”

“Greetings,” Blueblood bowed slightly.

“And this is Madam-“

“Ahem”

“Apologies. Queen Chrysalis. She and her changelings run several brothels throughout the kingdom.”

“While not my preferred way of collecting love, it is an efficient way of doing so.” She approached Tommy, large breasts bouncing in her silk dress. The exposed cleavage shined in the light through the stained glass. “But enough about business, on to pleasure. What manor of creature are we?” she asked as she leaned in slightly, exposing more of her cleavage.

Tommy leaned back to avoid her crooked horn and forced his eyes away from her ample bosom. “Human, what about you?”

“Direct and to the point,” Chrysalis closed the gap between them, causing her breasts to push up against his chest, “I like that.”

Her sultry tone had Tommy at odds. Part of him was really liking the attention, but the rest of him was a little put off by her forwardness and unusual appearance.

“Um…”

Luckily, Blueblood came to his rescue. “Now, now, Chryssi. You know better than to give away the best product. Leave the poor colt alone.”

“Fine,” she said as she stood up straight and raised her hands into the air in surrender. Her breasts also seemed to shrink two full cup sizes, though they didn’t lose their sheen. “I was just having a little fun with our new friend anyway. Besides, you know full well I don’t give anything away for free.”

Blueblood blushed heavily, tugged on his collar, and look sideways at his aunt’s scolding face. “Yes, well, I believe it’s about time we head back to the office. Farewell, Aunty, Mister Fairday.”

“Toodleloo,” Chrysalis blew a kiss at Tommy.

“Have a good day,” Celestia bid with a wave.

“Yeah, see ya,” Tommy said. Blueblood paused to see if Tommy would correct himself and address him according to his station. When Tommy did not, Blueblood simply left.

Once they were alone, Celestia approached Tommy. When as she drew nearer, Tommy took several steps backward. Upon seeing his actions, Celestia stopped her advance. Clearly, she had done more damage than she thought.

“Tommy, I want to apologize for my actions earlier. I never intended to cause you any real stress.”

“Oh, so you’re saying you only wanted to scare me a little bit then.”

“Yes, actually. You are an unknown in this world. My duty, first and foremost, is to the safety and protection of my little ponies.” Celestia stood a little straighter, gaining a couple inches in height. “You are the first one to ever break out of and then back into the palace. Not only the palace, but two royal chambers. An act considered an impossibility until last night. I meant to intimidate you, I did not intend to traumatize you.”

“So wait, I’m an ‘unknown’…”

“Yes.”

“…and you thought it best to risk my life.”

“You were not at risk, I had complete control over your body the whole time.”

“As far as you know! You had no way of knowing if my body would absorb your magic, or would somehow disrupt your control. You may not have wanted to, but you still could have wound up dropping me a hundred feet to my death. In the future, do me a favor, ask me a question and then leave me the hell alone. Or better yet, go and play hide and go fuck yourself with that little blue girl.”

Celestia was a patient pony, but she was also a princess who had her limits. In an instant, she had closed the gap between them and grabbed his shirt in one hand while waving a threatening finger under his nose with the other, and lifted him bodily into the air with no apparent effort. “Listen to me and listen well. I am no mere filly in a schoolyard that you can threaten. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and commander of the sun. If I were to deem you a threat, I could have you thrown from the very mountain up which we stand, ending you in an instant, and nopony would even question my actions. You roam freely because I allow it.” Her ire released, Celestia calmed down and realized the harshness of her words. She let go of his shirt, causing Tommy to fall to floor. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t mean to…”

Tommy crab-walked backward as quickly as he could until his back hit a wall. “No more! Please, no more! I don’t know what the fuck is going on anymore, but I don’t like it.” Tommy curled up, making himself as small as possible. “Please, just let me wake up in my cell. I want this all to be a bad dream.”

Celestia started to approach but froze when she saw him quivering and hugging his knees. She realized just how scary this whole situation must be for him. She also knew the perfect filly to fix this mess she made.

She pulled a rectangular tablet made of white opal from a well-hidden pocket in her dress. Her horn glowed, as did the tablet, and after a brief moment, she spoke into it, “Twilight, I need you to come to the throne room, please.” Celestia rolled her eyes, “This might be a friendship prob-“

The room was filled with a brilliant light that faded to reveal none other than the Friendship Princess herself, holding a glowing amethyst tablet, similar to Celestia’s. After a quick look around the room, Twilight spotted Celestia and sprinted toward her, stopping just shy of actual, physical contact.

“What’s the friendship problem?”

Celestia waved toward the human still curled in the fetal position. “I fear that, in a fit of passion, I have traumatized our guest. Twice.”

Twilight rushed over to Tommy’s side and placed a comforting hand upon his back. “Princess, what happened?”

“I… may have… overreacted. He conned his way out of his cell last night, scaled the palace walls, and found his way into my chambers.”

“Really? Nopony’s ever climbed the palace walls before. That’s impressive, but not something you would normally get angry about.”

“And I didn’t. No, what got me upset was he said he saw ‘the little blue girl’.”

“Wait, you mean he knows about-“

“Stop,” Celestia held up a warning hand. “I do not believe he knows the particulars, but I am not willing to risk such a secret be revealed. Doing so would be too great a risk to Equestria’s security at these unstable times.”

Twilight turned back to Tommy with a solemn look. “Yes, of course. I understand completely.”

“It doesn’t help matters that we still don’t know much about him. I want to be able to trust him, even help him get home, if at all possible, but as it sits, we just don’t know enough about him or if he can even be allowed to roam free in the palace.”

Twilight stood, ankles together, and bowed. “Princess, what would you have me do?”

Celestia smiled. Twilight had always made her very proud as her student and happy as her friend. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, I request that you take Mister Fareday with you to Ponyville. There, I ask that you and your friends do whatever is necessary to ascertain his true intentions toward the nation of Equestria and her inhabitants. If you discover that he is an agent of the Minotaurs, or any other nation, then you shall report him to the local guard who will detain him.” Celestia placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, “Twilight, I must reiterate that this is a request, not an order. If you do not feel safe in doing this task or feel that you are not up to it, you merely have to say so and I will not force you to undertake it nor will I be disappointed in any way. I know it is a lot to ask of you, or anypony for that matter.”

“I’ll do it, Princess. I have no doubt I’ll be able to accomplish this task with the help of my friends.” Twilight looked around conspiratorially and leaned closer to Celestia. “Uh, Princess, would you grant me permission to use that spell?”

Celestia looked upon her student sternly. “No. That spell has been forbidden for very important reasons and though I have complete faith in your abilities, you are not to perform that spell or any like it on any sapient creature. Am I understood?”

“Completely, your highness.” Twilight raised her right hand, “I swear to obey your command and not perform that spell, nor any similar to it, on any sapient creature.”

“Good. I know I can trust you, my most faithful student. Now, please prepare for your departure.” Twilight bowed and left the throne room. Celestia watched her leave, then turned back to Tommy. “Mister Fareday!” Tommy pulled his eyes from the floor and forced himself to look up at her. “It appears that I am not the proper pony to welcome you to our lands, so my student, Twilight Sparkle, will be taking you to with her to Ponyville. There, she will help you to integrate into pony society, learn more about you while you do the same about us. She will also see about getting you back to your own world.”

“*Grumble*”

“What was that?”

“Whatever it takes to get me away from you.”

“Hmph, then we are agreed. You shall be escorted to the train station along with Twilight and Spike, as soon as they are prepared to do so.”

“*Grumble*”

“Of course, if you prefer, I could simply have you chained up in your cell until we can end you home. However, that may take some time.”

Tommy stood up and quickly walked to the opposite wall of the room. “Fine, I’ll go with Twilight, just please leave me be.”

Celestia took a deep breath and walked back to her throne to await Twilight’s return, saying, “Very well. Have it your way.”

*****

“…no trees left at all?”

“That’s not what I said, Twilight. I said that a lot of the ancient forests were destroyed in a desperate land grab for fertile farming soil. There were still some forests left, but they were few and far between.”

Twilight looked out at all the passing old growth trees and appreciated and really appreciated them for the first time. “Your world sounds very bleak. Are you sure you even want to go back?”

“I don’t belong here. Celestia made that painfully clear today.” Tommy turned his attention back to the world outside the window. “’Though, I really wouldn’t mind living in a paradise like this place.”

“Well, I don’t know about ‘paradise,’ but I do love it here. Although, in all fairness, I never lived anywhere but Ponyville and Canterlot.”

“*Chuckle* I still can’t believe your capital city is called Canterlot.”

“Why? What’s funny about that?”

“Aside from the pony pun, same with Ponyville, we had a legend about a city called Camelot where a wise and benevolent king lived. I just think the coincidence is funny.”

Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “Huh, that is interesting. I wonder if there’s something there?”

“Nah. There’s only so many syllables the tongue can make, so that’s all there is to it.” As Tommy continued to watch the scenery pass by, the forest gave way lush, rolling fields. “Wow… Last time I saw a field this big, green was certainly not the majority. I wish Earth still looked like this. Maybe then we wouldn’t have to abandon the planet.”

“Abandon the planet? Was your world really that far beyond saving?”

“Yeah. It started gradually at first, but the people who could stop it were too busy making more money than anyone could ever hope to spend in a dozen lifetimes. Things just got worse from there.” Tommy let out a deep sigh. “I can’t see that happening to this world. It’s a little different when you can literally control the weather. Anyway, sorry to go on rant, I’m just being bitter about how good you have it here.”

“No, that’s okay. If our roles were reversed, I might react similarly.” Twilight perked at seeing something coming up. Twilight gently shook Spike awake. He had fallen asleep curled up next to Twilight with his head resting on her thigh. “Oh, it appears we’ve arrived.”

Tommy sighed yet again. “Well, guess it’s time to get this over with.”

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Now, girls, he may look a little different, but the princesses believe he is not a physical threat.” Twilight and Tommy had been greeted by the other Element Bearers at the train station. After their introductions, Twilight was trying to assuage their concerns over this newcomer to their town. Not only was he a species they had never seen before, he was also almost twice their size. “I admit to not knowing him too well, but from my time with him, I believe Tommy could turn out to be a good friend.”

‘Is that so?” Applejack asked as she approached. Tommy did his best not to notice her ample bosom being put on display by her tank top and flannel shirt, the latter of which had the sleeves rolled up and the hem tied together just below her bust, giving support. Both tops and her jeans showed signs of wear; holes, stains, and tears. He tried, but he hadn’t seen a body like hers in many, many years. Her muscles, obviously earned from years of hard work, made her look like one of the sexier models from those workout magazines the inmates liked so much.

“Sure! Anypony can be a friend if you only give them a chance!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up to him and squeezing him around the waist. With this one, he had no chance of not watching every bounce, ripple, and jiggle her movements caused to pass through her over-inflated breasts. Her body was very difficult to place into one category. Her upper body was that of a very overweight woman, but her tummy was merely full-figured. Her arms were toned, but her legs were packed with muscle and sinew. Judging by the apron and pink and white striped dress she had on, she was some type of baker or cook. Testing her products might explain how she got the extra fats and her strange habit of bouncing in order to move about. Plus, her pudgy cheeks and big blue eyes were just too cute.

Rainbow Dash pulled her incautious friend away from Tommy. “Pinkie, you need to learn to be more selective with your hugs.” Rainbow was the paradigm of a tom-boy. Her build was very athletic and lean. Her spandex outfit and running shoes made it very clear that that was intentional. She couldn’t be described as the picture of feminine beauty like Rarity or Fluttershy, but she was far from unattractive.

“She’s right, Pinkie dear,” Rarity stepped forward. Her black pencil skirt and white blouse radiated professional and lady-like while showing off her every curve and finely-toned figure. Her finely styled hair framed her gorgeous face perfectly. “Although, I’ve always somewhat admired your open approach to meeting new ponies.”

“Me too,” Fluttershy muttered from behind Rarity. Her large bust was hidden in a puffy sweater and her shapely legs were concealed by denim pants. Her body wasn’t as toned as Rarity’s, but also not as full as Pinkie Pie. One could tell she was used to hard work, but also enjoyed some pampering. Her long, pink hair complemented her bashful demeanor to make her more cute than sexy.

Tommy looked at all the oddly beautiful girls with fur covered bodies, tails, equine-like faces and ears, hooves, and completely unnatural color schemes. His brain couldn’t figure out how to handle the situation, which was quickly becoming the norm. He settled for addressing the only other male present.

“Uh, Spike, what’s with these chicks?”

“Huh? Oh, them? They’re Twilight’s friends. They’re cool. They go all over the place helping ponies and saving the world and stuff.”

“Saving the world? What, like, they’re activists or something?”

“No, man. I mean they literally save the world.” Spike started counting on his claws, “There was Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, Discord, King Sombra, Tirek, Starlight Glimmer (who’s our friend now), and Chrysalis again. All of them bent on taking over, changing, or destroying the world.”

“Bullshit,” Tommy sneered. “First off, how the hell could there be any single individuals with the capability of effecting the planet that much on their own? Second, even if there were, how the heel are these six girls supposed to be able to stop them? There’s no way.”

“Um, okay… You came from the palace, right? You met Celestia and Luna too?”

“Yeah?”

“Everyday, those two literally move the sun and moon with little more effort than a thought. Twilight here once ripped a tree out by its roots, launched it fifty feet straight up, and planted it again from inside it on accident. Rainbow Dash kicked off winter, which normally takes a whole crew of pegasi over a week, all by herself in less than an hour. Fluttershy shamed a dragon enough to make him give up his cave. Pinkie pie…” Spike shuddered, “it’s probably best not to think about what she can do.”

“What about you? What awesome, amazing, feats of daring do can you perform?”

Spike let out a jet of green flame a yard long. “You remember I’m a dragon, right? I eat gemstones, swim in lava and will one day grow to the size of a mountain.”

“Uh-huh,” Tommy snarked as he flicked the green spines on Spike’s head. “The only thing I know for sure is that Celestia has a smokin’ hot body and a short temper. Especially when you mention thte little blue-ow! What the fuck, dude?” Tommy demanded as he rubbed at the fresh scratches on his leg.

“Do. Not. Mention. Her,” Spike stage whispered. “To anyone. You got that? There’s only a few beings that even know about her and they were all sworn to secrecy. You stumbled onto the most closely guarded pony in Equestria. Frankly, you’re lucky Celestia didn’t just wipe your mind.”

“Alright, one of these days, someone is going to tell me all about that girl,” Tommy growled.

“Nah, you’re better off forgetting you ever saw her.” Spike leaned in closer and cupped a hand around his mouth, “Besides, there are plenty of cute girls right here.”

Tommy looked around at the six girls Spike was referring to. The tallest one was Applejack, standing a couple inches above the next tallest, Fluttershy, with Rainbow being the shortest. They were certainly cute, but the fact that they didn’t even reach his sternum added to that fact. True, their legs were still fairly equine and their hands looked little off, they also had pointy ears on top of their heads, small snouts and big eyes, but none of that mattered to Tommy. Besides, he was still about thirty percent sure this was all a dream his brain had cooked up while he was in a coma brought on by an explosion at the teleporter test site.

“You got that right!” Pinkie yelled from within the huddled fillies. “You got a bevy of hotties right here!”

“Uh… what’s wrong with her?” Rainbow asked while she hovered over the group.

“She’s prob’ly just bein’ playful or somethin’. Don’t even worry ‘bout it,” Applejack responded. Applejack then turned her keen eye up to Tommy. “So, what did ya’ll do before ya came here?”

“Nothing really. I was working as a stock boy at the local Super Duper Mart until I ran up too much debt tryin’ to live above my means. That landed me in debtor’s prison for way longer than I liked. To earn my freedom, I volunteered for a little science experiment that would have saved my people. Then I somehow wound up here. Safe money is still on this all being a dream.

“What’s ‘debtor’s prison’?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“An old-world practice that was revived during our shitty economy. The basic idea is that you go to prison and ‘work off’ your debts doing menial labor without pay until you’ve paid off your debts.” Tommy shrugged dismissively. ”It sucked, but that was the hand I was dealt.”

“How horrid,” Rarity looked like she was on the verge of being sick. “And yet you seem to be so nonchalant about it. I feel I must commend you for being so tough-skinned.”

“Oh, it was no big deal. Really.” Tommy grinned at the girls.

“No. Don’t do that,” Pinkie pleaded. Her eyes seemed to be full of pain.

“Pinkie? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“He’s faking!”

“She’s right,” Applejack confirmed. “Ah don’t know exactly what he’s fakin’, but he isn’t being completely honest with us.”

“No, I am. I was locked up because I racked up too much debt.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Pinkie moved in and wrapped her arms around Tommy’s waist. “You’re trying to hide it, but I can see you’re in a lot of pain. I don’t know what happened to you, and I won’t ask, but I will listen. We’re friends now after all.”

Tommy was at a loss. He thought about pushing Pinkie off of him, but couldn’t seem to bring himself to do so. On one hand, he was not fond of unknown people touching him, but on the other hand, this hug was very reassuring. Although he would never have admitted it, the time he spent in that hell hole had been very hard on him. He had seen, heard, and experienced things that didn’t bear repeating.

“Uh, thanks, Pinkie, but I’m not a fan of… this.”

Pinkie released him. “Okay, but I’m gonna break through that candy shell of yours!”

“Alright,” Twilight pulled Pinkie off of Tommy. “Remember how we talked about not hugging everypony we meet? You’re making him uncomfortable.” Pinkie let out a sigh but nodded in consent. “Okay, everypony, let’s move this over to my castle.”

“What a lovely idea, Darling,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, I haven’t had a good ruby sandwich in days,” Spike added.

“Simple motivation, but straight forward. I like it. Lead the way, Spike,” Tommy said.

As they walked through the quant town, the mares pointed out all the landmarks they came across; city hall, Sugarcube Corner, the spa, and several others. They had to take a detour, school was letting out soon and there were children to collect.

“Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo! C’mon now, we’re headin’ ta Twilight’s place!” Applejack called out to the three little fillies.

The three little, little ponies sprinted up the group. They froze three yards away and stared in confusion and mild horror at Tommy. They were shorter than the other girls, but they barely came up to this new being’s hip. The only reason they weren’t more frightened of him was because their respective sisters seemed to be okay with him being in close proximity.

“Uh… hey Appljack. Who’s, uh, who’s this?” the one with red hair, pink bow, and overalls asked.

“More like what is this?” a purple haired girl with torn jeans and a t-shirt showing three ponies in blue suits flying through the sky added.

“Scootaloo!” the third girl with pink and purple striped hair and an adorable white dress squeaked. “This… stallion? It may be different from us, but there’s no need to be rude.”

“Well said, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity complimented as her sister ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

Tommy squatted down next to Rarity and placed a hand on Sweetie Bell’s head. “Thank you for coming to my defense there, cutie. And you have a pretty good eye, I’m a male, but for my kind, a stallion is slang for a guy who… never mind. For humans, males are called men.” He turned to Scootaloo. “As for you, never stop being honest with the world. Life is a lot more fun that way.”

“Honesty is all well ‘n’ good, but uh little decorum never hurt nopony,” Applejack rebutted.

“Yeah, whatever,” Rainbow said as she somehow lounged on her back five feet off the ground. Tommy may not know much about wing, but he knew they shouldn’t work that way. “Tip-hoofing around everypony’s feelings will just make you tired and an introvert. I say you should be upfront with everypony.”

“Um, but-” Fluttershy started.

“I’m not saying you should be a jerk about it,” Rainbow defended as if she knew what Fluttershy was going to say, “just that you should say what you feel.”

“Couldn’t agree with you more, Skittles,” Tommy said.

The comment caused sufficient pause in Rainbow to cause her to fall to the ground. “Skittles? What the hay is Skittles?”

“Skittles are a type of candy where I’m from. They were so delicious that they managed to survive many serious economic downfalls. They’re colored similar to your hair.”

Rainbow picked herself back up off the ground and floated eye level with Tommy. With a scowl, she stated, “Just what are saying?! Are you calling me candy or something!?”

“Mmmm… Rainbow flavored candy,” Pinkie said as a shadow fell upon her face.

“Wrong,” Tommy plainly said as he looked down at the creepy, pink, creature. “I wasn’t saying anything about your personality, just the cool hair style you got goin’ on.”

“Alright, alright, everypony, let’s move this into the palace where there aren’t as many eyes,” Twilight looked around at all the ponies that had stopped to stare at the huddled group. Understandable considering their history.

*****

“Was it so wrong of me to drop this burden upon Twilight?” Celestia asked as she sipped at her tea.

“Twilight Sparkle is a very capable pony, Sister. She and her friends are fully able to not only get Tommy adapted to his surroundings, but also prevent him from causing any troubles,” Luna sipped at her own tea and looked sideways at Celestia over the rim, “which is what I know you’re most concerned with.”

Celestia didn’t respond, she simply drank from her cup, which she had actually already emptied.

*****

“…from a magic box from a magic tree you say?” Tommy Looked up at the high ceilings of Twilight’s palace. They were so high that they made even him feel small. “Sounds like bullshit to me, but what do I know.”

“Nope, all true,” Applejack said as she passed by Tommy and head to the library. No one had said that would be their meeting place, but she knew her friend very well.

“It was bizarre. The box just flew off the roots, planted itself in the ground, and this palace sprang forth from it. Good thing too, Spike and I needed a new place to live after Tyrek destroyed the Golden Oaks Library.”

Once inside the library, they all plopped themselves down on cushions and beanbags. When Tommy sat down, Pinkie climbed into his lap, looking like a child sitting with her father. Without even thinking about it, Tommy reached up started to scratch behind her big ears. Before long, Pinkie was humming and drifting in and out of consciousness.

“Well, you seem to have gotten used to Pinkie’s antics quickly,” Spike pointed out.

“Huh? Oh, look at that. Honesty didn’t even think about it. I’m used to kids doing things like this. I used to help out in the child care center at work and little kids would do stuff like this all the time.”

“Well, that seems nice,” Fluttershy commented. “Do you have any pets?”

“No. I mean, I always wanted one, but only the well-off could afford them.”

“Why’s that?”

“Too damn expensive. With the bad environment, food became harder to grow and therefore more expensive. Many families could barely afford to keep food on the table as it was, let alone feed a dog or cat. So no pets for me.”

“Oh, that’s so sad,” Fluttershy lowered her head in grief.

“It is, but we’re not here for sadness, we’re here to try to get to know Tommy and vice versa. So, can you tell us about your home, Tommy?” Twilight asked.

Tommy sighed and then proceeded to recap the same information he gave Celestia. He couldn’t help but notice the looks of horror spreading across their collective faces. To him, Earth’s decent into destruction at the hands of its own population was normal. He couldn’t even imagine how this must have sounded to someone who spent their whole lives in a utopian environment. Due to their sizes, he couldn’t help but think of them as children that will get nightmares from this, but they did ask him and he was an honest man.

“What about your world? How does a world filled with magic even work?” Tommy asked.

Twilight’s face lit up in excitement. “Ugh, you’ve done it now,” Rainbow take a nearby pillow and covered her head as she buried her face into her own cushion.

“Ooh~, I can’t believe I get to give a lecture to an alien visitor,” Twilight clapped and squeed. She then turned to a chalk board that Spike had wheeled into the room without being prompted. Tommy settled in and tried his best to not pass out.

*****

It had gotten late, they had eaten, and now the girls were getting ready for bed. They were apparently having something called a ‘sleep-over’. Tommy could hear giggles coming from behind the closed door to Twilight’s bedroom. Having nothing better to do, Tommy went back down to the library to help Spike clean up.

“So you’ve Twilight hatched you from an egg when she was just a little kid and you’ve been with her ever since?”

“Yep. She practically raised me herself.”

“So then… she’s, like, your mom… or something?”

“…I guess, though I think she prefers to imagine us as more siblings than mother and son.” Spike shivered and rubbed his shoulders. “Jeez, just thinking about that is making me feel… creepy.”

Tommy chuckled at Spike’s reaction and went back to re-shelving the books that Twilight had used as references, despite the fact that Tommy couldn’t read Equestrian. While he was doing that, one caught his eye. It was separate from the others, bigger, older, and, most importantly, under glass.

“Hey, Spike? What’s up with this book?”

“Huh? Oh, that one? That one’s a real head-scratcher. It’s believed to be written by Starswirl the Bearded, but nopony knows for sure. Whoever really wrote it, wrote it in some weird secret language or something. All that’s known for certain is that nopony’s been able to translate it in a thousand years.”

“Can I take a look at it?”

“No, nononono. Twilight will peel your skin off if anything happened to it.” Spike then reached for a book on the bottom shelf. “Here. This is a copy of it. They printed thousands of these so there’s no risk of her getting mad. Hay, she even has four more copies.”

“Thanks, Spike.”

Tommy went into the little spare bedroom and settled down onto the bed. He had turned off the main light giving crystal and turned on the small one on the table next to his bed. He was propped up against the headboard and picked up the book. The cover had a strange design of spirals and stars with that strange Equestrian language overlaid on top.

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here.” He opened it to the first page. “Huh? Weird.” Tommy began to read. “The people of this world know me by the name Starswirl the Bearded, but that’s not who I really am.”

Author's Note

For those wanting to know ho I imagine the ponies of this Equestria to look, I see them as the creations of Pia-sama. For example:

By the way, Rogue Diamond is an amazing fan-art comic book.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Oof!” Tommy’s lungs had been quickly relieved of their contents by the cute, bubbly, annoyingly gleeful, pink pony rudely bouncing upon his stomach.

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”

“Pinkie, some decorum, please~! Tommy may be brash but even he doesn’t deserve to be so rudely trounced upon,” Rarity scolded as she pulled on Pinkie’s elbow, though she was ultimately unable to move her.

“But he’s gonna miss breakfast! It’s the most important meal of the day!” Pinkie whined.

“While that may be true, one should never force somepony to do what they are not willing to.”

“Really?! But, we do it all the time!” Pinkie began to count on her fingers, “Discord was forced to be good! Flim and Flam were run out of town, twice! Iron Will had to abandon his payment from Fluttershy! Nightmare Moon-“

“Yes, yes. I see your point. Let me rephrase. Ponies who are not causing trouble should not be force to do things against their will.”

“When you’re done with your soapboxing, maybe you could get the fuck off of me,” Tommy growled.

“There is no need to be rude,” Rarity huffed.

“There sure as hell is. This little pink monster won’t stop jumping on me and I’m not even in a position to enjoy the act or view.”

Pinkie Pie giggled at Tommy, but Rarity was less than pleased. “Why… you… vulgar… rude… horrid… thing!”

“Hey,” Tommy said as he finally managed to roll onto his back and sat up with Pinkie still in his lap and he began to stroke her mane, “words hurt.”

Rarity was taken aback at Tommy’s comment and the, clearly, fake pout. She spun on her heels and flounced out of the room. Pinkie stopped her bouncing, having watched Rarity leave, and turned to Tommy with a pout of her own.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be so mean to Rarity. She’s really nice and one of my best friends. She doesn’t deserve to be made fun of.”

Tommy had never seen Pinkie like this, granted he hadn’t known her long, but the point remained valid. Seeing the normally lively and bouncy (especially in certain areas) girl look so sad hurt Tommy, and that was something he didn’t like. In prison, showing one’s emotions was showing one’s weaknesses.

“Yeah, alright. Hop on down and I’ll meet you in the chow hall.” Pinkie cocked her head to one side like a puppy hearing a weird noise. “You know, the dining room.”

“Oh yeah! I know the way!” Pinkie climbed up onto Tommy’s shoulders, one leg over each one, and pointed out the door. “Now, onward my faithful steed!”

“Steed? But you’re the equine here.”

“Huh? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Never mind. Let’s just see what kind swill they got on the line.” Tommy stepped out into the hallway and followed the directions given by the pink, party-prone pony posted upon him. While walking the halls, Rainbow Dash came up to them and floated alongside them in a lounging posture. “Hey, Skittles. Didn’t know wings worked upside-down like that. Pretty impressive.”

“Hmph, this is nothing. You should see the stuff me and the other Wondersbolts can pull off when we’re in synch.”

“Yeah! They’re awesome! But Dashie’s Sonic Rainboom is way awesomer!” Pinkie bragged.

“Hay yeah it is! It’s no wonder they fast tracked me through their training right onto the team.”

“If you say so.”

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Dash growled.

“Mea culpa, Skittles. No offense meant. What I meant was simply that since you can fly naturally, it’s no more special than a unicorn performing stage magic. Skill, practice and a lot of hard work would definitely be required, but any flyer could train for fancy flying, too. You should see the fliers of my world though. Now those people are incredible.”

“But you said there was no magic on your home, Tom-tom!” Pinkie said. “How could you have fliers?”

“Machines.” Both mares looked at him with a questioning expression.

“You mean like trains and stuff?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, but we had gotten past trains, like, two-hundred years ago. When I came here, we had super-sonic planes that could get you across the ocean in just a couple hours. Back when the economy was still strong, they used to have airshows where pilots would fly fighter jets in formations that left only a few inches between their wingtips. If they touched, they would almost certainly die in a horrible explosion. Those guys had some serious guts.”

“Okay, that does sound pretty cool,” Rainbow conceded. “But what’s a plane?”

“Isn’t that obvious, Dashie?” Pinkie answered. “It’s a flying machine!”

“Got it in one, ya little monster,” Tommy held up one hand, palm open. Pinkie smacked her own hand into it in a high five. Her hand only taking up about half of his.

“Yeah, okay, but then what’s a fighter jet?”

“A war machine,” Tommy responded as if it was nothing. His nonchalant attitude when responding caught Rainbow of guard so much that she fell to the floor.

Rainbow scrambled to her hooves just as Tommy was walking through the doors to the dining hall. “Wait a second! What do you mean by ‘war machine’? You can’t just say something like that and walk away like it’s nothing!” Her outburst had gotten the attention of everyone sitting around the big table inside the hall.

“What’s got you so confused?” Tommy asked as he plucked Pinkie from his shoulders and carefully set her on the floor. “War machine, a machine used for war.”

“What’re you two yappin’ about so early in tha mornin’?” Applejack demanded.

“And did you say something about a war machine? You mean something like catapults?” Twilight asked.

“Catapults?” Tommy laughed out loud as he pulled a seat out for himself that was normally reserved for if Celestia ever dropped by. “No one on Earth has used catapults for real war in centuries. Why hurl a stone a few hundred yards when you can wipe a city off the planet from the other side of that planet with the push of a button.”

The girls stared at Tommy flabbergasted. “H-how horrid,” Rarity said.

Tommy shrugged and held out his hands. “Earth is full of horrid people. Some of them manage to get in charge. I’m sure you all have some ponies like that here.”

“Yeah, but they don’t stay in power long, thanks to Princess Celestia,” Twilight answered.

“Lucky you,” Tommy soured a little at the mention of the dreaded Sun Princess. “We can’t all be fortunate enough to have actually benevolent leaders. Some of us get stuck with what we’re given.”

“That’s awful,” Fluttershy said. “How long has it been like that?”

“Since the very beginning. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Tommy sighed. “Enough of this depressing topic,” we waved as if dismissing an unappetizing meal. “What amusing adventures do you all have planned for today?” They all told him that they were going to go about their normal careers, none of which sounded very interesting, until Applejack mentioned that she would be spending most of her day inspecting and tending to her farm. “Really? Can I join you?”

“Ya’ll wanna join me? On my farm?” Tommy nodded. “No offense, Sugarcube, but why?”

“I’ve never seen a farm. I wanna know how they work.”

“Well, Ah can’t really see why not. If ya really want to, Ah guess that’s okay.”

“Cool. Should be an interesting day.”

“If ya say so,” Applejack said before taking a bite of her waffles with cinnamon apples.

*****

“C’mon, big boy. Move them tree trunks ya call legs ‘n’ catch up.”

“Shut… up… you… mean… pony,” Tommy panted.

Applejack chuckled. “Hoo~wee! Ya’ll need ta get out inta tha fresh air more. A colt your size should be able to rip uh mid-sized tree out uh the tha ground by its roots.”

Tommy flopped onto his butt and gulped for air. “Maybe if I were built like your brother over there,” Tommy pointed with a thumb over his shoulder at a musclebound, red-furred, country stallion toting a barrel of apples that had fallen off the trees over each shoulder as if they were papier mache.

Applejack chuckled again. “Like Ah said, fresh air ‘n’ hard work. Me ‘n’ Big Macintosh have been working here at Sweet Apple Acres since we were little foals.”

“Then why is he so bulky while you look like a fitness model?”

Applejack was stunned for a moment, but she recovered with a sly grin. “Oh-ho~. Are ya’ll getin’ sweet on little ol’ me?”

“Huh? No, no, nothing like that. Don’t get me wrong, you’re cute and all, but you’re far too child-size for me. I would need someone closer to my own size to not fell like a complete creeper.”

“Hmm… Ah s’pose that’s true. Nah, you’d need somepony bigger ta match up ta yur size.” Applejack got another sly grin. “Somepony like tha princesses.”

“Heh, yeah. Someone around their size would be good. But Ol’ Sunbutt worries me. She’s stupid powerful and goes insane whenever I mention this little blue girl I saw in the palace.”

“Oh, ya saw her did ya? Yeah, Princess Celestia is very protective of her, and ya’ll really need ta keep her a secret.” Applejack thought for a second. “Why’d ya call her Sunbutt anyway? Ah mean, Ah get the sun part. ‘N’ since we were talkin’ about the princesses, it was obvious who ya meant, but Ah still don’t get it.”

“Oh, that’s because of her tattoos.”

“Tattoos? What’re those?”

“What do you mean? Your brother’s got one on his shoulder.”

Applejack looked at Big Macintosh, who was headed toward the house, and spotted the green half apple on his shoulder. “That? That’s just his cutie mark. See?” Applejack lifted the hem of her top few inches confusing and concerning Tommy a little. “This here’s mine.” She pointed to three perfect red apples on her abdomen a little above her waist.

“Huh. Well Celestia’s is a sun.”

“Ya mean you’ve seen it?!”

Tommy smirked, “Kinda hard to miss a golden sun peeking out of some woman’s sexy undies.”

“Her undies?”

“Yep.” Tommy smacked the area where his outer thigh became the side of his buttock. “Right here. Tell you what, I wouldn’t mind seeing that sunrise again, that’s for sure.”

“Watch yer mouth,” Applejack warned. “There’s uh lot uh ponies, yours truly included, that wouldn’t take too kindly ta hearin’ anypony speak to callously ‘bout Princess Celestia.”

“Are you threatening me?” Tommy raised a single eyebrow.

Applejack shook her head. “No Ah ain’t. Ah don’t know how ya’ll treat mares, or whatever you call yer females, but here you’ll get along better if ya show ’em respect.”

Tommy stood shakily and forced himself to straighten up despite the petitions from his muscles. “Jackie, I hear your warning and will take it under advisement.”

“Jackie?” Applejack deadpanned. “My friends may call me A.J. but we ain’t there yet and nopony calls me ‘Jackie’. Call me that and I’ll use you to fertilize my apple trees.”

“Alright, that’s it. I’m heading out before I say too stupid for me own good.” He turned and walked down the dirt road toward town. “I’ll see you again soon, I hope,” Tommy waved. Applejack simply watched him leave before returning to her chores. She didn’t see him collapse in pain as soon as he turned the corner.

*****

After his dinner and long soak in the tub, Tommy settled himself into his bed. He was exhausted, but he was in too much pain to sleep. Instead, he pulled out the journal of Starswhirl the Bearded. He hadn’t gotten far into it the night before due to passing out and staining his pillow with drool.

“Let’s see… ah, here we go.”

I still don’t understand what how all this mag stuff happened. All I know for certain is that it all started centuries ago with a bang. Well, Earth shattering explosion might be more apt. After all, it was a meteorite that brought all this weird energy. As messed up as it was before, I sometimes miss the world I knew. I miss Earth.

I used to own a ranch, nothing too grand, but it was home. It had been passed down through my family for generations and I hoped to one day pass it on to my own children, but that dream will never happen. One, it was destroyed. Two, I never had any children. And three, since animals have gotten so smart, it would be too much like slavery to keep them penned up in cages, especially all the ponies we had.

Amongst the ponies he had were two horses, a mare and a stallion. We had hopes that we could breed them to help replenish the population that had been dwindling over the years. Equines of all kinds were all but extinct due to the global economic decline over the past few decades. With too few people being able to afford what is essentially an expensive dog you can ride, and even fewer being able to gamble on races, horse breeding fell off bringing the population with it.

Sadly, we couldn’t get enough buyers to continue paying the staff necessary to keep the breeding program running. We had to let them go. That fact weighed heavily on my parents. We wound up having to sell off a large portion of our livestock to support ourselves, then some of our land. This drove my parents into a deep depression, followed by an early grave. The depression combined with the strain of working the whole ranch with just three hands simply wore their bodies down.

Luckily, the land was purchased by the government instead of some industry. They said that the land was perfect for some experiment they were doing. They told me it would save the whole human race. Some big brains from DC explained that the fact that there were no trees on the flat grounds we used to use for grazing land were ideal. At the time I didn’t get it and I don’t think I’ll ever grasp it fully. Oh well. The money was good and my little ponies wouldn’t be harmed.

It may sound weird, but I really miss my old ponies. They may not have been the best of company, and they were a lot of work, but they were family. We had all kinds, too. There were a few Shetlands, Dulmans, some Kerry Bogs, et cetera. My favorites, however, were the two I always called horses. In truth though, they were Australian Riding ponies. Beautiful ones, too. The male we named Hannibal after the great general, Hannibal Barca. His mate we called Faust, for the legendary German legend about a scholar who sold his soul for the world’s knowledge. True the scholar was a man, but who cares, it’s a good name.

My parents always had a love for literature, which is why the Australians had such bizarre names. Heck, it’s why I chose such a strange name as my own pseudomamma. No, there’s no book with a character named Starswirl the Bearded that I know of, well, from before the meteor anyway. I chose the name Starswirl because it just sounded like something out of some kitschy novel, the beard part should be obvious enough to anyone who’s met me.

It’s been a very, very, long time since I’ve gone by my real name, I don’t think I can even remember it. After all, a human’s brain was not meant to store memories from ten millennia of living. I only remember Faust and Hannibal because they were with me for most of that time. Just a side effect of the meteor striking where it did. Namely, right between the ranch house and the barn, where Faust and Hannibal were in their stalls. It wreaked havoc across the planet (which I’ll get into later), but before it nearly wiped out every living thing, it took out my home.

There are nights I still lay awake thinking about my long lost ranch, family, and home. I’ll never forget my good old Canterlot Ranch.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Tommy had slept deep the night after working at Sweet Apple Acres. While he had gotten some reading done, it wasn’t as much as he would have liked, due to be exhausted, but what he did get through had proven to be interesting. Slowly, so as to nit cause himself any undue pain, Tommy climbed out of bed. Surprisingly, there was no pain.

“Huh. There’s no way this is normal. Maybe I should have the purple one do a scan on me and make sure I’m not actually dead.”

Tommy took a shower and brushed his teeth. He then put on the same clothes he had worn the day before, they were the only clothes he had after all. He would have to come up some way to get more if he was going to be here for a while. He could always wash them in the sink, a trick he had learned in prison to keep other inmates from stealing his socks or even his underwear. The guards, whenever he complained of the thefts, would simply laugh and say, “What do you know. I guess there are criminals in prison.” They were just a laugh and a half. Tommy couldn’t stop himself from muttering ‘assholes’ under his breath.

Eventually, he found himself in the kitchen, Twilight preferred to in the kitchen instead of the normal dining hall due to its size. She had told him that she felt tiny in the cavernous halls and the dining hall was no different. To him, it was not too dissimilar to eating meals within hi old cell. Twilight was already sitting at the table with Spike. Both were enjoying pancakes, but Twilight had a fruit salad on the side and Spike had a bowl of gemstones.

“Hey, Twilight. Mornin’ Spike,” Tommy greeted as he pulled out a seat for himself and loaded a plate.

“Good morning, Tommy,” Twilight said. Spike could only mumble a reply due to a full mouth.

“Twilight, you’re, like, uber-brain pony, right?”

Twilight dropped her fork and Spike snorted and started to try to hack up the gemstones he was choking on. “Just what the hay do you mean by that?”

“What? I didn’t mean anything negative. It’s just, I figured that since you take so much pride in being Sunbutt’s student, wear a schoolgirl outfit, and you spend all your free time in the library, you had to be some kind of super-brain. What’s wrong with that?

“Nothing,” Twilight huffed. “At least as far I can tell. Someponies still like to make fun of me for always having my nose in a book. I still don’t know you well enough to tell if or when you’re being mean. And for the sake of friendship, I’m choosing to ignore you calling Celestia ‘Sunbutt’. No one knows why Celestia and Luna have their cutie marks in such a private place and very few even know where that place is. I only know because I saw the edge of it while sharing a swimming pool with Princess Celestia as a foal. A word of warning; Celestia can be fun loving and playful, but she has her limits. Keep the location of her cutie mark to yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s too bad though.”

“What’s too bad?”

“That an ass that perfect is being kept hidden from the world.”

It took a while for the stars to clear from his vision, but when they did he saw a very angry Twilight and a dragon trying to hold back his laughter. “Celestia is not some cube of sugar for you to drool over,” Twilight practically growled. “No mare, especially the Princesses, deserve to be treated like that.”

Tommy peeled a half-eaten pancake from his cheek and shoved it into his mouth. “That may be so, but remember, I’m not used to mares. Women on my world were often objectified and many seemed to enjoy it. Also, don’t forget, I’ve been in a prison for a while. It’s basically a giant locker room filled with jocks and creeps. Worse yet, no women. Well, except for the guards, and you didn’t dare to hit on them. Either way, it’s goin’ to take me time to change, if I even bother to try. You’ll have to be patient or be rid of me. I prefer the former.”

“Fine,” Twilight crossed her arms with a huff. “But if you don’t make some kind of effort, then nopony else will either.”

Tommy raised a hand, “Message received loud and clear. I will try to keep my asshole-ishness in check.”

Twilight buried her face in her hand while Spike chuckled away. “Will you be starting to try anytime soon?”

At this point, the door to the dining room opened revealing one Starlight Glimmer wearing only a long tee and white cotton panties with striped socks that matched her hair colors. With little more than a mumbled ‘hey’, she sat and poured a mug of coffee and loaded a plate. Tommy looked her up and down and turned to Twilight who was watching him with a sense of dread.

“I think I’ll start after breakfast.”

Twilight’s head dropped like a stone and bounced off the table. “Super.” Twilight sighed heavily.

“How is this,” Tommy indicated Starlight, “my fault? Besides, you all are way too small for me. If you were humans, you’d be the size of a ten year old. Though the boobs make it weird. Like some perv’s fantasy. I would need someone around my own height, though the only ones I’ve seen that match are Luna and Celestia.”

“Mmm, plus Celestia’s boobs are huge.”

“Starlight!?” Twilight stood so fast, her chair toppled backward while Spike laughed enough to fall out of his own.

“What? They are. I don’t think it’s exactly a national secret.”

“It has nothing to do with secrets, it’s simply not appropriate to discuss anypony’s… body parts. Especially the princess’s. Also, would you please get dressed before you come down for meals?”

“Okay, I suppose that’s reasonable.”

“Thank you. Now, Tommy, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Huh?”

“You seemed like you had something on your mind earlier. When you were calling me ‘uber-brain pony’.”

Starlight giggled. Tommy replied, “Oh, right. Can you do a scan on me or something?”

“I can, but why?”

“I think something’s off. I worked my butt off at the farm yesterday, could barely make it back here, and yet I don’t feel any pain this morning. I’m thinking it might be some kind of nerve damage or something.”

“Alright, we’ll take care of it after we’re done here.”

“Thanks.”

*****

“Well, I don’t see anything wrong with you. Physically at least,” Twilight said as she was monitoring her scientific equipment in her laboratory while Tommy was laying on the observation table stripped of all but his underwear.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tommy asked with concern.

“It means that you have no excuse for being the way you are,” Spike explained from his cushion and pile of comics.

“Though these are some slightly irregular results,” Starlight added while she looked over the results.

“True, though nothing that should cause any concerns,” Twilight said. “Still, I’ll send a copy of these scans to Celestia since she wanted to be kept in the loop on you.”

“What, is she afraid I’ll turn on you all and risk being shredded by your magic just to get my jollies? Or does she think I’m some monster in disguise?”

“No, nothing like that. She’s just concerned about your health and well-being, same as she is with all her citizens.”

“Uh-huh,” Tommy replied with a heavy helping of sarcasm while he climbed off the table and began to get dressed. “Well, as long as my health is good, you can tell the almighty sun-goddess whatever you want. As for me, I’m gonna head back out to the farm to see if Applejack will let me help out some more today. All that hard labor is better for building up the body than any of that exercise equipment in the yard.”

“Huh? When did we get exercise equipment and why is it in the yard?” Starlight asked.

“No, no. The rec yard at the prison.” Tommy sat to tie his shoes. “When you have a few thousand people locked up in a complex a little smaller than the palace, routine recreation helps to keep them calm.”

“Did you just say a few thousand?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Just how many humans were on your planet?” Starlight questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know exactly, something like twenty billion. There were more, but widespread starvation caused by overpopulation led to constant wars for resources, thus depleting the numbers and the countries of the world decided to put a limit on just how many children one could have. A lot of people were against it and tried to have multiple children, but that all stopped when governments started to mandate vasectomies for every man after his first kid was born.

“What’s a… va-sect-to-me?” Spike asked, carefully trying out each syllable.

Tommy opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted by Twilight. “Stop! I know he looks old enough, but he’s still a baby by dragon standards.”

Spike looked sideways at Twilight with aggravation written all over his face. “Don’t worry, buddy. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know whenever Twilight’s not around.”

Spike gave him a thumbs up while Starlight giggled. Twilight, face in palm, said, “Please stop corrupting him.”

“No promises,” Tommy called over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

*****

“Well, Ah gotta say, ya’ll did uh lot better than yesterday. Shoot, Ah didn’t think you’d be able to even get outa bed this mornin’ let alone show up asking for anther go,” Applejack complimented Tommy while they were putting away the tools they had been using throughout the day.

“To be honest, I was expecting to need to have to eat a liquid diet for a few days after leaving here yesterday, but I feel great.” Tommy stretched, feeling a couple vertebrae pop back into place, relieving a sore spot that had been building over the past couple hours. “Hell, I even had Twilight give me a full once-over to make sure everything was working right. She said I was good enough.”

“And ya weren’t nearly as annoyin’ as ya were yesterday.”

“Yeah, I’m not going to apologize for being myself, but I didn’t mean to piss you off. I would like to come back again to help out around here if you’d let me.”

“Not that Ah don’t appreciate the help, but why’d ya want to put yerself through that?”

“Back in my world, an orchard like this is incredibly rare. I never got to run around in an open field, or climb a tree, or even swing on a rope swing like you sister was doing when I came over. I just want to experience something I never got the chance to in my world.” Tommy then flexed his arms, “Not to mention I feel so much stronger than I ever have.”

Applejack chuckled, “Well, Ah always appreciate the help, but ya’ll know Ah can’t afford ta pay you more than uh few bits. It don’t feel right havin’ ya do all this work fer nothin’.”

“Hey, it’s fine with me. I mean, I don’t have a home to pay for and I bet Celestia is helping to foot the bill. Just give me a few of these apples and we’ll call it square.”

“If ya say so,” Applejack plied with a smile. She walked into the barn and came out a few minutes later with a bucket full of apples. “Here ya go. Hope you enjoy ‘em.”

Tommy took the bucket, surprised at how light it felt, and plucked one from the top. Taking a big bite out it, he had to slurp the juices before they trailed down his chin. After swallowing, he wiped his mouth and said, “My god, that’s the best fruit I’ve ever tasted. These things would easily fetch ten bucks a piece back home.”

“Really?” Applejack paused, realizing she had no frame of reference for the prices of items in a world she’s never been to. “That’s good, right?”

“Oh yeah. A normal apple would only cost about eight bucks a pound, but those always taste… off. When the real things died out, they had to use cloning technology to try to bring them back. I never got to taste the real thing, but if they were anything like these, their loss was a great sin upon society.”

“The loss of even uh single apple tree is more’n uh sin, it’s an unforgivable travesty.” Applejack clenched her fists and her jaw.

Tommy looked up at the sun and judged the time by how low it was in the sky, then realized he couldn’t. He decided to cover his brief stupidity, “Well, it looks like it’s getting late, so I think I should be going.”

“Alright, Ah’ll see ya around then. Oh, an’ feel free ta call me AJ from now on.”

“Cool, thanks AJ.” Tommy lifted his apple bucket, “I’ll make sure to bring this back to you tomorrow.”

The two waved goodbye to each other and Tommy made his way back to Twilight’s palace.

*****

A couple years after the meteorite struck, things started to… change. At first, things were great. The atmosphere got cleaner, trees started to grow bigger, stronger, healthier, and faster. Foods were more nutritious, plentiful, and resistant to pests, making chemical additives unnecessary. Even the health of humans was improving. It was starting to look like that meteor was a god-send, and it only cost us one human life.

Sadly, that illusion didn’t last too long. Somehow, every human on Earth became sterile. That’s right, no more babies. People were healthier and living longer, but no matter what was tried, no one could get pregnant. They even tried to clone humans, which had been banned decades ago, but to no avail. They even tried to splice animal DNA into our own, since animals were having no trouble breeding (even some species that had been thought to be extinct were coming back), but that didn’t work either. Within a century, humans were all but extinct. It may have been the first time in history that there were no wars between the nations as they were all trying to work together to save mankind.

Stranger still, my little ponies seemed to be immortal, as did I. The ponies that were out in the field at the time of impact were living up to a hundred years, but my Australians were not aging. Weirder still, they were all getting smarter. All the animals were, but the ponies were starting to understand speech, and more than simple commands, too.

Then, evolution took hold. What should have taken millennia, or even eons, happened in just a few centuries. By year two-hundred, the ponies were walking upright and using rudimentary language. By year three-hundred, they had developed hands, agriculture, and their own societies. Sadly, they also started to split.

Evolution had done a lot more than simply make all my ponies smarter, healthier, and even sapient. The ponies started to physically change as well. Aside from hands and upright posture, they grew into three different races. Some sprouted wings, while others got horns, and the rest simply got uber-strong. I decided to name these races after the legends they resembled. Winged ponies became pegasi, and the ones with horns became unicorns. I didn’t know what to call the other, so I simply called them earth ponies, since the seemed so adept at agriculture and were grounded.

Hannibal and Faust also changed. They grew both wings and horns as well as getting super strength. I didn’t know what to call them. After some carefully thinking, I decided to on something that would show that they represented all the races; all-icorns.

Of course, the bizarre pony races doesn’t even come close to what was showing up all over the world. I had decided long ago to travel and see what was happening away from the ranch. Hannibal and Faust came with me, they said that they wanted to keep me safe. I was grateful to them for that, as I wasn’t nearly as strong as them nor were my instincts anywhere near as honed as theirs. More than that though, I really liked the company. There’s only so many books left to read after a few centuries.

Within just a few days of travelling, it had become apparent that without humans, the planet was doing just fine. Cities had crumbled and roads had turned to dust. Strangely, the railroads seemed to be fine. It really made finding our way much easier. What wasn’t easier is what we found there.

It seems as though without humans, the world decided to fill the holes left behind by their absence. The forms these… replacements took seemed to, once again, take on traits of legendary creatures. The first time we came across what I could only call a griffon was terrifying. The griffons had not yet progressed as far as the ponies had. There was nothing resembling a society, only large nests with rooves, and no farms or ranches. Instead, they tried to eat us. On the bright side, we did learn that Hannibal and Faust’s wings weren’t just for show.

I remember wishing that we had a better way to defend ourselves.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Tommy has been enjoying his new life in Equestria for a few days now. Each day he was getting stronger, thanks to his working on the farm with Applejack, and getting a more impressive physique. Strangely, his body didn’t reflect his actual strength. His body was that of a professional athlete, while his abilities were more on par with one of the many earth ponies around Ponyville, not the Apples, but he was closing the gap.

Before his daily run to Sweet Apple Acres, yes, run, he would have breakfast with Twilight, Spike, and Starlight. Thankfully, Starlight had started to put on more clothes at these times. Unfortunately, her idea of more clothes was to simply put a pair of small boxer shorts over her panties, which was something Tommy had always found more sexy somehow. However, due to their size difference, it also made him feel super creepy. He would say something about it, but it was far too much fun to tease Twilight every morning.

The ponies of the town had quickly gotten used to seeing his towering figure around and no longer galloped off in a panic. They not only stopped hiding their foals from him and let them talk to him occasionally. That was thanks in large to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The trio had been accepting of him from the very beginning, largely thanks to something they kept referring to as the ‘Zecora incident’.

He had met Apple Bloom on the farm and she introduced him to her friends when he plucked their kite from a tree. Since then, anytime the trio met him, they insisted he play with them or help them help other foals get their cutie marks. It was a new sensation for Tommy. The world he left behind was an extremely untrusting one. No one let their children out of their sight and certainly never let a stranger play with them. Sadly, the humans’ fears were not always without merit.

Tommy was missing Earth a lot less than he thought he would.

“Tommy!” three feminine voices cheered out. They were followed by a small male, “Good day, Mister Tommy!”

“Oh, hey girls, and… Pipsqueak, right?” Tommy responded.

“That’s right, sir.”

“Good. So, what’s up, guys?”

“We’re trying to help Pip get his cutie mark, but we’ve tried just about everything we can think of,” Sweetie Belle explained.

“I’m starting to think I’ll never get my cutie mark,” Pipsqueak whined with his thick accent.

“Don’t give up, Pip!” Scootaloo cheered.

Tommy reached down and picked the small colt up and sat him on his shoulder. “That’s right. You never truly lose as long as you keep trying. Besides, you’re having fun, aren’t you?”

Pipsqueak nodded, “Mmhmm.”

“Would it cheer you up if I threw Scootaloo?” Before anyone could get out more than a ‘huh’, Tommy had grabbed Scootaloo and tossed her straight up into the air. They all shaded their eyes to block the sun while watching the screaming pegasus filly tumble through her accent. “Hehe, do you think she’ll figure out how to fly before I have to catch her?”

“Catch her!” they all screamed.

“Relax, I was gonna.” Tommy casually held his arms out just in time to catch the still screaming Scootaloo. “You can stop now, I gotchu.”

Scootaloo stopped and opened her eyes. She looked around and calmed herself. She looked into Tommy’s face and said, “Again! Do it again!”

*****

“Hey, Tommy. What’re you up to?”

“Hey, Dash,” Tommy replied without looking at her. “I’m just practicing my juggling.”

“Juggling? But you don’t have any balls.”

“And how would you know?”

Rainbow blushed at the comment. “Shut up!”

“Hang on.” He outstretched his arms and caught a giggling Apple Bloom, whom he set on the ground.

“Huh? Apple Bloom? Where’d she come from?” Rainbow looked up into the sky and spotted the others with her incredible eyesight. “What are they doing up there?!”

“Um, having fun,” Tommy answered as he caught Pipsqueak.

“You can’t just throw foals around like toys! Wait, how can you throw foals around like toys?”

“Don’t know. Working on the farm…” Sweetie Belle came down, laughing, “...must be a better workout than I thought.”

“After a week? There’s no way you could build up that much that quickly,” Rainbow took off and snatched Scootaloo out of the air.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Scootaloo greeted between her giggles.

“Hey, kiddo. You okay?”

“Yeah! We’re having tons of fun.”

“Good. How about you and your friends run along while I talk to Tommy.”

“Aww… okay.” Scootaloo and the other foals trotted off, laughing loudly.

Rainbow hovered in front of Tommy. “Alright, spill it! Twilight says you’re not a monster or anything, but that’s not true is it!” Rainbow jabbed Tommy in the chest with her finger, feeling no give at all, pushed herself backward a few inches. “I know we ponies don’t know anything about hoomins, or whatever you call yourself, but I know you weren’t this strong when you got here.”

“Like I said, working on the farm is doing me a world of good. Look,” he reached over his head, grabbed his collar and slipped off his shirt in one fluid movement. “Even in the prison I never saw anyone get this jacked this quick. I bet nobody would ever even think about trying to make me pick up the soap if I were ever back in there.”

Rainbow looked upon Tommy’s bare chest. He was clearly strong, but he wasn’t as built as Big Mac. If he were a pony, Rainbow would have found the sight more appealing, but he was too foreign and way too tall for her tastes.

Not to mention too masculine.

“Wait, soap? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, just an old legend about how some guys would make other guys… you know what, probably best you didn’t know,” Tommy slipped his shirt back on. “Let’s just say I wouldn’t have any problems with bullies.”

“O-okay. Hey, quit changing the subject! How’d you get so strong so quick?”

“Dunno,” Tommy shrugged.

“Don’t give me that! You were tossing foals like they were hoofballs. Big Mac once dragged a house and even he doesn’t have enough control to throw something straight up enough to be able to catch them without moving.”

“He needs more practice, I Guess.”

“Shut up! The last time I saw anyone get this strong this fast was Tirek, and he nearly took down everypony in Equestria. There’s no way I’m gonna let someone threaten my home, my country, or my friends again,” Rainbow growled, raising her fists.

“And if I were to say I’m no threat, would you believe me?”

“Of course not!”

Tommy turned and began to walk away. “Then why should I say anything?”

A gust of wind blasted past him a Rainbow, once again, floated before Tommy, spread eagle, blocking his path. “We’re not done here!”

“Look, I don’t want to waste my time arguing with bigots, so either accept I’m not against you, or get the hell away from me.” Tommy’s glare left no question as to what would happen if she pushed him too far.

Rainbow was trying her best not to let her feelings show. “I’m no bigot, I’m just protecting my-“

A swift swat at her feet from Tommy caused Rainbow to spin like a pinwheel only to be caught, upside down, by the human. He set the dizzy pony on the ground and continued on his way. “Then leave me alone.”

A few minutes later, Tommy ran into another of the famous Element Bearers. Or to be more precise, he was assaulted by one.

“Stop right there!”

“Huh? Oh, hey there, Rarity. Something wrong?”

The pearly unicorn stomped her way into Tommy’s path. “What do you think you are doing? You are a guest of Equestria and a representative of your race.”

“If you say so.”

“So why are trudging through Ponyville dressed like some vagabond?”

“Huh?” Tommy pulled at his shirt and appraised his attire. “It’s all I’ve got. If you prefer, I could just wear what I arrived in.”

“Oh, and what was that?”

Tommy leaned in closer and whispered in a drawn out voice, “Nothing~.”

Rarity stepped back in disgust. “Ugh, please remember that you are in public and that you are talking to a lady.”

“Alright. Then you should remember that you are talking to a fellow hu-… per-… uh, free-thinking adult.”

Rarity brought herself to her full height, which was barely above Tommy’s naval, and straightened her dress. “Fair enough. Still, I cannot allow you to continue to parading around in such rags. Allow me to make you something more suitable.”

“Only if you’re willing to do it for free. I haven’t got any bits to pay you with.”

“Normally, I would offer to give a set of clothes to somepony in need without payment, but as you are so crass, that will not be the case. Instead, you will work off the cost by assisting me. Spike is often very useful, but he lacks the necessary strength to move some of the larger stones.

“Stones? Alright, sounds fair.” Tommy flexed his are in front of himself. “I could always use more exercise.”

“Very well. Meet with me here in the morning.”

“Tommy!” Sweetie Bell’s voice rang out over the crowd. “Oh, Rarity!”

“Sweetie Bell, hey,” Tommy said as he swept the filly up in his arms. “You done playing with your friends?”

“Yeah. We couldn’t get Pip his cutie mark though.”

“That just means you guys will have to try again later. That should be fun, right?”

“Yeah. Oh, speaking of fun…”

“Alright, but just once.”

Tommy adjusted his grip on Sweetie Bell and, once again, threw her into the air. He was watching her flight carefully when he felt something hitting him in the stomach. Daring to take his eyes off Sweetie for just a few seconds, he looked down to see Rarity punching him in the stomach.

“What are you doing?”

“You monster! How dare you do that to my sister! I’ll get revenge on you, so help me, Celestia!”

“Hang on a second,” Tommy interrupted her to, once again catch a giggling Sweetie Bell. “There you go, Sweetie. Now, run along with your sister and be good.”

“Okay. See you later, Tommy.”

“Bye, Sweetie. Bye~, Rarity.”

“Um, goodbye, Tommy.”

Tommy made it back to the castle in time for dinner. He sat in his normal seat and quietly ate his meal. He thought back on the day’s events. He got along well with Applejack and her brother, the foals were a bunch of fun, Spike was cool, but the rest were a different story. Twilight seemed to tolerate him and Starlight didn’t appear to acknowledge him more than what was needed, Fluttershy was rarely seen and Pinkie was always off in the background helping other ponies except him. The big question was what was he going to do about Rainbow and Rarity?

Rarity at least seemed to realize that she had jumped to a conclusion that he would have done anything to hurt a child. He liked kids, not as much as those guys in isolation, but still. Besides, the children here were the size of human toddlers, and instincts would make him protect them, not harm them. Though he would admit that throwing them straight up into the air was not entirely safe.

Then there’s Rainbow Dash. Who the hell did she think she was? Just because he got way strong freaky quick and had better control than others in the town somehow made him some kind of a monster? The more he thought about it, the more pissed off he got.

“Tommy! Snap out of it!” Spike pinched Tommy’s arm to bring him back the Equus. “We’ve been trying to get your attention for forever.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“What were you thinking about?” Starlight asked.

“Just some things that happened today. Nothing worth talking about. Anyway, I need to get up early tomorrow to help Rarity in the morning. She said she’d make me a new set of clothes if I did that.

“What!? But that’s my job,” Spike whined.

“Relax, Spike. I’m not gonna take your girlfriend. I’m just doing her a favor in return for one from her. She’s all yours when that’s done.” Tommy stood from the table. “Alright, guys. I’m going to bad. See ya tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Tommy,” Twilight replied. Once he was one from the room, she turned to the others, “You guys saw that too, right?”

“Yeah,” Starlight answered. “There’s definitely something bothering him.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait ‘til he’s ready to talk about it,” Spike added.

“What are you talking about? We need to talk to him now. Something’s bothering him and we need to help him,” Twilight said.

“For any of your other friends, I’d agree,” Starlight answered, “but this isn’t Applejack or Fluttershy we’re talking about here. Tommy came from a much harsher world than Equestria and we need to keep that in mind.”

Twilight looked to the door. “I guess you’re right.”

*****

Magic. Honest to God magic. I don’t know how or why, but magic is a real thing now. One day, no magic, the next day, magic. It came as a bit of a shock when I saw a unicorn pluck an apple with little more than a thought. Somehow, she had figured out how to use telekinesis.

I watched her carefully and tried to figure out how it worked. The best I could come up with was that somehow her horn had transformed her will into reality. I didn’t have a horn of my own, but I still tried to help Hannibal and Faust learn how to do it themselves. Faust was a quick study, but Hannibal did catch on eventually. That poor squirrel didn’t deserve what happened to it.

I figured that if telekinesis was a real thing, then maybe some other forms of magic could exist too. I tried to use magic myself over and over, but couldn’t do it. I was able to coach Faust and Hannibal in using such magic as defensive shields, orbs of light, offensive blasts of energy, and even pyro kinesis. I hadn’t given up though. I still had hopes that I would one day be able to use magic myself. At least I had an understanding of how to use and even create magic.

The pegasus ponies, that I’ve decided that the plural would be pegasi, have learned to fly. Some of them have some pretty extreme speed too. They also seemed to be prone to competition. The pegasi liked to race and fight. Stranger still, they seemed to have the strange ability to not only tread upon clouds, but also shape them into different structures and even manipulate the weather. Unfortunately, they seemed to enjoy tormenting the ponies on the ground by flooding their gardens or ruining their picnics.

The earth ponies, strength and all, seemed to be the most peaceful. They all seemed to be happy to simply grow their crops and tend to the forests around their homes. In fact, they were so good at their crop growing that they were able to share them with the two other races. Better yet, thanks to a little planning from the unicorns who were more educated, they were able to store the water dumped on them by the pegasi in reservoirs that they would later use to water their fields.

Hannibal, Faust, and I watched from a distance. We were concerned that our size and appearance might have some influence over their development. Instead, we would continue or travels. There were many lands to see and life was short. Well, it was short. Ponies everywhere seemed to follow along the same template. But that didn’t always hold true. Ones near dragon land learned to build their homes from stone and make offerings of gemstones to appease their neighbors. One group even learned how to change their appearance, though it seemed to leave them drained of all energy.

Actually, thanks to studying their methods, I was able to teach Hannibal and Faust to hide their features enough to blend in, if only their wings or horns. Maybe I’ll be able to do the thing someday.

We returned home to where Canterlot Ranch used to be and found a magnificent palace instead. Not huge, just beautifully crafted. It clearly contained an observatory, evidenced by a telescope through the ceiling, high stone walls, and elegant towers. From what we could see, unicorns were in charge, pegasi were their defenders, and earth ponies the serfs. Sadly, this hierarchy also brought about bigotry, with unicorns on top of the totem and earth ponies being the base. This caste system seemed to work out for them, though not always in favor of the lower class.

Strangely, every day at sunrise and sunset, the unicorns would all gather together and stare into the sun or moon. It was as if they were raising and lowering it themselves. Also, there hadn’t been a winter in many, many months, perhaps even a year or more. If Earth still acts like it did before the meteorite strike, which I will simply call the Event from now on, nature will compensate brutally.

Addition: It seems I was right. Winter hit the land and it hit with a vengeance. Crops died out, supplies ran low, and ponies grew desperate. I saw this as an opportunity and seized upon it. I had Faust and Hannibal speak with the leaders of the three tribes in secret, each bringing only their most trusted advisors. They explained how to better plan for such events in the future. Rotating crops and seasons, forming a single government instead of several smaller communities, and even sharing their wisdom with other lands in the hopes of fostering peace and prosperity.

They were reluctant at first, but with encouragement from their advisers, they agreed. They decided, on their own and unexpectedly, to name Hannibal and Faust their new king and queen. When they asked from a name for their new land, Faust excused herself from the table and sought my advice. I could only think of one name, Equestria.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tommy followed behind Rarity with a pair of shovels, a pickaxe, and a sledgehammer slung over his shoulder. They were accompanied by Spike, who was hauling a large wagon carrying a cooler. Spike had enlisted himself into Rarity’s service this morning and the trio were making their way out to Rarity’s favored hunting grounds.

“So why are we going all the way out here? Can’t you just buy your stones from a dealer?” Tommy asked as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Oh, I could, but I would not be able to turn much of a profit that way, Darling.”

“Yeah,” Spike added. “Some of those gem dealers like to charge an arm and a claw for stones that wouldn’t even qualify for costume jewelry.”

“Well said, Spike,” Rarity said.

After a few more minutes of walking, they came upon a cave that was lined with crystals of all kinds. While the two locals seemed to simply take this view as mundane, Tommy was metaphorically floored. The walls of stone were splattered with shining stones, some the size of his fist. It seemed like something out of a kid’s fantasy story book.

“Whoa,” Tommy said as he looked around.

“I know, right. Don’t let the looks fool you though,” Spike told him as he looked around, “a lot of these are practically worthless. Not even worth the effort to pick them for the calories.”

“That is why I am here. While I may not have a rocterate degree like our good friend Maud, I am certainly qualified enough to pick out suitable stones.” Rarity’s horn lit up under a hard hat with a big blue bow on it, which was just adorable, in her own words. “Now come along, we don’t have time to waste.”

Tommy hefted his tools once more and followed the unicorn and dragon inside the cave. “Whatever you say, Princess.”

“I shall choose to take that as a term of endearment and not an insult.”

“Good, because I wasn’t trying to be a prick. Now, just tell where to swing the pick and I’ll swing away. Until then,” Tommy lowered himself to the floor of the cave and folded his hands behind his head as he leaned against the wall, “I’ll be right here.”

For a few hours, Rarity and Spike loaded up their wagon with small and medium sized gems. Every so often, they had to rouse Tommy so he could tackle larger stones before he went back to his rest. Tommy couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of Spike scrounging a crystal or two at a time for a quick snack. Luckily for him, Tommy’s services were not needed often, thanks to Spike’s desire to be of use to Rarity. Tommy thought it was a bit of a shame that his love was clearly one-sided and how lucky she was that that love wasn’t crossing over into lust. He may be small, but he was still a dragon, and who knew just what he was capable of.

As Tommy caught a few more Z’s, the unicorn and baby dragon moved further into the cavern. Spike turned to Rarity and asked, “How much further in do you plan on going?”

“Don’t worry your cute, scaly head, Spikey Wikey,” she assured with a playful rub of his head. “I only want to go a little bit more, to make sure that I don’t miss anything truly special.”

“Alright,” Spike looked around nervously, “but just remember where we are.”

“As if I could ever forget that day.” Rarity shuddered at the memory. “Fortunately, I believe that they won’t forget that day either. I’m sure we’re perfectly safe.”

Both froze in their tracks, a shiver running down their spines, at the single word growled into their ears. “Nope.”

*****

Tommy was awoken from his nap by the sounds of a prissy pony in distress. “Alright, alright, I’m up. Where do you want me to dig?”

“Get your filthy paws off me!” Rarity’s voice was far off, but the whine was unmistakable.

“You mutts are gonna be sorry when I get loose,” that was clearly Spike.

“Quiet, scaly one! You not getting loose. We keep you and pony forever this time.” Tommy didn’t recognize that voice, but it surely wasn’t friendly. Nor was it intelligent. Downside to that was that dumb could be very dangerous.

“I guess I gotta save the day or something,” Tommy groaned as he stood up. He picked up his pickaxe and shovel. “Hmm… no, these won’t do.” Tommy dropped the pick then snapped the shovel’s handle over his knee. He took a couple practice swings. “There we go.”

Tommy followed the hoofprints in along the cave floor as they went deeper in. After a while, he found several tunnels that appeared to have been dug out by hand. The prints in the dirt made it seem as though there was an ambush. The owners of the hooves and the claws, clearly Rarity and Spike, were on the losing end. The good news was that the drag marks were much easier to follow than simple prints. The sounds of whining was helpful, but the echoes made it harder to track than one would think.

“The harness is too tight~. It’s going to chafe~,” Tommy could hear coming from up ahead.

“Ha! Whine all you want, pony. We are ready this time,” came the reply from the unknown.

“Earplugs?!” Spike yelled. “You wore earplugs just so you could foalnap Rarity so she could find gems for you?”

“Yes~. We learn from before. Now whiney pony can complain all she want and we not let her go.”

“Yeah,” this voice sounded considerably dumber but no less dangerous. “Pony find gems, scaly dig, we get gems.”

“Alright, I’ve heard enough.” Tommy quickened his pace.

Meanwhile, on Rarity’s side of the cave, she had given up on her whining and hoof stomping. It had worked last time, but it seemed as if these diamond dogs had learned from their past failure. Also, last time, Spike had been able to run and get help. That also seemed to be unlikely since he was trapped here with her.

She was pulling the overloaded cart, attached to her by rusty chains and a nasty leather harness. She was thankful for her pony strength, as the cart was not exactly well-kept. She felt the worst for young Spike. She could handle the gem finding and the cart towing, but he was being run ragged with his digging one gem after another. Worse, it didn’t seem to matter to the dogs how small the gem was, they were going to make him dig it up.

“Don’t worry, Spike. I’ll think of some way to get us out of this.”

“Don’t worry about me, Rarity. I can keep this up for as long as it takes.”

Rarity smiled down at the young drake, knowing full well that he was putting on a brave face for her sake. She had to think of something. There had to be a way for them to get out. Of course, she could always simple uncouple herself from the cart, grab Spike, and gallop down the tunnel, hoping the whole way that she didn’t run into one of the guard dogs or simply choose the wrong tunnel. She could try to use her magic to restrain the dogs or even fight back, but she was nowhere near Twilight’s level, her magic had always been used for graceful, delicate techniques, not fighting.

If it were her by herself, she could refuse their orders, mislead them to buy time for a rescue, or simply work as slow as possible. There were so many tactics that could be possible if it weren’t for one major factor; Spike. Spike was here, whether she like it or not, and she could not allow any harm to come to the young colt. She could put up with a lot if it was only her at risk, but not this adorable, helpful, little guy that sometimes followed her like a puppy. Of course, she knew why but there was no way she could reciprocate those feelings, he was simply too young. No, if she was going to get out of this, with Spike, she was going to have to be smart and play along. For now

“Don’t worry, Spike, somepony will be along to help us.”

“Yeah, Tommy’s still out there.”

“Pbbt, Tommy? That barbarian would not lift a finger to help you or I. He is probably still sleeping back at the mouth of the cave.”

“Maybe, but it wouldn’t be because he doesn’t care. He’s not a bad guy, Rarity.”

“Yes, and Prince Blueblood was always the stallion he is today,” Rarity mocked.

Spike was about to respond, when he heard a commotion coming from down a nearby tunnel. If he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn it was someone barking orders at the diamond dogs. Weirder than that, they didn’t seem to be barking back.

“You hear that?” he asked.

Rarity’s ears perked up and rotated in an effort to pick up any noise. She froze, “Yes. What is that?”

“Hey! I said sit!” the voice echoed. “Good, uh, boy?”

“No, it couldn’t be,” Rarity was dumbfounded.

“That sounds like Tommy,” Spike looked up at her with hope in his eyes.

“Alright, lead me to them, boy.” Acknowledging barks reverberated off the walls.

The dogs surrounding Rarity and Spike looked at each other in confusion. Someone that wasn’t their pack leader was giving orders to their brethren, and those orders were being obeyed.

“You two,” their leader growled, “guard the door. You three, guard the prisoners.” The one with the red vest, who Rarity assumed was the leader, was preparing everyone for an attack. “Kill the thing.”

“No, don’t!” Rarity and Spike yelled.

“Quiet! Sick’em, dogs!”

To the surprise of everyone in the cavern, one of the dogs from down the tunnel came prancing joyfully into the chamber. He was followed by Tommy’s voice.

“Is that where they are, boy? Did you find’em?” There was a happy bark as a response. “Ooh, who’s a good boy? Yes you are. Now,” Tommy reached down and pick up a piece of wood that had fallen off a support beam, and threw it back down the tunnel, “go get it, boy.”

They all watched in shocked silence as the vicious, armored diamond dog got down on all fours and galloped after the stick that had just been thrown by this strange, tall creature. Tommy watched for a moment, a smile on his face, before he turned around and addressed the stunned onlookers.

“Now, what seems to be the problem here?”

The pack leader growled, “What you do to my dog?!”

“Nothing,” Tommy smirked as the guard dog from before came bounding in with the stick in his mouth, which Tommy threw again. “Just treated him like a cute little doggy,” he finished with a bit of a baby speak voice.

The pack leader growled again. Then he froze at a swishing noise coming from all around the room. He looked around and stared in confusion and anger, his dogs were wagging their tails at this strange creature that invaded his cave.

“Stop that!” he yelled at the nearest dog, which whimpered and lowered its head.

“So,” Tommy started as he scratched behind the ear of a nearby dog, who’s tail was going insane, “what are you doing with my friends here?”

“They are our slaves. Now you are too.”

“Hey!” Tommy barked with an accusatory finger pointed at the leader. “No! That’s bad. You’re being a bad dog.”

The leader whimpered and felt his tail tuck itself in for a second. Then he realized what was happening, and felt rage swell into his brain. He snarled and lunged for Tommy. But, much to the surprise of the leader, all the dogs present, and especially Rarity and Spike, Tommy simply side-stepped and grabbed the leader’s tail. Then, even more surprising, Tommy grabbed ahold of the back of his neck with a vicelike grip and forced him to the cave floor.

“Let go!”

“Nah-ah. Not until you calm down and act like a good boy.”

“No! Stop him, dogs!”

Tommy looked up for a moment, preparing to defend himself, or use the leader as a shield if needed, but his concern was unnecessary. All the dogs could do was stand there, frozen in place at the sight of the vicious leader being forced into the dirt with little effort. Tommy turned his attention back to his opponent.

“They’re not going to help you, pup. A fight for dominance is not a team sport. Now, you are going to release my friends and never bother them again.”

“No! They are my slaves! Let go!”

“Bad! That’s a very bag dog!” Tommy roared, pressing down for emphasis. Tommy let go of the tail and swatted the leader on the rump. “Let them go!”

“I said no!”

Again, Tommy swatted him, but with more force put behind the blow. “You will let them go. Now!” Tommy leaned in and whispered into the leader’s ear. “If you don’t, I will keep spanking you until your pack here kicks you out. If you agree now, and let them keep half the gems they dug up, I’ll let you make it look like it was your idea.”

The leader growled and then consented, quietly, “Fine. Let me go.”

Tommy did so, he slowly released the pressure he was applying. “Good boy.”

The two stood took several steps away from each other. Tommy announced, almost robotically, “My friends and I will be leaving now. Also, we will be taking all the gems they dug up.”

“No!” the pack leader barked. “You will leave! We keep gems!”

“Alright, how ‘bout half?”

“*Growl* Fine! Go! Now!”

And they did. Tommy led Rarity and Spike out of the cavern, the latter clinging closely to the former. Tommy was pulling the cart so that the two could rest after their trial. The pony and drake could still not believe what was happening. They were even more flabbergasted by the fact that several of the guard dogs were seemingly begging for Tommy to scratch under their chins or behind their ears. The whole thing was surreal.

Once out of the cave, they turned toward Ponyville. They walked in silence for several minutes, trying to take in what happened. Finally, Rarity turned up to look into Tommy’s smiling face.

“What… just… happened?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“Dude, she means, how the hay did you do that?” Spike clarified. “You just waltzed into the diamond dogs’ cave, treated them like pets, and just walked back out again.”

“Yes, exactly. Thank you, Spike.” Rarity ran her hand through her mane, tugging a twig from her curls. “How did you simply walk in, take over the pack, then walk back out with all these gems?”

“Ah, that,” Tommy plucked another twig from her mane. “Firstly, I’m sure if I hadn’t shown up, then Spike here would have protected you just fine, Princess. He may be small, but he is a tough little dragon,” Tommy rubbed Spike’s head, which ruined the image of his puffed-out chest. “But to answer your question, it’s simply because of who I am.”

“Okay, you must give us more to work with than that, darling.”

“Alrighty. Let me tell you, back in my time, we had cars that could drive themselves, fly if you had the money. We had robots that could clean your entire house and mow the yard. We even had entire farms that grew crops indoors because they plants could no longer survive the environment that our own carelessness had created. Hundreds of animal species had disappeared from the face of the Earth, never to be seen again. It had even gotten to the point that we thought our only way out was to find a new home planet, hence my arrival here.” Tommy adjusted his grip on the cart. “Still, one thing never changes.”

“What’s that,” Rarity asked.

“A dog is man’s best friend.”

They continued on to the Carousel Boutique, where Rarity took her new gem haul inside and promised to get to work on new clothing for Tommy. Spike and the human went back to the castle.

“You know,” Tommy started, Spike looking up at him, “if you want Rarity, you should just go for it. You never know, she might say yes.”

Spike was silent for a moment, stunned at what he had just been told. He shook himself out of it. “What if she says no?”

“I’ll admit, it’d be weird between you two for a while and it would definitely hurt, but you would no longer have to wonder. Besides, if she does say know, then you can move on to someone else. Didn’t you say something about some dragoness, Ash or something?”

“Ember. And I don’t think that would work out either.”

“Again, you never know unless you try.”

They finished their journey in silence. Tommy held the door open for Spike. As he walked by, he had a thought about their earlier conversation.

‘Why did Tommy phrase it that way? Before, he had always said back on his world, but not this time. He said back in my time. Why I wonder.’

*****

I couldn’t believe it, I was able to perform magic. I had been traveling around the country for the past few decades while Hannibal and Faust managed the new government. I had been forced to hide my form behind a hood or a fake beard so as not to startle the people… ponies at having an unknown, oversized creature wandering into their towns.

I had been able to document hundreds of different spells, though I could only actually use a dozen at best. Several of those were defensive spells that I was then able to teach to other unicorns. I focused my combative teachings to those villages that were on or near the borders, due to the rising tensions between Equestria and her neighbors. While there had been peace for many years, a century or two, tensions were rising and ponies are not built for combat.

With any luck, they wouldn’t need to test their skills.

After nearly a century by myself, practicing, teaching, and learning, I decided it was time to return home to my family. I traveled back to the heart of Equestria, finding ponies thriving everywhere I looked. There were citizens celebrating their king and queen as beloved family heads instead of rulers of the country. Faust and Hannibal were looked to for wisdom and love, not fear and instructions. I couldn’t be happier or prouder.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate.

Faust and Hannibal were parents.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“Those are some mighty fine duds ya got there, Tommy,” Applejack complimented as she loaded the last of the apple barrels into the cart. “Not bad fer only takin’ uh week ta make.”

“Yeah, and they breathe very well,” Tommy lifted an arm and sniffed at his armpit. “Look, I don’t even stink.”

Applejack chuckled at his antics. “She did kinda owe ya fer getting’ her an’ Spike outta that mess.”

“Nah, they woulda figured out some way to save themselves. Or you and your friends would have realized something was up and come in, guns blazing.”

“Well Ah don’t know what uh gun is or why they’d be on fire, but your right. Still, thank ya fer savin’ my friends.”

“Happy to do it. Besides, they were just dogs. Dogs love humans.”

Applejack glanced done at Winona, who had practically been living in his shadow. “Hmm, Ah guess. Ah know Apple Bloom an’ her little friends love ya.”

“Hey, they’re smart kids who’re fun to be around, of course they’d love me.” Tommy smirked and looked up at the small cloud that had been following them around all day. “Though it seems that not all your friends feel the same way.”

Applejack looked up at the tall man in confusion before following his gaze. The small clump of rainbow colored hairs sticking over the side of the cloud answered her question. “*Sigh* Rainbow Dash! Get down here!”

“Nopony up here but us clouds!” the cloud called back.

“Rainbow!” Applejack growled.

A blue head poked over the side of the little cloud. “Ugh, fine.” Rainbow rolled off the cloud’s fluffy surface and freefalls toward the ground, opening her wings just in time to prevent any injury. She stood to her full height and crossed her arms with a snort.

“Now just were ya’ll doing up there?” Applejack asked her shorter friend.

“Nothing,” was the reply.

“C’mon, Dash. You know better than ta lie ta me.”

“It’s okay,” Tommy said. “She was just making sure you were safe from the big, bad human.”

“What? No, I’m-” Rainbow started, but stopped when she saw the sneer Tommy was shooting her. “Fine! I was. I still don’t trust him,” she blurted out with another huff.

“What? Why not?” Applejack asked.

“Because she’s smart,” Tommy answered for her.

“Huh?” both mares asked.

“Look, you guys don’t know me from Adam. I, an unknown species, showed up out of nowhere, ticked off the princess after seeing her butt,” Applejack growled, “accidentally, and was sent to your doorstep. I’m bigger than anyone around here, have an admittedly unsavory past, and have packed on muscle faster than it should be possible. Nothing about that is natural and therefore suspect. I don’t blame her one bit for wanting to keep an eye on me.”

Rainbow was about to agree, but she didn’t want to give Tommy the satisfaction. Applejack, however, had to say something. “But ya ain’t given us any reason to not trust ya.”

“Do you fully trust Discord?”

“Well,… no… Ah-Ah guess not.”

“So what makes me so special?”

“Ah… Ah guess it’s ‘cause ya’ll been so helpful,” Applejack answered.

“There’s an old saying where I’m from, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he did not exist. Bad people can do nice things, Jackie.”

“Hey! Ah told you-”

“So, Skittles, how about you and I settle this thing between us?”

Rainbow darted to hover directly in front of Tommy’s face. “How?”

“You like to race right? I mean, speed is your talent? How ‘bout a race?”

Rainbow burst out into a fit of guffaws. “*Bahahah* You and me? You can’t even fly! How are you supposed to beat me?”

“Hey, you never know. We humans can be surprising. So, I win, you get to wear one of Rarity’s creations for a week.”

“And when I win?” Rainbow asked.

“I’ll treat you to anything at Sugar Cube Corner.” Tommy answered.

“Five anythings I want.”

Tommy considered it for a moment. “Four.”

“Fine.” Rainbow held out her hand and Tommy shook it. “Where’s the finish line?”

“Why not Sugar Cube Corner? You’re so confident you’re going to win, why not just cut out the middle man?”

“Uh, Tommy, can I speak to ya?” Applejack asked.

“Sure.” The two walked off a few yards. “What do you need?”

“Are ya sure ‘bout this? Rainbow is the fastest flier in Equestria. Even on the ground, she’s darn quick. Trust me.”

“I do trust you, AJ. Now shush. I know what I’m doin’.”

Applejack looked at him skeptically. “If ya say so.”

“Good enough. Ready, Skittles?”

Rainbow got into position next to Tommy. “Yeah, I’m ready,” she answered with a smirk.

Tommy dropped into a starting stance. “Call it out, AJ.”

Applejack called out, “Three. Two. One. Go!”

Both racers took off in a cloud of dust. Well, that’s what appeared to have happened. When the dust settled, Rainbow Dash was already rounding the first turn. However, Tommy was still there, jogging in place.

“What the hay are ya doin’?” Applejack asked.

“Nothing. I’m just mucking with someone.”

“Ya’ll know when she figures out what ya’ll were doin’, she’s gonna be awful miffed.”

“So? She doesn’t like me anyway, why should I care if she’s happy? Besides, I couldn’t have beaten her, no matter how hard I tried. Even if I did, I couldn’t have bought her anything. No money.” Tommy turned his pockets out as evidence.

“Yeah, ‘bout that, Ah feel like Ah oughta be payin’ ya fer all the work ya’ve been puttin’ in around the farm here.”

“Nothin’ doin’, Jackie.”

“STOP-”

“I’ve been helping you because I wanted the experience. Then it was for these awesome muscles I’ve been buildin’ here,” Tommy flexed his arms causing Applejack to focus on them before quickly forcing herself to look to the trees behind him. “Besides all that, I just like doing it. It’s good, honest work that one can feel good about completing.”

Applejack looked upon the face of her friend, knowing exactly what he meant. “Yeah, I hear ya. Still.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin purse. “Here. There should be at least enough to pay fer Rainbow’s treats. It’s the least Ah could do after everything ya’ll’ve done for me here.”

Tommy caught the purse as she tossed it to him. He then tossed the purse up and caught it again. “Thank you, this is very kind of you, Jac-OW!” Tommy dropped to the ground, shielding his newly injured shin. “What the fuck!?”

“Ah told ya to stop callin’ me that.” Applejack turned and sashayed back up to her home. “An’ don’t cuss in my home!”

Some time later, Tommy limped into the cartoonish Sugar Cube Corner. He was greeted by the bubbly, poofy, pink, party pony, Pinkie Pie. She made herself known by wrapping her arms around his hips and squeezed him for all he was worth. While he could feel his hips about to dislocate themselves, he didn’t want her to stop either, she was too fun. Besides, if she were at least two feet taller, she’d be pretty damn sexy. Instead, she looked like a child dressing up like some bar wench.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Tommy grunted. “How’s tricks?”

She giggled. “I haven’t played any tricks on anypony today! *Gasp* Do you want to pull some pranks with me sometime?”

“Now that, sounds like a lot of fun, Pinks, but it’ll have to wait. Has Rainbow Dash come in here today?”

“Yeah! She bought five cakes and said ‘the giant slowpoke was paying!’ I guess she meant you!”

“Yep.” Tommy pulled the bag of bits that Applejack have given him. “I hope this is enough, ‘cause it’s all I got.”

Pinkie picked took the bag from him and hefted it. “Eh, close enough! You can make up the rest by helping me out!”

“Sounds fair. What do you need done?”

“Oh, nothing much! Just a few things here and there!” Tommy had a bad feeling about the way she was smiling. Pinkie almost always smiled, but this particular smile was… unnerving.

“O-kay.”

Tommy spent the next hour and a half ‘helping’ in the kitchen. Many of his tasks had been to simply life heavy sacks of flour, though Pinkie seemed more than capable of doing so herself. He scrubbed more than his fair share of pans and cookie sheets. He even helped with the Cake twins, who he found beyond adorable and only slightly bigger than pocket sized. Their sizes came in handy when Pound was trying to fly away and Pumpkin was walking through walls.

“Oaky dokey, closing time!” Pinkie announced as she bounced into the wash room where Tommy was busy scrubbing his last pie tin.

“Thank God. I think I preferred the apple farm to scrubbing and mopping,” he complained as he inspected his pruned hands and stained clothes. “Aw man, Rarity just gave me these, too.”

“Oh, that’s too bad! But I’m sure Twilight has a spell that can get you all sparkly again!”

“Let’s hope so. In the meantime, I just hope I don’t run into Rarity. She would not be happy,” Tommy said the last sentence over his shoulder as he ducked through the doorway, cupcake in hand.

Finally, after walking through the busy, closing marketplace, Tommy made it to the castle. He made sure to wipe his shoes off on the welcome mat, ignoring the powder that floated down from his dirty outfit. After entering, he made his way through the halls to the library, Twilight’s favorite room. Once inside, he wished he was still within the trees of Sweet Apple Acres.

Spike was there, re-shelving books, as he normally does. Twilight was with Starlight, studying some seriously thick book, as they often do. But they weren’t the issue, it was the other pony. Rarity was also there, reading a book that seemed to specialize in clothing of the past. When the door closed, everyone present looked up, most of them returning to their previous activity. All but one.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Rarity shrieked. “That outfit was one of my proudest creations!”

Tommy looked down upon his brand new rags. “Yeah, sorry about that. It got a bit tattered at the farm. Sor-”

He was cut short by a magical grip taking hold of him. As his skin went could, he was pressed against the wall by Rarity, who was storming her way over to him. “A bit tattered? A BIT TATTERED! You’ve ruined it!”

“Please,” he begged. His words went unheard.

“Do you think I made those clothes for you simply to destroy them? Do you think I enjoy having my hard work disregarded?”

“Please.”

“Um, Rarity?” Twilight tried.

“I can’t believe you would care so little for my creation!”

“Rarity?”

“Please.”

“If you think I’m going to fix this for you, you’ve got another think coming, I’ll tell you that much!”

“Rarity!”

“Not now, darling. I’m busy,” Rarity said over her shoulder before returning to her query. “You are going to work off what you will owe me for repairing this outfit,” she growled as she ripped his shirt off.

Tommy’s skin went from a simple cold sweat to clammy. His eyes were shut tight as he whimpered quietly. He was too busy shutting the world out to hear the gasps from the others in the room. For her part, Rarity was too occupied inspecting the shirt to notice them herself.

“Honestly. How can one pony do so much damage to an article of clothing in one day is beyond me.”

“RARITY!” they all screamed, finally getting her attention.

“What?”

Spike pointed at Tommy. “Look. You’re torturing him.”

Rarity turned back to the human, who had completely shut out everything around him and was trembling, fighting his own bladder. The look on face horrified her. Rarity was not at home with hurting anyone, let alone tormenting them.

She immediately canceled her magic, dropping Tommy to the floor where he curled up into a fetal position, clutching his knees tightly to his chest. She watched him, dumbfounded at how such a big, strong, and seemingly fearless creature could be brought to his proverbial knees by something as simple as binding him with her admittedly weak telekinesis. Yet, here he was. The one who had effortlessly walked into a diamond dog cave and took over with nothing more than a stick and a whistle, was on the floor, rocking himself like a child in a thunderstorm.

“To… Tommy?” she said, reaching out to him with a well-manicured hand.

He didn’t say anything. He looked at the hand for all of a half-second before he jumped to his feet and ran out of the room. He didn’t even look over his shoulder. He simply put as much distance between him and the threat as he could as quickly as possible. The others could only watch, slack jawed.

“What… what just happened?” Starlight asked, breaking the silence.

“Princess Luna warned me about this,” Twilight answered. “Apparently, Princess Celestia did something similar and nearly gave him a heart attack.”

“Why?” Spike asked.

“She wasn’t sure. But it wasn’t simply because of the magic, though he said his world didn’t have any. It had to be something psychological, post-traumatic maybe. Either way, restricting his movements seems to have a… negative effect.”

“Ya think,” Starlight and Spike said, simultaneously.

“I didn’t know,” Rarity said weakly.

“I know that,” Twilight told her, “and I’m pretty sure he does too.” Twilight looked to the door, “I think the best thing to do right now is to just give him some space.”

*****

Hannibal and Faust’s little girls were adorable. For little girls, they were very smart. Also, I could tell that they were very powerful. The oldest one, Solis, was very outgoing and friendly. The younger, Lunae Lumen, was shy but very eager to please her parents. I’m a little concerned that Lunae may too anxious for approval. Despite their differences, they were both very good to each other. Solis was protective of her sister, and Lunae was always happy to have her at her little tea parties.

Thankfully, I had learned some time ago to enchant items of clothing to disguise the wearer. I could always cast a spell upon myself to change my appearance to that of a stallion, but that much magic is exhausting. Instead, I enchanted my robe and false beard. With either one on, I become Starswirl the Bearded. This disguise will allow me to interact with anypony without raising any alarms or fuss.

Hannibal and Faust were the only ones who knew it was me underneath. They also seemed happy to have me back, as there seemed to be some social unrest with the neighboring griffin kingdom. Hopefully, something will bring back peace before it gets any worse. Until then, I would be watching over the girls, teaching them what I know, and how to be good rulers, like their parents.

I also heard some rumors from around the nation about some very interesting ponies with some very interesting skills. I hope I get to meet them someday soon. They sound like they could help in a tight situation.

*****

A knock on his door roused Tommy from his reading. “Go. Away,” he answered.

“Tommy,” Twilight called through the heavy wooden door. “Tommy, we need to talk about what just happened.”

“No, we don’t. Leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that. You’re my friend and you’re hurting. Friends don’t leave their friends to wallow in pain by themselves.”

“Friends also don’t force their friends to do something they don’t want to.”

“Let me try,” Starlight’s voice came through the door. A moment later, the door was gone and a teacup was hanging from one of the hinges. “There we are. Now, what the hay happened?”

Tommy closed the Starswirl’s journal and set it on the bedside table. He then sat up and turned his still bare back to the mares. “I think I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Twilight tried again, “well, if you do, it might help Rarity feel better. ‘Cause right now, Spike is walking her home. She was so shaken up but what just went on in the library that she was in near hysterics. Princess Luna said her sister was in similar condition when the same thing happened in the palace. Now, please, talk to us.”

Tommy stood from the bed in one quick motion. He stormed out of the room, without looking at or touching the ponies who wisely gave him room. They listened to his footsteps echoing down the crystal hallway before the door was roughly wrenched open and slammed shut.

“Alright,” Starlight said with a sigh. “That didn’t work.”

Twilight could only look on in stunned silence.

Tommy stomped through the town, ignoring ponies waving and saying hello. He had no destination in mind, which was made evident by his walking in circles through the quaint village. He wasn’t mad at anyone. He was only mad at the world.

What happened to his Earth? That shitty, mean, unforgiving, dying world he called home. He may not have liked it, but he knew it. He knew when someone was going to try to hurt him. He knew how to get around or away from those people. He knew what how to fight off threats or minimize their damage.

This Equestria though… this place was too much. He didn’t know when one of these weird pony-people was going to try something on him again. He couldn’t stand this magic crap and he damn sure couldn’t stand these girls trying to pry into his life. What business was it of theirs anyway.

Tommy was aware that someone had been talking at him for a while now.

“…and if you touched her,” Rainbow warned, “I’m gonna beat you black and blue.”

Tommy stopped and looked up into her scowling rose colored eyes. “What?”

“What did you do to Rarity?” she growled.

Tommy had had enough. With a speed that would make Rainbow jealous, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. He thought about how small she was and easily he could break her arm without trying. Instead, he decided to set things straight.

“Firstly, I didn’t touch her. Second, don’t ever threaten me unless your ready to act on it. Third, leave me the fuck alone!” He let her go without doing any real damage other than a light bruise.

Rainbow rubbed her wrist as she floated away from Tommy. She wanted to be out of his reach, but she’d be damned is she was going to let him have the last word.

“What the hay is your problem, jerk?!”

“My problem is people won’t just leave me be!”

“Hey, it’s not our fault you become a big baby anytime somepony uses magic on you!”

Tommy was done. They all wanted to know so bad? Fine, he’d tell them.

“It’s not magic that bothers me,” came a growl of his own. “I have suffered enough torture in my life to deserve not liking being held against my will.”

“W-what?”

To answer, Tommy slapped at his own torso with an open hand. The action caused the skin there to turn red. Almost his entire chest and stomach were now red, with the exception of six markings. Rainbow didn’t recognize them, but she assumed they were some kind of writing. The marks had clearly been carved into his flesh and she doubted he had wanted it done.

The first two were similar in shape, some kind a snake with two angles, the second one on its side. The third was a simple vertical line. The fourth was one was two lines, one vertical, the second laid across the top. The fifth was shaped like a basic crescent moon. Lastly, there was two vertical lines bisected by horizontal one. It wasn’t clear what it meant, but it meant something serious.

“W-what is that?”

“This,” Tommy pointed to the marks, “is what they do to you in prison when to try to help the wrong person.”

“Why?”

“There’s a saying in prison,” Tommy answered, “snitches get stitches. All I did was tell a guard to stay home on a certain day so that he wouldn’t get his ass skinned like some of the other inmates had planned to do. They didn’t like him because he had interrupted their gambling ring. He had done his job, so they were going to kill him for it. Instead, I slipped him a little note, he called in sick, his kids still had a father. For my pains, I got this,” he pointed at his scars. “It took them a year to carve this into my hide. They did it one line at a time. They cut me, give me time to heal, time to think it was over, then they’d grab me, hold me down, do it again. And they were smart about it too. I never saw their faces, they never came at the same time or the same place, and they made damn sure never to hit me were it showed. The worst part about the whole thing was that they would hold me down so I couldn’t even fight back.”

Rainbow stared at the fading redness and disappearing scars. “Sweet Celestia,” she whispered with a hand covering her mouth.

“There, now you know. Now, can you please piss off?”

Rainbow couldn’t move. She could only stare at the horror that was inscribed before her. How could anyone do such a thing to one of their own? Tommy clapped his hands in front of her face one time. It was enough to bring her around.

“Huh, wha?”

“Can I please have some peace?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” she said as she floated out of his way.

“Good,” he said as he walked past her and continued his aimless journey.

Rainbow watched him go as she slowly came to the ground and dropped to her knees. It was some time before she was able to pick herself back up again.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Tommy stomped through the fields surrounding Ponyville after his encounter with Rainbow Dash. He didn’t know or care where he was going. Even if he wasn’t fuming, nearly to the point of seeing red, he would still not really know where he was headed. Instead, all he could think about was how angry he was.

“For people with such a hard-on for friendship, they really fuckin’ suck at it,” he growled to himself.

Without paying attention to where he was going, Tommy skirted around the Everfree Forrest. As he grumbled to himself, he wandered into a clearing. He didn’t notice the birds, squirrels, frogs, or, more importantly, the grizzly bear he walked into.

“Unh, sorry ‘bout that. I wasn’t-” Tommy started to apologize, but froze in terror.

For its part, the bear stared into Tommy’s eyes. It leaned down and sniffed his face before stretching out its huge arms. Tommy could only watch in pants wetting horror as those huge arms quickly wrapped themselves around his considerably smaller body and… hugged him. This was the third time since He was brought to this bizarre time period that he had been carelessly and effortlessly immobilized. Worse, he had only just retained his bladder control both times.

Tommy could only squeeze his eyes shut and await his painful demise.

…and wait…

…and wait was taking so long?!

Tommy couldn’t help but wonder why this bear hadn’t tried to ingest him yet. Instead, this giant teddy seemed to be humming softly to himself while cradling the human. In fact, the huge grizzly was even rocking gently. For his part, Tommy couldn’t help but feel… safer. After the day he had had, Tommy’s energy was starting to drain and this fluffy fur rug and the sun’s gentle warmth was lulling him into a slumber.

While falling into the grips of Morpheus, Tommy could feel the pressures and ire of the day slipping away. The anger brought on by Rainbow’s accusations, soothed. The hatred towards Rarity’s bondage play, forgotten. His displeasure with Celestia, dulled. Who knew that a bear hug could make you happy to just be alive again?

It was some time before he realized someone was talking to him. In fact, if it wasn’t for the smell of fresh cookies, he might not have been rousted before morning. He slowly opened his eyes to find a familiar butter colored pegasus holding a tray of cookies and patiently waiting with a look of concern on her face.

“I’m so sorry to disturb you, but it seems like you could use some moral support,” Fluttershy said.

“And just what makes you say that?” Tommy asked from within his fur shroud. At this point, he wasn’t entirely certain he hadn’t been killed by the bear, or, at the very least, that his mind hadn’t tuned out the real world and was providing the sight of a yellow mini-angel instead of his entrails being flung across the grass.

“Well, Hairy is really good at knowing when somepony is feeling down and his hugs are great for making you feel better. He told me you just wandered up the pathway looking sad. Do you want to talk about it?”

Tommy looked up at the bear’s face to see a friendly looking grin rather than a toothy snarl that he had expected. It seemed that not only was this bear soft and warm, but also very kind and considerate. This was just one more thing that he would have to get used to.

Tommy reluctantly released himself from the bear’s hug and stood before Fluttershy. He reached down and plucked a cookie from the tray. “Thank you, but no.”

“But, you’ll feel better.”

“That may be true, but I’m not a sharer.”

“How come?”

Her soft eyes did make it tempting to tell her everything. “Look, where I’m from, any sign of weakness could get you killed, or make you simply wish you had been. I know things are different now, but it’ll be a while before I’m ready to allow myself to be vulnerable.” He reached down, plucked another cookie, and walked over to a birdhouse, peering into the small hole at the tiny chicks and their proud mother.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy seemed to shiver at the thought. “How horrible. It sounds like the way the dragons live. I could never stand to live like that.”

Tommy looked down at the pony-human hybrid with pity in his eyes. She was right, this tiny, furry, stacked, ball of sweetness would not have survived in his time. She would have been dragged behind the nearest bush, bathroom stall, or dumpster in an alley, and been defiled. Relentlessly. Repeatedly. Ruthlessly. Worse yet, she would have received no sympathy from anyone and the ones responsible would have felt nothing but pleasure from the release, and impact from the high fives. Tommy nearly wretched at the mental image of this kind girl in tattered rags, soiled in unmentionable… things, and broken in ways too innumerable to count.

“With any luck, you’ll never have to test that theory.” Tommy hid his discomfort at more images by munching on another cookie. “Anyway, what are you up to? I mean, from the looks of things, you’re building your own menagerie here.”

“Oh, no,” she replied, placing a hand on her chest in exasperation. “Menageries are cruel. I mean, zoos care for the critters and protect them, but menageries only collect them for a single pony to enjoy. These critters are free to come and go as they please. I only provide them with a safe place to stay and any sort of help I can offer.” For emphasis, she held out an arm and a cardinal alighted upon her hand. She brought it in and nuzzled the colorful creature.

Tommy watched and listened to what she had said. “Wow. That’s incredible, Fluttershy. I wish people in my time were more like you. Maybe it wouldn’t have been in such bad shape.”

Fluttershy blushed at his compliment. “Th-thank you, but I’m nothing special. I still need help and there are other ponies out there that care for critters just as much as I do.”

“Well, I got nothing else going on right now, and I could use something to take my mind off things. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Fluttershy was all too happy to have the help. Along with help from Harry, Tommy was able to shift around large bags of feed and firewood. He got treated to all manner of animals chattering at him with no idea what they were trying to tell him, but at least they didn’t seem upset with him. And best of all, Fluttershy kept supplying him with fresh cookies and rather delicious iced tea. It was all making Tommy wish she wasn’t child sized and so very innocent. Sadly, all these ponies were so childlike that Tommy was starting to wonder how they hadn’t died out from lack of procreation.

Shaking the thought from his mind, Tommy stood after emptying the last bag of feed into its hopper. “Fluttershy, thanks for letting me do this stuff. It really helped me get out of my own head.”

The buttery Pegasus looked at Tommy with a cocked head. “What do you mean? What happened?”

Tommy stood to his full height, closed his eyes, and turned his face to the sky, letting the rays from the sun warm it. He stood like that for a few seconds before looking down at the winged pony girl. “Nothing you need to worry about. Rarity didn’t know what was going to happen to me when she held me down like that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pissed off about it and kinda think she’s a bitch, but that’s between her and me.”

“Wait, she held you down? How? She’s so much smaller than you.” Fluttershy gasped, “She didn’t use magic on you, did she?!”

Tommy nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, just like Celestia did. At least Marshmallow didn’t suspend me a hundred feet in the air over the palace.” Tommy finally noticed Fluttershy’s expression. “Hey, something wrong?”

Fluttershy groaned sourly, “Every pony knows you shouldn’t hold somepony against their will, especially with magic. It’s just not right. It can cause all kinds of problems if you’re not careful. A pony can get hurt.”

Under his breath, Tommy said, “You’re telling me,” as his hand covered his scar.

“What was that?”

“Hmm? Nothing, forget it. Listen, thanks again. Harry,” he high-fived the brown bear as he headed for the pathway back to town, “don’t be a stranger, buddy.” Reluctantly, Tommy left the small paradise and headed back for town. Sunset wasn’t far off and he was getting tired.

After several minutes of nearly knowing the correct path, Tommy finally made it back to the castle. However, since he was so focused on watching the sky for any rainbow themed nuisances, he didn’t notice the pair of guards in his path until they literally blocked it by crossing their halberds in front of the doorway. The two large stallions with gunmetal armor, vampire fangs, bat wings, and seriously dark sunglasses standing on either side of the door seemed to not only be no-nonsense, but also not eager to give Tommy the time of day.

Tommy took a few steps back from the door and stared at it for a moment. He leaned over and said, “Uh, open sesame?” The guards neither responded nor moved. “C’mon, asshole, let me in. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I need a beer. Since one of these things seem to not exist here, I can at least get a sandwich and a nap.” The guards repeated their earlier statement.

Losing his patience but not wanting to test how sharp the edges of their weapons might be, Tommy stepped back into the street. “Hey, Spike! Get down here and tell these guys to fuck off!”

He watched a shadow appear in the window, but it wasn’t draconic. The shadow soon disappeared and the front door opened a few moments later. Without even looking over their shoulders, both guards withdrew their halberds to make way for their princess. “While I may not use such crass language, I can at least tell my personal guard to step aside.” She looked over her shoulder and dipped her chin, the guards stepped further to the sides of the doorway to make way for the large human.

“Thanks for that, Luna.” A growl came from the guard on the left. “Oh, bite me, Dracula. I ain’t dissing your Night Queen. It’s the other one that sucks.”

Tommy followed Luna inside, not seeing the tiny smirk she wore. He did notice the sway of her hips, though. He may not have a particular attraction to her, but she was the first adult sized female he’d seen in a while. Plus, she was very female.

Luna led Tommy into the throne room, where Twilight, Spike, and Rarity sat around the table while Rainbow hovered above it. Tommy’s head began to swim a little. On one hand, Tommy felt anger at the unicorn for holding him against his will, going so far as to make him beg for release. On the other, he felt terror at what she might do to him. That fear was nothing new to him, and was not one he could overlook.

Tommy turned around and started heading out of the throne room with a growled, “Nope.”

He was fully intent on ignoring any argument thrown his way, but it was impossible to ignore a sky-blue terror that blocked his way. “Hang on a minute, dude.”

Before Rainbow Dash could react, Tommy had reached up, grabbed her hooves, and pushed her up toward the ceiling. He then continued upon his way. Unfortunately, before he could get out the door, there was a snap from Luna’s fingers, a wordless command to the experienced guards to block his path.

Tommy stopped, took a deep breath, and turned back to the other occupants of the room. “Let me go, or I’ll do something that will get me thrown in a cell… another cell.”

“You will be free to leave, Tommy, when we have finished speaking here,” Luna told him.

Tommy looked back over his shoulder at the armed guards. He may have been bigger than them, but there was two of them, and that was just at this doorway. He folded his arms in front of him and stood like a statue. “Fine.”

“Come, have a seat with the rest of us,” Twilight told him.

The rumble in his voice could be felt across the room. “No.”

“Very well,” Luna said. “We are here to speak and heal, not to threaten. Now, Rarity, you wish to say something?”

“Tommy, I’m so very sorry,” she said slowly and sincerely. “I had no idea that you had suffered such an attack in your past and-”

“Who the fuck told you about… YOU!” Tommy turned on Rainbow and stormed up to her. “What gives you the right!” In one motion, he tore his shirt from his chest, the scars barely visible in the magical light. He pointed to them, “This is my business! Mine! You had no right to tell anyone about it!”

Rainbow wanted to curl into a ball, but at the same time she wanted to lash out against an imminent threat in self-defense. She could not get the words in her mind to align in a way that would allow her to speak.

Tommy felt a magical grasp on his hand pulling gently. It sent a shiver down his spine, but it was outweighed by rage. He spun again, ready to strike, but was met with the understanding gaze of Princess Luna.

“Tommy, please, calm yourself. Everypony in this room is your friend. We all only wish to help you.”

Tommy took a deep breath. One by one, he pointed at each mare he was talking to. “I don’t want your help. Don’t tell people my private business. Don’t you ever touch me again. Tell your troopers to let me pass or I swear I will cram their fucking spears up their asses.”

As he stormed out of the room, he heard Luna tell her guards to stand down. He also heard, but did not register the weeping coming from the white unicorn. He didn’t stop. He stomped through the halls and up to his room. The door slammed shut behind him as he grabbed the nearest object to him and smashed it against the wall. The collectors, limited edition, miniature replica of the Crystal Castle, complete with Crystal Heart, made from genuine Crystal Empire crystal, fell to the floor in in a starburst pattern.

The destruction made him feel better, but not enough. He roared, “FUCK!” loud enough that it left his throat sore. “Gawddamnit, I need a drink!”

There was knock at his door. Tommy walked swiftly to his door, grabbed the handle, and wrenched it open. “What!?”

He had expected to find Twilight, Spike, or maybe even Starlight. Instead, he was staring at blue cleavage. “May I enter?” the voice attached to the cleavage asked.

He stood back from the door and gestured with an outstretched arm. “You’re the princess.”

“Thank you.” Luna walked past him and sat in one of the chairs at a small table. Her horn lit up and a pair of crystal tumblers and a bottle of amber liquid appeared on the table. “I wish to talk and have brought a peace offering.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Tommy walked over, feeling much better than before, and sat down across from her. After Luna poured a couple fingers into his glass, Tommy picked it up and downed it one mouthful. The burn was sharp, but not enough to overpower the familiar flavor Sweet Apple Acres apples. “Awohmagawd! That’s the best hooch I’ve ever had. I mean, Country down on E-block made some pretty damn good buck from his apples and a couple slices of bread, but… holy fuck.”

“Would you like another?” Luna asked after finishing her own glass, barely showing any sign of a grimace before going back to a smirk.

His tumbler hit the table, “Yes, please.” His glass was filled, and enjoyed much more patiently. “Ahh… Now, what did you want to talk about? And it better be good, because you only have until this bottle is done.”

Luna nodded, “Very well.” Her horn lit up again and another bottle appeared, “And this one can be simply for enjoyment.”

Tommy held his hand out over the table, Luna hesitated for a moment before responding to the high five. “There ya go. Now,” he took another drink, “what do you wanna know?”

The sky grew dark and the moon clumsily rose. Tommy had told Luna of his scars, what they meant and why he was so angry with Rainbow for telling anypony about them. He told her more about the world he came from, omitting the fact that it was also her world, just a different time. He even opened up about why being held down caused him to shut down. And all that was before they finished off the first bottle.

By the time they were halfway through the second bottle, it had been time for Luna to share. She opened up, albeit slurring while doing so, about her centuries of fighting with Celestia and the jealousy that bred within her. She told him about Nightmare Moon, even going so far as to transform to show him what she looked like, though the tears softened the effect. Eventually, Luna passed out, helmet still in place, crooked, but in place.

Tommy laid her on the bed before going back to trying to empty the second bottle of what he was told was Sweet Apple Select, or Sass as it was commonly known. Shortly after, he got up, wobbled into the bathroom, and spent an hour feeding the fish. His mission completed, Tommy returned to the room, ready to spend the night on the rug. He was not expecting to find a familiar blue child sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Um… H-*hic* hello.”

“Greetings… strange... creature. Where are we and where is mine sister?”

“Oh, well, you’re in a town called Ponyville. More specifically, Twilight Sparkle’s Castle of Friendship. As for your sister,” Tommy looked to the empty bed, “I got no idea.”

“Hmm… Ponyville. We are unfamiliar with this settlement. Is it near the village of Everfree?”

“Uh, yeah. I think so. By the way, my name is Tommy Fairday. What’s yours?”

The girl stood, and Tommy could see that she was bigger than the other kids he’s seen around town. Also, he could tell that this girl was an alicorn.

She lifted the hem of her beautiful gown slightly as she curtsied a little. “Apologies. We are used to ponies knowing our name before we meet. My name is Princess Lunae.”

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Celestia observed the raising of the moon. She was confused as to its unusual, wobbly path. She had done the raising herself for a thousand years while her sister was trapped on said moon and had had many nights with a similar result, but that attempt could only be accomplished because the moon had allowed her to do so. Now, with the return of its true mistress, the moon did not want to listen to Celestia’s orders any more. Unfortunately, this odd event could only mean one thing; her sister had been incapacitated. It was possible that she was injured, magically blocked, or, far more likely, in an altered state of mind.

Normally, when this would happen, Luna would be safe within the palace. In her diminished mental capacity, her magical prowess was greatly reduced, making it impossible for Luna to move the moon as easily as she normally would and very difficult for her to defend herself against an assailant of any real strength. Even more dangerous, would be if Luna were to panic if, or when, she were to be startled. Luna could attack her little ponies in a misguided attempt at self-defense. Luna’s reputation had taken far too long to rebuild after her return from the moon and it wouldn’t survive a relapse.

Luckily, Celestia knew she could rest easy. Luna was down in Ponyville visiting with her most faithful student; Princess Twilight Sparkle. Although young, Celestia knew that there was no issue that may arise that Twilight could not handle. Certainly, Twilight would think of something to keep her sister from losing control or coming to harm.

On top of the security that Twilight provided her, Celestia relied heavily upon the night guard as well. Aside from the impeccable night vision and unusual strength the thestrals have in trade for magic and weather control left little to be desired in their capabilities to defend their princess. Since Luna was, after all, the Night Princess, she was much more their princess than Celestia ever could hope to be. And she was fine with that. Luna could, and should, have the loyalty and love of the thestrals, and any other pony that chose to love her. In fact, Celestia pushed every pony that she could to do the same. After all, what better way could there be to prevent the return of Nightmare Moon?

Still, Celestia felt that it might not be a bad idea to check on her little sister.

With a little concentration and a considerable amount of magic, Celestia reached out in her mind and found the large mass of magic that could only be an alicorn. She then teleported herself into the library of Twilight’s castle, knowing that that was the most likely place to find her student. When she opened her eyes, she found that she was correct. Not only was Twilight there, but so was Rainbow Dash and Rarity, the latter of which was clearly upset about something, but Celestia had other things on her mind.

“Princess Celestia. Why are you here?” Twilight asked.

“Luna appeared to have trouble raising the moon. I believe that she has been incapacitated in some way.” Everyone in the room froze. “What is it?”

“Luna went to speak with Tommy and she hasn’t come back yet,” Rainbow told her.

Celestia hid her concern as best she could, but failed, given that there was a slight twitch in the corner of her eye. “Is that so? And which room was he in again?” Twilight told her. “Thank you,” Celestia said over her shoulder as she headed out of the library in a reserved rush.

Soon, Celestia found the room, guarded by two night guards. They both stiffened from their already stiff stances. As soon as she stood before them, one reached over and opened the door, allowing the solar diarch to enter.

Once inside the room, Celestia froze once again. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it was certainly not the scene before her. There was her little sister, sky blue with a light blue mane, and the strange human towering over her with a ringlet of flowers in his hair and a teacup halfway to his lips, pinkie extended. They were having a tea party. In a flash of light, Celestia altered her own appearance to be smaller and turned her mane into flowing pink locks instead of the ethereal aurora that she sports in the present time.

“Sister, join us,” Luna requested happily

“Yes, Princess Solis, come. Enjoy a biscuit and a cup of delicious tea.” Tommy stood and pulled out a chair for Celestia.

For her part, Celestia shot a warning glare at Tommy before sitting as Tommy pushed her chair in. She wondered briefly as to how Tommy knew her true name, but figured that Luna must have said it.

As Celestia lifted the teacup and kettle, Luna said, “Oh, how do you know Sister?” Once more, Celestia froze.

“Oh, I know all about you and your family, Princess Lunae. King Hannibal and Queen Faust are well known,” Tommy answered as he took another drink, looking at Celestia out of the side of his eye. “The exploits of Starswirl the Bearded have even reached the people of my homeland.”

“Really, I was unaware that anypony outside of Equestria was aware of our teacher.”

“Did he never tell you of his journeys around Equus? Hmm. Well, in a quest for more knowledge, he decided to travel to several of your neighboring countries and learn of their ways and cultures. One can only imagine what fantastic things he must have seen.”

“I just hope he never went to Cattus. The Cat people are cruel and would likely have held him for ransom, or worse,” Luna said with a grimace.

“Perhaps. Thankfully, our teacher has more sense than that,” Celestia added as she reached for another cookie.

Tommy made a note that he would have to read more of that book. “I, for one, would very much like to hear what he has to say about griffons.”

Under the table, Celestia pulled out her scroll and penned a short message to Twilight. Less than a minute later, there was a soft knock at the door. Celestia stood, “Excuse me, I believe I should see to that.”

Tommy watched Celestia walk out the door, catching a glimpse of purple hair outside the door. He took another sip from his teacup, savoring the rich flavor. The powdered tea he was used to couldn’t hold a candle to this stuff.

“Princess Lunae, may I ask you something?”

“Of course, Tommy, proceed.”

“Thank you,” he knew he was laying on the manners a little thicker than might be required, but he was having fun. “I have recently been having issues with unicorns holding me against my will with magic. You wouldn’t happen to know of some way to stop that from happening, would you?”

“Hmm, I may, but why would they be doing that to you? Are you doing something to provoke them?”

“I don’t think so. I believe they just aren’t thinking about their actions beforehand.”

“I have witnessed this, and have even been guilty of the same offense myself.” Luna rubbed her chin in thought. Light metaphorically dawning, she held out her hand and a simple necklace with a midnight blue stone in a silver clasp was held within. She focused on it for a moment, her horn glowing brighter as the stone did the same. When the light faded, she said, “Here. This will prevent unicorn magic from being able to grasp you.” Tommy looked upon the stone greedily, hiding how badly he wanted it in his possession. “But I must warn you; it will not stop any other form of magic. I am not yet skilled enough in those wards.”

Gently lifting the trinket from her palm and placing it around his neck, Tommy thanked Luna. “I am very grateful to you for this, Princess Lunae. Thank you so much.”

“You are quite welcome, Tommy.”

The door opened up again and Celestia leaned in. “Tommy, may I speak with you for a moment?”

“Yes, Princess.” Tommy stood and dipped his head, still refusing to bow to anyone. Tommy tucked the necklace beneath his shirt. “Pardon me, Princess Lunae, but it seems your sister wishes to speak with me.” He leaned in closer to her ear, “I think she has a bit of a crush on me.”

Luna giggled before returning to her tea.

Tommy walked into the hallway and followed Celestia and Twilight into the library where he found that Rarity and Rainbow had already gone home, which was fine by him. “Alright, Princess, what’s up?” he asked as he crossed his sizeable arms in front across his chest.

Twilight and visibly grimacing at his nonchalant behavior around her teacher and friend, but Celestia pressed forward. “Tommy-”

“You know, it sounds silly to be scolded by someone calling me that. I feel like a child. When you want to be serious, you can call me Thomas.”

“Very well. Thomas, how did you come to know my ancient name? Did somepony tell you?”

“Nope,” Tommy replied honestly. “No pony told me.”

“Luna-”

“Lunae,” Tommy corrected.

Celestia, however, was not in a playful mood. “Did she tell you?”

“Nope.”

“Then how did you know?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Yes, I can.”

“Me too.” Tommy let his arms swing free again as he turned to leave the room. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, my tea is getting cold.”

His progression was halted when the guards at the doorway blocked his way with their spears. “You are going to be honest with me, Thomas,” the word was full of venom as the Solar Princess spat his name. “If you are not honest with me, then I shall put you right back into that cell you called home not too long ago.”

“Listen here, Solis, I haven’t lied to anyone since I got to this place.”

“And yet, I don’t believe you,” her scowl was unnerving Tommy, but he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. Celestia’s horn began to glow as she charged a spell.

Twilight recognized the spell before it was even ready to be used. It was a forbidden spell, except for in the most extreme of circumstances. “Princess! You can’t use that!”

“Quiet, Twilight. He is leaving me no other option.”

For his part, Tommy was starting to get scared now. ‘What kind of spell could she be trying to use?’ he thought to himself. There were serious alarms going off in his head. Then, suddenly, there was a different feeling in his head. A presence. He was no longer alone in his own skull, and he had never been so angry in his life.

“What the FUCK are you doing?!”

“If you are not going to forthcoming,” Celestia answered through gritted teeth, “then I will pull the answers from you myself.”

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” He dropped to his knees, hands pressed against his temples, as he grunted under the strain of keeping his secrets his own.

“Stop resisting me, Thomas. You cannot keep me out for long,” Celestia warned.

‘If she wants to know what’s on my mind, then I’ll show her.’

As Celestia attempted to look through Tommy’s memories, an image flashed before her. Feeling victorious, she approached the image. As it came into focus, she instantly wished it hadn’t. There, before her eyes, was herself. However, this was her in a way she had never been before and would never describe to anypony. Ever.

On her throne, in front of a hall full of her subjects, was Tommy. At his feet, on her knees, was Celestia, wearing a collar and not much else. Attached to the collar, was a leash that was being held by Tommy. Her tongue lulled out the side of her mouth, drool dripping down onto her breast, and her eyes were rolled up and unfocused. The crowd seemed to be indifferent to this and were neither doing anything to stop this treatment, nor progress the situation. She could just make out the sound of humming as the image changed.

Now it was the streets of Ponyville. She was no longer naked at least. Instead, she was wearing ridiculous high heels, a pair of fishnet stockings, a very small miniskirt, a tube top that barely hid the important bits, and a plastic belt with condoms in holsters all the way around, several of which were empty. Beside her was a sign that said ‘Suck 4 A Buck’. While she couldn’t read the sign, judging by the wear and tear on the knees of her stockings and the dirt on the back of her skirt, she could guess at what the sign was about, and she had been busy. She didn’t even want to know about what the stains were.

The image faded out again and came back. This time, it was a busy beach, families every where and children at play. There, in the middle of it all, was a nude Celestia and Luna. Standing there in the middle of a blanket, was Tommy, also nude. Beside him, pressing herself against him, was Luna, rubbing his muscles longingly. Before him, doubled over, was Celestia, with a very pleased look upon her face. Before the sound of clapping could continue, she withdrew herself from this tableau.

It took her a second or two to come to her senses. Twilight’s voice being the first thing she could register.

“-estia! Princess Celestia!”

Celestia reached up and placed her hand on top of Twilight’s to get her to stop trying to shake her awake. “I’m okay, Twilight. I’m alright.” Her extreme blush said otherwise.

“Learn… your… lesson?” Tommy panted. Raising an accusatory finger, he said, “Stay the fuck… outta my head.”

Twilight stared up at the angry human with mild horror. How could he speak to the princess like this? How did he break out of a mind reader spell? And what did the princess see while she was in there? More concerning, what might he be hiding?

“Princess, what did you see in there?” Twilight asked, concerned.

Celestia looked her student in the eyes very briefly before looking away quickly, her face glowing a bright red. “I did not find anything… hostile.”

“So… so what does that mean?”

“Gawd damnit!” Tommy burst out. “I’m not out to get anyone! I was zapped here during an experiment and since then I’ve been treated like some kind of defector who’s secretly a spy that sucks at his job. I haven’t lied to anyone, hurt anyone, or been made to feel welcome by anyone. Now leave me alone!”

“Ho… how did you resist me?” Celestia asked, certain images still fresh in her head along with a slightly rising level of fear.

Tommy grunted in frustration. “Gawdammint! Fine! In prison, there are three types of people. Manipulators, victims, and the resistors. Everyone inside is trying to get one over on you. The guards, the inmates, the people running the canteen. You can either be the one taking advantage of other people, stow yourself away inside your own head, or have everything taken from you. Not even your black cherry is safe.”

“Wait, you grew fruit in the prison?” Twilight asked.

Tommy looked her dead in the eye, “No.”

Before Twilight could inquire further or notice the guards eyeing each other knowingly, Tommy turned to leave. He was in no mood for any more questions or judgments.

“Am I under arrest?” he asked, anger barely subdued.

“I, uh, do not think that will be necessary,” Celestia responded, trying to show dignity and authority.

“Good. I’m going back to my tea party then.”

Celestia and Twilight watched as Tommy stormed out of the library, the guards not daring to impede his progression. “Princess, what are we going to do about this?” Twilight asked her mentor.

“For now, Twilight, we shall continue to observe him. Thomas may not be a threat, but we still can’t be certain enough to let him roam our lands, among our citizens, without some sort of safeguard. All we can say for absolute certain is that he is a creature who knows things and likes his secrets. If he truly has not caused any harm to any creature, or broken any of our laws, then we have no right to restrain him or his movements. However, I do wish I knew more about him.

Twilight looked into her teacher’s eyes, noticing the slight blush on her cheeks, and added, “So do I.”

Upon reaching his room, Tommy found the young princess not at the table, but rather asleep atop his bed. All his rage and ire ebbed away. He walked over to the bed and pulled the blankets up and over Lunae, up to her shoulders. She emitted a soft hum of contentment and went back into her silent rest.

With a smile, Tommy reached over and picked up Starswirl’s journal. He then sat upon the chaise lounge and began to read in the soft light of a magic crystal powered table lamp.

Sadly, I fear that my little ponies peaceful lives have been uprooted. I have returned from a mission with my new cohorts to find that the Catian Nation has not only crossed the Equestrian borders, but have laid waste to several cities along that border.

My brave and noble Hannibal has led an army to face this threat. Fortunately, they were successful, but at a very high cost. Several thousand ponies have paid the ultimate price to return peace to their homes. Hannibal being among them.

He had been wounded in battle, but had managed to return to his queen’s side in their new home of Canterlot (I suppose they missed our ancient home as much as I had). The medical ponies had done everything in their power to save their king. I am very sorry to report that my old friend, a pony I had come to think of as a brother, did not survive his wounds.

As much as the loss pained me, it was nothing compared to Faust’s misery. She had become a shell of her former self. She would wander the halls like a living ghost, haunting this majestic palace without aim or purpose. The last time I any pony had seen life in her eyes was at the funeral. She had appeared there in a black gown, each of her daughters clutching one of her hands. The ceremony was held on the place grounds, but that was just a farce.

He was buried in the canyon near Everfree Village, right where the strange meteor struck the Earth, changing her forever. However, that was kept secret from the world. The only ones who knew were Faust and myself. I had secreted away the body under the cover of darkness, leaving behind an empty, but beautiful, crypt. I alone descended down into the canyon. Using my magic, I removed earth and stone, formed a second, unadorned crypt, and lowered my brave Hannibal into the chamber. I left behind no markers or indicators to alert any creature of who was there.

I tried my best to continue on with my life, but Faust seemed to have simply given up. I saw her ignore her duties, her children, her own personal care. She would wear the same clothes for days, always black. Her mane and tail were knotted messes and her fur had lost all of its luster. She would even go for days without eating little more than some dry toast. It was heartbreaking to say the least.

On the first anniversary of the death of her husband, Faust approached me. She admitted to me that she wanted to end her life. She could not bear to live on without her stallion, especially for all eternity. I listened carefully to what she had to say. I tried to talk her out of it. I tried and tried, but she was determined to be with Hannibal again, and wanted me to send her to him.

If any other creature had asked, I would have refused, but she was my family, my friend, and she was hurting like no one I had seen before. Reluctantly, I agreed to do it.

I took her to Hannibal’s tomb, where I raised his body. Thanks to the magic in his body and the surrounding earth, thanks to the meteor, His body had not decomposed at all. I remember waiting for him to open his eyes and greet me one more.

Faust embraced her husband, holding him to her chest one last time. Through her tears, she told me she was ready. I placed a hand upon her head, said my farewells, and plunged a knife into her heart. She died with a smile on her face, and that’s the only thing that allows me to sleep at night.

I folded their hands together and lowered them both back into the crypt, sealing it forever. Fortunately for me, if I ever want to visit my good friends again, I merely have to visit the odd crystalline tree that sprouted above their resting forms. I like to believe that they had so much love for each other and for their citizens, that they could never rest fully. We may, someday, need to call upon them again, but I pray that when we do, they will still be willing to help us.

I took over the care of the princesses. I did my best to raise them as Faust and Hannibal would have wanted. I taught them magic and of the world. I did what I could, but I always fear it wasn’t… isn’t enough.

Unfortunately, I fear I had to leave them behind to attend to a matter of worldly importance with the other Pillars. I wish to return home to my little princesses, but I know it is not to be. There will be only one way to vanquish this evil and we have made our peace with it.

I have done what I could to prepare my ponies, Equestria, and my family for the future. I can only hope they have taken my lessons to heart. I will miss them all dearly but I must leave them all behind in order to ensure their continued health and happiness. Farewell my friends, and good luck to you all.

Tommy closed the book, wiped a tear from his eye, and took a deep breath. He looked back to his loaned bed and at the, once again, full grown Night Princess. He had a new appreciation for what these princesses had gone through. He had thought that they were simply stuck up and felt that the world owed them just because they were bigger and, honestly, hotter than many of the other citizens of their land, but they had seen serious hardships at a very young age.

He still didn’t trust that pearly one though.