Twice an Alien

Chapters

Ch 1. A Drunk Prank?
Ch. 2 Bandages
Ch. 3 Introductions
Ch. 4 Getting Started
Ch. 5 New Job
Ch. 6 Deadly Training
Ch. 7 Races, Realizations, and Revelations Pt.1
Ch. 8 Races, Realizations, and Revelations Pt.2
Ch. 9 Why I’m Here Pt.1
Ch. 9 Why I’m Here Pt.2

Ch 1. A Drunk Prank?

Ch.1 A Drunk Prank?

“Ouch.” Such a simple statement to describe the world of hurt that I was feeling right now. My spine feels like someone did a damn dance on top of it. Most people would probably say the same after falling 10 feet to land on their back. “So what the fuck just happened,” I thought as I regained my senses. I looked around and saw a plethora of unknown flora all around me. “Well this definitely isn’t that nightclub…. I think….. Jesus how many shots did I have tonight?” I said out loud.

‘Not enough!’ screamed my inner drunk.

“Shush you” I said out loud to no one in particular. Oh I know! I’ll just replay what I did last in the last couple of minutes in my head and then I’ll quickly be able to figure out where I am. I probably just stumbled outside for second….. Into a forest…… yeah no, that logic doesn’t really make sense. “Uhhhhhh OH I can divine my location from the stars! Fuck yeah astronomy.” I looked up into the sky and promptly fell backwards onto my ass. “Fucking uneven ass forest ground.” I mumbled. I tried to get up again and just fell backwards completely onto my back.

Whatever. Star gazing should be done comfortably anyways. I gazed up at the stars in the sky trying to identify a constellation that I might remember. Which currently wasn’t much considering my inebriated condition.

‘Look those stars are making a tit constellation!’

Drunk me had in fact identified a constellation that looked remarkably like a solid pair of tits. “Nice find drunk me, but that doesn’t help us figure out where we are.” How about the big dipper that’s pretty obvious right? I looked up into the sky, which was partially obscured by trees, and tried to discern the location of the big dipper. I tried to identify star patterns for a few more seconds later, but quickly gave up.

Man I really shouldn’t have gone out tonight. If I’d have known that this was gonna happen i’d have just stayed home and played video games or something. Unfortunately one of my friends was very insistent that I come play wingman to help give him a chance with a girl he’d been pining over forever. And being the awesome friend that I am I decided to help him out.

‘You also wanted to get laid!’ Inner drunk happily reminded me.

Quite you. That was the secondary objective. Let’s just remember that the reason I went was to be a good friend. Also fuck this waiting around noise. I guess I’ll just start walking in a direction and see what happens. Waaaaaait a minute, I’ve seen this story before. They always say that if you get lost in a forest or something you’re just supposed to stay where you are. “HA! Nice try forest! I’ve seen through your trickery.” I yelled triumphantly. The forest being a forest and all did not respond to my boasts. Unfortunately after a couple minutes of sitting around I decided that sitting in place was extremely boring. Well maybe if I just explore my nearby area nothing bad will happen.

Having decided on my course of action I stood up, held up my foot, and faltered. Even drunk I realized that I should probably make a marking or something to help me find my way back to camp. Hmmmmm well it’s dark as shit and I don’t know how marking a tree will help me find this place again. “Oh shit! I just remembered! The North Star!” If one thing is always relatively in the same place it’s the north star. I can just follow that back here! I’ll just go in the north stars direction for a bit and then come right back.

‘Solid plan bro. No way that could backfire. Guess that’s why you’re usually in charge.’ Inner drunk said complimenting me.

“Oh you,” I said blushing at my own thoughts like a madman. I then spread my stance and looked up into the sky again. I wobbled a little bit but didn’t fall over this time. Hmmmmmm, well that star looks mighty bright and while it may not be the north star it’s at least something….. Good enough for me. Might as well head that direction. If I had waited for a little longer I might have realized that the north star missing from the sky was definitely a huge problem.

I started haphazardly walking along through the trees and underbrush of the forest. I probably should have cared that I was making so much noise in an unknown forest at night but in my current state I didn’t really care. As I walked a little further I had a sudden revelation. “Oh man this is just a prank!” I looked around myself wildly trying to find my friends who I was sure were in the bushes fucking with me. “Hahahahahahahahah you stupid assholes! I was really scared there for a second!”

“GRRRRRrrrrrrrr…..” Ok that’s not a sound that I’m used to. Usually I hear bugs making their normal chirping or perhaps a rabbit hopping around in the underbrush. Hearing something lowly growly definitely got my adrenaline pumping higher than normal.

“Ha Ha guys. Come out now. I super scared, come on you guys…..” Nothing.

I figured they’d at least giggle quietly at a level they believed I couldn’t here, but all I heard in response to my pleading was “RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,” much MUCH closer to me than before.

“FUCK,” I yelled as I started to realize this probably wasn’t prank. That sounded way too close to a guttural noise a beast would make for human to emulate it. Acting with a drunken thought process I threw silence and caution to the wind as I ran forward towards the supposed north star that I had decided on earlier. As I began running through the dense underbrush in-between the thickly placed trees I heard a loud sound that chilled me to my bones, “crunch... crunch… crunch… Crunch...”

Using experience and subconscious instinct I stopped, dropped, and rolled to the left. As I did so I saw a beast of legends fly closely by the area that my body had recently occupied. “Impossible….” I whispered as I regained my balance. Now in front of me was a very Very pissed off looking beast that, insane as it sounds, resembled a manticore from the yarns that I was spun as a child. “WHAT THE FUCK,” I yelled in panic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a pretty logical and down to earth guy in almost any scenario, but when a deadly looking mythical creature looks down at you like they want to eat you, you loose a bit of your common resolve.

Now I’ve definitely seen some scary shit before in my life, but this thing…. this thing was on another fucking level. I’m a decently muscular guy, I’m about 6 foot 3, and I exercise regularly. So normally I’m not intimidated by much. But this manticore was about twice my height horizontally and vertically, with massive claws, huge fangs, and a FUCKING VENOMOUS SCORPION TAIL. Oh and let's not forget that it has massive wings, because it definitely wasn’t already dangerous enough.

Unfortunately while I frozen in place processing this living terror before me the beast took a step forward and growled right in my face.

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

As I said before I’m usually a pretty calm guy in most scenarios and with the adrenaline flowing through my system some of my higher reasoning had come back to me. It was unfortunately not enough as my inner drunk came out again.

‘Hit it right in its fucking face! You can take this overgrown cat!’

“Hell yeah! You’re going down!” I then reached up and bitch slapped the manticore right across it’s massive nose while yelling, “BAD KITTY!”

You ever have one of those moments when you make an impulse move and then pretty much instantly regret it? Yeah that was right now. The manticore shook its head in confusion almost as if it couldn’t believe something had just slapped it. This didn’t last long as it’s face contorted into a very livid glare. “Uhhhhhhh sorry?” I said to the Manticore.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Was all I got back from the Manticore. I wish I could say that I handled it’s war cry like a champ, but I didn’t. My scream hit a high pitch I didn’t even know I was capable of reaching.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

I ran as fast as I possibly could in the opposite direction of the Manticore. Apparently my loud screech had somehow briefly stunned the Manticore. I quickly glanced back and saw the manticore shake its head seemingly in an effort to get the high pitched squeal out of it’s ears. Sadly all good things must come to an end as the manticore realized that it’s late night snack was fleeing and decided to give chase. Hearing the beastly demon give chase I sped up my retreat. I dodged my way around trees and hopped over small bushes stumbling all the while. Unfortunately after a couple of minutes of this mad dashing I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to outrun this large monster. “Shit I really *puff* need to figure out *pant* how to get this guy *puff* to fuck off.” I breathlessly said.

Right as I was about to begin planning my escape from said dangerous pursuer I happened to trip on a rather dense root and unfortunately landed in a large prickly bush. “FUCK,” I yelled as I landed. A rather sharp pain could be felt across most of my front. I quickly started to extricate myself from the grasps of the bush as I heard the manticore closing in on my current position. In a moment of clarity I realized that this was as good a time as any to elude my pursuer and I sunk back down in the bush, despite the scrapes it was producing across my skin. Luckily the manticore didn’t seem to notice my presence or the slightly flattened bush as it rapidly ran past my current hiding spot with an angry and hungry look on it’s face.

I watched as the massive manticore flew past me and listened as it got further and further away from my hiding spot. After a good minute of hiding I could no longer hear the hungry manticore. Smartly I decided to wait an extra minute or two, just in case the manticore realized its mistake and decided to backtrack. Decided that I had waited long enough I bolstered my resolve. Wincing slightly I stood up from the bush and looked around. I could see that the manticore had made a rather easily identifiable path that continued on past my bush. “So this probably isn’t a drunk prank…..” I whispered out loud.

I need to find a way out of this forest and figure out where the hell I am. Looking up again I saw my false north star and decided that I might as well keep following it. As I brushed the excess leaves and debris from my body I felt something warm on my hands. Looking down I recognized the site of blood on my hands. I saw it had come from some tears in my shirt. Being drunk and tired I just put it down as the byproduct of the trees and bushes scraping me when I had ran past them.

Having completely forgotten that staying in place when lost was safer than moving I started a tired trudge towards my fake north star. After stumbling along my path for a good half hour, grumbling about my general tired demeanor, I noticed that the trees had started to thin. Looking around I also noticed that the underbrush was beginning to lessen a considerable degree. “Shit looks like i’m finally nearing the exit,” I happily said. After another couple minutes of walking on I finally saw it, the edge of the forest. “Fucking finally. All I want to do is get back to my apartment, take a shower, and fall asleep.”

Unfortunately as I crossed the forests threshold I didn’t see a road or any sign of civilization as i’d hoped. Looking around wildly I tried to find some hint that might tell me where I currently was. Sadly I didn’t notice anything that might help my plight. I sighed, “now what…., wait holy shit my phone!” I realized that i’d been trying to drunkenly find my way out of this forest with stars when I could easily have just used my phones GPS to tell me where I was. “HAHAHA,” I laughed in relief. “God bless modern technology!” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked it for a hopefully full signal.

The first thing I noticed were the zero bars of connectivity for internet connection, cell towers, and gps signal. “DAMN YOU VERIZON, DAMN YOUUUUUU!,” I yelled angrily. “Largest 4g network my ass. There goes that plan.” I looked up into the sky on more time. “Well, looks like you’re my GPS now fake north star. Don’t let me down now buddy.” Sighing heavily, once again, I decided to keep following my newly appointed GPS as it was leading the opposite direction of the forest I had just escaped. After determinately walking along for a few minutes I happen to notice a slightly worn path.

“OH SWEET JESUS, CIVILIZATION!” With newfound vigor in my step I jogged towards the worn path. Upon reaching the path I decided that it didn't matter which way I went along the path as either way would most likely lead me to humans. I randomly picked left and started walking. Less than a minute later, before I could get into a steady walking rhythm, I noticed a small structure at the edge of my sight.

Believing this to be a house I picked up my pace and started a drunken jog towards the structure. Closing in on the structure, which I now recognized as a small cottage, I suddenly froze mid stride and slammed into the ground face first. I raised my head in panic and looked back at what had caught my attention. Right to the left of the cottage was a fucking massive bear. Focusing on the bear I noticed it’s back rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Realizing that it was asleep I slightly relaxed. Giving the bear a once over I realized that fully extended this thing was probably at least one and half times my size. I really wanted to go knock on that door but inner drunk spoke up.

‘Fuck that shit. Let’s Solid Snake the hell on outta here.’

Sounds good to me. With this decision made I slowly turned my body around and sneakily crawled away. After a getting a good twenty yards or so away from the slumbering beast I realized that I badly needed to find a place to rest soon. After all of the adrenaline of being chased by a manticore had left me it hit me that I was still pretty drunk, sweaty, and on top of that exhausted from running. I stood up and continued walking back down the path.

Thankfully as I was beginning to curse my bad luck I saw some type of fruit tree in the distance. Welcoming any distraction from my sad state I walked towards the fruit tree. As I got closer I realized that their were rows and rows of similar trees behind it. “Neat, an apple orchard”, I said out loud. Using simple observations it was easy to see this orchard was maintained and thriving. Even drunk I logically deduced that if there was a prosperous orchard in front of me then there was almost certainly a person living nearby. This meant at the very least another house I could try finding help at. Hopefully one with a distinct lack of bears this time.

Seeing that the dirt path I had been following flowed along the outskirts of the apple orchard I decided to keep following it, in the hopes that it would lead me to it’s keeper's residence. As I walked I started to notice that not all the apples trees I was passing by were the same. I wouldn’t call myself an apple aficionado but as apples were my favorite fruit I knew about a good chunk of them. “Gala, Braeburns, Golden Delicious,” I rambled off as I walked past each type of apple, “Granny Smith, Macintosh, Fuji……”

I suddenly stopped walking as I saw an apple i’d never seen before. It was a very dark grey shriveled looking apple. At first I thought it was just an apple that went bad, but looking closer I realized that their were trees and trees of the same shriveled looking apple. “What in the hell….” I kind of wanted to go see what the heck was the deal with those wierd apples. Inner drunk decided that it was tired of thinking about weird sickly looking apples.

‘Naw son fuck that. I’m tired as all hell.’

I agreed, obviously, so I just got back to walking the way I had been going before. Walking a couple more yards I saw something that brightened up my, so far, really shitty night. “Hell yeah Kiku’s!”

Out of all the apples I like to eat Kiku’s were by far the tastiest of the bunch. As I had never eaten a fresh Kiku apple, before I even realized what I was doing I had already picked a tasty looking apple from the tree and took a bite. “Uuuuuhhhhhhhh,” I moaned like a cat in heat. “This is the tastiest damn apple I’ve ever had”. Taking another couple of bites I hastily finished off the delicious fruit. However as nice as that apple was I realized that it hadn’t been mine and that I kind of felt guilty for taking it. However inner drunk didn’t really give a shit about property ownership at the moment and decided that taking two more apples was a solid plan. After grabbing the fruit I got back on the dirt path.

After walking for a few minutes I finished off my two amazing apples and started to question if this orchard was endless. “This is the biggest damn orchard i’ve ever seen. I’m so tired I’m seriously considering crawling under one of these trees and sleeping there. Maybe I should just tu-,” I started before something caught my attention. The distraction was a large red and white structure at the edge of my vision. “Is… is that a barn?” Picking up my pace I quickly recognized the easily identifiable large white front doors and farming equipment lying outside the structure.

I quickened my pace once I had confirmed that the building off in the distance was in fact a barn. Finally I stood directly in front of the large doors I had seen from afar. In my inebriated state I rudely decided to forgo any knocking and instead just pushed the doors open and walked in. Even with the doors open I couldn’t really see very far into the dark barn. While the moon was out, it wasn’t especially bright on this night and thus didn’t provide any real assistance at the moment.

Thankfully I remembered that I had downloaded an app on my phone that let me use my camera's flash as a flashlight. Pulling my phone out and using this app I was able to identify a few common pieces of farming equipment such as a plow and shovels. However what drew my focus was a ladder in the back leading to a second floor with bales of hay lying about. Recognizing that my body was about at it’s limit for the night I quickly said, “good enough for me,” and started to head in the direction of the ladder.

After reaching the ladder and haphazardly climbing to the second floor I realized that there were more hay bails than I had previously thought. Scanning the collection of hay bails I just so happened to see a few grouped together that it appeared someone had fashioned into a crude impromptu bed. Happy with this fortunate turn of events I walked towards the impromptu bed and flopped down upon it to determine if my eyes had been correct.

Almost as soon as I hit the hay I realized this bed was far comfier than I initially believed. “Good lord whoever made this bed *yawn* really knows their shit,” I sleepily said as my eyes began to droop. As much as I wished I knew where I was I also understood when my body sent me obvious signs that exhaustion was about to take over. Nestling into my temporary hay bed I closed my eyes and decided that finding out my location was future me’s problems. With this last worry taken care of I cleared my mind and drifted off into a blissfully drunk sleep.

Author's Note

Please forgive any formatting errors for now. As I mentioned I'm new and as such the google doc import process probably creates some strange formatting errors I will miss at first. Thank you.

Ch. 2 Bandages

“WHAT IN TARNATION!?” These were the first words I heard, that roused me from my slumber.

As these words we loudly shouted at me I did the first thing my half awake brain could come up with and yelled back, “WHAT, WUZZAT, WHO’S THERE!?” I violently jumped up from my hay bed and looked around wildly until my eyes beheld…. Something. “What…,” I plainly stated as I tried to comprehend what I was looking at. I wasn’t a party animal by natural nature but I’d had my fair share of drunken party nights and woken up in strange places. I can honestly say that what I was seeing pretty much topped my list of weird shit i’d woken up too. A light colored orange horse…. no pony was standing in front of me looking at me with what i’d classify as a extremely bewildered look. As confused as I was I still thankfully had enough wits about me after waking up to begin analyzing the situation. Thoughts of last night quickly played back in my mind and I slightly remembered seeing a mythical creature in a forest, running away, eating some tasty apples, and falling asleep in a barn.

Finally catching up to the present I didn’t have enough time to think further before the orange pony in front of me practically screamed, “WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU?!” I shifted my sight and focused on the pony. O….K…. well I’ll admit i’ve never woken up to a talking pony before.

“Shit did those fucks put something in my drink last night?” I said confusedly. Quickly analyzing the situation I realized that most likely that wasn’t what happened. The guys I’d been at the bar with last night I had known for a few years and even though I knew they enjoyed a good joke I know they wouldn’t take it as far as drugging me just for laughs. “Hmmmmmm maybe I’m still dreaming then?” I decided that a few reality checks we’re in order and took out my phone to start a few simple ones.

Unfortunately as I pulled my phone from my pocket the small pony looked at me with a panicked face and took a few tentative steps back. “I don’t know what the hay that fancy sleek device is but you keep away from me, ya here!?” The pony decided to move quickly and ducked behind one of the hay bails scrambling around madly. Thinking that the orange pony was scared and running away I decided to call out with some soothing sounds to try to calm it as I would any other beast. But before I could do open my mouth, a thought stopped me. Wait….. This pony quickly reacted to my presence with words so I know it can at least talk, which implies sentience. I thought harder, which considering I was still hunger over, was hard for me in my present condition. It also quickly reacted to the unknown element of my phone and attempted to move away from danger by hiding behind a defensive position. Maybe I was giving this vibrantly colored pony too much credit but I realized that I might be dealing with a sapient creature. I decided that it would be best to try to communicate with this pony and see if just maybe it could understand me and prove it’s sapience through conversational reasoning.

Sadly I never got a chance to test this pony as I had mistook its previous actions. While I believed it to be retreating and attempting to hide it had in fact been scrummaging behind the far hay bale for what it currently held in its hooves. Ignoring the fact that the pony was impossibly holding something in it’s hooves without fingers I recognized the pointed ends of the pitchfork it now aggressively held in its hands. While a part of me recognized that a pitchfork could do a lot of damage to me if It was thrust fast enough another part of me internally cooed at the cuteness of the scene. This pony was about 3 and a half feet tall, was angrily shivering on its hooves, and had wide eyes the size of saucers staring up at me. This pony was begging to be cuddled. Right as I was about to let my inner cuddle demon take over I realized that walking towards the frightened and armed pony was probably not a good choice at the moment. I decided to continue my original plan and attempt to at least communicate with the pony.

“Woah! Hold on there! I don’t mean any harm,” I said while holding up my hands defensively in front of me. This response to the ponies actions seemed to stop it for a second. It blinked and began scrutinizing me with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know what the hay you are but the facts stand as such. I found you napping in my barn sleeping in my secret napping spot no less. This not only means you snuck on too my farm but also broke into my barn and th-,” The pony narrowed its eyes even further, took a quick few steps closer to me, and took a few tentative sniffs. The orange ponies eyes opening up in anger as a tacked on, “AND STOLE SOME OF MY APPLES! Why you’re nothing but some out of town THIEF! I have half a mind to-” the pony stopped mid sentence as its eyes stopped narrowing and widened in disbelief, as it looked over me.

I decided to look down to see what caught its attention. Blood…… shit. Apparently in my attempt to avoid the deadly man eating beast from last night I had gained a few more injuries than I remembered. I didn’t just have scratches but also a few deeper cuts from what I’m assuming where trees and bushes that snagged me as I ran to close to them last night. I suppose being drunk and frantically running through an untamed forest will do that too you. Rather unfortunately while from my close perspective I saw and remembered my frantic escape last night, I also realized that from a distance my multiple bloods splotches might look like they had a nefarious reason behind them.

Slowly raising my head I looked back at the pony who now had a somewhat murderous look on it’s face. It quietly said, “So, not only did you break onto mah farm, steal mah apples, and sleep in mah nappin’ bed,” It said raising its volume all the while, “BUT YA ALSO LOOKED LIKE YA KILLED A FEW PONIES ON THE WAY IN!” From the ponies perspective I can definitely see how this would look bad considering how flustered it must have been when it stumbled upon me. They not only found a creature they had never seen before, but also a thief that looked as if they’d murdered someone on their break in trip. So it was no surprise to me when the ponies pitchfork came rocketing towards my face after it’s last aggressive proclamation. Thankfully as lost as I was, my instincts still seemed to kick in. I ducked and rolled to the left to dodge the ponies attack. After I finished my roll I fluidly stood back up and suddenly remembered that I was extremely hung over. My lack of balance cost me my footing and caused me to fall left again over the edge of the second floor.

“SHIIIIIIIIIT!” I loudly yelled as I fell over the edge. Luck seemed to favor me, as I happened to land on top of another hay bale downstairs. This turn of events seem to surprise a cow that had slowly been eating said hay bail that I landed on. It gave an indignant “MOOO!” and decided to continue it’s breakfast. As I didn’t have enough time to contemplate how I had walked past a cow and not heard it last night I quickly jumped up and ran for the barn doors.

“HOLD ON THERE YA VARMINT!” Not paying any attention to the angry pony I decided to rip open the doors and dash out. Right as I was about to sprint away I thought better and turned around. Seeing the pony rapidly making its way down the second floors ladder I decided to act fast. Slamming the doors shut I looked around quickly and saw a length of rope lying to my right.

“Yes” I yelled. Quick as could be I grabbed the rope and began to tie it around the large metal handles protruding from the barn doors. Right as I was finishing up my knot I felt something begin tugging on the other side of the door trying to pull the doors apart.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” the pony yelled from the other side. Considering that I looped this knot three times I just grinned, turned away and started to jog in the opposite direction. Luck, it seemed this time, did not favor me. With an audible snap I heard the barn doors crack.

“WHAT…..” I disbelievingly said as I looked over my shoulders. While i’m not an expert on barns I know that their doors are heavily reinforced to keep out stray animals and other threats. So you can understand that when I saw the left barn door with a massive crack through it’s middle I panicked slightly. Anything with that level of power could easily snap my spine in half. At least as I am right now. Another crack from the barn door drew me back into the present as I realized the crack was now big enough that it was physically bowing the door outwards. “OH SHIT!” I yelled. Decided that the time for thinking was over I quickly added an extra burst of speed to my retreat and heading directly into the apple orchards, hoping to lose the mad pony in the fields.

Ignoring the honestly impressive varieties of apples in this orchard I kept frantically running and, ignoring my relative position to the barn, just keep going. After running full speed for about minute I noticed what appeared to be a reddish figure kicking a tree. Slowing to a jog I hesitantly moved a little closer to see what it was. It appeared to be another pony, albeit larger than the other, it still stood only 4 feet at max. I slowed down even further and stopped behind a tree to see the pony violently kick an apple tree's base. “Holy shit….,” I whispered. I watched the apples fall from the tree down into the strategically placed wooden tubs below it. While i’m definitely not a physics expert I know enough to understand that what that pony did should not be possible. To kick a tree, at its base, hard enough to send vibrations capable of knocking apples of its branches requires an insane amount of force. I better not fuck with that pony…..

Using this newfound knowledge I started to slowly slink away in a horizontal direction from the herculean strengthened pony. After getting a few feet away, much to my displeasure, I heard a rapidly approaching set of hoofsteps. Sighing I turned to see if my pursuer was who I believed it to be. Annoyingly I realized that the creator of these sounds was none other than the bright orange pony who was rapidly approaching my current location. Deciding that staying between these two unbelievably strong ponies was a bad idea, I readied myself to start running flat out again.

“BIG MAC,” the chasing pony called out, “DON’T LET THAT WEIRD APPLE THIEF GET PAST YOU!” I glanced towards the red pony that had been bucking a tree not just a few seconds ago. I quickly saw confusion and then determination cross across the red ponies face as it saw me. It darted forward from it’s position next to the tree and jumped in front of my location while the orange pony skidded to a halt behind me.

“Ahh don’t mean ya no harm, whatever you are. But if Applejack says yer a thief then I gotta stop ya.” the red pony determinately said. I turned behind me to see if I could perhaps just run past the orange pony.

“Shit,” I said, “not going to be getting out that way. The orange pony had taken up a defensive stance and looked ready to stop any backtracking I decided to try. Realizing that I wasn’t going to get away from this scenario easily I decided that maybe I should try to talk to these ponies again. However I briefly saw the image of the orange pony violently thrusting a pitchfork at me, followed closely by another of the bar door starting to snap in half, lastly followed by a pony bucking a tree of its apples.

I hardened my stance and realized that even if I wanted to resolve this position peacefully the smart thing to do would be to run, get in a defensible position, and force the ponies into a peaceful talking scenario. I usually like to solve problems with my words but at this point self preservation takes precedence. If I was wrong about these ponies being friendly then that could be a deadly mistake with the strength they both possessed. With this newly discerned knowledge in mind I outwardly sighed and slowly released any tension in my muscles. The orange pony seeing this as a sign of weakness decided to slowly edge their way forward towards me. Focusing I mentally looked inward towards my body's center and found my core. Reacting quickly I forced a small portion of my cores energy into my legs and stood straight. Turning my vision away from the orange pony I looked at the other red pony again as I crouched. Fast a lightning I dashed towards the red pony. Its face contorted to show a large amount of shock at the sudden turn of events. Before it could react I hastily vaulted it’s frame, which considering it was standing at around 4 feet wasn’t truly that difficult. After landing I started dashing away from the two confused ponies as fast as I could.

After a good 2 minutes of running I figured I had pretty much left the ponies in my dust. Much to my surprise, right as this thought crossed my mind, I began to hear the sound of hooves behind me. Glancing over my shoulder I couldn’t believe it as I saw the two ponies quickly gaining on me. Damn these ponies are way faster than I gave them credit for. Realizing my mistake I quickly forced a bit more energy from my core into my legs and kicked my running into overdrive. After a few seconds I glanced over my shoulder expecting to see the ponies now far behind. Again I was surprised as I saw them frantically running and still keeping up with me. “OH COME ON!” I yelled back, starting to get annoyed.

“YA’LL *PUFF* AIN’T GONNA STEAL FROM MY FARM *PANT* AND GET AWAY WITH IT,” yelled the orange pony.

I noticed that even though the ponies were keeping up with me I could see their bodies starting to sweat and their breaths becoming a bit more desperate. Feeling pretty bad about scaring them and stealing some of their produce I decided that I needed to end this now. I didn’t want to also tire them out before a days work. Upkeeping a farm was pretty brutal work. I could just apologize later after I got away and let them calm down before approaching them again. Forcing a much larger amount of my cores energy into my legs I literally kicked up dust as I violently tore away from the two ponies through the trees.

Perspective: AppleJack

Even with what I had just yelled at the escaping biped I realized that I couldn’t keep up this pace for much longer. However that train of thought was yanked from my mind as the creature suddenly kicked his running into overdrive and sprinted away and an insane speed. I came skidding to a halt as did Big Mac. I watched as the biped quickly started to shrink smaller and smaller in my field of vision. After catching my breath I turned to Big Mac and said, “I don’t I’ve ever seen a feller go that quick before! That thing took off quicker than a pony with an ursa major hot on it’s hooves!”

Big Mac watched the biped disappear from his vision and simply said, “Eeeyup.” Now that I had a second to think about the whole situation I realized that it might have gotten out of hoof and that I probably overreacted to seeing the strange creature in my barn. “Throwin’ a pitchfork at the poor fella might have been a tad much,” I sadly realized. I then remembered that the creature had been covered in blood. I turned to Big Mac, “We need ta warn tha others that there might be a dangerous creature on the loose. At the very least we need to catch him and try to talk to it. I’m pretty sure I heard it say something once or twice.”

Big Mac once again simple said, “Eeeyup. I’ll head in ta town and get the mayor to put out a general alert.” He then trotted off down the way we had come, back towards town. I figured that I needed to get all my friends together and the first stop should probably be twilight. She could warn the others real quick with her magic. I looked back at the last spot I had seen the creature disappear and sighed. Turning my head back I steeled my resolve and trotted towards Twilights house.

Perspective: Tired Running Human

After finally hitting the edge of the orchard I halted my frantic running and slowed into a walk. Stopping for a second to catch my breath I went and sat down beneath what appeared to be one of the sickly looking apple trees I slightly recalled seeing last night. I looked over towards the way I had come just to make sure the ponies weren’t still trying to follow me. I sighed and fell back onto the tree I was currently resting on when I realized my escape path was clear. Looking up at the tree again I noticed one of the dark grey apples was close enough to my hand to that I could actually reach it. As I pretty curious about these new apples, and I wasn’t going to eat it, I figured if I pulled it of the tree no one would know or be hurt by this. So reaching up I picked it off its stem, brought it down to eye level, and began analyzing it.

I was correct in my first assumption that it was a very dark grey. The apple itself however did not look as sickly as I had believed it to be before. In fact it’s external skin seemed to have a vibrant sheen going across it. The best way I could describe it was as if a normal apple tree had all the colors from its apples mostly drained away. Giving it a deep sniff I recognized the faint scent of a normal apple, just more muted. I figured if the ponies had left these dark looking apple trees on their farm then it probably wasn’t dangerous to eat. As I was an apple connoisseur I couldn’t help but really want to take a small bite, if not just to see what it tasted like. I know I said I wouldn’t but my curiosity was outweighing my desire to not eat this apple.

Hesitantly I brought the apples to my teeth and took a small bite. As soon as the juices hit my tongue I jumped up and spat the apples and it’s juices out. “Ptui! Who in the hell would want to eat and apple like that!?” The apple I had just spit out was, without a doubt, the most sour thing I had ever eaten. “bleh” I gagged out. My mouth tasted like I’d just tried to swallow a gulp of vinegar. Throwing the offending apple away from me I decided that since the shock of the acidic apple had already roused me from my relaxing spot I might as well get moving. I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do though. I know that I wanted to somehow apologize to the ponies and see if they were in fact sapient as I believed. Although at this point I was pretty sure they were. I tried to think about how I could make myself seem like less of a threat so they wouldn’t do anything like at our last meeting. I then remembered that what had really set the orange pony off had been the blood on my body and clothes. An image of a small creek passing under the cottage I had seen last night flashed across my mind. “Of course!” I happily exclaimed. “I can just wash of my clothes and body there”. Giving myself a quick sniff, I grimaced. “And it would appear all this running around and sweating has given me quite the foul odor.”

With all these factors in mind I decided to find the path at the edge of the orchard I had seen last night. I was hoping I could just go back down the path and find the cottage as I had before. Walking a short distance down the orchard edge I saw the path and got back on it. Pleased that a solid plan was starting to come together I began walking down the path away from the apple orchard. Now that I wasn’t drunk and in the dark like last night I started to check out the surrounding area of this path as I walked towards my destination. I was pleasantly surprised to take in a picturesque vibrant landscape. Short bright green grass swayed in the wind, trees had birds happily hopping around their branches, and the sun was fully in the sky but not overwhelmingly bearing down on me. If I wasn’t so determined to get myself clean I would have loved to just lay down, close my eyes, and listen to the sounds of this peaceful landscape. Sadly even as the thought crossed my mind I remembered all the trouble I had caused the orchard ponies.

Wait a moment. I stopped and thought back to when I was running away from the orange pony. I saw what I believed to be vegetables in the distance near the barn and I know I saw a cow in the barn earlier. Realizing my mistake I recognized that even though the orchard had a lot of apples that the whole place was in fact a farm instead. Shrugging at this realization I looked up and recognized that cottage and creek I had seen last night. As I got closer I couldn’t help but admire the earthly feeling this cottage was putting forth. The creek going under the adorably tiny bridge and the multiple bird houses set the mood but what really did it was the veritable smorgasbord of greenery covering the cottage. As I wasn’t an expert on plants I couldn’t identify what each of them was but I could at least appreciate the look they gave the cute home.

Shaking these thoughts from my head I remembered why I was here and started to quietly head towards the creek being careful to listen for any wierd noises. I remembered seeing a bear last night and that wasn’t something i wanted to tangle with if it was still around. Thankfully as I was getting closer I noticed that the spot the bear had been sleeping at last night was unoccupied. Cheering at my good luck I picked up my pace and got to the edge of the creek. Pulling off my shirt I tried to assess the damage to it and my body. I had a good number more deep cuts than I remembered last night. “Guess that’s what I get for running through a forest at night. Granted I didn’t have an option with that demon hot on my heels.” Looking to my shirt I realized that the darn thing was pretty much useless as an article of clothing now. “Looks like someone put this thing through a shredder”. Sighing I said, “At least I can get this blood and odor off my body now.” I then dropped my body into the creek, dunked myself under, and reemerged.

Hearing the sound of me drop into the creek seemed to ruffle some of the birds from their homes and brought a adorable looking white bunny to the edge of creek above me. I saw the bunny and stayed still trying not to scare it. “Hey there little guy. Sorry to disturb you but I needed a quick dip in this creek. I’m quite filthy after all.” Much to my surprise the bunny seemed to nod it’s head and hopped back to the cottage. “Did that bunny just understand me… Well considering I just saw talking ponies earlier in the day I guess it’s not impossible.” Shaking my head at the insanity of the situation I dunked myself and quickly gave my body a scrub with my hands. The blood on my stomach was proving to be difficult to get off though. I laid my body face down in the water and began furiously scrubbing my stomach with my hands. Right as I got to a point in which I believed I’d removed all of the blood I felt something grab my arm and yank hard.

“Please don’t be dead!” I heard. I looked at the source of the voice and found myself staring at a light yellow pony with a flowing pink mane. The poor pony looked positively terrified as it looked at me. I looked down at myself and checked to make sure I had gotten all of the blood off my front. I looked clean minus a few of the cuts that had re-opened and let some small dribbles of blood come out. “Oh you poor thing! Look at all those cuts. Please let me bandage you up,” the pony quietly said. Well at least that reaction was better than the last pony that saw blood on me. I looked past the pony's mane and saw what looked like wings on it back. What the hell. Wings on a pony? First I see a manticore in a forest and now a I see a tiny talking pegasus.

“What the hell is with all this legends come to life bullshit,” I whispered to myself. Even though i didn’t mean the pony to hear me apparently it did and suprisedly said, “Oh my. I didn’t realize you could talk. I thought you were a hurt animal.” I stood up with my shirt in hand and tried to ring the water out of it. I gripped both ends pretty hard and started to attempt to return it to a semi dry state. This was apparently the wrong thing to do as the creature shrunk down and started to back away from me. “Oh m-my. You’re really t-t-tall,” it fearfully said. Recognizing that this pony was a lot more scared of me than the last one I had seen I stopped my actions slowly and got back down on my knees. I put my shirt down and gently laid my hands on my knees.

“Please don’t be frightened. I mean you no harm. I simply needed to use your creek to wash off.” I said as soothingly as possible. The yellow pony seemed to hesitate between coming over to me and slinking back into it’s cottage.

Eventually it took a tentative step forward, “Y-you promise you won’t h-h-hurt me?” it hopefully asked. I gave the pony my best winning smile.

“I promise I won’t hurt you. As I said before I mean no harm. I simply wish to talk to you.” The pony seemed to finally trust my words and got close enough that I could touch it, not that I did. It studied my front end and made it’s way around to my back I assume to check it for any damage.

After coming back around front it said, “Please wait here. I mean i-if you want….”. It looked at me hopefully again.

“I promise i’ll stay here only if you tell me your name” I responded with another smile.

“I’m Fluttershy,” it quietly said back.

“Nice to meet you Fluttershy. My name is Cicero.”

The newly christened Fluttershy smiled at me and said, “Nice to meet you too Cicero. I’ll be right back.” Fluttershy then turned around and walked back into the cottage. As Fluttershy walked away I noticed the lack of male genitalia behind it’s swishing tail. Recognizing that based on it’s timid personality and quiet voice it made sense that she was a girl. Or wait I supposed it would be mare? Either way once she ducked back into the cottage I slowly stood up and walked over to her cute little bridge. I sat down and looked over her creek as I admired the obviously handmade bird houses that adorned almost all of the trees around here. I then stopped and thought that if she made them if would be hoovemade. Shaking my head at the incredulous though I decided that I needed to clear my mind for a second as all of these insane events in a row we’re taking their toll on my mind.

I crossed my legs, put my hands on my knees, and took some deep breathes. I thought about all I had seen since this morning and tried to recall last night just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. I didn’t get very far into my short meditation session before I heard the clopping of hooves coming from the direction of the cottage. I turned and saw Fluttershy with a bag draped over her back bearing the universal red cross insignia denoting something medical. Assuming it was a medkit bag of sorts I turned my sitting body towards Fluttershy and straightened my torso. As she reached me she dropped the bag, rummaged through it with her mouth, and quickly pulled out a roll of gauze.

“This gauze has already been treated with a medical salved. I-if you don’t mind can I please put it on you.” she hesitantly said.

“Fluttershy you don’t have to be scared around me. I promise I mean no harm. Also yes, I would be happy to have you bandage me. Thank you.” Fluttershy seemed to relax at my words, and putting the roll into her hooves began walking around me as she rolled my torso in the treated gauze. After she had walked around my body a few times she stopped and tied a small knot on the front of my chest to get the bandage to stay on.

Smiling at her work she looked up at me and said, “All done!”. However she then frowned as she beheld my face.

Thinking that something might have been on my face I worriedly said “Is something wrong Fluttershy?” She looked down and seemed to mull over what she wanted to say.

“I-i-is there something wrong with your eyes? You haven’t opened them once since I’ve seen you. Did something happen when you got these injuries? N-not that you have to tell me if you don’t want to!” Ah this old question. With all that had been happening to me recently I kinda forget to mentally prepare myself for this. It was generally the first thing people asked me. Followed shortly by, ‘OMG ARE YOU DAREDEVIL!’ God how I dreaded these inevitable questions. Always the same fucking joke followed my response.

“No miss Fluttershy, I promise you my eyes are quite alright. My vision has not been damaged”.

“H-how can you see me then? You seem to react directly to where I am without me making any noise.” she confusedly said.

“Well let’s just say I have an eye condition. This condition means that I have to keep my eyes closed at pretty much all times. Needless to say I can in fact see you quick clearly. Most likely in the same way you see me right now.” I hope she heard the hesitancy of in my voice about discussing this subject.

“Oh, alright then. I don’t really understand but i’m not able to use any magic so I guess it makes sense that I don’t understand some things”.

Trying to process her response about using magic I was rudely interrupted and violently jarred out of my thought process by a loud, “FLUTTERSHY WATCH OUT!”

I had just a moment to turn and look at who had just yelled at me. Reacting quickly I fell back from my seated position and a rainbow blur flew straight past me. Jumping up from my seated position I watched the very colorful new pegasus as it banked hard and started to fly back towards me. As the pegasus flew past me I recognized that it also was a mare but as it had just attempted to take my head off I treated it as nothing more than a threat. I widened my stance and prepared to grapple the incoming threat.

“RAINBOW DASH STOP!” Fluttershy screamed. This seemed to halt the colorful rainbow equine mid flight.

“Fluttershy didn’t you get twilight's scroll about a dangerous biped walking around ponyville!? It’s gotta be him!”

Fluttershy trotted in front of me and said, “I’ve been treating his injuries for a little while now and he hasn’t so much as sneezed aggressively at me. I don’t know who you’re looking for but it’s not him!”

“Miss Rainbow Dash,” I said directly addressing her, “I mean you or Miss Fluttershy no harm. I’m simply a confused man trying to get his bearings in an unknown location.” Rainbow Dash held an hesitant look on her face and she looked me up and down.

“Well I guess you don’t seem to be that dangerous right now. Either way twilight will know what to do with you.” Processing her response I wondered who this Twilight was. I thankfully didn’t have to wait long for an answer as I heard a bunch of loud hoofsteps getting louder behind me. I looked away from the cottage and beheld a group of colorful ponies making their way quickly towards our location.

I saw fluttershy turn around and yell out, “T-Twilight?” She then looked behind the rapidly approaching purple pony in the lead and tacked on, “AppleJack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie. What are you all doing here?” I saw the orange farmer pony from before and got into a crouching stance. I realized she had probably cooled down from earlier but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew from beside me to go and meet the rapidly approaching group of ponies. As they all got close to the bridge they slowed down to a walk and then a full stop when they got close enough to talk.

“There’s that apple thief from earlier!” yelled the orange pony that I now realized was AppleJack.

“Apple th-thief! Oh m-my.” said Fluttershy.

“AppleJack are you sure it’s the biped you mentioned earlier?” asked the purple pony in front.

“Darn tootin’! I ain’t like we got that many strange lookin’ creatures wandering randomly around Ponyville!”

Deciding that I needed to do something I spoke up, “Um pardon me but I heartily apologize for eating any of your apples earlier. I was rather drunk last night and took a few of your apples on a whim. While we’re on the subject those Kiku apples of yours are simply amazing. Truly the best apples I have ever had the pleasure to devour.” Applejack had a look of surprise cross her face, followed quickly by a blush.

She took the stetson adorning her head off and whilst slightly covering her face said, “Well thanks partner. The Apple family prides themselves on our delicious apples.” However she then realized her moment of weakness and a bit more aggressively said, “But tha’ tastiness of ma apples ain’t why we’re gathered here”.

Reacting before they could say anything I spoke up, “Yes I imagine you’re here mostly about the blood I was covered in earlier.” The purple pony spoke up and said, “Yes AppleJack came frantically running into my library declaring that a suspicious creature was wandering around her farm covered in blood.” Well at least they haven’t jumped the gun and incorrectly accused me of anything yet. I decided to directly answer the purples ponies implied question.

“Yes that was me running off of miss AppleJacks farm earlier.” I turned towards the orange pony again and said, “I truly apologize for frightening you, stealing some of your delicious apples, and usurping your napping’ spot miss AppleJack. That hay bed you created was amazingly comfortable for something made of such simple material,” I added trying to butter her up.

The purple pony seemed to want to respond to this but the white pony beat her saying, “Ohohoho AppleJack! Taking naps in between work I see!” The orange pony seemed to blush at this comment. “Darling I keep telling you that you need to take more breaks. Really you should come to the spa with Fluttershy and I one of these days. The massages there do wonders for relaxation!”

“Dagnabit Rarity, how many times do I have to tell you no. I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to help me relax but I can handle ma job! The Apple family has been maintaining that farm for generations without the help of any fancy spas or massages.”

The white pony, apparently named Rarity, only smirked and said, “As you wish. I know you’ll crack eventually. I can get you a half off deal as a new customer! You only have to ask when you’re ready to experience a new level of relaxation and beauty!”

AppleJack seemed like she wanted to respond to this last comment but the purple one beat her to it by frowning and saying, “Girls this really isn’t the time for such a discussion.” Turning her gaze towards me she said, “Hello there undiscovered creature! My name is Twilight Sparkle and I would love to get to know you! I’d also love to study you if you have the time!” she semi creepily tacked on.

“Ummmm…. Well hello back Twilight Sparkle. My name is Cicero and while I wouldn’t mind getting to know you i’ll admit i’m a bit hesitant to be studied…..”

Twilight Sparkle seemed to realize her mistake and giggled saying, “he he sorry! I get a bit excited at the chance to learn something new.” Seeming to remember something she also added, “But before that can I ask what was all that about you being covered in blood? Applejack mentioned you were covered in blood when she came to me earlier.”

“Ahhhh. Yeah sorry about that.” I again turned towards AppleJack, “I didn’t mean to scare you with the blood covering me earlier.” I then turned back to Twilight and ashamedly said “That blood was actually mine. It came from some wounds I drunkenly obtained when I was attacked by an animal last night.” The ponies all seemed to gasp at that, but before they could say anything Fluttershy flew back to me and frantically fluttered around me looking for any more injuries.

“Oh you poor thing! I didn’t realize you had been attacked! I’ll make sure I have a good long talk with whatever animal attacked you last night! Are you ok? You don’t have any other injures do you?” she said looking up to me with her big caring saucer sized eyes. I couldn’t handle it anymore. These ponies were ADORABLE. I was already one step away from grabbing them all and pulling them into one large fuzzy group hug but Fluttershy's cute level of concern was the last straw.

“Awwwwwww! My god you’re so adorable,” I practically cooed. I reached out and grasped Fluttershy pulling her into a cuddly hug while rubbing my face happily against hers.

Rainbow Dash, it seems, wasn’t having any of this as she jumped up and yelled, “Fluttershy are you ok!” However the currently cuddled Fluttershy didn’t seem to be able to respond as she was frozen in surprise. Realizing my mistake I released Fluttershy and let her fall into my lap.

“Oh shit! I’m sorry Fluttershy! You just seemed so cute while you were flustered and I wanted to give you a hug to let you know i’m ok!”

Once released she seemed to recover from my previous cuddle attack and blushed while saying “I-i-i-it’s ok. I-i Just didn’t expect it. It actually felt pretty nice.” She blushed heavily while admitting that but still continued with, “I’ve never felt claws like yours before.”

Before I could respond to the fact that she had said claws Twilight chimed in “Yes I’ve definitely never seen appendages like that before either. Would you mind coming with us to my home so we could ask you a few more questions?”

Thinking about how nice and friendly the ponies had been so far, at least while not panicking, I answered, “Of course. I don’t see any reason why not.”

“YES!” Twilight yelled. “Alright everypony, hold on. I’m going to teleport us to the library now.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Wait did you just say tele- *Crack* port……” I stopped in surprise and looked around. The creek surrounded cottage was gone and instead was replaced by what appeared to be a decent sized library. Holy shit.

Ch. 3 Introductions

I took in the site that was the library with my mouth open, having a hard time believing that I had just been teleported. Shaking my head I looked around trying to discern if this was just an illusion. Before I could voice my amazement at what just happened the pink pony chimed in “WEEEE! That was fun Twilight! Let’s do it again!”

Twilight giggled at the pink ponies antics saying, “Sorry Pinkie Pie but you’ll have to wait until next time. Even as much as I’ve been practicing my teleportation spell it still takes a lot out of me. Especially when I have to transport multiple ponies at one time.”

I decided to speak up, “So while I’m not sure if that experience was fun, as Miss Pinkie Pie voiced, I’ll admit i’m amazed that teleportation even exists. Let alone the fact that you just did it near instantaneously with multiple people. Also as i’ve just witnessed what I would consider to be an impossible feat dare I ask if you are in fact a unicorn capable of magic?” I had noticed the horn on Twilight and Rarity's head but had been hesitant to believe yet another creature from legends existed.

“Yes of course. All unicorns are capable of at least basic magic.” she said as if it was the most common thing in the world. I took this last revelation about as well as could be expected for a man that was completely overloaded with legends coming to life. I sat down, laid on my back, and just starred up the ceiling breathing evenly.

After a minute or so of quiet contemplation Fluttershy decided to speak up, “U-um Cicero? Are you ok?” I took a moment to think about my response to that.

Making up my mind I finally spoke, “Yeah I guess i’m ok. Just a little overwhelmed by everything. I’ve always considered myself a pretty level headed person but recently that sentiment has been put to the test. I woke up today to a talking pony yelling and threatening me with a pitchfork. I then proceeded to watch another pony in an apple field kicking a tree so hard it’s apples fell off due to the sheer power of the vibrations coursing through its branches. Next I was chased through an Apple Orchard by these two ponies at speeds most mammals couldn’t possibly hope to achieve. Again I was blown away by meeting miss Fluttershy who is quite literally a fantasy pegasus brought to life.” Fluttershy make a quiet ‘eep’ of surprise at this statement. “And to top it all off I then met a fucking unicorn capable of magic that could teleport multiple people instantaneously.”

Twilight was the first to speak up, “Based on what you just said can I assume that wherever you’re from doesn’t have unicorns or pegasi?”

“No Twilight it most certainly does not. But now that we’re on the subject of where i’m from,” I said while sitting up, “Where am I?”

“You’re in the town of PonyVille located near Canterlot in the country of equestria!” I looked down and racked my brain for any past knowledge that might help me make sense of what she just said. Thinking of all the places I knew I’m pretty sure there isn’t any country or land called Equestria on Earth, at least I don’t think so. Then again I have limited geographical knowledge as it never really interested me. As I was thinking, a scary thought passed through my mind.

Steeling myself for my questions response I quietly said, “Twilight, this planet we’re on is called Earth right?” She looked at me funny.

“No the name of this planet is Equis…..” Her eyes widened in surprise as she understood why I was asking. “ARE YOU FROM ANOTHER PLANET!? Oh my gosh this is so exciting! There are so many things I want to ask you!” She turned around and looked up at a staircase yelling, “Spike! Quick I need you to take a note!”

I heard a grumble come from upstairs as someone called back, “Alright i’m coming Twilight. Just one moment.” I decided to get in a word before the other person came downstairs.

“To answer your question Twilight, yes I believe I am as my planet is called Earth and we don’t have any countries or lands called Equestria. Nor any talking ponies for that matter.”

All of the other ponies seem to gasp while Pinkie Pie called out, “YIPPEE!! You're the first alien from another world I’ve ever met! Not only that but you’re new to ponyville! You need a super awesome welcome to Equis, Equestria, and Ponyville Party! Do you like cupcakes? I love cupcakes! What’s your favorite flavor? Do aliens eat cupcakes? What about Cake? Do aliens have parties? What’s your favorite color? Can I-”

“PINKIE PIE!” all of the other ponies called out to her. Pinkie Pie looked slightly abashed as she realized she had been overwhelming me with too many questions.

I ran over all the questions she had bombarded me with, in my mind, and then responded with, “Yes, red velvet, most do, again most do, yes, and Blue.” Everyone stared at me in shock, except for Pinkie Pie who seemed very pleased with my responses.

“OOOOHHH I’m so excited! This party is going to be amazing! You’ll have to show me some alien baking at some point.”

“Yes, yes Pinkie I’m sure your party will be amazing, as they always are, in the meantime did I hear you mention something about countries?” Twilight said excitedly looking at me.

“Errr yes we have countries. Quite a few in fact. I come from one called the United States of America, or just USA for short.” I said.

She looked positively ecstatic at this news and turned around to yell at the stairs again, “SPIKE! SPIKE! I Need you quick! I don’t want to loose any of this valuable information!”

Rainbow Dash chose this moment to snort while saying, “Oh man Twilight. You allways nerd out at such boring eggheaded things. There’s way cooler stuff we could be asking this guy.” She fluttered in the air over to me and hovered close. “Like what’s the fastest you’ve ever gone?”

Before I could respond to Rainbow Dash's question a large upright walking purple lizard came down the stairs saying, “Jeez Twilight what’s the big deal?” Holy shit. Is…. is that a dragon? No fucking way. Being unable to contain my incredulity any longer I called out to the lizard, “Are you a dragon!?” The purple lizard at first jumped in surprise having not seen me as it was coming down the stairs.

After recovering it seemed to puff up its chest as it proudly exclaimed, “You betcha I’m a dragon! I can breath fire and everything!” My right eye started to twitch. I took a deep breath and let it out very slowly.

Again Fluttershy chimed in, “U-um… Cicero?” The concern was evident in her voice.

“Yes yes i’m ok again. With all the new things i’m learning today i’m just having to re evaluate everything that I believed to be a myth. Creatures like Pegasi and Unicorns are one thing but deadly magical carnivores such as dragons and manticores are a little harder to swallow.”

“D-deadly c-c-carnivores!” she squeaked.

“Manticores!” Rainbow Dash yelled excited. “Did you see one or something?”

“Yes Miss Rainbow Dash I not only saw a manticore I was in fact chased by said deadly beast through the forest last night. I’m pretty sure it was trying to make me it’s late night snack.” “WHAT!” Everyone called out in surprise. “Yeah I guess I’m lucky to have gotten away. I was really really drunk last night.” I said sheepishly while scratching the back of my neck. “That’s why I have these bandages all around my torso. Apparently I got them last night running away, but I was too drunk to notice.” I halfheartedly chuckled. “Thank you for doing such an excellent job bandaging me miss Fluttershy.” Fluttershy seemed to blush harshly and tried very hard to hide herself behind her pink mane.

“SO AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash called out. “I may have to re-evaluate your coolness factor now! You're at least... ,“ she contemplated her answer, “20% percent cooler now!”

“Rainbow Dash being chased by a manticore is not cool! It’s terrifying and dreadful! I mean look at the poor dears pants and shirt! They’re not but tattered rags now,” Rarity called out. I wasn’t sure but it seemed like Rarity was more offended about the manticore destroying my clothing than me.

Suddenly AppleJack spoke up with a glum sound to her voice, “Ahhh gall dangit. That’s why you were hiding in ma’ barn with blood on your clothing, isn’t it?” She looked really distraught by this realization.

“Uhhhh yeah sorry about that again. I didn’t mean to break in and everything but I was really exhausted and badly needed to rest.”

“Ahh sugarcube it’s alright. If anything I’m the one that needs to be sorry for trying to throw a pitchfork at ya this morning. I thought you were a no good thief.”

“It’s completely fine Miss AppleJack. I would probably have acted the same in your situation. Besides I slept in your barn last night and ate a couple of your amazing apples so let’s just call it even.” I said giving her a full smile. AppleJack looked up from the ground and gave me back a smile.

Twilight spoke up yet again, “I’m very happy you and AppleJack worked that out but I really really want to ask you some questions!” Twilight looked like she was about to explode if I made her wait any longer.

“Very well Twilight. I think I can handle a few questions. But I have a few questions as well. If you wouldn’t mind answering them. How about we go back and forth?”

“Excellent! Spike are you ready?”

“Sure am Twilight!” Spike said back.

“Alright first question wh-” she began as I interrupted her.

“Wait please. Is it alright if I go first? I have a question that I feel needs to asked first.”

Looking upset at being denied the ability to ask her questions Twilight said, “Alright very well. I suppose I can wait a little bit longer”

“Thank you. I know it’s a little late but who are all of you? I’ve heard all of your names during conversations but we’ve all yet to do introductions.”

“Oh my goodness dear you’re absolutely correct. How could we have forgotten proper etiquette,” Rarity said as if she’d committed some heinous crime. “This simply must not stand. Let me be the first to correct this egregious oversight. My name is Rarity. And I am this town's resident seamstress, designer, and fashion aficionado!” Rarity was a unicorn, like twilight, with a completely white short coat of fur across her whole body. But her defining physical features that stood out were her eyes, tail, and mane. He large eyes were a light sky blue and were made to heavily stand out by her obviously well maintained dark eyelashes. Her purple mane and tail were the centerpiece to her physical appearance though. Both her mane and tail had obviously been painstakingly curled and layered to perfection. They accented her plain white coat well. One other thing I noticed was a strange tattoo on the side of her hip. It depicted three sparkling light blue gems.

Wait did she say she’s a fashion designer? What’s the point if ponies don’t wear any clothes? Trying to understand how she could support herself with this job I asked, “Not to be rude miss Rarity, but how often do ponies wear clothing? As far as I can see you guys are as naked as they day you were born.” Everyone seemed to get slightly embarrassed when I called them out on their nudity, which seemed silly to me as they all hadn’t minded just a few seconds ago. But I suppose things like that generally weren’t asked if wearing clothing wasn’t a societal norm here.

Rarity recovered from my statement first. “While it is true that ponies don’t generally wear clothing at all times most like to wear dresses and other fancy clothing on special occasions. And please darling just call me Rarity. I believe I speak for all of my friends when I say no honorifics are needed here.” All of the other ponies seemed to nod their heads at this.

“I see. Thank you for allowing to address you all informally.” I pondered what occasions would call for clothing to be worn by a species that was apparently generally nude.

Twilight broke my train of thought by saying, “While I want to ask you why your species wears clothing and how often you do I’ll just finish the introductions first.” Twilight Sparkle was a completely purple unicorn. Unlike rarity she didn’t seem to spend as much time on her mane and tail as they were just brushed straight. It was still reasonably easy to tell she was a mare based on her body structure and appearance. Both her mane and tail had a streak of indigo and magenta going through them which greatly accented her purple body. Her eyes were also a darker shade of purple than her body. What surprised me was that like Rarity she also had a tattoo on her hip. Although hers depicted a large six pointed magenta start with 5 small white stars surrounding it.

“As I said earlier my name is Twilight Sparkle but you can just call me Twilight for short. I’m the protegee to princess Celestia of Canterlot and i’m here in Ponyville studying magic. More specifically i’m studying the magic of friendship. Oh, and I also run the town library which is where we currently are.” Protege of the princess? I wonder if the princess is training her in just magic or perhaps to become nobility or maybe even something else. Who is this princess? Also what the hell is the magic of friendship? Does she mean that metaphorically or does she actually think that friendship holds some type of magic? It sounds crazy to me but judging by the insane things that have been happened to me recently I wouldn’t discount it being real. So many unknowns. I feel like i’m drowning in all of these questions.

I was drawn from my sea of questions by Rainbow Dash who had taken it upon herself to go next. “The name's Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash was probably the most flamboyant out of the whole group of ponies. She was a pegasus with a solid sky blue coat. Her eyes were a darker shade of magenta which stood out magnificently from her blue coat. These two paired features were completely overshadowed by her mane and tale though which were both rainbow colored. I was heavily skeptical to believe that this color scheme was natural, but then again I had seen stranger things today. Like the others she also had a hip tattoo. Hers was a small white cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt striking from it. What personally threw me for the biggest loop were her wings. There is no way wings that relatively tiny, in comparison to her frame, should ever be able to maintain sustained flight. As I had seen her do just this earlier I was trying to grasp what aeronautics could make this possible.

I didn’t get to think long as she said, “I’m the fastest flyer there ever was! I’m part of the pegasus weather team around ponyville now but I’m training to one day join the Wonderbolts!” Given her boast of being the fastest pegasus I could understand why she asked me how fast I could go earlier.

“First, might I enquire as to what a pegasus does on the weather team? Second, who are the Wonderbolts?”

“WHAT! HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT THE WONDERBOLTS!?!?” I simply continued to look at her and raised an eyebrow. After a second she realized her mistake. “Oh right. From another world. He he sorry about that. Well the wonderbolts are the most awesome pegasus flying group to ever exist! They train day and night to do crazy amazing tricks together at flying shows and i’m going to join them one day!” She finished proudly. “As for what I do on the weather team it’s pretty lame in comparison, although I still find a way to make it look amazingly cool of course. I just clear the sky of clouds when their not needed and then create whatever weather is scheduled for that day.”

I raised both my eyebrows this time and gave her a skeptical look. “You mean to tell me that you actually fly into the sky, remove clouds, and somehow create weather phenomenon every day?”

“And look crazy cool while doing it.” she thoughtfully tacked on while nodding. I shook my head in disbelief.

“Ok let’s say for a second that I actually believe you can do this, you do realize what this means, correct?” She seemed to think for a second and then just shrugged her shoulders. I sighed while saying, “This means you can do things that shouldn’t be possible even when taking into account magic. You can somehow interact with condensed water vapor by dispersing it and calling it back together at a whim. Next you can somehow manipulate these clouds to create water and i’m assuming lighting as well. This implies the ability to shift thousands of agitated bits of ice to create massive electrical currents without damaging yourself. But you didn’t specify weather phenomenon so i’m also assuming this includes other things such as wind currents and snow. This again implies control of wind and large air masses along with the ability to shift their positions rapidly,” I finished completely unconvinced of her claims.

Everyone was now staring intently at me as if I had grown a second head. “That was hot,” Twilight said with an hungry look on her face. These words seem to break the spell of silence as she blushed furiously and looked away trying act as if she hadn’t just said that. I blushed slightly as her words as well.

Everyone seemed to be trying to hold back a laugh at this statement while Rainbow Dash just gave in saying, “Yep that’s Twilight for ya,” and then began laughing uproariously. Twilight somehow impossible got redder.

Rarity came to Twilight's rescue with, “Darling there is nothing wrong with being attracted to intelligence.” Twilight looked like she’d had enough of this and tried to get the conversations going again. “Can we please just move on with the introductions? AppleJack why don’t you go next?”

Applejack chuckled slightly and said, “Sure thing hon. Well even though we met earlier ma name's AppleJack.” AppleJack was an light orange colored pony with a straw yellow colored mane and tail. Her mane and tail were both tied off at the ends in a loose ponytail. Heh ponytail. Moving on. Her eyes were a light lime green that clashed well with her orange face and white freckles. The centerpiece of her appearance was the light brown stetson resting upon her head. Judging from it’s heavily worn exterior it was obviously worn every day. If AppleJack had been a human she would have been the perfect representation of the attractive farmgirl look. Like the other she also had a tattoo on her hip. Hers depicted three indistinct red apples with green stems in a triangle around each other.

“As I also said earlier I run tha Apple Family Farm at the edge of town. We produce apples, vegetables, milk, jam, apple based alcohol, and pretty much everything else a normal farm does. So whenever ya have a hankering for fresh food ya come to us now ya hear!” She very proudly finished. I could see from the way she talked about her farm that it was a very special place for her. I could definitely respect someone who loved what they did everyday. On earth that type of pride in one’s work usually let to a better product and more attention to little details. I suddenly remembered something I had wanted to ask AppleJack earlier.

“AppleJack earlier when I was running through your farm I noticed a red pony kicking trees to knock apples off of them. Is that a normal skill?” Applejack chuckled at this question.

“Shoot that ain’t nothin for an earth pony. We got strength in heaps!”

This was a slightly scary revelation but I felt the need to also ask, “What’s an earth pony.”

“Hmmmm,” she thought, “the easiest way to describe it would be to say any pony without wings or a horn is an earth pony. We’re a whole heap stronger than the other two and are usually pretty darn good at growing things. But since we’re askin about each other I’d like to know how you took of so fast when me and Big Mac were givin chase earlier.”

Ah shit. That’s not something I really want to talk about. But seeing as how these ponies had been so open with me so far I felt it would be incredibly rude to not answer. I decided on a half truth half lie.

“Well without going into too terribly much detail I just shifted energy from one part of my body to the other. I just looked for the core of the energy inside my body and shifted some to my legs so I could go a tid bit faster than you. It’s a pretty common ability for the people on my planet.”

AppleJack seemed to frown as she said, “A tid bit faster? Sugarcube ya darn near shot off at 10 times me and Bic Macs top speed.”

“WHAT!?” yelled Rainbow Dash. “I’ve seen AppleJack run full speed and she’s pretty darn fast. Hmmmmm I have to reevaluate your coolness level yet again. I wonder how fast you can go….. But in the end it’ll never equal up to the awesome speed of my sonic rainboom!” She finished triumphantly.

“Sorry sonic rain what?” I asked, thinking I had misheard.

Rainbow Dash seemed to glow with pride as she said, “My Sonic Rainboom! It’s my killer trick in which I go so fast I create a rainbow shockwave!”

I sighed, turned to twilight, and said, “Is she seriously claiming she can exceed the speed of sound?” Twilight seemed shocked that I was asking her but quickly recovered.

“Yes. And i’ve actually seen her do it a few times. The rainbow colored shockwaves are quite nice.” I brought the middle fingers of my hand to my heads temples and began to rub them gently. Before anyone could ask me if I was ok again I said, “I could try to explain to you that first off just by design your wings shouldn’t be able to maintain sustained flight. I could also try to explain to you that a creature of you body structure shouldn’t be capable of getting anywhere near the speed of sound. And last I could also try to explain that creating rainbow colored refractions of light while breaking the sound barrier make absolutely no sense. But you know what? At this point I’m pretty much just going to explain all these insane scientific phenomenon with, ‘fuck it it’s magic’.”

Granted with my abilities I really really shouldn’t be able to say shit to Rainbow Dash about what was supposed to be scientifically possible. But I wasn’t going to tell her that and give her ammo to back up the defense of her logic defying abilities. And in my defense I could explain how I can do what I do. At least most of it. Alright only some of it.

Before I could try to come up with a logical defense for myself in my head Rainbow Dash retorted with, “Well I’ll just have to show you my amazing skills sometime you neighsayer! I guarantee once you see my stunt routine you’ll be so wowed you won’t try to use your nerd logic anymore!”

Being skeptical of these claims I simple said, “Let’s just continue with the introductions if you all wouldn’t mind.”

“OOOH OOOH ME NEXT ME NEXT!” Yelled a very exuberant Pinkie Pie. While Pinkie Pinkies appearance wasn’t quite as flamboyant as Rainbow Dash's, Pinkie Definitely came in close second to her. Her body was pretty much completely pink. Her coat was a cotton candy pink while her mane and tail were a bright magenta. What surprised me most was the insane level of puffiness to her tail and mane. Instead of being done up in layered curls like Rarity, Pinkie Pie's tail and mane seemed to just be one massive ball of curls that had just gotten more and more tangled until there was no hope. Instead of looking bad this theme seemed to somehow work for her. Her whole physical appearance seemed to radiate the same levels of excitement she did in every interaction i’d had with her so far. Her baby blue eyes only increased this theme of light hearted happiness and excitement. Like the others she also had a hip tattoo. Hers was a trio of balloons, the bottom two being blue with white strings while the top one was yellow.

“My names Pinkie Pie and I want to be your best friend! So what should we do first new best friend!?”

“Uhhhhhhh” I dumbly responded.

“WAIT I have it! We should go prank some people! Or even better we could go swimming! I love swimming! Do you like swimming? OOOH OOOH Even better, you could help me with my party cannon! I was going to upgrade it soon! Oh this is so exciting! Do you ha-” I could easily see where this was going as she had just done the same thing to me not a few moments ago.

I held up my hand. “WAIT!” She didn’t seem fazed in the slightest that I had just interrupted her mad rant. “Pinkie Pie I would love to hang out with you and do something but I can’t even tell you that if you constantly bombard me with questions and suggestions silly.” I said lightheartedly. She giggled and smiled back at me. “So what is this party cannon you talked about?”

“Why it’s only my favorite party creation device in existence!” She reached behind her back. I was not prepared for her to pull a massive light blue cannon with two toned pink wheels sporting a yellow flower on each out from behind her. I jumped in surprise as the cannon hit the ground in front of Pinkie Pie.

“Where the hell did that come from?” I said surprised.

“Well from my hands silly.” Pinkie Pie said as cheerily and smiley as ever. I walked closer to her and peered over her shoulder. I then got down on the floor and began knocking on it for a false floorboard or something. Not finding anything and being completely nonplussed I stood up.

“Twilight should I just chalk this up to pony magic again?”

Twilight gave a slightly worried laugh and said, “Actually in this case it’s better not to ask questions when it comes to Pinkie Pie doing things like that. No one really understands and it will just make your head hurt trying to.” I looked over to Pinkie Pie to see her giving a cheery nod at this revelation.

“Pony magic it is then.” Twilight seemed to frown slightly at me forcing this insane phenomenon off on magic but didn’t say anything. “Well Pinkie Pie as much as I would love to try and understand what your party cannon is I believe we’ll have to wait until a later date to do so. We still have one more person to introduce.”

“Okie Dokie Loki! I’m going to hold you to that!” She then proceeded to put the cannot back behind her making it completely disappear. I tried to ignore her doing this but couldn’t help trying to think of something that could explain how she was doing that.

“E-excuse me. Cicero? Do you mind if I go now? I know we already met but i’d still like to go. That is i-if you’re ok with that.” I sighed internally. I wondered if her nervousness came from talking to me specifically or if it was just her personality. Fluttershy was a light butter yellow colored pegasus. Unlike her rainbow colored pegasus friend, fluttershy and her wings looked very delicate. Instead of a sickly delicate it was more of a refined gentle spirit delicate. This look was enhanced by her light pink mane and tale. Both looked very smooth with a light wave going through them. She had very gentle looking cerulean eyes which just seemed to beg you to cuddle her. And last fluttershy once again had a tattoo like the others. Hers, keeping with her gentle theme, was a trio of butterflies with a light blue thorax and abdomen accented by their pink wings.

Lowered my voice and smiling I spoke to her, “Of course you can go Fluttershy. I’d love to hear about what you do.” Fluttershy seemed to glean some confidence from my words and decided to continue on.

“My name is Fluttershy and I take care of all the animals in and surrounding ponyville.” I was a bit confused by that non specific job so I asked for clarification. “Fluttershy what do you mean you take care of the animals in and around ponyville? Are you a veterinarian or something like that? What types of animals do you take care of.”

“Oh i’m so very happy to tell you about all my animal friends” she said beaming. “I’m not a specialist like a veterinarian, I just take care of the animals in a general sense. I make sure they have homes and food. I can also heal them when they get minor injuries or illnesses. As for who I take care of it’s a very wide range of creatures. From cuddly little bunnies to big fluffy bears!”.

“Wait. I can understand you taking care of bunnies but you’re telling me you also look after wild bears? Come to think of it I saw a bear next to your cottage the other night when I was drunk. It’s the reason I dodged past you house and ended up in AppleJacks barn.”

“Oh you saw Harry! He’s really friendly, he would never hurt anyone,” she tried to persuade me. Seeing as how I was a little hesitant to trust the animals around these parts yet, after the manticore attack, I decided to not voice my opinion of wild carnivorous animals at the moment. It was clear Fluttershy dearly loved all the animals she looked after.

“If you saw so Fluttershy. Maybe if I happen to come by your place at another time and see him i’ll say hi,” I said to appease her. She seemed pleased with this response and smiled.

“Well I guess it’s my turn to go then. My name is Cicero and I’m apparently not from this planet. I come from a planet called Earth that’s populated by only one sapient race called humans. My world is much like yours, from what i’ve seen so far, minus a few key differences. One of the most prevalent being that we don’t have any form of magic like you girls do.” Twilight gasped at this revelation but let me continue. “The other differences between our worlds are only speculations in my head at this point. But if i’m here for a while i’m sure i’ll notice and point them out to you all. Before I came to this world I suppose you could say I was a scholar and computer programmer. I don’t know if you have higher educations in this world but I went to something called college, which is a high level learning institution, in my world to study computers and how to program them. I graduated from this institution about 2 or so years ago and have been programming at a company ever since.”

“Now as you were all kind enough to indulge me and all of my questions I feel it’s only fair that you all get to ask what you want.” I was not surprised when Twilight was the first one to ask a question.

“What is a computer and how to do you program it.” Shit that’s one massive question. Well maybe I can try to just give her the general gist of it.

“Twilight to fully answer that question I would have to keep you here for years.” Twilight started to drool hungrily at the prospect of that much knowledge, but quickly snapped out of it when she realized what she was doing. “So I’m going to try to condense it down very heavily. But first I have to ask, do ponies have electricity and machines that run on electricity?”

Twilight quickly answered, “We have both. I believe the most advanced piece of electrical machinery that is purely electrical are electric ovens.”

“Shit that make this a lot harder again. Although I suppose I should just thank my lucky stars that we both happen to speak the same language and have mostly the same words for objects. Alright well as the idea of a state machine is a very old piece of knowledge am I correct in assuming that you know what this is?”

Twilight happily said “Yes I know what those are!”

I smiled and continued with “Well that’s as good as any point to start. Alright well without going into circuit boards and electronic components just imagine that for each state you can get to two others by flipping an electrical switch between on and off. A computer is basically an electrical machine with and endless state machine. You can also program it, as I do, to create new states without having to physically touch it. Oh and most nowadays are about the size of a small box. Some are even the size of my hand. In fact,” I pulled out my phone, “this is one of the machines I was talking about.”

For a second I was worried I had broken Twilight as she seemed to be staring straight ahead with her mouth open not saying anything. Before I could start to worry I heard the purple lizard speak up, “Don’t worry I’ve got this. This happens sometimes when Twilight starts to think about something really hard. She just sort of ignores the world.” The dragon then walked over to Twilight and pinched her on the backside.

“Youch!” Twilight yelped as she jumped straight up. Landing she looked around angrily to Spike. “What was that for Spike!?”

Spike held up his hands and defensively said, “You told me if you zoned out to think while talking to others I was supposed to pinch you.”

A look of realization crossed Twilight's face as she blushed and said, “Oh. Sorry Spike. I was just very excited by the endless possibilities of a machine that Cicero described.” She then proceeded to levitate the phone out of my hand and turned it around studying its design. “If this device can really do as you say, it’s simply amazing that something so small has that much power.”

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” I quoted. “That’s a quote we used to use on my planet and in this case I feel it applies very well. Though I have to say, that telekinetic magic you just displayed seems way more amazing than my phone at the moment. But before we continue our back and forth questions I feel truly ashamed that we happened to skip someone during our introductions. Spike would you care to go next? I’m sorry for skipping you as I didn’t see you behind Twilight.”

Spike seemed surprised that I was suddenly addressing him. Hesitantly he started with, “Well I’m Spike and i’m a dragon.” He was obviously a young dragon due to his size. Either that or dragons in this world just don’t get very large. Most of his body was a light purple but his underside was a light green. He had sharp looking purple claws and a soft looking set of green spines ending in a barb looking object for his spade. His most eye grabbing features were on his head though. He had light grass green slit like reptilian eyes. His ears were hard to understand though as they just looked as if someone had slapped some dirty green leaves on the side of his head. I will admit even though spike was a baby dragon I couldn’t help but be impressed that I was standing before a living dragon.

“Uhhh I don’t really have a job but I help Twilight here at the library and with her studies. She says i’m her number 1 assistant! I also live here with Twilight.”

“Wait what? Let me get this straight. You’re a fire breathing dragon that lives in a library full of flammable books that reside in a massive house made inside of a flammable tree, correct?”

Spike paused to consider my words and happily looked up to say, “Yep!” I did the only the logical thing at this response and facepalmed. Now I understand that he was obviously a baby dragon and therefore the problems were probably muted, but still.

“You ponies confuse the heck out of me,” I despondently said. “I can’t tell what’s normal anymore. Deadly carnivorous manticores in your forest, fire breathing dragons in your flammable homes, what’s next on the list of living legends!? Ancient celestial demigods walking the lands!?”

Twilight chimed in with, “Well I don’t know about demigods but princess Celestia and Luna both move the sun and moon every day for our normal day cycle.” I froze at these words. Anything with that much power is pretty much exactly what I was currently looking for. I felt bad baiting these ponies with my words but in my defense I didn’t actually think anything with that level of power would exist on this planet.

Needless to say I was still extremely surprised that two demi goddesses lived on this planet and as such said, “Once again I don’t even know where to begin with that statement Twilight. Being the scholar that you obviously are surely you realize the incredible amounts of force that would be required to move the sun and moon daily. Granted I don’t know the size of this planets sun and moon but the point still remains. Moving planet sized bodies of mass across the sky, without even factoring in gravity, requires and almost incalculable level of power!” I sighed. This day was just getting more and more ridiculous and I was pretty much nearing the end of what I could handle. “Everyone I’m sorry for saying this but do you think we could cut our questions and answers session short and resume tomorrow? Judging by the angle of the sun's rays it’s getting pretty late and I’m exhausted from everything that I’ve seen and learned today. Not the mention I don’t even have a place to stay for the night and I was hoping you all could point me in the direction of an inn of something of that nature before it gets dark.”

Everyone seemed to suddenly remember that there was an outside world to this library as they all snapped their heads to the window in surprise at the revelation of the days passing. Twilight spoke for the group.

“Yes I believe it is getting a bit too late for a long conversation.” She then looked me directly in the eyes and determinately said, “But don’t think this gets your out of our questions session tomorrow! There’s so much I want to learn from you!”

Pinkie Pie added, “And we also have to perfect my party cannon one of these days! Ohh and don’t forget you have to teach me alien baking!”

Rainbow Dash not to be left out challengingly added, “We also have to test your true speed! If what AppleJack said is true I wanna see if you can keep up in a race.”

Doubting that even with my speed I could keep up with a flying pegasus I placatingly said, “I would love nothing more than to simply mess around with you all but as I said before right now I need to find lodging for the night as I’m rather tired.”Thankfully Twilight came to my rescue.

“Well if it’s a room you need you can just stay here. We have a guest room on the top level of the library. Spike and I live on the middle floor of the library because it doubles as my house.”

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth *heh* I graciously said, “Thank you Twilight. I appreciate the level of kindness you’re willing to show me even though I’m an unknown alien from another world. I can honestly say this level of kindness of my world would be rare, if not nonexistent.”

“Well get used to it partner,” AppleJack said. “This is ponyville and I was about to invite ya’ll to my house in return for chasing ya around my farm this morning but Twi here just beat me too it.” What a wonderful place. I may not know much about this land so far but I know good peop- err ponies when I see them. If I was truly stuck here, as I believed, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad at all.

“Sorry to rush out everypony but as Cicero pointed out it is late and I really need to finish a dress or two before tomorrow,” Rarity declared before walking out the door. “Ta ta!”

“Rarities got the right idea,” AppleJack added. “With as much farm work as I skipped out on today I need to do at least a little bit more before callin’ it a day. See ya’ll tomorrow!” She also walked out the library door.

Rainbow Dash looked to Pinkie Pie and said, “Well I don’t have anything to do but I think a good pranking session is in order. The whole town was warned of a mysterious stranger wandering around and I guarantee we get some good pranks out of this situation! What do you say Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie put a devilish look on her face and said, “No pony will know what hit them!” She then proceeded to walk out with Rainbow Dash, both laughing maniacally all the while.

Only Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, and myself were left in the library at that point. Fluttershy turned towards me and fidgeted, looking as if she wanted to say something. Noticing this I turned towards Fluttershy. “Is everything alright Fluttershy?”

“U-umm well… you see,” she said looking very conflicted. “I-I guess I just wanted to say th-thank you.”

I reared my head back in surprise. “Fluttershy you’ve shown me nothing but compassion and concern for my health today. Not to mention you bandaged up my wounds without knowing anything about me or who I was. If anything I need to say thank you and I apologize for not realizing it before now. As such,” I bowed my head and upper body slightly, “Thank you.”

She seemed to beam at this and said, “That’s why I wanted to say thank you. I’m a very shy pony if you couldn’t tell.” I laughed internally at this obvious admittance but held it in out of respect. “Every time we have spoken or interacted today you’ve recognized this and done everything you could to make me less scared of you or to ease my fears. I really like you and hope we can see each other in the future,” she said blushing at her own words. “But I do need to get back to my animals now. I have to make sure they’re fed and I just know Angel bunny is making a fuss at how late his meal is.” As she walked out the door she turned back and said, “Goodbye Cicero, Twilight, and Spike.”

“Well that’s surprising,” Twilight said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Fluttershy talk to someone that she just met that much.” She then looked at me. “Now I know I made the right decision offering you a space here. If Fluttershy trusts you then how could I not?”

“I didn’t realize Fluttershy’s decisions were held in such high regard.” She shook her head.

“It’s not that. Fluttershy is a very timid pony and usually only trusts other poni-err people if they have proven themselves to be very gentle and kind. So if she can trust someone like you then I would be crazy not to as well.” I contemplated Twilight's words and realized that I now owed Fluttershy another debt. I would have to find some way to repay it soon, after all she’d done for me.

“Well Twilight since it’s been decided that i’ll stay here do you mind showing me to the guest bedroom? The sooner I rest and sleep of this mental fatigue the sooner you can ask me all the questions you want tomorrow.”

“My goodness you’re totally right! Here please follow me.”Twilight had a very one track mind so it wasn’t hard to understand what I needed to stay to get some rest. Although I was hungry after not eating for around a day I had been longer without food and decided that sleep and meditation would be healthier for me in my current state. Twilight and I made our way upstairs on a winding wooden spiral staircase. At the halfway mark I noted a small alcove off to the side of the stairwell. It contained a cute little bed adorned with a blue sheets complete with sun and moon symbols spread about them. The best part of the little alcove was the large pony sized oval window that let you see outside into the retreating day. I could faintly see mountains before I realized I had been staring for far too long. I quickly caught up to Twilight after recognizing she had never stopped and was still trekking up towards the top floor. After a good 20 steps or so we finally reached the top of the staircase. As we reached the top I saw a wooden door blocking our passage any further. Twilight's horn glowed a soft purple and the wooden door suddenly swung out of our way. I followed Twilight into the small cramped room at the top of the stairs. This room seemed to be made for a pony to sleep in and not much else. It was very tiny and only contained a small bed that was twin sized, at most.

“I’m sorry my guest room is so small but we don’t usually get visitors here that are as big as you are.” I looked past the bed and saw a small window in the corner of the room that had a very clear view of the sky. It looked like it was possible to open it and get out onto the top of the tree if someone was inclined to do so.

I turned to Twilight. “It’s perfect. I’ve never been comfortable with large extravagant places. I’ve always prefered small homey feeling houses with a sense of freedom. This room perfectly embodies my idea of a home away from home.” I beamed at Twilight to try and show my honest affection towards this guest room.

She smiled happily back at me and said, “Well I’m very pleased it makes you feel at home. Now I know how tired you said you were so i’ll let you get to bed. Please feel free to descend to my level and use the bathroom if you need. Also please don’t refrain from heading into the kitchen if you get hungry before breakfast tomorrow. I don’t know your dietary habits but I don’t think I’ve seen you eat much today. Either way I will be taking my leave to record all you have told me today in a letter to the princess.” The smile on my face became slightly strained at that knowledge. It’s not that I didn’t trust this princess of Twilight's it’s just that I didn’t like to introduce variables that I didn’t know about until I was ready. However I quickly realized that Twilight and her friends had been almost nothing but kind to me in all of our interactions. If these ponies were this kind to everyone then surely their ruler would be no different.

“Thank you very much for all you have done for me today Twilight. I wish you nothing but kind dreams tonight in return for your actions towards me today.” Twilight smiled at me as she walked out the door and started clopping down the wooden stairs. I walked over towards my very small bed covered in blue sheets. The sheets had multiple pictures of a grey pony with a white beard. The pony also had a very gaudy looking blue wizards robe adorning his body. Not knowing who this pony was I decided that it was most likely some important pony figure. I would ask Twilight about him tomorrow. Sitting down on the bed I crossed my legs into a loose meditative position, straightened my back, linked my hands, closed my eyes, and fell into a very relaxed meditation session.

I contemplated all I had learned today. So many things I had taken for granted as a legend or fairy tale now held a spark of reality within them. Even things that I hadn’t seen today, that I believed impossible, could now exist. I realized that If I was to keep my abilities and calm demeanor in check I would need to shift my attitude to one of acceptance rather than disbelief as it had been today. After all, one who cannot control their mind is not in full control of their body. The last thing I wanted to do was lose control of myself in a land of such peace and harmony. Even as peaceful as this land was I still recognized in the back of my mind that I had most likely been sent here for a reason. Even with this thought in mind I could discern no logical reason behind my appearance in this world. It was truly as peaceful a place as I had seen so far. The human world was far far more chaotic and unpredictable. Why was I brought here when that world obviously needed my help? I understand that my mother was, and had, been watching over the humans for a very very long time. But as seemingly random as they are surely another protector was warranted?

I stopped following that thought process. Mother always told me that trying to understand the thoughts of the original protectors was useless. They saw and thought things that we couldn’t possibly ever hope to understand. Once more deciding to fall back on the idiom my mother had ingrained in me I decided to live in the here and now. If I had truly been send to this world then the princess demi gods twilight had spoken of would at least be able to provide me with the evidence I needed to confirm this. Maybe if I was lucky they also might be able to help me along in my journey to find my purpose. Either way I was determined to face tomorrow with my full potential now that I had finally had a chance to collect myself and regroup. Thanking the kind ponies I had met today one last time I uncurled my legs and laid myself flat on the bed. I looked out the small window in my room and realized that a few hours must have passed since I started meditating as it was now nighttime. As my body started to fall into a sleeping state I beheld an amazingly bright clean night sky through the rooms ceiling window. As the forest trees had blocked my full view yesterday I now realized that even if the stars up there weren’t the ones that I knew they held a beauty far past the night sky that I was used to. “Beautiful,” I murmured as I fell into a deep sleep.

Ch. 4 Getting Started

I awoke feeling extremely rejuvenated from the ordeals of yesterday. As small as this bed of Twilight's was it was very comfy. Sure maybe I hung over the edge a bit but the cozy atmosphere of this upstairs loft made that inconvenience seem trivial. Not to mention that Twilight let me stay here for free yesterday so I can’t complain. Speaking of Twilight I really need to go see here soon. I promised to answer her questions today and I intend to keep my word. However before I left to go downstairs I decided that a quick meditation session was in order. I wanted to think about what I needed to do today before throwing myself into this new world without any semblance of a plan.

I crossed my legs and sat on the bed breathing deeply. First thing I needed to do was acquire basic necessities for survival. This meant I needed to find somewhere to permanently live, collect or ensure a supply of food and water, and at least get some basic clothing. Unlike these ponies I don’t have a fur coat to keep my temperature steady during season changes. As it was nearing the end of summer this wasn’t an issue at the moment but I don’t know how long I’ll be here.

Next I need to make a list of things that I can hopefully accomplish today after necessities are taken care of. I suppose answering Twilight and her friends questions is definitely first on that list. After that I should probably see if this world has an established currency and how I can acquire it. Maybe I can get a job somewhere around here? That’s assuming everyone around this town would accept and even hire me…...

My meditation was interrupted by a rather loud *GURGLE*. I looked down at my stomach and frowned realizing that it had been more than a day since I’d had any real type of food. Once I actually thought about it I suddenly realized I was quite ravenous. Looking up away from my stomach I saw out the window and noticed that sunlight was already flooding into my room. It had to be around noon at least. “I guess I overslept. I didn’t realize I was that tired.

Well no use lollygagging around. Time to go see Twilight. Maybe her offer for food from yesterday still stands. As I stood up I felt the sad remains of my shirt flap around my upper half. Frowning I realized that this shirt was pretty much useless at this point. If anything It was just going to flap around and annoy me, not to mention catch on things as I walked past. Taking off my shirt and putting it next to the bed I remembered my bandages.

I wondered if my cuts and scrapes from yesterday were healed yet. Deciding to take a peek I started to undo the bandages in the hopes that I would see my torso back in it’s pristine condition. After letting the bandages fall to the floor I beheld a completely normal and healthy looking front half. “Those bandages of Fluttershy’s must have had some really awesome healing ointments on them.” I healed a little faster than humans do, due to my strange heritage, but my body's abilities were nowhere near fast enough to close wounds and remove all traces of scarring and scabbing overnight. Again it seems I owed Fluttershy another favor. It appears meeting her after running away from AppleJack yesterday was a rather fortuitous turn of events.

*Gurgle*. Well I suppose it’s time to stop thinking and start doing. I opened the door to my room and started my walk down the stairs. I appears Twilight had been waiting to hear these sounds as she called up from the bottom floor.

“Good morning Cicero! I know you’re probably hungry after yesterday so I had Spike save you some breakfast.” As I reached the bottom floor I saw Twilight sitting at a table reading a book.

“Good morning Twilight. Thank you again for letting me stay the night yesterday. Thank you also for saving me some breakfast, I hadn’t intended to sleep as late as I did but I suppose I was a little more tired than I thought.” Twilight looked up from her book at me and raised her eyebrows in slight shock.

“Cicero what happened to your shirt? And where did your bandages from yesterday go?”

I smiled and said, “Fluttershy's healing ointment bandages fixed me right up. I feel as good as new!” I slapped my stomach to emphasize my point. “As for my shirt, the thing is basically useless at the moment.” Twilight frowned at this revelation. “Humans don’t need to wear clothing we just do as it helps us regulate our body temperature and keeps us free of dirt and such. Also because it’s the societal norm on my planet.”

“Well I’ll take you to see rarity today. I’m sure she’d love to be the first fashion designer on Equestria to design clothing for a human. She loves new challenges and chances to find inspiration in different things.”

“Excellent. I was just wondering earlier where I could get some new clothes. I suppose it makes sense to ask Rarity if she could help as I at least know her.” Twilight smiled at my words but seemed to be shifting on her hooves uncomfortably. Not one to miss obvious signs of distress I voiced my concern, “Is everyone alright Twilight?”

“Well. I don’t want to pry but do humans not have eyes? Your body seems to be structured to have eyes but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you open them.” Ahh that. I guess with all the strange things that happened yesterday she and her friends had been too distracted to ask or perhaps they were just being kind and decided not to ask. I know How strange people on Earth get around those with disabilities so i’ve seen varied responses to my eyes.

“Yes Twilight humans do in fact have eyes. Most use them the same way you ponies do. Let’s just say I have a medical condition that requires me to keep my eyes closed. But don’t worry I can still see you as you do me.”

“Fascinating. I’ve never heard of that type of condition. If you want perhaps we could take you to some of the unicorn doctors in Canterlot. They have a lot of very cutting edge magical spells being developed every day. Perhaps they can look at your eyes and fix the problem.” While I appreciated her willingness to help I had to decline.

“Thank you for the offer Twilight but i’ve lived with this condition all my life and as It doesn’t effect my vision I just consider it to be a part of who I am at this point.”

“Well it’s your choice. Either way we need to get you some breakfast before we start our day.”

My stomach gave a very loud *GROWL*. “Well it would seem as though my stomach agrees with you. Please lead on.” Twilight laughed at my stomachs response and led me to the kitchen. As we entered the kitchen I saw spike cleaning some dishes in the sink. Spike had on a pink apron with fluffy frills that proudly displayed a large purple heart as it’s centerpiece image. I tried to contain my laughter at this, I really did. Unfortunately my body got the better of me and I let out a, “BWAHAHAHHAHA! Are you kidding me?!” Twilight and Spike seemed surprised to hear my loud laugh and looked at each other. I saw this and addressed them.

“*snort* I’m sorry you two it’s just *snicker* I’ve always been told tales of dragons as large terrifying fire breathing creatures. But then *hehehehe* I come into the kitchen and here’s the cutest tiny purple dragon i’ve ever seen in the most adorable pink apron. My god I swear everything in this world is adorable.” I then remembered the manticore from yesterday. “Except the manticores here. Fuck those guys.”

Twilight giggled along with me once I’d finished my explanation. Spike however seemed to be embarrassed and a little mad at my words. “I’m not that cute… I could be dangerous if I wanted,” he very adorably pouted.

“Man Spike you are not helping your case if you’re trying to look intimidating. But don’t worry about looking cute now you’re still a youngling. Use it to your advantage while you can. I don’t know much about dragons in this world but the natural order of living things is to grow larger and stronger with age. I’m sure you’ll be a majestic flying firebreathing terror in no time.” Spike smiled and puffed out his chest at my words. “Just make sure you change your battle garb when you get a little older. That apron is only going to make your enemies want to cuddle you.”

Twilight laughed while spike narrowed his eyes at me. Not wanting to agitate the dragon who had supposedly prepared me food I just smiled back. “So Twilight tells me you made breakfast this morning. Is there any left? I’m pretty much starving right now.” Spike's face lit up as he grabbed a plate from the counter apparently having already forgotten that he was mad at me.

“I made pancakes today so you’re in luck! I always make too many and we have leftovers for days.” There seemed to be about 10 hand sized pancakes left on the plate.

“Awesome. Do you happen to have any syrup or butter for these bad boys?” Spike grabbed a bottle and tub from an overhead pantry and put them next to the plate on the table. Not wanting to wait any more I quickly kneeled down next to the table and with a hasty, “Thanks Spike,” I started lathering my pancakes with butter and syrup. I took a first bite and froze. “Holy cow! These pancakes are the best I’ve ever had.” Spike seemed very pleased by this news and grinned widely. I ravenously started tearing into the pile of pancakes. Quickly disposing of this mountain of food stopped kneeling and leaned back sitting on my butt.

It was slightly strange to not use chairs at a table due to how normal that was in my society back home. Having experienced other cultures on Earth that almost never used chairs I wasn’t that surprised that these ponies didn’t have them. Considering how easy it is for a quadruped to stand comfortable for long periods of time I guess it makes sense that this society doesn’t have any. Although i’ll admit I did prefer chairs when eating. “Well Spike that was the best meal i’ve had in quite a while and that’s not just my hunger talking.”

“Thanks Cicero! I almost never get to cook for anyone else so it’s nice to see my cooking is appreciated and not taken for granted,” he said eyeing Twilight.

“Spike I don’t often complement your food because it’s just such a given that it’s incredibly tasty!” Twilight said looking slightly guilty and nervous.

Spike however didn’t seem to notice and cheerily responded, “Thanks Twilight.” As Spike turned away I noticed Twilight letting out a relieved sigh.

Twilight turned to me and said, “I’m surprised you managed to eat all of those pancakes you must have been really hungry.”

“Ehhh it had been about a day or so since I’d eaten so I guess it makes sense. Also I’m about twice the size of you ponies so logically i’ll normally eat more.”

“Well I guess we can head over to Rarity’s now to see if she’d be able to make you some new clothes.”

“Awesome I was really wanting to ge-”

“BUUUUUUUUUUT,” she interrupted me, “since you made me wait to ask questions yesterday I get to at least study you and record some information before we go.” Well I guess i’m not surprised.

“Alright then Twilight what do you want to know before we leave,” I asked hesitantly.

“Well I received a response to the letter I sent the princess about you last night. Like me Princess Celestia and Luna seem very interested to learn about humans as we’ve never encountered your kind before. They asked me to include a detailed description of your physical appearance in my next letter to them. They also said they would come visit at some point but that ruling the country takes first priority. Oh and they told me to mention that they are looking into how it was that you came to be here and if it is possible to send you back.”

Well that saves me the trouble of having to find a way to meet the two Princess demi gods. And I didn’t even have to ask them about getting home. Twilight thought to ask them before I could even collect myself enough to ask her. Still though, the fact that beings of such power have taken an interest in me is slightly unnerving. Best not to think about it too much I suppose. What will happen will happen. “When you send that letter to the Princesses please tell them that I am excited to meet them too and that I send my regards.” Twilight smiled happily at me but then quickly shifted her face into a semi serious state.

“Alright then, let’s get this documenting started so we can get to Rarity’s. Spike are you ready to take some notes?” Spike popped up behind us both with a quill, ink bottle, and long piece of parchment at the ready.

“You betcha Twilight!” Dang that little guy is prepared.

Twilight started to walk around me in a circle. “Subject is around 6 foot 3 inches with semi short black hair on this head. Subject appears to be a male based on contextual evidence.”

“Errr yes I’m definitely a guy.” I said slightly offended. But then again I had issues determining these ponies genders when I first saw them. Now that I think about it all of the ponies minus that red one I saw yesterday seemed to be female. I guess that makes sense considering they all seem to be close friends. Twilight was surprised that I interrupted her and blushed slightly.

“Sorry Cicero. Sometimes I forget I’m dealing with living beings and get a bit too zoned out from reality.” I nodded my head for her to continue. “He has two arms and two legs. The arms appear to end in some strange soft clawlike appendage.” I reached over and poked Twilight in the nose. She shook her head in confusion not expecting my actions which made me curl my lips into a wide smile.

“You think those are weird check out these.” I pulled my socks and shoes of quickly to show her my feet. She hovered over them looking for a few seconds.

“Cicero also has small soft appendages at the ends of his feet as well. Almost like his claw appendages but much smaller.”

“The ones on my feet are called toes while the ones on my hands, not claws, are called fingers.”

“Fascinating.” she said.

“Human toes aren’t very dexterous,” I said displaying them limited mobility, “but our hands are rather versatile.” I finished as I wiggled my fingers around. I then reached over and ruffled her hair while continuing to smile.

“What pleasantly soft claw- I mean hands. How interesting.”

“Welp i’ll give you a belly rub or massage or something later to show you what these little devils can do. As for now please continue.”

She scrutinized my teeth and her eyes widened. “Cicero's teeth are apparently varied between flat teeth in the back with a row of rather sharp looking ones in the front. These combined types of teeth usually denote *gulp* predators.”

I suddenly threw my hands in the air and yelled, “WITH A APPETITE FOR PONY FLESH!”

“EEEP!” Twilight squeaked falling backwards as she lost her footing while panicking.

“Hahahahahahahah! Oh man I can’t believe you fell for that!” I keeled over laughing. “Come on Twilight if I’d have wanted to eat you i’d have done it last night while you slept.” I finished lowering my laughs to small chuckles. Twilight looked sheepish and stood back up.

“My apologies. I guess I just wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Naw it’s cool. Humans are actually omnivores. We can eat both meat and plants pretty well. Of course they are limitations but we have a very wide diet. Eating sapient beings is against my, and most humans, moral code though. So don’t worry I won’t eat you or any of your friends. Ignoring that though, again please continue.”

Twilight nodded her head and said, “Cicero has no fur on his body and appears to have the same beige skin color in all locations. His general body appearance seems to be reasonably healthy but it’s impossible to tell without other humans to compare. Another note of difference, compared to ponies, are that all his muscles appear to stand out much more than normal ponies.”

I put my hands behind my head and flexed my body saying, “See something ya like cutie?” Twilight blushed furiously at these words and looked away.

“I-I-I-I….” she stammered.

“HAHAHhahaha! I’m sorry Twilight. I don’t mean to keep derailing your study session.” I said while winking at her. This caused her to turn red yet again. “But you ponies are already so gosh darn adorable. And when you get flustered it’s just that much better.”

“Yes well.” she coughed regaining part of her faces normal purple color.

“Anyways now that we’re done do you mind if we go to rarities? I would like at least one shirt before the day ends.”

“Wait but we still haven't covered your lower half!”

“Well some things are better off left a mystery. Besides humans have pants to cover our lower half as that’s where are private parts are.” Before Twilight could inevitably sink into another blushing session I quickly followed up with, “Perhaps one day I’ll do the noble thing and reveal my glorious manhood for science, but for now I’d just like to get a shirt if you wouldn’t mind.” Twilight only slightly blushed this time while I chuckled at her expense.

“Alright then. I just need to send this note off to the princess with what you said and then we can be on our way. Walking over to spike she took the quill and parchment with her magic and started to scribble something down. Finishing quickly she said, “Thank you for your help Spike. Can you please send this to the Princess?”

“Can do Twilight.” Spike grabbed the scroll and blew out some green fire, turning the scroll to ash.”

“Awwww man. What’d you do that for?” I said. “Now we’ll have to make another one.” Twilight laughed at my confusion.

“Don’t worry. Spike has a special fire which can transport things between two places instantaneously. He just send that letter to the princess.”

“Huh, that’s a pretty neat power ya got there Spike. It’s almost like text or instant messaging.”

“What are those?” Twilight predictably asked.

“Ehhh I’ll explain later. If I tell you then you’ll just want to learn more and more and we’ll never leave.”

“Fair enough I suppose. Spike we’re leaving the library for a while. Please watch the house while i’m away.”

“Sure thing Twilight.” replied spike with a little salute.

“Alright then, let’s go Cicero.” I followed Twilight out the door of her library, crouching so I wouldn’t hit my head. As Twilight started off towards wherever Rarity lived I dutifully followed behind and took in the sites as we walked along. As I had noticed yesterday this area around Ponyville was a very peaceful looking land. All manner of life, be it animals or plants, seemed to be thriving. Perhaps pollution doesn’t exist in this world? Maybe any that does is extremely small in scale? I guess it could also be that Ponyville is an exception. I haven’t seen much in the way of actual buildings so far so maybe it’s just too small of a town to warrant the pollution that comes along with development.

“You alright back there Cicero? You’ve been awfully quiet since we left the library.”

“Yeah I’m fine Twilight. I’m just amazed by how vibrant and healthy all of the wildlife that i’ve seen so far is.”

“Well of course it is! We take very good care of our whole town here in Ponyville. As she mentioned yesterday, Fluttershy typically takes care of all the animals around Ponyville while various other ponies are tasked with keeping the plants and trees healthy. Isn’t that how it is on Earth?”

“It is. I suppose it’s not the fact that it all looks healthy, it’s more so the intense level of health that everything displays. I noticed it yesterday on AppleJacks farm as well. All her apple trees looked incredible full and healthy. Each one looked like it was the pinnacle of Apple Trees. Maybe the land around here is just naturally healthier and more bountiful than on Earth.”

“It could be the in inherent magic in the land. I was always told by Princess Celestia that the lands of Equestria held a vast amount of natural magic throughout them. She said it was a large factor in the decision by her parents to build the Equestrian nation in these lands.”

“What!? He parents built this nation? How old is Equestria?”

Twilight seemed surprised by my outburst but answered, “I believe Equestria was founded around 6500 years ago. Princess Celestia and Luna have been running it for around 3000 years since their parents abruptly died.” My mouth fell open at this.

“3000 years!? Holy hell! Is that a normal lifespan for you ponies?!” Twilight chuckled at my bewildered expression.

“No. The princesses are just special. As alicorns they have a vast amount of magic within their bodies that helps them live much longer lives. All normal ponies usually live around 100 years or so depending on the factors in their lives. How long do humans normally lives?”

Damn 3000 years. I can’t imagine anyone living that long. Mother used to tell me tales of the diverse lives of our people. She said some could live incredibly long lives until they’d fulfilled their purpose, but i’d never heard of anyone living nearly that long. Realizing that Twilight was still waiting for an answer I stopped thinking on the Princess’s life spans.

“100 years is generally the apex lifespan of humans. The actual average lifespan of humans varies greatly in my world. This is due to a massive variety of reason from where they were born to the genetics of their bodies. I’d say the average lifespan of people in my country is around 80 years. But as human technology advances so does the average lifespan. We don’t have magic so we have to use machines and electronic devices to keep us healthy. Maybe one day we’ll match the average lifespan of ponies, but not right now.”

“Humans always sound so different whenever you talk about them. It’s amazing how diverse your people are.”

“Well there’s about 7 billion of us so I guess it’s not surprise.” It was Twilight's turn to drop her jaw.

“s-s-s-s-SEVEN BILLION!? How is that even possible! That’s so many! How do humans even function with so many different people?”

“Well to be honest, pretty poorly. There’s too many people and not enough resources and sometimes this leads to w-” *WHUMP* *SLAM*. I was knocked off my feet and had the air knocked out of me as something crashed into my diaphragm. My first instinct was to latch onto whatever had hit me as I slammed into the ground.

“Cicero! Are you ok!?” Twilight yelled nervously.

*Wheeze wheeze* “Yeah I’m *wheeze* ok. What the hell just hit me?” I looked down and beheld a small light grey pegasus with a yellow mane and tail. The pegasus uncurled herself from the ball she was in and looked around.

“Hi Twilight! Hi strange warm creature!” She happily said to us both. Twilight giggled.

“Hello Derpy, on your daily mail flight I see.”

“Yeah! I was almost done for the day too but I needed to deliver a letter to you! I kinda lost my balance and was about to slam into the ground when I crashed into this soft warm thing!”

“Yes, well this soft warm thing has a name and it’s Cicero. Nice to meet you miss Derpy.” I said from below her. Derpy hooved a pink letter out of her bag and handed it to Twilight. How the hell she grabbed the letter with her hooves I’ll never know. Twilight used her magic to open it and then read it. She smiled after a few seconds and somehow made the letter disappear entirely.

Derpy then turned back to me and said, “I’m sorry for crashing into you but I have to admit i’m rather glad I landed on instead of hitting the ground. You’re much softer!” Derpy tried looked up at me but her eyes only ended up looking in random directions. Attempting to make puppy dog eyes she said, “You not mad are you?”

I was fighting tooth and nail to keep the internal squee going through my body from becoming external. After taking a second to combat the waves of cute coursing through my body I finally collected my thoughts. I reached over, picked up the pegasus, and hugged it tight against my chest.

After 20 seconds Twilight finally spoke up, “ummmmmmmm.”

“Shhhhhhhhh. I’m trying to absorb the cuteness Twilight. This is a magical moment. Nothing this adorable should be able to exist.” I had expected Derpy to pull away after I had hugged her but much to my delight she just seemed snuggle further into my hug.

“Come on Cicero we need to get to Rarity’s and I’m sure that Derpy here has to finish her mail route.” Begrudgingly I internally agreed with twilight and released Derpy.

“To answer your previous question, no Derpy i’m not mad. Honestly even if you walked up to me and punched me in the face I’m not sure I have it within my body to be angry at something as adorable as you.” Derpy gave a wide smile.

“Thanks Cicero! I’m glad you’re not mad. Thanks for the hug, you’re a really good hugger!” I didn’t even realize you could be a good or bad hugger but I’m pleased to learn my hugging skills were up to par. “Sadly Twilight is right and I do have to finish my mail route. I hope I see you around again though!” She flapped her wings a few times and started drunkenly flying around towards the edge of a town that I hadn’t seen until now.

“What a nice girl. I hope I see her again. Although I’m a bit concerned for her health considering the haphazard way she just flew off…..”

“Don’t worry. Derpy has been like that for years, she’ll be fine. Anyways we’re almost at Rarity's let’s keep going,” Twilight said as she started trotting towards town. I picked myself off the ground and followed along behind her again. As we entered town I saw a lot of ponies milling about talking or doing random things with each other. Some stopped and stared at me as I walked past but most just went about what they had been doing after a little while.

“You ponies seem to be a very accepting sort. I can tell you that if any of you walked through my town it definitely wouldn’t be going as smoothly as this is right now.” Twilight looked back at me with a small ashamed look on her face.

“We’ve had other strange visitors come into town before and we didn’t handle it very well the first time. Most people have probably learned from that mistake.”

“Wish humans could learn from their mistakes like that. I swear our civilization just keeps making the same mistakes over and over and over. Some people just never learn.” As we continued walking through town I noticed that all of the homes throughout the village were just as flashily colored as the equines themselves. The whole town looked like someone had dropped a color swatch into it and the ponies had just decided that everything and everyone would get a different color from the swatch.

Another strange thing I noticed seemed to be that just about everyone here was female. I still wasn’t very adept at identifying their genders but at this point I had seen enough of them to be able to usually spot the differences. I decided I should ask Twilight about this discovery but she spoke up first.

“Here we are! This is Rarity’s store and home, the Carousel Boutique.” Wow. This whole place was a crazy combination of purple, white, blue, and every shade in between. The bottom floor looked decently normal but the upper half of the house seemed to have an actual carousel theme going on. The house didn’t look bad, per say, it was more that the whole appearance gave off a strange princessy vibe. It’s hard to describe. It wasn’t too my taste but I could definitely appreciate the solid theme the building had.

“Your friend Rarity has some very uhhhhhhh…. Unique tastes in her house design.”

“Yes Rarity has always had a thing for flashy designs. Just wait until you see her clothes though! You’ll definitely agree that her taste for flashy designs is for the best!

“I suppose we’ll see I guess. Shall we,” I said making ushering motions towards the door. Twilight stepped forward and walked into Rarity’s place with me close behind. A small bell went off somewhere when we walked into the store.

“I’ll be with you in a moment!” Called a voice from upstairs.

“Hey Rarity! It’s me and Cicero here!” Twilight called back. I heard the sound of frantic hooves coming down the stairs followed shortly by a flustered looking Rarity with glasses on her face.

“Twilight i’m so glad you’re here! And you brought Cicero, how perfect!”

“Were you expecting us for some reason Rarity?” Twilight asked confused.

“No, but after seeing Cicero’s shirt yesterday I knew that he’d need at least one new shirt so I went ahead and created it! I was about to bring it to you. But now that you’re here he can try them on and I can make sure they fit.”

“Rarity while I appreciate you making a shirt for m… wait did you say ‘they fit’? You didn’t make more than one, right?” I asked slightly nervous.

“But of course I did darling! I was struck by inspiration last night after seeing you. I’ve never made shirts for somepony like you before and I was determined to do my best. Now you can be the first human to wear all of my magnifique designs!”

“Wow that’s extremely kind of you Rarity! I’ll admit I came over here to ask you to make me a shirt. I’m surprised you beat me to the punch. However I have to let you know I don’t have any money at the moment. I’m not sure how long I’m going to be here but I was hoping to at least get a temporary job somewhere around here. If you can wait I’ll pay you back when I get some money.”

“I won’t hear anything about money Cicero! I made these shirts for you because I wanted to and I don’t expect any money in return for them. They’re a gift.” Rarity saw me open my mouth obviously to complain but she cut me off. “And don’t you argue with me. These clothes are now yours for free and that’s that!” I smiled at her words. I put my hands to my sides and bowed.

“Thank you very much Rarity. This level of kindness to strangers is a rare thing in my world. Your generosity is unparalleled.” I raised my body to see her smiling.

“Well I am the element of generosity so giving things away is simply part of who I am. You’re very welcome though Cicero.” I stared at her confused.

“You’re the element of what now?”

“I’ll handle this one Rarity.” Twilight chimed in. “Rarity is the element of generosity which is part of a set of 6 elements of harmony. My friends and I, including Rarity, are all a different element of harmony. Fluttershy is kindness, Rainbow Dash is loyalty, Pinkie Pie is laughter, Applejack is Honesty, and I’m Magic. When we all come together, with each of our corresponding elemental jewelry, we can combine our powers to create an evil purifying magic! The princess says it’s a pure magic created by our friendship.”

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Well I guess that answers that question from yesterday. I figured she was being metaphorical about friendship magic but once again I am completely surprised that such power exists.

“Cicero dear whatever is the matter?” Rarity asked.

“Probably the fact that every other time I ask a question you guys respond with a reality breaking answer. It doesn’t help that when you ponies answer you make it seem like your response it the most normal thing in the world. Although I suppose to you lot in the land of dragons, pegasus, and unicorns this is probably par for the standard.” I looked back down from the ceiling. “Still though the ability to purge evil is definitely an amazing power. Honestly I wish I could do something like that. The humans desperately need a power like that.”

“Why do humans need that power so much?” Twilight Asked. “Do your people have a lot of evil monsters roaming around?”

“You could say that. Although the only evil monster on Earth is pretty much humans themselves. Some argue that it’s part of human nature to be a little evil. Some say it’s just how certain people are born. Bad apples if you will. Me? I think it’s because humanity has done it to themselves. We consume resources but don’t replenish them. Corporations pollute the environment but don’t clean it up. The rich fill their stomachs but let those with less starve. People constantly fight over every little thing. Countries start wars with each other for no other reason besides greed. The list goes on and on and on. So yes there is a large amount of evil on Earth. It’s a shame that through our actions and inactions we’ve created and allowed this evil to thrive.”

I finished my tirade and looked over to Twilight and Rarity. They were both looking down with tears in there eyes. “Ah shit, i’m sorry you two. I didn’t mean to lower the mood so much. I just get frustrated sometimes when I think about how much help the humans need. Not to mention it’s easy to see how troubled Earth is compared to the awesome parts of this that world that i’ve seen so far. The disparity between the two make it easy to focus on all the great things you guys have that we don’t. But I suppose even after all I said the large population of Earth is also a boon to us.” Both girls looked up.

“For each hateful person that lives another human full of love exists.” I smiled at Rarity and said, “For each greedy person another one of great generosity exists. In humanity's darkest moments, no matter how different we all are from each other, we band together and find out that our species has a lot more good than bad to offer if we only try.” I then looked at Twilight. “You could say that our ability to combine all of our different cultures is our form of magic. Some of the most amazing things humans have ever created only exist because some strangers met and decided to try working together to make something great.”

Both girls smiled at this final thought. “Alright enough of this heavy emotional stuff. Let’s try some clothes on. If your designs are as amazing as Twilight says I’m hoping to leave this place looking simply faaaaaaabulouuuuuuuuus!” I said the last part while flipping my hair and then doing a small pirouette with my arms wide out. Twilight and Rarity both laughed at how ridiculous i’m sure I looked.

“Trust me darling. Once you leave here with my designs you’ll never want to go back to the old you’s fashion! Follow me dear.” She then excitedly trotted up the stairs while Twilight and I followed after her. I have to admit that I was looking forward to seeing Rarities human clothing designs. I got to the top of the stairs and…… oh good lord. In a row in front of me stood Rarities newest human style clothing designs.

First, I will say I was extremely impressed at how well she had done in recreating human looking clothing considering she had only seen me for short while yesterday. The issue was more so the colors and flashy patterns on the clothing. Apparently the theme she had decided to go with was gems. Almost every single pair of pants and shirts that she had designed were adorned with multiple different sized gems. Rubies, Emeralds, Sapphires, Topaz, and Amethyst, each of varying colors, adorned the clothing. Each set of shirts and pants had a color theme that accented the precious stones that adorned them.

“I can see your speechless at my newest masterpieces! Go on dear try them on!” Rarity happily said. You know what? I blame myself for this. I jokingly asked to be fabulous earlier and in return fate rewards me with a set of flamboyant clothing Elton John himself would be envious of. I sighed. Alright well let’s get this fashion show over with. I walked over to the first clothing set that was covered in a wide variety of purple amethysts.

“Do you have somewhere I can change Rarity?”

“There should be a changing panel behind the mannequins dear.” I looked behind the now bare mannequin and saw what she was referring to.

“Thanks Rarity, I’ll be back in a moment.” Hopping behind the panel I quickly disrobed and pulled on the gem encrusted clothing. To my pleasure I once more was surprised by the very comfortable feeling of this clothing. I wasn’t just a close match to my body structure, it was as if the set of clothing was tailored to perfectly match my appearance. This feature was further accented by the fact that the pants and shirt were both extremely smooth feeling pieces of what I’m guessing was cotton. Well her designs might be too flashy for my tastes but her workmanship is sublime.

“Come now Cicero, don’t keep ladies waiting. How does the clothing feel?” Rarity called. Man this clothing is really really comfy. I need to find some way to tell her I’m not comfortable with the clothings style while still seeming grateful for the obvious work that was put into these. I can’t make them wait any longer though. I guess I’ll just have to wing it. I stepped out from behind the changing panel with a pleased look on my face.

“It feels wonderful Rarity! In fact this is one of the most form fitting and comfortable pieces of clothing I have ever received!” Rarity beamed. “However….” her face fell slightly. “I feel it might be just a little bit more eye catching than what I’m used too. While I have already expressed how honored I feel to receive such a gift, might I humbly make a small suggestion?”

“But of course darling!” said Rarity.

“Half of the reason you wish for me to wear this clothing is so that i’m seen wearing it in public correct?”

“Well that was one benefit I had foreseen when making your clothing.” she said blushing slightly.

“There’s no need to be ashamed rarity. I would be honored to wear your fine work in public and spread word of your talent. However to do your clothing justice I feel as thought I would need to be in a completely relaxed state so that all could see how incredibly comfortable I am in your clothes. As such, for the sake of fashion, I request that the bulk of the gems be removed and perhaps just one or two be strategically placed somewhere on the clothing. You need not use eye catching gems to sell your clothing when the beauty of it’s natural designs stand out far better than any cheap gimmick to trick the eye.”

“No matter what you decide it was rude of me to suggest that I knew better than a master seamstress such as yourself and I humbly apologize for my verbal transgression.” I said as I bowed. I didn’t hear any response so I looked up to see how Rarity had taken it. I was taken aback when I saw Rarity was in fact blushing, not in anger, but embarrassment. I didn’t have to ask what was wrong as she finally spoke up.

“That was without a doubt the most wonderful response I have ever received for creating a new set of clothing. You’ve managed to quickly admire my design, suggest an improvement, complement my work relentlessly, and act like a complete gentlecolt whilst doing so. I would be very happy to take your suggestions and implement them. As I’m only removing a few gems and rearranging the rest it shouldn’t take me but until tomorrow to have them done.” Too my surprise rarity then did what I believe was the equivalence of a pony curtsy while saying, “I extend to you my heartfelt gratitude and want to let you know I greatly appreciate those silver tongued compliments of yours.”

Wow that went way better than most of the times I try to wing something. Not wanting to break the charming streak I had somehow stumbled into I decided to lay the last part on thick. As Rarity had so far shown that she appreciated proper gentlemen and interactions I figured I might as well go the rest of the way, even if it was slightly embarrassing. I went over to her and knelt down to grasp one of her hooves. I pulled its top to my lips and gently kissed it. Still holding her hoof I looked into her eyes and said, “Lady Rarity it is indeed quite the pleasure interacting with you. Your magnanimousness truly knows no bounds.”

I watched as Rarity furiously blushed and simply said, “Oh my.” Deciding that any more than that would be too much I let her hoof gently fall back to the ground as I stood back up.

“As much fun as this has been Rarity I feel bad that I’ve taken up so much of your time. I assume you have orders to fulfill, not to mention a store to run.” Rarity snapped out of her stupor at these words.

“Oh my goodness you're absolutely right! I have a few outfits that need to be finished before this weekend. I’ll see you and Twilight later today,” she said giving Twilight a conspiratorial wink.

Deciding it was best not to pry I simply said, “Thank you again for the gifts today. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go try and find a permanent residence before tomorrow.” I nodded to Twilight and we walked our way downstairs and out of the shop. We got about 5 yards before Twilight Spoke up.

“You know you don’t have to find an inn or house in town yet. We don’t even know how long you’ll be here depending on the princesses answers. You can just stay with me for the time being if you wish.” She gave me an encouraging smile. Again I’m shocked by the generosity of these ponies. One night was one thing, but to offer a place of residence to someone who is almost a stranger is not only kind but almost worrying. I truly appreciated what Twilight had done for me so far but I worry about her naivety.

What if I had been a terrible person? What if I had tried to hurt her or steal things while she slept? I wonder if she had even considered these things. However Twilight struck me as a very studious and intellectual individual. Surely someone with such a sound thought process would have considered these possibilities? Unless….. Perhaps this land doesn’t just appear paradisiacal, maybe it truly is. Maybe these ponies have never had to deal with the wars and evil created by their fellow citizens as the humans have.

What a wondrous thought. If that was truth then this lands existence was an incredible anomaly from what my mother had told me. She always said that our people were sent to lands where they were needed the absolute most. Visions of the absolutely horrendous fates that had befell some of my people on nightmarish worlds had been given to my mother. Mother told me our people passed on these stories as a warning to future protectors.

I unfortunately had been given these visions at one point. I’ll never forget some of the things I learned that day. The universe is truly a disturbingly cruel place. I have seen horrible things that even the humans couldn’t dream of doing to each other. Too bad our people found out that other species could. In defense of my peoples traditions I will also never forget the lesson that each protector died to teach me. This land was too pure, too untainted. Maybe my coming here was truly just a fluke. What use could a peaceful land such as this have for a protector?

Deciding that I would meditate on this later I realized that Twilight had been waiting for my answer. “Apologies for taking so long to respond Twilight. I was merely thinking about how I wouldn’t want to burden you further than I already have.”

“Burden? Nonsense Cicero! I’m happy to help you. Not to mention It’s a valuable opportunity to learn all of the things you know. The closer you are the easier access I have to that knowledge!”

“So that’s all I am to you?!” I said in mock hurt. “Just a source of knowledge that you’ll drain and throw to the curb whence done?!” I turned away. “I thought I had found a friend in you Twilight.”

“WHAT?! No! Cicero I didn’t mean it like that! I’m so sorry for implying I was only interested in your knowledge! I truly want to…..” At this point Twilight had noticed my shaking shoulders and stopped.

“BWAAHAHAHAHAHA! Got ya!” I said mirthfully. Twilight just gave a huff and glared at me. “Hehehe sorry about that Twilight but passing up an opportunity to rile you up would just be a waste.” Twilight continued to glare. I sighed. “Alright maybe I took it a little too far. Sorry about that Twilight.” I then kneeled down and pulled Twilight into a light hug. I rubbed her back while she returned the hug. After a few seconds I pulled away. “Forgive me?”

“Alright i’ll let you off the hook this time.” She smiled. “But only if you tell me about a neat human invention tomorrow in return!”

“Ha! Of course I will. Oh and to answer your question I would be happy to stay at your place if you truly don’t think it will be a bother to you.”

Twilight giggled. “I wouldn’t have offered to let you stay if I wasn’t sure I wanted you there silly. Anyways you mentioned that you wanted to find a job at least temporarily while you’re here, correct?”

“Yes I’d like to be at least slightly self sufficient while i’m here, even if I can’t continue on with my past skillset.”

“Well it just so happens that Applejack needs some extra hands on her farm. She mentioned that her apple trees were bearing a much more bountiful harvest this year. I’m sure if you offered your services she would be happy to take you.”

“Excellent suggestion Twilight! Do you have any idea where I might find Applejack at this time of day?”

“She’s usually in the town bazaar selling her farms produce. Do you want to go see her now?”

“If you wouldn’t mind. I had a few things that I’d hoped to accomplish today and getting a semi stable source of income was high on the list. Please lead the way.” Twilight happily trotted off towards what I assumed was the direction of the town bazaar. I was slightly hesitant to head in the direction of what I assumed would be a highly pony populated area but I really wanted to get a solid source of income if possible. Ignoring the nagging reluctancies at the back of my mind I followed twilight towards the town center. The rest of the ponies seemed to be fine with my presence so far. I’m sure it will be fine.

Not to long after we set out we reached the heart of the village. I was surprised to see a thriving market in the middle of town. It’s not as if I didn’t believe Twilight when she said the town had a bazaar, it’s more that the outside of town seemed to imply that large areas of development weren’t the norm. Yet while the outside of town had been given to nature the center appeared to have all of the features of a metropolis compacted into a very tiny area. Restaurants, shops, spas, produce stands, and everything in between circled the supposed heart of town.

I was slightly overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of so many ponies going about their daily life. Thankfully Twilight noticed I had stopped following her and bumped into my hips in an attempt to get me moving again.

“Don’t worry Cicero I had the same reaction when I first came to Ponyville. I used to live in Canterlot before I moved here so I was very used to how normal cities looked. The rapid shift between Ponyville’s rural outskirts and compacted urban in the center completely threw me off the first time I entered the market. It’s actually one of the best features of Ponyville! We have the diverse selection of goods you’d find in a city combined with nature's natural beauty throughout the town.”

The rapid shift from small town to bustling market had indeed thrown me off for a second. But at Twilight's encouragement I remembered we were here for a reason. I let my sight wander over all the stores the market had to offer until I beheld a small Orange pony with a stetson atop her head. She was standing behind a small yellow stand that was almost overflowing with apples.

“Hey I think I see AppleJack,” I said pointing over towards her stand.

“It must be nice to be so tall. Being able to look over everypony must come in handy.” Twilight said as I started walking towards Applejacks stand.

“Well back on Earth my height was pretty normal. I guess I was a little taller than average but not by much. It was useful in helping me reach things that were up high up but not really much else.” I looked around the market to see ponies staring at me again. Some even stopped talking and shopping just so they could observe me with their full attention. “Here, amongst you ponies, it just seems like a burden. I already stick out enough as a different species from another planet but my height just makes me even me of a spectacle,” I said glancing towards a group of gawking ponies.

Twilight followed my gaze and seemed to register what I was talking about. “Don’t worry about them Cicero. As I said before, Ponyville has learned not to judge other by their appearance. However we don’t get that many visitors into our town, let alone one as different as you. I’m sure they don’t mean anything by their stares. Their probably just curious.” I suppose that made sense. Hopefully this unwanted attention would die down soon though. I wasn’t used to walking around for so long without a shirt and I felt particularly vulnerable to their gazes. I could practically feel all of their eyes scrutinizing every inch of my body.

I didn’t have to think about it for any longer as we’d finally reached Applejacks stand. She had just finished selling some apples to a customer that was walking away. “Make sure ya’ll come back next time ya need some fresh apples,” she said while waving at them. Her gaze turned to find us standing in front of her stand. “Well howdy there Twilight, Cicero.” She said giving us a nod. “What brings you round these parts? Ya looking for some fresh apples?”

“As much as I would love to eat some more of your delicious apples I can’t as I have no money to offer in return. I actually came here to find you because I was hoping you could help me change that.” Applejack raised her eyebrows as this statement but I continued. “Twilight mentioned your farm's harvest was particularly bountiful recently and that you might need an extra worker to help. I have come to offer you my services in response to this.”

Applejack looked me up and down for a little bit. “You know working on the farm is really hard work right? Usually the only ponies that can handle that level of work are earth ponies.”

“Well I’m not an earth pony but I promise that I’m a very hard worker. I can’t honestly say how humans would fare in comparison to earth ponies but I’m rather confident in my strength and stamina. Besides I used to work on a farm back on earth. It may have been a while since I had that job but I can at least say I know what I’m getting myself into in terms of workload.”

“Hmmmmm, well you seem to know what to expect if you get hired. Not to mention it would be useful to hire somepony who already had experience and knowledge of farm work.” She looked me up and down once more. “You do look like a decently sturdy and muscular fella so I guess why not. You’re hired!”

“Excellent! I promise you won’t regret this Applejack. When do I start?”

“How about tomorrow morning. The faster we get you to work the fresher we can keep our produce. Just show up on the farm sometime around daybreak. Assuming you're still at Twi’s all you have to do is head right down the path when ya leave her house. I’ll promise i’ll give ya a fair price for the work you do.”

“Thank you very much Applejack. I can’t wait to get started tomorrow.” Applejack chuckled at my enthusiasm.

“Well since ya don’t have any money fer now, how about a free apple for my newest employee?”

I turned to look at Applejack’s apple stand. “Do you have any Kiku apples today?” I asked hopefully.

“Sure do partner!” She reached in the back and grabbed an apple with her hooves. FUCKING HOW DO THEY DO THAT?! “Here ya go Cicero.” Remembering how amazingly delicious her apples had been before I reverently took the apple in my hands. Raising it up to my mouth I took a bite out of the side.

“Uooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh god there even better sober.” I embarrassingly moaned. Not wasting another second I wolfed down the apple at breakneck speeds, not bothering to eat around the core. Right after I took the last bite I remembered that I had company. I solemnly raised my head to look at the girls. I saw Twilight barely holder back her laughter at my rather uncharacteristic display. Applejack, however, looked rather excited.

“Hot diggity! I ain’t never seen anyone but an Apple family member get that excited about an apple before! You ate that thing faster than a dragon in a gem pile!” Twilight could no longer contain herself and started laughing.

My cheeks turned rather red as I said, “Yes yes enjoy your laugh Twilight after all I got a good laugh this morning when you tried to sneak a glance at my naked body.” Twilight stopped laughing and blushed. I swear if I made that girl blush anymore she’d develop rosacea.

Applejack opened her mouth in shock and said, “She did what now?”

“It was for science Applejack! The princess asked me to document his physical appearance,” she said trying to defend herself. The users of Reddit would have applauded Twilight's defense. Unfortunately Applejack didn’t seem to buy it.

“Whatever you say sugarcube,” she said with a knowing smile.

Twilight let out a frustrated, “Uggh! Believe what you will.” She turned to me, “It’s getting late and I need to stop by the stationery store before I go home. Do you want to come along Cicero?”

“Sure. I had wanted to see more of Ponyville today if it was possible. Also if I’m seen around town more today perhaps it will help stop the staring of other ponies sooner.”

“Alright then. We’ll see you later Applejack,” Twilight said giving another conspiratorial wink to Applejack. Well that was strange. That’s the second time today i’ve seen a covert wink exchanged between Twilight and her friends. They couldn’t be planning something could they? I thought back on another lesson my people had shown me. I didn’t want to remember the particularly gruesome death that protector had suffered but I did recall the lesson I had learned from it. Innocence can be an effective camouflage for those with deadly intentions.

Surely that didn’t apply to Twilight and her friends right? They had been nothing but kind so far. Sadly I remembered that in the vision the protector had said almost the exact same thing. I suppose it’s safer to keep a close eye on the situation. Nothing wrong with being prepared. I escaped my thoughts for a moment to glance at Twilight as we walked to our destination. As much as I hated to admit it, Twilight would be a large threat to me if she decided to fight me.

While protectors have an interesting set of abilities there are some things we’re better at handling than others. Forward confrontations of power are difficult but manageable. Magic however opened up a plethora of deadly options to enemies that my people could neither replicate or easily handle. That’s why each protector is given the visions. If we can’t use magic ourselves we can at least share our knowledge and options to combat it. But perhaps I was just being too suspicious. After all if these ponies are truly as innocent as I believe then it could be nothing more than a whimsical wink between friends.

“We're here!” Twilight said yanking me from my thoughts. I looked up to behold a rather large building dotted with paintings of quills, notepads, inkwells, and other various writing apparatus. The building itself was beige and looked rather gimcrack, almost as if the owners had decided to make it themselves rather than hire a professional. Who knows, perhaps they actually had. Icicles Ink Emporium and Pansies Parchment Palace was emblazoned in bright white letters on the store front.

“This place seems nice. I don’t know how much I trust the stability of this store however. It looks as though it’s been here for ages.” I pointed out slightly unnerved that Twilight wanted to go in there.

“It has actually. This store was hoof made a long time ago by the original owners and it’s been passed down through the ages to each subsequently born family member.”

“That’s nice. Most family run and operates businesses don’t exist in my world anymore. They can’t compete against the deals and power of larger corporations so they end up shutting down. I guess survival of the fittest is a theory that exists in all facets of life.”

“Survival of the fittest theory?” Twilight questioned. Oh god I gave her more things to ask me about later. Damnit Cicero.

“I’ll explain later Twilight. Didn’t you want some ink or something?”

“Indeed I did. It shouldn’t take too long. Let’s go.” We entered the store and I was a bit underwhelmed by what I saw. The outside of the shop had seemed rather large and as such I expected something interesting I suppose. All I could see at the moment were rows and rows of various parchment stacks and multi colored ink bottles. Wait ink bottles? She meant actual ink containers it seems. I guess they don’t have pens or pencils in this land. I thought it was strange when Spike wrote with an old fashioned quill pen this morning.

“Hello again miss Twilight,” said a very old decrepit looking red mare. She was sitting behind a counter at the back of the store. “The usual package I presume?” she asked looking at Twilight.

“Hello again Bookwell! You’re correct! I’m preparing for all the new notes i’m going to have to take. My friend Cicero here is from another planet and he’s promised to detail all sorts of inventions from his world to me!” Twilight finished practically bouncing in place. Interesting. We only met yesterday but she already considers me a friend. Again it’s either pure naive intentions leading to this declaration or her attempt to lower my guard by making us feel closer. Hmmmmmm.

The old red earth pony from before had just now noticed my presence next to Twilight. “An alien you say dearie? My my how interesting. I don’t think i’ve ever seen a creature even remotely like you before boy. Of course as you're an alien I guess that makes sense,” she lightheartedly chuckled at her own realization.

“Hello mam, my name is Cicero and you haven’t seen anything like me before because I’m a human from a planet called Earth.”

Bookwell looked to Twilight again. “Did you mix up a spell and summon another poor creature to Ponyville from afar?”

“That was only one time! I figured out a way to send it back an hour later anyways….” Twilight finished in a mumble.

The old mare chuckled. “Not before it darn near burned down half of that tree house of yours deary.”

“Yes. Well. Mistakes do tend to happen during magical experimentation. And I fixed the library so no harm done.”

Bookwell sighed. “Just be careful Twilight. I would hate to lose you to one of your experiments accidents someday.” She said seriously.

“Thank you for your concern of my well being Bookwell but I promise that I always take every precaution when I experiment.” Twilight said reassuringly.

Bookwells face cracked into a wry smile. “You’re welcome dear but as you're my best customer I was more so worried about my finances if you stopped shopping here.” Twilight's mouth fell open.

“Damn!” I said in awe. “That was savage Bookwell!” I held up my hand to Bookwell for a high five. I then realized that Bookwell was obviously very old and probably didn’t do childish things like that any more. I was pleasantly shocked when Bookwell reached over and slapped my hand with her hoof.

Bookwell happily said, “Still got it.” and let out a loud laugh at my words combined with Twilight's shocked face. Twilight recovered and harrumphed to show her displeasure at being the butt end of Bookwells facetious words. Bookwell saw this and said, “I’m sorry dear but i’m an old mare. Who knows how much longer i’ll be around. I have to get my laughs while I still can.” Twilight smiled back at her words.

“Well hopefully you’ll be around for a long time Bookwell. I’m not upset. Now about that package.” Twilight inquired.

“Ah yes. One moment dear.” Bookwell got up and expertly started collecting a large backful of supplies that I assumed Twilight wanted. She finished rather quickly and came back to the counter. “That’s 27 bits as usual dear.” Twilight used her magic to make 2 yellow, 2 white, and 1 brown coin appear on the counter. Man magic sure would be useful to have…. Holy shit is that gold?

“Twilight what are those coins and is the yellow one made of gold?”

“These are called bits. They’re what we use as currency in equestria. The yellow one is worth 1 bit and is in fact made of gold. The brown one is worth 5 bits and is made of copper. Lastly the white one is worth 10 bits and is made of Silver.”

“WOW. On Earth if a had a small bag full of just the yellow ones I could probably live the rest of my life pretty darn comfortably. Gold on my planet is pretty rare, not to mention it’s used frequently in a lot of electronics devices due to its conductive and corrosion resistant properties.” Twilight just stared at me when I finished. “What is it Twilight?” I said looking back at her.

“There are so so many things I want to ask you after what you just said but I know you’ll just wave your hand and tell me that you’ll explain it later.”

I smiled at her. “You learn quickly Twilight.”

Twilight smiled back and said, “You know i’m keeping a list of all the questions I want to ask you right? It’s about a 5 feet long scroll so far.” My face fell. “Well after that statement it’s probably going to be 6 feet.” I let my face fall into my hands.

“My god what I have I done.”

“There’s another half page. You keep mentioning this god and other deities. We’ll have to talk about them at some point.” I shut my mouth before I gave twilight any more questions. I then crossed my arms and gave her a pouty face. She laughed at my reaction. “Oh come now it won’t be that bad. Anyways it’s time to head home.” Using her magic she levitated the bag of supplies off the counter and I assume teleported them home.

“Man i’m so insanely jealous of your magic. That would make my life so much easier.”

Twilight wisely responded, “The grass is always greener on the other side Cicero. We always want what we don’t have. But it’s these limitations that make us strive for greatness.” I thought on her words as we both said goodbye to Bookwell. We then proceeded out the door of the shop and got back on the path we had used to get into town from Twilights home.”

We didn’t get very far before Twilight froze in place and said, “Oh my goodness I completely forgot something back in town Cicero! Why don’t you continue on this road back to the library while I go and get it.” She then quickly teleported away before I had a chance to say anything. Alright that was weird. I would have offered to go with her back into town just so I could see more of it. She seemed really quick to teleport away…..

Warning bells were going off in my head as the phrase, ‘Beware the seemingly innocent’, flashed through my mind faster and faster. As much as part of me yelled to trust Twilight and her friends an even greater part of me screamed to not abandon the combined knowledge of my people. I decided on a half measure between both. I wouldn’t act as if I thought Twilight had nefarious intentions but I would surreptitiously strengthen my body for any danger I might run into.

Following another lesson learned by my people I acted hastily. I quickly dived into my body and found the core of my energy. Focusing on it I called upon a few skills I hadn’t needed to use in a while. Forcing energy from my core throughout my entire epidermis I caused my cells to harden in an attempt to combat any physical attack that might occur. Next I used my cores energy to increase the bloodflow to my adrenal glands and create a steady adrenaline stream throughout my body. Using the newfound clarity from my minds adrenaline I decided last to deposit pockets of energy behind my primary movement muscles in case I need to retreat extremely fast.

I would not allow myself to become another lesson to my people, I refused. As I was prepared for combat I decided that maybe I could surprise whatever attackers may be waiting at the library if I reacted fast enough. With this in mind I viciously sprinted down the dirt path towards Twilights house. Reaching the house within 30 seconds I rapidly skidded to a halt. While surprising your enemies is nice, stealth is an even better tactic.

I was having a hard time deciding what to do though. I stood in front of the library and realized I really wasn’t sure if Twilight was just an innocent pony or a devious enemy. I decided that perhaps I could gather information about her intentions if I listened outside her house. I inaudibly tiptoed my way to a place below her window as it was the thinnest piece of material between me and the inside. Using my ears, which were enhanced by the massive flow of adrenaline in my body, I overheard some quiet whispers inside.

“How long do we have until he gets here Twilight?” Said a voice that I couldn’t quite place.

“It shouldn’t be that long. I left him about 5 minutes away so that we could prepare.” Said a voice I recognized as Twilight. My god she lied to me. She didn’t go to the market, she came here to prepare something.

“I’m so excited! I can’t wait till he gets here! It’s been so long so long since we’ve had someone to surprise! He’ll never know what hit him!”

Enough. I would listen to this farce no longer. These ponies had tricked me and I would see them confronted. How could I have believed this uncannily happy planet was anything but a lie. The words of another visions lesson flashed through my mind. ‘Do not take things at face value, but perceive your surroundings calmly and deduce the truth’. Again this knowledge led my mind to a further fractured thought process.

Perhaps I was overreacting and acting under the influence of my adrenaline boost? But what if I was initially right and when I entered that front door the supposedly kind ponies had prepared a ghastly surprise? Damnit I didn’t know and I couldn't make a firm decision but I was losing the element of surprise. The longer I waited the more they were prepared for my imminent arrival. I needed to act. If the truth couldn’t be perceived from my thoughts and spying then the only option left was direct confrontation.

I stood quickly and walked over to the front door. Taking a deep breath I let it and my tension out. Being rigid mentally or physically during this encounter wouldn’t help me. Being as ready as possible I steeled my resolve and opened the door. I took a step in and my heart sank as I realized all the lights of the house were out. Shit. It’s an ambush. I desperately wanted to believe tha-

“SURPRISE!!!!!!”

The lights flickered on and in front of me stood all of the ponies I had met yesterday night. As the adrenaline was still coursing through me, my eyes frantically flew around taking in as much as possible until it hit me. This… this was a surprise party…. for me. Recognition dawned within me and I felt my body start to slump. They had no ill intentions, they were just an innocent group of ponies who wanted to throw a party. I couldn’t hold my body any longer and I slumped to the ground. I released all of my excess energy and let my muscles uncoil as I relaxed into a tired state.

“Alright I’ll admit it, I had absolutely no idea that this was coming.” I said exhausted from the buildup.

Fluttershy, who was present at my party, looked panicked and rapidly flew over to me. “Are you alright Cicero!? I told them that a surprise party was too much for someone who had just appeared in Equestria yesterday! Please be ok! Can I help you? Is yo- *whump*”. I reached up and quickly pulled Fluttershy into a tight hug. I was too tired to deal with her panic at the moment and decided to calm her with a soothing hug.

“I’m alright Fluttershy. In fact I think i’m more alright then I have been in a long time.” No words were exchanged as I tightly hugged Fluttershy and ran my hands over her back. I felt so at peace. For one of the rare times in my life I had assumed the worst of others and been proven wrong, one hundred times over. These ponies were something beyond what my people had experienced before. A true anomaly within the universe, if you will.

There was no nefarious purpose behind their interactions with me. They simply wanted a temporarily displaced stranger to feel slightly more at home. To show their goodwill they had thrown a party with a massive banner proudly displaying , ‘Welcome to Equestria/Equis/Ponyville Alien Cicero!’ I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a profound happiness before. I had only met these ponies two days ago but I could practically feel the goodwill radiating off of them.

I realized that Fluttershy had stopped anxiously fidgeting. I looked down and saw her contentedly resting between my chest and arms. “You ok now Fluttershy?”

“Yes I’ve calmed down. Although I feel like I should be asking you if you’re alright. You are ok right?”

“Yeah I’m good.” I released her from my arms and stood up. “Sorry about that everyone I was just a little surprised and lost my balance.” I chuckled. “It seems as though the surprise part, of this surprise party, has so far been a complete success.” I looked around the library to see streamers, games, and party food had all been set about the room. “Judging from the awesome decorations it seems as though the latter part of the surprise party will also become a success.” I smiled at everyone.

“HOORAY! Cicero likes my party decorations!!!” Pinkie Pie said bouncing around excitedly. “Now I can add planning parties for aliens onto my super duper awesome fun party list.” Pinkie Pie pulled out a massive scroll, again using her strange powers, and checked a box on the list.

Instead of fighting my confusion I just laughed. “Even if I studied you for years I don’t i’d ever comprehend how you do the reality breaking things you do Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie grinned. “Now you’re getting it!” she said. I smiled in return and shook my head.

“I’m amazed you managed to set all this up so fast. Twilight and I weren’t gone for that much of the day.”

“That’s because I didn’t do it alone silly. I had helps from all of my friends. Setting up parties is fun but doing it together with friends is even better!”

“And if you want something done fast, even if it’s setting up parties, you call the fastest pegasus in Equestria,” Rainbow dash proudly said. I grinned at her words.

“Well I really appreciate all of the work you guys did to set up this party for me on such short notice. After everything you girls have done for me since I arrived here I believe I owe each of you a debt, and I always repay my debts. If you ever want or need anything from me please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my utmost to fulfill any request you give me.” Normally I wouldn’t give such a blanket favor to people in the fear that they would misuse it. However ponies had proven their good intentions to me through their recent actions. Trust is a two way street and I needed to do my part as I wasn’t fulfilling it with the suspicion I had just shown. Even if I didn’t completely trust them yet I felt it was prudent to show some of my good will towards them.

Twilight spoke up. “Cicero thank you for the offer but you don’t need to do that. We didn’t plan this party to garner your fa-”

“I want a race!” Rainbow Dash yelled over her. Twilight turned and scolded Rainbow Dash. “What? He said said he would give us a favor and I want to race against a fast opponent. It’s been too long since I had a challenge.”

Before Twilight could chastise Rainbow Dash I decided to cut in. “Twilight don’t worry about it. I didn’t offer because I felt obligated. I apologize if it came out that way. I offered because I’m truly grateful for the help you girls have given me and because I want to be kind in return.” I then looked at Rainbow Dash. “Are you sure that’s what you want Rainbow Dash? When my people offer a favor it’s the equivalent of a contract.” I was of course speaking of my true heritage and not the humans. Offering a favor as a human didn’t hold nearly as much significance in human society. “If you truly want a challenging opponent to race I will go all out against you.”

“Heck yeah! Let’s see what you can do!” Rainbow dash zoomed around the room excited at the prospect of a good race.

“Very well. We’ll have it sometime later this week. I need to get adjusted to Ponyville and prepare for it.”

“Enough about favors silly! This is your party and we should be having fun!”

“Haha damn right! Let’s get this party started!” And party we did. For the next couple of hours the girls showed me how parties were done in Equestria. For the first hour they showed me how ponies danced. It was interesting to see the heavy differences between pony and human dance styles. While each girl had their own unique way to dance the general mechanics of pony dancing were much more subdued than humans.

Even though the girls were much more flexible than any ponies you’d find on earth, their quadrupedal bodies limited their movement radius. So while humans would gyrate their entire body around ponies generally stuck to waving their legs and necks about. Dancing with them at first was a bit strange, but as it was all in good fun I didn’t mind looking a fool. Based on the moves they displayed while we danced I figured I probably wasn’t the only rookie on the dance floor.

The next hour the girls showed me some of the more common party games they played in Equestria. These included pin the tail on the pony, bobbing for apples, charades, musical beanbags, and many more. While most of these games seemed to be better suited for children I still found myself having a blast. Perhaps it was the childish innocence of the ponies that seemed to inject every game we played with an extra dose of fun. No matter what it was I decided it didn’t really matter as long as everyone was having a good time.

Around the third hour Pinkie Pie had decided to show off her collection of party foods she had made. Homemade punch, cupcakes, and snacks were aplenty. I reached over and grabbed one of the red velvet cupcakes Pinkie Pie had brought. Taking a bite my eyes lit up in joy. This cupcake was perfect! Not to soggy or too firm. Sweet but not painfully so. Just enough icing to accent the cake's flavor but enough to overwhelm it. I had to say something.

“Pinkie Pie this is the without a doubt the best cupcake I have ever eaten. In fact it might just be the best baked good i’ve ever had as well. If all of your baked goods are this good have you considering opening a bakery or selling them somewhere?” Pinkie Pie laughed at me.

“Silly Cicero! I work at a bakery in town. So anybody can come and get my yummy pastries and cakes whenever they want! Didn’t I mention that to you yesterday?”

I laughed. “I think you were so excited about meeting an alien yesterday that you forgot to mention what you did. I figured I’d find out at some point so I didn’t pry. However now that I know and I’ve had one of your delicious cupcakes I promise to come by once I get some money.”

“Hooray! I can introduce you to my bosses. Maybe they’ll even let you in the back so you can show me some human baked goods.”

“Who knows. If they let me in the kitchen I’ll do my best to show you what I know but i’m warning you now, my skills in this area are barely proficient. While I may have a decent collection of treats memorized I never really had the skills to bake them.”

“That’s ok. No matter what baking with a friend is always better than baking alone!” Pinkie Pie happily bounced away to go talk to Fluttershy who looked like she was trying to sink into a corner and disappear. Guess her nervousness wasn’t because of me, or at least not entirely so. She’s probably a natural introvert. I grabbed a glass of Pinkie’s homemade punch and took a sip. Just like her other creations i’d tried so far the punch was also delicious.

“So what’s the deal with your eyes?” Rainbow Dash boldly questioned. “I know you offered to race me but if you’re blind won’t you just go crashing around into things?” I choked on my punch as I laughed. Swallowing what was in my mouth and coughing I turned to Rainbow Dash still chuckling.

“Contrary to what you might think I am not in fact blind. While I do keep my eyes closed I can see perfectly fine and as such will not go crashing around into things, as you said. I have a medical condition that requires me to keep my eyes closed. Most people that I meet find it strange but usually get over it rather quickly. Also might I say it’s rather refreshing to not have someone dodge around a question like you. Most people refuse to directly mention or talk about my eyes in conversations. They only allude to related subjects in the hopes that I’ll talk about my eyes on my own.”

“Cicero darling please don’t encourage her,” Rarity called. “She’s uncouth enough as it is without you praising her lack of tact.”

I cracked up at Rarity's words as Rainbow Dash retorted, “What’s the big deal? If you have a question, you ask it. I don’t see the problem.” Rarity went off on a tangent about manners and acting proper as a mare should. Rainbow Dash seemed to be trying to ignore her without hurting her feelings. I noticed the other ponies had stopped and were staring at the two’s interactions with smiles on their faces. Well at least they heard what I said about my eyes. Now I won’t have to deal with that question again for a while.

Eventually Rarity stopped her tirade and let Rainbow Dash go. After another hour of general party revelry all of the girls realized how late it was. Each one of them gave me their individual goodbye along with promises to hang out again and then left. After all was said and done it was just Twilight and I left in the library. “So why didn’t Spike come to the party?” I asked.

“As a baby dragon Spike gets tired easily and decided to go to bed early.”

“Well at least Pinkie left us some cupcakes. We can give him some tomorrow since he didn’t get to party with us.”

“Good idea Cicero,” Twilight said yawning, “but for tonight, as everypony else said, it’s late and I’m tired. I’m going to go to bed now. I’ll see you later in the day when you get back from Applejacks. Night Cicero.”

“Goodnight Twilight. Thank you again for today.” She smiled back at me and trotted up the stairs to her bedroom. Realizing that I should get to bed soon if I wanted to be rested for work tomorrow I climbed the stairs up to the third floor shortly after Twilight had ascended them. I entered my temporary room and made my way over to bed. I thought about meditating before bed but remembered that farm work, while exhausting, is also usually extremely repetitious.

I figured after AppleJack showed me the ropes tomorrow I could probably meditate on what I had learned today while working. Even if the work might be repetitious I was still looking forward to working on her farm tomorrow. It had been a long time since I had worked on a farm. Most people didn’t like all of the hard work and sweat that came with the job but I was quite fond of it. There’s something about working with the land that grants your mind a simple sense of peace. With this happy thought in my mind I laid my head down and promptly fell asleep.

Ch. 5 New Job

I woke up feeling very rested and ready for a hard day of farm work. I looked through the skylight window above my bed and saw that it was still dark outside. I remembered that Applejack had told me to show up around daybreak for work. As it was too early to leave I wondered if I had time to meditate before heading over to her farm. I remember her mentioning that the farm wasn’t that far from Twilights house. I wish I had a clock to know what time it was.

I was hit by the sudden realization that I had been carrying my phone around in my pocket the entire time I was in Equestria. I reached in my pocket and pulled it out. Dead. Well that figures. I lamented the fact that I forgotten of it’s existence until just now. If I had remembered earlier I could have turned it off and saved a small reserve of it’s power for an emergency. But considering there was no nine one one emergency hotline in Equestria I guess it’s emergency features would have been limited anyways.

I placed my phone on the nightstand next to my bed and figured I could ask Twilight about a possible power source later. Now I really needed to meditate before I went to work on Applejacks farm. If I had forgotten about my phone perhaps there were other things that I had missed that also needed to be addressed. I allowed my body to relax into it’s normal meditative position on the bed and started running through recent events.

I ran over my interactions with the ponies yesterday. I regretted that I had let panic control my mind and reacted so extremely to the fear of betrayal. With all the lessons of my people in mind it’s hard to trust and go back to the carefree life I lived before I started protector training. That’s also something that needs to be addressed while i’m here. The level of exhaustion I displayed yesterday after releasing my energy was truly disappointing. I’d seen my mother maintain insane levels of physical performance for much longer without even breaking a sweat. Of course as she was tasked to protect the humans she had a lot of practice with her abilities.

Mother always pestered me to train my abilities along with my body's physique. I suppose I never really did as a small part of me thought the job of being a protector wasn’t that big of a deal. After being violently ripped from my world and deposited into Equestria the realities of my duties were now very apparent to me. Hmmmmmmm. Very well. I will need to start training myself much harder than I had before. I’ll need to find somewhere secluded to train myself away from prying eyes.

I recalled another vision of my people. The protector in this vision was extremely conceited and always trained in public places so that others could see his amazing abilities and well toned physique. These actions eventually came back to haunt him as the enemies on his planet had been watching his training sessions for many days. They eventually learned all of his body's limits and came up with various counters for his abilities. In their confrontation with him his boastful claims of unending power proved to be false. All of his attempts to fight the aggressors were systematically defeated by their collected knowledge. He was then publically beheaded and his death caused the world to fall into further chaos.

Shivering I remembered the feeling of being beheaded in the vision. Yes I would definitely need to find a place to secretly train. The foolish interactions of the dead protector with his planet's people made me think on my interactions with the ponies so far. I realized that I had become rather physical with a lot of the ponies around here. I usually didn’t touch or hug others that often back on Earth, let alone people that I had only recently become friends with. Ahhhh and there’s another thing. I called them friends without even thinking about it.

I may not have known them that long but I believe I would call the six girls from last nights party my new friends. It’s amazing how fast these girls have wormed their way into my heart. It’s hard to not want to become friends with such cute and cuddly ponies like those girls. Even if they had rather quickly become my friends I don’t think that my friendliness or physicality with them is necessarily a bad thing. Everypony around here seems to be the touchy feely cuddly type. Mother had always told me the reason I could never get a girlfriend was bec-

Wait did I just think everypony instead of everyone? Jesus their weird dialogue was already starting to take root in my vocabulary. Thinking on it, I guess my shifting vocabulary isn’t really something I need to be concerned about. You know what they say, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ Although in this world it’s probably, ‘When in Ponyville, do as the Ponies do.’ I suppose that’s what i’ll do then. And as ponies go to work I need to end this session and get going.

I opened my eyes and looked up out the window to try and visually deduce the approximate time. The sky appeared to have a small amount of light very slowly creeping into it. I wondered what sunrises look like here in Ponyville. I decided that I was going to find out. I wanted my first sunrise in Ponyville to be special so I figured I should see it from a clear vantage point. I was hoping Twilight’s roof could provide such a place.

I had noted before that the skylight appeared to have a latch that indicated the window could be opened. Deciding to test this out I reached up and flipped the latch. Thankfully as ponies were relatively small I could just barely reach the window by standing on my tiptoes. The window fell open downwards. As there was no ladder or easily moveable furniture that would help me reach the window ledge I decided to solve this problem by using my body's abilities. My meditation session had left my mind calm and made it easy to focus. I shifted a small portion of my core’s energy into my legs.

Coiling my muscles and jumping up I easily reached the roof through the window and landed on one of the tree houses branches. I had originally thought that the top of Twilights house would be a collection of branches and leaves, like a normal tree. Now that I was on top of it I found that this was not so. Next to the window nestled in between the tops of the tree branches was a decently sized wooden platform. Pleased with this revelation I jumped from my current branch and landed on the platform. Looking around myself I was again pleased to note that the branches and leaves were just low enough that I could probably sit down and see in all directions.

I sat down criss cross to test this theory and turning in a circle realized I was correct. What a charming viewing platform. The platforms existence was very well hidden by the surrounding leaves and branches. It gave the viewing platform a very nice feeling of seclusion. I looked to my right and saw the sun was going to crest Ponyville's skyline pretty soon. I uncrossed my legs and sat back to enjoy the view.

Before I could get comfortable in my new position I saw a flashy rainbow accented pegasus flying across the sky. It moved rapidly towards groups of clouds and upon reaching them would somehow kick them out of existence. The pegasus was popping the clouds as one would a balloon. Fascinating. How in the world do these ponies have these amazing ingrained abilities within them? I wonder if it was always like this or if the natural magic of the land imbued them with these abilities slowly over time.

As fascinating at these ideas were I was pulled from my thought process by a loud, “Hey Cicero! What’cha doing up here?” I jumped in surprise when I saw that the cloud popping pegasus from before was rapidly flying over to me. As she got closer I recognized her as Rainbow Dash. It dawned on me that she was most likely working right now. She had mentioned her position in the Ponyville pegasus weather team when we had first met.

“So what are you doing up here on top of Twilight's house? How did you even get up here?” Rainbow Dash said as she finally reached me.

“I noticed that the skylight in her upstairs guest room had a latch on it. As I woke up before the sunrise I realized that I had yet to see it here in Equestria. I figured that the best place to view such a spectacle would be the clearest view from the highest point. Thus the reason I’m now sitting here waiting for said occurrence. I was also observing you working. It’s one thing to be told that you pegasus can control weather but it’s another thing entirely to actually see you kicking clouds out of existence.”

“Heh, yeah we pegasus are pretty awesome!” She boisterously said.

“So do you always wake up this early for weather duties?”

“Naw we weather pegasus usually have pretty random work hours. I just happened to be assigned for early morning cloud clearing today. The weather for the day is going to be clear skies!”

“Excellent. The perfect viewing conditions for a sunrise.” I looked into the sky and saw that their were no clouds remaining over Ponyville. Rainbow Dash must truly be fast to have cleared all of the clouds in Ponyville's vicinity that quickly. “Would you care to watch the sunrise with me Rainbow Dash? Even though i’m sure you’ve seen it before most experiences are better when shared with a friend.”

“Well I’m not usually one for anything that involves waiting around… but I guess I can make an exception. I wanted to ask you some questions anyways.” I was pleased to hear her response and I patted a spot next to me on the wooden plank. Rainbow Dash took the hint and zoomed over to my right, plopping down next to me. I looked back towards the skyline and figured it would be about 3 minutes or so before it came up.

“You’re a strange pony Cicero, you know that? I can’t figure you out. For someone that was thrown into a strange new world you sure handle yourself pretty well. I don’t think i’ve seen you freak out or complain even once since you got here.” Rainbow Dash had a strange tone to her voice that I was having trouble identifying. She didn’t sound angry per se but I think I could hear small inflections in her voice hinting at…. accusation perhaps? I guess I’ll just respond to her implied question and eventually the true question will come out.

“Well for one thing I suppose I might seem like a strange pony because i’m not a pony but a person.” I said correcting her past statement. “As i’ve mentioned before in most scenarios i’m a rather calm person. It’s just how I am. One other large factor that makes me so calm here is the fact that I feel just as out of place here as I did on Earth. It’s not as if I was an outcast in my society. I just never felt a strong emotional attachment to anything on Earth.” I caught myself and thought on what I had just said.

“Ok well I guess that’s not necessarily true. I had a mother and a father that I loved very much. The issue was probably all others, besides them, who I interacted with. While I had a few friends that I liked and enjoyed spending time with I always felt my interactions with them were forced. I knew what to say and how to have a good time with them but a small part of me always felt that I was playing a role that wasn’t truly me. I was never comfortable enough to just act without analyzing and overthinking everything. As every interaction with them felt slightly alien to me I eventually started to internally think of myself as a visiting alien on Earth.” I turned and looked at Rainbow Dash.

“So for someone who felt like they were an alien on their home planet now that I am an actual alien on yours I almost feel more a sense of belonging here then there. There's no expected interaction between you ponies and myself. I can truly act and feel as I wish without being constrained by societal expectations. This, coupled with Equestrias paradisiacal looking lands, has given me a sense of relaxation and peace I didn’t feel on Earth.” I chuckled. “It’s ironic that while on Earth I was supposed to be a normal human and yet felt I was an unnatural alien. Now here I have truly become an alien and I feel more at home than I had on my own planet.”

I looked back at the sunrise now eagerly awaiting it’s coming. “Sorry for that long monologue Rainbow Dash. I actually hadn’t realized a few of those things until I just said them out loud right now.” To my surprise Rainbow Dash had no flashy response to my words. If anything she seemed a bit introspective at the moment. Finally she spoke.

“While I can’t say I understand exactly what you’re feeling I have had a similiar experience. When I was a lot younger, before I found my cutie mark, I used to fly all of the time. The problem was that even though I really loved flying I constantly kept crashing into things. Eventually this lead to others continually making fun of me. I started becoming really self conscious about my flying skills. It felt like something was wrong with me as a pegasus. I adopted a brash attitude and boasted about my skills constantly to cover up my insecurities.”

“I kept my outward appearance the same as always but my emotions were tearing me up on the inside. However one day I saw two bullies picking on Fluttershy and decided to beat them in a race to defend Fluttershy. I was so determined to win the race that for the first time in my life I went fast enough to create a sonic rainboom. The speed of that race and the exhilarating feeling that came with it changed me that day. After that I finally realized I didn’t care what others thought about my skills. I was proud of what I could do and I loved flying.”

Interesting. So the proud Rainbow Dash was not always the confident mare I see before me now. Rainbow Dash turned to look at me. “Alright I’ll trust you for now. I can understand the pain of not feeling like you belong and your story seems true enough.” She then looked me directly in the eye. “Just know this. If you ever hurt my friends you better be prepared for the world of pain i’m going to beat you into.” Ahhhh I see. So her question was due to her suspicion of me. She was trying to protect her friends. I smiled in return to her statement. This seemed to throw her off for a second.

“You truly are a wonderful mare. Loyalty is a sadly underappreciated quality for friends in my world. I can see the love you hold for all of yours simply by the fire in your eyes.” I then bowed my head to Rainbow Dash. “Have no fear Rainbow Dash. You and all of your friends have shown me nothing but kindness. Not to mention the empathy you have just shown towards my plight.” I raised my head. “I will not hurt your friends and while I can’t say how long i’ll be here I promise to defend you and them from any and all threats.”

Rainbow Dash smiled at me. “You can count yourself among my friends big guy!” I smiled back and returned to looking at the horizon. How strange. The sun should have been up by now judging by it’s previous pace. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long before the situation remedied itself. In an unnaturally rapid movement the sun crested the skyline and lit up the sky. It was a very surreal experience to see the sky shift from dimly lit to radiating with light as fast as it had. It was as if someone had flipped a light switch.

“Celestia’s sunrises are always nice. Though I suppose if you’d had 3000 years to practice that would make sense,” Rainbow Dash speculated out loud. I had forgotten that Twilight mentioned that their princess Celestia controlled the sun's orbit. The suns unnatural movements most likely confirmed her claims. It truly was a marvelous site. The sunrises on Earth couldn’t hope to compare to the light display that Equestrias was putting forth. Most likely due to the levels of pollution in our atmosphere’s air. How disappointing. I turned to Rainbow Dash to voice my agreement to her claims and stopped when I saw her.

I had called her appearance flamboyant before but only now did I understand that it wasn’t a detriment to her looks. Her unruly rainbow colored mane seemed to reflect the sunlight in a way that made is shimmer with her untamed beauty. Her whole personality perfectly fit her wild looks. “Yes it’s truly a beautiful site.” I said still looking at Rainbow Dash. Quick as lighting realization coursed through my body and I tore my eyes away from her form.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT. Those thoughts came out of absolutely nowhere. Alright calm down, panicking has never helped me think through anything. Let’s be logical about this. Rainbow Dash is a female so it’s not unexpected that I might find her beautiful. ‘Yeah but she’s a pony’ A small voice said at the back of my mind. Shut the fuck up. She’s sentient, don’t you dare compare her to a pony on Earth. I harshly mentally chastised myself for even letting such a thought cross my mind. Besides i’m an alien on Earth so finding ponies to be attractive would logically be as wrong as finding humans to be attractive.

So if the difference between species wasn’t what caused that panic, what was? Hmmmmm perhaps it was the fact that I had called the tomboyish Rainbow Dash beautiful? No that couldn’t be it. Even one as inexperienced with love as me realized that every type of women held their own innate beauty. It only took the right person to realize it. Fuck, what was it? I’ve never panicked about thinking someone was beautiful before. I concentrated on my thought process just a moment ago to try and find out what had been going through my mind.

And then it hit me. It’s not the fact that I had found Rainbow Dash’s appearance beautiful. It was the fact that the thought was a raw unfiltered response that had instinctively come to my mind. There was no thinking about what humans found attractive. No being influenced by human societal norms of beauty. No ads to influence me into thinking her appearance was perfect. Her form had instinctively forced my brain to recognize her beauty.

Rainbow Dash thankfully didn’t seem to notice my panicked actions and was continuing to take in the sunrise. I will need to meditate on these thoughts later. For now I need to remove myself from this confusing situation and get to work. I gazed out at the beautiful landscape created by Celestia’s sunrise one more time. “Rainbow Dash I thank you for sharing this magical moment with me.” I saw her looking to me and I smiled. “Unfortunately I offered to help Applejack on her farm and I need to start heading to work.”

“It’s cool. I need to get back to clearing clouds in other places around here. We should hangout again sometime Cicero. Your an interesting guy so far,” she said fluttered into the air.

“I fear the next time we meet it will be in a harsh competition Rainbow Dash. None the less I appreciate you spending time with me this morning. Farewell,” I finished while giving her a wave. Rainbow Dash quickly flew off towards Ponyville's town center. What a strange new feeling. I’ve found human females pretty before now but I’ve only ever done so if I realized it was the expected human male response at the time. The natural feeling of attraction was a surprising and slightly unnerving reaction. Oh well, I suppose i’ll have time to think on this later. For now I need to back inside and hopefully find some food in twilight's kitchen. Doing hard work on an empty stomach was a very bad idea.

Jumping over to the guest bedroom skylight I fell back through it and landed on my bed. I saw my destroyed shirt next to my bed and remembered that I still didn't have any replacements for it. Rarity said she’d be done with my extra clothes today. I guess I should really take a shower before breakfast and leaving though. I opened the door to my guest bedroom and started silently making my ways downstairs. It wouldn’t do well to wake my generous host on the way out.

As I reached the second floor I saw Twilight still peacefully sleeping in her bed. I also noted that Spike was next to her bed in a small basket bed. Damn that little guy is so adorable. He’s like a happy little fire breathing puppy. I smiled at the site of the two simultaneously kicking in their sleep. Both must be having an interesting dream. Not wanting to rouse them from their slumber I looked around and noticed what appeared to be a bathroom right past the stairs. I silently crept my way over into it and shut the door. I noted that there was no lock on the door but didn’t think on it much as the ponies were very trusting and it was most likely a societal thing.

My predictions had been correct and there was a tiny shower in this bathroom. I looked around for some towels and saw a few folded ones in a pile by the sink. I hoped Twilight wouldn’t mind terribly if I used one. I disrobed and hopped into the shower. One thing I hadn’t noticed before I got in the shower was how tiny it was. Well I guess that makes sense considering how incredibly tiny these ponies are. Oh well, a shower is a shower and I desperately need one right now.

I turned it on and had to do some strange maneuvering to get my body under the full stream. I did the best I could and eventually decided that I was clean enough. Getting out of the shower I grabbed a towel and started to dry myself off. I noticed the soft scent of lavender wafting off of my body. Ahhh her soap must have a lavender scent. I had noticed Twilight had a delicate lavender scent across her coat whenever I got close enough for my nose to pick it up. What a nice smell.

As I raised the towel to my head to dry off my hair I heard a sound that froze me mid action. The sound of the door slowly creaking open. I sighed out loud and slowly pulled the towel off of my head to see if my suspicions of who was there were correct. Oh course they were. There with an extremely suprised look on her face was Twilight motherfucking Sparkle. I suppose this is my fault considering I hadn’t asked to use her shower before now.

I saw Twilights eyes wander downwards towards my nether regions. I guess she was naturally curious as that was the one part of me I had refused to show her yesterday. I decided that if this was going to be embarrassing I could at least have a good time with it. Even though I knew it was a slight misuse of my abilities I stimulating the blood in my cheeks to force a very heavy blush. I then looked her in the face and said, “I know that I said I would reveal myself for science on day Twilight but I didn’t expect you to be so forward about it.” I then used my arms to poorly cover my stomach and chest while saying, “Please don’t stare too hard. It’s my first time and your lecherous gaze is embarrassing me.”

These last words snapped Twilight out of her stare as her cheeks somehow impossibly became redder than mine. “I-I-I Imsosorryigottago!” She quickly dashed out of the bathroom using her magic to slam the door. I dropped my arms and gave a hearty chuckle at her hasty retreat.

“Hope I didn’t scar the poor girl. Oh well, I’ll ask her later when she’s calmed down.” Not wanting anymore unscheduled peep shows I quickly put my pants back on. I hung the towel I had used on one of her racks and walked out of the bathroom. I walked over to the stairs and noticed that while Spike was still sleeping in his bed Twilight was nowhere to be found. Well I guess i’ll just talk to her later.

I walked down the stairs and went into the kitchen. I was hopeful that I could find something to eat before work. I didn’t ask Twilight specifically the other day but I believe the ponies here have the same dietary requirements as ponies back on Earth. I opened Twilight’s refrigerator and ruffled through it to find something edible. “Apples, carrots, lettuce, squash cherries. I guess it makes sense that ponies would eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. It’s been quite some time since I had a salad so I guess I’ll go with that.

I quickly rummaged around the of the kitchen and found some croutons, cheese, and thankfully salad dressing. I threw all of the salad ingredients into a bowl and proceeded to satiate my hunger. I felt kinda guilty for using all of Twilight's stuff and not having contributed anything that would justify my using them. I decided that whatever money I first got would be given to Twilight. That and I would make sure to answer whatever questions she wanted today. Well within reason I suppose. She’d most likely question me all day if I gave her free reign.

Finishing my salad I went over to the sink and started washing the bowl. Once again the sink had been made with short creatures in mind. It was kind of annoying that everything around this place was built for short ponies. I finished washing the dishes and walked into the living room. It was bereft of the Twilight Sparkle I had hoped to find before leaving for work. Guess she still needs to cool down. I shrugged and walked over to and out of Twilight's front door, crouching as I exited through its small frame.

I looked over towards the path in front of Twilight’s house. I remember Applejack saying all I had to do was walk right along the path to get to her farm. Well let’s hope it’s actually that simple and she wasn’t just overstating the ease of finding her farm. Granted her farm was rather massive so I doubted I would be unable to locate it at all. I started walking down the dirt path in the aforementioned direction.

I was pleased to see all of the animals scurrying about the various trees and shrubbery near the path. I took a mental note of all the little critters I saw as I walked past. If mythical creatures existed in these lands perhaps there were some strange unknown animals I had never heard of before. Unfortunately for the 5 or so minutes I walked down the dirt path I didn’t note any strange new animals among the normal ones. Squirrels, frogs, butterflies, ducks, rabbits, and various birds were all I had seen.

I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or not at this discovery. On one hand the first new creature I had met while in the woods was a manticore trying to make me it’s dinner. On the other hand I had been hoping to see some other creatures of legends such as phoenix's or fairies. Perhaps I should ask Twilight for a book detailing all of the creatures in this land? I’m sure she would enjoy hearing about what animals exist on Earth in comparison to which exist on Equis.

I stopped mentally recording the various animals when I noticed what looked like the edge of sweet apple acres on the horizon. I shifted my pace from walk to jog as I was eager to find Applejack and get started today. As I got closer to the farm I noticed a white picket fence on the outer border of the farms lands. The dirt path led me through a small gap in the picket fence line and I continued on towards the red structure that I assumed was Applejacks house.

Upon closer inspection the red house actually appeared to be a barn that someone had repurposed into a house. The outside of the house was red and white just like the other barn I had stayed in a few nights ago. Multiple troughs of varying flowers were hooked to every window on the upper floor of the barn. It appears that whomever is responsible for the upkeep of the house takes their job very seriously. While the flowers gave the house a nice look what really made it shine was the bright red paint adorned with obviously hand drawn black vines snaking around the outside of the house.

“Morning Cicero! Glad to see ya made it here alright.” I turned to see Applejack walking her way over to my location in front of the red house.

“Morning Applejack. I’m pleased to say that finding your farm was just as easy as you had said it would be.” I turned back towards her house and said, “Might I say you have quite the beautiful house. It has a very charming rustic feel to it. Also not to be insulting but is your house a repurposed barn?”

“Shoot that’s mighty kind of ya to say Cicero,” Applejack said as she removed her stetson and put it across her chest. “And to answer yer question, yes it was originally a barn that my ma and pa decided to repurpose and add small sections onto as needed.” She put her stetson back on her head and gave me a smile. I smiled back and then peered over her head to see a large red stallion that looked awfully familiar. I tensed up shortly after seeing him when I remembered that he was the other pony that had chased me off Applejacks farm.

Applejack noticed my strange actions and turned around to find out what I had seen. “Hey Big Mac! Come over here and meet our newest employee Cicero!” Oh man I really hope she explained my situation to that red pony. I didn’t want someone with his strength to to get angry at me. Much to my relief he seemed to have a neutral expression on his face as he sauntered over to us. As he reached us Applejack spoke up.

“Cicero this here's Big Macintosh ma brother. He also works and lives here on the farm with me. Big Mac this is Cicero. He’s the alien I mentioned meeting the other day.” I decided to speak up before Bic Mac did, just in case he was still mad about the other day.

“Hi Big Mac I just want to say that I’m sorry about that incident the other day. I hadn’t meant to sneak onto ya’lls farm and steal Apples. I hope we can get along and get a lot of work done today.”

Big Mac sized me up and down and then simply stated, “Eeyup.” He then nodded at us both and simply walked back to what he had been doing before. Well that response was a lot more muted that I thought it would be.

“Heh don’t worry about Big Mac sugarcube. He’s not mad at ya or anythin, he’s just a stallion of few words.” Interesting. The first male i’ve actually met around here. I wonder if I get him talking at some point during work. I’d like to ask him some questions about the strange male to female ratio i’d seen in this town so far. Based on the fact that there seemed to be a lot more females than males in Ponyville and that the rulers of the country were a female diarchy I wondered if this society was matriarchal instead of patriarchal like on Earth.

I suppose I could have asked Twilight to explain the situation to me but I was worried that her answers might be biased. While Twilight was an intelligent and fair mare I worried that being a female in what I believed was a matriarchy would subconsciously taint her responses. I guess the same could be said for any male member in a matriarchy but if I had to pick one to ask I’d rather question the gender I could identify with easier.

“Anyways let me tell ya what you’ll be doing today. As I don’t know what strengths or skills ya have I’ll start ya with something basic today. Eventually i’ll assign ya various tasks around the farm but for today you’ll be bucking and storing apples from the North fields. Ya ready to get started?”

“Of course Applejack. I came here to work not meander around your farm, even as nice as it is.”

Applejack smiled at me and said, “I think you’ll do just fine here. Follow me then. You’ll be collecting braeburns today.” I followed silently behind Applejack towards the North fields. It’s amazing that Applejack and her brother can remember where everything is considering the size of this farm. I hope I don’t get lost out here in these fields. I looked back the way I had come, slightly hesitant to continue walking further into these endless apple fields. Thankfully when I turned around I noticed that a wind vane atop Applejacks house easily stood above the trees. I guess if I get lost I can just follow that spire.

After a good minute of walking I noticed the familiar reddish-gold color of braeburn apples. Applejack walked over to one of the trees with a large circular wooden tub in front of it.

“Now this hears how ya buck an apple tree.” I watched as Applejack turned her butt to the apple tree and leaned forward slightly. Quick as lightning she violently bucked the tree and a large bundle of apples fell straight out of the tree directly into the bucket. What the hell? Why did they all fall directly into that one bucket? Also once again I’m terrified at the strength that these Earth ponies contain.

“Applejack why did apple's only fall into that tub?” I said a little confused. She opened her mouth to respond and then stopped. A confused expression went across her face as she continued to think.

“Huh. Now that you mention it that is awful strange ain’t it? I don’t rightly know why. I was taught to buck by my ma and pa and the apples have just always fallen like that if ya put a tub down next to the tree.” I facepalmed at this knowledge. Damnit even the earth ponies are inherently full of magic. Oh well I guess i’ll just have to find my own way to do this. Perhaps I can combine their way with something of my own. Hmmmmmm. I’d need to test my suspicions first.

I’m guessing that since Applejack kicked that tree with as much force as she did these trees are definitely stronger than the ones you’d find on Earth. I suppose I should see just how much these trees can handle. Even if I don’t have pony magic maybe I can still buck them off the branches with enough force.

“Applejack do you mind if I test something on one of your trees?”

“Well I don’t see why not. Go for it.”

“Excellent.” I grabbed another tub that had been lying around the first and walked over to another apple tree. I made sure to set the tub down next to the tree just like Applejack had. Unlike Applejack I faced the tree and got into a slightly crouched stance. I forced a small amount of energy into my legs muscles. I also made sure to use a bit of energy to reinforce my bones. It would be pretty unfortunate if I kicked so hard I broke my bone. Taking a quick step I kicked the tree as hard as I could.

Much to my disappointment the tree completely ignored my efforts and just sat there. Alright perhaps a little more strength then. Forcing a bit more strength into my leg I wound myself back up and kicked the tree significantly harder this time. Again the tree didn’t even slightly budge. Man I kicked that tree pretty hard how much is this going to take. *snicker*. Oh hell no. I looked behind myself to see Applejack trying to contain her laughter at my ineffectual kicking. Alright you stupid tree prepare to meet your maker. Adding a significant amount more energy to my leg I stepped back and violently thrust my leg out to kick the tree.

I was hopeful when I saw the tree shiver slightly. Sadly the only visible results I noticed besides that were two or three leaves falling from the branches. “Fuck this stupid indestructible tree. Jesus what do you ponies use to make these things so strong?”

“*snicker* You know some ponies just aren’t meant for apple bucking sugarcube. Not everyone has enough muscle for the job.”

I looked at Applejack and narrowed my eyes. Oh it’s on now you damn tree. I had been trying to slowly measure exactly how much force was needed but I would not be emasculated by this miniscule mare. I let the energy in my core flow outwards towards the rest of my body. I heavily reinforced my abdominals and chest muscles to give me a more solid core as I kicked. I also sent a massive amount of energy throughout both my legs. Flexing all of my muscles I viciously threw my foot out and made contact with the tree.

*CRACK* Apparently I had put enough force into my kick to not only snap the tree in half but also send it flying a few feet away. Standing back up triumphantly I flexed my muscles and yelled, “Cicero 1 asshole tree 0! Take that you little bastard!” Not to long after my victory flexing I remembered that I was supposed to be bucking apples not snapping trees in half. I let out a weak, “fuck….” as I turned to look at Applejack.

I was not surprised when I found Applejack staring at me with her mouth wide open. Well at least she doesn’t look angry….. yet. I watched her look to the tree and the back to me still looking shocked and confused. She started running her eyes over my body seemingly looking for something. After letting this go on for a little bit I was further confused when I saw her lick her lips. What the hell? Why isn’t she mad at me yet?

“Errrr sorry about that. I think I was a little over eager with that last kick. I understand if you dock that apple tree from my pay.” I said full of remorse. Applejack jumped at my words, as if she had forgotten I could talk.

“Uhh it’s uhh ok sugarcube. I was just surprised is all. We have quite a few apple trees here so one destroyed one will be ok. I don’t think i’ve ever seen anypony kick a tree in half before.” She looked at my bare chest as she said, “You're a lot more muscular than I gave you credit for.” Again she had a strange look in her eyes as she glanced over my body. I wasn’t positive what it was but I could have sworn it resembled….. hunger perhaps? How peculiar. I guess it doesn’t matter, I’m just glad she’s not angry or going to fire me.

“Right, well you don’t mind if I try again with another tree do you? I promise i’ll be much more careful this time.”

“Go right ahead. I’ll just stay over here and watch you….” Applejack said. Something about how she said that made me a little uncomfortable but I didn’t think on it long. Grabbing the empty tub next to the apple tree stump I had just made I dragged it over towards another. After a few attempts at kicking the new apple tree I was pretty sure I had finally found the amount of strength required. However the real trick to apple bucking was all in how fast you kicked and then retracted your leg.

Confident that it would work this time I flexed my abdominals and struck the tree as a snake would its prey. The fast retraction of my food did the trick as almost all the apples in the tree suddenly shook loose and hit the ground. As I suspected the apples didn’t fall neatly into the tub below the tree but instead landed everywhere and started rolling around in random directions.

Fascination. This implies the earth ponies have magic that can somehow directly manipulate the trees when they come in contact with them. I wonder if this ability can affect all things that grow or just a specific subset like trees. The more interesting question is how far can they manipulate the things they touch? I would have to ask Twilight about this. There are a lot of interesting possibilities with magic such as this.

I turned back to Applejack only to catch her staring at my chest again. When she realized I had caught her staring she blushed and looked away. My eyes widened in shock when I recognized the physical signs her body was giving off. She couldn’t find me attractive, could she? These ponies seemed very accepting and open minded so far but I figured my form would just be a strange fascination to them. I’m probably just putting too much thought into it. Look at me getting all cocky and shit about my appearance. Come on Cicero we’ve seen what narcissism can do to a protector. I shivered and grabbed my neck as I remembered that protectors beheading.

Alright time to get to work. “Well I think i’ve gotten the hang of apple bucking for now. Although it appears I don’t have the level of finesse you do.” I looked back at the scattered apples on the ground. Hmmmmm. “Applejack you don’t happen to have two large tarps, do you?”

Applejack finally looked back at me and said, “Sure do. Do ya need them for something?”

“Well considering using buckets would be ineffective with the wide spread of my bucking technique I was hoping I could use tarps for now. I’ll think of a better solution later but for now tarps will do.” Recognition passed across Applejacks face.

“Well alright then. I need ta show ya where to put the apples ya buck. We’ll grab tha tarp on tha way there. Follow me.” We started walking back towards Applejacks house at the front of the farm. However before we made it all the way there Applejack took a sudden detour to the right. A short ways away I saw what looked like two cellar doors resting on the ground. Applejack walked over to them and used her mouth to pull them open. After she opened the doors I peered over the edge and noted that it was quite dark down there.

Applejack either didn’t notice the darkness or didn’t care as she quickly descended the staircase. I hesitantly followed her making my way down the stairs slowly so I didn’t trip. As there was still light streaming in from outside I could barely make out what appeared to be large containers filled with apples of every kind. There had to be at least 20 of these massive containers.

“Holy cow Applejack! Are each of these containers a different type of apple?”

As my eyes started to adjust I saw Applejack puff out her chest and say, “Yep! We’re not called the apple family for nothin!” I was amazed at the sheer number of apples found in this cellar.

“How on Equis can you even utilize this many apples without them going bad?!” Wait Equis? Another word has surreptitiously slipped into my common word associations.

“Well we don’t just sell apples in the ponyville market. We have pony merchants come by every couple of days to take cartfulls of apples to their town to sell. Not ta mention we also ferment tha apples to make alcohol.” Amazing. I had mistaken Applejack for a simple farmer when she was obviously a shrewd businessmare. I nodded and bowed slightly at her words.

“It appears I have misjudged you Applejack. I took your calm demeanor and easygoing attitude for that of a uneducated rube. I can see now by your business plan and established supply routes that you are much more of an intellectual than I gave you credit for. It appears your cute looks aren’t the only thing you have in spades.”

Applejack blushed at my compliment and said, “Shucks ya done gone and made me blush.” Internally I was screaming at myself. FUCK AGAIN! What the hell. I’m not usually this flirtatious with anyone. Jesus this is the second time today the words have just naturally flowed out of me. The slowly lessening grasp on my tongue and mental barrier were starting to frighten me. Applejack didn’t let me dwell on my thoughts long though.

“Well I appreciate the compliment Cicero. You're not to hard on the eyes either sugarcube,” she said giving me a wink. I blushed slightly at her admittance. I was no match for her cute freckled smile. I coughed to neutralize the situation.

“Yes, well. Now that I know where you store the apples what is the procedure to storing them?” She gave me a knowing smile and laughed at my obvious deflection.

“Well each container of apples is separated and labeled by type so all ya need to do is dump the apples ya bring down here into the top of the container and close it back up. The apples come out through the bottom of the container so each of the oldest ones always leave first.”

“A very efficient system. Now about those tarps I mentioned earlier. As I feel guilty for smashing one of your trees I was hoping we could go get that so I could quickly get to work. I promise i’ll make up for it by the end of the workday.”

“Awww sugarcube I already told ya it’s not ah big deal. We got hundreds and hundreds of apple trees.”

“Perhaps so Applejack but to me the problem isn’t that I destroyed the tree. I was thinking illogically and let my emotions control my actions. I went overboard and destroyed your tree. One should always be in control of their emotions and thus their physical actions.” I frowned at my own admittance.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Cicero. Everyone gets a little heated at some point or another. It’s not going to hurt anyone if ya lose control every once in awhile.” Her words triggered a memory in the back of my mind.

A protector stood before a field of carnage breathing heavily. He looked around wildly yelling guttural noises. “J-john?” a voice hesitantly called. John the protector turned rapidly and faced the unknown voice. A unnaturally tall bipedal creature stood in front of john wearing armor and was flanked by a group of others in similar armor.

“A-are you ok? I don’t think i’ve ever seen such savagery from you before John.” said the unknown voice again. John didn’t seem to have heard it’s words as he stepped forward with a crazed look on his face. The other creature noticed his look and took a step back. “No. Somethings not right here. What’s going on Jo-*RIP*” The creature never got to finish it’s words as John had lunged forward and violently thrust his hand through the creature's stomach.

The wounded creature tried to speak as John viciously threw it to the side giggling insanely. The others that had been standing behind the first creature all took hesitant steps backwards. One had the common sense to brandish his spear and yell, “Halt John. I don’t know what’s going on here but you just murdered a commanding officer. Stand down or we will use deadly force!” The others quickly mimicked the lead creature's actions as they brandished their spears.

John simply looked up and screamed. He dashed forward with the intent to slaughter once more. The other soldiers weren’t having any more of this insanity as they pierced John with their spears. The last part of the vision was John coughing up his own blood as he laughed and laughed and laughed.”

Mother had told me John was revered as an extremely skilled fighter in our society. However his skill in combat often lead to him to constantly seek out battles. Eventually mother told me he had enjoyed the feeling of killing and fighting so much he reverted back to his baser instincts and lost his mind. ‘Control your emotions lest they control you’ she had always told me. ‘As protectors we don’t have the luxury of not being in control of our emotions.’

Being in constant control of my emotions was always one of the harder lessons of my people for me to follow. The tension of no release would build up and often I found myself getting drunk at random night clubs just to relieve myself. I could never fully make my mind up about this lesson from our people. Surely there were some situations where emotions could behoove oneself? The ability to feel and use complex emotions were what made us alive. I suppose further thought on the subject would have to wait for another day as Applejack was staring at me.

“Perhaps you’re right Applejack. Maybe your words are those of a wise man.” I paused for a second and then said a little harsher, “Or maybe they’re those of a fool. I suppose only time will tell.” With that said I walked up the cellar stairs and out into the sunlight. I raised my head to the sky and felt the warm sun against my face. Damnit I just did it again. In my effort to prove my point I had done just the opposite. The stress of always remaining in control forced me to loose control. I internally sighed. Applejack didn’t didn’t deserve those harsh words. I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on her.

I heard Applejack emerge from the cellar and close the doors. As she walked over to me I said, “Applejack I’m sorry for that little faux pas just a moment ago. That’s a touchy subject for me and I shouldn’t have said such things. I apologize for my actions and was hoping we could just forget that little moment of mine.”

“Fo what now? I don’t know what that is but don’t worry sugarcube. I didn’t take any offense to your words. Do ya want to talk about it?” I thought on her offer. I suppose collaborating with her might produce a solid decision as my individual thinking on the subject hadn’t so far. But not today. Maybe i’d take her up on that offer one day. I didn’t know her well enough to feel safe talking about who I was.

“Thank you for the kind offer Applejack but I’ll have to decline. I’d really like to get started apple bucking if you wouldn’t mind.”

“No problem Cicero. Let’s go get you those tarps.” She started walking off and I silently followed. Not to far away was the barn I had slept in the other day. As we made our way over to it i saw that half of the barn door was cracked in half. Well there's another thing to feel guilty about. She really did smash that door in half trying to chase after me. The power these earth ponies had, relative to their size, was truly mind boggling.

“I see i’ve caused the destruction of another piece of property on your farm.” I said forlornly. Applejack looked confused and then realized she had just walked past the broken barn door.

“Ahhh Cicero don’t you worry about that. That there was my fault. As I just said not a few moments before we all lose control of ourselves sometimes. In the heat of the moment I overreacted and decided to smash the door down. *heh* not one of ma finer moments. Big Mac darn near had ma hide for that hairbrained maneuver.”

“Well I know that arguing with you over this would be futile so i’m just going to have to find another way to make it up too you. I promise i’ll work extra hard today as a start.” Applejack just smiled and shook her head. She then used her mouth to pull two large tarps in front of me.

“Will this work Cicero?”

“Yes these will do fine for today. Thank you Applejack.” I scooped up the two tarps into my hands and walked out the barn back towards the fields.

Applejack called out to me as I walked away, “I’ll come get ya around noon for lunch. Don’t be afraid to come get me if ya need help. Oh and make sure to stay hydrated. We have a pump near the Apple cellar.” Not wanting to be distracted from work any longer I simply waved over my shoulder and kept walking. Eventually I made it back to the trees I had been bucking before. Alright I owe Applejack a lot after what she’s done. Time to get to work.

First things first I need to get rid of this destroyed tree. I figure since working in these apple trees is relatively secluded I could do some training while I work here. Keeping a steady flow of energy from my core into the rest of my body is an excellent way to practice my stamina control. I pulled a large amount of energy out of my core and evenly dispersed it amongst my body. Once I felt that the flow from my core was coming at a steady pace I walked over to the tree and picked it up.

I grunted as I put it between my arms and chest. Even with a steady flow this tree was heavy and unwieldy. I started a pretty fast run towards what I hoped was the edge of the property. After a good 3 minutes or so I hit the edge and set the tree down outside of the property. I’m not sure what they wanted to do with the tree but having it between the apple groves tightly placed lanes would just get in the way. As the lanes were pretty straight I easily made it back to the spot I had been previously.

Alright let’s see if this tarp is going to help at all. I laid the two massive tarps on each side of the apple tree. Winding up I kicked the tree with the same force I had before. Apples fell and scattered around as before but almost all of them stayed on the trap. Excellent. Grabbing the sides of each trap I pull them together and bundled the apples up in the tarp as best I could. Damn Applejack wasn’t kidding about her apple trees, these tarps are practically bursting their so full.

Throwing each tarp over a shoulder I started jogging back towards the cellar Applejack had showed me before. Reaching the doors I flung them open and slowly descended the stairs. I barely fit down the stairs with my full tarps. Walking over to the Braeburn apple enclosure I slowly dumped both of my tarps into the apple vat and closed the top. Jumping out of the cellar I closed the doors and jogged back to the apple trees from before.

Assessing my physical state I realized that my cores energy flow had become a bit disrupted from shifting between activities. I readjusted the flow and evened it back throughout my body. Well as far as training goes that wasn’t too bad. Mother had definitely tried to put me through worse back home. But it had been a while since i’d voluntarily participated in her daily exercises. I figured I could keep up this pace until lunch. I smiled to myself, “let’s do this.”

Around 5 or so hours later I was nearing the end of my energy reserves. Working on a farm was hard enough but steadily pushing my cores energy outward was exhausting. Luckily as I was exiting the cellar doors from one of my trips I was stopped by Applejack.

“Howdy there Cicero. Sweet Celestia! Your sweating harder than a diamond dog in a gem museum. You alright their partner?” I looked down at myself. Well she’s definitely right about that. It’s been awhile since i’ve sweat this hard. That’s what I get for neglecting moms training. Wait diamond dog?

“Applejack what’s a… you know what nevermind. I’m just too tired right now for questions. Anyways yes I’m alright Applejack. It’s just been a while since I’ve pushed myself this hard physically. Was their something you needed?”

“Ahm here to tell ya it’s lunch time. From the looks of it you could definitely use a good meal right now.”

“You have no idea. Just let me wash some sweat off at your pump and I’ll be ready to go.” As the pump was near the cellar I quickly walked over and splashed some water over my chest. My pants were getting wet, but they were already so soaked with sweat it didn’t matter at this point. I didn’t care enough to wash off my whole body as I was ravenous at this point. One side effect of protectors using their powers were that we had to replenish it somehow. The more we used our powers the more our bodies craved food to replenish itself.

“Please lead on Applejack, i’m practically starving.”

“I’ll bet,” she laughed. “This way.” Applejack led me over towards a picnic table in front of her house. Once I got closer my eyes practically sparkled in delight. The table was completely inundated with a massive variety of food. Pies, fritters, beans, corn, salad, apples, watermelon, and so much more was laid out before me. I’m not proud but I definitely started to noticeably drool at the sight.

“Well if looks like someone appreciates my cooking! See Applejack! I told ya ah didn’t make too much. The poor feller looks half starved.” Said an unknown female voice. I looked over to see an old green mare smiling at me.

“Ha! I guess you were right Gran. This is Cicero,” She said pointing at me. “He’s the help I mentioned hiring yesterday.” Applejack then turned to me. “Cicero this is Granny Smith and she made today's delicious looking lunch.” I smiled at Granny Smith. A farm wouldn’t be the same without some home cooking.

“Well thank you for today's meal Mrs. Smith. It looks phenomenal!” I said excitedly.

“Please yougun, just call me Gran. By the looks of ya, you done a hard day's work out there. I’d say you’ve earned this meal. Go on sonny dig in!”

“Don’t mind if I d-”

“WAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! Applejack, Gran, Big Mac look out! There’s a huge creature next to ya!” A high pitched feminine voice yelled. I spun around looking for the voice and noticed Big Mac approaching the table from the direction of the fields. It couldn’t have been him. Where on Equis did that come from? I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. A tiny yellow mare foal with a red tail and mane quickly skittered over to me.

“A-ah don’t know what ya are but I’ll p-p-protect ma family!” The little foal stuttered out. OH. MY. GOD. If I had thought derpy was cute yesterday this foals cuteness was on another level entirely. Her tiny body, her shaky stance, her cute southern drawl, and the biggest most precious red bow on top of her head. It was too much, I couldn’t handle it.

“HHNNNNGGG!” I grunted out letting my knees hit the ground.

“Applebloom! Ah told ya about the new help coming to the farm today. Remember when I mentioned he was a different creature than you’d ever seen before?” She scolded Applebloom, who now looked slightly ashamed at her overreaction. Applejack looked in my direction and said, “Ya alright there Cicero?”

“I knew out of all the places i’d seen in my life someone had to have done it and now I finally have proof. You ponies are the first species I’ve ever met who’ve effectively weaponized cuteness!” I then spread my arms and flung my head back in a dramatic gesture. “If I have to die by your cute hooves then so be it! Go ahead I won’t fight you!” To my delight I got the reaction i’d hoped for and heard the tiny foal laugh. I looked back down to see her smiling.

“You're a weird creature mister! What are you?” Applebloom said brimming with curiosity.

“Well little one I most likely seem weird to you because i’m not of this planet. My names Cicero and I’m a human from a planet called Earth.”

“You’re an alien!?” Applebloom yelled in shock! She then started to excitedly hop around in a circle. “OH MY GOSH! This is so amazing! Ya have to help me and ma friends get our cutie marks Cicero! Think of all the cool new things we could try with an alien ta help us.”

“Applebloom for goodness sake simmer down!” Applejack said in exasperation. Applebloom only calmed down enough to stop bouncing around in a circle as she bounded over to me. Using her forelegs to hold herself up against me she started to bounce up and down while wagging her tail, just like an excited puppy would.

“Please say you’ll help us Cicero! Please Please Please!” She said with wide excited eyes. Satan himself wouldn’t have been able to say no and disappoint this adorable little foal. I scooped her up in my arms and snuggled her while I said, “I’d love to help you and your friends Applebloom. I don’t really know what you want or what a cutie mark is but I promise I’ll do my best.” Applebloom looked up at me with shock on her face.

“How can ya not know what a cutie mark is? All adults have one don’t they?” She said with a concerned face. I didn’t know what she was talking about so I just hugged her tighter trying to alleviate her concern. Applejack spoke up to cover for my lack of knowledge on the subject.

“All adults have cutie marks Applebloom. Everyone gets one at some point while they’re growing up. You and your friends will get yours when the time is right.” She then looked at me. “As you’re not a pony I ain’t surprised ya don’t know what a cutie mark is.” Applejack turned to her side and pointed at the tattoo on her rump I had noticed before. “This here’s ma cutie mark! It’s apples to show my love of eatin and growin them.” I set Applebloom down as this was something that had interested me for a while.

“So you ponies tattoo something of special meaning to you on your bodies as a right of passage?”

“What the hay is a tattoo?” She responded quizzically.

“A tattoo is something humans do that I figured you ponies did as well. To give a quick explanation it’s when someone takes a needle and systematically uses it to inject ink underneath your skin. These colored inks are generally injected in a pattern so that they depict a symbol, picture, or words that are important to whomever is getting the tattoo. I figured that’s what your cutie mark was.” Applejack did not take this explanation well.

“That sounds awful! Why in Celestia’s name would anyone do that to themselves!?” Celestia’s name? Do they revear the princess's as gods here? Twilight had always seemed reverent when she talked about the princesses, especially Celestia. Hmmmm I suppose I’ll have to find out when I meet them. The ponies actions around the princesses would confirm my suspicious better than questioning them would.

“Most of the time the reason people get a tattoo is because the thing they’re getting tattooed on their body means a lot to that person. So much so that they want a constant physical reminder of it. However there are those that choose to get tattoos as fashion statements instead. Personally I’ve never understood the fascination with tattoos,” I said giving a shrug. “Alright so if you ponies don’t use tattoos then how do you get your cutie marks?”

“Well they just sort of appear when ya find what you’re suppose ta do,” She said shrugging.

“Appear? As in they magically show up on your flank one day without any assistance?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah that sounds about right. Usually they show up right after ya find your calling.”

“HOLY HELL! That’s amazing!” These marks appear on each ponies flank and tell them what they're supposed to do for the rest of their lives!? I couldn’t even begin to describe how much I envied their situation. I’ve always had the hardest time trying to find my purpose and here these ponies just had theirs thrust upon them. I could definitely understand why Applebloom and her friends wanted theirs as soon as possible. In a strange way I guess this little foal and I were much more similar than I had initially believed.

“So where’s your cutie mark cicero?” Applebloom asked.

“Well as far as I know humans don’t get cutie marks so I guess I don’t have one now or ever will.” I said a bit disappointed. “I’ll admit knowing that I won’t get one is a bit of a let down. On the other hand humans have always decided their own fate without Cutie Marks so it’s not like I can’t still find my purpose. Anyways, Applejack these cutie marks interest me greatly. Do you mind if I study yours a little closer?”

“Sure! I don’t see why not. Go ahead.” Walking over to Applejack I dropped to my knees and began scrutinizing her cutie mark up close. The mark appeared to be attached to her skin and coat at the same time. Intriguing. What happens when their coats grow out? Does the skin it grows from change the hair's color? Or maybe these ponies don’t grow longer coats like the ponies on Earth. I reached out and prodded Applejacks mark with a finger. This made Applejack jump in surprise and I realized I should probably have asked her first before poking her.

“Oh! Sorry about that Applejack. I didn’t mean to startle you with my sudden actions. You don’t mind if I touch your mark do you?”

She laughed. “It’s alright Cicero. Ya just startled me is all. I can understand you being a might bit curious seeing as humans don’t have one. Go ahead.”

“Thanks,” I said absentmindedly as I got back to observing her apple cutie mark. I poked all of the apples to see if It felt any different from the rest of her skin. To my surprise the feelings of her cutie marked coat and normal coat were indistinguishable from each other. Hmmm I guess it’s not a scar or biological change of the skin. I quickly rubbed my hand across it a few times to see if I could get some of the color to come off or smear. This still produced no results. Perhaps these marks are just something I can’t explain.

I noticed Applejacks tail starting to swish a little faster as I continued to poke her mark. As it wasn’t in my way I decided to ignore it for now. Maybe the mark is a result of something biologically changing beneath the skin? I started kneading my fingers into the area in and around her cutie mark. I tried feeling around for anything that might seem out of place for an equine. I was distracted from my observations when I heard a soft “oooohhhhh” from Applejack. Was…. was that a moan.

I looked up to see Applejack blushing and looking away from me. It then occurred to me that I had accidentally been feeling up Applejacks butt for a while now. So that tail swishing was…. Shit. Damn my curiosity. I stood up and took a few steps back from Applejack who was still looking away in embarrassment.

“Errrr sorry about that Applejack.” I said awkwardly. “Sometimes I get too curious for my own good. I really like to question things and come up with my own theories on how they work. I didn’t mean to let my curiosity get the better of me.”

“I’m not mad Cicero, just a little embarrassed is all. Those things of yours sure are strange but I have to admit it they felt mighty nice. Almost a little too nice.” She finished, mumbling the last part. I smiled at her embarrassing admittance.

“Well as I told Twilight before I’d be happy to give you a back or belly rub if you want. Shoot everyone, me in included, loves a good rub. Especially if you have a hard time reaching that part of your body. As you ponies don’t seem too terribly flexible I can definitely understand wanting to be scratched or rubbed where you can’t reach. But anyways the rubbing session will have to wait as I’m still ridiculously hungry.”

I looked over to the food table with eager eyes. I made note of the fact that gran was standing next to the table with a smile on her face as she looked at Applejack. I also noticed that big mac was looking at me through narrowed eyes. Poor Applebloom just seemed to be looking at everyone in confusion. Hope I didn’t offend her family or something like that. Especially since they just hired me to work here. My stomach reminded me that I was still hungry by letting out a loud, *grumble*. Well I’ll think about that later, I need food badly.

Standing next to the table I grabbed a plate and loaded it up with some of everything. I didn’t waste any more time as I rapidly got to work eating my food. Man everything I eat here always tastes better than the last and I’m not just saying that because I’m starving. I thought about stopping to tell Gran that her food was wonderful but my body's lack of energy demanded that I continued to scarf down this food. I got about a minute or two into eating before the good times had to end. Everyone had been standing around eating their food as well when Applejack said, “So Judging by the speed that you're currently putting away all that food and the exhausted state I found you in earlier I’m assuming that you got a lot of work done today.” Common courtesy demanded that I stop eating and answer Applejack so I very sadly put down the piece of pie I had been eating.

“Yeah I’m not sure how much you guys usually do in a day but I tried my hardest today. I wanted to show you that hiring me was a good choice. I’m very excited to get back to work.” I paused for a second to think. “Although you might want me to start collecting some different apples besides Braeburn, unless you have another container for them. The one you showed me this morning is pretty much completely full. Applejack and Big Mac both froze at my words.

“What do ya mean full Cicero?” Applejack asked. I raised my eyebrow at her question but answered none the less.

“I mean full, as in the opposite of empty. The container most likely can only take a few more apples before I won’t be able to close it next time.” Applejack and Big Macs eyes grew wide as they looked at each other and then back to me. I just stared back confused. Quick as lightning both shot off towards the direction of the cellar. As they had startled me I just watched them go. After a few seconds I said, “What was that all about?”

“Beats me youngun, I just do the cooking and cleaning around here. Ya might wanna go see what’s got them in such a tizzy though.” Gran said. I really wanted to figure out what just happened but I also really wanted to keep eating Gran’s delicious lunch. My head swiveled back and forth between the table of food and the apple cellar.

Gran, noticing my plight, laughed at me and said, “Don’t worry Cicero the food will be here when ya get back! Go on now.” I gave a quick salute and started walking back towards the apple cellar. As I walked towards the cellar doors I started to hear two voices conversing loudly with each other. Seeing that the cellar door was ajar I started my way inside.

“How is it even possible!? It takes the two of us three full days to fill one of these containers and somehow he’s done it by himself in six hours!” My chest filled with pride at Applejacks words. I was now well on my way to paying Applejack back for her kindness. I was quite pleased that I had found a way to make myself a useful employee. Unfortunately my happy thoughts were crushed by her next words.

“What are we gonna do with all these apples? I didn’t think he’d collect nearly this much. Shoot I didn’t he’d even be able to buck half as many as us.” Dammit! I was overzealous in my apple bucking today. I didn’t think about whether they could sell these many apples. I guess I had been thinking about the farms on Earth when I had been bucking. They always had a buyer they could sell to somewhere. I guess in a small town it would be harder to find as many.

I walked over to the braeburn apple container and said, “Yeah my bad on that one guys. I didn’t even think about how many apples you’d have to sell before they went bad. I was just really eager to help you guys out and I guess I went overboard.” Applejack and Big Mac both jumped and spun around to face me when I spoke.

“Ahh it’s alright sugarcube, I didn’t mean ta make ya feel bad fer working hard.” Applejack said. “I’m just surprised ya managed to buck so darn many apples. I’m sure Big Mac and me will find something ta do with them.” She said sounding unsure of her own words. Thankfully Big Mac came to both of our rescues.

“Actually I have a plan you two.” He turned to Applejack. “The pony merchants that travel past our farm always ask for more apples when they come by. We always told them no as we only had enough other apples for the ponies in town. Now we can sell multiple carts full of apples to them and have enough left over for the ponies in town.”

“Big Mac you’re a genius! Think of all the apples we could sell to everypony.” Applejack excitedly reared up and said, “Now everypony for miles around Ponyville will know about the apple family's apples!” She then landed and looked at me. “That is if you think you can buck this many apples again.”

“Of course! I’d be happy to help in any way I can.”

“Yeehaw! This is gonna be great! Bic Mac and I can buck a variety of apples every day for the ponies in town while ya buck a specific type of apple each day. We’ll be able to rotate shipments of different apples each day so no one will ever get tired of tha flavors.” Well that went way better that I expected it too. I turned to Big Mac and gave him a thumbs up. As ponies don’t have hands he just furrowed his brow in confusion at my actions. I laughed at his confused face and looked back to Applejack.

“As excited as I am about this news I’m still really really hungry. So if it’s alright with you two could we discuss any further plans over lunch?” I asked clutching my grumbling stomach.

“Well a course! Wouldn’t want gran’s lunch to go to waste.” Applejack joyously trotted towards the cellar entrance. I made to follow but was stopped when Big Mac got in front of me. Before I could ask him what was wrong he spoke up.

“Thanks fer your help Cicero. Applejack has always been worried she couldn’t run tha farm as well as ma and pa did. Hopefully this new venture will show her otherwise. I’m happy to have ya as a co worker on that farm.” Bic Mac let a wry smile cross his face. “I’ll also forget about ya feeling up ma sister earlier….. fer now. Ya watch them hands of yours in that future ya here?”

I coughed nervously. “Yes….. well…. I’ll be sure to be careful.” I then walked past Big Mac towards the cellar door. I couldn’t help but take a small jab at him as I quietly added, “Next time I touch Applejacks butt.” I swear I could hear Big Mac’s head snap to my retreating form. I laughed at his reaction as I climbed the cellar stairs. Truth be told I had no intention of feeling up Applejack again, I just couldn’t help but mess with Big Mac. Nothing's better than tripping up the stoic ones.

As I walked back towards the picnic table from before I thought back to my actions while I was observing Applejacks cutie mark. These ponies had deceptively soft coats for as short as they were. I remembered that as I had kneaded Applejacks hips I noticed how well toned her flanks had been. Not to mention she had that cute freckled farm girl look going for her. Now that I actually think about it I wouldn’t mind feeling it agi-. I stopped walking and facepalmed.

Again? Really Cicero? Jesus I’ve been acting like a hormonal human teenager all day! What is wrong with me? It’s like I’ve lost all semblance of mental control since I came here. My thoughts were getting more and more ridiculous as the day went on. I will definitely need to meditate on this tonight. I suppose these thoughts aren’t necessarily a problem but they are an annoyance. I find these uncontrolled thoughts and my lack of mental discipline rather frustrating.

I removed my hand from my face and continued walking back to the lunch table. I’ll deal with this later. I need to go make sure Gran kept her promise when she shooed me off earlier. To my delight I reached the table and saw someone had refiled my previously empty plate with second helpings. I looked up and saw Gran smiling at me. I smiled back and dug into my now full plate.

A little while later Big mac rejoined the table and everyone went back to eating as if nothing had happened before. After finishing my second plate of food my appetite was finally starting to slow down. Applejack noticed and took this opportunity to talk. “Alright Cicero you’re done working for today. We’ll need ta contact the pony merchants that come by tha farm ta let them know about our offer. We probably won’t need any more extra bucking done for a few days as what you’ve done today should last us. I’ll contact ya in a few days when we’ll need ya ta start buckin again.”

“I’ve only been working here for one day and I’m already being let go,” I said jokingly.

“HA! Fat chance partner. With your apple bucking techniques our farm could thrive! I hope ya decide to stick around Equestria.”

“I suppose how long I stay around these lands depends on your princesses. I don’t know how I got here or how to go back. From what Twilight has told me they seem to be the only ones with the knowledge or power to possibly send me back.”

“Don’t you worry Cicero. If anyone knows how ta get ya out of this pickle it’s the princesses. Anyways I’ll go get your pay for the day now. Ya’ll just wait here, I’ll only be a second.”

While Applejack walked off I figured now would be a good time to compliment Grans cooking. “Gran I just wanted to say thank you for this delicious meal today. I look forward to the next time i’m on the farm if not just so I can have your splendid cooking again.”

“Ha! I’m happy ya liked it Cicero. Judging from the pep in Applejacks step I’d say you’ll be back here eating ma food in no time.” She smiled at me. I smiled back as I saw Applejack coming out of the house holding a large bulbous bag in her mouth.

She set the bag on the table in front of me and said, “Here ya go Cicero! For a hard day's work.” I looked inside the bag and saw a combination of those yellow, white, and brown bits I had seen Twilight use the day before.

“Well as I’m not used to your monetary system here in Equestria yet I can’t be sure If I should be excited by this amount or not. No matter how much it is thank you for the job you’ve given me Applejack.”

“Ha! Trust me Cicero it’s a fair amount. I look forward ta seeing ya again in a few days.” Sensing I was being dismissed I grabbed the money sack and waved my other hand in farewell. Started back on the dirt path towards Twilight's library I figured they most likely had a lot of work to still do after lunch. You’ll never run out of things to do on a farm. As I started walking I realized in all of the commotion I never had a chance to talk to Big Mac about the gender disparity in this town. Oh well, I’ll just ask him next time I see him.

After a few minutes of walking I was nearing Twilights house. I was almost in her front yard when I remembered that Rarity mentioned she would finish my clothes today. Looking down at myself I realized that my pants were on their last legs after being worn continually. Even if I’m tired I really should go get some clothing before tomorrow. First things first though. I’m really thirsty and I doubt Twilight would mind if I stopped by for some water.

Making my way over to her door I figured I should probably knock as I was just a guest right now. I rapt on her door decently loud, hoping that she was downstairs reading a book or something. My faith was rewarded with a, “Coming,” from a very Twilight-ish sounding voice behind the door. The door opened and before me stood Twilight levitating an open book to her side. I opened my mouth to say hi but never got the chance.

As soon as Twilight laid eyes on me she let out a loud, “EEP,” and disappeared in a flash. I stood there for a second trying to figure out what the hell just happened. The events of this morning came flooding back into my mind and realization dawned on me. I guess she’s still embarrassed about earlier.

“Twilight?” no response. “Twilight?” I said a little louder. Still no response. Damn I didn’t think she’d still be embarrassed. Lo and behold my calling produced a little purple and green dragon rather than Twilight.

“Hey Cicero! What’s with all the yelling for Twilight? I thought she was down here reading a book.” Spike said confused.

“Errr yes…. Well she was for a little bit. I actually came by to get some water before heading into town. I need to retrieve some clothes that Rarity made for me.” At the utterance of the name Rarity, Spike’s concentration seemed to loosen as a dreamy expression crossed his face. Ahh well that’s not a hard reaction to identify. Puppy love. I had seen a few of my younger friends back on Earth get the same dreamy expression on their face when we talked about certain girls.

“Got the hots for Rarity eh Spike?” I said unable to keep a small bit of mirth from my voice. Those words seemed to light a fire under the poor dragon as he hopped up with a stupefied expression on his face. Before he was able to form a coherent response to my teasing I laughingly said, “Don’t worry Spike your secret is safe with me. I couldn’t help but mess with you. The dreamy look on your face when I mentioned Rarities name made your feelings rather obvious.”

Spike seemed relieved at my words but said, “How did you know I hadn’t told her my feelings yet?” A surprisingly astute observation for one as young as he. I figured i’d give him the truth.

“It was an educated guess actually. I’ve seen many young males on Earth with the same expression on their face when I mentioned older females they were pining after.”

“H-how did it turn out for those guys?” Spike hopefully asked. Ah shit. I didn’t want to be the one to break this kind of news to the kid. Puppy love was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately I feel as though I’d be doing him a disservice if I didn’t answer him with the truth. He most likely wasn’t going to get the raw harsh truth from Twilight and her friends.

“First before I answer you Spike know that what I’m about to say is only from my experiences and it’s meant to help you. Do you understand?” He hesitantly nodded at my grim words. “Alright well the truth is that most of the time when young ones such as yourself think they love an older person it usually isn’t real love.”

“What?!” Yelled Spike! He seemed indignant that I would declare his love for Rarity to be anything but pure.

“Hold on there Spike! Let me finish before you start getting angry. Remember that I’m only telling you these things from my experiences, ok?” He grumbled at my word but seemed to calm down. “As I was saying before usually the young men i’m talking about would grow up and realize that what they felt for the older women wasn’t actually love. When you’re younger you tend to filter out all of the bad qualities of those who interest you and only focus on the good ones, such as looks.”

“But Rarity is really pretty! That’s not a bad thing!” Spike said back.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing Spike. I’m just saying that a lady, or I guess mare in this case, has more to her than her looks. Think of all the interactions you’ve hard with Rarity. If you think about most of them can you honestly say you found her perfect in every situation?” My words caught Spike off guard as he swallowed the next words he had been about to defend Rarity with. He put his claw to his chin and looked like he was deep in thought. After a little bit I saw his face continuously flitting between a frown and a smile. It looks like he’s actually taking my advice and thinking on it.

“Now I’m not saying that the person you love has to be perfect. If perfect is your idea for an ideal mate then you’ll be alone your whole life as absolutely no one is perfect. All i’m saying is give my words some thought and think on it. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide that you actually do really love her after thinking on it. I’m not saying young love can’t become true love I’m just saying you need to be sure before you pursue it.”

Spike didn’t answer as he still seemed to be deep in thought. I needed to go get my clothes so I figured I’d leave him be for now. What I had said was a lot for any pers- I mean dragon to take in. “Well I can see you need some time to think Spike. I’m going to go grab some water and head into town.” I made my way towards the kitchen and forewent getting a cup as I drank straight from Twilights sink. Don’t judge me, I was thirsty and didn’t want to try finding the cups.

As I exited the kitchen and made my way towards Twilight's front door I saw Spike had sat down and was still thinking hard. Not wanting to interrupt I passed him by and crouched out the front door. I stood straight up and started walking in the direction that I remembered going yesterday to get into town. Hopefully it would be as easy as following the path to find Rarity’s boutique. As I was tired and in no hurry I slowed my walk down to a saunter and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere of Ponyville.

A part of me really wanted my coming here to just be a fluke that the princesses could easily correct and send me on my way. But another part of me had grown fond of this village and it’s ponies and wanted to stay. Unfortunately if I really was meant to be here then a part of me felt really guilty for wanting to stay. Whenever A protector showed up it usually heralded a period of great turmoil in that planet's history. Even though protectors were tasked with fighting against any evil we were sadly seen as the harbingers of it’s coming.

I was proud of what my people did. This had been our fates since before our civilization had developed any form of record keeping to tell the future generation what we did. In a small way I felt robbed of a purpose by this fact. While becoming might seem like a great destiny to some it was in fact something that most of my people did. Unlike these ponies our fate didn’t divulge what made us special or unique. It was ironic that I knew what my future would most likely hold but not what I was supposed to do.

I looked up at the sky to try and stop myself from brooding on this subject any longer. As I raised my head I realized I had arrived at Rarity’s boutique without even noticing it. As her house doubled as her business I simply walked in the front door of the shop. Like last time I had been here I heard a bell go off followed by “Coming!”. I heard the sounds of hooves clopping down the stairs followed by the appearance of Rarity.

“Ahh Cicero! How wonderful to see you again! Come come follow me. I finished up your redesigns earlier toda-” Rarity stopped talking and opened her eyes wide. I saw her gaze flow over my form. I looked down and remembered what a messy state I was in. I had been working on Applejacks farm all day and had never cleaned myself up properly. Hosing myself down earlier had only added to the shabby appearance I was sporting at the moment.

Shit I forgot how much of a lady Rarity was. To an outsider it probably looked like a filthy hobo had just wandered into her fancy clothing store. I better utilize whatever proper etiquette I know quickly, lest I offend her somehow.

“Rarity please forgive my rather disheveled appearance. I was working on Applejacks farm earlier and didn’t have any presentable clothing to change into before coming to you. I apologize for my thoughtfulness in entering your adobe in such a filthy state. If you wish I can extricate myself from the premises until I’ve found a way to rectify this situation. I’ll come back once I’ve changed my appearance to one that’s fit to be in the presence of a lady.” I started turning around to leave when Rarity stopped me.

“How could a lady, such as myself, not offer to help a gentlecolt in need? Come now I won’t make you leave when this situation is obviously not your fault. Although I must insist you use my shower to freshen up. I’ll bring you one of the new outfits I created for you.”

I bowed slightly and said, “As the lady wishes. Might I enquire as to the direction of your bathroom?”

“But of course! It’s at the top of the stairs to the right. You can use my towels and whatever other cleaning materials you can find in there.” She said happily. I smiled and climbed her stairs to finally start getting clean. While I didn’t show it often I actually hated the feeling of being dirty. It’s not as if I was completely against being filthy at any time I just didn’t want to be dirty when I wasn’t in a situation that required it. I’m actually quite happy Rarity offered to let me use her bathroom. It will be nice to finally get some fresh clothes after getting clean.

I easily found her bathroom at the top of the stairs and went inside. Again I noted that the bathroom door didn’t have a lock on it. I wasn’t worried about a repeat of this morning as Rarity knew I was in here. Still, no locks on bathrooms seemed like a strange societal norm to me. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that ponies are mostly naked at all times. Either way I grabbed a towel hanging off the wall rack and turned on the water.

Just like Twilight's shower I had to do some twisting and turning to get mostly under the shower head. Once I was situated I used Rarity’s bar soap to clean the filth from my body. God if felt good to be clean once again. Nothing like a hot shower after a long day's work. I reached for a shampoo to finish the job only to find a distinct lack of shampoo in the shower. Hmmm strange. You’d think a person like Rarity would have shampoo. Well she did mention I could use whatever I found.

I stepped out of the shower and toweled off a bit of the water on me so I could check her bathroom cabinets for any extra shampoo. She had a row of cabinets from the floor practically to the ceiling. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. Bandades, ointment, q-tips, cotton balls, soap, more towels, a pink dildo….. At this point my brain split into two distinct entities.

Angel: Ok moving on nothing to see here. Maybe if we call Rarity she c-

Devil: Woah woah woah woah hold on there buddy. Let’s go back to that last item on that list for a second. So did you say Dildo?

Angle: *sigh* Yes I said dildo. It’s not unexpected for a girl to have one. We should respect her privacy and just move on.

Devil: Uhhh you do realize that you just found a hidden pink horse dildo right? Come on! Aren’t you curious at all? How can you not want to at least see what it looks like!

Angel: Because It’s most likely Rarity's and you know how ladylike she acts. It would be rude to pry into such a ladies private matters.

Devil: COME ON! The fact that it’s the ladylike Rarity’s makes me want to see it even more! What if there’s some really kinky shit hidden behind it up there. Besides it’s our duty to look.

Angel: D-duty? What do you mean?

Devil: What if we are truly stuck in this land as it’s protector? What if we can’t go back home? We’ll need to learn everything about this land and it’s people. Including their body structure.

Angel: I-I guess you have a point. I mean it’s for a good reason right?

Devil: Of course buddy of course. Remember Twilight’s wise words, “FOR SCIENCE!”

My two halfs having reconciled sent the order up the chain and I was forced to go back to the cabinet with the dildo I had seen before. As I had noticed before it contained a decently sized pink dildo in the normal shape of a horse's member. I hesitantly pulled it out and beheld all 8 inches of the strangely flared pink pleasure plunger. I’ll admit I had expected it to be slightly bigger as horses and ponies were generally known for their relatively large members. But I suppose if I actually took relativity into account it did made sense considering the size of these ponies on Equis.

Jesus how did it come to this. I’ve been cast into an unknown world of innocent talking ponies and now I’m secretly rifling through their cabinets to find their pleasure toys like some common pervert. “IT’S FOR SCIENCE!” my inner devil and angel argued. Quiet you two. Seeing as I was feeling slightly guilty I was about to put the offending item back in it’s hiding place when I heard someone knock on the door. In my panic I fumbled the dildo and managed to smack myself in the eye with it.

“FUCK!” I yelled in pain clutching my eye in one hand while I angrily held the dildo in the other.

“Cicero dear are you ok? Should I come in!” Rarity worriedly asked.

“NO!” I yelled. “Uhhh I mean no Rarity I’m completely fine. Just stubbed my toe is all.”

“Stubbed your toe?” She asked confused. Fuck. Ponies don’t have toes.

“It means I just hurt myself accidentally. Sorry I was trying to find some shampoo in your cabinets.” FUUUUUUUCK! WHY DID YOU MENTION THE CABINETS YOU DUMBASS!?

“Is there none in the shower? Oh wait I remember now. I had recently run out of shampoo for my tail and mane. I use a rather special one to keep them luscious and styled. I was about to order some mo-.......” Rarity stopped rather abruptly.

“Cicero…. Dear….. You’re rather tall aren’t you.”

“Yes. Yes I am Rarity.”

“You…. you didn’t happen to search any of the upper cabinets did you darling?” Here it comes. I’m fucked no matter what I answer now. Even if I lied she would just notice the strange displacement of her toy later. Well If i’m going down I’m taking her with me.

“It….. it was a rather pretty shade of pink lady Rarity.” A few moments of silence and then *thump*. “Rarity?” I waited for a response. “Hello? Rarity are you there?” Still nothing. I sighed and facepalmed. Unfortunately I forgot I still had the dildo in one of my hands and once again slapped myself across the face with the offending phallus. “DAMNIT!” I yelled throwing the troublemaking dildo back into its cabinet. Hesitantly I opened the door a crack and saw rarity lying on the ground, out cold.

“Wow. I really did take her out.” I saw my clothing next to her downed body and reached out to pull it back into the bathroom. I quickly turned off the shower and dried the rest of my body off. Hanging up the towel and putting on the clothing I noted that it was now a much more tasteful design. She had managed to take the completely amethyst covered shirt from yesterday and simplified it down to 3 squarish gems in the middle of the shirt. Minus the colors it almost looked like Rarity's cutie mark. I have to admit I was very impressed with the full overhaul she had completed overnight.

I would have to save the admiration of my clothing for later as Rarity needed my help right now. With these recent events I was beginning to wonder if I would ever be able to safely take showers here in Equestria. Putting that aside I walked out of the bathroom to see Rarity still laying on the ground out cold. I figured the best option at this point was to get her into a more comfortable position before attempting to resuscitate her. I bent down and pulled Rarity into my arms as I held her against my chest.

I walked back down the stairs and noticed a couch to the side of the stairs. Walking over to it I gently set Rarity upon it. I noticed that even passed out her mane and tail still looked elegantly styled. I wonder how much work she puts into preparing herself every day. Anyone could see that a hairstyle like Rarity's would require a lot of daily dedication. It’s strange that a vibrant color like purple can so perfectly accent her pristine white coat. She looks so delicate… so beautiful…..

*Sigh* And there I go again. I’m beginning to think there’s something funny going on in this land. Controlling my thoughts has never been this difficult before. Perhaps the ponies here naturally release pheromones and my body is reacting to them. Normally as a different species this wouldn’t be a problem but protectors bodies were extraordinarily adaptable. I really do need to stop and meditate on this sometime soon. I’ll make it my first priority later. I need to get back to the task at hand.

I placed my hands on Rarity and gently tried to shake her awake. This produced no results so I shook her shoulder a little harder. Still nothing. I tried calling her name at varying levels of loudness. This also produced no visible results. “Hmmm she’s really out cold. Maybe if I’m lucky she won’t even remember the bathroom incident when she wakes up.” While that was wishful thinking it was still nice to hope. I put my hand to my chin and pondered what I could do next to rouse Rarity.

The front door swung open as a squeaky voice called out, “Rarity I’m home!”. A little white unicorn foal with a light pink and purple mane walked in the front door. “Rarity!” The foal called again. I figured I should probably say something.

“Hey there little one. My name is Cicero and your sister is over here on the couch.” The foal jumped when she heard my words coming from behind her. She turned to see me sitting on the couch next to her sister.

“Wh-who are you! What did you do to Rarity!” the foal said in a squeaky panicked voice. God I’ll never get over how adorable all of these creatures are. And following with tradition this new pony was even more adorable than the last one I’d seen.

“Woah! Hold on there little one. I mean no harm. I simply came by to try on some clothes that your sister made for me. Unfortunately as I was trying them on poor Rarity seemed to pass out cold.” I figured there was no reason to spread the true story and embarrass Rarity further. “Poor dear looked like she worked herself to hard recently.”

The little foals face lit up as she said, “I know who you are! Rarity mentioned making clothes for a tall alien the other day! That’s you isn’t it?”

“Well as I doubt there are many aliens walking around Ponyville I would say most likely yes.”

“Well my names Sweetie Belle and Rarity is my sister!” She then trotted over to her sister and nuzzled her face with her own. “I’ve always told Rarity that she works too hard when a deadline is coming up.” Sweetie Belle said with a concerned look on her face.

“Well I’m sure she’ll be fine with some proper rest and relaxation Sweetie Belle. I wouldn’t worry too much and I’m sure she’d tell you the same.” Sweetie Belle Smiled. “Unfortunately I have been unable to wake her up as of yet and I have prior engagements today that I need to keep. Would you mind terribly if I continued on to them and left you to watch over Rarity here?”

“Sure! No problem mister! I’ll make sure Rarity gets plenty of rest when she wakes up.” I smiled at her enthusiastic face and stood up. Sweetie Belle took my place next to Rarity and nestled in close to her Sister. “One last thing Sweetie Belle.” She looked up at me. “If you wouldn’t mind could you deliver a message to your sister when she wakes up?” Sweetie Belle nodded her head. “Let Rarity know that I’m grateful for the clothing she made and that I’ll be back for the rest of it tomorrow. Also let her know that I’d like to talk to her about placing an order for other special clothing.” I then pointed to Sweetie Belle. “Oh and please just call me Cicero.”

“Got it Cicero! I’ll make sure she gets the message.” She said while giving me a small salute. I walked towards the door and called out, “Thanks Sweetie Belle,” as I exited the Carousel Boutique. I felt bad leaving Rarity unconscious on the couch but I’m sure Sweetie Belle would take good care of her. I needed to get back to the library and talk to Twilight. I promised her that I would tell her about a neat human invention today. I hope she’s gotten over the embarrassment of this morning by now.

Setting a quick pace I made it back to Twilights house in no time. I knocked on the door to see if anyone was home. After a few seconds I heard Spike call “Coming!” from inside the house. A few clicking sounds from clawed feet was followed by Spike swinging open the door. “Hey Cicero!” he said. Twilight, who had been reading behind Spike, suddenly froze at my name but didn’t disappear as she had twice before. Well that’s definitely an improvement over her actions from before.

“Hey Spike.” I said walking into the house. “You look a lot better than when I left you earlier.” Spike put his claw on the back of his head.

“Yeah you definitely gave me a lot to think about earlier. I’m kinda confused and don’t know how I feel now to be honest.” He finished sounding disheartened.

“Sorry about that Spike. I didn’t meant to fill your mind with doubt. I was only trying to help you. The faster you can recognize what it is you truly feel the faster you can decide what course of action you take. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about women in all of my life it’s that most of them at the very least respect confidence and decisiveness. A lot of them find those attributes attractive actually. As embarrassing as it sounds I only want to help you listen to what your heart says.” I was never especially good with talking to children so I worried that I had perhaps said the wrong thing to Spike.

“It’s ok Cicero. I could tell from your words earlier that you weren’t trying to confuse me. I understand that you’re trying to help me. I’m probably going to need some time before I decide what it is I want to do though. Is that ok?” I was impressed that Spike was able to grasp such complex emotions considering his age. His hesitant question at the end however showed that he was still a confused child at heart. I smiled. What an interesting enigma of a dragon Spike was.

“Yes Spike it’s definitely ok. While decisiveness is a desirable quality so is thoughtfulness. Hastily rushing to a decision is almost worse than not deciding at all.” I ruffled his head fringes. “And take your time man. You’re still young and have a long time to think about things.” Spike seemed pleased with my response.

“Thanks Cicero! You’re a cool guy.”

“No problem bro.” I held out my fist to Spike expected him to fist bump it. Spike seemed confused at first but quickly realized what I was going for. He bumped his claw against my hand and cheerfully scampered off to some other part of the library. As I watched him go I thought about how pleased I was to have met Spike. He was cool enough as a fire breathing dragon but now I realized he was also a really nice guy. I hoped I would be able to hang out with him in the future, especially when he got a little bit older.

“What was that all about,” Twilight asked as she watched Spike disappear into the kitchen. Oh wow she’s actually talking to me. Awesome, I guess she’s already forgotten about this mornings embarrassing situation. Of course right as I thought that she also appeared to remember the same incident and looked back to her book with a blush. I answered her question anyways.

“Oh nothing much. I just had some guy talk with Spike earlier today about some things.” I said non specifically. It’s not like I didn’t want Twilight to know what we had talking about. I figured if Spike wanted her to know he’d talk about it with her.

“I-I s-see,” Twilight stuttered out badly. I sighed. Dammit let’s just get this over with.

“Twilight you’re not still embarrassed about this morning are you?” I asked. The blush spreading to her ears told me all I needed to know. “Look Twilight I already said it’s ok. I’m not such a private person that I’ve never been seen in the nude before. It’s really not a big deal.”

“I-I-I….” she stuttered out again. I left out another sigh. I guess her over the top reaction does make sense for Twilight. She’s probably an introvert like Fluttershy. Though most likely not on the same level as Fluttershy, I’m guessing twilight doesn’t have very much experience in dealing with these types of embarrassing social accidents. Well if she wasn’t going to listen to my words then another options that usually works is just to shock her system and get over the embarrassment. I made my way over to Twilight and scooped her up into my hands.

“Ci-cicero what are you doing!?” She said struggling a little bit.

“Well seeing as you won’t listen to what I’m saying I figured the fastest way to get you over the incidents of this morning was just to help you relax and get the embarrassment out of your system. Don’t worry I’m just going to keep a promise I made to you yesterday.” I walked over to a green couch that was lying against the wall near the staircase. Sitting down I flipped Twilight on her back.

“Cicero I don’t know what you’re doing but I just feel more emb-ooooohhhhh!”

I cut Twilight's words off by running my right hand in a circular pattern around her stomach. HA! Her reaction proves my theory. Everyone enjoys a good belly rub. I felt Twilight struggle to maintain her bodies tension but eventually my continual rubbing won out and she relaxed her muscles.

“So what do you think now Twilight? Still embarrassed?”

“I know I should be but it’s so hard to be anything but relaxed when you keep rubbing my stomach.”

“Belly rub Twilight. I mentioned it yesterday to show you what my fingers were capable of. So what do you think of them so far?”

“Hhhhhmmm they’re wonderful. So soft yet so precise in their actions. Ahhhhhhhh I could really get used to this.” I chuckled at her honest response.

“Well since you’re letting me stay here for free you’re welcome to my belly rub services at any time.” I said enthusiastic to pay her back. “Oh by the way I forgot to mention that I got payed by Applejack this morning. I’ll need you to help me understand how much I actually have and what I can do with it. Not to mention I want to give you some for letting me stay here and eat your food.”

I felt Twilight stiffen her stomach muscles so she could raise her head to most likely protest this offer. Unfortunately for her I wasn’t going to have her deny my generosity and as such I redoubled my hands efforts. “Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.” She lead out a contented sigh and relaxed her muscles again.

“You see Twilight? You’re no match for my belly rub techniques. You’ll just have to accept my generosity without complaining otherwise i’ll be forced to triple my efforts.

“Oooohhhhh very well Cicero, have it your way.”

“Damn it feels good to win.” She snorted at my proclamation of victory but didn’t move from her spot on my lap. “Alright Twilight another thing I promised you yesterday was that I would tell you about a neat human invention. Do you still want to do that?” Predictably Twilight once again shifted to try and get up, most likely to get her notes this time. Again I redoubled my efforts at her actions and eased her back down.

“I’ll take that as a yes then. However as I’m rather tired and comfortable right now you’ll just have to relax and write down what I tell you later. You ponies are very soft and rubbing you is comforting to me.” Twilight just nodded her head in agreement and satisfaction. “Hmmmm well I guess I should go over something less technical today that way it’s easier for you to remember.” I thought on our discussions from the past day and smiled when I realize what I wanted to teach her today.

“Alright since you expressed interest the other day how about I teach you about all of the gods and religions humanity has invented? The diverse range of religions and deities humanity has created is truly impressive.” Twilight was apparently so relaxed she didn’t feel like talking and instead chose to just grunt in approval. I chuckled once more. “I’m assuming that grunt was your approval. I can’t say that I’ll get all of humanity's religious history correct but I suppose we can start with some of the more textually recorded older gods.

For about an hour I regaled Twilight with the long history of humanities gods. Even relaxed I could tell she was listening intently based on her facial expressions. However because of her relaxation I was not surprised when she finally succumbed to my ministrations and fell asleep in my lap. I stopped talking and simply watcher her small chest rise and fall. Twilight always seemed to hyper and eager to learn about everything when she was awake. Seeing her relaxed and innocent face brought the familiar thoughts of beauty that had been creeping their way into my head all day.

I was too tired to fight it and think on this issue for now. I really needed to meditate tonight but I’ll admit the tendrils of sleep were beginning to creep into my mind. Since I don’t have to work tomorrow I suppose I can just do it in the morning. With this concern taken of I instinctively pulled Twilight closer to me into a huge and fell asleep.

Perspective: Unknown

Hate. How I hated all of the disgusting ponies that frolicked through the lands of Equestria. The same thought had plagued my mind for the thousands of years I had been stuck here. Ever since those filthy alicorns had trapped me deep below the ground I could do nothing but let my rage fester. While it pains me to complement those vile alicorns I must admit their use of the planet's core to power their magic was an ingenious move. But they couldn’t keep me trapped forever. I saw the realization in their eyes as the life fled from their bodies. They knew that even their combined power could only keep me here so long.

While I had been stipped of my powers, I knew in a land like this they would eventually replenish themselves. And so I waited. I felt a rumble near me. I smiled. Finally. I may not have regained my physical form yet but I had enough power within me to at least interact with my earthen prison. For millenias I had studied the magical flow around my prison. The magical shield was modeled after the movements of this planet's liquid core. Always flowing in a never ending sphere.

Therewithin lied the strength and weakness of this prison. While the direct mimicking of the cores fluid energy had made a very tightly compact prison for me it also introduced the weakness associated with liquids. All I needed was just enough energy to puncture the shield slightly and disrupt the natural flow. The energy would rapidly follow the puncture and I would be free of this prison.

The thought of getting to the surface and destroying everything those wretched alicorns had held dear filled me with an emotion I hadn’t felt in a long time. I shivered at the sadistic pleasure filling my mind. “Yyyyeeeeesesssssss…..”. I would once again bask in the delicious fear of the mortals. Finding horribly creative new ways to kill the mortals had always been one of my favorite pastimes. As i’d had an overabundance of time to think I was looking forward to trying out some of the more creative ideas I’d come up with. But I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. Escaping came first.

I had been leaching the small dregs of magic I could find in this prison for a long time. Now that I could physically affect my environment it was finally time. If this didn’t work I would be done here for a long time to come. With this critical thought in mind I realized that I could not allow failure. I would escape this damn prison. I WOULD make the ponies pay. I WOULD HAVE MY REVENGE! Letting my rage guide me I slowly drew all of my energy into one small pinpoint attack and violently thrust it towards the closest edge of the magic barrier.

*THWUMP* *CCCCRRRRRACCCCCKKKKKKKK* As soon as I saw the barrier crack the magical energies of the earth outside the barrier started to flow into my prison. “HAHAHAHHAHAH YES!” I greedily drank in the magical energy and felt my reservers begin to fill once more. “I hope you ponies enjoyed your time of peace. I will soon walk amongst you. In my wake I will leave nothing but despair and destruction. Your parents might be dead but you will pay for their actions. Celestia and Luna, I’m coming for you.”

Author's Note

I am aware of the disparity between chapter lengths. This is a problem I am actively attempting to resolve. As suggested I'm attempting to put more logical time skips in my chapters but as the story is still in it's beginning phases sometimes I feel greater levels of details are needed. To any who continue to read though, I thank you.

Ch. 6 Deadly Training

Man this sure is a comfy body pillow. So soft, warm, and fluffy. Minus this strange pointy bit here at the top. Wait a minute did my body pillow just move? “Uhhhhhmmmmmmm”. And now it’s mumbling that’s not normal behavior for a body pill-. My last conscious thoughts before falling asleep yesterday suddenly filled my mind. I remembered lying on the couch giving Twilight a belly rub before finally succumbing to sleep. I looked down at what I was currently making my little spoon to find Twilight quietly sleeping in my arms.

Oh man I really need to find a way to get out of this situation before she wakes up. I would hate for Twilight to get embarrased and start avoiding me again, especially after I just fixed that situation last night. However even though I recognized that I needed to get up I found myself very hesitant to do so. Twilight was very soft, very warm, and very cute. It was like hugging an adorable plushy that had suddenly come to life. I hugged Twilight a little closer and got an endearing little contented sigh from her for my efforts.

Dammit! I have scant mental fortitude to convince myself to end this cuddle session and then she has to go and do that! I sighed. I have a few things I need to do today so I might as well get started. I can’t sit here cuddling Twilight forever. I very carefully, and regrettably, shifting my sideways position into a sitting one. I didn’t want to leave Twilight alone on the couch so I figured I’d just return her to her bed on the way up to mine. Pulling her close to me once more I stood up and walked towards the stairs.

Making it to the second floor I noticed Spike curled up sleeping in his little bed basket again. I quietly made my way over to Twilight's bed and gently place her on top. I then pulled her sheets up and covered her. I noticed her horn poking into her pillow a little bit and very carefully shifted her head so that it didn’t poke a hole in it. Now that my attention was on her horn I wondered how and why the horn was used to cast unicorn magic. It seemed strange to me that unicorns required their horns to cast magic.

Pegasus and Earth ponies apparently had magic within them but they didn’t need a focal point to use it like the unicorns. Mother had told me stories of other alien civilizations that had the ability to use magic and from what I could tell most hadn’t needed a focal point to cast magic either. I wonder if Unicorns had others uses for their horns besides this obvious one. Maybe Twilight would let me study her horn later. I’m rather curious as to what they feel like. Not to mention I’d like to see if I could identify what they were made out of.

However as Twilight was asleep my curiosity would have to be satiated later. Backing away from the bed I turned and made my way towards my room. Before I climbed the stairs I stopped and decided against going up to my temporary room. As everyone is still asleep I can just meditate downstairs. The stairs to the third floor often creek and I’d hate to wake Twilight now after I just got her resettled. Having decided on my course of action I turned around and tiptoed down the stairs to the library's ground floor.

Walked over to the green couch from before I curled myself into a relaxed meditative pose and began my session. I had a lot to think about before starting today. My first priority today should be to go and get my other clothing from Rarity. I also wanted to talk to her about getting some underwear and socks. All I had right now were the ones I was currently using and they wouldn’t last me forever. I also needed to see if she could make me something to help me in collect apples while bucking. I was hesitant to go back after yesterdays incident but It’s not like I could avoid seeing her again while I was here. It would also be terribly rude to avoid her due to something that wasn’t her fault.

My second priority today should be to find a place to practice my rusty abilities in private. I wondered if there was someplace close by that I could easily use. Perhaps I could use someplace in the back reaches of applejacks farm? No. I didn’t want the apple family to accidentally stumble across me. Not to mention I was worried I’d destroy more of their property accidentally.

Perhaps I could find an open field a ways away from Ponyville? I didn’t have a very good grasp of the surrounding area around this village so that would be difficult. I also didn’t want a random pegasus to spot me if I decided to train in a open field. No I guess that wouldn’t work either. Alright so I need somewhere I can destroy things, that no one will stumble across, and where pegasus can’t easily spot me. I’ve got it! I’ll just use that forest I found myself in when I was first transported to Equestria! No one would miss a few trees in a forest. The dense canopy of the forest should keep any pegasus from spotting me and I doubt anyone is going to wander around a place with wild manticores roaming about.

Even as perfect a place as the forest seemed I recognized that I would have to be wary of any dangerous creatures wandering through it as well. Now that I was sober any creature I wandered across most likely wouldn’t pose a threat to me. At these thoughts the words of my people flew through my mind, reminding me of another forgotten lesson. ‘The native species of a planet can either be friend or foe. Either way you must never underestimate them.’

Hmmmmm even if the animals I knew of right now might not be much of a threat there could still be other more dangerous ones. If I ever ran into one with magic that could be a rather big problem for me. I’ll need to be careful. Who knows, maybe if I’m lucky I might find a few friendly animals out there. Very well. I will seek out a training spot within the forest and attempt to learn about a few of the animals within that call it home. Now on to the last and more confusing topic. The strange level of attraction I suddenly feel towards these ponies.

I was a male and as such understood that all males biologically sought females to reproduce with. This is why I always found it strange that I never had any raw feelings of attraction towards the human females on Earth. I had assumed that I was the type of person that only found personalities attractive and disregarded looks entirely. However my newfound attraction to these ponies physical forms disproved this theory entirely. I know mother found a lover amongst the humans but i’d never asked her if she found him physically attractive. I don’t know if these feelings are normal or not.

I sighed. Damn I really wish I could talk to mother again. I hadn’t realized how much I relied on her knowledge until I was stuck here in Equestria without access to her. I shook my head. Missing the font of knowledge that is within my mothers head won’t help me solve this problem now. I’ve got to use what knowledge she passed down to me and figure this out. I concentrated. Alright, I’ll visually analyze and compare the human and pony forms in my head. Surely I’ll be able to figure something out from that.

My mind latched itself onto the closest female friend I’d had back on Earth. Jessica. She was about 6 feet tall, had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a decently healthy build. Any new friend I had brought to meet her always asked me if she had a boyfriend as soon as they saw she was out of earshot. I assumed that, and the fact that they always stared at her large breasts, was enough confirmation that she was an attractive human female. I guess the easiest pony to visualize in my head, to compare against her, would be Twilight. I’d spent the most time around her here in Ponyville and her form was easy to picture. Also if I was being honest with myself I found her appearance rather attractive.

I pictured the two side by side in my head and studied their forms. Unfortunately after a few minutes of noting their differences I was no closer to understanding my new attractions then I had been before I started. Dammit there are too many different features! I need to remove all of the possible variables and add them back in one by one. Instead of picturing Jessica and Twilight as before I cleared their bodies of any discernible features and took a more medical approach. I pictured only a bland white pony and human form. As soon as I had the two side by side I finally understood what was causing these new feelings.

It’s not just Twilight and her friends that I’m attracting to. It’s not even ponies that I’m specifically attracted too. It’s the quadruped form. WHAT……. I don’t understand. The only form I had ever known was that of the humans. My mother, father, and myself all had humans forms. Why on Equis would I be attracted to quadrupeds….. Unless….. Perhaps that was my peoples original form. I had always asked mother to show me visions of our people so that I could know what they looked like. Every time she had refused my requests. She said there was no use knowing or caring what they looked like as our family was human now.

I remember her cutting some visions she had given me short and I never understood why. Perhaps it was to prevent me from seeing one of our people in their natural form. Sadly that could just be conjecture….. WAIT. I also remember my mother getting very uncomfortable and nervous around horses on Earth. I found it odd when she would stare at them and shift around uneasily. I assumed that she had a fear of them for some reason. Perhaps it made her uncomfortable because it reminded her of our peoples true form. My mother told me she had been on Earth for a very long time before her body shifted into the form of the humans. My god it all made sense. I couldn’t be positive without her confirmation but at the moment all the pieces pointed towards my peoples original form being horse like quadrupeds.

Fascinating. Who would have thought that attraction towards quadrupeds would be passed down to me biologically. I suppose if you stop and consider genetics it actually does make sense. As protectors my people's physical biology can shift within a few hundred years to fit whatever is needed to best protect the planet. However one generation of physical biological changes isn’t nearly enough to overwrite thousands of years of ingrained natural instincts. Maybe that’s why mother never told me what our people really look like. Perhaps she was afraid I’d be attracted to one of the creatures on Earth, that wasn’t human, and shunned.

So many questions I’ll never know the answer too. It’s a shame. Putting that past me, now that I’m attracted to these ponies am I ok with showing it like I have been? So far the only one I’d directly interacted with in that way had been Applejack and she seemed to take my interest quite well. Applejack not only took my compliments in stride but also returned them. She didn’t seem upset or uncomfortable in any noticeable way. Nor had Big Mac, besides my feeling up his sister's butt. Maybe I should just go with what feels natural?

I’ve never felt this way before but that doesn’t mean I should necessarily fear these new feelings. Life would be boring if I shunned everything that was out of my normal range of experiences. Very well. I will no longer stifle my feelings and instead just speak my mind. Perhaps I could use these feelings to get the ponies of this land to trust and open up to me. If I was indeed stuck in these lands any information I could get them to share would be invaluable. This may also be a good chance to get to know the ponies of this land better. I’m interested to see what types of conversations letting my true feelings out could produce.

I felt a great deal of relaxation wash over me. I hated being confused and now that I had processed my thoughts and emotions I felt energized and ready to take on the day. I relaxed my pose and looked in front of me.

“HOLY SHIT!” I yelled in surprise. Not a few inches away from me, happily taking notes, was Twilight Sparkle. Placing my hand on my chest I felt my heart rapidly beating in my ribcage. Well there goes that calm peaceful state I had just reached. Letting my heart calm down I looked at Twilight and said, “What on Equis are you doing Twilight?”

“I woke up and came downstairs to get some breakfast. On my way to the kitchen I saw you sitting in a strange pose. I tried to get your attention but you never responded. I noticed that your face was shifting through a range of emotions and that you’d sigh every once in awhile. I thought that you might be performing some strange human ritual so I got my notes and started recording.” Ahhh so she had been seeking knowledge. Exactly what I’d expect from Twilight. I smiled at her.

“Your insatiable thirst for knowledge is such a charming feature of yours Twilight. I may dismiss your questions sometimes but I’m still glad you never let that discourage you.” I put my hand to her cheek. “Never lose that childlike wonder for the unknown Twilight. I have a feeling you’ll need it one day.” I removed my hand and watched that blush I liked so much creep onto her face.

“I-I…. Thank you Cicero. No one has ever told me that my constant questions are a charming part of my personality before.” I smiled wider.

“No problem Twilight. How about you and I see to your original reason for coming down here and get some food? I’ll tell you what I was doing over breakfast.”

“It’s a deal!” She happily said. I got off the couch and we both walked towards the kitchen. I heard the sound of someone preparing a meal in the kitchen. Must be Spike hard at work again. Entering the kitchen I saw it was in fact Spike preparing what looked like a plate of toast and eggs. Interesting, I didn’t think that these ponies would eat eggs. Even though it’s not meat I had assumed the diets of these ponies would be more along the lines of a vegan. Not that I was complaining.

“Hi Twilight, Hi Cicero! Breakfast is almost ready if you want to wait at the table.” Spike said cheerily. I guess the little guy is a morning person.

“Thanks for making me breakfast two days in a row Spike. I really appreciate it” I said gratefully.

“It’s no problem Cicero. I like preparing and cooking food!” He likes making food eh? I wonder if he’ll do that when he grows up. I smiled at the image of a much larger spike in a pink frilly chef outfit that barely fit him. I’d eat at his restaurant. Turning my attention back to Twilight and saw her still floating the quill and parchment she had been using earlier. I shouldn’t make her wait any longer.

“Alright Twilight let’s get started. Your guess that I was performing a ritual this morning wasn’t entirely wrong. Every day, usually in the morning, I like to meditate on recent events in my life. This helps me clear my mind and think about everything going on in my life at the moment. I usually address any concerns or worries nagging at my mind and then plan out what I want to accomplish that day. You could call this meditation my morning ritual.”

Twilight finished recording what I had said asked, “Why were you sitting in that strange position when I found you?”

“Ahhh that. Can I assume you ponies have meditation or some variation of it here in Equestria?” Twilight nodded. “Well then you’ll know that some ponies who meditate usually take a meditative pose to help them relax. The simple act of getting into this pose helps calm your body and lets your mind know it’s time for meditation. The pose I was using earlier is a very commonly used one on Earth. It’s a relaxed state that you wouldn’t naturally fall into unless you did so purposefully to meditate. I cross my legs, linked my hands, and sit up straight.”

“Are there other meditation positions besides the one you were using?” she asked.

“Humans have developed hundreds actually. Although some are a lot more common than others. The position is just a way to help you get into the meditative mood though. Meditation is mostly about the relaxation and mindset.” Twilight diligently wrote down everything I said.

Twilight seemed like she wanted to ask me another question but she was interrupted by Spike saying, “Breakfast is served,” as he placed a plate in front of us both. Sunny side up eggs and buttered toast, a classic breakfast choice. I didn’t give Twilight a chance to start her questioning again as I dug into breakfast. Twilight followed suite and also began eating. I was still rather hungry from yesterday and finished quickly.

“Delicious as usual Spike.” I said patting my stomach. He smiled in return. I saw Twilight finish her breakfast soon after me and decided it was my turn to ask her some questions. “Twilight do you remember me mentioning I didn’t know how much money Applejack gave me yesterday?” She nodded her head. “I can count the number of bits I have, since you showed me what each coin means, but the actual buying power of these bits escapes me. To help me get an understanding of their value can you give me an average estimate for how much it would cost to stay at an inn in Ponyville?”

Twilight thought about my question for a second. After a few moments of calculation she said, “Around 30 bits per night.”

“Excellent. Stay right there please. I’ll be right back.” I walked out of the kitchen back towards the green couch from yesterday. I remembered putting my money sack next to it when I got home yesterday. I found it resting against the floor and couch. I picked it up and used my hand to rifle through it as I walked back to Twilight. Damn that’s a lot of bits. There must be three hundred plus bits in this bag. I know I did a lot of work yesterday but Applejack must have given me a bonus to be nice.

I smiled at her generosity. Apparently getting a job at Sweet Apple Acre’s had been one of my better choices since appearing in Equestria. I walked back into the kitchen and saw Twilight patiently waiting for my return. She turned when she heard me rifling through my bag for a specific amount of bits. Pulling out 200 bits worth of money I gently laid it down on the table in front of her. “This is for letting me stay here and eat your food. Before you complain that it’s too much let me warn you. If you don’t take all of this money I’ll be forced to use my secret weapon on you.” I adopted a grim face. “You don’t want that.”

Twilight either didn’t see my face or didn’t care and instead immediately began to complain. “Cicero this is entirely too much money. While I appreciate your generosity I already told you that I’m letting you stay here because I want too. You don’t need to give me anything. If anything I think it’s a fair trade. You’ve been answering my questions for the past couple of days and……… what are you doing?” she asked confused.

As soon as Twilight had started rejecting my generosity I had started stretching. I had just finished cracking my knuckles and looked over to her. “I’m just preparing my secret weapon. I did warn you what this would happen if you didn’t take the money.” Twilight looked at me with even more confusion than before I had answered her question. “Twilight I’m sorry for this but you need to learn a lesson.” I then slightly bowed to her.

“Cicero what are you doi- WUAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!” Twilight never got to finish sentence as I leapt over to her and started viciously tickling her whole body. “HAHAHAH Cicero stop I heheheheh I just want you to keep HAHAHAAH your money!”

“Ohohoho a resilient one eh? I have ways of breaking your will. BEHOLD MY POWER!” I then doubled my efforts snaking my hands around her body widely tickling anything that seemed vulnerable to my attacks. Twilight was unable to hold herself up anymore and fell to the ground laughing. This only gave me easier access to her body and I happily took advantage of this fact. After thirty seconds of these constant tickle attacks Twilight finally spoke up.

“HAHAHAHHAHAH OK HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA I YIELD I’LL TAK-WUHHHAHAHAHAHHA I’LL TAKE YOUR MONEY!” She desperately yelled out. I stopped the onslaught of my attacks and released Twilight.

“Damn right you will.” I said triumphantly. “Now wouldn’t that have been easier if you’d just accepted the money in the first place?” Twilight tried to say something but all that came out was indiscriminate muttering and small giggles that were still wracking her body. “I’ll take that as a, ‘Yes Cicero. I’ve learned my lesson and will let you help contribute to household expenses in the future.’” I finished the last part in my best Twilight voice impersonation.

Twilight finally managed to pick herself up a minute later and turned her back on me whilst huffing. “Oh come on now don’t be like that!” I said exasperated. Twilight looked back at me with a cute little pouty face and huffed again. Turning away from me once more she gave her tail a flick almost like she was dismissing me with it. “But… but I just gave you money! I’m the good guy here.” Twilight didn’t respond. Dammit I know what I have to do to get her to forgive me and I know that she knows as well.

Sigh. “Fine. I’ll tell you about a neat human invention again sometime soon.” I said defeated.

“It has to be a really technically detailed invention too. I want to record something interesting for the princess.” She said with authority. I held the back of my neck with my hand. It’s not like I didn’t want to tell Twilight about the human worlds inventions. I was worried if I gave too many technical details it would lead to them discovering other knowledge unnaturally. Time and time again it had been proven that giving advanced technology to civilizations that weren’t ready for it was dangerous for all involved. Then again the ponies do have magic and I guess that would mitigate the danger of any technological inventions I could give them.

“Well… I don’t know Twilight. I want too but…..” I said very hesitantly. She turned around with her big eyes shining. They threatened to shed tears if I told her no.

“P-please Cicero.” FUCK FUCK FUCK. That’s so unfair. I looked at her eyes and knew my decision was already made for me.

“Uggggg fine! Just stop with the eyes! That is so incredibly unfair. I guess I was serious when I said you ponies had weaponized cuteness yesterday.”

“YIPEE! Oh this is going to be so exciting! I’ll have so much to tell the princess next time I see her! A technical invention of the humans. I need to get some notes and prepare for our session later.” She said while bouncing around happily. Outwardly I grumbled about my defeat at her hooves. Inwardly I was melting at the adorable Twilight jumping around in joy at getting to learn something new. M-Maybe I should teach her more things…. Just to help the pony civilization you know…. Not because I want to see her joyously jump about-WAIT.

OHOHOHOHOHHOHOO NO YOU DON’T CICERO! This is how it starts! I’ll just give one more thing to the cute little ponies. Just to help out right? ‘How much trouble could they get into with a radio?’ I’ll jokingly laugh. Next week it’ll be gas powered engines. THEN NUCLEAR FISSION AND ATOMIC BOMBS THE WEEK AFTER! Granted I doubt I could provide enough details to effectively explain nuclear fission to them. I only understood the basics of advanced concepts like that.

Twilight had stopped jumping around and was now giddily shaking in anticipation. “Prepare for our next invention session if you must but I need to go to Rarity’s for now.” I said.

“Rarity’s? Why do you need to go there?” Twilight asked.

“I need to pick up my new clothing designs from Rarity.”

“But Spike told me you went to get those yesterday? Aren’t you wearing them now?” she said confused.

“Well I was able to get this pair yesterday but Rarity was…. Tired and needed to rest. I forgot to get the other pairs before I left.” I didn’t enjoy lying but I really didn’t want to draw attention to what happened yesterday. “Also I wanted to talk to her about ordering some other types of clothing.” I added on.

“Oh, alright then. I’m going to stay here and read up on technical documentation procedures. I don’t want to miss a single detail during our session. Have a good time,” she said as she walked out of the kitchen and into the library. I shook my head at that. I’m all for proper documentation but I would never voluntarily read a book about it unless I absolutely needed too. I heard a quiet scuffling behind me and I turned to see Spike doing the dishes from this morning. I had almost forgotten he was there as he’d been so quiet until now.

I noticed he was wearing a frown while doing the dishes. Ahhh shoot, I really shouldn’t have been talking about Rarity in front of him. He’s probably still confused about her right now. I figure I should check up on him. “You alright there Spike? You seem a bit down bro.” Spike sighed and kept doing the dishes.

“Yeah I’m fine. I’m just disappointed when I think about Rarity is all.” Oh? Had he already made a decision?

“You want to talk about it?” I said trying to be supportive.

“Not really much to talk about if I’m honest. I took your advice and went over my limited interactions with Rarity. I realized that even though I find her beautiful she’s always treated me like a child whenever I’m near her. I think she’s grateful that I’m willing to help her when make clothing. I also think she’s grateful that I help her dig up gems to put on her clothing. Sadly I don’t think she holds any affection towards me as a potential partner though.”

“Well Spike you’re still rather young. Maybe if you just give it time?” I said trying to help. He shook his head at my words.

“It’s not just that either. I don’t really like any of the things that she does. Fancy parties, dancing, reading romantic novels, creating clothing, or anything else. I like Rarity but I don’t think I ever loved her. I just thought I did.” He finished in a somber tone. I was going to argue with him but after hearing his words I realized he was probably right. I hadn’t been here long enough to know anything about their interactions and it sounded like he’d made up his mind on this subject. “Now that I’ve realized this I don’t know what to do. It’s a bit depressing to realize what you thought you felt wasn’t so.” He added on.

“Then just start over man.” I said. He looked up at me. “I’m guessing you’ve been hung up on Rarity for a long time now right?” He nodded his head sadly. “Well then start looking for someone else. Normally I’d just tell someone of your age to wait until they were older before they started looking for a girlfriend. However in your case I can tell by your responses that you’re rather emotionally developed for your age. At least in comparison to humans. If you do decide to go looking for a girlfriend please try and find someone closer to your age this time. It will definitely make things a lot easier.”

He gave a sheepish grin at my last words. “Thanks Cicero. I’ll think on what you’ve said today. Your advice yesterday really helped me figure a few things out. Maybe I’ll take your advice again.” He said with a hopeful smile.

“Well if you ever need any advice or help with girls you can always come to me. I may not be the most experienced guy in the world but I've definitely had my fair share of interactions with women. Although since you’ll most likely be trying to court mares I’m not sure how useful my knowledge will actually be,” I finished laughing. “Anyways I need to start heading towards Rarity’s. I’ll see you later Spike.” I held my hand out for another fistbump and Spike eagerly met my fist with his.

With that taken care of I grabbed the money bag resting on the table and walked out into the library. I saw Twilight engrossed in a rather large black tome. I decided to not interrupt her studying and instead walked out of the libraries front door. I stopped in the front yard to stretch my limbs. Looking up into the sky I saw that today would most likely be another day of clear weather. I felt the sun's rays cover and warm my skin. I wonder where Equestria is located on Equis. It’s summertime yet the sun's bright rays feel as pleasant as if it were Fall. I really need to sit down with Twilight one day to ask all of the questions about Equestria I’d been storing in my mind.

Perhaps I’ll do it later today when I get back from Rarity’s. I started off down the path towards Rarity’s house as had done yesterday. As I was walking towards Rarity’s house I saw Derpy dangerously careening about in the air with a mailbag strapped to her back. How that girl manages to fly like that and stay in the air is a complete mystery to me. She happened to see me as she flew by overhead and enthusiastically waved at me. I smiled when I saw that her waving had introduced even more random movements into her already crazy flight pattern. I waved back and watcher her fly off in the direction I had come from.

With a smile still on my face I reached Rarity’s house. I really hope Rarity doesn’t remember what happened yesterday when I was using her shower. I suppose even if she does remember it’s not the end of the world. I was hoping she had forgotten more for her sake then mine. Rarity seemed like an interesting mare that would be nice to spend more time with. I was afraid that if she remembered what happened yesterday she would be embarrassed and unable to relax around me. I sighed. Let’s get this over with. I walked through the front door and heard the familiar jingle of a bell.

“Coming!” came the familiar voice of Rarity. She walked down the stairs and her eyes lit up upon seeing me. “Cicero darling! Might I say that outfit looks absolutely fabulous on you! I’m very happy with how the redone designs turned out.” She said very cheerily. Awesome, she doesn’t remember. I honestly can’t believe my luck right now. Who would have thought such a farfetched pipe dream would actually come true. Now I won’t have to deal with calming down an embarrassed Rarity.

“I couldn’t agree more Rarity. While the original designs were quite stunning I believe these new ones are even more so.” She smiled at me. “That’s actually one of the reasons I came here today. I needed to pick up the other outfits you designed for me. I couldn’t get them yesterday as you were indisposed.” Rarity frowned at this.

“Yes Sweetie Belle mentioned that you found me unconscious and moved me to the couch. Thank you for that Cicero.” I waved my hand dismissively at her praise.

“It was nothing. You practically weigh the same as a feather, so moving you to a more comfortable position was easy.”

“Well I do take precautions to keep my figure ladylike,” she said happily.

“I am sorry that I had to leave you before you work up Rarity. I had some business to attend to with Twilight at the library.”

“Think nothing of it darling. I’m sorry you had to see me in that state at all. Usually my exhaustion from overwork doesn’t sneak up on me that fast. It’s a bit strange really.” She said confused. I need to steer the conversation away from this subject before she gets suspicious and remembers something.

“Well nobody's perfect Rarity. We all make mistakes from time to time. That’s why you have friends to help you out in your time of need.” I smiled at her.

“I suppose you’re right Cicero.” She finished smiling back.

“Now if you wouldn’t mind I’d like to order something from you. Hopefully while I collect those other pairs of clothing you made for me.” Before Rarity could respond I heard the chime of her doors bell followed by the sound of small hooves clomping into the store. I turned around to see a very dirty Sweetie Belle. If it hadn’t been for her pink and purple hair I would have never guessed it was her. Sweetie Belle’s white coat was completely covered in multiple layers of very thick dried mud. What on Earth had this child been doing?

“Hey there Cicero!” Sweetie Belle happily said.

“Hey there Sweetie Belle. What on Equis did you do to get so incredibly filthy?” Sweetie Belle looked down at herself almost as if she had forgotten she was covered in mud.

“I was trying to get my cutie mark with my two other friends! We were trying to get our cutie mark in mud wrestling today! I don’t know if I got my cutie mark yet as I’m too covered in mud to tell.” She finished slightly saddened. Before I had a chance to let her know my thoughts I heard a shriek from behind me.

“SWEETIE BELLE WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT COMING INTO MY STORE COVERED IN FILTH!?” Said a very flustered Rarity. Sweetie Belle acted as if this interaction between herself and her sister was a common occurrence.

“Uhhhhh….. Don’t do it?” She said in a guessing tone. Rarity covered her face with a hoof and took a deep breath. Using her magic she encased Sweetie Belle in a magical aura and floated her sister over to herself.

“Go through the back Sweetie Belle. I understand that you’re young and you will get dirty from time to time. But please for the love of Celestia don’t get my shop dirty. If you just go in through the back the customers won’t have to see the trail of dirt you leave behind yourself.” Rarity gave Sweetie Belle the same disapproving look I’d seen on my mother's face when I did something bad as a child.

“Sorry Rarity.” Sweetie Belle said looking down sadly.

“It’s alright dear, just please try and remember next time. Now let’s get you into a shower and cleaned up.” Rarity turned back to me. “Please follow me Cicero. The rest of your outfits are upstairs near the bathroom.” She then trotted up the stairs with Sweetie Belle floating behind her, still encased in her magical aura. I laughed at the two and followed along behind them. Making it up the stairs I saw Rarity toss Sweetie Belle into the bathroom. “Don’t come out of here until you’re spotless Sweetie Belle. Do you understand me?”

“Yes Rarity.” I heard a defeated Sweetie Belle say. Rarity closed the door and turned around to face me.

“Do you think she’ll find her cutie mark underneath all that mud?” I said chuckling.

“I severely doubt it. Truth be told all of the adults around here know what Sweetie Belle is good at. She has such a marvelous singing voice and I’m sure her cutie mark has something to do with that. I just wish she’d stop trying to force her cutie mark to appear and let it happen naturally in time.” Rarity said. We both heard an “AWWWWWWWW” come from the bathroom.

“I guess her special talent wasn’t mud wrestling.” I said with a grin. Rarity rolled her eyes and started walking into a room next to the bathroom. I followed after and saw the other redesigned outfits. They all looked as fetching as the one I was wearing right now. I realized that my guess yesterday about the gems designs had been correct. Each outfits gem design was modeled after one of her friends cutie marks. If that’s what she was going for then why don’t the gem colors match her friends coat colors?

“Rarity I may be thinking into this too much but did you model each outfits design after one of your friends cutie marks?” I questioned. Rarity’s eyes seem to sparkle at my words.

“I’m very happy that you remember all of our cutie marks! Yes each of the outfits has a gem design that matches my friends cutie marks!” She said very happily.

“Well then why didn’t you use gems of corresponding colors to match each of your friends coat colors with their cutie marks?” I said confused.

“That’s because the colors of the gems match our elemental jewelry that Twilight mentioned yesterday. I do so admire the beautiful colors of the elements of harmony. It’s a shame we don’t get to wear them more often.” Well that explains that mystery.

“If anything you should be glad you don’t have to wear your jewelry more often Rarity. If you wear that jewelry to create evil purifying magic then that means you’ll have probably have to deal with some rather unpleasant business.”

“Forgive me. I didn’t mean to speak lightly about such important topics. I just miss that jewelry sometimes. It works so well with my coat after all!” I laughed at Rarity’s ability to turn such an important artifact into nothing more than a fashion asset.

“Well putting that aside I like the new gem designs. As I owe you and your friends my thanks I will proudly bear your cutie marks in return.” Rarity used her levitation magic to pull all of the outfits off the mannequins and then fold them into a neat pile. She levitated the pile over to me and placed it in my hands.

“I would expect nothing less from a gentle coat such as yourself. Now on to other topics. Yesterday Sweetie Belle mentioned you had something else you wanted me to create.” Oh yeah. I completely forgot about that. Unfortunately before I had a chance the to tell Rarity what I wanted her to make Sweetie Belle made her way into the room behind me.

“Hey Rarity what’s this? I was looking through the lower cabinets for extra shampoo and I found this.” Sweetie Belle said innocently. Oh god. Please…. please no. Rarity had been facing me so she simply looked around my body at Sweetie Bell. I watched her eyes widen to their absolute maximum as her mouth fell open. GOD DAMNIT! I don’t even have to look around to know what she’s holding. I slowly turned around to face the innocent little imp that was Sweetie Belle.

There, held within her mouth, was the 8 inch long floppy horse dildo I had found the other day. It was the return of the Pink Penetrator. Shit I must have thrown it in a lower cabinet after I slapped myself across the face with it yesterday. This was even worse than yesterdays incident. I heard a strange noise coming from behind me so I turned to look back at Rarity. Her bright blush was very visible against her white muzzle. She was uttering a strange noise from her open mouth. Almost like she wanted to say something but the words refused to come out.

Well I can’t hide my knowledge of the dildo from Rarity anymore but at least I can help play damage control. I turned back to Sweetie Belle and said, “Oh man you found it!” I quickly walked over to her and took the dildo from her mouth. “I’ve been looking for this thing since yesterday. I guess I left it here by accident yesterday. Thanks for finding it Sweetie Belle.”

“No problem Cicero! But what is that?” She asked as innocently as ever.

“Uhhhh it’s an alien item I brought with me from home.” I said thinking quick.

“Oh alright. What does it do?” Dammit kid stop asking questions.

“It’s uhhhhh a back scratcher! Yeah I use it to scratch my back as I can’t reach all of it. Watch.” I mentally apologized to Rarity for what I was about to do. I held the pink penetrator in one hand and reached over my shoulder to rub it against my back in a scratching motion. I saw Rarity turn even brighter red and start breathing a little heavier.

“Ohhhh,” Said Sweetie Belle, “that makes sense.” Phew. Glad that’s over with. Now I just have to find a way to get her out of the ro- “What are the little bumps and ribs on the outside of the back scratcher for.” At this question I heard Rarity quietly wheeze as she began hyperventilating. Please for love of god let this be her last question or Rarity is going to hyperventilate and die.

“That’s for when I need to scratch a really intense itch that my hands just wouldn’t be able to satisfy.” Even in the heat of the moment I felt a more debased part of my mind silently cheer at my filthily worded double entendre. “But that’s enough questions for now Sweetie Belle. Don’t you need to go tell your friends that mud wrestling wasn’t your special talent?” I said in desperation.

“Oh my gosh you’re totally right! I need to go let Applebloom and Scootaloo know! Thanks for answering all of my questions. By Cicero. By Rarity!” I waved at her as she joyously trotted downstairs and out the front door. So she’s part of that Cutie Mark Crusader club Applebloom mentioned eh? I guess I’m not that surprised considering their sisters are also friends. Thoughts of the Cutie Mark Crusaders would have to wait until later. I turned to face Rarity.

To my surprise she was no longer hyperventilating but instead standing completely rigid. “What on Equis….” I said out loud. She was so active just a few seconds ago. What happened? I looked closer and could see that her lips were moving rapidly. I could just barely hear her saying something very quietly. Intrigued I leaned in closer and put my ear next to her lips. I also went rigid when I heard what it was she was rapidly repeating.

“It was a lovely shade of pink lady Rarity. It was a lovely shade of pink lady Rarity. It was a lovely shade of pink lady Rarity.” She kept whispering over and over. Shit. I guess the shock of the situation jogged her memories of yesterdays events. I stood back and looked over at her. My guess is the embarrassment of today combined with remembering yesterdays embarrassment shocked her body into a rigor mortis like state.

Now what do I do? I can’t pass her off to Sweetie Belle and hope she’ll forget about today's events again. Suddenly I remembered Twilight's completely relaxed state after my belly rub session yesterday. Normally i’d ask a lady like rarity before giving her a belly rub but his was an emergency. Plus her frantic whispering was frankly starting to scare me. Just like I had with Twilight yesterday I walked over and scooped up Rarity into my arms. Unlike Twilight, Rarity’s body stayed completely rigid after I picked her up. Not to mention her frantic whispering continued.

I noticed Rarity had a rather comfy looking red couch up here next to her mannequins. I quickly made my way over to it and sad down with Rarity in my lap. Somehow she was still one hundred percent cartoonishly frozen in place. I flipped Rarity onto her back and started gently rubbing her belly as I had Twilights. Even though she was frozen her fur was still unbelievably soft. Even more so than Twilight's’ had been. As I kept rubbing I wondered if Rarity used something to make her coat as soft as it was.

I saw Rarity’s legs start to droop. I smiled while doubling my rubbing efforts to now include both hands. I used the right one to rub her belly while the other petted her sides like one would a cat. After a few minutes of this Rarity had slowly drooped back down into a normal relaxed pony stance. Thankfully she had also stopped her creepy whispering. After another minute of her breathing softly and staring straight up at the ceiling she finally spoke.

“I should tell you how embarrassed a lady like me is being on the receiving end of your petting but after what just happened I’m not sure I even know how to feel embarrassment anymore.” She simply stated.

“It’s called a belly rub Rarity and from the sounds of your whispering can I take it you remember yesterdays events as well?” I asked apprehensively.

“It is unfortunately so Cicero.”

“In that case I’m sorry for lying to you yesterday. I was hoping to alleviate any future embarrassment for you by pretending it just didn’t happen. Also while I’m apologizing I’m also sorry for picking you up and giving you a belly rub without permission. I used it yesterday to help Twilight calm down and figured it would work on you as well.”

“It’s alright dear. I completely understand that you were only trying to help me yesterday. As for the belly rub i’m not offended. You were right, it did indeed calm me down. You might even considering becoming a masseur at the local spa. I’m sure many ponies would love to feel this relaxing touch of yours.” Hmmmm well there’s an interesting idea. I already had a job bucking apples for Applejack but if I bucked more than they could handle everyday perhaps I could get a second job in between work days.

“That’s definitely something i’ll consider. Professional masseurs and masseuses on Earth could make quite a bit of money depending on their level of skill.” After our exchange of words we sat in silence for a few moments. I figured she was waiting for me to say something about the incident. “How about we just forget this whole silly thing Rarity? This can remain a secret between the two of us.” I said hopefully.

“I’d appreciate that very much Cicero. Thank you for being for being such a gentlecolt throughout this whole situation.” We looked at each other and smiled.

“Anything for you lady Rarity. Now if you don’t mind can we get back to the business we were trying to discuss before Sweetie Belle entered the room?”

“Absolutely. What was it you wanted to order?” Rarity said with relief evident in her voice.

“A couple things actually. First I want you to make a large circular piece of cloth that has a forty foot diameter. It can be made out of cheaper rougher material as I need it for working on Applejacks farm. I was also hoping you could cut one line into it starting at the center and ending at the side of the circle.”

“I can definitely do that Cicero but may I ask why you need it?”

“Because my apple bucking technique is a little messier than Applejacks and I need a tarp to catch and carry the apples.”

“Well then consider it done.”

“Excellent. Second I’d like some new underwear and socks if you wouldn’t mind making them.”

“Underwear and socks? Is that some type of human clothing?” She said confused. Oh yeah. Ponies don’t often wear clothing. I guess even if they wore clothing they probably wouldn’t wear socks and underwear anyways.

“I guess so actually. Socks are easy.” I held up a foot and took off my shoe. “Unlike you ponies humans don’t have hooves. So we use,” I held up a shoe, “to protect our soft feet. We also use this,” I wiggled my sock covered foot, “to stop our feet from getting blisters when in our shoes.” Rarity studied my foot for a few seconds.

“That seems easy enough to make. I could make a couple pairs of these. But what about underwear?” Well this is probably going to be awkward to explain. Considering what we’ve both just been through recently I can’t imagine it will be too bad.

“Well there’s really no way to delicately explain this to you so I’ll just be as clinical as possible. Based on your pink toy from before I can say that human males have penises similar to what stallions do. The two main differences are that we don’t have flairs at the tops of our penises and we don’t have sheaths that they can retract into when not aroused. This means that our reproductive bits are mostly left unprotected outside of our bodies. Underwear is a small form fitting pair of short we wear beneath our pants that protect our reproductive organs from dirt and chafing against our pants.” I finished with my description.

To my happy surprise Rarity had remained straight faced and listened intently throughout the whole explanation. I guess when things involve a request for clothing from her customers she gets very professional. I had discovered yet another reason to respect Rarity. “Thank you for being professional about that description. Now, do you think you could make me a couple pairs of stretchy underpants like I just described?”

She seemed to think if over for a minute. “It will definitely be harder to make these than your other two request but I think I can handle making a few pairs. I’ll make enough socks and underwear to match the sets of clothing I initially made for you.”

I sighed in relief. “Thank you very much Rarity. That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.”

“Of course darling! I strive to make buying my clothes the best experience possible!” I gave her a wide smile.

“So how much do I owe you for this order?” She seemed to think hard about all the different things i’d asked her for.

“Considering all the different materials and new work I’d say 75 bits sounds fair.”

“Excellent.” I reached into my pockets and pulled out my money sack. Rifling around within it I grasped 150 bits. Holding the bits out to her she grasped them in her magic aura.

She looked confused and said, “Cicero I said it would cost 75 bits. This is 150 bits.”

I grinned back at her and said, “Because it’s you I know you horribly undercharged me to try and help out. So I figured if I gave you 150 bits that would probably come closer to the actual price.” Predictably she opened her mouth to complain like all the other ponies around here I tried to be generous with. I decided to speak over her by saying, “Twilight tried to deny my generosity earlier when I wanted to pay for food and rent. My response was to tickle her so hard that by the time she finally accepted my money she was on the floor spasming with giggles.” Rarity closed her mouth with an audible click.

“Good girl.” I said while smirking. “Now that that’s taken care of I’m afraid I must depart. I have some other things I need to accomplish by the end of today.” Rarity shook her head at my words.

“Very well Cicero. Let me walk you out then.” I grabbed my folded clothing and stuffed the last of my money sack back into my pocket. Following behind Rarity we went down the stairs and went to the front door. “Thank you the very generous amount of money you’ve given me for today’s order Cicero. I hope you have a pleasant day.”

“It was my pleasure Rarity.” I felt a devilish grin creep across my face. “Might I suggest you hide your pink toy before Sweetie Belle gets back?” Rarity coughed and looked away.

“Yes I’ll… I’ll be sure to hide it a bit more thoroughly this time.”

“Excellent. Well I must be off now. Have fun scratching those hard to reach itches with your new alien backscratcher.” To my delight Rarity blushed furiously at my words. “Hey you were wrong Rarity! You can still feel embarrassed!” I then walked out the door laughing at my own wit. A good couple of paces later I stopped laughing enough to remember that next on my list of things to do today was find a place to train in solitude.

*Grumble*. My stomach sounded off to let me know we had spent a long time at Rarity's and needed to eat. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my money sack. Looking into it I saw I only had about 20 or so bits left. Well I promised Pinkie Pie that I would come by her bakery when I got some money. I guess now is as good a time as ever. I didn’t know exactly where Pinkie Pie’s bakery was but I figured if I asked some of the ponies in town I could probably find it.

I started down the dirt path towards the center of the town. It didn’t take me much walking to find myself before the edge of the village market. As casually as I could I slowly walked out into town square. Just as before some of the ponies seemed to stop and stare while others only briefly glanced at me. I figured Applejack was probably around here in the market somewhere. I’m sure if I asked her she’d know where Pinkie Pie’s bakery was.

I started scanning the market looking for Applejacks stand but I caught sight of something that stopped my search. On a bench near the middle of town was a light green unicorn mare staring at me. Her coat, mane, and hair were all different shades of mint green with little streaks of white thrown in. It looked like someone had squeezed a tube of mint toothpaste and this unicorn had come out. While some other ponies had stopped to stare at me this mares stare was something else entirely. Eyes wide open and never blinking.

Alright what the hell is going on here. This mares stare is really starting to creep me out. I stared back to see if she would back off and look away. A solid minute of staring later her eyes never wavered from mine. Alright this is seriously starting to get weird. Maybe she’s just really interested to know why strange unknown bipedal creatures are walking around the town market. I guess I’ll just go over there and talk to her.

I started a brisk pace towards the minty looking unicorn. As I got closer I noticed a smile creeping it’s way onto her face. The closer I got the wider the smile became. Even weirder than that was the shaking. I hadn’t been sure from afar but as I got closer I could see the unicorn was shaking rather violently. Wait, is she shaking in fear? Why is she smiling is she’s scared. I stopped walking in confusion. As soon as I stopped walking towards the unicorn a frown made it’s way onto her face and she stopped shaking.

What the hell? Now she’s upset and no longer afraid. What on Equis is going on here. Maybe I should try directly acknowledging her. I waved towards the unicorn. As soon as my hand got above my head she finally broke eye contact and stared intently at my hand. The smile returned to her face and she started shaking even more violently than before. I was now even more confused than had just been. Alright I’ve had enough of this weird interaction. I’m just going to go talk to her directly. Jogging the rest of the way to the bench I stopped in front of the unicorn.

“Hi strange minty green pony. My name is Cicero,” I said jovially in an attempt to get her to calm down and talk to me. My words had the opposite effect as the unicorn was now practically vibrating in her seat with an impossibly wide smile on her face. I took a step back. The unicorn looked panicked when it saw me step away.

She opened her mouth, I assume to say something, but all that came out was a wheezed, “hhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa.” I took another step back thinking that I might be dealing with a slightly crazed pony. My actions panicked her further and she started madly gesticulating with her limbs. Our interaction was drawing a small crowd as other ponies that had been walking by were now standing still and staring at us. I held both my hands up palms facing outward to show the crazed mint unicorn I didn’t want or mean any harm. Again this was the wrong thing to do.

At the sight of my hands the ponies eyes rapidly flickered between the two of them and she started crazily panting while drooling. Oh god…. I…. I think this pony wants to eat my hands…. I need to get out of here. I turned around and started rapidly walking away in an attempt to leave this strange situation behind me. Sadly it was not to be. The crazed unicorn had apparently grown tired of waiting for me to come feed it my hands and instead gave chase as I retreated. Oh hell no. I started sprinting in the direction I had been walking before.

The crazed unicorn hadn’t expected that level of speed from me and I quickly escaped from her line of sight. Instead of stopping I decided I wasn’t going to take any chances and just kept running. Right after I’d decided that I spotted Applejacks cart a couple of yards in front of me. Awesome, I can hide from the crazy pony over there. Rapidly closing the distance between me and Applejack I slid behind her cart and hid behind her legs.

“What in tarnation?! Cicero what on Equis are ya doing down there?” Said a very confused Applejack.

“SHHHHH! I’m hiding from a mad pony Applejack! You have to help me!” I said frantically.

“A mad pony? Here in Ponyville? What?” I didn’t answer Applejack. Instead I chose to point towards the way I had come. She followed my fingers direction and we both saw a mint green unicorn mare come barreling down the road. She skidded to a halt near Applejacks stand and looked around wildly to try and find me. She seemed to be getting irritated that she couldn’t find me. Not letting this stop her for long she picked a seemingly random direction and continued her frantic paced run from before.

After the mad pony had gotten far enough away Applejack said, “What in Celestia’s name was that all about? I don’t I’ve ever seen Lyra so agitated before.”

“So her name is Lyra? Well I don’t know what her problem is but i’m pretty sure that mad pony wanted to eat my hands!” I said unhappily.

“Wait. Lyra was the mad pony you were talking about?!”

“Well yeah! You saw her frantically running around trying to find me! She was drooling at the of sight of my hands earlier!” I said frustrated. Applejack laughed at my words. I raised my eyebrows in shock.

She noticed my wide eyed expression and said, “Sorry for laughing sugarcube but Lyra isn’t a mad pony. She’s a bit strange at times but she’d never do anything as insane as eatin yer hands,” Applejack finished before laughing again. I stared in the direction that Lyra had run off towards. While I’ll admit that it seemed strange for a pony to eat meat, let alone someone's hands, I still wouldn’t completely dismiss the idea. I’d heard and seen stranger things in the visions passed down from other protectors.

As she was now gone I suppose I should just return to what I had originally been doing.

“Well you seem to know her so I guess I’ll trust your judgement for now. Disregarding that strange occurrence do you know where I might find Pinkie Pie’s bakery? She mentioned that she was a baker at some bakery in town.”

“Oh you mean Sugarcube Corner! Yeah I know where it is. All you have to do is head that way, “she pointed NorthEast of her carts front, “and you’ll get there eventually.”

“Awesome. What does the bakery look like?” Applejack chuckled at my question.

“Trust me Cicero, you’ll know which building it is when ya see it.” That’s a strange way to reply to my question. Well Applejack hasn’t steered me wrong so far. I Guess I’ll just follow her directions and hope for the best.

“Alright then. Thanks Applejack.” I got out from behind Applejack and started to walked in the direction she pointed.

“Hold on a second Cicero!” She called before I got too far away. I stopped and looked over my shoulder at her. “I just wanted ta let ya know that we talked to some of the pony merchants that come around our farm. They all seemed pretty doggone happy to start taking larger cartloads of our apples. We’ll probably need ya ta get back ta buckin in three days or so.”

I started walking away again while I waved over my shoulder and said, “You got it boss! Just let me know when to start back again.” Turning to face forward I ventured forward towards Sugarcube Corners supposed direction. After a minute of walking I found it and realized why Applejack had laughed when I asked her what the building looked like. I figured she’d laughed because the building probably had a large banner proudly displaying its name in the storefront. What I found was that the entire store screamed the name Sugarcube Corner.

I was standing in front of a massive life sized gingerbread house complete with fake white frosting around the edges. The stored looked as if someone had ripped it from a world made of candy and dropped it right in the middle of Ponyville. I laughed when I saw the top spire of the house was a frosting laced pink cupcake. This was exactly the type of place I imagined a hyper person like Pinkie Pie would work. If the outside was this spectacular I can’t wait to see what the inside looks like.

I quickly made my way to the front entrance and walked in. My vision was assaulted with a wave of pink once I stepped inside. The windows, register, counter glass, treats, and even the ceilings crossbeams were all painted different shades of pink. Yet somehow rather than being gaudy it gave the place a very homey relaxed feel. I could see the store had many hoove made designs across its walls and tables. Someone had obviously taken great care when they’d decorated this store.

“Hello welcome to….. Sugarcube Corner,” someone said sounding very unsure. I looked over and saw a light blue mare with two tones of cotton candy pink in her hair and mane. Judging by her expression and hesitant greeting, my presence had caught her off guard. As I was used to meeting new ponies by now I figured I’d take the lead here.

“Hello miss. My name is Cicero. I’m looking for some delicious baked goods and my friend Pinkie Pie. She told me she worked here.”

“Oh you’re one of Pinkie Pie’s friends!” She said relieved. “In that case yes she works here. She’s currently baking in the kitchen right now. My name is Mrs. Cup Cake. I own and run this Bakery with my Husband. Would you like something to eat while I go get Pinkie Pie dear?” I looked through her counters pink glass to see what baked goods she had out right now. The selection appeared to be around the same that one would find in a normal human bakery. There was a lot to choose from.

“Your expansive selection is slightly overwhelming me at the moment. Does your store have a special or best selling item that you could pick for me?”

“But of course dear! May I present to you the Mrs. Cup Cake Cupcake!” She pulled out a pink cupcake smothered in white frosted topped with a red cherry.

“That looks wonderful! I’ll take one of those please.” She pushed the cupcake over to me with her nose.

“That’ll be 2 bits.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my money sack. Fishing out two bits I put them on the counter in front of Mrs. Cake who swept them into the register. “Just take a seat and enjoy your cupcake Cicero. I’ll go get Pinkie Pie now.”

“Thank you Mrs. Cake.” I grabbed my cupcake and went over to one of the open tables. Some of the other patrons cast a glance in my direction but went back to what they were doing after a moment. It’s a good thing I mentioned Pinkie Pie when I came in here. She seemed quite leery of me when I first came in. I guess it’s hard to imagine that anyone who was friends with Pinkie Pie could be a bad person. I pulled the wrapper off of my cupcake and leaned in for a bite.

Dang that’s a tasty cupcake! This thing is just as delicious as the ones Pinkie Pie brought to my surprise party. Man I’m not going to be able to go back to eating normal baked goods after all the delicious treats i’ve had here in Equestria. I wonder if Pinkie Pie or Mrs. Cake made this cupcake. Considering it’s bears the name of the owner herself i’d think she made it but who knows. I was drawn from my simple minded musings when I saw Mrs Cake enter from a door at the establishments back. Following right behind her was Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down rather than walking.

Pinkie Pie saw me and bounced her way over towards my table. “Hiya Cicero! Do you like our yummy dummy cupcakes?” She said smiling happily. I have to admit this girls cheery personality was pretty infectious. Just being near her I felt energized and a little happier than when I had come in.

“I love it! I’m not surprised that the bakery you work at also produces as amazing treats as the ones you gave me the other day,” I said smiling back.

“Hooray! So what brings you to sugarcube corner Cicero?”

“Nothing really. I was in town when my grumbling stomach reminded me I hadn’t eaten anything for a while. I remembered that I’d promised to visit your shop when I had some money. So here I am.”

“Well one cupcake isn’t going to fix your hunger! Come on Cicero we’ve got to get you at least 20 more!”

“Haha yeah right. Like anyone could eat 20 cupcakes in the same sitting. That’s insane.”

“You mean you don’t eat 20 cupcakes a day?” Pinkie Pie said completely shocked. I was about to call her out on her joke when I saw her face contained absolutely no hints of a smile. Holy shit is she being serious?

“Errr no. I don’t think anyone could eat 20 cupcakes a day and not die within the same year.” I said slightly concerned.

“I can! I’ve been eating at least 20 cupcakes a day for 5 years now!” She said proudly.

“WHAT!? That’s not just incredible, it’s impossible! I refuse to believe anyone can keep an attractive figure like yours and eat that many cupcakes every day!” Pinkie Pie giggled at my incredulity.

“Thanks Cicero! I think you’re super hot too!” She said, with a cheeky smile. Damn this girl was good. Not only did she take my compliment in stride but managed to return it without blushing. I’d already decided to stop hiding my newfound attraction towards these ponies. I wonder what would happen if I took this game a bit further. I was going to have to up my moves if I wanted to make her blush.

“So what’s the most cupcakes you’ve ever eaten in a day Pinkie Pie?” I casually asked. She thought about her response for a second.

“Probably about 100!”

I almost lost my composure at that response. 100 cupcakes?! How is that even possible? I’m going to have to put her claims to the test one day, but for now I’ll continue on.

“I have trouble eating more than 5 cupcakes a day at most. There’s just too much sugar. And no matter how carefully you eat them, you always end up a sticky mess. You must really like all that sweet, creamy icing.” I finished with a wink.

Pinkie Pie apparently recognized the game I was playing. She let her eyes droop and gave me a sultry stare.

I’d seen that look before. A lot of friends I’d gone to parties with had started acting real stupid once a girl gave them that look. But the few times i’d seen that look directed at me i’d never really felt anything. It’s not as if I didn’t understand what it implied, I just never felt any desire to act on it. But this time….. something about the way Pinkie Pie did it was different. For some reason it was bringing thoughts to mind that I wasn’t used to having.

“Oh the icing on the cupcake is definitely my favorite part. I can’t help but enjoy the smooth, sweet taste it leaves when I put it in my mouth.” Pinkie Pie leaned in close to whisper in my ear. “But do you know what I like even more than the taste of the cream Cicero?”

“W-what?” I nervously stuttered out.

I could feel the heat of her breath as she said, “Swallowing every last bit of it.”

I tried not to, but I couldn’t help myself. I looked down and blushed in defeat. She’d taken the innuendo I’d set up and turned it against me. Pinkie Pie, seeing that she’d won, leaned back and gave me a wink in return. A few seconds later I recovered.

“Alright I’ll admit you got me this time Pinkie Pie. You saw through my game and defeated me before I had a chance.” She just giggled at my words. “Anyways I don’t think I’ll be able to eat the insane amount of cupcakes for lunch that you described. Next time I get paid I’m coming back here and putting your crazy cupcake claims to the test. 100 cupcakes right? Think you can prove it?”

“You’re on Cicero!” She said determinedly.

“Excellent. Well Pinkie Pie unfortunately I have other things I need to do today.” I stood up. “One of these days I’d like to come back and try baking with you like we discussed before.”

“Okie Dokey Lokie! I can already smell all of the super sweet alien treats we’ll make together.” She said eagerly. I smiled and started walking towards the exit. Right before I made it to the door I heard her say, “Make sure you don’t wait too long before coming back to bake. I can’t wait to try your delicious alien cream!” I faltered at her words but refused to stop walking. I wouldn’t give her that satisfaction. Righting myself I kept walking and exited the building.

Stopping in front of the restaurant I smiled wide. Damn that girl’s cheeky. I know these feelings of attraction are new to me but I didn’t expect any of these seemingly innocent girls could make a fool of me. I guess if any of the girls would know how to mess with a guy it would be the energetic one who goes every party she can. I bet you she’s been to some crazy ones. I hope I get the chance to hang out with her more while I’m here.

For now I need to finally try and find a place in the forest for training. The easiest place to start searching the forest would probably be that place I exited, near Fluttershy’s cottage, my first day here. I remember you could see the forests edge from the path. Not wasting anymore time I exited town and followed the dirt path towards Fluttershy’s.

While I had never actually traveled from town to Fluttershy’s cottage I remembered each individual piece of the path that would get me there. Town to Rarity’s, Rarity’s to Twilight’s, Twilight’s to Sweet Apple Acres, and Sweet Apple Acres to Fluttershy’s cottage. It would take a while to walk there normally so I decided to use my cores energy and boost my speed. I started off down the dirt road at a steady jog. As I was nearing the path at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres that would take me to Fluttershy's cottage who should I happen to see but Fluttershy herself.

Remembering how easily startled she was I slowed my pace down to a walk. She seemed to be leading a group of small rabbits that were hopping behind here in a line. I wonder where she’s going? Once I got close enough I called out, “Hey Fluttershy.”

“EEP!” She jumped up in the air and flailed her legs wildly. Thinking quick I jumped over and caught her before she hit the ground.

“Hahaha, sorry I scared you fluttershy. I was just walking along the path and wondering why you were leading a group of rabbits behind you.”

“C-Cicero! I-it’s ok. I was just leading these baby bunnies to my basket so I could feed them.” she said quietly. I looked over across the dirt path and noticed there was indeed a wooden basket full of carrots lying on the ground. I looked down and noticed the little bunnies had scattered themselves in every direction. They must have panicked at Fluttershy's reaction to my sudden presence.

“Well it appears as though we’ve both scared your little friends away.” She looked around and saw the same thing I had.

“Oh no the poor little bunnies! I’m sorry little ones I didn’t mean to scare you! Please come back.” Fluttershy said looking very worried.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy. As I helped cause the problem I’ll help fix it.” I set her down. “Let’s round up these little guys and get them fed.”

“A-are you sure it’s not too much trouble? You don’t have to help if you don’t want to.” she said meekly.

“You’re asking me if I want to help you round up and feed adorable little bunnies? What sort of madpony would say no to that? I love bunnies!”

“You… you do?” Fluttershy said hopefully. I laughed. Reaching down I picked up one of the bunnies that hadn’t hopped very far.

“Fluttershy I’m pretty sure everyone loves bunnies. I mean how could you not? Look at this little cutie.” Reaching over I scratched the little bunnies head and ears. I could tell the bunny appreciated my efforts as it leaned into my fingers and started rapidly thumping one it’s feet against my hand. I smiled and kept going. Fluttershy gave me a face splitting smile as she watched me play with the bunny. After a few seconds she fluttered over to another bunny and used her hooves to pick it up.

Very carefully she gently flew it over to her carrot laden basket and gave it a carrot. The little bunny seemed very content to sit down and happily munch away at its carrot. I was about to follow Fluttershy’s example when I felt something jumping on my shoes. Looking down I saw a herd of bunnies hopping on and around my shoes. I guess they saw the pleasure my ministrations were bringing their little friend and wanted some too. Leaning down I scooped them all up and said, “Don’t worry little ones. I’ll make sure you all get a good ear scratching.”

Arms bursting with bunnies I walked over to the carrot basket and set them all down. For the next couple of minutes Fluttershy went around making sure every bunny was given a carrot and ate the whole thing. Meanwhile I was going around and giving each bunny a small head and tummy rub session once they finished their assigned carrot. I thought it was weird that Fluttershy was feeding the baby bunnies when I figured their parents would.

“Fluttershy not that I’m dismissing your work but why are you feeding these baby bunnies? Shouldn’t their parents be providing for them?”

“Well normally I would just give their parents the food and each bunny would be fed by their parents. Today I needed to get them all together and make sure each bunny is healthy. Looking over their bodies while making sure they eat all their food is a good way to check their health.” Ahhh so she had been checking that their appetites and bodies were healthy. Very smart. When animals become sick those are generally the first two categories that show symptoms.

Now that all of the bunnies had been fed and thoroughly scratched Fluttershy was lining them up again, I assume to be lead back to their parents. “Thank you for your help today Cicero. I think the bunnies really enjoyed getting scratched by you.” Fluttershy said happily.

“Anytime Fluttershy. I assure you I enjoyed playing with the bunnies as much as they did.” I grinned and said, “Not to mention I’ll never say no to spending time with such a cutie.”

“I’m glad to find somepony else thinks baby bunnies are as cute as I do!” She said in return. I laughed at her obliviousness. Fluttershy had a confused expression on her face as she looked up at me.

“Well I suppose I’ve definitely made my opinion on how cute these little bunnies are obvious. I was actually talking about you this time Fluttershy.”

Right on que Fluttershy blushed and let out a squeaky, “W-WHAT!?” This of course only made me grin wider.

“You see! Right there Fluttershy. That adorable little blush and reaction of yours only makes you cuter. Face if Fluttershy, these bunnies are cute but you’ve got them beaten in that department by a long shot.”

“I-I-I O-Oh M-My!” Fluttershy seemed completely flustered by my last compliment and quickly scurried off with the trail of bunnies hopping behind her. Man, even her exit is adorable. What am I going to do with all of these ponies melting my heart at every turn. I sighed. Well that was fun little detour but now it’s time to get back to the task at hand. I looked over in the direction Fluttershy had retreated. As she was now out of sight I decided it was safe to enter the forest. Using some of my cores energy I quickly reinforced my legs and ran off into the trees before someone could accidentally see me entering the forest.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for in a training area but I was hoping if I wandered around the forest enough I would eventually find something suitable. The only thing I knew for certain was that wherever I picked would have to be rather large semi open area. With this idea in mind I wandered deeper in the forest, further away from the dirt path I had just left. Blinding wandering on the ground wasn’t the most efficient way to search but until I got deeper into the forest it would have to suffice. Once I had walked for a good 5 minutes in the opposite direction of where I entered the forest I figured I was far enough away that no wandering pegasus would spot me.

I shifted a large amount of energy from my core into all parts of my body below my chest. After I had a steady flow of energy I crouched and jumped through the forest's canopy. As I traveled upward I realized that searching this forest would be harder than I thought. Even though the forest was flat it went sprawling for miles and miles in every direction. I couldn’t possible take in enough details while jumping to find what I needed. I hit the apex of my jump at around fifty feet in the air and started to rapidly descend. Looking downward I shifted my body and landed next to a tree.

Hitting the ground hard I made small imprints into the dirt where my feet hit. Damnit I really should have found a map in Twilight's library detailing how large this forest is. I sighed at my lack of foresight. Well there’s no use dwelling on that now. I’ll just have to improvise. The only way I would be able to take in enough details while jumping was if my mind was amped up on adrenaline. The draining effect of using adrenaline was something I tried to avoid but in this case it seemed like the best solution.

Stimulating my adrenal glands once more I felt the crisp clarify that came with steady flow of hormones to my body. I had planned on just jumping over and through the forest canopy. With my mind's extra processing power I realized it would be more efficient to jump in place, take in the forest, and then run in whatever direction I chose. Shifting my cores energy from my lower half into my entire body I quickly stabilized the flow. I would need to reinforce my whole body to withstand falls from these heights. Crouching low I snapped my legs muscles straight as fast as they could and shot out over of the forest.

Using my new adrenaline boost I let my eyes rapidly flicker in every direction trying to pick out somewhere suitable for training. At the very edge of my vision I noticed something directly West of my current position. As I hit my jumps apex of one hundred feet I thought I saw a strange clearing in the middle of the forest. I decided I would head towards it and investigate. Falling quickly I hit the ground and sunk about half a foot. I would need to make sure I jumped on steady ground next time. Looking to the West I readied my body and sprinted through the trees.

After what felt like six miles of rapid running I decided another quick position check was in order. Performing the same actions as before I crouched and threw myself above the forest canopy. As I reached my jumps limit I saw that I had made good progress in my running. As long as I kept going straight in the direction I had been I’d be there in about another six miles. Excellent. Hitting the ground I recovered quickly but didn’t immediately take off. I cut my cores stimulation of my adrenal glands and let the fatigue wash over me.

I wished I could keep my mental boost going but I’d seen what happens to protectors when they ignored their bodies limits. I remembered the vision of protector Derrick. While a very well balanced protector he had a tendency to push his body to the limit during times of crises. Protecting your people was important but if you killed yourself trying to do so then what was the point? Derrick had been trying to protect and direct his people's retreat at the same time. He had continually flooded his system with so much adrenaline that eventually his body couldn’t take it and he died of a heart attack where he stood.

I would not let myself make the same mistake. After recovering for a minute the fog of fatigue started to lift from my brain. Shaking my head I started weaving through the trees in the direction I had been going before. As I had guessed around six miles later I shot through a set of trees into a rather large clearing. Surprised by the rapid change in such a densely populated forest I came to a skidding halt. I felt myself slide much further across the dirt than normal.

I looked down and saw that the ground was now heavily compacted dirt and sand instead of the soft root filled dirt I had been running on just a few moments before. How peculiar. What on Equis could have caused such a strange phenomenon right in the middle of this lush forest. I looked around myself to see if I could gather any hints as to what might have happened here. Nothing immediately stood out as the obvious cause so I decided to jog around the clearings perimeter to see if I could identify something.

I jogged around the roughly eighty foot wide circle and started to notice strange things at the edge. A lot of the trees at the edge seemed to be slightly bent at awkward angles. I also started noticing rather large pawprints in the softer dirt near the edge of the circular area. I wondered if some large animals had come buy and cleared this area at some point in the past. Or perhaps this was their home? If so why is no one here? I’ve never heard of any animal species leaving their territory completely undefended. Most animals leave their young and food to be guarded in their home territory.

So if this wasn’t an animal's home what was it? I thought on this for a while and could come up with no obvious logical conclusions. I had a large list of speculations but no proof to back any of them up. I looked up into the sky and realized that the sun was starting to dip lower in the sky. I really need to get home before it gets dark. I wanted to start my training now but I realized that in the daytime there was still a greater chance of random pony seeing me than during the night. I could mark this location's position relative to ponyville and come back later tonight.

Happy with this plan I crouched and violently threw myself into the air. At the very top of my jump I could just make out Ponyville in the far distance. I estimated it was around ten miles away from this clearing. I fell back down and had a much easier time landing on the heavily compacted earth than I had in the forest. I turned toward the direction I had seen Ponyville while jumping and ran towards it. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the trees of the forest start to thin around eight miles into my run. At the nine mile mark I finally broke through the forests edge and onto open land.

I slowed to a walk and looked around for some obvious marking I could use to find my way back to the training ground during the night. Unfortunately it appeared as though nothing within a reasonable distance could easily be used. Deciding to improvise I turned back toward the treeline. Reinforcing and strengthening my arms I quickly broke three trees, at the forest's edge, in half. Walking back a few feet I realized it would be easy to recognize this spot if one was looking for it. Shifting the downed trees I make a crude arrow pointing in the direction of the forests training ground.

Pleased with my work I turned around and walked back towards town. After a quick jog I saw the edge of the town's market. I entered the mostly deserted market from the opposite direction I usually did when coming from Twilights. Looking up into the sky I saw the sun rapidly descending below the skyline of Ponyville. It would be hard getting used to the incredibly fast shift between night and day here in Ponyville. Ignoring this rapid light shift I started off at a jog towards Twilight’s house.

Arriving a few minutes later I stopped in Twilight's front yard. Focusing on my center I slowly stopped the flow of energy throughout my body. Once I released my steady energy flow my body let me know that it was incredibly hungry. *GRUMBLE* I hope Twilight and spike are having a feast for dinner tonight. My friends on Earth had always marveled at the amount of food I could eat and yet never put on any weight. A few of them had been rather jealous and always commented on how lucky I was to have such a fast metabolism.

Believe it or not my need to eat massive quantities of food after expending energy was more of an annoyance rather than a happy occurrence. Most of my friends had only seen me after I used small bursts of energy throughout the day. They had never seen my mother or I after one of her vicious training sessions. We had four full refrigerators in our house that were kept completely stocked at all times. I only had to dig into our massive food supply after mom would occasionally force me into one of her training sessions.

I had asked mom one day why it was we couldn’t just consume extremely calorically dense food. Humans ate energy bars and fast food all the time and those were riddled with compact calories. She had told me that during emergencies foods such as these were usually what she turned to. She then explained that over time her body and ergo mine were now very similar to humans. As such the healthier we ate the more energetic and efficient our bodies would be. Since she was much older and wiser than me I had always heeded her advice and attempted to eat as healthy as possible. Hopefully I could continue that trend in Equestria.

Now that my body was calmed down I decided that I had reminisced about my times on Earth long enough. Knocking on the door I only had to wait but a moment before Twilight swung it open and said, “There you are! I was worried you had gotten lost somewhere.”

“Apologies Twilight. I had a few things I wanted to do today and they took me longer than I had anticipated.”

“Well I’m just happy you’re back. Also you don’t need to knock on the door every time you enter my house. This is your home now as well.” I smiled.

“Thank you Twilight. It feels nice to have a home here, even if it’s only temporary.” Twilight frowned at my words. I had a feeling it was because she’d miss asking me questions and getting to record new things. I’m sure she’d get over it quickly. Plus I didn’t even know if I could leave this planet or was in fact stuck. Hopefully I could see the princesses soon and find out.

“So what’s for dinner Twilight? I’m absolutely famished!”

“I think Spike is making vegetable pasta tonight.” She said now smiling. Excellent. Vegetable pasta is an extremely calorically dense meal. Not to mention it’s rather healthy. “Hey Cicero. I was thinking….” Ahh shoot. Here it comes. I already know that no matter what she asks me for I’m going to say yes no matter what. Even if I want to say no she’ll just look at me with those big shimmering eyes and any argument I have will crumble like my will.

“Yes twilight?” I said resigned to my fate.

“Do you think we could have our invention session over dinner tonight? I really really want to get started as soon as possible.” Oh. Well that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

“As long as Spike doesn’t mind us talking over the meal he prepared I don’t see a reason why we can’t.”

“YES! Spike? Spike!” Twilight ran off towards the kitchen to ask Spike if he wouldn’t mind. I laughed as she went and slowly followed behind. As I entered the kitchen I saw Twilight jumping in triumph. I guess Spike said yes. “I’m going to go get my parchment, ink, and quills.” She said running out of the room. I kept smiling and kneeled down beneath the tables edge, waiting for Spikes delicious dinner. Spike put 3 plates and a massive pot of vegetable pasta on the table in front of me.

“Dinner is served!” He said.

“Thanks for the meal Spike. It’s smells great.” Spike smiled at me as Twilight came back into the room levitating a large amount of writing supplies.

“So what’s today’s invention going to be Cicero? Remember it has to be really technical!” Hmmmmm what could I safely tell her over dinner. Oh! I know a reasonably safe one I can give ponies.

“Twilight do ponies have machines that fly in the air?

“We have hot air balloons and some airships that float using large magic batteries. No other flying machines besides those two.” Magic batteries? Now that’s interesting. I’m going to have to ask her about that.

“Alright well i’ll make you a trade Twilight. I’ll teach you about the flying machines we have on earth if you teach me about magic batteries and how they work. Deal?”

“Deal!” she said joyously.

“Alright then. There are two limitations to what I’m going to tell you. First I don’t know the exact mathematical equations necessary to calculate a flying machines areodynamicy. I’ll have to give you a less specific overview of aerodynamics. Second I won’t give you the knowledge of the internal combustion engine. That’s something your people will need to figure out on their own. Trust me when I say this is for your own good.” Twilight seemed depressed when I finished speaking.

It didn’t take her long to get over it as she happily asked, “What’s aerodynamics?” I chuckled.

“Get ready for a long session.” Twilight's face lit up.

A couple of hours later, well into the night, Twilight had finally had her fill of questions and trotted off to bed. She mentioned she would formally write up all her findings tomorrow and that she might need me to clarify a few things. Naturally I said I would. She also kept up her end of the bargain and had explained the theory of magical gems to me. As I didn’t have magic I couldn’t understand every concept she explained to me but I did get the gist of it. Apparently certain crystals and pony made containers could store a multitude of different magical energies to be released later.

Naturally this led to me asking Twilight about the different types of magical energies. While some types of magic like natural magic and the elements of harmony are special exceptions most magic is defined by the casters intent when it’s used. This was reasonably bad news for me. Magic itself was already hard enough to deal with but now I had to take into account the different effects a user's intent could add to spells they cast. This means any strategy I developed to deal with certain ponies spells might only work with that pony.

I suppose this is only further encouragement to get back to a steady training regiment. Reinvigorated by this new knowledge I quietly crept up the stairs to the second floor. Twilight and Spike were already fast asleep in their beds. It was time to leave. Sneaking back down the stairs I silently excited through the front door, closing it behind me. With no distractions present I energized my legs and jogged towards the town market. I quickly reached the market and jogged through to the other end, thankfully not encountering any ponies wandering about.

Approaching the treeline of the forest I remembered I had asked Twilight what its name was during our invention session. She told me it was called the Everfree forest and that it was the one place ponies didn’t have to watch over the animals or plants for them to grow. Once she’d said that I had really wanted to ask her how their planet's ecosystem worked but she was adamant that we get back to the airplanes we had been discussing. I figured I’d just shelve that question until the day she asked me about Earth's ecosystem.

The moon was luckily just about full tonight and provided me with a lot of light to search for the trees I had downed earlier. A quick scan of the Everfree forests edge showed me the location of the three trees. Walking over to them I saw the crude arrow I had made was still intact. I made my way through the trees in the direction of my new training spot. After the same 9 miles I had traveled earlier I entered the open dirt and sand arena I had found before. Slowing down I looked around to make sure the area was still unoccupied as it had been hours ago. Thankfully my training spot was just as barren as I remembered.

I smiled. It was strange but I was actually looking forward to starting my training routine again. Back on Earth I had done everything in my power to avoid mother's brutal training sessions. I suppose now that I was here on Equis the idea of going through a semi regular training session brought me some sense of normalcy. If there had been one place I felt truly at home on Earth it was in my mother and father's presence. Even if father wasn’t a protector like mother and I he still understood me better than any of my human friends could ever hope to.

There’s no time like the present Cicero. Never waste the free time fate has given you. For one such as myself free time is few and far inbetween.

Mothers words passed through my mind. I had never appreciated all of the time mother spent protecting the humans. Once I had grown older I began to understand how many humans there were on Earth. Almost every day was a flurry of activity for her. Mother knew that she couldn’t protect them all but she still did everything possible every single day to help as many as she could. My mother was truly a paragon amongst protectors and one day I hoped to do her proud.

Preparing for my training session I completely disrobed and laid all of my clothing in a neat pile near the circle's edge. During one of my first training sessions with mother I asked her why we trained without clothing.

Why do you train naked? What were to happen if your enemy where to strip your clothing off your body during a fight? You would hesitate would you not? The humans have instilled in you the idea that nudity is indecent. This is simply a weakness for your enemy to exploit. If your enemy disrobes you in combat then so be it but I will not allow such distractions during our training. I will not allow you to become just another vision passed down to our people.

I laughed at how embarrassed I had been during my first training match. Eventually over time I realized how silly it was to care about such things in battle and grew out of my embarrassment. But now was not the time to reminisce. Now was the time to train. I wouldn’t be able to emulate the sparring matches I had with mother so I would have to improvise and test all three categories she had trained me in. First I’ll need to find a large boulder to practice with.

With this plan in mind I raised my head and froze in place. There at the other end of the circular clearing I saw a manticore emerging from the treeline. Well that’s a rather unfortunate stroke of luck…. Wait a moment…. I walked a few paces towards the manticore and raised my eyebrows in surprise. “No fucking way.” There in front of me stood the manticore I had drunkenly slapped my first night in the Everfree forest. It was easy to identify as it had a group of 4 human shaped claw marks across its massive nose.

I guess I had accidently used a bit of my cores energy that night and harshly scratched the manticore instead of just slapping it as I remembered. I’ll admit I felt slightly bad about scaring it but considering the manticore had tried to eat me first I felt pretty justified. The manticore had only managed to chase me away due to my inebriated state that night. I smiled. Tonight would be much different.

“Back for a rematch kitty?” I taunted. Strangely enough the manticore didn’t growl back at my words. In fact the manticore acted like it hadn’t heard me at all. The only thing that changed was it’s mouth. A wicked looking smile creeped its way onto the manticores face. That doesn’t look good. My assessment was proven correct not a few moments later when I noticed four more manticores emerge behind the first.

“Oh shit.” Apparently the manticore did remember our encounter and it had brought friends to help it get revenge. “I see you’ve brought friends.” I said obviously. The manticores eyes gleamed. “Too bad five of you still isn’t going to be enough.” Apparently the manticore could understand me as its smile got even wider. If it can understand me why the fuck is it smiling. That question was answered moments later as seven more manticores emerged from behind the others.

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” I yelled at them. This doesn’t make any sense! Why the fuck would twelve manticores suddenly appear now. I’d already determined this wasn’t any animals home territory earlier. Was it just an unfortunate coincidence? Wait… If they could understand my words maybe they're smarter than I gave them credit for. And then it hit me. The lead manticore must have seen me earlier and guessed I would come back. He fucking gathered eleven of his manticore buddies and waited to ambush me.

“You… You don’t just understand that I’m speaking do you? You can actually understand what I’m saying, can’t you?” To my terror the manticore nodded. These manticores were not the mindless beasts i’d assumed that they were. A look of panic flashed across my face.

“Gruhhuhuhuhurrrrr.” The lead manticore must have seen my panic and let out a growling laugh. Thankfully his laughing snapped me out of my panicked haze and I realized that panic was the last thing I needed to do right now. I took a few breathes and steadied my heartbeat. With a clear mind I realized the first thing I needed to do was attempt to reason with these beasts.

“If you can understand me then let me apologize for the other night in the forest. I was not in my right mind and attacked you out of fear that you wanted to eat me.” The manticore licked its lips and laughed again. Ok so that pretty much confirms he was trying to eat me. “I do not wish to fight you tonight. Is there not something I can do to to settle this peacefully?”

“ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR,” came the deafening answer from the other eleven manticore. The lead manticore simply shook his head no. It appears he promised the others food and a fight tonight. I don’t think I’ll be able to get out of this without a fight. I tried to reason with him one more time. “Please. I do not wish to hurt any of you. I understand that you’re all hungry but I cannot allow myself to die. If you choose to fight I cannot guarantee you will all survive.”

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!” Apparently the manticores had had enough talking and the leader charged me. So be it. At least i’ll have a sparring partner for my training tonight. I rapidly descended into my core and forced a heavy flow of energy throughout my entire body. I reinforced all of my bones and used a layer of my energy to harden my skin to it’s utmost extend. Right before the manticore reached me I remembered back to my training.
The enemies you fight will be tough Cicero. As protectors we have a few advantages over most other alien races. So tell me my son, what do we fight with?

“WE FIGHT WITH OUR STRENGTH!” I threw my right first out and slammed it into the manticores face. Stopping the manticore cold I pushed with my legs and threw him away from me. *THUMP* it hit the ground hard but quickly got back up.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!” The manticores screamed. They were apparently not expecting me to put up a fight. I straightened my stance and prepared for the next attack. Two manticores charged me from the front swinging their claws powerfully. Dodging below the attacks I let them fly over me. Getting back up I charged one of the manticores and jumped to throw my body feet first into it’s chest. It let of a loud roar as it went flying. The other took another swipe at me as I used my right arm to block the paw.

It looked confused when it’s claws or strength didn’t break my arm. Bringing my left arm around I slammed my fist into it’s head and sent it flying. The other manticores roared furiously at this turn of events and began spreading out around me. The manticore I had kicked in the chest stayed down, breathing roughly. Unfortunately the one I’d punched got back up and started to surround me with it’s brothers. Quick as lighting two more manticores charged me from opposite sides.

Right before they collided with me I jumped above them. Both manticores eyes watched me fly above them. In their confusion they had forgotten to stop their charge and I saw them slam into each other. While they were dazed I spread my legs and brought both my feet down crushingly onto each of their backs. The two slammed into the ground as I fell off them and rolled away. Both manticores shakily got up a few seconds later, clearly incensed by my attacks. As I was watching the downed two the manticores realized I was distracted and three more decided to charge me. I quickly used my arms to block two of them while the third rammed me in the stomach with its head.

“OOOF!” I flew back and rolled across the ground. “Fuck.” These manticores were learning fast. I was going to have to step up my game before I became predictable. As I picked myself back up a scene from the sparring session with my mother flashed past my eyes. I remembered my mother overpowering me with one of her punches.

What are you doing Cicero? A protector is not a one trick pony. We have so much more to offer the world’s. No matter how strong you are there will always be a stronger opponent. What then do we fight with?”

“WE FIGHT WITH OUR SPEED!” I yelled into the night. Pumping a massive amount of energy into my legs. I quickly took off towards the manticore that had send me flying. A look of surprise crossed its face as I slammed my first into its chin. With the extra speed from my legs I wasn’t surprised when I felt its jaw break. One of the manticores that I had held at bay before reacted quickly to my presence and took a powerful swipe at me. With my enhanced speed I easily jumped out of the way. Its partner wasn’t so lucky. Taking a massive paw to the face I saw the attacking manticores claws sink into the others face and tear out a good chunk of it.

“RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” The manticore bled everywhere as it stumbled around before collapsing. Shit I was hoping to avoid any of them dying. This thought distracted me long enough for another manticore to jump behind me and rake its claw across my back. Even with my strengthened skin I felt large parts of my skin split and tear. I was sent rolling across the ground a few paces away. Using my roll to jump into a sprint I dashed towards the attacking manticore and grabbed it’s tail. Swinging as hard as my body would let me I threw the manticore into a group of three others that had been slowly approaching me.

The manticore barreled into them as I quickly followed his trajectory. Jumping up I used my knees to land as hard as possible on one of the manticores face. I felt its teeth crack and blood soak my knees. I grunted in pain as one of the mouths fangs sliced open a part of my leg. The third manticore had pushed it’s friend off of him and threw its massive scorpion tail at my location. Rolling quickly to the right I saw the stinger slam into the face of the manticore I had just been on. It didn’t even have time to howl in pain as the tail pierced it’s brain.

Learning from my last mistake I didn’t mourn this one’s death. I instead grabbed the offending tale and viciously yanked the manticore attached to it up and over myself. I brought my hands down as fast a possible and slammed the airborne manticore into the ground. I heard a satisfying crunch as the manticore slumped down and did not get back up. I could still see it breathing so I assumed i’d broken it’s spine. Well that’s four down and eight to go.

Looking over at the remaining manticores it seemed as though they’d evolved their attack pattern again. Four had spread their wings and were circling me as the other four did the same on the ground. Even as fast as I was right now they’d catch me if I tried to escape below or above. Before I had a chance to form a plan the manticores started to continuously attack. One on the ground would dive in and swipe at me while one above would swoop in hoping to take off my head. Before I could counter them another would take it’s place and pattern would begin anew.

After a minute of dodging I was growing tired of this. This weak thought caused me to slow just enough that one of the manticores swipes connected with my shoulder and put a nasty cut across it. At the same time two more on the ground simultaneously ran into me and threw me flying away from them. I was sent flying and my back slammed into a tree as its trunk broke in half. Falling to the ground I looked around dazed. My mother's training flashed before my eyes again. I saw her counter my rapid attacks as she grabbed ahold of me and slammed me into a wall.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING CICERO!? Why are you only fighting with your body? Do you not understand? WE ARE PROTECTORS! If we fail then those who depend on us die. You fail every single protector who has come before you and passed down their experience. We don’t have the luxury of failing. SO HOW CAN WE STOP OURSELVES FROM EVER FAILING? WHAT DO WE FIGHT WITH!?

Picking myself back up I bellowed into the night, “WE FIGHT WITH OUR KNOWLEDGE! WE FIGHT AS ONE!” I forced a massive amount of energy into my head and stimulated my adrenal glands for a massive hormonal boost. With this newfound clarity I finally started analyzing how I could end this fight.

Four enemies down with eight left. Their group attacks are proving problematic. I cannot allow myself to be surrounded again. I’ll need a powerful pinpoint strike to take each one out. I can only muster this kind of strength one at a time. I’ll need to separate or confused them. But how do I do that. I looked down at the ground and smiled. If my body was not enough then I would use the environment to enhance my attacks. There’s enough dirt and sand here to cause the distraction I need. Pleased with my plan I stretched my core to its limit as I further increased the flow of energy throughout my body.

Before the manticores had a chance to surround me again I ran over to one at the edge of the group. Sticking my hand in the ground I quickly pulled up some sandy dirt and threw it into the air. Keeping my hand on the ground I rapidly circled the manticores, throwing up as much sand and dirt as I could. Thankfully the manticores had ceased their attacks for now as they couldn’t keep up with my speed and strike at me. The flapping of the flying manticores was only making the situation worse for them. Eventually my actions were having the effects I desired as a miniature sand and dirt cloud enveloped the group of manticores.

Excellent. Now that I’ve dulled their senses and confused them I’ll need to draw them out individually. As I’d blocked most of their senses with sand and dirt, sound would probably be the easiest sense to exploit. I looked up and realized that 50 feet above the artificial cloud the air was clear. Picking my next move I stopped throwing the earth into the air and jumped over the top of the manticore group. Hitting the top of my jump I yelled out “OVER HERE ASSHOLE!”. Landing on the other side of the cloud I quickly continued my previous actions of pulling up dirt and throwing it into the air.

Eventually I saw one manticore take the bait and fly above the storm. I skidded to a halt and focused on the manticore above the storm. With as much strength as possible I pushed off the ground and flipped to throw myself feet first at the manticore. It turned to see me right as I shot my feet out and slammed into it’s head. Sadly I had misjudged the strength in my jump and ended up shattering the manticores head. As I fell I saw the manticores lifeless bloody body flop back into the dirty cloud below. I heard a manticore scream out in anger as I assume his brother's body had just fallen on him. Landing on the other side of the cloud I continued my previous actions of circling the group and throwing up dirt.

Further loss of life is unacceptable. These manticores may be violent but they are essentially innocent beasts. I’ll need to more accurately control my strength in further attacks. Jumping above the storm again I taunted, “Up here fuckface!” Another manticore flew above the storm to challenge my call. With significantly less power I again threw myself feet first into the manticore. This time I aimed for the chest. My feet made contact with the manticores chest as I felt bones break. I sent the manticore wildly careening towards the forest below it but was pretty sure it would survive its injuries.

Happy with this strategy I continually applied the same process to the remaining manticores until there was only one left. Landing after my last strike I stopped upkeeping the artificial dirt cloud and waited for it to clear. Not long after the cloud dissipated I beheld the same lead manticore from my first night here. Sighing I preparing myself for the last attack that would end this senseless violence. Before I could finish off the last manticore it did something completely unexpected. It bowed to me.

Well that’s definitely not the reaction I had expected. Fury, anger, and indignation were some of the emotions I had been prepared for but not a respectful bow. The manticore raised it’s head and looked back to me. There was nothing in it’s eyes but respect. What the actual fuck is wrong with this thing. I just killed a few of it’s friends and it doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest. Perhaps I could talk to it and figure out what's going on.

“You’re not angry with me anymore?” I hesitantly called out. The manticore shook its head no. “You do realize that I just killed and wounded a few of your friends, right?” The manticore nodded it's head this time. I don’t understand. Animals always fight or retreat. This reaction makes no sense. I suppose these manticores, or at least this one, seem to smarter than most animals i’m used to. And then it hit me.

I looked back at the manticore and said, “Your group follows the strongest don’t they?” It smiled and bowed again. Intriguing. What a strange way to end a fight to the death. I don’t really want to lead a group of manticores but if it stops them from attacking me in the future I’ll play along. “I do not wish to take over your group after killing several of its members. I wish to not be seen as an violent usurper by your pack. I only defended myself from attack.” The manticore cocked its head to the side as if it hadn’t understood me. Hmmm, maybe I need to make my intentions easier to understand.

“What I meant to say is perhaps now your clan and I can be friends? I just want to be able to walk through the forest without us attacking each other.” The manticore looked down for a few seconds. I was afraid I had confused it again. Before I could open my mouth again the manticore looked up and nodded. Excellent. “Well now that we’ve come to an agreement what is your name friend. Mine is Cicero.” The manticore turned its head to the side once more. Perhaps they don’t have names in their society. I tried to make my intentions more explicit.

I pointed at myself and said, “Cicero.” I then pointed at the manticore and opened my palms indicating I wished to know his name. No reaction from the manticore. Well either it doesn’t have a name or it can’t speak at all. Very well then. I need to refer to it as something. I guess John will do. It’s a simple enough name to remember. Again I pointed at myself and said, “Cicero.” I then pointed at the manticore and said, “John.” This time the manticore smiled and nodded at my words.

Well I guess that will have to do for tonight. That fight left me exhausted and I need to get home before I drop. “I’m going home for the night John. I suppose I’ll see you around the forest some time.” John nodded once more at me. I waved to him and jogged over to my clothing pile at the arena's edge. I wanted to put them back on but my body was covered in both mine and manticore blood. I’ll need to find somewhere to wash this off in the forest before heading home. I’d hate to have the same first day experience I had here in Equestria all over again.

Picking up my clothes I started jogging in the direction of Ponyville. At around the 5 mile mark I noticed something I hadn’t before. Off to the right was a rather large looking pond in the middle of a group of trees. Awesome, that’s exactly what I need right. Deviating from my standard path I ran over to the pond. Crystal clear water and not an animals in sight. Setting my clothes down I waded into the middle and submerged my body while scrubbing the blood away. The cuts on my body were tender but would hopefully heal soon enough. Maybe I can get some bandages from Fluttershy tomorrow.

Pleased with my clean body I exited the pond and shook as much loose water as possible off of me. Now that the danger was over I cut the rapid flow of energy from my core down to a much smaller amount. Preparing myself I calmed down and cut the flow of adrenaline to my brain. I took a few breaths as the exhaustion of the battle settled down on me. Now that my non critical senses weren’t being blocked my body reminded me that we needed to find food and sleep very soon. Agreeing I quickly slipped my clothes on and ran the last 4 miles back into town.

Almost in a trance I jogged through town and into Twilights house. Quietly I made my way over to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I saw that the pot of vegetable pasta from dinner was still half full and sitting in the refrigerator. Like and animal I set it on the ground and ravenously devoured it using my hands. After consuming all the pots food I picked it up and set it in the sink. I was too tired to deal with it now and would take care of washing it tomorrow. Exhausted I slowly sneaked my way up to the third floor and entered my room.

I briefly considering meditating before bed but realized I would was too tired to effectively think of anything. All other thoughts would have to wait until tomorrow. I walked over to my bed and flopped down face first on it. I stopped the rest of my cores energy flow and few moments later I was fast asleep.

Perspective: Luna

What a wondrous night! The moon is nigh full and the stars are Twinkling down on all of Equestria's sleeping citizens. I used to hate the idea that all of my citizens slept through the night. My sister and Twilight Sparkle had shown me that even if Equestria’s citizens weren’t awake during my night they still appreciated my work. How could they lay down and rest with my sisters overbearing sun shining down upon them at all times? While my night rule garnered less attention than my sisters day I was ok with being silently appreciated by my citizens.

I truly wish it had not taken 1000 years of banishment and the elements of harmony to save me before I could realize this simple fact. So much time without my sister and citizens wasted by my foolishness. I looked down in sorrow. No! I would no longer wallow in sad past matters. I need to look forward and remember happy things. Perhaps a trip over to Ponyville would brighten my mood tonight? I have always enjoyed flying around the quaint town of Ponyville during the night.

Spreading my wings I took off from my rooms balcony and quickly soared towards ponyville. Using powerful strokes of my wings I easily reached Ponyville in a few minutes. Flying lower I saw Twilight's library and smiled. While my sisters protege could be socially awkward at times she was a rather intelligent unicorn and always had excellent ideas. She and her friends had helped me so much since I had come back from my banishment. They had shown me that there were those who still trusted and followed me despite my rather long hiatus from ruling. I was truly grateful such ponies still existed in the lands of Equestria.

Soaring higher I flew towards the edge of town to check on the Everfree forest. I remembered a long time ago how incredibly dangerous the Everfree forest had been. While it still posed a threat now it wasn’t nearly as dangerous as it had been before I was banished to the moon. Creatures used to come out of the forest at night and hunt ponies for food. My sister assured me that this was not the case anymore but I still worried for Twilight and her friends. Loosing them to the wild beasts of the Everfree would be truly horrible.

“We fight with our strength!” What on Equis on was that? I had heard somepony yell from within the forest. If any pony was out here at night then they were surely in mortal peril! I must find them quickly. I flew off in the general direction I had heard the call come from. I frantically searched for any sign that a pony was moving throughout the forest. Where are they!

“We fight with our speed!” The voice was closer this time. Hold on my little pony I’m coming! Quickly flying towards the voice I began to see the outline of a strange open area within the forest. As I rapidly approached the open area I saw eight manticores circling a small figure in between them. To my horror I saw two manticores viciously strike the little figure and send it flying into a tree. The tree cracked in half as the figured slumped to the ground.

“NO!” I screamed. I flew as fast as I could toward the downed figure. However once I got close enough to actually see the figure I quickly halted my flight. This wasn’t one of my little ponies. This was something I’d never seen before. A strange bipedal figure lay on the ground beneath the tree. Its impact had snapped the trunk in half. Wait a minute. This must be the strange creature Twilight Sparkle found recently! What is it doing out here this late at night? Doesn’t it know how dangerous the Everfree forest is!? I shook my head. Enough of these thoughts. He may not be my subject but he still needs my help. Wait….. Is he getting back up after that attack?

“WE FIGHT WITH OUR KNOWLEDGE! WE FIGHT AS ONE!”

For the next 5 minutes I watched the creature Twilight had spoke of systematically destroy the remaining manticores. He moved with speed and struck with strength I knew was impossible for any normal creature to achieve. I saw him employ devious tactics to confuse and disorient his opponents. What surprised me the most were his savage strikes. I watched as his kick completely destroyed the head of a manticore that had flow above him. He seemed to regret killing the creature as his following strikes were all to a less powerful degree and now aimed at the manticores chests. The power behind his kicks still damaged the other manticores enough that they might not recover.

Finally he stopped moving and it was down to him and the last manticore. Sister needed to be informed of this now. Any creature that could take down that many manticores simultaneously was a threat to our ponies. I wouldn’t condemn him without meeting him but sister and I needed to confront him soon. He readied his stance to attack the last manticore. I feared he would violently destroy the last manticore and I didn’t want to see it. Focusing my power I teleported myself back to the castle. I need to wake Celestia up now.

Perspective: Unknown

Finally I’d escaped my horrid earthen prison but now I needed to find Celestia and Luna. I remember their filthy mother and father had thought themselves wise rulers and lived in castle known as Canterlot. I had been wandering through this damn forest for days and hadn’t encountered any signs of the wretched pony races existence. Perhaps they had been wiped off the planet by some event during my imprisonment. What joyous news that would be. Though a part of me would miss not being able to tear the flesh from their bones myself.

Finding the edge of the forest I exited the veritable maze of trees I had been stuck in. The open landscape was bathed in the moonlight's glow allowing me to see for miles in every direction. Looking around I noticed a small village in the far distance. Perhaps I could infiltrate the town and learn the location of canterlot relative to it. Hopefully I could find a larger settlement rather that puny pony village. I didn’t want to use my magic unnecessarily but I needed to find out where I was.

Enveloping myself in a magic aura I quickly floated a mile into the air. I scanned the landscape until I beheld my prize. Canterlot. What luck that I would emerge from this horrid forest to find my destination so close by. I was surprised to see how similar canterlot looked to how it was thousands of years ago. Memorizing Canterlot's direction I slowly lowered myself back down to the ground. Smiling, I continued on my journey to Canterlot. I would have my revenge.

Ch. 7 Races, Realizations, and Revelations Pt.1

Ugggggg my body feels so sore. I suppose I should have expected this considering last night's events. I pushed myself off my bed and into a sitting position. *crack* *pop*. I felt my bones shift and crack back into their normal positions. I feel like I was just hit by a truck. I really need to do some stretches before I do anything today. I stood up from my bed and figured it would be best if I went through a normal post running stretch session. Standing straight I reached for my toes and began the routine. After a couple of minutes my body was finally starting to feel like it was back to normal.

First things first, I need a quick meditation session before I start my day. Sitting down on my bed I curled into my normal meditation position. The first thing that needs to be addressed is last night. That manticore attack was completely unexpected. I’m annoyed that John and his pack were able to take me completely by surprise but I’m not sure if there was much I could really do to predict such an ambush. I suppose it doesn’t really matter as I made some new animal friend in the end. Although I feel really bad about killing a few manticores though.

*sigh* It’s not as if I haven’t killed before. Mother made sure I was prepared to do what was necessary when the time came. I vividly remember the first time I had to take another living being’s life.
“I thought we were going to have another training session today mother. Why do you need a gun for today's session?”
“Because today we’re going to do something a bit different Cicero. As a protector I’ve taught you that all life is sacred and should be protected. Unfortunately there will be times when saving all lives is impossible. You’ll need to be able to do what’s necessary in these situations and take a life if you must.”
Mother pulled a black sheet off of a chair that had been in the middle of the room. I had assumed it was empty but now realized it contained a grown human male.
“Mother who is this?”
“This Cicero, is the latest troublemaker I had to capture. He’s a religious zealot who had been planning to bomb innocents. He sees any who do not believe like he does as heathens who must die. I have questioned him thoroughly and he has ignored all of my attempts to help him change his ways. He assures me that if I am to release him he will simply continue his supposed holy work. I cannot allow such a dangerous man to continue existing. We must kill him Cicero.
“How can we be sure he can’t be saved mother? Perhaps he’s just confused like so many of the other humans.” Mother put her arm on my shoulder and gave me a sad smile.
“You know of my special ability, don’t you Cicero?” I gave a weak nod. “Then you know that even though I wish to save this man there is no hope for him.” I looked down sadly. No one could hide the truth from mother when she used her special ability. It’s a shame all protectors couldn’t have the same special abilities. I really wanted to understand why we wouldn’t change. My mother placed her other hand on my other shoulder and pulled me into a hug.
“I understand Cicero. I feel your pain. I don’t want to kill him either but the lives of many must be protected over the lives of the few.” I felt safe in mothers arms. She was so wise, so strong. Mother had never been wrong before. I could always put my trust in mother. I pulled back from her and held out my hand. She understood my motions and handed me the gun.
I looked up at the man to see him staring straight back at me. His mouth was gagged while his face was uncovered. I hesitated at the furious gaze from his harsh eyes. I felt mother put her hand on my shoulder again.
“I’m sorry for not blindfolding him but you must be able to look him in the eyes when you kill him Cicero. When you kill another you must take responsibility for your actions. You cannot hide behind a shield or look away. You must accept that a life will be taken from this world by your hands.” I took comfort in mother's words and her hand on my shoulder. Reinvigorated, I looked the man in the eyes once more. I saw the emotions behind his eyes. Fear, anger, hate, disgust, and many more. Enough. I must do my duty. I must protect.
Cocking the gun I pointed it at the man’s head and beheld his eyes one last time.There was only fear reflected in them now. I ignored his silent plea and pulled the trigger.

I remembered spending most of the day crying after that training session. Mother had stayed right beside me offering reassurances that it would be ok. The contradiction of killing to protect had been one of the hardest lessons she’d taught me. However it had proven useful against the manticores last night. I’m just happy that there’s no more bad blood between me and their pack. I hope I see John when I go to train again. I didn’t know how smart manticores were but I was hoping I could converse with him and gain basic knowledge of Everfree forest.

With that concern taken care of I suppose I don’t have any other pressing matters to attend to today. Maybe I could find rainbow dash and have our competition today? That could be interesting. Now that I’ve started using my powers again it will be a good chance to see how far I can push my body. But how do you find a pegasus? Searching the whole sky would not only be illogical, but impossible. I guess I’ll have to try and find her house. I’ll ask Twilight and see if she knows where I can find either Rainbow Dash or her house.

Stretching out of my meditative pose I stood up from my bed. “Alright then! Let’s get this day started.” I walked over to the door and stopped right before I opened it. I’d noticed blood marks on my shoulder’s clothing when I’d reached my hand out. Oh yeah. I completely forgot about my wounds from last night. Inspecting my clothing I realized that my shoulder, back, and leg wounds from last night had all apparently bled during my slumber. While my body had helped heal them a little bit the wounds were too large for my abilities to close within a night.

“Well I can’t go down there looking like this. I’ll need to get some bandages from Fluttershy at some point today.” Taking off my shirt I went over to the pile of clothes rarity had given me and selected the set that bore Twilight's cutie mark. Next to the pile of clothing I saw the tattered remains of my shirt from the first day I’d been here. That could work as a makeshift bandage for now. Ripping the tattered shirt into three large bandages I tightly wrapped it around my shoulder, chest, and leg wounds.

Happy that I wouldn’t bloody another set of Rarities fine clothing I adorned my chosen clothing pair for today. I would have to find a way to clean the other bloodied set at some point. Standing up I made my over to and out of my bedroom door. Hopping down the stairs I saw that Twilight and Spike had already awoken and exited their bedroom. I walked down to the bottom floor and saw Twilight engrossed in a book as usual.

“Morning Twilight,” I called to alert her to my presence. She looked up and smiled at me. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the clothing I was wearing.

“Cicero is that my cutie mark on your clothing?” she asked confused.

“You betcha it is Twilight! Apparently Rarity decided to make a set of clothing for each of her friends. Each one has their cutie mark depicted on it via jewels that match their elemental jewelry. I figured i’d wear yours today. Do you like it?”

Twilight continued to smile. I saw a small tint of red enter her cheeks. “It looks very nice on you Cicero. The jewelry on the shirt is rather eye catching. I’m flattered that you would wear my cutie mark.” she said slightly abashed. I smiled back.

“Of course I would! You’re my favorite book worm after all. Now how about some breakfast. Have you already eaten today?”

“As you slept in rather late Spike and I already ate breakfast. He saved some for you in the kitchen.”

“Awesome. Thanks Twilight.” I wondered off into the kitchen to see Spike standing near the table eating…. Gems? Is he actually eating gems?

“Umm Spike? Are you eating gems right now?” I said confused. Spike turned around to look at me with his mouth full of gems.

Swallowing the ones he had been chewing on Spike happily said, “Yep.” Like there was nothing at all wrong with eating rock hard stones.

“Should I be concerned for your health or is eating gems a dragon thing?”

Spike shrugged. “I’ve been eating gems since I was a baby so I guess it’s a dragon thing.” He said nonchalantly.

Astounding. How on Equis can dragon's eat something that hard? Their teeth must be strong as diamonds if they can chew jewels. I can’t even imagine what dragon internals are coated with to stop the gem shrapnel from cutting up their organs. That’s not even taking their gem digesting stomach acid into account. Why would a dragon even eat gems in the first place? I don’t imagine gems have that many nutrients within them for the body to absorb. I wonder if it has something to do with certain gems being able to hold magic. Perhaps dragons eat it to gain magic? Maybe Twilight has a book on this. I think I’ll ask her before I leave today.

“Well if you want to eat gems far be it from me to stop you. As I can’t eat gems I was hoping there’d be something else in this kitchen that I could devour. Twilight mentioned you saved me some breakfast.”

Spike once more stuffed his mouth full of more gems and pointed towards a plate on the counter. Walking over to it I saw that it held fruit, vegetables, and hay. The various fruits and vegetables I can eat but I’ll have to do something with the hay. I walked the plate back to the table and happily dug into the parts that I could eat.

“Do you happen to know where the rest of vegetable pasta from last night went?” Spike asked. “I was planning on using that for lunch today but found the pot empty in the sink this morning.”

Swallowing a mouthful of food is responded, “Shoot, sorry Spike. I ate your pasta late last night. I had a very severe hunger pang in the middle of the night and decided to finish it off.”

“Oh. It’s ok Cicero. I was just wondering what happened to it. Since I like cooking I’m happy to make something else instead. I’m glad you enjoyed it enough to finish off the whole pot last night. That was a lot of pasta!”

What a nice kid. I’m glad Spike’s not mad at my late night snacking. I should really do something for him to make up for all the food he’s been cooking me. He seems to really enjoy eating gems. I guess I could try finding some around Ponyville that he might eat. Based on the shirt’s that Rarity originally created for me she most likely has quite a few gems in her possession. If anyone knows where to get more it would be her. I’ll make a mental note to ask where she gets them next time I see her.

“What can I say Spike. It’s hard to resist your delicious cooking at any time of the day.” He smiled at me. “Anyways I distracted you from your gem eating long enough. Later man.” Holding out my fist we exchanged a fistbump and I walked out of the kitchen. Looking around the library I saw Twilight was writing something on a massive scroll. She’s most likely documenting some of the technical details about planes that I gave her last night.

Walking over I said, “Hey Twilight, do you have a book about dragons in here somewhere?” Twilight, who was completely focused on her writing, didn’t bother to look up.

“Yes. This library has a few books about dragons over on shelf D2. If you’re going to be reading in here can I ask you a few questions about yesterday’s discussed invention while you do so?”

“Of course Twilight. Let me retrieve one of the books you mentioned and I’ll be right back.” Walking over to the shelf labeled D2 I searched through the lined up books. Eventually I saw the spine of one that was labeled Detailed Documentation on Deadly Dragons. Hopefully it would contain the details I wanted to know. Pulling it out I returned to Twilight. I sat down on one of the beanbag like pillows near her.

“Hey Twilight. Since you can use magic to levitate and write everything you need to, do you want another petting session while I read my book?” Twilight looked up from her scroll and gave me a sheepish look.

“I was actually hoping you’d offer again soon. I really liked how it felt last time but it seemed weird to ask you to do it again.”

I laughed at her response. “Twilight I’ve already told you that you can ask me for a session whenever you want. Even though I gave you some money to help ease the burden of my living here I still want to help however I can. If that means giving you belly rubs or back scratches while you work I’m completely fine with that. Plus, didn’t I already mention that I also derive enjoyment from it. You ponies have the most incredibly soft coats. Although I have to admit that Rarity’s coat is the softest one i’ve petted so far.”

“You had a petting session with Rarity?” Twilight asked surprised.

“Crazy right?” I said also expressing my surprise. “Normally you wouldn’t think a mare like her would enjoy being handled or petted like that. However some unimportant things happened the other day that got her awful worked up. I needed to calm her down and decided to give her a belly rub to help. Since it worked so well on you the other day I figured it might for her as well.” I let out a laugh before continuing with, “She said it felt good enough that I should considering becoming a masseur at your local spa.”

I finished my short description of yesterday's events and looked down to see a strange emotion on Twilight’s face. Ah shoot. That was pretty thoughtless of me. I wasn’t positive but I was pretty sure Twilight felt jealous of my petting time with Rarity. She was probably worried I’d want to pet Rarity more than her since I’d said her coat was softer.

I reached over and pulled Twilight into a hug. “Don’t worry Twilight. I love petting you just as much as her. Besides, if I stopped petting you then I’d never get to see that adorable relaxed face that only you make.” I saw Twilight blush at my words but knew they’d had the effect I desired when I felt her body relax in my arms. Setting her on my lap I began to scratch behind her ears while rubbing my hand up and down her back. Twilight let out a contented sigh and went back to writing. Pulling my hand off her ears I reached over and grabbed the book on dragons so that I could begin reading.

This situation went on for half an hour. The only words spoken between us during this time were clarification questions about airplanes from Twilight. During that time I learned that dragons were magical from the inside out. They don’t have especially strong organs or stomach acid in their body. Apparently they have a core of magic that constantly breaks down and leaches magic from any gems they ingest.

This core was also what allowed dragons to breath fire. Instead of their fire being an internal chemical reaction it was actually entirely magical in nature. As it was magic, their fire also contained the intent of the dragon within in. This is what made dragons such dangerous creatures. The book didn’t specify what the limitations or uses for the fire were but I already knew it had to be expansive. I had seen Spike use his fire breath to teleport a message rather than burn it. I wonder if Spike realized this and had found other uses for his fire? I’d ask him later.

For a little while longer I perused the book on dragons learning all sorts of neat little facts. Eventually I grew tired of reading the book and closed it.

Looking up I said, “Twilight do you know where I might find Rainbow Dash today? If not, do you know where her house is located? I wanted to race her today if possible.”

“I suppose I could tell you where rainbow Dash’s house is but it wouldn’t do you any good. As a pegasus Rainbow Dash lives in a cloud house high above Ponyville.”

I sighed at this. “I won’t even bother asking you how that works because I know at the end of that road lies the all encompassing answer of magic.” Twilight just smiled and nodded her head at me. “Well then do you know where I can find her?”

Twilight pondered on her response for a moment. “If Rainbow Dash isn’t working with the weather team then she’s most likely practicing tricks somewhere or dozing off on a cloud above Ponyville. A lot of the time she sleeps on a cloud above Applejacks farm.”

“So basically it’s going to be hard as hell to find her, right?”

“Hell? That horrible sounding place from our religion talk the other day? I’m not sure how you can compare that against the difficulty of finding Rainbow Dash but yes it’s going to be difficult to find her. That’s just how Rainbow Dash is.” I used my free hand to rub my eyebrows.

“It’s a human saying Twilight. We can talk about colloquialisms, Euphemisms, and Idioms of the humans another day. Just add it to the list of things I’ll need to tell you alright?” Twilight used her magic to pull over a massive scroll and scribbled something down. I assume that’s the scroll of things she wants to ask me that she mentioned earlier. I thought she had been joking. That’ll teach me to never doubt Twilight's resolved to learn.

“Anyways I’m sorry that I have to stop scratching your back but I want to go find Rainbow Dash now.” Twilight groaned as I stook up and placed her back on the pillow without me. I walked over to the library's front door and swung it open. I instantly froze when I saw the mint green mare from yesterday standing in front of the library, mid knocking stance. She opened her mouth to say something but I quickly slammed Twilight’s door shut and used my body to brace it.

“Cicero what in Celestia’s name are you doing?” Twilight said looking over at me.

“Hello? Cicero?” A voice called from outside. “I asked around town and heard that you live here with Twilight.”

“Was that Lyra?” Twilight asked.

OH GOD! It’s the insane hand eating pony from yesterday. I won’t give up my hands without a fight. “I won’t let you eat my hands crazy mint pony! They’re mine!”

“What?! Eat?! I don’t want to eat your hands Cicero! I’ll admit I did act a little crazy yesterday but I’m just interested in you.”

“Nice try crazy mint unicorn! I can see right through your ploy. You’ll act innocent and then as soon as I let my guard down it’s an all you can eat hand buffet! Well you’re not go-”

“CICERO!” Twilight yelled at me. I looked over to her in surprise. “You’re being rude right now. Let Lyra in. I don’t know what this nonsense is about eating hands but Lyra is a good pony.”

“But-but-but Twilight!” I said pleadingly.

“No buts mister. Come over here so she can get in.” Twilight said with finality.

Dammit it’s her house and I have no right to deny any of her guests access. Grumbling, I left the door and slinked over to Twilight. I then proceeded to hide behind her body before she let the crazy pony in.

“You can come in now Lyra!” At Twilight’s words the mint green mare slowly opened the library's front door and entered. “Alright I don’t know what’s going on here but I’m sure we can figure it out if everyone just calms down.”

“Actually Twilight, I think I know what’s going on.” Said the mint green Unicorn. She turned to look at me. “First, let me say sorry Cicero. I understand that I might have acted a bit strange yesterday when I initially saw you.”

“Might have?” I rebutted.

“Alright I acted pretty insane.” She said looking down. “I couldn’t help myself when I saw you. I’ve had dreams of a strange creatures that look just like you. I’ve always told my friends about them, especially their hands. They’ve always told me I was crazy. So when I saw you in the market yesterday my mind froze. Especially when I saw your hands.” She finished.

She’s had dreams of creatures that look like me? How strange. I wonder if her dreams are simply the result of an overactive imagination or if something else is at play here. It seems odd that someone who's never seen humans before would suddenly dream of creatures that just so happened to look like humans. Hmmmmmmm. Well at least I know why she freaked out yesterday. *sigh* I suppose I’ll trust Twilight and Applejack and try to talk to her.

“Well I guess that explains a lot.” I said crawling out from behind Twilight. “I’m sorry for running away from you yesterday then. In my defense, you were acting pretty insane yesterday.” She looked down in sadness. “But let’s just put that all behind us.” She looked back up with hope. “I’ll admit that your dreams intrigue me and I’d like to know more about them at some point. For now, let’s just start with introductions. My name is Cicero and I’m a human from a planet called Earth.”

“My name is Lyra and I live here in Ponyville!” Lyra said happily.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Lyra. Now I’ll make you a trade. Since you seem so terribly interested in my hands i’ll let you examine and manipulate them to your heart's content.” A huge smile quickly made it’s way onto her face. “That is of course assuming you’ll answer a few of my questions while you do so. Deal?”

“YES!” Lyra yelled. She wasted no time bounding over to me. Using her hooves she turns my hands this way and that, seemingly fascinated by their movements. I let her examine them for a minute in silence. Once she started to examine each hands individual fingers I decided it was time to ask some questions.

“So you mentioned that you’ve had dreams of creatures that look like me. Do you remember if they just had similar body structures to mine or if they were the same type of creature?”

Lyra was completely engrossed by my hands. Without looking away from them she said, “I remember that the creatures I saw looked just like you.”

Fascinating. Maybe she really is dreaming of humans. The real question is why and how. Perhaps she had just gotten really lucky and accidentally dreamed about humans. Simple considering this ideas plausibility I’d have to say, although unlikely, it’s possible. The really amazing thing was that she said she’d had multiple dreams about humans. Taking this into account the idea that she randomly starting dreaming about humans was now incredibly unlikely.

“Alright, so you’ve most likely seen humans like me in your dreams Lyra. Were the humans the same person or different each time you dreamed about them?” Lyra stopped playing with my hands for a second as she thought.

“I never actually bothered to think about that. Whenever I see humans in my dreams it’s usually a different bunch of them each time.” She closed her eyes as she continued to recall her dreams. “Now that you mention it, there is one person I see in every dream involving humans. I’m pretty sure she’s a female human.” She opened her eyes and went back to prodding my hands with her hooves.

“Can you describe this female for me Lyra? There are a lot of humans on Earth but if it’s someone important I might know who they are.” Apparently Lyra had decided she was done examining my hands for now as she took a step away from me and sat down on her rump.

“Remembering dreams is usually a difficult experience for me but for some reason that human is always very clear in my mind when I wake up. She’s around 6 feet tall and has black hair like you. She has a decently athletic build also pretty similar to how you look. Lastly she had bright blue eyes.” Lyra raised a hoof to her chin in thought. “Now that I think about her and compare her looks to yours, minus the difference between your eyes, it almost looks like you two could be related.”

Well that doesn’t surprise me. Considering how alien humans look in comparison to these ponies, most probably look rather similar to them.

“Oh and she has a weird jagged looking semi circle scar below her right eye.” Lyra tacked on helpfully. I froze at her words and slowly turned to look at her.

“Lyra when you see this female in your dreams what is she normally doing?”

“Well I’ve seen her do a bunch of different things. Sometimes she’s just talking to other humans or walking around places. However most of the time I see her she’s running and jumping around while beating up other humans. She always wears really skin tight black clothing when she’s doing that. You humans move really really fast by the way. I’m surprised that any creature can move that quickly.”

Most can’t. Lyra had just described the exact looks and actions of my mother. HOW? This doesn’t make any sense. Lyra’s not just dreaming, she’s seeing visions of my mother and the things she does. The worst part is that she’s seen my mother performing her duties as Earth’s protector. Mother takes great care to never be seen by anyone when going out on missions. Why on Equis is this random pony being given visions of her?

The power to see the unseen, especially across worlds, is a truly impressive skill. Who would have thought such an unassuming creature as this small mint green unicorn could perform such a feat. I wonder what else she’s seen and if she can control these visions of hers.

“Lyra when you go to sleep do you think about what you want to dream that night or do your dreams just randomly occur?”

“Usually I just go to bed without thinking about anything. Sometimes I dream of humans and sometimes I dream of other creatures.” Her eyes widened in shock. “I just realized that some of the alien creatures also recur in my dreams just like that female human. A lot of them spend their time going around beating up other aliens just like that female does. They all dress and act almost the exact same as her. I never realized how violent a lot of my dreams were until now.” She said mildly concerned.

A dangerous theory popped into my head once I had this last piece of data. Holy shit. She wasn’t having violent dreams. She wasn’t just having dreams of my mother either. If i’m right, then Lyra was being given visions of different protectors on other planets we’d been sent to. How is she doing this?! She said she doesn’t control over it but that it occurs randomly. Is it her magic naturally doing this for her or is there something else strange at play here. I’m so confused.

“Cicero? Are you ok? You seem tense and you’ve been sitting there silently for a while now.” Twilight said concerned.

I will have to think on this subject later. I don’t want to reveal the existence of the protectors yet. I don’t know these ponies well enough yet that I’m comfortable talking about such things.

“Sorry about that Twilight. I was just entranced by this strange talk of dreams.” I turned back to Lyra. “Well I’m sorry to say that I don’t know the human you mentioned. Your imagination must be quite wild to dream up so many different alien creatures.” Lyra blushed and looked away.

“My friend Bon Bon says the exact same thing whenever I tell her about my dreams.”

“Well don’t let that stop you from enjoying yourself during sleep. Our dreams are one of the only places we can think and be free to do as we wish. Your expansive imagination should be praised rather than condemned.” Lyra happily looked up at me.

“Thanks Cicero!”

“No problem Lyra. Anyways I really must be off. I have things I wish to do before today's end and I best start now lest I not finish them. It was nice meeting you Lyra.”

“It was nice meeting you too! Hopefully we can talk again in the future.” Lyra said hopefully.

“Of course Lyra.” I turned to Twilight. “I’ll see you later Twilight.” Twilight waved as I sidestepped past Lyra and made my way out the front door. As confusing as Lyra's dream were I doubt sitting around and thinking about them would help me understand how she sees visions of protectors. Perhaps over time I’ll figure out what’s going on but for now I’ll just focus on finding Rainbow Dash. The only real lead I have is that sometimes she’s seen sleeping on a cloud over Applejacks farm. I guess I’ll head towards the farm then.

Perspective: Twilight Sparkle

I hope Cicero is alright. He seemed really tense when talking about Lyra’s dreams. I guess it is rather shocking to hear that Lyra dreams about his people. Hopefully he’ll come talk to me if something is bothering him. I’ll put it out of my mind for now. I turned to Lyra.

“Since you’re here would you like to get a book Lyra?”

“Sure Twilight! Do you have any new books about music theory? I’m always looking to improve my harp playing.”

“What good luck. I just so happen to have recently acquired a book on modern instrument playstyles. Hopefully there’s a section in there about harp playing.” I walked over to bookshelf M-3 and poked around, trying to find the one I wanted.

“Hey Twilight!” Spike called. “We just got a red scroll from princess Celestia.”

“RED!” I yelled in shock. That’s means something serious or very important is happening. I left the shelf and dashed over to Spike. Using my magic I rapidly opened the scroll.

Dearest Twilight,
Luna and I have decided to come visit you and meet this Cicero today. I understand that it is short notice but please gather all of your friends and Cicero at the library. We will be there very shortly.
Celestia

I don’t understand. Why would they send a red scroll for something like this. Something else must be going on here. I need to gather everyone as quick as possible! Hopefully Cicero hasn’t gotten far yet. Running over to the door I threw it open and looked around. Darnit he’s already gone. I guess I’ll just have to look for him as I gather everyone else. Turning around and trotting back inside I noticed Lyra and Spike watching me with concern.

Addressing Lyra first I apologize with, “Lyra i’m sorry but you’ll have to come back another time for that book.” Turning to spike I said, “Spike we need to gather all of the girls as quick as possible. Can you go to town and tell Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack to come to the library as soon as possible?”

“You got it Twilight.” Spike said.

“Oh and if you see Cicero make sure you tell him to come back to the library as soon as possible.” With those last words I concentrated and teleported away.

Perspective: Cicero

Well would you look at that. I couldn’t believe my luck. Lounging in a cloud right above Sweet Apple Acres barn was Rainbow Dash. Now I won’t have to search the whole town to find her. Jogging over to Rainbow Dash’s cloud I yelled up at her, “Hey Rainbow Dash! You ready for our race?”

Rainbow Dash rolled over on her cloud so she could peer over the edge. Realizing who it was she fell off her cloud and quickly flew down to me. “Heck yeah I am! The real question is are you ready to face the fastest flyer in Equestria!?”

I chuckled at her enthusiasm. Adopting a cocky grin I put my hands on my hips. “You may be the fastest in Equestria but today we’ll see if you can keep up with the speed of the humans!” I said. “So do you know somewhere we can have our epic showdown?”

“Of course! We’re going to race at Ghastly Gorge. Since you can’t fly I figured it would be the fairest place to race. There’s lots of obstacles in the air and on the ground.”

“Alright then Rainbow Dash. Lead the way.”

She pumped her hoof in the air and said, “YES! This is gonna be so awesome!”

We walked through applejacks fields and ended up followed a strange winding dirt path that we found behind it. I assume Rainbow Dash could have just flown to this gorge but was being considerate and following an established path for my sake. As we walked I noticed the landscape changing from lightly wooded to heavily forested. I followed Rainbow Dash for a good half hour before we got to Ghastly Gorge. Emerging from a thick treeline I beheld a very craggy looking gorge with a tiny river running through it. The gorge looked like it went for miles. She’s certainly picked an interesting place to race.

“So what kind of obstacles should I expect in this gorge Rainbow Dash?”

“The usual things you’d find in a gorge. Wind tunnels that push against you, large rocks, massive bramble piles, and Quarry eels to name a few.” She said rather nonchalantly.

I frowned at her answer. “This sounds like quite the treacherous racing landscape. You certainly don’t want to make this race easy. What are Quarry eels by the way? We have eels on Earth but I’ve never heard of a quarry eel.”

“There red eels that hide in the gorges walls and try to attack anything that gets to close to their home. Don’t worry they’re super easy to doge.”

Well that sounds like a rather nasty creature. I suppose I should strengthen my body for this race if there are going to be obstacles like that. If she’s only ever flown through this location who knows what else might be on the ground floor.

“So are there any rules for this race?” I asked.

“No exiting the gorge. You have to race through it. Besides that no.”

“Alright then, simple enough. So what are the start and finish lines?”

“The finish line is an actual finish line at the exit of the gorge. It’s really easy to identify. The start line is over this way. Follow me.” Rainbow Dash took off towards the starting point as I jogged behind her. Eventually she led me down to the bottom of the gorge. Seeing an obvious line drawn in the sand I recognized it as the starting point for our race.

“Since I want this race to be interesting I’ll give you a head start Cicero.” Rainbow Dash said with a cocky smile on her face.

“Ohhohohoooh, cocky are we? I’m going to make you regret those words Rainbow Dash. Remember, you asked me for a difficult opponent to race. I’m going to make sure you get your wish.” I said smiling at her. Turning towards the starting line I bowed my head.

Concentrating on my body I delved down into my core. I was going to need quick snappy movements if I wanted to win this race. I pushed a large amount of energy into my body stimulating my muscles. Once I felt my body start to heat up I cut the heavy flow and shifted it to an even flow throughout my body. I used a large amount of energy to enhance the muscles in my legs. I would need them the most. I used a layer of energy to reinforce my skin slightly. Pulling out a massive amount of energy from my core I deposited it to strategic muscles across my body.

I could use these small energy pockets across my body at a moment's notice should they be needed. Raising my head I calmed my mind and cleared my face. If Rainbow Dash could truly break the sound barrier this would be a very tough race. I would still try my best to give her a challenging opponent.

“Are you ready Rainbow Dash?” I said emotionlessly.

“Y-yeah. You start whenever and I’ll follow behind soon.” She said hesitantly.

I’m guessing she hadn’t expected the strange shift in my voice or body. “Very well. See you at the finish line Rainbow.”

At those words I left a literal dust cloud behind myself as I tore away from the starting line. The gorge had a small stream going through most of what I had seen so far. This made it difficult for me to maintain a flat out run. I was forced to run on one side and jump to the other when the river made it necessary. Eventually it got a point where the river was wide enough that I could no longer run on the ground. Thinking quickly I jumped from one side and landed on the other sides canyon wall. I then jumped forward and towards the other sides canyon wall. Unfortunately this was an exhausting and slow process.

While I was jumping between the two walls I saw Rainbow Dash fly past with a determined look on her face. Looks like she’s finally realized she’ll have to take me seriously if she wants to win. I was steadily falling behind Rainbow Dash as I kept my jumping routine up. Eventually the canyon walls fell away and revealed a small lake in front of me. Rainbow Dash had no problem flying straight over while I obviously could not.

Luckily there appeared to be small islands of land dotting the lake. Pushing my legs to their limit I was just barely able to jump between them and make it across. The lake suddenly ended and finally gave way to flat land I could run on once again. Landing with a roll I quickly picked my pace back up to a full sprint. Not long after I found myself approaching a strange pipelike structure made of rock. I saw Rainbow Dash struggling in the air to make it through. I could see fierce winds buffeting her body as she stroked her wings rapidly to combat them.

Realizing this was the wind tunnel Rainbow Dash mentioned I knew what I needed to do. As I entered the rock pipe I dug my hands into the semi firm dirt on the ground. Using my hands as grappling hooks and keeping low I rapidly pulled myself through the tunnel and past Rainbow Dash. As I exited the pipe I turned back for a second and gave Rainbow Dash a cocky wink. I then turned back around and began my sprint again.

“OH HAY NO!” I heard an angry Rainbow Dash call.

Guess that got her going. Ignoring the struggling Rainbow Dash I continued my frantic dash. I didn’t have to wait long before I saw Rainbow Dash shoot straight past me overhead. Damn I really can’t keep up with her speed. I’ll just have to hope I can get past the other obstacles faster than her.

Moments later my wishes were answered when I saw a Rainbow Dash struggling to get past an absolutely massive piles of brambles. The vines were thick, sharp, and densely compacted together. If Rainbow Dash is having trouble getting through with her tiny body I’ll never be able to get through normally. I’m going to have to go with brute strength on this one.

As my skin was already strengthened, I barreled arms first into the vines on the ground. Swinging my arms as fast as I could I cut, pulled, and snapped through the vines at insane speeds. After a few seconds of this process I emerged from the bramble pile on the other side. I looked over my shoulder to see Rainbow Dash still struggling to get through the top of the pile. Smiling at her trouble I broke into a sprint, determined to take advantage of my momentary lead.

A few seconds later I found myself running towards a strange convergence of the canyon walls. I noted that one wall had cracks all throughout it while the other had rather large holes dotting the entire wall. I’m not sure what’s going on here but I don’t have time to stop and think. Right as I made it to my first hole in the wall a massive red monster shot out and attempted to grab me with it’s mouth. Reacted on instinct I quickly strengthened my hand and punched it violently back into it’s hole. It made a horrible screeching noise as It flew back into it’s home.

HOLY SHIT! She didn’t tell me the eels would be that big! I could have died! Hearing what sounded like a speeding missile coming towards me I realized I didn’t have time to complain. Rainbow Dash had apparently made it past the brambles. Keeping my hands strengthened I rushed back into a run and kept going. Thankfully I emerged from the other side of the eel den without having to punch another. I guess they heard their friend’s screech and didn’t want to bother with whatever was outside their homes.

Continuing forward I could hear that Rainbow Dash wasn’t having an easy time getting past the eels. I heard the snaps of their jaws and crashes as they slammed into the other side of the gorge. Those eels aren’t going to hold her for long. Forcing the rest of my cores reserves into my legs I sprinted madly away from the eel den. A few seconds later I saw it. The finish line. It was a good two miles off in the distance but If I could keep this pace up I might be able to reach if first.

I heard a whistling sound behind me and knew that Rainbow Dash was approaching fast. Pushing myself for all I was worth I kept running at my fastest possible pace. I was so close! Just half a mile more and I’ll be th-*KABOOM*. I stumbled as I saw A rainbow shockwave fly past me. Catching myself I watched it shoot past me and over the finish line. Turning upwards it flew high into the sky and looped around. WHAT. THE. FUCK. She actually broke the speed of sound. Keeping my former pace up I quickly reached the finish line and then slowed down to a walk.

I looked up to see the rainbow blur from before spinning around the sky, leaving a colorful trail behind it. Eventually the rainbow decided to slow down and land near my current location at the finish line. After the colors cleared I could see an exuberant Rainbow Dash had landed.

“THAT WAS AWESOME!!!” I yelled at her. “I didn’t think you could actually do it! It’s one thing to hear that someone can break the speed of sound but to actually see it is something else! The speed, the shock wave, the colors! I don’t i’ve seen something that amazing in years!” Rainbow Dash smiled and basked in my praise.

“While I know all those things are true, it’s nice to hear somebody else recognize my awesomeness.” She said cockily.

My god I can’t believe I really just watching a living creature break the speed of sound with only their body. I never thought i’d see the day. I suppose I should be upset that I lost the race but I guess it was worth it to see that. Focusing on my core I stopped the flow of all energy throughout my body and pulled off my shirt. Easing myself down to the ground I let my tired and overheating body rest. Enjoying the feeling of the relatively cool dirt on my back I heard Rainbow Dash flutter over to me.

“Everything alright Cicero?” She said confused.

I took a few deep breaths before answering. “I’m fine Rainbow Dash. I just need to let my body cool down and rest. While racing through a deadly canyon might be normal for you, my body isn’t used to being pushed that hard. Just give me a little bit and I’ll be fine.” I took another deep breath. “Even though I lost I hope I was enough of a challenge to fulfill your request.”

“Heck yeah! I don’t think I’ve ever had someone come that close to beating me in an all out race before. You may not be as awesome as me but some of the things you did during the race were pretty cool. We’ve gotta do this again someday!” She yelled happily.

I laughed at her eagerness. “I’d be happy to race you again on another day but for now I think I’d just like to rest and wallow in my defeat.” A few moments of silence passed as I did nothing but breath in and out.

“So what’s with those wierd bandages on your body Cicero?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Shit. I forgot I put those on this morning. I raised my head and looked down at my chest and shoulder. At least they’re not bleeding through the fabric. That would probably have freaked her out.

“Nothing much. I just scratched myself up the other day while training for our race. I wanted to be prepared for today,” I lied.

Rainbow Dash looked highly skeptical of my claims. Running her hoof over my bandages she said, “What kind of training did you do yesterday that hurt you bad enough to require bandages this large?” Shit she’s more observant that I thought.

“Nothing really. Just some running and strength training. I tripped and landed on a few rocks is all.” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything else. Although for some strange reason she did keep her hoof on my chest. She continued to rub my upper half. What the heck is she doing? Is she looking for more injuries to disprove my story? I thought she said she’d trust me the other day. “Errr, Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?”

Dash didn’t say anything for a while. She ignored my words and continued to inspect my chest and stomach with her hoof. Eventually she said, “It’s strange to think an alien like you could almost beat me in a race. I’ve raced against my friends and all sorts of other ponies but you’re the first to come that close. Your body is so different from mine or any of theirs. You're tall and oddly proportioned, missing any fur, you have weird tiny eyes, and you don’t even walk on four legs. Yet….. for some reason I find all these odd differences nice to look at. I like how it feels when I rub my hoof against your chest….

*Fwhoomp* I was startled when Rainbow Dash’s wings suddenly flew straight out. Her face turned bright red and she jumped off me while looking away. Ah shit, I guess I’m not surprised this happened. I’ve seen this happen quite often to others after a heated event like that. It’s not strange that she’d get a muscle cramp after a race like that. Especially with how hard she pushed herself to break the sound barrier. I guess I should help Dash out. I’ve had enough muscle cramps to know the easiest way to get rid of them is to massage the muscle knots out.

“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash. I’ve dealt with muscle cramps before. I’ll get you sorted out.”

“Cicero wha-” I cut off Rainbow Dash as I pulled her into my lap and placed my hands on her stiff wings. Both wings cramping at the same time. That’s gotta be pretty damn painful. “Wait Cicero tho-” her voice stopped short as I began feeling around her wings and kneading the muscles that I could find. While my hands wandered over her wings I realized that they were much softer than they looked. “Oooooooohhhhhhhh” She cooed. I don’t know anything about wing physiology but based on her reaction I’d say I hit the right muscle group.

Continuing my work I found that wings had muscle nodules at the joints that connected each part to the next. With this knew knowledge I start to roughly massage the nodules in hopes that these were the muscles that had cramped. “Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh” Rainbow Dash panted out. I guess that was the problem. I continued to work these nodules for a little bit longer but for some reason her wings were staying tense. If anything they seemed like they were getting harder than before I started.

Dammit I must not be getting the right part. Maybe it’s not the wings interlocking parts but the base muscles that connect the back to the wing. Shifting my hands down I grabbed the base of both wings and started to massage the muscles connecting them to the back. “MMMHHHHMMMMMMM!” I heard Rainbow Dash grunt out. Even though she was biting her lip I could still easily see the pleasure on her face. Awesome. This must be the muscle I missed. Increasing my tempo I felt Rainbow Dash start to fidget around in my lap. I guess I finally found the right muscle group.

As I continued my work I began to smell something strange in the air. It smelled sweet but at the same time a little bit sour. I inhaled a large amount of the scent to see if I could identify it. Holy shit that smells good. I don’t know why but I suddenly feel really good. I feel incredibly energized even though I just finished that exhausting race with Dash. Now that I think about Rainbow Dash I can’t believe I didn’t see how sexy she was before now. Man I really want to kiss her right now. Maybe I should see if the rest of her body is as soft as her wings. I bet you she wouldn’t mind if I used my fingers to-

STOP! My instincts kicked in as my brain fought the fuzziness that was attempting to overpower rational though. What the fuck is going on here? I know i’ve been more open about my feelings recently but the filthy thoughts that just passed through my head weren’t normal at all. Alright I’ll just calm down and take a deep breath to steady myself. Drawing in a large pocket of air I was once again hit by the strange smell. I felt my mental clarity start to slip away as certain parts of my lower body began to stir.

Fighting through dulling of my thought process I finally grasped the answer and felt my stomach drop. Pheromones. I immediately removed my hands from dash’s wings and began taking shallow breaths in an attempt to avoid the pheromones in the air. I knew that certain animals species could interact through pheromones but I thought it wouldn’t apply to me. Humans have weak almost nonexistent levels of pheromones. I assumed my body was close enough to theirs that communication through pheromones was impossible. It appears biological traits from my original people were passed down to me. *sigh* Either way I need to say something to Dash.

“So I’m guessing that your stiff wings mean something other than a muscle cramp.” For the first time since I’d met her, Rainbow Dash looked back at me with a blush.

“Stiff wings for pegasus usually mean something a little different.” She said.

“Then let me apologize for assuming and acting brashly. I thought the muscles in your wings locked up after the race. I’ve had some nasty muscle cramps before and figured I could help you out since you can’t reach your wings.”

She sighed. “Well I guess it’s not like you could have known about pegasus wings. Still, I’ve beaten up stallions for less than what you just did.”

Bowing my head I said, “I’m sincerely sorry for rushing to conclusions Rainbow Dash. Please forgive me.” To my relief her next words sounded lighthearted instead of mad.

“*heh* It’s not like I didn’t enjoy it. Those hands of yours are something else. I don’t mind that you touched me to try and help me out. Just make sure you ask before you touch a pegasus’s wings again.”

“Thank you Rainbow Dash. Unfortunately we’re going to need to cut this conversation short as I badly need to get away from you right now.”

Rainbow Dash looked at me a little angrily and said, “What? Why?”

“Because I’ve never had to deal with the pheromones you’re still releasing right now and i’m about one step away from losing control, throwing you to the ground, and having my way with you.”

Dash smiled and said, “Fastest Pegasus in Equestria, soon to be wonderbolt, and with a body so hot even aliens can’t keep their hooves off me. Does my awesomeness know no bounds?”

“Ha Ha yes, very funny Rainbow Dash. Now if you don’t mind I was hoping you could fly back to town while I take a long walk back. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold myself back with all the pheromones radiating off of you.”

“Alright then. I’ll see you back in Ponyville Cicero.” Rainbow Dash wiggled her butt entirely more than was necessary before she leapt into the sky and flew off towards town. I suppose I deserved that last jab after what I did. Letting the tension out of my body I fell backwards into the dirt. Well that was definitely a new experience for me. It’s not the first time i’ve done something sexual to a female but it’s definitely the first time I’ve been assaulted by pheromones like that.

Who’d have thought they’d have such a powerful effect on my body and mind. I was going to have to be careful of situations like this in the future. I’d hate to lose control of myself and do something i’d regret. Now that I’ve experienced pheromones hopefully the effect will lessen the next time I’m exposed to them. Picking myself off the ground I recognized I was pitching quite the tent in my pants. Hopefuly this would die down by the time I got back into town. Grabbing my shirt off the ground I put it back on and began my long walk around the gorge and back into town.

Perspective: Unknown

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE NOT HERE!? Useless pony guard. I’ve torn my way through his entire mind and he doesn’t even have a hint as to where the Princesses have gone. At least digging through his mind wasn’t a complete waste of time. I’ve learned a decent amount about the princesses daily routine at the castle. That will be useful information in the future. While going through this soldiers memories i’ve also learned pony society is still the same horrible place it was all those millennia ago before I was trapped.

*sigh* As much as I despise being in this pony's body I suppose I’ll just have to bear with it for now and wait. I still haven’t regained enough of my lost magical power to be able to take physical form again. I’ll need to stay inside of this pony and use him as my host for time being. I’ll need to direct him around the castle grounds and get a decent understanding of its layout. If i’m going to be forced to remain in this horrid body I can at least make use of it while i’m here. As badly as I want my revenge I’ve waited a few millennia for it and can wait a little longer.

I hope Celestia and Luna return before I grow too disgusted by this body and kill the guard. Going through his thoughts has put me in a rather foul mood. Any plans I’d had to sway the ponies against Celestia and Luna would mostly have to be rethought. The ponies of this land revered the princess sisters as infallible rulers. Worse yet was the guards fanatical levels of devotion to the princess sisters.

Damnit! I need something to quell my anger and let me think straight. Perhaps I could have some fun with this guard while I wait. I saw he has a wife and child waiting for him at home. Watching their faces as I forced my host to tear them apart would brighten my mood.

Perspective: Cicero

After a long walk back to town I finally arrived at Twilight's house. As the pheromones had begun the wear off during my walk I felt one hunger leave me only to be replaced by another. No doubt due to all the energy I used during the race with Rainbow Dash. It was around lunchtime and I was hoping Spike had prepared a large meal today. If not I would just have to raid Twilight's kitchen until I found enough food to stop my stomachs growling.

Thankfully during my walk home my member had finally decided to calm down. Although if the lewd thoughts flying through my head were any indication, the pheromones were still affecting my thoughts. I really hope the strong reaction my body had to Dash’s pheromones were due to it being my first time encountering them. If I react this strongly to pheromones every time than any potential enemies could easily observe my reactions and weaponize pheromones in the future.

It was strange to have two parts of my brain thinking two completely different things. One part of my mind had been going over the dangers of pheromones and how to counter any weapons made with them. The other part of my mind, which I had dubbed Filthy, had decided that no one gives a fuck about pheromones and that we should go get laid. Filthy had been sending a constant stream of lewd ideas involving the ponies of Ponyville through my mind. It made thinking logically about pheromone dangers rather difficult. *GRUMBLE* I guess for now i’ll worry about my stomach and deal with pheromones the next time they come up.

Walking through Twilight’s front door I hesitated when I saw two large ponies i’d never met before. Even though I was behind them I could tell that both of their heads were almost level with mine. Speaking of their heads they both have way longer horns than any i’ve seen on any unicorn around here. Looking down I saw that they both also had an impressively large set of wings on their sides. I don’t remember seeing any ponies around town with both wings and horns at the same time. As far as I knew the only types of ponies are earth, pegasus, and unicorn. I wonder if these two are special for some reason.

The rational part of my brain was hard at work noting these new ponies appearances and assessing their level of danger to me. Filthy decided he’d had enough of that and added, ‘Yeah but did you see the asses on these mares? Damn those are some fine flanks!’ *sigh* Yes filthy, those are indeed some well toned backsides.

Almost as if the two ponies could hear my thoughts they both decided to turn around. As they turned I noted that Twilight and all her friends were behind these two large ponies. The two new mares were even more interesting from the front. The purple one had an ethereal mane of various purple shades with what looked to be small stars glimmering within it. The white one had an even bigger ethereal mane containing shades of blue, cyan, purple, and pink. While hers also contained small stars they didn’t have the same luster of those in the purple ones mane.

I noticed that both had shoes on their hooves and breastplates hanging from their fronts. That’s strange. I thought most ponies didn’t normally wear clothing. Letting my eyes wander back to their manes I caught my breath when I noticed something important. Tiaras.

This must be the princess Celestia and princess Luna that i’d heard about from Twilight. Based on Twilight's descriptions the other day the white one must be Celestia while the purple one is Luna. When they said they wanted to meet me I had thought I would eventually be summoned and brought before them. I had never expected them to come for a surprise visit and as such, was completely unprepared for it. ‘I guess it makes sense that two princesses would be the owners of those fine backsides. I wouldn’t question any princesses right to rule if they’d been born with royal ASSets like that.’ God damnit Filthy. I’m trying to be logical about things and you’re over he…. Why are they staring at me like that.

Luna's mouth had fallen open while her eyes showed a look of incredulity. Celestia had a wide smile on her face and looked like she was trying really hard to hold in a laugh.

Celestia finally regained control of herself and said, “While is nice to have my *snicker* posterior appreciated even after all these years *snicker* that’s unfortunately not why we have come today to visit today.”

As soon as Celestia had revealed that Filthy’s words had accidentally slipped out of my mouth I facepalmed and looked down.

“SISTER! How can you laugh at this? This creature’s made a mockery of our reign and claims we only rule due to our backsides!” Said an outraged Luna.

“Oh come now Luna. Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy his complement.” Celestia shot back slyly. Luna blushed and her words faltered slightly.

“Th-that is besides the point sister.”

Looks like this is my chance to jump in. Removing my hand from my face I said, “I meet royalty on a new planet and the very first thing I do is hit on them. Come on Cicero.” I looked up. “I know it doesn’t mean much but let me just say that I’m usually much more civil than this. I was doing some things earlier outside of town and accidentally came into contact with a strange foreign chemical. Based on my thoughts as of late it appears to have been some type of aphrodisiac. While I can feel its influence on my mind waning, you’ve just been on the receiving end of its after-effects.”

Looking past Celestia I could see Rainbow Dash fidgeting uncomfortably. I felt bad for making Rainbow Dash uncomfortable with my lie but I figured she’d rather I do that then they say I felt her up and was still high off her pheromones. That probably wouldn’t make the best first impression with the princesses. Then again I suppose I already botched my first impression by hitting on them both. Oh well.

“How did ya accidentally get in contact with this mysterious chemical Cicero?” Said a suspicious sounding Applejack.

“I just happened to be wandering around some strange plants outside of town earlier. But enough about that. I believe introductions, although probably unnecessary, are in order.” I turned to the princesses before Applejack could speak up again. “Nice to meet you your highnesses. My name is Cicero and I’m the human alien I’m sure you’ve read about in Twilight's letters.”

“Greeting Cicero. My name is Celestia and I am one of the two ruling princesses of Equestria. You are correct in your assumptions about our knowledge of you. We have been receiving letters nonstop detailing you, your people, and their inventions since you arrived. I must say, I am rather excited to finally get to meet you. Meeting different species is always an excited experience. Meeting one from such a technologically advanced society like yours is even more so.” I bowed my head slightly to acknowledge her words.

“So it appears you can be civil.” Said luna. She appeared to still be disgruntled by my earlier words. “My name is Princess Luna and I am the other ruling princess of Equestria. As I am a scholar like Twilight Sparkle, I will admit I am hoping to talk to you about your society. Unfortunately I feel as though there is something more pressing we need talk about first. Unlike my sister I prefer a less tactful and more direct approach to things.” She said exchanging a look with her sister that I couldn’t decipher.

Apparently Celestia did understand the look as her face hardened slightly and she moved to block the girls from my site. That doesn’t bode well. Their taking up defensive stances as if they expect a violent reaction from me. Looking back at me with a hardened expression Luna said, “I saw you in the forest the other day Cicero.”

I felt ice shoot through my veins. WAIT! Don’t panic Cicero. These two princesses have been alive for a few millennia. Their most likely very wise and panicking is not going to help me in this conversation. I need to be very careful and watch what I say. Their defensive stances mean they think I’m some sort of threat to them or their subjects. I’ll need to use my words and actions to show that I mean no harm. As Luna’s words hadn’t been specific I’d need to probe her to find exactly what she’d seen.

“The first time I woke up in Equestria it was in that forest. I was rather curious as to what it contains. I’ve heard that the forest is dangerous but surely wandering through it is no reason for your guarded position.”

Luna surprised me when she smiled at my words. “You are rather perceptive it would seem. No Cicero, you being in the forest doesn’t bother me. While I am concerned for the safety of any who wander through the Everfree forest that’s not what ails my mind. What concerns me is watching an alien creature single handedly fighting and defeating a pack of manticore.” I heard a muffled collective gasp from the girls behind Celestia.

Fuck this isn’t good. So she knows I defeated the manticore group. Or maybe she’s just jumping to conclusions? I don’t know for sure that she actually saw me fighting. Perhaps she just stumbled across the scene and saw me wandering away. Maybe she’s trying to shock me into revealing what happened. I’ll need to word this carefully.

“I just got lucky. I barely escaped death in my encounter with the manticores. I doubt I could even take one of them on in a head to head battle.”

Luna snorted. “Cicero I watched you move with enough speed that you were able to create a miniature dustorm. I then watched you strike some of those manticores with enough power that you disposed of them in a single hit. These are not the actions of a one who could barely take on a single manticore.”

Damnit I guess she’d seen the whole fight then. She’d at the very least seen enough of the fight that I could no longer keep up my facade. I let out a resigned sigh.

“Very well princess Luna. While I wasn’t trying to hide my actions they aren’t something I really wished to talk about. However as you and your sister are the rulers of this land I can imagine you have some questions for me after seeing that display, yes?” Both Luna and Celestia nodded at my words. “Then I will answer them. However I request that we do so in private. While I respect and enjoy the company of the girls I do not wish to drag them into a talk about myself. Some of the things you want to talk about aren’t things to be discussed in polite company.”

“If you wish Cicero.” Said Luna. “Alright th-”

“Wait!” Yelled Twilight. Luna looked shocked that Twilight had interrupted her. “I’m sorry for interrupting you princess but I want to know what’s going on here!” She turned towards me and Celestia moved out of the way so I could see the girls. “Cicero why are you sending us away? I thought we had become friends during the time you’ve stayed here. Do you not feel comfortable talking around us?” She finished a little hurt.

“Not at all Twilight! You and your friends have show me nothing but kindness since I’ve been here. If anything I feel more comfortable with you all than without.” I looked away slightly. “Unfortunately the princesses wish to talk about some rather gruesome events that happened the other day. Not to mention after those questions I’m sure we’ll both have a few more that will be as equally unsettling to discuss.” Twilight wanted to say something back to my words but Pinkie Pie beat her to it.

“That’s why we should be here then silly! We’re your friends! Friends always stick together even if they have to deal with icky stuff sometimes.” She finished with a wide smile.

I knew the situation was rather tense but for some reason I found myself unable to stop a smile from creeping onto my face. “While I appreciate your willingness to support me you have to understand that I’m still concerned.” I looked at the six girls. “You girls all come from a land of peace and harmony. As such your souls and personalities have been nurtured by and reflect the best qualities that can be found here in Equestria. This land and it’s people are innocent to the levels of depravity that exist in other parts of the universe.”

Looking down in shame I said, “sadly the world I come from is not quite as innocent and nice. As I described to Twilight and Rarity the other day the world I come from is ripe with strife and conflict. While I have always tried to live by my mother's guidance and act like a good person my personality and soul have likewise been affected by where I lived. I fear that if any of you continue to interact with me past this point you will become tainted by my words or actions.”

“The other great fear I have is involving any of you further. If some of my suspicious about why I’m here are correct then what I have to discuss with your princesses might disrupt your peaceful lives here in Equestria. If you get involved any further past this point your futures might possibly become intertwined with mine. I don’t know exactly what my future has in store for me but I do know that it’s most likely not going to be safe. I’m sorry for becoming grim but you need to understand what you're requesting when you ask to stay. Consider the gravity of my words and then make an informed decision.”

I lowered my head for few moments to let them quietly think about what I had just said. After a minute I raised my head and was shocked to see six girls defiantly standing in the same place smiling at me. “Are you sure about this?” I asked them. They all nodded. “Even after all I’ve said?” Again a group nod.

Damnit. I gave them a choice and they made their decision. They’re adults and if they’ve made their decision to stay I don’t have the right to stop them…. Even so…. I find myself hesitant to let them say. I fear their willingness to help me combined with their innocence isn’t truly letting them grasp the depth of my words. Perhaps I should just send them away for their own good. I thought on this for a few moments. Before I could come to a decision I heard Twilight speak out.

“Cicero, please. It’s obvious that something is bothering you quite a lot. Let us be here not only for you but Equestria as well. If what you say is true, then as the elements of harmony we should know what’s going on.” After Twilight finished she could see that I was considering her words but was again still hesitant to agree. I saw a metaphorical lightbulb appear over her head as she added on, “I wish to use the favor you gave me. I want you to let me and the other elements of harmony stay for this conversation.”

Well I guess that seals the deal then. I truly don’t have any basis to deny her wishes any longer. “Very well girls. As long as Celestia and Luna don’t have a problem with it you may stay.”

“My sister and I don’t take issue with the bearers of the elements of harmony being here.” Said Celestia.

I looked over to the princesses. “Celestia and Luna I know you’re still wary of me right now but I was hoping you’d let me gain access to medic fluttershy over there. I can see the medical box dangling from her mouth. Why on Equis do you have that anyways Fluttershy?” I asked confused. Fluttershy seemed flustered as I had thrust her into the center of the conversation.

“W-well I-I thought that since Twilight said it was an e-emergency I should be prepared to help anyone.”

I smiled. “Always putting the others before yourself. You truly are one of the rare few like that in this universe.” As Fluttershy blushed I looked at Celestia asking for confirmation with my eyes. I saw her nod slightly and I turned back to Fluttershy. “Sorry for asking Fluttershy but I was hoping you could bandage me up again.” Pulling my shirt off I only got out, “I don’t want these to get infec-,” Before Fluttershy was already worriedly fussing over my injuries.

“Oh my, those look really painful! How did you get injured again? I just bandaged you up the other day!”

“Well since Luna and Celestia have very patiently been waiting, I suppose I should answer that question first. The other day I went into the woods to find an area I could train without being seen or bothered by others. I eventually stumbled upon a rather large clearing that was perfect for my purposes. I waited until nightfall and found my way back to that area again with the intent to train myself.”

“Unfortunately the manticores around here are much smarter than I gave them credit for. You’ll recall that I had a run in with a manticore the first day I appeared here in Equestria. It just so happens that the same manticore had seen me come by earlier and gathered some of his friends for an ambush. I tried to reason with him and his group but nothing I said seemed to sway them. Eventually it came down to a fight that I ended up winning. Although as you can see not without some souvenirs from the manticores.”

“A GROUP OF MANTICORES!?” Yelled Rainbow Dash. “How many were there?”

“Twelve,” I said matter of factly. Rainbow Dash zoomed around the library excitedly at this news.

“You single handedly defeated twelve manticore last night and still had enough energy to almost tie me in a race earlier today! That’s amazing! You’re awesomeness just went up 200%!”

Luna’s narrowed her eyes at Rainbow Dash’s words. “Yes such feats are almost unbelievable. One must wonder what type of creature has such unending energy.”

I held up my hands to show I meant no harm. “I’m not trying to dodge your questions princess Luna I’m merely trying to answer them in an order that makes sense. However there is one more thing I need to know before I answer your most recent question.”

“And that is?” Said Luna, obviously a bit agitated.

“Do you understand parallel universe and lifestream theory?” I saw Celestia perk up at my words.

“I believe I can handle these questions better sister.” Said Celestia. “I have always been more interested in things such as these and therefore have more knowledge on the subject.” Nodding to her sister Luna let Celestia take over the conversation. “I am a bit surprised that you would bring up these topics so suddenly.”

“As I mentioned to Twilight, I have some theories as to why and how I am here.” I saw Luna, Celestia, and Twilight all raise their eyebrows in surprise at my hints.

“Uhhh sorry ta interrupt ya’ll but what in the hay is a parallel universe? Said Applejack confused.

“Yeah, and what’s a lifestream?” Rainbow Dash added. “Are we just going to be discussing boring eggheaded science things? Can’t we go back to the manticore fight and get the details on that?”

I laughed at Rainbow Dash’s honesty. “Perhaps if you really wish we can talk more about the fight later. But for now I’ll answer your and Applejack’s other questions.” I thought on it for a moment. “Actually princess Celestia would you like to explain it to them? I’m interested to hear your world’s take on these subjects in comparison to mine.”

“I don’t see why not. Parallel universe’s are self contained realities that exist separate from one another. So each universe exists at the same time but they cannot interact with each other. Changes exists between each universe and can be something as small as the number five being replaced with the letter h to gravity no longer existing. The term lifestream has many definitions but based on what Cicero has said I assume he meant it in the sense of each parallel universe having a distinct lifestream. Every living in each universe is part of that universe's lifestream.”

“Precisely!” I said happily. “Now we won’t have to discuss semantics between different theories. Since you and your sister are so powerful I’m wondering if either of you have the ability to detect a creatures lifestream?”

“We do indeed possess a spell for that Cicero.”

“Excellent. Now if you would be so kind, can you cast that spell on me and tell us of your discovers?”

“If you wish.” Celestia walked over to my sitting form and lowered her horn towards my head.

Before she could make contact a small voice said, “E-excuse me princess Celestia.” Celestia and I both looked down to see Fluttershy hiding behind her hair. “I-I don’t mean to interrupt b-but I just finished bandaging Cicero and I don’t want him getting hurt again. This spell of yours won’t h-hurt, w-will it?”

OH MY GOD SHE’S BEING ADORABLE AGAIN! I tried to resist grabbing Fluttershy, seeing as Celestia and Luna were still wary of me, but her adorable hair hiding technique proved too much for me in the end.

“Awwwwwww!” I reached over and pulled Fluttershy into a hug against my chest. “Fluttershy it’s impossible to be serious about anything when you act that cute!”

“Ummm, sorry Cicero?” She said sounding confused and muffled against my chest. I laughed and felt her wrap her hooves around me as I hugged her tighter. After a few moments of me nuzzling my cheek onto Fluttershy’s head I heard a cough. Looking up I saw Celestia with a smile on her face.

“As loathe as I am to interrupt your precious hugging session I’m afraid we must move on. To answer you question Fluttershy, no this spell will not hurt. I promise to not damage Cicero or ruin your bandaging job.”

I let Fluttershy down as she said, “Thank you princess. I’m sorry for interrupting.” Fluttershy walked over towards the other girls and then turned back to watch.

Turning back to me Celestia said, “Now let us begin.” Touching her horn to my head she pushed some magic through it and into me. I felt it gently trickle of magic disperse throughout my body. After a few seconds I then felt a tingly sensation as the magic rushed out of my body and back into Celestia’s horn. As soon as all the magic had left my body Celestia stumbled back with her mouth wide open. “Impossible.” She whispered to herself.

“What is it Sister?” asked Luna. “Are you ok?”

“He… He has two lifestreams attached to him.” She answered quietly.

*sigh* So that’s it then. I looked up to see a shocked Celestia and Luna. “Your answer has confirmed it. For better or for worse, I am now permanently part of this world.”

Author's Note

I've been on vacation this week. Last week I needed to finish off or hand off all of my work projects before I left. While I don't have an established release schedule these two factors delayed this chapter being posted.
This is large chapter that I've decided to split into two parts. I've written both parts and I'm posting the first part today as I just finished editing it. Assuming nothing happens I will post the second part tomorrow once I finish editing it. However the vacation location I'm staying at is rather secluded and storms keep taking out power so I promise nothing other than that I will try.
Thank you to all who continue to read.

Ch. 8 Races, Realizations, and Revelations Pt.2

“You know what’s going on?” A very confused Luna asked me.

“As I have now confirmed that I have two lifestreams I can finally say that I do indeed know what’s going on. I will no longer dance around your questions. Feel free to ask whatever you wish and if I deem it not dangerous to my job I will answer.”

“How can you have two lifestreams?” Asked Celestia. “By the very nature of parallel universes that should be impossible.”

“An excellent starting question Celestia. I have two lifestreams because I have been pulled from my lifestream and thrust into your's by what my people call the ancient ones. They are supposedly the original protectors of my people that decided to send us to other planets so that we may defend those in the greatest need of our services. I do not pretend to understand their decisions or thought process. My mother always said trying to understand being’s of such great power was an exercise in uselessness.”

“Wait, who are your people and what is your job?” Asked Twilight. “I thought you said you were a human from a planet called Earth?”

I smiled. “As sharp as ever I see Twilight.” She smiled at my praise. “I suppose I’ll have to start at the beginning to answer this question. What I told you about being a human is true. However before I am a human, I am something called a protector. My mother was originally not from Earth. While I don’t know the name of the planet she hailed from I do know that my species is called the protectors.”

“My mother originally lived on the protector homeworld until she was transported from it onto a world called Earth. Earth is ruled by an interesting species called humans. Humans are an extremely diverse technologically inclined species. As they have no magic they’ve used these technical inclinations to develop many advanced pieces of equipment to make up for this magic deficit.”

“For magic to become dangerous, generally one must be trained in it’s use over a long period of time. Advanced spells usually require even further study and beings of especially large magic reserves. This is unlike advanced pieces of human technology which can be created and then mostly used by anyone who can get their hands on them. As the humans develop faster and more efficient machines to create this technology even more people can get theirs hands on it. Sadly this has lead to unintended consequences.”

“Some of this technology is truly wondrous and can save untold numbers of human lives.” I grimaced. “Others are weapons created with the sole purpose of ending as many lives as quickly and efficiently as possible. The problems start occurring when angry humans get their hands on these pieces of equipment. With as diverse and densely populated as the humans of Earth are it’s not surprising that conflict between them emerges quite often. Once they start fighting it only takes a few humans with these weapons before the atrocities of war begin.”

I sighed and looked down for moment. Steeling myself once more I looked up and said, “My mother believes she was sent to Earth to protect the humans from themselves. She’s told me numerous times that the humans have such an amazing amount of potential within them. If they would only use their diversity to create rather than find reasons to destroy each other. Mother is attempting to guide the humans towards a peaceful and prosperous future from the shadows.”

“Eventually while on Earth mother found a lover and as a result, I was born. For most of my life I believed I was destined to stay with my mother and help guide the humans. A few days ago when I came here I thought It had been a random accident and that I needed to find a way back to Earth. This land seems so peaceful and I can’t think of any reason why your planet would need one such as myself. Sadly Celestia has confirmed that this is no accident and I am now stuck on this planet.”

“Sadly!” yelled an affronted Rarity. “I remember you telling me how wonderful you thought Equestria was the other day! Considering your previous words it’s rather rude to act like being stuck in Equestria is now a burden.”

“Hold on there Rarity.” I said bowing my hand and holding up a hand. “I meant no offense by what I just said. I still believe Equestria is just as wondrous a land as I described the other day. It is because of this reason that I say that it’s too bad i’m stuck here. Generally when a protector is sent to a new planet it means harsh times are soon to befall said planet. It’s because I cherish this land and it’s people that I’m sorry I have been sent here.”

Rarity looked down sadly. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions Cicero. All this new information at once has thrown me out of my element. As flustered as I am I completely forgot how much of a gentle coat you’ve been so far. I should have known you wouldn’t insult us like that.”

“It’s alright Rarity. To be fair you’re quite within your right to assume the worst of me right now. I have hidden quite a few things about myself since I’ve been here. No matter what reason I had for doing so the fact still remains.”

Rarity smiled back at me. “Perhaps you haven’t been entirely honest with us since you’ve arrived here but your words just now show you’re still the upstanding gentle coat I took you for originally.”

I nodded. “Thank you for your continued trust Rarity.” Looking back to the whole group I said, “Now you know who I am and why I believe I’m here. I have a request of you again Celestia. Would you hear me out?”

“Go ahead Cicero.” She said now recovered and back to her original regal posture.

“Would you be so kind as to cast that lifestream detecting spell again? Now that you know I have two streams I was hoping you could take a closer look at them. If what my people say is correct you should be able to detect that one is fading while the other is getting much stronger.”

Celestia said nothing as she walked over to me, closed her eyes, and calmly placed her horn to my forehead again. I felt the same sensation of magic spreading through my body again. This time I felt Celestia retract the magic much more slowly out of my body and back into her horn.

A few moments after the magic had left my body she spoke. “It’s as you said Cicero. I can feel one lifestream in your body becoming stronger while the is fading and becoming harder to detect. It’s almost as if one of them is absorbing the other into itself.”

“That’s actually not to far off of what I’ve been taught would happen. According to the knowledge passed down to me from my mother the weak lifestream is my original universe’s lifestream while the stronger one is this universe’s. Eventually my original lifestream will completely fade and I will only have this universe’s.”

“Amazing,” Twilight whispered. “If what princess Celestia and my studies have told me is true then jumping between lifestreams should be impossible. Even with the combined powers of the princesses something like that should be fundamentally impossible.”

I smiled at her observation. “This is why mother always told me trying to understand the ancient ones was useless. If we can’t even understand how they do the impossible then how can we hope to grasp their reasoning. I learned a long time ago to simply accept some things and go along with the flow of life.” I could see Twilight frowning at my words.

“I understand this is a hard concept for a scholar such as yourself to accept Twilight. I won’t advise you to not to study the ancient ones reasoning or how their powers work. I simply request that you don’t loose yourself to this quest should you choose to pursue it. Mother mentioned that some of my people have spent their entire lives trying understand these things and have yet to find answers. Of course I’ll help you in any way I can, if you wish. I once desperately wished to understand my people's fate and pursued this knowledge as well.”

Twilight seemed to take my words into consideration and gave me a smile to show she understood. “Now back to you princesses.” Both Celestia and Luna looked at me. “Based on what I’ve gathered I know that jumping lifestreams is impossible for living creatures even with your combined powers, correct?” They both nodded at me. “What about non living things? Do you think you might have enough power to send object's back and forth between universes. My mother mentioned that a lot of the technology the protector homeworld has was given to us by other civilizations protectors have been sent to safeguard.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other and then walked a few feet away from us. They seemed to be whispering quite intensly to each other. After a good minute of them whispering back and forth they eventually nodded together at something and came back over to me. “Sister and I have discussed what you asked and have come to the conclusion that sending objects between universe’s should be possible.” Said Luna. “It will most likely require a very large amount of our power and concentration but it can be done.”

“Excellent! Alright then I was ho-” “BUT!” Luna interrupted me. “While we can easily see that you are trusted by the elements of harmony we have no way to verify anything you’ve said thus far. After seeing you battle the manticores yesterday the only thing we do know is that you have an immense amount of power. We wish to know the extend of your powers before we start trusting you around our subjects. Let alone start helping you.”

“Damn. I was really hoping you wouldn’t ask something like that. Unfortunately this is one of those questions I am unable to answer fully, based on my belief that it might impede my duty here on Equestria.” Luna seemed angry that I wouldn’t answer her question while Celestia only appeared pensive.

“One thing I can tell you that might ease your worries is that I do not possess any magical abilities at all. All skills that I possess are physical in nature. I’m afraid that’s all I’m willing to tell you after what you’ve already seen me do in the forest the other day.” Luna looked like she about to give me a scathing tongue lashing once I’d finished talking. Fortunately I was saved from it when Celestia flung out her right wing and blocked her sister from me.

“Very calmly she said, “Cicero why do you believe telling us about your powers would negatively affect your mission here? If i’ve understood you correctly so far then you’re here to protect the ponies of Equestria from some type of harm. As the rulers of Equestria wouldn’t it make sense to trust and work with Luna and myself?”

I could see Celestia was metaphorically extending an olive branch to me in the hopes that we could work together. From the way the girls had talked about the princesses all week I knew that they really trusted them and though they were both great ponies. I knew it would be easier to completely trust them and tell them all about myself but my training prevented me from doing so. Other protectors had learned the hard way that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I guess I could at least try to meet Celestia half way.

“Celestia I want to trust you and open up but unfortunately my training prevents me from doing so. Since you’ve extended an olive branch to me I’ll do the same. One other ability that protectors have is the power to transfer visions between each other. This is actually one of my people's greatest strengths. Whenever a protector dies the last things they saw before expiring are somehow transferred to a giant repository of memories on our home planet. How this is happens is but another one of the mysteries that the ancient ones have left us with.”

“Even though we don’t understand how it happens we have found a way to utilize these memories. Every person on my home planet is given these memories in an effort to train them in case they are transported to a planet that needs their help. Since my species doesn’t have magic and yet still has to deal with others that do we use this accrued knowledge to discover new ways to combat magic users and other threats we might encounter.”

“To get back to the original point I will say that one of the visions my mother passed down to me prevents me from trusting those in power, such as you and your sister. Many of my people have found that those in power on their assigned planet are the threat they had been sent to stop.” I looked down sadly. “So many of my people have met gruesome ends when they forgot this simple lesson.”

“So you’re saying that protectors have the ability to pass these visions amongst one another, correct?” queried Celestia.

“Correct.” I said.

“Then do you think it’s possible to pass these visions to someone else that isn’t a protector? If you could simply pass the vision you mentioned before to Luna and myself then we would at least be able to verify your claims of being a protector as you say you are.”

I had to admit, it was a very good idea. Passing visions to someone who isn’t a protector shouldn’t be a problem and it would give my claims a pretty solid backing. Still…… I was hesitant to make anyone live through the visions. As I’d had thousands of visions given to me by my mother I was used to their effects at this point. But I still remembered how truly unsettling the visions had been when I’d just started. The first one had by far been the absolute worst.

“Celestia while it is possible to pass you two that vision I must state that I am completely against the idea. I feel as though I didn’t explain these visions well enough when I mentioned them before. I don’t just see what happens to the other protectors, I live their last moments in the vision. That means I have to experience every single horrible fate that has befallen every protector in every vision I was given.”

“Th-that’s awful.” said a very distraught sounding Fluttershy. I looked over to see her sniffling as she let a few tears fall down from her eyes. My heart broke when I saw her and realized this was exactly what I had been afraid would happen if the girls stayed. Walking quickly over to her I bent down and pulled her into another hug. I could hear her sniffling into my shoulder.

“Fluttershy I’m so sorry you had to hear that. This is why I was afraid to let you girls stay. I didn’t want any of you to deal with the realities of being a protector.” I took a deep breath and stroked Fluttershy’s back. “While the first vision was indeed terrible, over time I eventually learned to ignore the protectors end and simply take in the lesson the vision had been trying to teach me. While it’s not an experience I particularly enjoy I recognize that every lesson I learn this way will be permanently ingrained in my head. This is the price my people pay for the knowledge of past protectors.”

“Why would anyone choose to pay that price over and over?” Asked Luna. “I could understand passing a few critical lessons down this way but to do it thousands of times just seems cruel.”

I let out a dark chuckle. “The only thing more horrible than the visions are some of the fates that befell the protectors in them. Even as wise as you and your sister are I doubt either of you have any idea how powerful and cruel some of the others species that exist are. Protector bodies may strong, agile, and adaptable, but sometimes this isn’t nearly enough. If a protector fails in their duty then hundreds, thousands, or possible even millions might die.”

“As protectors my species is not allowed to fail, no matter what we end up facing. Our combined knowledge is the answer to this dilemma. Armed with the lessons that others have died to teach us we fight every enemy we come across as one people. So if the discomfort of the visions can possibly train me enough to complete my duty, then so be it.”

“But what about the effects of these visions of current protectors?” Asked Celestia. “Aren’t you concerned that your people will become desensitized or callous to the idea of killing and death? Aren’t your people afraid of becoming what they hope to protect against?”

Once more I let out a dark chuckle. Celestia seemed mildly concerned at this reaction to her fears. “I’m sorry for laughing Celestia it’s just that i’ve only ever seen that happen once or twice in the thousands of visions I’ve been given. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve experienced one of the visions before but after seeing all of the horrible things the universe’s have to offer I find it hard to believe that any protector would ever want to contribute to it.” I continued to rub fluttershy’s back in silence for a few moments. Eventually I decided to speak once more.

“Usually only two things happen after a protector has been given the visions. One: They become a fully fledged protector with generations of knowledge and drive to protect the innocents of the universe. Two: They break. A lot of potential protectors that were given the visions at some point could no longer handle all of pain and death they experienced. Most usually stop when they realize they can’t handle anymore and never complete their training. However an unfortunate few choose to try pushing through the pain and end up breaking their minds. Mother says this is why our home planet still has any people on it. The ancient ones are wise enough to recognize which of us are fit enough to become protectors on other planets while they leave our incomplete and broken people alone.”

It was dead silent after I finished speaking. The only sound in the room came from the quiet noises my hand made as I rubbed fluttershy’s back. Finally a minute later I looked back at Celestia and Luna and spoke. “After all I’ve told you two are sure you still want this vision?” Celestia and Luna turned to each other and looked like they were having a silence conversation between them. Eventually they both nodded once more and Celestia spoke up.

“While we both appreciate the warning you have given us we still find it in our best interest to experience the vision. After all you’ve told us, now more than ever, we need to verify who you say you are.” Celestia gave a weak smile. “Besides, Luna and I have lived for thousands of years. Surely our extensive experience will help us bear this vision better than most.”

I shook my head sadly at her words. It appears the princesses wouldn’t understand or trust me unless I gave them the vision they’d asked for.

“Very well. I want it to be known that I am still completely against this idea. However as you are the leaders of this land I will bend to your request.” I pulled Fluttershy off of my chest and looked into her eyes. “Again Fluttershy I’m so sorry that you had to be here for this. I wanted to protect your gentle soul from the harsh realities that exist.”

“I-it’s ok Cicero. If anything I’m really sorry you had to go through that.” She sadly said.

I smiled at her to show I was ok. “I appreciate your concern Fluttershy but I’ve already made my peace with the visions. I recognize them as a necessary evil in the training to become a protector. Now I need my arms to give Celestia and Luna the visions. Do you think you’ll be ok if I let you down?”

Fluttershy smiled back at me. “I’ll be ok Cicero. Thanks for being so kind to me all the time.”

I set Fluttershy down and said, “It’s no problem Fluttershy. I’m always here when a friend needs a hug. Now go on.” Fluttershy walked back to other girls and I saw them all surround and nuzzle her, so that she felt safe. These girls really are something else. I swear I’ll do everything in my power to keep them safe.” Looking away I let a grim expression take over my face. Looking back to Celestia and Luna I said, “Let’s get this over with then.”

Reaching out both my hands I asked, “Are you both ready for this?”

With determined looks on both princesses faces Celestia answered for the two by saying, “Ready when you are Cicero.”

I placed a hand on the side of each of their heads. “One last thing before we begin. Try and remember that no matter what, this is simply a vision. While you will still feel and experience what the protector did you must remember that it will end and you will arise from the nightmare.” I smiled at them both to try and keep them calm. “And remember last that I will be with you through this experience. Now let us begin.”

Unfocusing my eyes I looked inwards and recalled the vision of the protector who had been betrayed by her planet's leaders. Using my core I pulled forth a stream of energy. Shifting the flow of the stream I let it pass from my core into my brain and then towards both my hands. As soon as I felt the energy pass through my fingers into the princess's heads the vision began.
I walked through the rock halls of the Roakian empire. I shivered as I felt the cold bite into my exposed arms. The fact that the Roakian’s built their houses high above ground did not help the temperature problem. While the Roakian’s might have been made of rock my body was still shifting to match this planet's peoples biology. Even though I’d been on this planet for nearly 200 years the only changes I’d noticed in my body were that I now walked on two legs and I was able to harden my skin to a much firmer degree than other protectors could.
I figured it had something to do with my skin slowly shifting to become more rocklike in nature. Not that I was complaining. My tougher skin had saved my hide quite a few times already. As creatures made of rocks the Roakian’s could pack quite a bit of force into their punches and kicks. Thankfully even though they were extremely powerful fighters they lacked the speed of enemies I had seen in other protectors visions.
Pulling my meager clothing closer to myself I pushed onwards towards the Roakian throne room. I was quite excited to see king Clemath again. No matter what enemies I had been forced to face since coming to this planet I could always count on the king backing any of my endeavors. Over time our continued interaction had led to a steadfast friendship between us. As Roakian’s lived for quite a long time I hoped we would remain friends for a long time to come.
Clemath was almost always worried about me no matter what I was doing. Even if I was only going out to patrol a new location he would constantly fret over my wellbeing when I got back. It was nice to have such a caring friend on this unknown planet. Recently Clemath had requested that I let his royal physicians study my biological make up. He was absolutely fascinated by how quickly protectors bodies could adapt to new environments. Deep down I was pretty sure he only requested his physicians give me a check up so that he could make sure I was ok.
I smiled when I remembered how fussy he had been when I’d come back from my most recent mission. Celmath had circled around me and made sure I wasn’t injured for damn near an hour when I’d gotten back. He only stopped doing so and let me go when I’d agreed to go and see his physicians the next day. So here I was walking down the freezing Roakian halls trying to find the damn physicians wing. Roakian’s believed that the bigger the building was the more power it showed the family had. As this was the royal castle naturally it was the biggest of them all.
Luckily the next corner I turned around showed me exactly what I had been looking for. The royal physician's lab. Pleased that my search was now over I happily bounded over to the door. I knocked twice and waited. I didn’t have to wait long before the door opened and I saw a Roakian in a white coat standing before me. He was around 8 feet tall and his rock body was a dark brown color.
“Ahhhh miss Alexei, it is good to see you again in one piece. I had hoped our king would eventually convince you to come see us one day. As you are no doubt aware we are extremely interested to figure out how you body has managed to biologically shift so rapidly since you came here. Although his majesty made sure to strongly suggest that we give you regular health check while you are here.” I saw his rocky face attempt to shift into a cheeky grin as he said, “If I didn’t know better I’d say he sent you here more for a thorough physical rather than a biological fact finding session.”
I smiled back at the rock scientist and said, “Yep that king Clemath of yours is a big softy. Even if his skin is made of rocks I know that his heart is made of the softest mud.”
“Indeed.” He smiled back. “Now if you would be so kind, please follow me.” The rock man walked off and I quickly followed behind. We walked a few feet towards a lone table sitting in the middle of the room.
The next couple of hours were filled with a slew of very boring physical checkups. The scientist drew blood, took skin samples, tested my reflexes, and did all sorts of other tests. After the second hour I was beginning to remember why I had always told the scientists no when they asked to study my biological makeup. If their was one thing I hated it was sitting around and waiting. These tests were pushing my patience to the limit.
After the start of the third hour I’d decided I’d had enough. The scientist had a very strange multicolored rock balancing on my head while he requested that I take deep breathes. Right as I was about to tell him off I heard the door open and another rock figure walked into the room. The scientist looked over to the figure and I saw his eyes bug out.
‘Y-your majesty! I had not expected you to come down for these tests! I’m so sorry I wasn’t prepared to receive you!”
“Hahhahaha! Have no fear my good scientist! I simply came by to see how my favorite anomaly was doing.” He said winking at me.
I laughed as the scientist stuttered out, “O-O-Of course! I’m so sorry. You probably need some time alone to talk about important business with miss Alexei. As we’ve been going for quite some time now I’ll just take a break. Please let me know when I may continue my research.” The scientist scampered quickly towards the door and hastily bowed as it shut close with him on the other side.
“A bit of a jumpy fellow that one, isn’t he?” Said the king, oblivious as over to his status.
“*Snort* Clemath I don’t know how many times I have to tell you but in case you haven’t noticed, you’re king around these parts. Most people are slightly jumpy around royalty. They figure if they do the wrong thing then *eck*” I said making a cutting gesture across my neck with a finger.
Clemath looked shocked at this news. “What! I would never! My goodness too think that my subjects all fear I would do such a barbarous thing to them!” Clemath then put his hand to his face and rubbed his chin. “Then again…. I really don’t like that new cook down in the kitchens. Perhaps I should exercise a bit of my royal prerogative and take care of the problem hmm?”
“HAHAH! How the hell did some crazy rock like you become king!” I said. Chuckling for a little bit longer I finally managed to say, “I really missed you Clamath. With all that’s wrong on this planet it’s nice to know you always have my back.”
Clamath smiled at me. “I feel as though I should be saying that miss Alexei. I honestly don’t know if this world could have kept these crazy insurgents at bay without you.” Clamath looked down sadly. “Our planet has been united and peaceful under one rule for so long. I’m completely ashamed that such a band of troublemaking Roakians have emerged under my rule. *sigh* Perhaps I am truly not fit to rule. I have alway done what I believed was right for this world but maybe that’s just not enough.”
I hopped off the table and walked over to Clemath to give him a hug. Considering that the king stood at 10 feet tall and was the size of a large boulder I could barely fit my arms around his front.

“Don’t say that Clemath. You’re the nicest person I’ve met in my entire life. If anyone has a heart of gold and is fit to rule, it’s you. Sometimes the worst things happen to the best people.” He looked down at me as I smiled. “Just keep that big chin up, stay the same old you, and continue leading as you always have. We’ll win this fight eventually.”
The king let out a deep rumbling laugh. “I can always count on you to make me feel better Alexei.” He raised his head. “Yes I will keep leading. A king must always remain strong. My people must see my unbreakable spirit and the insurgents must feel my indomitable will! Eventually we will win!”
I let the king go and punched his leg. “That’s the spirit big guy!” Now let’s call that scientist back so I can finish these damn tests and be on my way.” I turned around to walk back to the table in the middle of the room. Something sharp quickly poked into my spine and I felt a cool liquid enter my body. My training took over as I rapidly spread energy throughout my body and hardened my skin to almost rocklike strength. Jumping away from whatever jabbed me I rolled and looked back to the see the king holding an empty syringe.
“C-Clamath? What was that? What did you just do?” I said confused and a little scared.
Clamath had an insane smile on his face as he said, “I just won.”

“W-What? I don’t understand.”
“No I wouldn’t expect you to Alexei. But please allow me to explain for the few moments you have left. I suppose you at least deserve that. You see I’m the one who created the insurgent band of Roakians you’ve been dealing with for the past century.” I felt terror grip the edges of my mind. “Yes I’ve been trying to dispose of you for a terribly long time. Unfortunately every single person I sent to kill or assassinate you was outmaneuvered by you.”
A felt myself beginning to sweat at his words. “Yes I’ve been trying to get rid of you for a long time. While my people may be strong we are not but children when it comes to facing your agility and combat abilities. I figured it I couldn’t take you out in a direct fight then subterfuge was my only other option.”
“AHHHHHH!” I cried out as I grabbed my burning stomach. Something was tearing at me from the inside.
“Ahhhhhhhh, victory has never sounded so sweet before. What you’re feeling right now is the feverous continual work of my top scientists. This is a serum of living acid that was developed just to take care of you.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed as I felt my organs beginning to melt. Seemingly ignoring my cries Clamath began to circle me as he continued talking.
“Yes we noticed that your bodies external hardiness was definitely a problem. No matter what plan I conceived and carried out you always seemed to pull through it.” I coughed up a load of blood and fell down onto the table. “I was extremely disappointed with my minions results as well. Eventually I decided that If I couldn’t break through your outer defenses I would skip them and take you down from the inside.” I tried to raise my fist but sadly felt it fall of the table as the pain of the living acid continued to eat my organs.
“After deciding to take a more scientific approach to this battle I consulted my top scientists and asked them if they develop a weapon that would take apart an enemy from the inside.” I violently threw up and felt some of my melted organs flow out of my mouth onto the floor. “I know right! I was so excited when my top scientists told me they had an idea that I could barely contain myself. Anyways you’re experiencing the first field test of the new weapon that they’ve been developing for me.”
“W-why?” I quietly croaked out.
“Why?” repeated Clamath. He kicked me off the table and I hit the ground with a wet thud. Weakly looking over I could see the acid had reached my arms as one of them was no longer attached to my body and was slowly dissolving in front of me. Using the last of my strength I looked up to see Clamath standing above me. “My dear Alexei the answer is so simple.” He leaned in close to whisper in my ear. “Simply because I can.” He raised his foot and the last thing I saw was it rapidly coming down towards my face.

Shaking my head I felt a shiver crawl over my body. I absolutely hated the death in that vision. There’s really no way to describe the feeling of having your organs melted by acid. Protector Alexei’s lesson was definitely one of the easier to recall after a vision like that. I shook my arms as if I was trying to thrown off any acid that might have remained on my body after the vision. Taking a deep breath I looked up and attuned my sense back to the present.

“Celestia? Celestia!” Called a panicked Twilight. “What’s wrong with her? Why won’t she answer?” I looked over to see a shaking Celestia with her eyes closed. To her left I saw Luna in the exact same state with Fluttershy gently calling her name from her side. The rest of the girls seemed to be panicking and running around as if it were the end of the world. I was surprised Celestia and Luna were taking the vision so well.

The first time I was given a vision I had awoken screaming and clawing at my body. Although that might had something to do with my flesh being torn from me in that vision. Shrugging my shoulders I rolled my head and prepared to deal with the after effects of the vision. Only one thing my mother had done had helped me deal with the pain after my first vision and I planned on doing the same for Celestia and Luna.

Drawing in a deep breath I bellowed, “SILENCE!” Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing and looked to me in surprise. “I’m sorry for yelling everyone but your panicking is not helping the situation. As I’m the only one who’s had experience with this please allow me to take control of the situation.” Turning towards Celestia and Luna I again yelled, “Celestia and Luna open your eyes!”

Still shaking I saw both of them obey my command. It was easy to identify the emotion I saw radiating from their eyes. It was the exact same emotion that had plagued my mind after my first vision. Fear.

“I see within you the exact fear that gripped me not but a few years ago when I received my first vision. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can prepare you for how it feels to die. It doesn’t matter how wise or old you are. I understand your pain right now. The feeling of being killed is naught but a trivial experience in comparison to this. Completely ceasing to exist and having all senses suddenly end is a horribly jarring feeling.” I finished sadly.

Looking back up I talked a little louder now. “But the vision is over. You have survived and are now wiser and stronger than you were before. You have faced down death and come out victorious. Do not dwell on the feelings of the vision but simply remember the lesson the protector died to teach you.” Lowering my voice I said, “And know that I am here for you. This is a burden we few must bear for the greater good.” Extending my arms I finished with, “Now embrace me. Let us endure and bear this pain together.”

Celestia and Luna slowly walked over to me as I curled my hands around their necks. We all sank to the floor and leaned into one another. What I had just finished saying were the same words my mother had told me after my first vision. While they didn’t perfectly apply to the situation at hand I felt they had been close enough to do their job. Through my arms I could Feel Luna and Celestia breathing deeply.

We were now the only three people on this planet that could say we had died and come back to life. This experience was why I was so sure that other protectors wouldn’t become desensitized to violence and start killing others. Once you’d experienced death it was something you would never wish on your greatest enemies. The complete crushing nothingness and lack of everything for the few second after you died in the vision were so completely wrong. In the very back of your mind you knew that you were still alive but your body was still experiencing the complete sensory depravation of the deceased protector.

Silence reigned as I continued to hold Celestia and Luna tightly against my side, as my mother had done for me. I would hold them all night if they needed it. The simple feeling of another against your skin was almost a sensory overload after experiencing the nothingness of death. A few minutes later I felt Celestia stir against me and begin to rise. Sensing her sister beginning to stand Luna did so as well. I released their necks and helped them up. Celestia was the first one to speak.

“I truly did not understand what I would experience when we went into that vision. Thank you for helping to guide us through the process Cicero. I think I speak for my sister and I when I say we now believe you are a protector as you have claimed.” She lowered her head. “I also believe I understand why you wish to hide the extend of your abilities from us now.” I saw a tear fall from her face. “The complete betrayal Alexei felt at the hands of Clamath is beyond words. I am deeply saddened to know beings of such evil exist in any universe.”

I sighed. “It’s unfortunate that you had to experience that vision but it’s the one you requested and the one that would prove my point the best.” I bowed. “Even so. I am deeply sorry that you now have to bear these experiences as I do.”

“Raise your head Cicero.” Said Luna. “My sister and I are adults. We made a completely informed decision and none of the after effects are your fault. No matter what we thank you for sharing this experience with us. If nothing else you have broadened our horizons to different species that exist.”

“So now that you believe me, is their a chance that I might be able to procure your help transferring objects between universes?” Celestia looked to Luna who smiled and nodded.

“Luna and I would be happy to help you in your endeavors. Any species who is willing to put themselves through those experiences to help another race they don’t even know has our support. Although we would like to discuss what threats to our little ponies you think exist in our lands.”

“A topic I myself am very much interested in discussing with you as well.” Looking over to their forms I could still see a very slight shake coursing through them. “But perhaps we should wait until tomorrow before we discuss such topics. Even as wise and powerful as you two are, I believe anyone would require some rest after that harrowing experience.”

“I do not want to admit it but I believe you are correct.” Celestia sighed. “Perhaps tomorrow we could reconvene in the castle to continue our discussion? Luna and I really can’t be away from the throne for much longer without causing our advisors to panic.”

“I’m alright with that. Though I don’t know the way to your castle.”

Celestia turned to Twilight. “Do you think you could lead Cicero to the castle tomorrow Twilight? Naturally I will pay for you and the elements of harmonies tickets.” she said smiling at the group.

“Of course princess Celestia!” Twilight trotted over and nuzzled Celestia’s face. “I’m so happy your ok. I was really worried for a moment there.” I saw a look of guilt pass over and leave Celestia’s face before anyone else could see it. Celestia returned Twilight's nuzzles before she spoke again.

“I’m sorry to have worried you Twilight. Cicero’s vision was…. much more vivid than I expected. I’m sorry we didn’t have time to talk today. Tomorrow I’ll be sure to clear some time for us to discuss your recent studies.” She said with a kind smile.

Twilight beamed at Celestia. “I can’t wait till tomorrow then.” Celestia chuckled at her enthusiasm.

“Before we go,” said Luna, “let me say sorry Cicero. I was very suspicious of you after the power you used against the manticores the other day. Any actions I take only spawn from-”

“Your desire to save and protect the ponies of Equestria.” I finished smiling. Luna looked shocked that I had finished her sentence. I let out a small chuckle. “Trust me princess if anyone understands, it’s me. While some of my visions, such as the one you’ve experienced, show horrible leaders, not all do. While I can’t say for sure I trust you and your sister, I can at least say that the love I have seen you show for your subjects is touching. If nothing else, you seem to love these ponies. I hope that over time this proves to be a true sentiment.”

Both Celestia and Luna gave me a nod at this. “I’m sure over time you’ll see that the love we have for our little ponies is true.” Said Celestia. Until tomorrow then.” At these last words both Celestia and Luna disappeared. I’m assuming beings with their level of power had the ability to teleport to wherever they wanted in Equestria. Any being that has the ability to move the Sun or the Moon probably has enough power to teleport anywhere on their planet.

“Alright then.” Said Applejack. “Am I the only one that was slightly lost during that conversation.”

I let out a loud belly laugh. “*heh* I’m sorry for laughing Applejack but your levity was exactly what I needed after a serious conversation like that.” I snicked a few more times before I turned to look at all the girls. “I’m sorry for mostly ignoring you girls during that conversation. Celestia and Luna were concerned that I was a threat to you girls.”

“After my fight with the manticores yesterday I can definitely say I understand their concerns. I wanted to ease those concerns before any of us did anything irrational. Now that it’s just us, you girls are welcome to ask me anything you want.” I finished with a smile.

“Tell us about the manticore fight!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“*snort* Why am I not surprised that’s the first question out of you. *sigh* Well if you really want to know I suppose I can tell you about it another day. Considering present company,” I said surreptitiously nodding my head towards Fluttershy, “I’d rather wait until it’s just you and me.”

“Oh alright.” Rainbow Dash said a little grumpily.

“Why do you talk to and about princess Celestia and Luna without their title. It’s bad manners Cicero.” Said Rarity.

Had I been doing that? I thought back on my conversation with Celestia and Luna. After a few moments I realized that as soon as it was revealed I was now this planet's protector I had stopped using their title. I nodded my head once I realized this. I suppose I had taken in more of mothers training than I thought.

“I don’t do it out of disrespect Rarity, I do it out of protector training that my mother taught me. I actually hadn’t realized it until you pointed it out to me. Mother always told me to show respect to the authority figures on other planets but to not brainwash yourself into thinking you were anything but equals. While I do deeply respect the wisdom Celestia and Luna have shown, my training stops me from referring to them as anything but the two beings that they are.”

“Referring to leaders continually by their societally given status, such as princess, is a very easy way to brainwash myself into thinking I’m less than them. Perhaps in pony society I am less than them. But as a protector I must think of myself as nothing more or less than I am. My job is to protect and I cannot let anything such as societal norms sway or distract me from my job.”

I stopped for a moment. “Now that we’re talking about the princesses what exactly are they?” Turning to Twilight I said, “I know you mentioned they were called Alicorns and that they lived for a very long time but I thought only unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies existed.”

Twilight smiled, apparently happy to fill me in. “Normally only the three types of ponies you mentioned exist. Each of the three types are imbued with their corresponding power of magic, flight, or strength. The one exception to this norm are alicorns. Alicorns are imbued with powers of all three races, very long lives, and massive amounts of magical power. The only three known alicorns in existence at this time are princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.”

“Cadence! There’s another one!?” I said surprised.

“Yes. Princess Cadence is the ruler of the crystal empire which is north of Canterlot.”

These alicorns seem like a rather large threat. Especially now that I know there are three of them. I need to make sure I stay on their good side. Three beings with that much power could seriously impair my abilities to protect this planet if they decided I was a threat and turned on me. Hopefully that would never happen but it’s better to be prepared rather than not.

“Well, ignoring the topic of alicorns for now, does anyone have any more questions that they wish to ask me?”

“Any more questions!?” Yelled an incredulous Twilight. “Now that I know you hail from two alien races I have an unending list of questions for you.”

I looked at Twilight and gave a shooing motion with my right hand. “Of course you have more questions Twilight. You always do. I meant does anyone else have any more pressing questions for me before we retire for the night?” Twilight put on a cute pouty face but stayed silent.

“Ooh ooh! I have a question! Pick me!” Said a very excited Pinkie Pie. She was flailing her hand in the air almost as if she expected me to call on her like we were in school.

Naturally I couldn’t help but smile at her perkiness as I called out, “Yes Pinkie Pie,” while pointing at her.

“Can I throw you another party!? Now I can throw you a welcome to Equestria Cicero the protector party!”

“HAHAHAHA! I’d love that Pinkie Pie! I’m always ok with any reason I can find to hang out with you wonderful girls.”

All the girls smiled as Pinkie Pie yelled, “Yipee! I can’t wait to get started planning it!”

“Hold on there Pinkie Pie. While I’m excited to get the party started I’m afraid it’ll at least have to wait until after tomorrow. We have to travel to Canterlot tomorrow after all.”

“Ahhhh…” I saw Pinkie Pie’s hair deflate slightly. Right before I could ask her if she was alright it reinflated to it’s original size as she said, “That just means I have even longer to plan an even more awesome party!” I shook my head. Nothing fazes this girl. Looking out one of the nearby windows I realized it was already approaching dusk based on the fading light. *GRUMBLE* Ahh yes, I’d forgotten about that.

“Alright then girls. If there are no more pressing questions before tomorrow i’d really like to get something to eat before I turn in tonight. I didn’t realize it until now but this conversation has lasted quite a few hours.” I could see the girls heads turn towards the window in shock. Apparently they had also lost track of the time during todays conversation.

“I’m going to have to agree with Cicero girls.” Twilight said. “It’s getting late and we’ll have to meet tomorrow morning to travel to Canterlot. I suggest we all go home and retire for the night.” Everyone agreed and said their individual goodbyes before heading out of Twilight’s front door. Right before Applejack left Twilight spoke out again. “Hold on Applejack.” Applejack turned around to face Twilight. “Since it’s so late I’m sure Spike is already asleep at your place. Do you think you could let him stay over tonight and tomorrow while we’re in Canterlot?”

“Ah course Twi! Big Mac may not show it but I know he likes watching Spike. Letting him stay tomorrow will be no problem.”

“Thank you Applejack. I’ll see you tomorrow morning then.” Applejack nodded and walked out the front door. Finally it was down to just me and Twilight in the library.

“Well I don’t know about you Twilight but I’m absolutely starving. Since I’m staying with you I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Twilight raised her eyebrows and scooted closer to me. “Whenever protectors use their powers, like I did earlier while racing Rainbow Dash, we have a very strong drive to replace our energy supplies soon as possible.”

“How do you replenish your energy?” Twilight said intrigued.

*GRUMBLE* my stomach called. “By eating food just like you silly!” I said laughing. “Although I’ll admit I usually become absolutely insatiable after heavily using my powers. That’s another reason I gave you so much money the other day. I wanted to cover my stay here as well as the costs of the food I would consume. Now if you’re not opposed I think I’ll cook an easy meal my mother taught me back on Earth. It’s tasty and loaded with calories.”

Twilight smiled. “I’d be happy to try any food you make Cicero.”

“Excellent! Then follow me into the kitchen please.”

Walking to the kitchen Twilight sat down at the table while I began gathering ingredients for dinner. I didn’t know the exact locations of ingredients so I ended up having to search pretty much every nook and cranny of the kitchen for the ingredients I wanted. I was going to make a vegetable potato bake with cheese. Nothing fancy but full of enough calories and nutrients to replenish my energy. I started preparing the recipe by washing off the potatoes and cutting them into small cubes.

After i’d cut up my third potatoe I heard Twilight hesitantly say, “Cicero?”

Continuing to cut potatoes I answered with, “Yes Twilight?”

“Does…. Does it bother you that you’re stuck here protecting this planet? You don’t really know much about Equis or it’s inhabitants but from what I understand about protectors you’re expected to dedicate your life to protecting it. E-even *gulp* die if you need to. Why are you so calm about all of this?”

“Hmmmm. Well I won’t lie to you Twilight, when I was a child I was absolutely furious that fate had given such a destiny to me. I was only a child when my mother told me that my life was only to be used for the greater good of others. As I grew older I resented and hated the ancient ones for bestowing such a burden upon my people. How dare they decide the path of every single one of my people. How dare they act like all powerful benevolent gods for every other species when they send my people off to die!”

*SLAM* My fist hit the cutting board and I saw that I’d squished a potato in anger. Sighing I cut up the mush and dumped it into the bowl with the rest of the potatoes. Reigning in my anger I continued my work. “My apologies for that Twilight. As you can see, even now I have trouble accepting this idea sometimes.” Twilight said nothing as I began slicing vegetables in silence. After a minute of work I started talking again.

“I don’t I could have ever accepted such an unfair fate if it hadn’t been for the visions. Once you’ve lived that many lives. Once you’ve died that many times. Once you’ve seen all the horrible things the universe has to offer…. I don’t any of my people could see that and chose not to help in any way possible.” I stopped chopping vegetables and turned back towards Twilight.

“Honestly even after I’d had the visions I still had a hard time forcing myself to train. I just didn’t see the point. My fate was already decided and I assumed that I would just perform my basic duties and nothing else. I was completely disillusioned with the idea of being a protector.” I hesitated for a moment. “But then…. Then I met you and your friends. Since I’ve been here I realize that you girls live up to every virtue that I cherish and had hoped to keep safe as a protector.”

“Kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty, laughter,” looking Twilight right in the eyes I finished with, “and the magic friendships that they help create.” Thinking about what I had just said I couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess you were right all along Twilight. When you said you were studying the magic of friendship I laughed it off as madness. Perhaps there truly is something magical created by friendships. If that’s what I’ve been sent here to protect, then I think I could live with that.”

Smiling I turned back to my previous work and continued to chop vegetables. I heard the quiet clopping of hooves followed by the soft feeling of Twilight hugging me from behind. I could tell she was standing on her back hooves so that should could reach around my waist.

“I can’t say that I understand your people or the burden you bear. I’m not sure what it is that you’ve seen in your people's visions. I don’t know what it is you’ll have to do to complete your task in the future. All I know is that you said you would protect my friends. As long as that stays true I promise that I’ll always stand by your side and help. You may not have been here long Cicero but you have friends. As an Equestrian of Equis and your friend I will help you bear your burdens.”

I felt a solitary tear slide down my cheek. Nothing need be said as I turned around and returned the hug. I lost track of time as I let the safe feeling of Twilight’s hug envelop my senses. After what seemed to be 5 minutes I finally let go of Twilight. “Thank you.” I said quietly. Smiling and giving me a quick nuzzle she walked back to her seat at the table. Levitating a book from the library into the kitchen she laid down and began to read.

Feeling rather content I turned back towards the vegetables and continued to prepare tonight's dinner. With the silence between us I finishing preparing the ingredients and quickly baked dinner in the oven. Twilight and I ate our meals without speaking, minus the one time she opened her mouth to declare that the food was delicious. After dinner was finished Twilight and I both gave each other another quick hug and retreated to our individual rooms.

Entering my room I gently laid myself down on my bed and stared out the ceiling’s skylight at the night sky. I felt so weightless and relaxed. I hadn’t felt this wonderful in such a long time. The last time had been after my mother had told me that I was a protector. She told me about my new duties and our people's fates. I had felt so terrified and alone. Thankfully mother knew just what to say to calm me.

Have no fear Cicero. We fight as one. No matter what happens you will always find allies in those who fight for good like we do.
I had always assumed she meant the other protectors. No matter what happened I knew my people would keep fighting to protect all that is good. But now I truly understood. While the protectors would always fight with me I now knew that I had others that would stand by my side. I would never be alone if I fought with my allies.” I smiled. “I would never be alone if I had my friends.”

Ch. 9 Why I’m Here Pt.1

Ahhhhhhh. What an excellent rest. I don’t think I’ve slept that well in years. Which is strange considering I don’t even fit on this bed. I suppose Twilight’s words last night helped calm my mind more than I realized. Even though I’m pleased with the outcome I am rather annoyed that her words were brought on by my outburst in the kitchen. I need to maintain better control of my emotions in the future. Protectors must always be in control of themselves.

I reached upwards and stretched out my body. Looking up past my hands I was informed that it was daybreak by the skylight. A small amount of sunlight was trickling into the room and warming my legs. As a lot happened yesterday I feel some meditation this morning might behoove me. I’ll need to have mental clarity during my continued conversation with Celestia and Luna today. Dropping my hands I curled my body into a meditative stance I began my morning introspection session.

I hadn’t planned on revealing as much as I did to the princesses yesterday. Of course I also hadn’t planned on one of them seeing me train. I’m a bit frustrated that after finding a training spot miles away from Ponyville she still found me. Seems like a strange coincidence. I’d like to ask her how she found me all the way out there the other day. Although I suppose It doesn’t really matter now. What’s done is done.

I’m deeply saddened that they chose to receive that vision yesterday. I didn’t want anyone from this world to have to see things like that. Though I am surprised they handled the vision so well. Considering that they’ve been rulers for thousands of years I’m sure they’ve seen their fair share of death. On that note even with as calm and peaceful as Equestria seems I wonder if they’ve ever had to lead it through a war. If I’m to protect these lands I’ll need to know the status of Equestria’s military. That is if they have one.

Perhaps I can convince them to talk about it with me today. If not then i’ll just have to find out what I can from Twilight’s library. No matter what they choose to tell me about their military I’m going to have to find out everything that’s recently happened in these lands. If I’ve been sent here I’ll need to rapidly seek out any oddities around Equestria as of late. Strange occurrences are usually a tell tale sign of what protectors are here to stop.

After that I’ll need to figure out if Celestia and Luna can actually send objects across universes as we discussed. If they can then that will greatly aid me in any fight I might have against potential threats to these lands. As long as I can get in contact with mother I know that she’ll do everything she can to help me with my duty.

Before I can do any of this I’ll need to get to Canterlot castle. The princesses mentioned that’s where I would find their court. I remember them telling Twilight to lead me and the elements of harmony to their castle. They also mentioned they’d pay for the tickets. But what were the tickets for? They hadn’t mentioned what mode of transportation we’d be taking to get to there. Hmmmmm. Well I suppose I’m not going to figure it out by sitting here on my bed. Time to get the girls and start our trip.

Opening my eyes I uncurled my body and stood up. Looking to my dresser I saw the pile of Rarity’s clothing and reached down to grab one. I figured I’d wear Fluttershy’s clothing today. I’m not sure how serious today's talks are going to be but if they’re anything like yesterday then there might be some unpleasant parts again. Maybe if I wore her set of clothing it would help keep her calm if any nasty topics should come up again. Familiar things, such as her cutie mark, should help her feel safe.

I quickly stripped yesterday's outfit and put on Fluttershy’s. Reaching down into my dresser drawer I also grabbed my powerless phone and slipped it into my right pocket. I would need it to contact mother if Celestia and Luna’s claims proved to be true. Of course even if they failed I was hoping that they might be able to set me up with a way to charge my phone again. Even though I wouldn’t have an internet connection my phone still had a lot of useful information in it that I was hoping to gain access too.

Mother always told me that smartphones were one of the humans greatest inventions. Smartphones were a perfect counterpart to the knowledge protectors had been given by our visions. While our visions granted us expansive knowledge of fighting and other valuable lessons it did not help us remember other intellectual things. How to craft weapons, create buildings, and recreate technology from blueprints were all things A protector might need to know. So mother created a technological repository of critical information that we should have at all times.

As protectors never knew when they might be whisked away she wisely told me to carry two things on me at all times. My smartphone and a small foldable solar energy panel. *sigh* Unfortunately I hadn’t listened to mother the night I’d been sent here to Equestria. I’d gone to a bar with my friends to get drunk and hadn’t wanted to carry the solar panel. A decision that I deeply regretted now. Raising my hands I slapped my cheeks and nodded. No use lamenting my lackadaisical ways now. I need to hope for the best and stay positive today.

Walking out of my room's door I made my way down the stairs to the second floor where Twilight and Spike slept. Reaching the bottom step I heard a, “Heeerrrrrr,” and looked over to see where it was coming from. Twilight had apparently just awaken from her sleep and was doing her morning stretch routine. As with everything else these ponies do, it was ridiculously adorable. Twilight was rolling around and stretching out her little legs on the bed.

I watched as she took time to bend and flex all of her leg muscles. The little jumps she did in between each leg were almost too much for me. I knew we had things to do today but I was loathe to interrupt this adorable scene. Next she decided to twist herself into the pony equivalent of the downward dog position. The rational part of my mind told me it was time to say something when she started shaking her hips and swishing her tail around. If she turned around now she’d assume that while stretching I’d been given quite the eyeful and done nothing but stare. I’d hate for her to think ill of me.

“As much as I’m enjoying the show Twilight, I need to inform you of my presence before your stretch routine becomes too risque.”

“Ahh! Cicero!” Twilight cried as she spun around.

“Morning Twilight!” I said as cheerily as possible. “Sorry for startling you but I caught your stretch routine on the way down from my room and I didn’t want to interrupt before you’d finished. Although I figured you’d rather I interrupt when you started showing of the goods.” I wiggled my eyebrows up and down suggestively.

Twilight blushed and said, “Yes…. Well…. What was it that you needed Cicero?”

“Just wanted to tell you that I’m going to take a shower before we leave today. Your bathrooms in this land don’t have locks and I wanted to warn you before I went it.” I ran my hands up and down my body while saying, “I know how much you enjoy sneaking peeks at my sexy alien body after our last incident.”

“Cicero!” Said a flustered Twilight. “That was an accident!”

I laughed and stopped rubbing my body. “*heh* Sorry Twilight. You know i’m just playing around with you.” Walking towards the bathroom I said, “I’ll see you when I finish.”

Entering the bathroom I disrobed and went through my awkward cleansing routine in Twilight’s tiny shower. I took longer than normal to shower this morning when I realized I would be visiting royalty today. Celestia and Luna might have visited me by surprise yesterday but I wanted to be clean and respectful for our meeting today. After a good long scrubbing session I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off. Throwing Fluttershy’s clothing set on again I hung up my towel and walked out of the bathroom.

As I didn’t see Twilight on the second floor anymore I walked down the stairs to try and find her. On my way down I was surprised to not only find her but all of the other girls as well. My eyes were drawn past the girls to a large pile of luggage behind them. Wait, luggage? How far away was Canterlot castle from Ponyville? Was it going to take multiple days of travel to get there?

“Morning girls!” I called to everyone in the library. “I’m surprised you’re all here so early.”

“Mornin Cicero.” Applejack replied. “Ah course we’d be here early. When tha princess’s call ya to Canterlot castle ya come right away!”

“I see.” I replied simply. “Well you being here early makes sense then. What confuses me is the rather large pile of baggage you girls have behind you. Am I to assume that this means the trip will require multiple days of travel before we reach Canterlot Castle?”

Twilight spoke up with, “The trip to Canterlot castle only takes a few hours by train. We should arrive there around midday. The baggage behind us is so we can stay in Canterlot for a few days. Princess Celestia sent a message through Spike this morning asking us to stay a few days. Applejack noticed the letter and brought it to me while you were in the shower. Since I didn’t want to miss the train this morning I duplicated it and sent it out to all the girls. As for why there’s so so much luggage it’s bec-”

“It’s because Rarity always packs her entire house before we go on any trip!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, sounding rather annoyed.

“I do not Rainbow Dash!” Retorted Rarity. “Unlike you I prefer to be prepared for any situation. A lady must always be ready for whatever occasion might arise. Also since we’re going to canterlot I considered it prudent to bring along some of my more expensive clothing for the well dressed wealthy ponies there. If anyone can appreciate my fabulous designs it’s them!”

“Whatever you say Rarity. You make the same excuse every single time we travel.”

I saw Rarity’s eyes flash and she opened her mouth to yell at Rainbow Dash. I intervened before she had a chance. “You have to admit she’s got a point Dash. As a seamstress if you’d want anyone as a client it would be the rich who live in the town surrounding the castle of royalty. I haven’t seen Canterlot but I can only imagine a lot of wealthy or famous ponies live there.” I saw Rarity smirk in victory while Rainbow Dash glared back at her.

Turning to Rarity I said, “Now even though that’s true, judging from all the purple and white baggage here, you did pack an obscenely large amount of luggage in comparison to everyone else Rarity. You might want to consider packing a few less things next time. What if we were to get robbed? You’d lose all of the valuables you brought with you.”

“Robbed!” She shouted. “In Canterlot? Never. I can’t imagine such heinous things happening in the same city the princesses live in.”

“HA!” I barked out a laugh. “You’d be surprised how often that’s the case Rarity. Money breeds greed while power creates corruption. Royalty, and those surrounding them, usually have both. It’s a lessons I’ve learned many times over through a plethora of different protectors visions. It was the exact same way on Earth as well. I’m not saying this because I want to be mean Rarity. I simply want you and all the other girls to be safe.”

Rarity closed her mouth and closed her eyes for a few moments. Opening them back up again she said, “I understand your concern and I thank you for it Cicero. I will try to be more aware of any dangerous possibilities in the future if it will assuage your worries. However I will say that even though some of the nobles in Canterlot have displayed rather uncouth characteristics at times, I’ve never had any go so far as to assault or rob me.”

I walked over to Rarity and put my hand on her back. “Then let’s hope it always stays that way. Perhaps Canterlot is different from all the other places that I’ve seen. Maybe I’m worried over nothing. All I know is that as this planet's protector my arrival means harsh times will soon befall these lands. The first step to defeating any adversary is awareness. If you’re aware of any possible dangers then it makes it much harder for anything to take you by surprise.”

Once I’d finished I could see a hint of fear in Rarity’s eyes. I appears she’d taken my warning seriously. Looking over I could see the other girls also looked a little fearful now that i’d finished speaking. Damn. I hadn’t mean to frighten them. I only wanted them to be aware.

Standing up I sighed and said, “Look girls I didn’t mean to scare you. My intention wasn’t to frighten you before we left on our trip. I only wanted you to be wary when we traveled to canterlot. As this city contains the seat of your nation's power it’s an obvious choice for any would be usurpers or troublemakers to attack.” I laughed. “Though considering how incredibly powerful Celestia and Luna seem to be I suppose I should actually be more concerned for any who are foolhardy enough to attack them.”

I could see my final words had brightened their moods again. Now I need to wipe their fears away. Putting on a serious face I stood up and looked at the group. “No matter what happens, through times of trials and tribulations, you girls only need remember one thing. I may not be the strongest or even the wisest creature to walk this planet but I can promise you that no matter what happens I will always be by your side when you need me. I will do my absolute utmost to ensure that you are all safe from danger. I am this world's protector.”

“But more than that I am your protector. You girls are special, I can feel it. Whether it’s your status as the elements of harmony or something else I know that you girls have an important role to play in the future.” I felt my face soften and curve into a small smile. “You’re also important to me. I’ve grown very fond of you girls in the time I’ve known you. If you’re with me I will never allow any harm to ever befall you. This I swear.”

I was pleased to see six beaming faces looking back at me, just as they had yesterday.

“Alright enough of this mushy feeling stuff Cicero.” Rainbow Dash said. “I might have to rethink your coolness level if you keep acting so sensitive all the time.”

“But Dashie! If you don’t like all this mushy stuff then why are you so happy right now?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I’m just excited to go on an adventure to Canterlot Pinkie. Maybe I can meet the wonderbolts if I’m lucky!”

“But Dashie! If you don’t like Cicero being so sensitive then why are you smiling so hard?”

“Because It’s such a nice day outside Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash said, obviously getting annoyed.

“But Dashie! If you don’t like what Cicero has to say then how come when he said ‘I am your protector’ your wings got all twitchy and you made a fa-”

“PINKIE PIE!” Dash yelled cutting her off. I saw a tinge of red creep into her cheeks.

Pinkie Pie’s smile covered her whole face as she obliviously stared back at a now glaring Rainbow Dash.

“Now now Rainbow Dash.” Said Rarity. “There's nothing wrong with enjoying a gentlecolt’s chivalry.” I heard a weak ‘hey’ from Rainbow Dash as she quietly protested Rarity’s words. Waving Rainbow Dash's complains off with a hoof Rarity turned to me and said, “Moving on now. Cicero I have something for you before we leave.” Rarity used her magic to grab and levitate a bag from the massive luggage pile over to me. Opening it she said, “Tada!”, and I saw a matching set of underwear and socks just as she’d promised me.

Ahhhhhhhh shit. I forgot to ask Rarity to make basic colored clothing this time. The socks were actually a rather nice plain black color. They looked as comfy as any of the other clothing Rarity had made me so far. But the underwear…. When she said she would make my underwear match the sets of clothing I already had she wasn’t kidding. White, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and pink pairs were all presented to me.

Now I’m rather confident in my sexuality as a male. I’ve never really had a problem with wearing colors that other males on Earth deemed feminine. The one difference was that all of those time I’d worn these colors for shirts or pants. But underwear….. I’m not sure I could wear the pink ones and not feel my masculinity being slightly threatened. *sigh* Although I will begrudgingly admit they do look rather comfortable. I reached out and grabbed the pink pair. I could feel that Rarity had chosen a nice stretchy, breathable material for it. I looked up from the underwear to see that Rarity was obviously waiting for my opinion on them.

“They feel wonderful Rarity. I’m very excited to try them on.” I said strategically dodging their color.

*snicker*

“I’m glad you like them Cicero. I finished them yesterday after our talk with the Princesses. I wanted you to look your absolute best for our meeting with them today. What do you think of their matching color scheme to your other clothing sets?”

*snort*

“Well they’re very….. Vibrant. I’m sure they’ll work great with my other clothing sets.”

*hehehehe*

“I’m glad you like them darling! It’s so hard to get other males to try out my clothing. They seem to be rather put off by some of my fabulous color schemes. I’m glad you’re willing to give them a chance.”

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

I looked over to see Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack rolling on the ground laughing. Apparently they couldn’t contain their quiet giggling any longer and had finally lost it.

“OH. MY. CELESTIA! Did you see the pink ones?” Laughed Rainbow Dash.

“Feller’s gotta be pretty confident to wear clothes like that.” Giggled AJ.

“Yeah yeah laugh it up you three.” I said unhappily. “Stupid bright pony colors.” I muttered. Ignoring the three mares still rolling around and laughing on the ground I turned to Twilight and asked, “Since we’re going to be staying in Canterlot for a few days do you have a bag I can use to put my clothes in?”

Twilight lit up her horn and levitated a bag from the second floor down into my hands. It looked like a small duffel bag designed to be strapped to a pony's back. I grasped the bag as Twilight said, “Don’t listen to those three Cicero. I think you’re new clothing will look nice. Although from what Rarity told us, as they go under your pants, we probably won’t really see them anyways.”

“*sigh* Thanks Twilight. I’m just going to hop upstairs to quickly pack my bad with the rest of my clothing. It will give those three,” I said pointing to the still giggling trio from earlier, “time to calm down.” Walking over to Rarity's floating trunk I pulled the socks and underwear out and placed them in the bag. I made my way over to and up the stairs as the cacophony of mixed laughter continued to ring out behind me.

As I neared the top floor I heard Rarity chastising Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack. She was giving them a speech about ‘Stallions’ and ‘there’s nothing wrong with bright colors’. I smiled as I entered my room. Walking over to my dresser I quickly packed my other clothing sets into the bag. I lamented the fact that I didn’t have any other belongings to pack into my bag. While I didn’t have much of a materialistic personality it was still rather disconcerting that I owned almost nothing more than the clothing on my back.

I shook my head to rid myself of such thoughts. Now that I knew I was stuck here in Equestria I could simply make another home here. I would have more things to call my own eventually. I smiled when I realized that if nothing else I was now rich in good friendships. Letting out a small chuckle I fished the yellow pair of underwear out of my bag and slid them on after taking off my pants. Happy with how they felt I put my pants back on, slung the bag over my shoulder, and walked back down the stairs.

Making it back to the bottom floor I heard Rarity finish her lecture from before with, “And that’s why you shouldn’t make fun of my designs or human clothes.”

“Ahh lighten up Rarity. It was just ah joke.” Applejack said. Spotting me she asked, “You don’t mind, do ya Cicero?”

“Meh.” I said shrugging. “I guess it doesn’t really matter. Besides I’ll get you girls back later when you least expect it.”

“See Rarity he doesn’t mi- wait what did you say Cicero?” Applejack said, sounding concerned.

“Nothing really.” I said shooing her concerns away with my hand. Turning to Twilight I said, “So now that we’re all ready, how do we get to the train bound for Canterlot?”

“Well normally we’d just walk there but since we’re on a tight schedule I was going to practice my group teleportation.”

“Excellent! I’ve wanted to study your magic, especially teleportation, since the first time you did it. You don’t mind if I observe you while you transport us do you? I promise I won’t touch or distract you.”

“Of course not Cicero. Go ahead. It’s actually rather refreshing to have someone who’s so interested in learning about my magic.” Twilight turned to look at all the girls. “Everypony please stay still while I concentrate.” Closing her eyes Twilight’s horn started to glow bright.

Looking closely at her horn I could just barely make out a very small faint stream of her magic flowing away from it. Shifting my sight I saw the magic slowly splitting off and making it’s way towards each girl. As soon as the stream got within a feet or so of each girl it quickly spread out and enveloped them in the same aura that was flowing around Twilight’s horn. One tendril came over to me and also enveloped my body. As soon as the auro had completely circled me, I noticed a faint lack of noise and airflow. Neither had been great before so I would never have perceived the changes if I hadn’t been actively watching for them.

Looking over at the luggage pile I saw Twilight’s magic had also created the same circle around it as it had each of us. Twilight’s horn suddenly glowed much brighter and I saw a small string of magic rocket off of her in some random direction through the walls. I raised my eyebrows at this but didn’t have long to think as the scene before me flashed away and I instantly found myself standing on a train platform. Looking back to Twilight I saw the faint tendrils rapidly receding from all of and us back into her.

My god she really did it again. A living being capable of teleportation! Out of all the wonders i’ve witnessed in Equestria so far, teleportation was by far the most unbelievably amazing. I wonder what those tendrils that came out of her were. They appeared to make some type of barrier around each person upon reaching them. I’m guessing the tendrils were creating some type of solid link between all of us so that we could form one point of connection.

But what was the last stream that shot off at the end? Some marker for the direction we’re going? But why would she need a marker to teleport? Doesn’t her magic just require a picture of the location? Unless…. Maybe it’s less magical than I though. Maybe there’s actually a semi scientific explanation here. What if the stream wasn’t actually a stream. What if it was a microscopic continuation of the barrier she formed around us.

“So what do you think Cicero?” Twilight asked with a smile. “Your facial expression looks exactly like mine does when I’m trying to figure out something hard.”

“I’ll admit that your teleportation ability is baffling me. I was hoping to figure out how you did it by observing you closely.” I sighed. “Sadly I have more questions now than before I watched you.” Looking up I took in my new surroundings. The train station Twilight had teleported us to was a small wooden platform with a tiny building attached to its side. I assumed the small building was where they sold the train tickets. To the right of the station was a grey building with a thatched roof. It’s purpose so near the station escaped me.

Looking towards the tracks I saw the train we would be taking to Canterlot and couldn’t help but let out a snort. Like most other things in Ponyville, the compartments were all a combination of random pastel colors. They appeared rather small from the outside but I was still hoping I’d be able to comfortably fit inside them. Hooked to the front railroad car, and by far the most interesting part of the train, was the engine compartment. Extremely tiny and designed with strange boxlike angles, I had absolutely no idea how this thing was supposed to get us to Canterlot. I doubt its engine even has the necessary horsepower to pull one compartment, let alone the six hooked to it.

“Well if you want maybe I can answer some of your questions about teleportation.” Twilight said. My attention was pulled away from my observations as I focused back in on her. “As princess Celestia’s protege I don’t just study the magic of friendship. I actually study all forms of magic.” I was easy to see that Twilight was thrilled to have someone else to talk about her magic with. And as it would benefit both of us I was more than happy to take her up on the offer.

“I’d be delighted to Twilight. Although I think it might be best if we get everyone and their belongings on the train first before we start.”

“Oh! I completely forgot about that. I’m just so excited to finally have someone willing to talk about magic with again.”

“Again?” I said raising an eyebrow. Twilight was shifting around on her hooves obviously uncomfortable about something.

“W-well. You see…. There was a little uhhhhh…. incident a while back. Ever since that one time all of my friends have been hesitant to help me with anything magic related again.” She finished.

“And that incident was….” I said spreading my hands and raising my shoulders in a questioning gesture. I could tell she was hesitant to continue.

“I’ll tell ya what it was.” Said an agitated sounding Applejack. “Twilight called all of us over ta her library saying that she was studying the magical bonds of friendship between us or some other hootenanny like that. Something went wrong when she cast ah spell and we all ended up switchin in ta each others bodies!”

I snorted. “Hahahaha that sounds amazing! You all switched bodies? I won’t even begin to try and reason out how that’s scientifically feasible in any way. The ability to transfer souls between bodies, let alone six simultaneously, is completely beyond my understanding.” I smiled. “Although I have to ask. Who got changed into whose body?”

“Fluttershy switched with Pinkie, Rarity switched with Dash, and ah switched with Twilight.” Applejack finished, while giving Twilight a glare.

“We all went back to normal in the end!” Twilight said trying to defend herself.

“I darn near almost burned down tha apple orchard that day Twi! Every time ah bucked an apple tree mah horn shot off some different bolt of magic. Big Mac made me stop for tha day when one of ma random bolts hit him in the backside and turned his coat bright pink!”

“Pink and red aren’t that different from each other.” Twilight quietly sulked. I couldn’t help but guffaw at the whole situation.

“Hahahahah! You guys get into the most hilarious situations. I hope i’m around next time something crazy like that happens.”

“Keep hanging around Twi when she does her magic and you will be.” Applejack said, walking over to her bag.

“Honestly. It was only for a day.” Twilight said exasperated. I put my hand on Twilight’s shoulder to try and commiserate with her.

“Well don’t worry about it Twilight. As I have no magic I find anything involving it absolutely fascinating. I’ll help you with any magical endeavors you want to pursue in the future. Assuming i’m around to help.”

“Aren’t you afraid of getting hurt if I mess up?” She asked hesitantly.

“Naw.” I said nonchalantly. “We protectors are rather hardy. I doubt I could survive everything that you might throw at me but most things shouldn’t be a problem. Plus as a self proclaimed scholar I have to admit that the possibility of studying things, like magic, is very exciting to me.” Twilight gave me the smile i’d been hoping to coax out of her. “Now let’s get these bags on the train so we can get on with our teleportation talks.”

For the next minute or so Twilight and Rarity both used their magic to levitate all the pieces of our groups combined baggage pile into the trains back compartment. I offered to help move luggage but it was obvious that their levitation system was more efficient without me getting in the way. Afterwards we all made our way into the train's front compartment and settled in for our ride to Canterlot.

Once I was inside I found myself surprised at how spacious these train compartments actually were. From the outside it had seemed like it would be rather cramped inside. However the long couch like seats proved that initial theory wrong. Not to mention, the couches looked quite comfortable. I sat down on a light green one to confirm my suspicions. I was pleased to find out that the couches were as plush and soft as i’d hoped.

“Ahhhhh.” I sighed out. I let my body slink it’s way down into the couch's cushions. Looking around the cabin I saw that aside from the girls and me, this compartment was bare of any other residents. That’s strange. Considering how many people this compartment can hold you’d think someone else would be here. Twilight trotted over to my couch and seated herself to my left.

“Hey Twilight. Why is there no one else in this train compartment besides our group? It seems odd that the first compartment would be so bare.”

“Most likely the princess sent a message to the train company informing them that’d we’d be boarding today. That’s probably why no one asked us for our tickets when we boarded the train. My guess is that she asked them to reserve the first train compartment for our group.”

“Well that was rather kind of them. I’ll have to thank them when I get there.” I said giving Twilight a smile. However even as outwardly nice a gesture that this may seem it could also point to a few other alternatives. Even though the princesses have confirmed my identity it’s possible that they still want my interactions with other ponies to be limited until they trust me more. That or maybe they thought I would be stopped or questioned by someone. If this train is truly bound for this nation's capital then it’s stands to reason that there would be a few guards at some point along the way.

I looked over at the girls. As the elements of harmony this bunch can probably get anywhere they want. Not to mention Twilight is Celestia’s protege. However I’m an unknown element and to any guard or soldier that means I’m a potential danger. *sigh* I hope the princess planned ahead and warned whoever we’re going to interact with about me. I’ve had visions of other protectors who’ve died simply because they’d interacted with the wrong guards. Most creatures on other planets weren’t as receptive and friendly to strange aliens as these ponies were.

“All aboard!” I heard a pony from outside the train yell. His words snapped me out of my thoughts and helped me clear my head. Thinking about these things won’t help me. I’ll just have to deal with whatever situation might arise. Looking out the window I was shocked to see our cart start to move. I raised my eyebrows in shock.

“Well i’ll be….” I murmured to myself.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

“To be honest i’m surprised that our carts are moving at all.” Twilight cocked her head to the side and gave me a questioning look that seemed to scream, ‘are you retarded?’ “Oh come now. Don’t give me that look. You saw that engine compartment. That thing was half the size of any of these carts. There’s no way any engine that size could provide enough force to pull these carts.” Turning to look out the window I finished with, “Then again I suppose I’m watching it do as much right now.”

“Oh that.” Twilight said. It was my turn to look back at her with questioningly raised eyebrows. “Well the cart doesn’t just run on natural energy sources. It’s augmented by a magical engine.”

“Really? Fascinating. Is this another use of one of those crystals that contain magic within them that we talked about the other day?”

“Good guess Cicero. Yes this trains engine is slowly draining the magic energy from a crystal within it and then feeding that energy into the train to make it move.”

I looked up at the ceiling to think. These magic crystals prove their usefulness once again. I wonder what their limitations are. I bet I could find a lot of ways to augment my abilities to better protect these lands if I could arm myself with some of them. Twilight said that magic has the casters intent within it. Perhaps it’s possible to put combat and healing spells within these crystals. Hmmmm. This is something that needs to be researched after I meet with the princesses today.

“Twilight I’d love to talk more about these magic crystals with you sometime in the future. If possible I’d like to experiment around with what types of magic can be stored within them.”

“Ya actually want ta take part in a magic experiment with Twi? Even after what ah told ya?” Asked a disbelieving Applejack. “And worse yet, ya suggested it in tha first place?” Applejack shook her head and turned back to Fluttershy. “It’s your funeral partner.”

“Don’t listen to her Cicero. Ohhhh this is going to be so exciting! I’ve never had someone else suggest a magical experiment before! I can’t wait to get back! I’ll start making a checklist for potential spells right after our meeting with the princesses.”

I shook my head and smiled. “Whatever makes you happy Twilight. For now do you mind if I ask you some questions about your teleportation spell from earlier?”

Twilight nodded enthusiastically. “Go ahead Cicero.”

“Right. Well first I noticed that when you began your spell a couple of very small tendrils snaked out from your horn towards any people or objects you wanted to transport. Second, I saw the tendrils envelop that person or object in a small bubble once it reached them. The small bubbles still had a very tiny path connected from them to you as well. Last I watched as a very tiny arrow of magic shot out of your horn right before you teleported. I can’t be sure but it appeared to be going in the direction you mentioned that the train station was earlier. I suppose what I’m getting at is, does your magic require some type of continuous connection from your current location to wherever you wish to teleport?”

Twilight had a huge grin. “Well spotted Cicero! That’s exactly how our teleportation works. Most ponies are under the incorrect assumption that we only need to visualize the location we wish to teleport in our minds and then we’re there. If that were the case then teleportation would most likely be much easier. Because unicorns have to form a magical connection between two extremely distant points only a few have the power required to do so.”

“Hmmmmm I wonder if that type of magic could be applied to and released from crystals as well. Teleportation would be an amazing power for a protector. Even if I was only short distances. We’re definitely going to have experiment with that when we get back.” I raised my hand to my chin and thought for a moment.

“Alright I suppose I understand that it’s necessary to form a connection between the two points but how do you actually shift things through that connection to the other point? There’s only one human theory of teleportation I can think of that might work in this scenario and that’s using massive amounts of combustion to launch yourself forward.”

“Teleportation using only combustion?” Said a befuddled Twilight. “How on Equis would you do that?”

“Well the basic theory that the humans developed was that if you could combine matter and antimatter you could use the resulting combustion to launch yourself forward. As energy is always conserved when you combine the two you can create an insane amount of energy that suddenly needs to disperse rapidly. If you could angle that energy away from yourself then it should be possible to ‘teleport’”, I used air quotes, “yourself. In reality it’s just a way to move so fast that seems like teleportation.

“What an intriguing idea! I don’t think i’ve ever heard any pony theories like that before.”

“Well as intriguing as it is, it still has a lot of holes in the theory. First off how do you store antimatter to create the combustion? By its very definition any matter anything antimatter touches instantly becomes energy. Some rudimentary ideas were to store antimatter using advanced electromagnetic containment systems.”

I shrugged. “Even if that worked you still have a lot of other problems to deal with. How do you stop yourself after transit? How do you angle yourself in the perfect direction? How do you force yourself through that small magic line to your destination? How can anything travel that fast without friction tearing it apart?” I looked over to Rainbow Dash and glared at her. “Not that that question matters to some physical law breaking pegasi around here.”

“What was that Cicero?” Said a confused Rainbow Dash.

*sigh* “Nothing Dash. Just talking to Twilight.” She seemed to accept my answer and went back to whatever she’d been doing before. “In the end I might be completely wrong about your teleportation. I’m only working off of theories that the humans could develop. They never successfully accomplished teleportation so… oh god damnit.” I looked back to Twilight and groaned. In her hooves was that damned massive list of questions she was determined to ask me at some point. “That list will be the end of me.” I said with a huff.

Not looking up from her scribbling Twilight responded with, “It’s your fault you know. You asking me questions always raises even more questions of my own.” I saw a small grin spread spread her face. “You know we’re going to be on this train for a while. You could answer a few of these and help shrink the list.”

*sigh* “Fine. I suppose you did answer my questions.”

“YES! Alright first question, what is that antimatter you talked about?”

Time Skip

Three hours of thorough questioning later I finally couldn’t take any more.

“Twilight I consider myself a scholarly and studious man but your thirst for knowledge is truly otherworldly. As much as I’m sure you wish to continue, I need a break from your never ending list of questions.”

Twilight frowned and looked disappointed at this revelation. Looking out the window she said, “Well I guess we have been at it a while. We’re almost at Canterlot anyways. I suppose I’ll just review my notes before we arrive. Thanks for all the help Cicero!”

As Twilight walked away with her floating scrolls I let myself slump down into the couch. Good lord I can’t believe anyone has an attention span that intense. It’s like she has a constant stream of adderall flowing through her veins. Sinking even further into the couch I felt mental exhaustion beginning to fill my mind. That, combined with the comfy bumping motions that the train was making, were quickly easing me into a napping state.

A few moments later, right before I was about to fall asleep, I heard a quite, “E-excuse me Cicero. Do you mind if I sit next to you.”

Rousing myself enough to respond I looked over and saw Fluttershy standing to the left of my legs. Having no reason to deny her wish I said, “Of course I don’t mind. Go ahead Fluttershy.” Hopping onto the couch fluttershy did a quick 360 and then laid herself down on the couch next to me. My god it’s like everything she does is purposely as cute as possible. I let out a little chuckle and returned to my previous activity of dozing off.

“I…. I don’t mean to assume…. but are you wearing clothing that matches my coat’s colors?” She asked hesitantly.

Rousing myself once more I raised up from my slouched position and said, “You betcha I am. As Rarity made a clothing set for each of her friends I figured i’d try out your set today.” I devious idea floated into my head and I smiled. Leaning over to Fluttershy’s ear I whispered, “Guess what color underwear I’m wearing today.” With and, “EEEP!”, Fluttershy flailed from her sitting position and fell onto the floor.

“HAHAHAHAHA! Oh man you are the best Fluttershy! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of messing with you.” Giggling a few more times I reached my hand down to her and said, “Here let me help.” Blushing, Fluttershy grabbed my hand as I pulled her up and deposited her back into her position next to me on the couch.

“Sorry Fluttershy. Considering your reserved personality I really shouldn’t mess with you so much.”

“I-It’s ok Cicero. Rainbow Dash keeps telling me that I need to ‘stallion up’ and stop being so bashful all the time.”

“HA! That does sound like something she would stay. I wouldn’t worry though Fluttershy. While you may be a bit more bashful and reserved than others i’ve met, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, if anything, it’s rather refreshing.” I gave her a smile. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being the quiet kind Fluttershy. I may not know you as well as the others girls but I do know that gentle souls like yours are rare. For all we know that could be quite the boon to you in the future.”

Fluttershy let her wings twitch and acted like she wanted to move but was hesitantly shifting back and forth from me. Eventually she made up her mind and lunged forward to give me a hug. “Thank you Cicero. While I know all my friends appreciate me, it’s nice to hear someone openly praise me for my shy personality.”

Well I wasn’t expecting that. Fluttershy has never actively decided to initiate contact before. At least not without me being injured in some way. “Any time Fluttershy. I may be your newest friend but i’m still here for you just like the others.” Leaning down I returned the hug.

“Yipee we’re here!”

Pulling back from my hug with Fluttershy I looked over and saw Pinkie Pie bouncing around on her seat. Glancing past her I saw a massive city that our train was rapidly approaching.

“What….” Getting up I walked over towards the other side of the train and beheld Canterlot in it’s full glory. The castle was absolutely amazing. A shimmering beacon to represent the lands of Equis. The white buildings and gold roofs gave the place a royal feel while the waterfall and multiple tiers of flowing ponds hanging to it’s side gave it a natural beauty. Whatever place I had imagined that the rulers of equestria would live in completely paled in comparison to this reality. It was a magical castle.

Unfortunately as a protector the second thing I noticed was that this beauty made the castle not only a target but structurally weak. The castle was hanging off of the ledge of a cliff and was obviously being held up by either a structural engineering method the humans didn’t know or magic. Based off of what I’d learned of the ponies so far I was leaning towards magic. That means it could possibly be cancelled out and put the castles integrity in danger. Ignoring the structural problems the castle itself still had a whole other list of security issues that made wholly inadequate to defend against any type of siege or attack.

Then again I was thinking like a human. If I adopted the thought process, personality, and strength of Celestia or Luna I suppose I could understand building a castle like this. Not only did it show the power of the princesses but it also put forth a strong message to any would be attackers. Thanks to Twilight I knew this castle had been around for a very long time. Anything that could protect such an obvious target for so long was undeniably powerful.

I smiled and nodded my head. The princesses had created this castle to show their peaceful personalities and love of their lands natural beauty to their people. But they had also created it to show their strength and power to any enemies. A smart move. I already knew that Celestia and Luna were powerful but this castle now shows me their abilities as wise leaders. I really need to make sure I stay on their good side. Being in their good favor will greatly help me defend this land. Assuming of course that they’re not secretly my enemy and simply putting up a very convincing facade.

“Amazing isn’t it?” I looked over to see Rarity standing next to me. She was looking out the window at Canterlot. “It’s no surprise that such a city holds one of the most thriving fashion industries in the land.”

“Indeed. The city is quite the marvel to behold. I’m rather excited to see Celestia and Luna so that I may tell them so.” Rarity and I stood in silence as the train began to slow. We continued to observe the city while the train station grew closer. Eventually the train finally came to a full stop and our vision of the city was cut off by a large two story train station platform.

“We have arrived at Canterlot! Please disembark if this is your stop!” A loud voice called over an intercom. I couldn’t see any speakers in the train but I was assuming magic was in play. The ponies voice had sounded like it was coming from within our cabin. Turning around I looked back to see the girls had all gotten up and were either stretching or milling about.

“Alright then, I guess this is our stop. So how do we get to the castle from here Twilight?”

“I’ll lead us there. The castle isn’t too terribly far from the station. I thought that it would be nice to walk there so that you could observe the city and learn more about the ponies of Canterlot.” Twilight walked off towards the cabins now ajar door and exited the train.

Following her I said, “Well that would be nice. I was hoping to learn more about Equestria and its society at some point. I will admit that I’m slightly hesitant about walking through your nation's capital though. The residents of Ponyville seemed to accept my presence among them as they’ve had previous experience with strange visitors. I’m not sure if the ponies here are going to be as accepting of me.”

“Don’t worry Cicero.” Pinkie Pie said. Hopping onto my back she used one hoof to steady herself and held the other above her eyes while looking around. “I’ll keep an eye out for any mean ponies. No one will get past your impenetrable Pinkie Pie shield!”

Snorting I reached up and ruffled her mane, which caused her to giggle. “Thanks Pinkie Pie. With you guarding me I won’t have to worry about anything.” Smiling and shaking my head I looked at Twilight and said, “How are we going to get all the luggage to the castle? I can’t imagine levitating that massive pile of luggage while we walk would be easy for an extended period of time.”

“Actually we’ve already taken care of that.” Said a distinctly male sounding voice. “The castle’s maid’s are already hauling the luggage off to each of your assigned rooms.”

“Shiny!” Exclaimed a happy Twilight. Turning rapidly she bounded towards a previously unseen white unicorn. The male unicorn was all white with a tail and main that were both various shades of blue. His cutie mark appeared to be a blue shield with a six pointed purple star in it’s middle. Strange. That star looks almost exactly the same as Twilight’s. As Twilight reached the white unicorn she proceeded to hug and nuzzle him relentlessly.

Oh, perhaps it is the same star. Based on Twilight’s loving reception of this unicorn my guess would be that they’re lovers.

“Twighly you're embarrassing me.” The white unicorn laughed.

Looking sideways I noticed Rarity smiling while watching the two. If anyone knew about relationships it was going to be Rarity. Leaning in close I whispered into Rarity’s ear, “Are those two dating?” To my surprise, Rarity led out a loud snort of surprise and then started laughing.

“Ya’ll alright there Rarity?” Applejack asked curiously.

“Oh my. Excuse me for losing my composure like that.” She let out a few more quiet chuckles. Turning to Applejack she said, “Cicero simply asked a question I’ve teased Twilight about many times. I couldn’t help but laugh hearing somepony else say it.”

“And that is?”

“He asked if Twilight and Shining Armor are lovers.” It was Applejacks turn to snort and laugh.

“Hahaha I can see how ya’d think that sugarcube *snort* but no they’re not lovers. As far as ah know Twilight hasn’t even had a coltfriend yet. Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother.”

“Ahhhh that would explain the affection.” I said understanding. “I’ve never had any siblings so I find recognizing interactions between them to be much harder than other social interactions.”

“I want to introduce you to Cicero Shiny.” I heard Twilight say. Walking over to our group she say the girls giggle and said, “What are you girls laughing about?”

“Nothing.” I said quickly. I didn’t want to embarrass Twilight with my previous question. “Just asking Rarity some simple questions about Canterlot while you were greeting your brother.”

“What? I thought you were asking Rarity whether or not Twilight and Shining Armor were lovers?” Said a confused Pinkie Pie, who was still still resting on top of my head.

Damnit Pinkie Pie, talk about missing social cue’s. Looking up to scold her I saw that she was looking down at me with a wide smile. Oh you little devil. She know’s exactly what she did.

“W-WHAT!?” Yelled a blushing Twilight.

“Hold on there Twilight.” I said raising raising my hand into a stopping gesture. “As I was just explaining to Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie, I’ve never had any siblings and as such i’ve always have trouble identifying other people's siblings. I didn’t mean to offend or imply anything.”

“Don’t worry Cicero, I don’t get it either.” Dash said as she hovered over. “Twilight has always been all touchy feely with Shining Armor. I’ll never understand sibling affection.”

“I think it’s nice how she dotes on him.” Fluttershy added quietly. “I wish I had a brother or sister who loved me as much as Twilight loves her brother.”

Twilight, who was slowly turning as red as a tomato, seemed unable to respond to all her friends.

“Everything alright over here Twilight?” Asked a mildly concerned Shining Armor.

Pinkie opened her mouth to say something but I wasn’t going to give her a chance to derail the conversation again. Throwing my right hand up I covered her mouth and said, “Everything’s fine. The girls were just having fun teasing each other.” Walking over to Shining Armor I said, “Nice to meet you Shining Armor. My name is Cicero.”

“I figured as much. Nice to meet you Cicero. My name is Shining Armor. Twilight’s letters to me have been about almost nothing but you since your arrival in Equestria. With the insane amount of details Twilight has been sending my wife and I about you I feel as though I already knew exactly what you looked like before we even met.”

“Yeah that sounds like Twilight. Your sister is a great mare but she seriously never runs out of questions to ask. The list of questions she still needs to ask me is at least nine feet long.”
“HAHAHA! Yep that sounds like Twighly.” Shining Armor said, while ruffling Twilight’s hair.

“Ahhhh!” I yelped pulling my hand off of Pinkie’s mouth. Pinkie had apparently decided she was tired of being muffled and had licked my hand to force me to remove it.

“Hiya Shining Armor! How are things with Cadence in the Crystal Kingdom?”

“Very good.” he said smiling. “Order is being restored to the kingdom and Cadence is settling in as the ruler. The Crystal ponies all seem to adore her just as much as I do.” Bowing slightly he said, “Thank you again for your help with the crystal heart girls.”

“Crystal heart? Cadence? What’s going on here? Do you girls know that other alicorn that runs the Crystal Kingdom?” I asked confused.

“Know her? I should hope so.” Said Shining Armor. “These girls not only helped save the Crystal kingdom from the evil cursed king Sombra a few months ago but they also helped save Cadence and my wedding from a changeling attack a few weeks before that.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Damn, maybe I’ve been underestimating these girls. They seem so innocent and gentle but the more I learn about them the more Impressed I become with what they’ve accomplished. Wait… he said wedding… to Cadence. Thats means he’s the husband of that third alicorn. That makes Twilight the sister in law of the queen.

“It appears you’re an extremely well connected mare Twilight. Element of Harmony, protege to princess Celestia, and now I learn you’re the sister in law to queen Cadence.”

Twilight looked down in thought. After a few seconds she said, “I suppose I never thought of it like that. Is that a problem?” she asked hesitantly.

“Goodness no. I’m just impressed to learn of all you and the girls have done. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any of you boasting or bragging about what you’ve done or who you know. It’s reassuring to know I’ve become friends with ponies of such outstanding character.” I saw their smiles as I turned back to Shining Armor and asked, “So I suppose that makes you king Shining Armor.” He grimaced. “I didn’t realize I was in the presence of foreign royalty. I’m surprised that Celestia and Luna would let another nation's king casually walk around the capital without guards.”

“Please never call me king. I hate titles and believe my name itself should be the only thing I ever need during introductions. My good name represents me. Not my titles.”

I nodded and smiled at him. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”

He extended a hoof, “Likewise.” After we shook he said, “Princess Celestia and Luna let me wander the city because Cadence and I used to be from here originally. I was the captain of the royal guard before I married Cadence. The Crystal Empire went missing one thousand years ago and has only recently been rediscovered. We became king and queen of the Crystal Empire when we were sent there to re-establish it’s dominion and sovereignty. The Crystal Empire lies to the north of Equestria and isn’t technically part of its lands. However we’ve now re-established our old political ties to Equestria and have become closely allied empires once more.

“The captain of the guard marries the princess and they both become the king and queen of their own country.” I grinned and shook my head. “The more I learn about this world the more it seems like some child's fairytale story that came to life. I would like to hear more about the changeling invasion that the girls helped thwart during your wedding. However I believe it would be rude to delay our arrival to castle any longer. Do you think we could talk about this as we walked?”

“Oh no!” Said a slightly panicked Twilight. “Cicero is absolutely right! I got sidetracked and forgot about our meeting with the princesses. We need to get going right away!”

“Twighly relax!” Shining armor said, putting his hoof on her shoulder. “The princesses aren’t going to mind if we’re a little late. They didn’t make an official meeting time because they knew that calling everyone to Canterlot was going to take some time. Cadence and I only arrived an hour ago ourselves.”

Those words seemed to jar twilight out of her panic. “Now that I think about it, why are you here Shiny? Not only that but how did you get here from the Crystal Kingdom so fast? It’s at least a three day train ride from Canterlot.”

“With Cadence’s magic of course. Cadence and I received a letter from princess Celestia and Luna last night asking us to come to Canterlot as soon as possible tomorrow. They didn’t tell us exactly why we needed to come but they did mention that it was important. They also said that the alien you’d been telling us about would be there. Cadence then used her magic to teleport us as many times towards Canterlot as she could. Eventually when she was too tired to teleport anymore we boarded the train and she slept the rest of the way here.”

Amazing. A whole three day trip by train shortened down to just half a day with the help of teleportation. Now I realize that not only could that type of ability help me in combat but it could also let me reach areas that might need my protection even faster. I’m now more determined than ever to get back to Ponyville and experiment with storing magic in gems. Maybe once Twilight and I discuss the logistics of it we might be able to find even more ways to store magic for later use.

“Cadence is here too!?” Twilight happily cried. “I haven’t seen her we left the Crystal kingdom. What is sh-

“Yes yes, we can play 20 questions all day long but first we really need to stop dilly dallying and get to the castle Twilight.” Rarity huffed out. “A lady shouldn’t stand out in the sun too long. It dries out and ruins ones mane.”

Looking back to Twilight, Shining Armor said, “Sorry Twighly but I believe Rarity is correct.” Twilight looked a little put off by his words and pursed her lips in response. Seeing this he added, “Don’t worry though. Cadence and I will have plenty of time to catch up with you at the castle. We missed you just as much Twighly.” Smiling again she looked at him and nodded towards the castle. Taking the hint Shining Armor turned around as we all followed behind him.

Quickening my pace I caught up to Shining Armor and fell in stride next to him. “So about that changeling invasion. I realize it’s a bit tactless of me to ask about an incident like that, especially when it happened on your wedding day, and for that I apologize. But as I’m an alien to your world I have to say those changelings you mentioned really peaked my curiosity.”

“Think nothing of it Cicero. That was a few months ago anyways.” Grinning he said, “Even though the invasion was rather unpleasant I didn’t focus on it for long. Marrying the most beautiful mare in Equestria helped me forget that incident quickly.” The grin was quickly replaced by a grim expression as he continued talking. “Even though I say that, it’s still rather hard to accept the fact that those wretched creatures got past the defenses I set up for the castle. Worse still since it was on my wedding day when I’d personally overseen setting up the events security.”

It’s one of my greatest failures and a constant reminder to myself that I must always strive to do better. *sigh* But you wished to know of the changelings not of my failures as captain of the guard.” He grimaced in distaste. “The changlines are one of the more dangerous species that inhabit the lands of Equestria. They are black pony-esque creatures that are covered in thick layer of chitinous armor. Most of them have spiky ears and horns along with thin bug like wings.”
“But even with their intimidating looking appearance the most dangerous part of changlines are actually their other three main abilities. First, the changelings work as a hive mind with their queen as the main brains. They can communicate with her instantaneously from anywhere. Second, changelings feed on emotions. They have the ability to drain love or other strong emotions from their victims. Third, they have the ability to shapeshift and disguise themselves physically as any other creature they want. These combined factors make the changelings a dangerous enemy to Equestria and her ponies.”

“They can physically disguise themselves as anything?!” I yelled in surprise. “Does this include creatures like dragons? How long can they stay in these forms?”

“Yes. If they wanted too they could disguise themselves as dragons. However they wouldn’t have the same power as a dragon. Physical looks and abilities for these creatures are completely different. They wouldn’t be as strong as a dragon, nor could they do something like breath fire. As for how long they can stay in these forms we’ve found that it’s pretty much indefinite as long as they can feed and stay strong.”

Fuck, now that’s a dangerous creature. I must admit that the ability of changlines to shapeshift into anything is an impressive ability. However this fact is completely dwarfed by their ability to stay in that state indefinitely. Not to mention the fact that they can communicate with their queen from anywhere. That effectively makes changelings the perfect spies, down to a biological level. The queen could aggregate the knowledge of multiple spies and perfectly command any infiltration.

While part of my mind was going a mile a minute thinking of ways to combat these creatures another part of it was sending a much simpler message. These changelings could be an extremely powerful ally.

“I’m going to take a guess and say that relations with these changelings have been strained since your wedding to Cadence, correct?”

Shining Armor stopped and simply blinked for few seconds. I halted once i’d noticed his strange actions. The whole group ceased their individual conversations and looked over at Shining Armor. Shaking his head he turned around and said, “Sorry everyone I got lost in my thoughts for a moment.” Starting up his old pace again I fell back in stride with him.

“Apologies Cicero. I forgot that you’re not from around here a moment ago. Relationships between the changelings and equestrians are more along the lines of bitter hatred then strained. For as long as I’ve lived the changelings and equestrians have been enemies. It’s hard to form diplomatic relations with creatures who are commanded by their queen to impersonate ponies and steal their emotions.”

“Steal emotions? As a non magic user you can understand that i’m a bit confused by how the changelings can steal emotions. But an even more interesting question is that if they can steal emotions how do they feed off of them? I don’t understand how emotions could possibly be used as a source of nourishment.”

“I understand that emotions are simultaneous stimulations of certain neuron groups within the brain. What I don’t understand is how this creature could somehow take that process as it occurs within a pony and use it to power itself. Humans haven’t progressed far enough in the field of neuroscience to understand exactly how emotions are stored in the brain as memories. So the concept of powering something off of stored memories also escapes me. Perhaps something to do with stealing the bio-electricity used to stimulate the neurons? How could they take that energy and siphon it from the brain into themselves?”

A few moments of walking passed in silence while I thought further on this. Eventually I realized that Shining armor was being unnaturally quiet. I looked over to see him shaking his head. “Uhh did I say something wrong Shining Armor?”

“No, nothing like that. I just didn’t understand most of what you asked me just now.”

I facepalmed. “Shoot I’m sorry Shining Armor. When I hear something interesting I tend to forget my surroundings so that I can concentrate on it. The first thing I do when I encounter supposedly impossible things is attempt to logically reason out plausible theories. Half of those questions were just me thinking out loud accidentally.”

I suppose I should put off thoughts about these changelings until another time. I’d hate to offend him by not focusing on the present conversation.

“Ha! I can see why you get along with Twilight now. She acts just like you when she first learns something new. I’m not offended, i’m used to it after living with Twilight for so long.”

“No wonder Twilight and Cicero are such good roommates,” exclaimed Pinkie, who had somehow found her way back on top of my head without me realizing.

*sigh* God damnit Pinkie Pie. If there’s one way to make enemies with someone’s brother it’s to activate their protective instinct. I didn’t even have to look up to know she had done it one purpose once again. I could feel her barely contained laughter as she quietly chuckled into my back. Oh I am so getting revenge later.

“Roommates huh?” I heard Shining Armour say frigidly. Looking over his shoulder he glared at Twilight and said, “Twighly strategically failed to mention that Cicero was now living in her house.”

Twilight froze like a deer in headlights. She collected herself enough to stutter out, “I-I…. Uhhhhh…..”

“Hold on there Shining Armor.” I said coming to her aid. “I understand that you may be feeling protective of your sister but please think about this logically. You know that I was randomly transported to Equestria recently. I didn’t have anything but the clothing on my back when I arrived. Realizing this, Twilight took pity on me and offered to let me stay with her while I tried to find a way back home or at least until I could get my own home here. If anything you should be proud of her, not angry.”

“*sigh* I am proud of her Cicero,” He said turning back to me, “I just worry. Twilight has a very big heart and sometimes I worry that she’s too trusting. I’ve seen how powerful her magic is and what she can do with it. But as her brother a part of me is always going to worry about her.” Looking over at me he finished with, “Also even though you’re an alien I know you’re still a male. Twilight was very descriptive in her written depiction of your body.”

I shook my head at that news. “Well if it makes you feel any better I had the exact same reaction when she offered to let me stay with her. I was surprised that she’d trust someone whom she barely knew to live with her. She really does have a big heart. I promise that as long as I’m living near her I will protect her from those who’d use that against her. As to your other point I can assure you that I have no intentions of taking advantage of your sister.”

Shining Armor grinned. “While you’re words reassure me I’m actually more worried about Twilight taking advantage of you.”

“What?” I said confused. “Weren’t you just saying how big hearted and kind she was? I can’t imagine Twilight doing anything like that to anyone.”

“Under normal situations I’d completely agree with you. What i’m worried about is when Ponyville’s heat cycle sets in. The gender ratio in Equestria can lead to some mares getting a little bit…. aggressive when their are viable stallions around.”

“Well first off, I’m not a stallion. I know you ponies are a lot more open to interspecies relationships but that fact alone would likely dissuade most. Second, while I did recognize that heat cycles were a possibility for your species, surely it won’t be that bad. We had creatures with similar physiology on Earth and they were mostly in control of themselves even without the sapience that your species has.”

Shining Armor smiled. “Every stallion has to learn the same lesson the first time. You’ll see what I mean in time. But for now, welcome to Canterlot Cicero.” He said sweeping his hoof out in front of him.

As I hadn’t been paying much attention to my surroundings during our walk I was rather surprised to find that we’d left the train station far behind. I now found myself in front of a massive town of white and gold. It appears as though all of the buildings in this area were trying to follow the same color scheme as the castle. However instead of being gaudy, as one might assume, the colors gave the city a feeling of cleanliness and prestige.

The one difference that stood out between the towns and castles themes was the absence of nature. The castle had attempted to blend the land's natural beauty into itself designs. Contrarily it appears as though the town had gone for a more high society look. Even though I was personally more of a nature man myself I had to admit that the regal look the town was giving off, was very impressive. I could definitely see why Rarity had wanted to sell her high fashion in this town during our visit.

“What do you think of the town up close darling? Even more splendid than from afar isn’t it?” Rarity said.

“It’s definitely very befitting for it’s of position as Equestria’s capital, although I have to admit the castle we saw earlier was more to my taste. While the city is undeniably beautiful I prefer the theme of nature the castle wove into its design.”

“Oh me too!” Fluttershy said. She made her her way over to my right side. “Canterlot town always seemed too big and flashy for me but the castle has a bunch of lovely gardens inside of it.” She looked down a little sadly. “Although the last time I was in the castle gardens I scared all the animals away.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You scared all the animals away? You, the element of kindness, who takes care of animals for a living, scared them away? How did that happen?”

“Oh man now THAT is a good story!” Rainbow Dash said laughing.

“Yes that whole evening was rather… crazy.” Rarity said hesitantly. “But we’ll have to tell you the story of our groups first Grand Galloping Gala another time. We should focus on the city as it’s your first time here. Shining Armor do you mind if I take the lead from here? I know we’re on a tight schedule but I’d like to pass by some of Canterlot's finer sights while we head to the castle.”

“Oh course Rarity. Go ahead. I’m not here as a military escort but instead as a friend and brother who wants to catch up with his sister.” Rarity smiled and took the lead towards the town. I followed behind her, curious to see what this town had to offer. I saw Shining Armor fall back to playfully bump into his sister and start a conversation with her. It was easy to see that Twilight was really happy to see her brother again. Smiling, I turned around to pay attention to Rarity.

“So based off of what you just said to Shining Armor I’m going to assume you come to Canterlot more than the other girls.”

“Oh yes of course. As I mentioned before, Canterlot has a thriving fashion market. I come here occasionally via the train so that I can sell my clothing. Of course I do frequently get orders by mail but there’s just something special about personally helping a client find that perfect outfit for them. I do so love to help others find and bring out their beauty.”

I shifted my mouth back and forth in thought. “You know Rarity you might be the first pers- I mean pony, who's made me see fashion in a positive light. On Earth fashion was often used to differentiate and highlight the differences between those with and without wealth.Those who had wealth would buy expensive clothing and use it to flaunt their wealth to those without. This created a growing social divide between the rich and poor which in turn lead to violent verbal and physical altercations between the two.

But you... you only seem to use fashion as a tool to help others. You want everyone to feel like they’re beautiful all the time. Even though you always dress well and constantly maintain your beautiful appearance i’ve never seen you taunt anyone who doesn’t. Your attitude towards, and use of, fashion creates a refreshing take on something I had originally assumed could only be used of in a negative way. Thank you for opening my eyes and showing me that there’s a positive side to fashion.”

“Oh you flatterer you.” She said lightly pushing me with her hoof. I looked over and saw a patch of red on her cheeks was easily noticeable against her white coat. However since Rarity liked to maintain her ladylike appearance I decided to forgo any taunting and instead just smile as we continued walking into town. It wasn’t too long after that I met my first Canterlot pony.

“AHHHHHH! What in Celestia’s name is that thing?!” I winced as the loud scream assaulted my eardrums. Looking over towards the source of noise I saw a blue-ish green unicorn wearing expensive looking bangles on her hooves.

“Good lord lady this thing has ears.” Rubbing the side of my head I said, “Although maybe not for long as I’m pretty sure you just burst one of my eardrums.” Having heard the scream of the unicorn mare a few other ponies had come running to aid her. Amongst them were two guard ponies. They were easy to identify by their golden armor and the spears that they were toting.

“What’s going on here?” a white Earth pony guard asked. Looking over towards our group I saw his eyes focus in on me. Brandishing his spear he yelled, “Halt creature! What are you and what are you doing in Canterlot?”
*Sigh* I guess Celestia and Luna didn’t warn the guards of my arrival as i’d hoped. I suppose it could be worse though. No one has thrown a spear or threatened to kill me yet.

“Hello there Canterlot guard. My name is Cicero and I’m an alien from a planet called Earth. Your princesses Celestia and Luna summoned me here today to have a friendly chat. I mean you, or anyone else for that matter, no harm.” I made a sweeping motion to the side to show the girls and Shining Armor, “I was following my escorts here as they showed me around Canterlot before my meeting with the princesses.”

“The element bearers and… Shining Armor! Why didn’t you tell us you were back in town sir?” Said a light pink Unicorn guard standing next to the other.

Stepping forward Shining Armor said, “Because I only just arrived an hour or so ago. The princesses summoned queen Cadence and I to Equestria just yesterday. Now i’d appreciate it if you could stop pointing those spears towards my sister and her friends.”

The guards both fidgeted uncomfortably in place. “We’re not pointing our spears at the element bearers sir.” The guard shifted his gaze towards me and said, “Just whatever that thing is.”

“Well just to reiterate what I said earlier, my name is Cicero and I’m an alien from a planet called Ear-”

“We heard you the first time alien.”

Shining Armor spoke up again, “Stand down soldiers I can verify his claims. Cicero was called here, along with the element bearers, to speak with the princesses.”

“Actually we’re here to continue a conversation from yesterday.” I said. “Celestia and Luna came to Ponyville last afternoon but they had to return to Canterlot before we were done speaking.”

The two guards looked to each other and then lowered their spears. “We were told that the princesses visited Ponyville yesterday. With Shining Armor vouching for you we’ll believe your story.”

They both nodded their heads before the unicorn said, “We apologize for pointing our spears at you but you can never be too careful.”

“Especially after the changeling attack a few months ago. Everyone has been on edge ever since then.” The other guard said.

“Ahh yes, Shining Armor was just telling me about that incident earlier. I can understand your apprehension upon seeing me after having to go through that.” Thinking about what I had just said I realized that our group could use these guards. With their help maybe we could avoid this situation again during our stroll through the town. “In an effort to avoid this happening again do you two think you could escort us through town today? I’d rather not be stopped by every pair of guards who sees me.”

The two guards looked at each other and shrugged. “I don’t see why not. We’re just patrolling the town for our shift anyways.” The Earth pony guard said.

“We’d also like a chance to catch up with Shining Armor now that he’s back in town.” The unicorn guard tacked on.

“And I you” replied Shining Armor. “I’ve been out of Canterlot for a few months now and I’d like to know how the guard is getting along. Thank you for joining us Steel Spirit and Moon Petal.”

Both ponies shook their heads in shock at his words. “You remember our names sir?” Said the surprised, and newly christened, Moon Petal.

Shining Armor laughed. “I would’ve been much of a guard captain if I didn’t know the names of my soldiers.” Both guards smiled in delight at this news.

“Well that takes care of that potential problem. Just to reinforce what Shining Armor said, thank you for coming along with us.” I said to our new escorts. They nodded at me and I turned around to try and find the unicorn mare whose scream had started this whole incident. I found that she, as well as most of the ponies who’d come running towards her scream, had already dispersed. The only ponies that remained seemed to be observing me with either mild curiosity or contemptuous sneers.

I wasn’t exactly thrilled with some of the reactions I was getting but as I’d said before, it could be worse. Ignoring the remaining ponies I turned to Rarity and said, “Now that that’s over with are you ready to lead on?”

“Certainly. We’re already close to our first destination.” Rarity started walking and our group followed behind her once more. I noticed that the guards and Shining Armor had fallen to the back of the group and were engrossed in conversation with each other. I would need to make a point to talk to Shining Armor later about the situation around Canterlot. As he’s been gone for a few months I’m sure those two will fill him in on all that’s happened in Canterlot. That information could definitely help me find any potential threats around here.

“And here we are!” Rarity exclaimed happily.

“Now that’s a fountain.” Before me was one of the biggest fountains I had ever seen. It had to be at least 100 feet in diameter. In the fountain were two massive stone sculptures of Celestia and Luna. The two were depicted standing side by side facing in opposite directions. Their wings were flared out and they both had their necks arched back with their horns reaching up. Water was spraying out of their horns and each tip of their wings.

“How is it we’ve been ta Canterlot at least 3 times and ah’ve never seen this fountain before?” Applejack said in awe.

I heard Rarity huff. “Because every time i’ve tried to take you girls to see some of canterlot's finer sights you always tell me no.”

“That’s because the last time we agreed to go into canterlot with you all we did was walk around and try on clothing all day.” Dash retorted.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing Rainbow Darling.” Dash groaned while Applejack let out a guffaw at the two.

“This used to be on of my favorite places to visit when I lived in Canterlot.” Twilight said. She walked over to the fountain's edge. “I used to love sitting on the fountain's ledge while reading books.” She ran a hoof over it’s curved white edges. “There’s something about this place that always makes me feel relaxed and protected.”

I looked up at the water soaked marble face of celestia. Considering that Celestia and Luna were supposedly benevolent demi gods I guess I could understand why’d she’d feel safe in their shadow. Unfortunately the fountain was only evoking a great sense of uncertainty in me. It was only natural for a protector to worry about beings that held such great power. Even so, I can at least admit that the fountain is beautiful. Someone obviously put great care into crafting this marvel.

*SPLASH* I quickly jumped away from the fountains edge. I barely dodged a large wave of water. Looking back towards the group I saw that only Rainbow Dash and Twilight had reacted fast enough to avoid the wave as I had. The rest of the group hadn’t been as lucky.

“What was th-”

“PINKIE PIE!” shreaked Rarity. I followed her gaze towards the fountain and saw Pinkie lazily floating around the water. I let out a snort at her casual display. Rarity snapped her head towards me. I saw her nostrils flare dangerously. I quickly held up my hands and shook my head to show I wasn’t laughing at her.

“Mam swimming in the princess sisters fountain isn’t allowed.” said a disgruntled looking Moon Petal. “Please get out.”

Using her magic Twilight enveloped Pinkie in her purple aura and floated her out of the fountain. Twilight set Pinkie down in front of her and gave her a very motherlike ‘you know better’ look. Pinkie either didn’t notice or chose to ignore the look Twilight was giving her. She just smiled and happily returned her gaze. A short staring contest later Twilight huffed and shook her head in defeat. Sensing victory, Pinkie suddenly disappeared and then reappeared on my back. She took the same spot on my shoulders that she’d been at earlier.

“Awwwwww man. I jumped out of the way of your wave because I didn’t want to get wet pinkie.” The water on her wet fur was starting to soak into my shirt. Twilight’s horn lit up and I suddenly felt myself become a lot dryer than I had just been. I ran my hands across my shirt and too my surprise, found it completely dry. Reaching behind myself I ruffled Pinkie’s fur around. To my amazement I found that it was also dry. Twilight then applied the spell to everyone else and I watched as the water magically evaporated from their bodies as well.

“Now that’s some useful magic. Thanks Twilight.”

Since Twilight was concentrating on drying everyone else off she simply nodded to acknowledge my thanks. I scanned the area around our group and noticed a lot of ponies had stopped to stare at the distraction we’d made. I looked past Twilight to see Rarity glaring very unhappily at the pink menace now on my back. Shoot. I need to distract Rarity. She looks like she’s about to murder Pinkie and I don’t want to bring any more attention to our group.

“If this fountain is the first area on the list of places you’re taking us Rarity, then I’m pretty excited to see where we’ll go next.” Apparently my words were enough to snap Rarity out of her angry stupor as she shook her head and looked at me.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Even if the atmosphere was ruined by a certain pink annoyance.” She frowned at Pinkie. Turning around she said, “The next destination on our list is the canterlot bazaar. It’s unfortunate but we won’t have enough time to actually browse the wares. Even so it’s an interesting enough destination that I still figured we should go.”

The bazaar? That’s definitely not someplace I should be going. Even with our new guard escort I really don’t think the ponies there will react calmly towards me. If the reaction of that screeching unicorn mare from earlier is any indication, then things will probably end badly. Even though I wanted to see the bazaar I should tell Rarity we’ll have to go another time.

“Rarity I think -”

“-That the bazaar sounds like a wonderful next destination.” Shining armor said cutting me off. “It will give Cicero a good picture of Canterlot’s pony society and all of the other creatures that live here.” Looking back at Shining Armor I raised my eyebrow at him. He gave me a come here motion with his hoof. I was confused but I simply shrugged and walked over to him.

“Well thank you for your vote of support Shining Armor,” Rarity said happily. “Come along everyone, it won’t take us but a few minutes to get there.” While Rarity walked off I lagged behind the group to talk with Shining Armor.

“I know you’re the ex captain of the guard but are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked a little worried. “My first interaction with a pony in this town hasn’t exactly filled me with confidence for any future interactions.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” Shining Armor said calmly. “Most ponies in Canterlot are actually used to seeing difference species in town. A few different ones live here after all. Not to mention we now have a guard escort. While most ponies may not recognize me as a the previous guard captain it’s hard to miss the distinctive gold of their armor.”

“He’s right you know.” Moon Petal added. “Canterlot is the capital of Equestria and thus known to be very safe place. Most ponies won’t question or fear anything as long as we guards are around.”

“Hmmmmm. Well if you all think so then i’m sure it will be fine. Thank you again for coming with us Steel Spirit and Moon Petal.” I said gratefully.

“Ehhh, it’s no problem.” Steel Spirit said. “As we said before we were already doing our rounds.”

“Worrying is no fun Cicero.” Pinkie Pie added from my back. I jumped slightly. I had almost completely forgotten she was back there. “So quit thinking about what ifs and have fun exploring Canterlot with all of us. There’s no point in living if you’re not going to live.”

I shook my head in surprise. That’s a surprisingly insightful and rational thing coming from Pinkie Pie. It appears she can be serious when she wants to be. Nonetheless she is correct.

“Well said Pinkie. It’s hard to enjoy life if you go through it always worrying about how things could go wrong.” Reaching up I bopped Pinkie on the nose and heard her giggle in response. “Let’s go have a good time then.” Waving to Shining Armor and the guards I jogged forward to catch up to the group of girls at the front.

As I caught up I noticed Fluttershy slinking very closely behind AppleJack with her head down. Ah shoot. I didn’t even think about how Fluttershy would feel if we went to a place with a bunch of new ponies.

Slowing my pace I fell into stride beside her and said, “You alright there Fluttershy?” Fluttershy jumped at the sound of my voice.

Looking over towards me she said, “You startled me Cicero.” I gave her an apologetic smile. Facing forward, she led out a sigh. “I’m alright I think. I just… don’t really like crowded areas like markets very much. All the ponies and noise seem so overwhelming. *sigh*. I’d much rather just avoid Canterlot's bazaar but I don’t want to ruin everyone's fun.” Fluttershy didn’t say anything else but the nervous look on her face told me how she was feeling.

“Ah ya always get too nervous about stuff like this shy,” Applejack called back from the front. “Ya really gotta learn to relax girl. All that stressing don’t help nothin in tha end.”

“I know Applejack. It’s just…. Hard I suppose. I’m sorry.” She finished quietly.

“None ah that apologizing now, ya hear? I ain’t mad or nothing, ahm just tryna help is all. Ah just don’t want ya to be so tense all tha time. Granny always says the secret to her long life is working hard, eatin apples, and relaxin.”

“Not to mention it’s hard to enjoy life if you’re always worrying.” I added helpfully. “As Pinkie just told me a few moments ago, ‘There’s no point in living if you’re not going to live.”

Applejack looked back over her shoulder at me and asked, “Pinkie actually said that?”

I shrugged. “I was just as surprised as you. If you don’t believe me you can ask her yourself. She’s right on my…… what the hell?” Reevaluating the weight on my shoulders I found them to be missing the few extra pounds of Pinkie Pie. I swear I’d felt them not a moment before. Looking over my shoulder I saw that Pinkie Pie was indeed no longer on my back.

“She was just here 5 seconds ago. How on Equis did she manage to disappear that quickly?”

“Ha! That’s Pinkie for ya.” Applejack laughed. “Still, no matter who said it tha words are still tha same. I don’t want ya to miss out on the fun things in life because yer always worrying about everything Fluttershy. Plus If ya ever do get into a tricky situation ya know ya always got yer friends to back ya up.”

*whump* Faster than I thought possible Fluttershy had dashed forward and engulfed Applejack in a hug. I heard a quiet, “Thank you,” from fluttershy as she squeezed Applejack.

“Oh hugs! I love hugs!” Said an excited Pinkie Pie who’d suddenly reappeared next to me. “The only thing better than normal hugs are group hugs!” Grabbing my hands with her hooves Pinkie quickly bounded over to other two and together we engulfed them in another layer of hugs.

After a few moments of silent hugging I heard a voice say, “As adorable as this is we really must be on our way again.” I looked up from our group hug to see Rarity and the other girls. They’d stopped walking to smile at our small hug pile.

Removing my arms from the hug I said, “Sorry about the delay Rarity. Sometimes you just need a good hug and it can’t wait.” I saw the rest of the group extricate themselves from each other and look up towards me. “But now that’s over I think we’re ready to get going again.” Once i’d finished talking I heard a decently loud chatter I hadn’t noticed before now. “Although if the group of voices I’m hearing is any indication, I’d say we’re rather close.”

“It’s right around the corner actually.” Rarity replied. “I suggest we stay in a tight group while we go through the market everyone. I can get rather hectic with so many ponies so close together.” Adhering to Rarities words our group squished closer together and we followed her as she walked off again.

As we walked down the block towards the source of noise I began observing an increasing amount of ponies. Even though I’d already seen a lot of different ponies during my stay in Ponyville I found myself again impressed by the sheer variability of colors these ponies sported. I still didn’t know much about pony history but their hair and body colors were telling me a lot. I’m assuming the pony species didn’t evolve in as harsh an environment as the ponies on our planet. As herbivores, anything with that kind of color would be easily spotted and taken down by a predators. I should probably look into pony history later with Twilight. Understanding how their species evolved could help me one day.

“I give you Canterlot’s bazaar!” exclaimed and excited Rarity.

Now that’s a lot of ponies. Canterlot's market made Ponyville’s look like a pitiful collection of roadside stands. The bazaar was a massive collection of long rows made up of various stands jampacked side by side. It was almost hard to see the ends of the rows from the side we had entered the market from. At first glance I’d estimate the whole open market area was about the size of two football fields packed together. Hundreds of ponies were scurrying about between the rows going from stand to stand. But they weren’t the only thing I saw moving about.

“What the hell? Is that a minotaur?” Towering over the ponies I saw what appeared to be a massive furred minotaur walking through the crowds.

“Yes actually.” Twilight replied. “Most minotaurs usually live in the forests far west of Canterlot. However it’s not as if they’re banned from living wherever they want in Equestria. Their species just usually doesn’t like to venture out of the forests. But they aren’t the only new species you haven’t been introduced to yet. Take a look in the next row over.”

Shifting my gaze over one row I saw a large male buffalo attempting to navigate his way haphazardly around the crowd of ponies surrounding him. I could see his large stature was making this task into quite the endeavor for him. Although considering his size I was impressed that he’d managed to avoid trampling anyone yet.

“The buffalo tribes, like the minotaurs, usually prefer to live in their own lands. These are generally in the plains of south equestria.” Twilight helpfully informed me. “Although judging by this buffaloes difficulty in navigating through the crowd I’d say he’s most likely just here delivering something to one of the stalls. There are many different species that live in Equestria that i’d love to tell you about. Sadly we don’t have the time to go through them all right now. Although if you look over one more row again you’ll see a diamond dog.”

Looking over one row I said, “Please tell me I’m not about to see a dog made of actual crystals.” However before Twilight could respond I caught site of the dog like creature she was obviously referring too and said, “Oh. Nevermind.” Like the dogs from Earth this creature had a layer of fur over it’s body and large ears. However unlike the dogs on Earth it stood on two legs and had abnormally long arms. Based on It’s body structure I’m guessing diamond dogs originally walked on four legs and then later evolved to walk on only two.

“Diamond dogs are usually found living in underground locations across Equestria. They prefer caves, mountains, and especially underground caverns. Their exceptionally sharp claws and physiology make them extremely adept at mining or digging in general. Most precious gems in equestria are generally excavated and sold by diamond dogs.”

Damn. Equestria has a much a more diverse collection of species than I originally assumed. Judging by the way Twilight talked about them I’d say all of the species i’ve just learned about are sapient like the ponies. If there are a lot of other sapient species like this living throughout Equestria then I’d say my job just got a lot harder. Managing relations between myself and one alien species in difficult enough. But the ponies have incorporated multiple other intelligent groups within their society. That makes things much more complex.

“Twilight does every sapient species within Equestria have a government of their own?”

“Well I wouldn’t say every species has a government but most do have a leader at the very least. For example, the diamond dogs don’t have any formal governing body. But they do tend to follow and respect the words off the Diamond Dog with the most wealth. However the buffalo and minotaurs have a tribe like system. In it, a single chief or leader is elected as the public face for their people. While they don’t have any direct control over Equestria and how it’s run they are generally consulted by the princesses in matters that affect them.”

“That seems a bit…. Unfair.” I said gently. I know that Twilight is Celestia’s pupil and I’d hate to insult her teacher in front of her but I definitely don’t agree with this policy.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked defensively.

“Listen, I know you absolutely adore Celestia and Luna but you have to admit that this policy seems a bit skewed in favor of ponies. Obviously Celestia and Luna are going to run this country in whatever way is best for the pony species. You said that they consult the other species for input but they don’t give them any power regarding Equestria sovereignty. That means their input could easily be ignored.”

“What!? Celestia and Luna would never ignore the other species! They always act for the good of all!”

I held up my hands to show I hadn’t meant any insult with my words.

“From what I’ve seen Celestia and Luna are very compassionate leaders. Based on their age I also know they have millennia of experience ruling multiple species and, I’m guessing, keeping them content. For all I know that might be enough here in Equestria. However based off of personal knowledge and visions passed down to me I know it’s also a potentially dangerous situation.”

I could tell from her face that Twilight hadn’t understood what I was trying to say. I raised my hand to stroke my chin. How can I explain my thoughts without making her think I’m insulting Celestia and Luna.

“Ok think of it like this. Imagine that the other species of Equestria are young fillies while Luna and Celestia are their mothers. As we adults all know children tend to have a rebellious side to them when it comes to obeying their parents wishes. Now obviously Celestia and Luna as their mothers are going to do everything in their power to make decisions for the fillies that will keep them safe. They’ve been mothers for millennia and they’re positive they know what’s best for their children.”

“Now let’s say the fillies want to go outside at night and play around. Celestia and Luna tell them no because it might not be safe after dark. Maybe Celestia and Luna are right. Or maybe they’re just being overprotective mothers. Either way it doesn’t matter. Now imagine this goes on for a few years with the Fillies always wanting to stay out late while Celestia and Luna always say no. What do you think is eventually going to happen?”

“The little rascals are gonna bust out at night, that’s what.” Said Applejack, who’d apparently started listening in.

“Exactly.” I said. “Now the fillies have gone outside and their mothers neither know their whereabouts or status. The introduction of these unknowns is where the danger begins. It’s possible the fillies might just sneak out and have a good time. However it’s also possible something might happen that ends up with them getting hurt. Either way Celestia and Luna don’t know and thus can’t help them.”

“You have to let children make mistakes.” Rarity added wisely. “Sometimes it’s better to knowingly let them experience these mistakes so they learn themselves. This way you’re there to help them when it happens. It’s impossible to always be around to shield them.”

I smiled. “Speaking from experience are we Rarity?”

“*sigh* Yes Sweetie Bell and her Cutie Mark Crusaders group always manage to get into so much trouble. The only thing that keeps me sane is the knowledge that everyone in town knows what they’re up to and are constantly watching over them.”

“I think I see your point.” Twilight said. I could practically see the cogs in her head working to shift my analogy to fit Equestria’s current situation. “I suppose I never thought of it like that. I’ve always trusted that if Celestia and Luna were ruling then nothing could go wrong.” Twilight stood still and closed her eyes for a few moments. She was obviously thinking about what i’d said. Eventually she spoke up. “Perhaps I should talk to Celestia about this. As her pupil she’s always encouraged me to think for myself and question everything that I learn.”

“I’m not really in a position to tell them how to run their country nor would I dream of coercing you to tell them in my stead. However if you think my theories hold merit then I would urge you to at least speak with Celestia about it.”

Twilight opened her eyes and turned to me to say something. Unfortunately I never got to hear what she was going to say as something to her left caught my attention. A flying bird like quadruped was rapidly approaching a hovering Rainbow Dash. The bird appeared to have a large cart attached to it’s back and in it’s obvious hurry was about to slam into Rainbow Dash. I rapidly forced my cores energy throughout my body. Dashing over to Rainbow Dash I plucked her from the sky and into my arms at the last second.

“Hey! What’s the big-” *WHOOSH*” Rainbow Dash’s words were cut off as the cart flew inches over our heads. The bird creature didn’t seem to realize what it had nearly done. It simple continued to flap its wings and carry on in a rush.

“Alright I take back what I said about helping other species. Those things don’t deserve a say in shit.”

“That was a griffin.” Steel Spirit said angrily. “One that was flying way to low to be following regulations.”

“Any species flying with a weight load that heavy has to be at least 50 feet above the ground.” Moon Petal added on just as angrily. “Those regulations were created to avoid dangerous situations exactly like this.”

“You guys go on ahead to the castle we’re going to- *WHOOSH*” Steel Spirit was interrupted by a pissed off looking Rainbow Dash shooting out of my arms. Rainbow Dash streaked off towards the retreating griffin as if she was being propelled by a rocket.

“She’s not slowing down?” Shining Armor said. “You don’t think she’s going to-” *WHUMP* *CRASH*.

“Looks like it.” I said smiling. Rainbow Dash had decided that waiting for the guards would be too slow and had taken it upon herself to apprehend the griffin. Or I suppose debilitate is a more accurate term considering that she tackled the griffin and it’s cart into the ground.

“*sigh* Well that’s going to be a lot of paperwork we’re going to have to fill out.” Said a disgruntled Steel Spirit. “As I was saying before, Moon Petal and I will take care of this. Since you’re going to lose us as your guard escort I suggest you head to the castle now.”

“But what about Rainbow Dash?” asked a concerned Fluttershy.

“Well judging by how she tackled that griffin i’d say she’s going to be fine.” Said an impressed sounding Moon Petal. “We’re going to need to ask her some question before she can go anywhere. If you all head to the castle we’ll send her up there when we’re done with this mess.” Snapping a crisp salute to Shining Armor, Moon Petal and Steel Spirit both trotted off towards the crash site.

“Your friends are always a riot.” Shining Armor said with a smile. “Although I must admit that it’s much more fun to watch them when I don’t have to clean up the mess.”

“*sigh* Rainbow Dash has always had a rather hot temper.” Twilight said disapprovingly. “I suppose we have no choice but to continue to the castle for now though. I’m sorry Rarity but we’ll have to cut the tour short for now.”

“Yes I understand.” Rarity said disappointed. “It’s just a shame. There were some other places of Canterlot I thought Cicero might really enjoy visiting.”

“Don’t worry about it Rarity.” I said. “If Celestia and Luna agree to help me with the request I made of them yesterday then my guess is I’ll be in Canterlot for a least a few days. Maybe we can go visit the other places on your list one of those days.”

“Yes of course! That would be wonderful.”

“If everyone is ok with it I’m going to teleport us to the castle now.” Twilight said. “I still need to practice group teleportation and my magical reserves have recovered enough from this morning that I’m pretty sure I can get us all of the way there in one attempt.” I nodded my head and saw everyone else in the group also silently voice their approval in the same way. “Alright then. Just as before, everypony please stay still.”

Watching Twilight closely again, I saw the same chain of events occur just as they had this morning. The small tendrils from her horn enveloped our group. Once more they cut out all noise and wind flow. As we were in the market the change from noisy to quiet was much more pronounced now than it had been this morning. Looking in the direction of the castle I could barely make out it’s top spires in the distance. Shortly after I saw the magical line shoot out of twilight and in their direction. It only took a second before Twilight’s horn flashed and I found myself looking at a large golden gate.

Ch. 9 Why I’m Here Pt.2

I’d already been teleported today so I recovered from the shock faster this time. Checking my immediate surroundings I made sure everyone in our group was here and accounted for. After confirming that, I let my eyes wander over the castle's outer walls. A small river was flowing in front of me and being fed by the water falling off of the cliffs about 100 yards to my right. After it reached the leftmost edge of the land it fell off into several small pools that progressively working their way down the cliffs I had seen earlier.

A decent sized drawbridge stood open before me. It lead to a golden gate that was encompassed within a large white arch of some material I couldn’t identify. At either side of the golden gate stood a white pony unicorn guard in golden armor. They were both equipped with the same spear I’d seen on Steel Spirit and Moon Petal. The white walls that jutted out from each side of the arch only went up about 10 feet or so. They did at least appear to surround the whole castle. As i’d guessed earlier today, it appears as though the castle had been built with aesthetics rather than safety in mind.

“What do you think of the castle?” Shining Armor asked.

“I think this castle was designed and created with the purpose of making a statement. However I don’t think that statement is, ‘I’m an impenetrable fortress’. Which is normally what you’d want a castle to be. To me it’s design screams grandeur and beauty. Sadly I don’t think any attacking enemies would stop to admire it’s beauty before besieging it.”

“It appears our thoughts on this matter are aligned. I told the princesses many a time that the castle would be better suited for protection if we made a few simple improvements. We could increase the walls height and width to make them more effective ramparts. Or, at the very least, we could simply increase the size and depth of the river. Both of these would be simple tasks for the princesses or the battalions of unicorns we have in the guard.”

He shook his head and smiled. “Unfortunately every time I suggested these changes they always told me that it would negatively impact the castles natural aesthetics. I suppose to those two the castles visuals would matter much more than it’s defenses. They have to live here every for the duration of their extremely long lives. It makes sense for them to want a beautiful home. Not to mention, as powerful alicorns small changes to the castle defenses would probably make scant difference to their safety.”

“Hey you two. Quick yer yappin and let’s get going. Don’t wanna make tha princesses wait all day now do ya?” Applejack said. Shining Armor and I ceased our conversation and looked over to see that the girls were now walking towards the guards at the gate.

“Sorry Applejack. I didn’t mean to delay our progression. I Just wanted to have a chat with Cicero about the castle architecture.”

“Why in Celestia’s name would ya want to talk about something so boring? Well to each their own ah guess.” Turning around Applejack trotted off across the drawbridge.

As Shining Armor and I made our way across the bridge he said, “We don’t have time to discuss this right now but I’d like to talk to you alone sometime in the future Cicero. Based off of our conversations today it would appear that you have some type of background in either a military or leadership position. I could be wrong but I’d like to know for sure either way.”

I smiled. “Very astute Shining Armor. You’re guesses aren’t all wrong but they're not correct either.” He furrowing his brow at that. “I suspect most of your questions will be answered during our conversation with the princesses later. They called you and Cadence here because I’m going to need the help of your wifes magic if she agrees to a request of mine.” His eyebrows raised in surprise this time.

“Nonetheless if our conversation today doesn’t answer all of your questions then I’d be more than willing to talk with you later. No matter how you disguise your curiosity I know most of it stems from wanting to protect your sister.” Shining Armor and I both nodded our heads to each other in a silent agreement.

“The elements bearers and Shining Armor.” One of the previously silent guards said. “We were told to expect your arrival today. We were also told that you’d be accompanied by a strange, hairless, two legged uh… human. Is that you?” The guard said pointing her spear at me.

“Negative. I am a proud meat popsicle of the meatsicle people from quadrant theta omega. I have come to conquer these lands. Bring me to your leader.”

The guard's eyes widened so far that I was afraid she was going to hurt herself.

“Cicero!” Twilight yelled.

She opened her mouth to continue but stopped when I answered with, “Yes twilight?”, in a calm voice. I could see she hadn’t been expecting that answer. She closed her mouth again in confusion. She looked back and forth between me and the guard.

“But… But you said-”

“Oh that!” Turning back to the guard I said, “Sorry about that….”. I rolled my hand in a leading way to show the guard I was waiting for a name.

“Uhhh Sunshine Sprinkles.” She said regaining some of her composure.

“Sunshine Sprinkles?” I said incredulously. “You’re serious?” Still confused, the guard simply nodded her head at me. “Ok then. Well I’m sorry about that Sunshine Sprinkles but I couldn’t stop myself from messing with you. You said you expected the element bearers and Shining Armor to be accompanied by, and I quote, ‘A strange, hairless, two legged human.’” I used my hands to motion towards myself. “Do you get many creatures matching my description around here?” I gave her a smile.

Sunshine Sprinkles snorted. “Alright I see your point wiseguy. The princesses are expecting you in the main throne room for a meeting. Go on ahead.” She returned back to her stoic guarding position.

I nodded in thanks. As I made my way through the gate I said, “I don’t know why but all of the sudden I have a craving for ice cream. I’m thinking a sundae with extra sprinkles.”

I heard Sunshine Sprinkles stumble and her guard counterpart snicker.

A few paces later Twilight caught up to me and said, “That wasn’t very funny Cicero. You really scared Sunshine Sprinkles.”

As soon as I heard her name again I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. Twilight assumed I was laughing at her and glared in return.

“Sorry Twilight I’m not laughing at you. *heh* I just can’t get over some of the names you ponies come up with. I mean Sunshine Sprinkles? Seriously?” I shook my head while chuckling. “How is a guard supposed to command authority if her name makes me think I’m going to get smiled into submission. Although with a name like that most people I’ve known would probably have underestimated her. Which in itself is a very powerful advantage.”

“Well advantage or not please try not to disconcert any of the other guard while we’re here.”

“I’ll certainly try my best.” I said truthfully. “Although if they ask any other silly questions,” I shrugged my shoulders. “No promises.”

*sigh* “Well I suppose that will have to be good enough for now.” Twilight responded. I could see that she was a little unhappy with my response. I guess for someone that grew up around the demi goddesses and their guards she’s probably mistaking my lightheartedness around them as disrespect. Hmmmm. Perhaps It wouldn’t hurt to share a bit more truth about myself with her.

“Alright let me explain myself Twilight. I fear that you mistake my actions and attitudes towards Celestia, Luna, and the guards as disrespect. But nothing could be further from the truth.” Twilight raised her eyebrows in surprise at this. “Let me try and explain things from my perspective. I have been brought to the capital of a nation of which I don’t know my personal standing with. This capital is full of guards whose abilities are foreign and unknown to me.”

“Assuming that Celestia and Luna are as smart as I think they are then that means all of the guards in the capitol are the best in the nation. My training tells me that even though they’ve all been friendly and helpful so far that I should be prepared for things to turn bad quickly. As we just discussed moments before you’ll recall that I said being underestimated by your enemy is a very powerful advantage. So what’s the easiest way to get your potential foes to underestimate you?”

Before Twilight had a chance to come up with an answer Applejack interjected into our conversation with, “Humor. Ya play ah joker.”

“Got it in one Applejack.” I confirmed with a smile. “Not to pry but may I ask how you came up with that answer?”

“Ah’ve been running ah stall in tha Ponyville market for as long as ah can remember. Every once in ah while ya gotta deal with some quick talking swindlers from out ah town. Most of em come in teams ah two. One makes ya laugh, gets ya let yer guard down, and distracts ya. Tha other sneaks about and steals yer goods when yer distracted.”

“Alright I understand your logic but I still don’t understand your skepticism towards the guards.” Twilight said. “Celestia and Luna invited us all here yesterday after meeting you. Surely you can see they, and their guards, don’t mean any harm.”

“Once again you’d have to see things from my perspective to understand. I already told you that I’ve been trained to expect the worst. I know you trust the princesses and their guards more than most. You’ve lived here in Canterlot under their protection. Taking that into account I can understand that it would be hard for you to consider my position of distrust. Please just know that even though I don’t trust them right now I mean no disrespect by it. My apprehension is partially because I respect them enough to fear what abilities and training they might have.”

“But you trust me don’t you?” She asked.

“Yes of course. I’ve been with you the longest since coming to Equestria. Factoring in our various interactions and all that you’ve done for me I can say that I trust you.”

“Then why don’t you trust my judgement on this?”

Damn this is getting into a very dangerous line of questioning. From my interactions with Twilight and her friends it’s simple to see that they trust others a lot easier than humans or myself. Human society and protector visions have shown me all of the possible consequences of misplacing one's trust.

Unfortunately there's no real way to convey this knowledge to her without a really really long talk we don’t have time for right now. Any answer I give her is just going to hurt her feelings. How the hell am I supposed to pull a positive scenario out of this shitty situation?

“Hey girls! The guards finally let me go!”

And it’s Rainbow Dash to the rescue.

“Glad you could finally join us Dash. Or perhaps I should start calling you the Rainbow Cannon after watching you take down that griphon. Nice tackle by the way.”

“I know right! Too bad only Moon Petal and you think so. Steel Spirit seemed put off about paperwork or some other boring stuff like that. You’d think the stallion would thank me for using my awesome aerial maneuvers to take down that criminal!”

I snorted. “Yes I’m sure your act of vigilantism right in front of the guards just thrilled them. Of course I suppose it was a bit warranted as you were the one that griphon almost ran into.”

Rainbow Dash looked away at my words. “Yeah about that.” She said. Raising a hoof to the back of her neck she continued, “Sorry for not thanking you earlier. I kinda got lost in the heat of the moment.”

“Bah! Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to thank me for that. I’m sure you’d have done the same for me.”

“Of course!”

“Well then there you go. No thanks necessary.” Rainbow Dash gave me a smile and playfully punched my arm in return. “Anyways now that you’re back we should get going to the meeting with Celestia and Luna. No more distractions.”

“But what about-” Twilight started.

“No time for buts Twilight! Wouldn’t want to disappoint your teacher and be late would you?” I knew it was slightly mean to make her choose like that but I could see my words had the desired effect. She still wanted to talk to me but her desire to please Celestia was outweighing it. “Now let’s get a move on. Shining Armor since you probably know the castle's layout better than anyone else would you mind leading us for now?”

“Of course. I know the most direct route to the throne room from pretty much anywhere on the castle grounds. Let’s go everypony.”

With Shining Armor in the lead we quickly made our way through the castle's front courtyard. There were multiple stone walkways that went off in seemingly random directions. Thankfully Shining Armor was apparently having no problem navigating his way through the maize. As I followed Shining Armor I noted the copious amount of nature surrounding each of our paths. Shrubbery, flowers, and trees were abundant no matter which way we went.

Turning the corner to walk down yet another of the courtyards walkways I saw the building that was obviously our destination. The pathway widened to give access to a short set of marble stairs which led to a massive, and rather peculiar, double door. The door stood tall at around 15 feet. It was covered in thousands of black and white lines of varying thicknesses that were curling around each other. Whoever painted this door had taken great care to make sure all of the lines edges were seamlessly connected together…. Wait a moment….

“Is it just me, or is that door moving?” I said slightly concerned.

“Don’t worry Cicero you’re not going insane.” Shining Armor reassured me. “What you see before you is actually the results of my constant arguing with the princesses about security.”

I looked back to the door and studied the slowly shifting lines of black and white.

“After the changelings invaded Canterlot at my wedding I stepped up my security suggestions to the princesses. Eventually they were so inundated with my constant requests that they finally let me implement one simply to silence me. HA!” He yelled throwing his head back. “Unfortunately for them once I knew they’d listen to me I just requested even more changes. Sadly this was one of the only battles I was ever able to win with them.”

Looking back up to the door he said, “But let’s focus on the door for now. During the invasion I noticed that one thing the guards sorely lacked was a strong single point of defense. We needed a location we could defend the princesses at as well as base counterattacks from. I figured the strongest point in the castle should logically be the section that contains the throne room. The princesses would obviously be there most often.”

And so”, he pointed to the door, “this was created. Made of everwood and infused with massive amounts of both Princess Celestia and Luna’s magic.”

“WHAT!?” Both Applejack and Twilight yelled.

“Awesome right?” Shining Armor said smiling. “Princess Celestia and Luna never told me exactly what spell they used on the door. It took them half and hour of continuous magic casting before they finally finished. All they told me was that the door was now partially alive and that they’d imbued it with pieces of their characters.”

“Pieces of their character? Partially alive?” Rainbow Dash said disbelievingly. “You make it sound like this weird door is alive.”

*rumble* “RRRRRRrrrrrrrr.”

My mouth fell open in shock. “Did that thing just-”

“GROWL!?” Twilight yelled. “It actually responded to Rainbow Dash! It should be impossible to imbue inanimate objects with anothers sentience. There’s no magic that i’ve studied that even hints it’s possible.”

“Well Celestia and Luna have been around a lot longer than you Twilight. I’m sure they have unfathomable amounts of hidden and powerful knowledge. On that note most species probably couldn’t even fathom living as long as them.”

“Forget all that magic mumbo jumbo.” Applejack said. “What ah want ta know is how ya’ll managed to get your hands on everwood! Not only that but how did ya’ll get enough to make ah door this big?”

Still smiling Shining Armor said, “Well that’s another little secret of the princesses. I don’t actually know where they got the wood. I simple suggested that we should make the front door out of the strongest material Canterlot could provide. Lo and behold the next day I come to the castle and two massive doors of everwood are just lying around the front entrance.”

“Err excuse me, but what is everwood?” I asked confused. “Based on Applejack and your conversation I’ve gathered that it’s obviously rare or expensive. What I don’t get is how this wood could possibly be the strongest material in Canterlot. Why not just build a door of steel or titanium? You guys have magic so i’m sure you could create something ridiculous like a wall infused with multiple graphene or carbon nanotube layers.”

The second I finished speaking I realized my mistake. I snapped my neck to look over at Twilight. “Don’t you dare add that to-” But it was too late. Twilight had pulled out her massive scroll and was busy furiously writing more questions down.

“Tooooooo late Cicero. It’s already on the list.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and rubbed my eyes. “I’ll expire before you ever get an answer to all of your questions, you realize this right?”

“Mmmmmhhhhhhh” Twilight responded not paying me much attention. She was much too busy with her damned scroll.

“Well I’m not sure what most of that fancy stuff ya just mentioned is but everwood isn’t just the strongest material in Canterlot. It’s the strongest material that can be found on Equis.” Applejack explained.

“She’s right Cicero.” Shining Armor added. “Everwood can’t be grown, it has to be found. We have almost no idea what conditions are needed to grow it. All we know about it is that it can be found in rare random pockets of extremely concentrated magic across Equis. Something about how it grows and absorbs ambient magic infuses it with virtually indestructible properties. Without even taking into account the princesses magic, this door could take the full brunt of an ursa major and come out completely unscathed.”

All 6 girls looked to the door in wonder as Shining Armor finished his explanation.

“With all of the dangerous mythological creatures i’ve learned exist here in Equestria i’m actually hesitant to ask what an ursa major is.”

“It’s a bear made of stars!” Pinkie Pie answered cheerily.

“A bear made of stars?” I said confused? “Forgetting that that’s impossible that actually doesn’t sound so bad in comparison to some of the other things I’ve already met. Does it have magic or some-”

“Ursa major’s are also roughly 100 feet tall.” Shining Armor added helpfully.

My mouth dropped open. It took a couple seconds for me to process what I’d just heard. “Jesus I swear Equestria just gets more and more terrifying every time I ask a question. How your race of adorable squishy ponies manages to survive with all of these insane creatures around I’ll never understand.”

“With magic dear.” Rarity said levitating around a leaf she’d found on the ground. “Twilight actually managed to fend off an ursa minor, a baby ursa major, that came rampaging into Ponyville.”

“I didn’t really fend it off.” Twilight said. “I just made it sleepy and levitated it out of town.”

“There she goes again.” Rarity said. “Always so modest Twilight. You’re most likely one of the only unicorns who could levitate a 20 foot tall bear out of town.”

“You also used the wind and plants of Ponyville to play it a lullaby.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“And ya managed to lift and feed it ah water tower full ah milk.” Applejack added.

“That’s my Twili! The smartest unicorn that ever lived!” Shining Armor said happily.

Twilight blushed at their praise and said, “It wasn’t really as impressive as you make it sound….”

“I’m afraid i’m going to have to disagree with you on that Twilight.” I said. Twilight looked up at me. “After what I just heard it sounds like you have some very impressive talents. You used wind and nearby plants to create a lullaby to calm the bear. This tells me you acted calmly in the face of danger and have the ability to think under pressure. You also managed to lift a water tower of milk and a 20 foot tall bear simultaneously. This tells me you have the magical strength to lift quite a few tons. And most impressively, you managed to resolve a dangerous situation without resorting to violence.”

I crouched down and softly cupped her cheek with my hand. “You could have been killed by a rampaging beast but you chose to show compassion instead of aggression. It’s takes an extraordinary individual to stare down that kind of danger and respond with kindness.”

Twilight’s blush deepened considerably once i’d finished talking. After a few silent seconds I felt the increased heat in her cheek through my hand. Realizing what I was doing I pulled my hand back and stood up. I didn’t want to evoke Shining Armors protective brotherly instincts again.

“With all the distractions we keep running into I don’t think we’ll ever make it to the meeting with Celestia and Luna today.” I joked.

“I’m afraid I have to concur with Cicero’s statement.” Rarity said with a smile. “We wouldn’t want you to get so distracted with Twilight that you miss the meeting with the princesses.” She gave me a wink and turned back to the door. “As fascinating as this lovely door is I think we need to find a way to get through it.”

The door apparently liked what Rarity had to say about it. It let out a, “PPPrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.” in response and then rumbled open.

“Oh how wonderful. Thank you Dear!” Rarity said as she walked through the now open front door.

Rolling my eyes at Rarity’s hidden message I followed behind her and made sure to thank the door on the way through. It seemed a bit silly but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to be polite if the door could actually understand me. Everyone else followed suit and did the same as they came through the door.

“Stupid door.” I heard someone mumble as they came through. *WAP* “YEOUCH!”

I kept walking but looked back to see Rainbow Dash quickly fly past me with a bright red mark now on her rump. I saw something that looked distinctly like a black riding crop sink back into the door. Letting out a snort I mirthfully shook my head at Rainbow Dash’s misfortune and turned back around to see her still rapidly retreating down the hallway.

Shining Armor made it to the front and took lead of our group's direction once more. He seemed to have the interior of this building memorized just as he did the courtyards. Which was good as there was no way anyone who wasn’t extremely familiar with this building’s layout could possibly find their way through it. Each corridor had the same setup as the last. Faded black and white marble tiles, a red carpet in the middle, and lots of columns. The occasional greenery, stained glass windows, or door made an appearance in some of the halls.

A strange thought popped into my head as I walked. Why haven’t I seen any guards or servants? I imagine a castle this large would have large measures of both wandering the halls at all times. I wasn’t necessarily complaining as it meant less ponies staring at me. However the protector in me didn’t like things out of the ordinary or unexpected. I didn’t have long to ponder this thought as we turned another corner and I finally saw something that broke the monotony of the other corridors we’d traveled through.

Two white unicorns guards with golden armor were standing at attention on either side of a large wooden double door. This corridor was also much wider than the last. Multiple tapestries of random ponies adorned a large portion of the walls. A few of the ponies deeds depicted in the tapestries caught my eye. I wish I had time to peruse through them all. Unfortunately I heard Shining Armor speak to address the guards.

“Shining Armor, the elements of harmony, and alien Cicero reporting to see the princesses for a scheduled meeting.”

“Welcome back sir.” The pony guard on the left said.

“We were wondering why the princesses ordered the castle hallways to be minimally staffed today.” The guard on the right said. “I suppose I can understand why now.”

“Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence are waiting in the throne room.” The left one said again. “We were told to let you in right away once you’d arrived. Please go on in.”

Shining Armor gave a quick nod to both the guards and used his magic to open the doors. The throne room was breathtakingly massive. The side walls were covered with equally massive stained glass windows of suns and moons. They were all letting large amounts of sunlight through. A large golden chandelier hung from the center of the rooms ceiling. White columns of various thickness were dotted about the room. Finally, the centerpiece of the room was a large golden throne with small fountains that were coming out of it’s sides.

Attempting to keep my gawking to a minimum I focused my attention to the throne. It had three alicorns sitting on it. Celestia and Luna were easy to identify from yesterday so I’m guessing this last pink alicorn is the Cadence I’ve been hearing about. I hadn’t been expecting her coat to be bubblegum pink but I was able to keep my surprise in check. I was starting to get used to the strange colors of the ponies in Equestria.

Now that i’d identified the room and it’s occupants my training told me i’d only have about 5 more seconds to note and observe anything of importance before we reached talking distance. Right away three things made themselves apparent to me. One of which I was slightly angry with myself for not noticing the other day. First, the princesses were all different sizes. It appeared Celestia was the largest with luna second and Cadence third. I wonder if their size is a representation or their power? Or perhaps age? Twilight never specifically mentioned that Celestia and Luna were born at the same time.

Second, I noticed the throne height differences. It appeared Celestia was in the middle on a raised platform while cadence and Luna were at her sides on slightly lower platforms. Perhaps an indication of who holds the most power and sway in the kingdom? I was under the belief that the power was split equally in this diarchy but perhaps i’m incorrect. I wonder why Cadence is allowed on the throne at all though. I understand that she’s royalty but if she’s not from the same family…. Ahh I see. Cadence must be familiarly related to those two in some way. Interesting. I had assumed her Crystal kingdom was a completely separate entity.

The last thing I’d noticed was worrying me slightly. Something was wrong with the air in this room. I couldn’t specifically identify what it was but I knew that my body was reacting strangely. Every breath I took felt like it was… charged. It was making my body tense up. I felt like a beast coiled on it’s haunches ready to strike. This is completely unlike me. I’m usually very calm and rational in these scenarios. My training has taught me to be so.

My five seconds were up. I shook head slightly and focused back in on the princesses to see what they’d say. Strangely enough It looked as though they were talking to us but I couldn’t hear anything. I looked over to the girls to try and see if they could hear them either. I saw confused looks on each of their faces as well.

Luckily Shining Armor stepped forward and said, “Your highness I’m guessing you still have a protective voice bubble active right now. We can’t hear anything you’re saying.”

Celestia appeared to laugh at this and then lit up her horn.

“My apologies my little ponies. I forgot that we’d set up one to talk privately while we waited for you all.”

I saw the edges of some invisible bubble shimmer and disappear. Then it hit me like a brick. I felt an incredible wave of the charged electric air wash over me. My vision instantly sharpened and I gasped. My body felt as if I’d just released my entire cores energy throughout it. My body begin to shiver as I ground my teeth together. I was barely able to stop myself from dashing off around the room. WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME.

“Shining Armor how many times must I ask you to call me Celestia now. You’re of equal status to me after all.”

“Sorry your highness it’s a force of habit. You can’t serve anypony for that long without some side effects.”

I could hear the conversation proceeding as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. How can the hell can they just proceed as normal? Why are they ignoring the insane wave of energy that was just released? I felt my bodies shivering evolved into shaking. I’m not going to be able to contain myself for much longer. I need to get rid of this buildup fast. I began attempting to rapidly force the excess energy into my body's extremities. I might be able to take care of this without anyone noticing. I could feel beads of sweat starting to build on my forehead.

“Cicero.”

Diving rapidly down into my body I started feeling around to see if something was abnormal or broken in my physiology somehow. I’d witnessed some protectors lose control of their bodies energy regulation abilities when they’d been injured in battles. Perhaps that strange energy wave broke some connection between my brain’s regulation of my body. I could feel my body starting to randomly spasm during my internal search.

“CICERO!”

I stopped my internal search and raised my twitching head to look over at whoever was calling my name. Apparently Celestia had noticed my lack of control first and called out to me. I could see a look of concern and suspicion on her face as she stared at me. My attempts to dissipate the excess energy throughout and out of my body were failing. I needed a physical outlet now before I damaged myself. Looking past Celestia my eye was caught by a group of pillars and I realized what I had to do.

“I-I’m S-sorry but c-can you give me f-few moments before we *urk* continue?” I gritted out. Confusion replaced the suspicion on Celestia’s face.

“I suppose so. May I ask why? Are you alright Cicero?” She asked.

“No t-time I just… FUCK!” I yelled. I couldn’t stand still any longer. Crouching down I jumped and launched myself towards the closest pillar. A small part of my mind registered a few gasps coming from the direction I’d just stood. Regrettably even though I knew I was going to make a fool of myself my body unequivocally demanded exercise this instant. Landing feet first I again crouched and this time jumped towards the group of pillars I’d seen behind Celestia.

Landing sideways on one of the pillars I calmed my mind best I could and split it into two. I assigned one half to take completely control of my brain's motor cortex and force my body to expend as much energy as possible. Right away that half took to it’s job with much gusto. I threw myself at another pillar and used my arm to slingshot around it and jump towards another. As my body continued to rapidly jump between pillars I felt the excess stores of energy that were blocking my rational thinking begin to lessen.

After a good minute of jumping around the energy had lessened to such a degree that I was able use the second half of my mind. I started logically processing what had just happened. Well I don’t have much time to figure out what the fuck that was. Not only is my first impression with Cadence now ruined but I’m pretty sure Celestia and Luna might try and put me down if they think I’ve gone crazy. Damnit. I’ll just have to trace through the chain of events as fast as possible.

I entered the throne room and felt an odd electricity in the air. Thinking on it now I’m actually pretty sure it was just ambient magic in the air. I’ve experienced the same feeling through other protectors visions. So assuming that’s the case why did Celestia releasing that invisible shield trigger such a massive wave of energy? I was in Celestia and Luna’s presence for hours yesterday and didn’t notice any adverse effects like this.

Hmmmm. Perhaps the invisible shield blocked more than just sound as she stated. Maybe it’s like Twilight’s teleportation in the sense that it also blocks airflow and other things of that nature. But if that’s the case how on Equis does oxygen get inside the shield? Maybe it’s not perfect down to an atomic level? Perhaps it only contains most of the atoms it encapsulates but still allows some to escape. That would explain why the air felt charged but the whole effect didn’t hit me until she released it.

So if those three had been sitting there for a long time waiting for us to arrive it’s possible they’re magic could have naturally escaped and gathered in that shield. Jesus these alicorns have an absolutely terrifying amount of power. I hate to admit it but even if I can secure a friendship with them I might have to develop a secondary plan for taking them out if need be. Anything with that much power has the potential for just as much evil as they do good. Even if they wouldn’t willingly commit heinous deeds there are always extenuating circumstances that a protector must plan for.

*Sigh* Twilight would be absolutely crushed if she could hear what I was thinking. I suppose I don’t need to make a decision on this right now. Ignoring their power another point of concern is how the concentrated dose affected me. I can only assume the others weren’t affected as they’re of this land and used to the higher levels of magic in the air. But even if I factor in my body's inexperience to the presence of magic in the air why did it affect me like that?

Never in any vision i’ve ever experienced have I noted such an insane effect of ambient magic on any protectors body. It doesn’t make sense. Our people have absolutely no capacity whatsoever for magic. Sure we can feel the charged feeling in the air that ambient magic creates. But so can any other non magic using creature.

So why have I never seen a reaction like mine? I felt like a battery ready to burst. The closest experience i’ve had that I could compare it too were from some of the visions of other protectors. Certain protectors have tried to experiment with drugs and the like to try and increase their body's energy level regeneration rate.

Never to any success though. Some of the deaths of those who’d tried included heart attacks, total muscle seizure leading to asphyxiation, and increased body temperature that literally melted their brain. So anything that increases my bodies energy levels that rapidly is not only confusing but terrifying. Unfortunately avoiding those three until I figure this problem out isn’t going to work. I’ll need Celestia, Luna, and Cadences help if my plan to transfer materials if going to come to fruition.

“Cicero while my sister is magnanimous enough to indulge your strange behavior, I am not. Enough is enough. We demand you come down this instant and explain yourself.” Luna bellowed at me.

Shit. I guess times up. I suppose I’m just going to have to look into this problem later on my own time. My awkward actions have probably already damaged any diplomatic relations i’d hoped to establish with those two. I concentrated back on my physical body and slowly merged my split thought processes back into one.

Once I regained full awareness and control of my body I realized I was in the air travelling towards a pillar. Reacting quickly I put out my right arm and caught the pillar with hand and chest. I relaxed my grip and slowly slid to the ground. As I slid to the ground I noticed my shirt and pants were now wetly clinging to my body. Apparently I’d starting sweating profusely at some point during my strenuous exercise session. Not surprising considering the energy buildup in my body had rapidly increased my internal temperature.

Having slid down the pillar I was close enough to the floor to simply release my grip and land. I hit the ground with a thud and quickly assessed my current physical and mental state. Physically I still felt energetic but now my internal energy levels felt closer to how they’d be if I woke up extremely rested rather than that of a bomb about to explode. Mentally, with the reduced energy flow, I was now able to clearly think again. So overall, minus my now disheveled appearance, I was close to how I’d been before entering the throne room.

Alright time for maximum damage control… and even though I don’t like it perhaps a bit of groveling is in order. Straightening myself up I walked the short distance back to the front of the throne. As I neared the girls and Shining Armor I noticed a varied set of reactions to my strange performance displayed on their faces. I didn’t have to time to discern them all as Luna didn’t give me the chance.

“Based on what you showed my sister and I yesterday I understand that you’re a strange individual but that display was bordering slightly on insanity.”

“From your perspective I can definitely understand how you came to that conclusion.” I responded. “However I can promise you that I am just as sane as I was yesterday when we spoke. That being said I do apologize for my actions. Is it possible that we could just forget that happened and move on?” I asked hopefully.

Celestia gave me a frown and said, “Cicero as rulers of Equestria and protectors of it’s ponies we have a duty to seek out and deal with any potential dangers to them. That includes unknown and possible unhinged visiting aliens.”

*sigh* “Well it’s not like I didn’t expect that answer. I’m assuming you’ll at least give me a chance to explain myself, correct?” Celestia and Luna both nodded. “Very well. However before we start I actually have a quick question for Rarity” I said turning to her.

Rarity seemed shocked by the sudden attention. “Yes Cicero? Are you alright?” she asked confused.

“Fine now actually. Minus the fact that my appearance is now completely inappropriate for a meeting with royalty. I was hoping you might able to help with that. I figured if anyone knew some quick magic to rectify this fashion problem it would be you.”

Her eyes lit up with understanding. “But of course! I have just the thing. Stand still please.”

Rarity closed her eyes as her horn lit up. A second later my body was enveloped by a soft pink hue. This was followed by all of the water quickly evaporating off my body and out of my clothes. The sensation was the same that I’d felt earlier when Twilight had used her drying magic on me at the fountain. Unlike earlier, I next felt a soft breeze blow over me. As it passed by my nose was filled with a fragrant floral smell. Once the breeze has passed I took a deep whiff of the scent to try and identify it.

“Jasmine?” I queried.

Rarity smiled and opened her eyes. “Excellent deduction Cicero. You’re the first stallion i’ve met to guess that smell correctly on the first try. How did you know?”

“Because of tea. When I was younger my mother used to make me meditate for hours every single day. It was training for protector emotional control. I found it frustratingly hard to get into a meditative trance at that young age though. To help with the process mother would make me a cup of jasmine tea whenever I started meditating. Drinking tea became a relaxing phenomenon for me and eventually my olfactory receptors associated the smell of jasmine with a sense of calm.”
“You drink tea too! Oh this so wonderful! I can’t wait to invite you to Fluttershy’s and my tea parties.” Shooting a look at the other girls she said, “The girls always seem to be suspiciously busy or missing whenever I try and invite them.”

The reaction from the group was an assortment of coughing, looking away, or pawing at the ground. I was surprised to see Pinkie Pie looking away just as guiltily as the other girls. Pinkie Pie was the first person I’d expect to get excited about any type of party. Although considering how hyper she is all the time it makes sense she wouldn’t want to participate in such a calming activity. Knowing Pinkie Pie’s insane disappearing and reappearing abilities I’m assuming she’s the one pony Rarity could never find to invite. All of the sudden a devious plan snaked it’s way into my mind.

“What a coincidence! I’d love to participate in one of your tea parties Rarity and Fluttershy.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked hopefully.

“Of course Fluttershy. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity to try some native teas of this world.”

“Splendid!” Rarity said happily. “It will be nice to have another at our little get togethers. Drinking tea with friends is always so relaxing.”

“Actually Rarity I believe you’ll find that you have two more wishing to join your future tea parties.”

“Oh?”

“I actually had a wonderful conversation this morning about tea with none other than our very own Pinkie Pie.” I watched Rarity and Fluttershy’s faces shift to delight as they looked over towards Pinkie Pie. It was only for a moment but I saw a look of horror flash across Pinkie Pie’s face before she quickly hid it and went back to smiling.

“Pinkie Pie darling I didn’t realize you were a tea connoisseur!” Rarity said. “I always tried to invite you to our get togethers but I’ve never been able to find you when we had them. I assumed you were avoiding me. How foolish of me to assume such a thing.”

Pinkie Pie’s smile drooped a little bit. “Well….” She started.

“I’m s-so sorry we never invited you Pinkie Pie.” Fluttershy said tearfully. “You probably thought we didn’t l-like you and that’s why you’ve never said anything about tea before.” Using the most adorable puppy dog eyes i’ve ever seen Fluttershy finished with, “You’ll come to our next tea session won’t you?”

OHOHOHOHOHO YES! It’s over! There’s no way anyone can deny an adorable Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie would have to accept. I watched in delight as I was proven correct three seconds later when she said, “Of course! Tea parties sound super duper fun!”

Rarity and Fluttershy both leaned in to hug a smiling Pinkie Pie. As they embraced her she looked over to me and narrowed her eyes. I mouthed, ‘revenge is sweet’ to her. She narrowed her eyes even further in response.

“It’s always nice to see that the bonds of friendship you girls have with each other are still as strong as ever.” Celestia said with a smile. “Sometimes new friendships can help further strengthen existing ones.” Celestia turned her head and for the second that our eyes connected she gave me a wink. Oh my. It appears Celestia has a slightly devious side to her. I couldn’t help but smile at this realization. How charming.

“I’ll have to concur with my sister.” Luna said straightfaced. “Thank goodness Cicero was here to help Pinkie Pie learn about a new type of party.” She turned her head and let out a strange sounding *snort*. “E-excuse me everyone.” She said tightening her bottom lip. Looking closer I could see the smile threatening to take over her face. She was fighting to keep her lips from giving her way. Oh man, Luna too. My smile grew. These two might be even more interesting than I thought.

“Tea parties are actually quite common amongst the nobles in the Crystal Kingdom.” The previously silent Cadence said. “If you’re looking for new teas to try I’d be happy to supply some interesting varieties that the Crystal Ponies make. Though I’d suggest you avoid adding sugar of any kind to the actual tea. Crystal Kingdom tea is brewed from specials leaves with strange chemical properties. They taste neutral and earthy in water but change any sweet flavors added instead to bitter.”

Pinkie Pie’s face froze in a position of complete surprise. Her mouth hung open as if she truly couldn’t believe such a horrible leaf existed. I may not know Cadence yet but she is now officially my hero. What a fucking champ. I looked over to Cadence expecting to see her barely containing her mirth. However much to my surprise I only saw her contentedly smiling at our group. I waited for a few moments and watched her face. I searched it looking for some hint or sign that she was in on the joke.

Cadence apparently noticed Pinkie Pie’s expression and with a concerned voice said, “Is everything ok Pinkie Pie?”

Well well well. Apparently she hadn’t been trying to continue the joke. That means she’s either incredibly oblivious to social cues or extremely innocent. As she’s the queen of a country i’d expect she’d need the ability to pick up social cues. Especially if she’s to effectively rule her country's ponies. Now that’s an interesting piece of knowledge. But evaluation of Cadences innocence would have to wait until later. Luna’s face was starting to balloon out as she tried to contain her laughter. I should probably save her to hopefully gain some slight favor.

“I’m sure Pinkie Pie’s just extremely excited to be offered an opportunity to try new teas from so far away. Thank you very much for your gracious offer. But moving away from tea, now that my clothes are in a presentable condition, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Cicero and I’m a human that hails from the planet Earth.” I gave a slight bow to show my deference.

“Hello Cicero. My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza but i’d appreciate it if you would simply call me Cadence. I’ve actually already heard all about you from the letters Twilight has been sending me. I’ve just finished learning even more about you from aunty Celestia and Luna while we waited for you to arrive.”

“So I’ve heard. Shining Armor mentioned that Twilight had sent you a few letters containing information about me.”

“Indeed. However these letters never mentioned anything about what exactly you are Cicero.” Shining Armor said. “Did I hear you say that you’re a human from Earth earlier?”

“Wonderful.” Celestia said. “It appears that our conversation has naturally steered us towards the main reason I wished to invite everyone here today. We’ve already told Cadence all about our conversation with you yesterday while we were waited here. If you don’t mind I’d like to condense it down and inform Shining Armor of the situation. This will allow me to confirm all that we know about you so far. You can correct me if I miss something.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan Celestia. By all means go ahead.” I said.

“Excellent. Once this is done we can have a talk about your strange display from a few moments ago.”

Damnit. I was hoping I’d managed to steer the conversation away from that. Without realizing it I made a face that gave away my displeasure. Noticing it, Celestia gave me a soft smile.

“Cicero I’ve been alive for quite a few millennia and dealing with loquacious individuals for just as long. I’m very aware when someone is attempting to hide or distract me from something with their words.” I nodded my head in defeat.

“Now moving on. Shining Armor as you know Cicero arrived in Equestria around 1 week ago, appearing near Ponyvilles Everfree forest. Since then he has been living in Ponyville and interacting with Twilight and her friends.” Shining Armor gave a slight nod to show he did in fact already know this.

“What you haven’t heard is that Luna was flying over the Everfree forest the other night and happened upon Cicero dealing with a group of aggressive manticores.”

“Dealing with princess?” Shining Armor said. “Could you please elaborate?”

“Considering our current audience I’d rather not go into details about Cicero’s interactions with the manticores. I will say that Luna watched him use extremely powerful abilities to render most of the manticores unable to continue fighting. If you wish you know more about this then you’ll have to ask Cicero or us later.”

“Oh I most certainly will princess.”

“Me too!” Shouted Rainbow Dash. “I tried to ask him about it yesterday and he gave the same excuse as the princess.” She finished unhappily.

Celestia smiled at her outburst. “I’m sure you can be present when Shining Armor asks Cicero, Rainbow Dash. But for now we must continue.” Turning back to Shining Armor she continued.

Half an hour later Celestia was just finishing getting everyone up to speed on our conversation yesterday.

“And that’s all we know so far.” Celestia said looking to me. I nodded to show she’d missed nothing in her retelling of yesterday's events.

“I can now say I understand your response earlier when I asked you if you had a military background Cicero.” Shining Armor said. “I never experienced this vision that the princesses talked about so I can’t say I trust you one hundred percent yet. However based on their, my sisters, and her friends trust in you I do believe you are who you say. And if I understand your people's visions correctly then it would appear you have the amassed knowledge of generations of military minded and experienced fighters within you. I would be remiss in my duties if I did not request that you share some of this knowledge with the Crystal Kingdom's soldiers.”

“Celestia and I are very interested in this as well Cicero.” Luna said. “As you showed us yesterday, we may have amassed many years of experience but there are some things we still have no knowledge of. We would appreciate it if you would share some of your knowledge with our current captain of the guard. Assuming your presence here indicates impending turmoil, as you’ve suggested, then we’ll need to give our guards every advantage we can.”

Well there’s a proposition I didn’t expect. Most individuals in positions of power are loathe to ever admit any sort of shortcomings in their defenses. To actively ask an outsider like myself to share military or fighting knowledge is tantamount to admitting a weakness. I acknowledge that it seems like the most logical option for them considering all of our positions. Still, I’m extremely surprised they asked.

Of course now that they’ve asked the decision falls to me and I’m not sure what I want to do. On one hand if I agree to help them I would definitely game some favor with them in return. Considering I asked them for a favor first this would go a long way in convincing them to help me. Having trained guards on my side would also greatly behoove me in a large number of situations. Unfortunately on the other hand if I train their guards and they decide to turn on me for whatever reason that would make my job a whole lot harder. Hmmmmmm. I suppose it all comes down to how much trust I want to place in these four.

Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Shining Armor. Based off of what I’ve gathered in my short time here they all sound like kind and judicious leaders. I truly want to take my interactions with them at face value and simply trust. Sadly the lessons hammered into me from past protectors absolutely refuse to leave things up to chance. I cannot afford to take risks when lives are at stake. I need more time with each of them to know their characters. It’s the only way.

A terrifying thought passed through my mind at this conclusion. What if there is no time. Another lesson I learned from other protectors is to act decisively. Sometimes it’s wiser to make a decision with partial knowledge rather than wait for all information. But if I consider these two lessons at the same time then I’m no closer to making a decision than when I started this thought process. I needed another variable. Something that can definitively tip the scales one way or another.

And then it hit me. I may not have spent enough time with those four to know their intentions but there is one who has. Twilight. I turned to look at her. If anyone knows the true intentions of those four it would be her. She has deep ties to all of them. She’d been trying to convince me of their good intentions just a short while ago. I’d wanted to discover each of their personalities myself and take some time before I decided what to do. It looks like I’m out of time though. If i’m going to put my faith in someone then Twilight is definitely the one I trust the most right now.

Having come to a solid decision I crouched down to Twilight’s face level. Being the intellectual that she was, Twilight immediately sensed something important was going on. Since my eyelids were closed Twilight couldn’t stare into my eyes as I was hers. Still, she stood firm and returned my gaze. I’m not sure what I was looking for as I stared into her eyes. Honesty perhaps? All I knew was that how she answered my next question would be the tipping point for how I acted here in Equestria.

“Yes.” She said.

I smiled. She’d already figured out what I was going to ask. Twilight really is an extremely talented girl. Cupping her cheek with my hand I said, “Thank you Twilight.” She gave me a smile in return. Releasing her cheek I stood up and faced the throne.

“I have decided that I will begin our relationships with more a sense of trust rather than apprehension. Keep in mind that until I am one hundred percent sure I know all of your motives I will still be suspicious. That said, I believe that it would help all of us if I begin the process of sharing knowledge. I will share certain pieces of tactical, strategic, intellectual, and technological information that is requested of me IF, and I stress this, IF I believe it will help this planet as a whole.”

“Wonderful! I’m sure pony society has much that we can teach you as well. Thank you for placing your trust in us Cicero.” Celestia said.

“You’re welcome Celestia. Although to be honest I’m not really putting my trust in you all.” She raised her eyebrows at this. “I haven’t spent enough time with you four to trust you yet. However I do know enough about Twilight that I’m willing to trust her judgment of you all for now.” Celestia smiled and nodded.

“Well, since I’m going to start sharing information I’ll start by explaining what happened when I walked into the room. Although my explanation might not be all that helpful as I don’t really know what just happened. You’ve seen that my people and I have what most would assume to be impossible levels of physical prowess. What you don’t know is that I augment my physical abilities to these insane levels by controlling the flow of my body's internal energy. I don’t wish to go into too much detail about it right now. The gist is that I lost control of my ability to direct my bodies energy flow when you broke your sound bubble earlier.”

“Do you lose control of your abilities often?” Luna asked.

“Never. As A protector I am always in control of my body mentally and physically. My guess, as of right now, is that because you three contain so much power that once you let down that bubble a wave of condensed magic washed over me. As Earth has no ambient magic I’m assuming that my body was unaccustomed to the strange feeling and it caused my body’s internal energy flow to go haywire. The jumping around was my attempt to regain control of my body's internal energy flow.”

Closing their eyes Celestia and Luna appeared to be thinking about my response.

“This is all very fascinating but I’m actually more interested to know what you think about ponies and Equestria so far.” Cadence said.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I hadn’t expected a segway like that. I assume she asked to give Celestia and Luna time to think. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to answer her.

“I’ve enjoyed my time in Equestria immensely so far. These six wonderful mares have seen to that.” I said giving them all a smile. “From Equestrian nature to the ponies harmonious society everything has been more like a vacation to me this past week rather than a upheaval from my previous life on Earth. I’m excited to see what other interesting experiences this world has in store for me.”

“I’m extremely happy to hear how positively you’re taking this drastic change in your life. Celestia, Luna, and I were worried that such a jarring experience might have been emotionally upsetting for you.”

“HA! Now who’s hiding their agenda?” I laughed. Cadence looked confused by my words.
“What do you mean Cicero? I meant nothing negative by what I said. I was simply worried that you might be sad or lonely since your sequestering from Earth. I understand that you’re a protector and that you’ve been trained to be strong but I’m always willing to give a hug to anyone who needs it. You don’t have to hide it if you’re hurting Cicero.”

Good lord is she serious? Is she making fun of me or is she actually that kind hearted? I looked over her posture, trying to discern any body signals that would show she was attempting to deceive me. All I found was that she was relaxed and held no tension in her muscles. I looked to her face to see if she was holding back any facial cues that would tell me her intentions. But all I saw was a face laden with concern. Damn I think she seriously is just a really kind pony.

“Cicero?”

“I’m sorry Cadence I didn’t mean to stare I just didn’t realize you were serious. I thought you were testing me or making a joke.”

“What!?” She seemed affronted by my words. “I would never do something like that to anypony in need! Especially not after what you’ve been through.”

“Yes I can see that now. I apologize for my words.” I said sincerely. “To answer your implied questions, yes, it was upsetting to be thrust into this world unexpectedly and no, I do not need a hug. Thank you for offering though. From your point of view I can understand how it might seem like I’m attempting to hide my emotions at this sudden twist of fate. But as you know, I’m a protector. I’ve been trained all of my life for the possibility that this situation might occur. So yes, it might be a bit sudden but I’ve had a long time to make my peace with this possibility.”

“I see. I suppose that does make a lot of sense. Well, even if you don’t want a hug I’d still like to get to know you better. You and the girls really must come visit Shining Armor and I in the Crystal Kingdom at some point. I know you said you’d share information with our guards but I’d like to personally invite everyone to come stay with us in the Crystal palace.”

“That’s very kind of you Cadence. Considering that I now live in Equestria I know i’d definitely be interested in that offer.” Looking back to girls I said, “What do you girls think?”

“Yes!” Twilight excitedly replied. “It’s been so long since we’ve been able to talk face to face Cadence. I miss you and Shiny!”

Cadence’s face shifted into a wide smile. “I’ve missed you too Twilight. Ever since the Crystal Heart incident I’ve wanted to invite you girls to the palace. We’ve just been so busy getting the kingdom running again.”

“We have reached a decision.” Luna interrupted.

I looked to Luna and said, “A decision? What were you deciding?”

“Whether to press you for answers or not.” Celestia answered. “The way you answered our question about what happened to you when you entered the throne room tells me that you left something out. Something you didn’t want to talk about.”

“However Celestia and I have decided not to press you for answers at the present moment.” Luna said. “We understand that your training makes you wary of us and we wish to help ease that concern. Based off of Twilight’s letters concerning you we have come to the conclusion that you can be trusted for now. If you’re going to meet us halfway then so will we.”

I smiled. “Trust is a two way street.” I murmured to myself. “Thank you for not pressing me on this matter. I assure you that I meant no harm by leaving out any details. I’m just not sure about what happened to me and I’d like to think on it before I talk about it.”

“Of course Cicero.” Celestia said. “I hope that over time you’ll come to trust that Luna and I are simply two leaders trying to do what’s best for their country. But for now let’s move on to your request from yesterday. Now that Cadence is here could you please elaborate on what it is you wish for us to do exactly?”

“Of course. Well I was hoping that-”

*WHAM!*

Everyone in the throne roomed tensed as something heavy slammed into the wooden double door. Turning around I felt my body instinctively crouch down in response. I strained my ears as I listened for any other noises.

“Forest Heart what are you-*BAM*”

Once more something heavy slammed into the door. I waited silently for any more noises but nothing came.

“Were you expecting company Celestia?” I asked.

“No. I told the guards that we were to remain unbothered until I called for them.” I could hear the concern in her voice. Something was wrong here.

*knock knock knock*

Someone was gently knocking at the doors. I looked back to Celestia to see what she wanted to do. Luna’s horn lit up and she closed her eyes for a moment.

“I can’t sense the guards at the doors anymore.” Luna said in a steely tone. “Something is knocking at the door but I can’t identify what it is. Something about it’s presence feels…. wrong. All I can sense coming from it is power and anger.”

*knock knock knock* “Yoohoo! Celestia! Luna! Are you there? I’d love to talk.” The thing knocking at the door called. Something was very very wrong here. Simply hearing whatever was at the door grated on my senses.

“My little ponies get behind the throne.” Celestia said. I looked over to see a cool mask replacing the smiling face that I was used to seeing on her. Luna’s face had shifted into an expressionless mask to match her sisters. Cadence was attempting to do the same as the other two but the fear was much more apparent on her face.

“You as well Cadence and Shining Armor.” Luna said.

“But-” Shining Armor tried to argue.

“NOW.” She said. She stared directly into Shining Armor’s face and I saw the reason why these two had ruled for so long. There was no disobeying that face.

Bowing quickly, Shining Armor and Cadence quickly came over to our group and ushered everyone behind the throne. Cadence attempted to usher me with the rest of the group but I stood firm and shook my head. She was unhappy with this and attempted to push me with everyone else.

Celestia simply said, “Cicero is not our subject. It is his choice to stay. Go Cadence.”

Letting out a sigh she turned and went with everyone else. I looked over to Celestia and gave her a nod to show my thanks. Walking over to the throne I stood next to it on the side that Cadence had left unoccupied. I knew I didn’t have long so I quickly delved into my core and started forcing energy throughout my body. With the excess energy from earlier still in my body I was able to create multiple layers of reinforcement throughout my entire body. Letting the energy gently flow through my adrenal glands I felt a wave of clarity wash over me.

“My goodness how rude. Leaving a guest to wait outside like this. At least your parents had the decency to come to me.” The voice outside the door said.
I heard a sharp intake of breath. Both Luna and Celestia’s eyes widened in shock. They quickly hid it and hardened their faces once more.

*sigh* “Very well then. If that’s how it’s going to be.”

*CCCRRAAACK BOOM*

The wooden double doors splintered into a thousands pieces and exploding inwards towards the throne. Lighting up her horn Celestia put a shield around the entire throne. Any wooden shards that hit it were powerfully rebounded.

*KAA-Shhhhh*

I heard a few of the stained glass windows around the room shatter as the wooden shards forcefully broke through them. Then, much to my surprise, a small green unicorn pony entered the room through the now empty doorway.

“Forest Heart? Why have you destroyed our throne room doors?” Celestia asked.

“Forest Heart!?” Shining Armor yelled. Shining Armor ran out from behind the throne to confirm Celestia’s claims. “What is the meaning of this!?”

“Forest Heart?” The green unicorn asked confused. “Oh! Yes that was this pony's name wasn’t it. Not that it matters anymore. He’s dead now. This body is merely a host for me. Still, you’d think with as many times as i’ve heard that name screamed at me i’d remember it by now.” With a smile on his face he said, “I have to admit that my favorite time was when I forced Forest Heart to dismantle his wife.”

“Dismantle?!” Shining Armor roared.

*sigh* “Your yelling is getting aggravating.” Forest Heart sneered. With a flick of his head his horn lit up and an invisible force slammed into Shining Armor before anyone had time to think. Shining Armor was blown off his feet and thrown about 50 feet back into one of the throne room's pillars.

“Shining Armor! Shiny!” Cadence and Twilight yelled. I saw both of them dash out from behind the throne and go to Shining Armor.

“Monster!” Luna yelled. With a furious look on her face she shot an angry red beam from her horn towards Forest Heart. Forest Heart smiled and effortlessly used his hoof to bat the red beam to his left. The red beam impacted with the floor and quickly liquified the parts of the floor it came in contact with. The floor hissed and released steam as the tiles melted.

“There’s that temper problem i’ve been hearing about since I got back.” Forest Heart chided. “From what I’ve heard you recently got back from a long vacation on the moon. Caused by that temper no less. Tsk tsk. Seems like you haven’t learned anything.” He finished condescendingly.

Looking to Celestia he continued. “Although my favorite part of this whole Nightmare Moon story was the fact that little Celestia was the one that put you on the moon. For one thousands years in fact. Well done Celestia. I didn’t think anyone in your family had that sort of cruelty within them.”

Nightmare Moon story? What on Equis was he talking about? I looked over to Celestia and Luna to see that they were both shaken by his words. They held their masks but I could see the cracks in them. Whatever Forest Heart is talking about is something I need to learn.

“Speaking of family, was that a little Pink Alicorn I saw back there?” Cheerily looking around the throne Forest Heart said, “My goodness it is. How clumsy of me. I was so sure I’d taken care of all but you two. Oh well. now that I’m free I have all the time in the world to make sure I don’t miss any again. Speaking of which.”

Forest Heart threw his horn forward and unleashed a sickly looking green beam at Celestia. Reacting quickly Celestia put up a shield and deflected the beam downwards. The beam hit the ground and splashed around, hissing all the while. Whatever the green liquid was it was melting through the tiles like acid.

“As Luna tried to melt me with heat I figured I’d respond by doing the same with acid.” Forest heart said.

“Enough of this farce!” Celestia yelled. “You speak of my parents and the deaths of the other alicorns as if you were there but this cannot be the case. None but my sister and I were alive to remember the plague that wiped out our people. Who are you?”

As Celestia finished speaking the room began to grow dark. Looking over to the broken windows I could see that light was still coming through. What the hell. I felt a chill creep up my spine as a cold wind blew past me towards Forest Heart. I looked back to see a black aura now surrounding him. I could feel the same electrically charged feeling in the air as I had earlier from Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. But this time I felt no extra energy coursing through my body. I only felt dread.

“A plague you say?” Forest Heart whispered. “So that explains why none of your filthy pony subjects knew of my deeds.” Raising his voice he said, “Your horrid mother and father erased my existence from history with lies! But no more! I am free and you will all feel my WRATH!”

A wave of crackling black energy rushed forth from Forest Heart and towards the throne. Celestia and Luna both put up shields this time.

*BONG*

The first wave slammed into their combined shield and I felt the whole room shake as the clashing magic lit it up.

*BONG*

Another wave slammed into the combined shield and it yet it held strong. Luna and Celestia were obviously concentrating very hard to hold back Forest Hearts magic.

*BONG*

“Watching you two hold back my magic I realize that you’ve grown stronger than I thought during my absence.” Forest Heart angrily yelled over the clashing waves of magic.

*BONG*

“But unlike you two I’ve spent the last 3 millenia creating an endless list of ways I could destroy you both.

*BONG*

“Allow me to show you one of my favorites.”

*BONG*

Forest Heart and his magic disappeared during the magic flash.

“AUUGHHHHH!” Luna screamed.

Time slowed as my head whipped towards her to see Forest Heart standing at her side. His horn was glowing bright and had been jabbed into her thigh. Instinct took over as my charged muscles snapped to attention and launched me towards him. I was almost upon him before he realized I was flying at him. Faltering for a moment his smile turned to surprise. He quickly replaced it with an angry sneer. Forest Heart tried to remove his horn from Luna’s leg in time to stop me.

I helped Forest Heart remove his horn from Luna side as my fist powerfully slammed into his face. Apparently Forest Heart hadn’t assumed that this fight would turn physical as I felt no resistance when my fist smashed his face and skull inwards. A trail of blood flowed off of his horn as Forest Hearts body was sent flying from the throne. Unfortunately I also hadn’t expected him to put up such a small amount of resistance. I’d assumed he’d use some time of physical reinforcement magic for just this scenario. My momentum carried me off the throne after his body.

Luckily I landed on my feet a few yards away from the throne and then skidded to halt. Forest Heart wasn’t as lucky. His body impacted with one of the room's walls and made a wet crunching noise. I was pretty sure Forest Heart’s body wouldn’t get back up as his broken form bounced off the wall and hit the ground. Still, I walked over to it and watched the crumpled remains for a few moments. I wanted to make sure they didn’t show any signs of movement.

“LUNA!” Celestia yelled.

I spun around in surprise at Celestia's loud call. Seeing a black cloud forming over Luna I abandoned my guard over the body and jumped back onto the throne. Looking down at Luna’s body I saw that the wound Forest Heart had given her was apparently more dangerous than a simple physical attack. Lines of darkness were shooting out of her bleeding thigh and crawling quickly across her skin. Celestia’s horn shone blindingly bright as she tried to stop their advance across Luna. But nothing she did seemed to help slow the spread of the black lines or close the wound.

“AAAUUUUUGGGHHH!” Luna screamed. Falling on her side she started spasoming wildly.

“What the fuck is happening!?” I yelled at Celestia. “What do we do!?”

“I don’t know!” she said panicked. “I’ve never seen this magic before! Luna! Luna what’s happening to you? How can we help?”

“Errr! Erk! AAAAAAAHHHHH!” She yelled neither able to hear or help us.

“Princess what’s happening?” Twilight asked, coming out from behind the throne. I looked over to see Twilight and the other girls all trotting towards us. In the background far behind them I saw Cadence sitting next to Shining Armor. She was using some type of magic on him. Twilight and the girls must have heard Luna scream and come to help. If anyone had studied an obscure or unknown magic it was Twilight. I opened my mouth to call Twilight for help.

“I’ll tell you what’s happening you little shits.” A voice echoed from all around.

The voice was barely louder than a whisper but the second I heard it my entire body locked up.

“C-Cicero.” Twilight said looking terrified. “W-what was that?”

“Ahhhh Cicero is it.” The voice said again. “Congratulations creature. It has been so very long since I’ve felt such rage towards a single individual. I don’t know what you are but I can guarantee that as soon as I get another body I will find you again. I will make you regret what you’ve done here today. You have no idea who you’ve made your enemy this day. I will torture you until you can remember nothing but pain and suffering.”

Never in my entire life have I heard such hate in a voice before. Every word was laced with so much rage that I could practically feel it burning my ears. My instincts were screaming at me to block out the voice and help Luna but my muscles refused to move. I was drowning in this voices rage.

“ROOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Luna yelled again.

Hearing Luna’s screech broke me out of my panicked stupor and restarted my brain.

“Good luck Asshole. I’ve already been tortured and killed in more ways than you could ever imagine. Your threats don’t mean shit to me. Now what the fuck did you do to Luna?!” I yelled.

“Ohohoho. Strong willed are we?” The voice taunted. “Excellent. The stronger the individual is the more satisfying it is to finally break them.” I could hear the sadistic glee dripping from its voice. “But that’s for another time. I did say I would tell you what’s happening to poor little Luna.” It mocked in a baby voice.

“One of my favorite ways to kill off alicorns back before I was imprisoned was to sow disharmony amongst them and then watch as they tore each other apart.”

“No….” Celestia whispered.

“Oh my. It appears someone has already figured it out.” The voice cheered gleefully again. “Yes Celestia it’s as you fear. Now you must choose to either kill your sister and protect your subjects or die by her hooves. Oh look, she’s almost ready.”

I looked back to where Luna had last been flailing on the floor but instead found somepony else in her place. A Celestia sized midnight black alicorn was now standing with it’s eyes closed right where Luna had been.

“I’ll be back one day for whichever of you is still alive. Have fun you two.” The voice said fading away.

“Luna.” Celestia said. She hesitantly stepped closer to the black alicorn. “Can you hear me. It’s your sister. Please tell me you’re alright.”

“Luna?” The black alicorn said. “I’m not sure whom you’re talking too. My name is Nightmare Moon.” Her cerulean eyes flicked open and I saw only hate reflected in them. “I’ve come to take my revenge.” A savage smile appeared on her face.

*uuuuuuuUUUUUUAAAAPOOOOWW*

A sphere of black magic exploded out of luna. Celestia’s threw up a shield as fast as she could but it wasn’t nearly quick enough to protect us all. The black energy hit me and I was sent flying from the throne. I could hear the girls all screaming as the wave hit them as well. During one of my many aerial flips I saw a wall rapidly approaching me. I curled my body into a very tight ball and hardened my body for the impact.

*THWACK*

Fuck that’s going to bruise up. I’d hit the wall hard enough to partially break through it. Wiggling around I managed to break myself free of the wall with only minor scrapes. Hitting the ground I looked up and scoured the throne room for the girls. Hopefully they hadn’t been thrown as hard considering they were farther away from Nightmare Moon.

*THWANG* *CRACK*

I looked at the throne to see Celestia deflect a yellow lightning bolt from Nightmare Moon into the ceiling. The fight between Celestia and Nightmare Moon had apparently continued past the initial blast. Pieces of the stone ceiling cracked and fell down towards Celestia. Nightmare Moon took advantage of this and rapidly increased their downward speed towards her. Celestia created a slanted magical shield and deflected them all towards Nightmare Moon herself.

With a furious look Nightmare Moon teleported out of their way and reappeared behind Celestia. Instantly creating 100 black swords in the air she threw them all at Celestia’s back. Celestia responded quickly by rearing around and slamming the ground with her hooves. A huge stone wall shot out of the ground and stood firm as it was impaled repeatedly by the black swords.

“I see you haven’t lost your touch Celestia.” Nightmare Moon yelled over the sound of the swords slashing the stone wall. “I was afraid the battle would be over before I had a chance to have fun with you.”

“I don’t wish to fight you sister.” Celestia called back. “But I will do what I must to protect my little ponies.”

“I AM NOT YOUR SISTER!” She yelled back in anger. Unleashing a huge red wave Nightmare Moon completely atomized all the black swords and the stone wall. “I AM NIGHTMARE MOON AND YOU WILL DIE!” Letting out a furious roar she unleashed another red wave towards Celestia. Putting up another magical barrier I saw the wave hit it with a *BONG* as both canceled each other out and disappeared.

Looking away from the fight I continued my search for the girls. I want to help Celestia but I’d be almost useless in a magical fight of that magnitude. At least without any type of plan. You don’t get in between two battling magic goddesses without a damn good reason. It didn’t take me long after I stopped watching their fight to see the girls. They were standing far behind the throne around Cadence and the still unconscious Shining Armor. Taking off at a sprint I made my way around the battling alicorn sisters and quickly reached them.

“Hey girls. Are you all ok?” I said.

“Cicero!” Twilight yelled. She jumped from her spot and tackled me to the ground in a hug.

“OUCH!” I yelled, landing on my growing bruises. “Jesus I’m glad you’re ok too Twilight.”

“I thought you died!” She said still hugging me tight.

“Well I did tell you that protectors have incredibly sturdy bodies. I wasn’t joking you know.” I stood back up and Twilight released me from hug “But forget me for now. How did you all survive that attack? Based off of the lack of damage to your bodies I’m assuming you stopped yourselves somehow.”

“Cadence created a squishy magic barrier for us to land on!” Pinkie Pie said happily. “It was super fun. I want to go again!”

I gave Pinkie an, ‘are you serious look’, to which she just smiled and nodded in return. Shaking my head I turned to Cadence. “Thank you Cadence. I should have been here to help but I was caught completely unaware by the level of magic those two are capable of. It will not happen again.”

“Don’t worry about it Cicero.” Cadence said. “I’m just glad your unharmed as well.”

“Speaking of harm, how is Shining Armor Cadence? That hit from Forest Heart along with his slamming into a pillar looked serious.”

Cadence looked towards Shining Armors slowly breathing form. “From what we can tell he seems ok. Twilight and I don’t have a very wide variety of medical spells but it seems as though he’s just unconscious. Still, we need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible to make sure. A hit like that could cause a concussion.”

I could hear the concern in her voice. Her pitch was raised and slightly wavering. I’m assuming she’s downplaying her concern to not panic everyone else here.

“Well then let’s get out of here. Can’t you teleport us all out of the throne room and to a hospital?”

“WHAT!?” Rainbow Dash yelled. “We can’t leave! Celestia needs our help!”

“Ah have ta agree with Dash on this Cicero. We can’t just leave Celestia ta fight Nightmare Moon on her own. We have ta do something.”

“Are you two serious right now?” I asked incredulously. “Do you not see the same fight going on right now that I do?” As if to accentuate my point one of Nightmare Moons spells slammed into the massive golden throne and ripped it from the ground. Tipping over sideways the throne slammed into the ground and shook the entire room.

“I want to help Celestia as well but I know nothing about this Nightmare Moon nor do I have any way to combat the insane amount of magic they’re throwing at each other. We need to get everyone to safety and come up with a plan before we do anything.”

“We already have a plan!” Rainbow dash retorted. “We just need to use the elements of harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon again!”

“Again!” I yelled in surprise. “You mean you’ve already taken down this creature before? And now that we’re on the subject where the hell did Luna go? Did Nightmare Moon possess her or is she dead and gone?”

“Nightmare Moon is princess Luna.” Twilight said. “Unfortunately we don’t have the time to go through the history right now. The short story is that eventually over a long period of time princess Luna grew jealous that all of Equestria’s ponies were awake for princess Celestia’s sun but never for her moon. Her jealousy grew strong enough that it gained an alternate poisonous personality and consumed her. Nightmare Moon is that poison.”

“But we used the elements of harmony to purify princess Luna’s body of that poisonous jealousy.” Rarity said. “Why did she turn back into Nightmare Moon now?”

“Pretty sure a spell Forest Heart, or whatever creature took over his body, used had something to do with that. Right before I punched him his horn was lit up and stuck in Luna’s side. That’s where all of the black lines that started covering Luna’s body came from.”

“I’ve never heard of any magic like that before.” Twilight said. “How did this Forest Heart know such advanced magic? Who is he? What do you mean the creature that took over his body?”

“TWILIGHT!” I yelled. “We can play twenty questions all day some other time. Right now we need to focus on the present and what we know, alright?” Twilight was surprised by my yelling and took a step back. She quickly processed what I’d said and nodded back though. “Alright so you girls can use the elements of harmony to purify Luna of whatever magic caused her to become Nightmare Moon again. Where are the elements of harmony?”

“Oh no…” She said. “They’re back in Ponyville. I always keep them locked in my rooms chest for safekeeping.”

“So why don’t we teleport there and get them.”

“There’s no way I could possibly teleport that far. Even if I went by myself and made it to Ponyville I’d never have enough magic to get back.”

“Alright well what about-” I heard a whistling sound behind Twilight and saw a massive rock coming straight for our group. Flooding my body with energy I rapidly sidestepped her and lunged towards the rock. Jumping up at the last second I drop kicked the incoming rock with as much force as I could muster. The rock was thankfully less solid than I’d thought and shattered upon contact with my feet. *Thud* Having pushed all my momentum into the rock I hit the floor.

“Fuck, I’m going to have so many bruises tomorrow.”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “With your crazy abilities and my awesome speed we could easily take down Nightmare Moon! Forget all this planning let’s go get her!”

Picking myself off of the ground I groaned out, “If you’ve learned how I can kick and punch magical beams into submission then by all means let’s go get her. Breaking apart a rock doesn’t mean we can win this battle against her. Now back to what we were discussing before. Even if you can’t teleport that far I’m pretty sure you can.” I pointed to Cadence. “I’ve seen a map of Equestria in Twilight's library. If you can teleport Shining Armor and yourself from the Crystal Kingdom to Canterlot, surely you can grab the elements from Ponyville and get back. Right?”

Cadence smiled at me. “That I can Cicero.”

“Awesome. But first can we please teleport out of here before something else decides to fly this way and crush us all?”

“Right away. Everyone stand still.” I saw the familiar aura and lines of teleportation encompassing our group. However right as the line to teleport us out of the room hit the wall it stopped and faded away. I looked over to Cadence who seemed distressed by this turn of events as well. Lighting up her horn again she started concentrated on something. Almost instantly she gasped.

“Nightmare Moon has put a magical barrier around the room. It’s blocking my attempts to teleport us out of the throne room!”

“Shit. Well that definitely puts a damper on that plan. Well if we can’t teleport I guess we’ll just have to break out of the room by force.”

“Unfortunately that’s not going to work either.” Twilight said. I looked over to see her eyes closed and her horn alight. “The barrier appears to have been created to stop any sort of physical matter from leaving it at all.”

“I guess that explains why no guards have come to see what all the noise is about yet. Since Celestia ordered the halls cleared today they probably don’t even know what’s going on. Hmmmmm. Twilight do you think it’s possible we could break or poke a hole in this shield at all?”

“Unlikely. Nightmare Moon is much stronger than I am magically. Even with Cadence’s help I doubt we could overpower her shield.”

“What about diggin?” Applejack said. I looked over to her with raised eyebrows. “From all tha confounded magical experiments Twilight’s done around Ponyville ah’ve picked up on a thing or two about magic. I remember her sayin that most magic area shields ponies put up don’t take in ta account the ground.”

“That’s right Applejack! Brilliant!” Closing her eyes again Twilight’s horn lit up once more. A few moments later her face fell and her horn cut off. “It appears as though Nightmare Moon thought ahead for that. The barrier is active about 10 feet under the ground.”

“Good lord. How can she keep this massive barrier active while battling Celestia at the same time?” I asked bewildered. “Every time I think I understand how much power alicorns have I find myself once again shocked.”

“RAAAAAH! YOU BITCH!” NightMare Moon screamed. I looked over to see her bleeding from a long scrape across her stomach. Glancing over to Celestia I could see that she also had a few cuts and bruises from their continued battle.

“I begrudgingly admit that I’m impressed you’ve managed to last this long. But we both know who will win in the end. You don’t have what it takes to rule as I do! I am as wise as I am powerful. I know how to truly wound my opponents!” Spinning rapidly she faced our group with an angry snarl.

“NO!” Celestia screamed.

Nightmare Moon unleashed a massive crackling wall of red magic. Celestia tried to cast a magic barrier to block the spell but Nightmare Moon threw another yellow bolt of lightning at her. Celestia was forced to block that instead.

“CADENCE PROTECT THEM!” She screamed. Celestia savagely threw a white bolt of energy back at Nightmare Moon.

Stepping forward Cadence flared her wings and lit up her horn. I saw a pink barrier envelop our group right as the red wall of magic reached us.

*WHUMP* *CRACKLE*

Cadence’s barrier held firm but I saw her wince under the impact of the red wave.

“I’ll hold the barrier Celestia!” Cadence yelled back.

“uuuuuuOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Celestia roared in return. A white beam exploded from her horn and flew straight at Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon covered herself in a black shield and deflected the beam towards a group of pillars which promptly exploded upon impact. With a triumphant smile Nightmare Moon charged towards Celestia and they began their duel again.

Walking over to Cadence I whispered in her ear, “I don’t want to panic the others but how long can you keep up this shield?”

“Without another attack like that? For days. Against another direct attack of that strength? I can maybe block another 4 or so.” She whispered back.

FUCK! This situation just turned from bad to dire real fucking quick. That smile of Nightmare Moon tells me she’s a more dangerous opponent than I originally thought. Celestia and her seem to be about evenly matched in terms of magical ability but Celestia has a lot more to lose than Nightmare Moon and that’s weighing her down.

Nightmare Moon knows that Celestia doesn’t want to fight her because she’s doesn’t want to hurt her sister. However she also knows that Celestia doesn’t want any harm to come to our group. She’s torn between doing her duty and trying to save her sister. Nightmare Moon is trying to panic her into making a mistake. This is exactly why emotional control is such a large part of protector training. God damnit there are two many distractions and we need a plan right now.

“Sometimes risks must be taken for the greater good Cicero. Just because it’s a risk doesn’t make it the wrong choice.”

My mother's words echoed in my ears. Suddenly I knew what I had to do. *sigh* I was really hoping to not have to resort to risking my brain this soon but I need answers now. Sitting down I curled myself into my normal meditative pose and focused intently on my cores energy. I could see the lines of energy coursing through most of my body keeping it reinforced and ready to go at a moment's notice. The one part of my body that was mostly lacking any energy flow however was my brain.

Sure I had a slight amount of energy forcing my adrenal glands to work faster but other than that my brain was bare. That was about to change. Taking another line of energy from my core I snaked it up to my brain and began delicately working it throughout all of my lobes. Right away I felt my body's internal temperature begin to rise. A surge of panic hit me as my brain alerted me to the dangerous amount of energy and heat coursing through it. A few moments later I managed to suppress the panic and I felt time begin to slow as I began analyzing our situation.

Cadence is powerful but judging from her stance, sweat levels, and facial expressions I can see she’s worried. Most likely she’s a subspecies or watered down interbreeding of the Alicorn race. If I’m to take any information from what Forest Heart let slip it would appear as though true Alicorns, minus Celestia and Luna, are extinct. Taking this into account I’m guessing that Cadence doesn’t truly know how long she can hold out against more attacks and that’s worrying her.

Very well. So now I have even less time to work with. Looking over to Celestia and Nightmare Moon I could see that the battle, while appearing even, was in fact not. Even without knowing much about the magic they were using I could see that Celestia kept hesitating when she used any attack magic against Nightmare Moon. She was mostly blocking, dodging, and deflecting whatever was thrown at her. Nightmare Moon’s attacks appeared as powerful and rapid as they had before. Celestia is going to need help soon no matter what our group does.

So how can we help her? From what knowledge I have now the elements of harmony are the only thing that can purify Luna of Nightmare Moon without killing her. But we can’t get the elements of harmony as we can’t get past the throne room shield Nightmare Moon has put up. Or wait….. Perhaps we can. So far as we’ve discussed there is absolutely no way to take things from inside the shield and get them out. But perhaps the opposite isn’t necessarily true.

From my discussions with Twilight I know that most magic appears to be heavily reliant on intent. Maybe not to the same level as the magical fire of dragons but perhaps it holds enough importance to leave loopholes. Teleportation requires that small line to be able to get past the shield but perhaps the shield is only blocking it because it reads the magics intent to move things out of the shielded area.

Twilight said that she didn’t have the power to teleport us to Ponyville but perhaps she has the ability to teleport matter to us here. I remember her saying that teleporting non living things required much less magic than things that are alive. Perhaps we could use Cadence instead? Fuck that won’t work. Twilight specifically said that teleportation works by knowing the exact point you’re teleporting to. Not a picture in the mind. She’s the only one who knows where the elements are. Not to mention I doubt Cadence can spare any magic right now.

“Twilight.”

“Um yes?” She said confused. “Are you alright? What was that kneeling all about?”

“Yes i’m fine. Stay focused Twilight. Remember what I said about asking questions later.” I said looking at her.

I’m guessing she picked up on my seriousness as she hardened her face and said, “I remember. What do you need Cicero?”
“Do you remember our conversation about the intent of magic the other day?”

“Yes.”

“Is it possible that Nightmare Moon's shield might only block magic with the intent of leaving this shield? Is it not possible for you to bring things in?”

“I… I’m not sure.” She said thinking hard. “I suppose it’s possible.”

“Do you remember that hanging basket of plants right outside of the throne room before we came in?”

“Yes.” Her face lit up in understanding. “You want me to try and teleport it in. Give me one moment.” Closing her eyes her horn lit up and I watched the line shoot over towards the throne room's entrance. To my relief and everyone's surprise it went straight through the shield and suddenly a basket of plants popped into existence right in the middle of our group.

“It worked!” She said excited.

“But how are plants supposed to help us win this fight!?” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Plants always make me feel better.” Fluttershy quietly added. “Maybe if Twilight can get enough plants we can calm Nightmare Moon down. I’m sure if we bring in some adorable bunnies as well we could convince her to stop all this fighting.” She finished hopefully.

“OOH! Or maybe you could teleport in a bunch of party supplies!” Pinkie Pie said. “Nothing makes a pony happier than a surprise party! I’ll bet she forgets all about this fighting if we give her a welcome back to Equestria cake!”

Despite trying very hard to ignore distractions I still felt the side of my mouth twitch into a smile. I’m impressed these girls are still so happy and positive even in such a dire situation.

“Those are certainly excellent suggestions you two. But for now we’ll keep those as backups plans. Twilight is actually going to try and teleport the elements of Harmony from her rooms chest, to you girls.”

“My goodness dear are you sure?” Rarity asked. “Twilight we all know that you have an amazing amount of magical power but as a unicorn we both know the dangers of pushing our magic too far.”

That set off warning bells in my brain. “Rarity I’m unaware of these dangers at the moment. What dangers are involved with performing magic of this level?”

“Well… It’s not really a pleasant topic for unicorns to discuss but considering the current situation I suppose it’s warranted. If a unicorn attempts to pull more magic from their body than it’s capable of supplying than it can have disastrous effects on that unicorn.”

“Disastrous effects? Could you be more specific please?” I could see she didn’t want to continue but I ignored her social cues and pressed her. I needed to know what risks I was asking Twilight to take.

*sigh* “Well the effects can be rather diverse. Some unicorns have found that the magic naturally attempts to get the energy from the rest of their body. This can mean something like a leg shriveling up and dying as it’s energy is stolen and used to power the spell. Sometimes the unicorn's body simply can’t handle the magic buildup before the spell and naturally the magic seeks an escape path. This leads to it escaping the body in rather explosive ways.”

Fluttershy gasped at this. She appeared to be on the verge of tears as she looked at Twilight. Applejack made way over to Fluttershy and nuzzled her to try and help. Meanwhile I held my hand up to signal Rarity to stop.

“My apologies Rarity. I understand you didn’t want to talk about this but I needed to know and there is no time for tact.”

Rarity’s eyes showed sadness but she gave me a weak smile to show she understood. She then walked over to Fluttershy and proceeded to help Applejack calm her down.

“Everyone it’s alright I can do this! I know I can!” Twilight said confidently.

I looked over to see her determined face. She was putting up a brave front but I could see the doubt in her eyes. Twilight knew that we were running out of options and time.

“Are you sure Twilight?” I asked. “I have confidence in you but this plan is rather risky. We can figure out another way.”

Twilight looked over to me. I saw the confirmation that she knew the direness of our situation as well as I did.

“I can do this.” She said.

“Very well.” I took a few steps back. “We won’t distract you. You’ll need to concentrate.”

Nodding her head one last time Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep break. Her horn lit up and I saw the familiar teleportation line rocket off of her and out past the shield. I stood by the others as we watched Twilight’s horn continue to grow brighter and brighter by the second. Half a minute later I could see sweat starting to form on her body. She scrunched her face in concentration and the light continued to grow.

Another thirty seconds of waiting and Twilight was beginning to shake. The sweat was starting to fall from her body. Her horn was reaching blinding levels of light. It was at this moment that Nightmare Moon apparently noticed the blinding light and looked over to our group. All of the sudden, six golden pieces of jewelry with various gems stuck in them popped into existence. They landed right in the middle of our group. Twilight’s horn cut off and she wobbled around for moment. Running over to her I knelt down and pulled her sweating body against mine.

“Well done Twilight.” I whispered.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Nightmare Moon screeched. Apparently she’d figured out what our group had been up to. I looked over to see a horrifyingly angry face staring directly at our group. “NOT AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN YOU HORRID PONIES!”

She reared her head back and then violently brought it down in our direction. An absolutely massive black beam flew towards us.

“AHHH!” Cadence cried as the beam hit her shield. Cadence’s horn lit up wildly in response. Somehow the shield managed to hold against the powerful onslaught. But Nightmare Moon wasn’t stopping this time. The beam continued to slam into our shield. I could see miniscule cracks beginning to form and snake around the shield. Cadence was struggling to keep it up.

“LUNA STOP!” Celestia screamed.

Encompassing her body in a forcefield, Celestia charged full speed into Nightmare Moon's side. Having put all of her attention on our group, Nightmare Moon was completely unprepared for the attack. The beam from her horn stopped as she was thrown off her feet towards a wall. Recovering just in time she threw a shield around her body and hit the wall at a much reduced speed.

Landing hard on her feet Nightmare Moon turned her furious gaze on Celestia and gave an animalistic war cry. She covered her body in a forcefield and charged. Celestia charged to meet her and parried her attack. The two locked horns and began attempted to impale one another with physical and magic attacks.

Looking to Cadence I could see that the shield had held against Nightmare Moon's fury but that Cadence didn’t have much more in her. She was sweating and had the same exhausted look that Twilight did right now. I felt a nudge as Pinkie Pie bumped her head into me. Turning to her I saw that she had a golden tiara stuck in her mouth. The tiara’s gem looked exactly like Twilights Cutie Mark. Taking the tiara from her I looked down at Twilight.

“Are you alright to stand now?”

“I think I’m ok.” She responded. Shifting from my arms she put her body's weight back on her legs and stood back up with a little wobble. I watched to make sure she was ok. Once she gave me a smile I reached over and placed the golden tiara on her head.

“So what happens now?” I asked. “How do you active the magic in these things?”

“As soon as I push magic through mine it connects with the other girls and we can use the combined magic to purify Luna. I just need to- woah!” Twilight had attempted to light her horn again but stumbled instead. She fell back into my side.

“Twilight are you alright!” Fluttershy cried. Bounding over to Twilight’s side Fluttershy nuzzled Twilight to make sure she was alright.

“I’m fine Fluttershy.” Twilight said dizzily. “That teleportation spell just took more out of me than I thought. I think I need a moment to recover.”

I looked over to Nightmare Moon and Celestia’s raging battle. The two were ramping up their magic casting and physical attacks. The blasts were getting larger and each alicorn now sported a few more wounds on their sides. Celestia was panting and tired from simply being on the defensive all the time. She needed help stalling now.

“How long do you need Twilight?” I asked still watching the two battle.

“I’m not sure. The magic the elements of harmony create is different from using normal unicorn magic. It mostly comes from the elements themselves. I just need to start the actual process.”

“Give me a minute estimate Twilight.”

She was silent for a few moments. “I think five minutes should be enough.”

“Then five minutes you’ll have. I’m assuming Luna needs to be still so you girls can hit her with the magic right?”

“That’s how it worked last time.” Twilight said.

“Alright then. As soon as your magic is ready, call out to let me know.” I shifted Twilight so she was resting against Fluttershy and then stood up.

“Woah there partner! Where do ya think yer goin?” Applejack asked, getting in front of me. “You said it yerself earlier. There’s no way we can fight something like that and win.”

“True I did say that. But there’s a big difference between fighting to win and fighting to distract. Celestia needs help now and Twilight needs time to recover.” Side stepping Applejack I said, “Don’t worry about me. I already told you girls that protectors have quite the sturdy body. I’ll be ok. Just let me know as soon as you’re ready. I’ll figure out a way to keep Luna still.” Before they had a chance to argue I turned away and walked over to Cadence.

“Twilight needs 5 minutes to recover enough magic to use the elements of harmony. Do you think you can hold this shield for that long?”

“I’m not sure Cicero.” Cadence panted out. “That last attack from Nightmare Moon was horrible. If she attacks again I might not be able to stop it.”

“Just keep holding on. I’ll do my best to distract her from you girls as long as possible.”

Taking off at a sprint I heard Cadence yell, “Cicero no!” Ignoring her I quickly made my way over to the two battling goddesses. Alright Cicero. Putting on a brave face was nice but it’s time to concentrate. No matter how much you reinforce your body if you’re directly hit by the magic they’re slinging at each other that would pretty much mean death.

Nightmare Moon deflected yet another white bolt of magic from Celestia. It hit and shattered one of the few intact remaining stained glass windows. She grasped the shards with her magic and threw them at Celestia side. Celestia reared back and stomped the ground, as she had earlier, to raise a massive wall of stone that blocked the shards. Nightmare Moon's horn lit up to send what i’m sure was another nasty bit of magic her way once again.

Deciding on my course of action I quickly fell into a rapid sprint and tore off towards Nightmare Moon. Jumping up right before I reached her I threw my feet forward and landed a powerful jump kick into luna’s side.

“AUHH!” She yelled. She was send flying into a wall. Sadly as she slammed into the wall I could tell she’d learned from Celestia’s last attack. Her body was obviously protected with a physical barrier. Landing the kick had felt more like slamming into a rock wall instead of a squishy pony body. Landing on my feet this time, I watched Nightmare Moon hit the ground and stagger for a second. I took the few seconds she was dazed to run over to Celestia.

“Cadence’s barrier won’t hold for much longer. Twilight needs 5 minutes to recover so the girls can use the elements of harmony. I’m here to help distract Nightmare Moon with you.”

Keeping an eye on Nightmare Moon Celestia said, “You realize that if she hits you with her magic you’re going to die, Right?”

“It’s something I came to terms with a long time ago. I told you earlier Celestia, I’ve been trained since birth with the knowledge that one day I might be required to give my life for the greater good.”

“Very well Cicero. I could definitely use the help after all. Allow me to at least somewhat protect you though.” Celestia’s horn lit up and I felt a strange wave of energy encompass my body. “That shield won’t block any direct attacks from her but it might deflect enough to keep you alive if you get hit.”

“Thank you Celestia.” Turning back towards Nightmare Moon I said, “Now let’s get down to business.”

Nightmare Moon had recovered from my blow and was now warily watching the two of us. She still looked as furious as ever but I could see her hesitating from making the first move.

“So what’s your plan?” Celestia whispered to me.

“Well I figure that if you kept her occupied with magic attacks and I periodically physically assault her, eventually she’ll make a mistake that we can capitalize on. When Twilight and the girls are ready we’ll need to hold her still so they can hit her.” I whispered back.

“So this is how low you stoop Celestia?” Nightmare Moon sneered. “You can’t defeat me alone so you request the aid of a lesser being. No matter what little plan you two create it will fail before my might!”

“Planning?” I called back. “Naw. We were just having a little laugh at how this lesser being just stomped your ass into the wall. With one kick at that. Pretty sad to be honest.”

“WHAT!?” She yelled.

She let loose a bolt of black crackling energy that I easily sidestepped and watched as it went past.

“Seriously? Are you even trying right now?” I taunted her.

I watched her face contort with anger as she growled.

“Taunting her might not be the wisest move.” Celestia said.

“Actually it’s the best kind of move we can make right now.” I retorted. “The angrier she is the less likely she is to think logically about her next move. I’m going to take every chance I can to make verbal jabs. She seems to think very highly of herself. Let’s use that to our advantage.”

“ENOUGH TALKING! FIGHT ME YOU COWARDS!” Nightmare Moon bellowed.

I reached down and stealthily picked up a rock with my hand opposite Nightmare Moon. Giving her a cocky smile I said, “I thought you’d never ask.”, And threw the rock with all my force. Nightmare Moon easily deflected the rock with a small barrier.

“Pathetic! Is that the best you can-”

*WHAM*

As she’d deflected the rock I dropped into an insanely fast sprint and followed up her block with a fist to the face. After landing the hit I screeched to a halt and jumped backwards. She spat magic flames from her mouth in retaliation. I felt the heat wave hit me as I got out of their range just in time. Damn she must seriously be angry. Celestia followed up my distraction with a blast of white magic aimed at her side.

Hearing the approaching bolt Nightmare Moon turned to block most of it just in time. But I could see another bleeding wound appear on her back rump as Celestia’s magic whipped past the edges of her hastily constructed shield. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, I launched myself towards the ceiling and flipped in air. Bouncing off of the ceiling I did another flip and landed with full force on Nightmare Moon's back.

The impact threw her legs out to the side as her body slammed into the ground. I jumped off and away from her but made sure to yell, “Three for three bitch! You’re going to have to do better if you want to block me!”, as I retreated. Landing on my feet I watched as she slowly rose back up once more. Celestia threw what looked like a net of white magic at her. Right before the net impacted her I saw a flash and Nightmare Moon disappeared.

My eyes caught the edges of another flash right behind me and I instinctively dropped dropped onto my back. As I hit the ground I saw a glowing horn fly over me and gore the air where i’d just been standing. Using my hands I pushed myself across the ground and under Nightmare Moon's body. I kicked up with my feet attempting hit her stomach but she disappeared in a flash right before contact. Appearing with another flash I saw her rear back and bring her hooves down towards my head.

I Rolled to the side and her hooves slammed into the ground. The ground cracked and rocks splintered outwards. A couple cut me as they flew past but I ignored them as none were critical wounds. Reaching out I grabbed one of her hooves and kicked off the ground with my legs. It wasn’t very graceful but I managed to bring her body to the ground. Pushing myself up I saw another bolt of white lightning approaching her side and started backpedaling to get away.

To my surprise Nightmare Moon turned to me and ignored the incoming magic. Her horn lit up and a red beam flew at me. I tried to dodge out of it’s way but the beam was too fast. I felt the small energy shield around me pop and give me a few more milliseconds to dodge.

“FUCK!” I yelled. The beam burned a nasty looking line across my stomachs side. I could smell my flesh burning from the impact.

“AUGH!” Nightmare Moon yelled. I put a hand to my side and staggered to a crouched halt as I saw Celestia’s bolt blast her across the floor. There was a flash on my right and Celestia appeared next to me.

“Are you alright Cicero?” She said worried.
I pulled my hand off my burnt side and saw a lot of blacken charred skin. Thankfully as the attack had been hot in nature it had the added side effect of cauterizing my wound. It looked worse than it really was.

“Yeah I’ll be fine. Your shield gave me just enough time to get out of the way before anything serious happened.” Celestia’s horn lit up and I felt the same shield envelop me again.

“Thanks Celestia.”

Ignoring the searing pain in my side I forced myself back into a standing position. I looked in the direction that I’d last seen Nightmare Moon go but found that part of the throne room empty. Shit. Celestia and I were both distracted by my wound for a moment. Now she’s gone and disappeared.

“Celestia you didn’t happen to see where Nightmare Moon went, did you?”

Celestia’s eyes widened. She jerked her head to the last place she’d thrown Nightmare Moon only to confirm the same thing I had just a moment ago.

Crouching down I put my back to Celestia’s rump. If Nightmare Moon was trying to go for a stealth attack I wasn’t going to make it easy for her. Celestia and I were both scouring the room for any hint of her whereabouts. As we watched and waiting a disturbing idea came to mind.

“Celestia. Nightmare Moon can’t turn invisible, can she?”

“No Cicero. Such magic doesn’t exist. At least not in the way you’re most likely thinking.”

“So in what wa-”

*plink*

The sound was delicate but I’d heard it. Looking down I saw a small pebble rolling across the floor. Then I realized where we hadn’t been looking. I threw my head back. Bearing down on us was one of the throne room's massive pillars.

“SHIT!” Pushing Celestia out of the way I used my momentum to jump the opposite direction.

*WHAM*

The pillar crashed into the ground and I heard a, “RAAAAHH!”, from an enraged Nightmare Moon.

Rolling upright I had a split second to see a few more pillars flying my way. Dodging to the side another pillar slammed into the ground.

*WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM*

I weaved and dodged my way around the falling pillars as she floated above me. Now that I was aware of the danger the pillars were easy to dodge. Nightmare Moon grew frustrated with my dodging and decided to simply explode the pillars on their way to me. The jagged shrapnel remains came flying towards me. Spinning around I lunged forward to avoid the shrapnel.

“AUGH! MOTHERFUCKER!”

I managed to avoid most of the shrapnel but some pieces had been going too fast. A few had actually managed to break through my hardened skin and were now lodged into my back. I felt a wave of adrenalin hit me as the pain set in. Rolling upright I turned back to Nightmare Moon. I saw her smile as I winced in pain. I’m going to slap the shit out of Luna when the girls turn her ass back.

Looking past Luna I saw that Celestia had been busy while I was dodging. She had a large aura of golden magic surrounding her body. Releasing the strange aura of magic I saw it condense down into five golden rings and then disappear. Those same five rings reappeared on Nightmare moon’s legs and horn. The four on her legs quickly formed golden shackles in between each other.

Nightmare Moon flailed her legs wildly in the air as she tried to escape the golden shackles. Once that failed she lit her horn with a red glow. She winced in pain as an arc of electricity shot from the golden band down her horn.

“Enough Luna!” Celestia cried. “You can’t escape anymore. Let us help you! Please!”

“Help me!? HELP ME?!” She shrieked. “I don’t need your help! I am Nightmare Moon! The most powerful alicorn who ever lived!”

“Cicero now!” Twilight yelled.

My head jerked over to the girls. They were all standing tall, ready for action. Each girl now had their corresponding element equipped. Talk about perfect timing.

Nightmare Moon struggled violently and tried to use magic once more but was again met with a shock.

“
Luna you know you can’t escape those bonds! The fights over! Stop before you hurt yourself!”

“I AM NOT LUNA!” She shrieked. A faint outline of black began collecting around her form. Don’t you dare look down on me!” Lines of black began to crawl over her body as they had earlier. “Now you will know why they call me NIGHTMARE MOON!” The lines crawling across her skin quickly converged onto the 5 golden bands and shattered them. In that same instant she disappeared from sight.

“That’s impossible!” Celestia cried.

I saw another flash behind Cadence’s shield and my veins filled with ice. Nightmare Moon had teleported behind the girls. Her horn was now lit with a nasty green glow.

“Victory!” She cried.

My body screamed as I forced it to react faster than I’d ever pushed it. I launched into a frantic dash towards Nightmare Moon. But I wasn’t going to make it. She lowered her horn and I saw the beam slam into Cadence’s shield. It held for only a second before it exploded into a pink wisp.

“AHHHH!” Cadence screamed. She hit the ground and didn’t get back up. Nightmare Moon’s horn light up for another attack. Closing in on her fast, I prepared my own attack to stop the killing blow. To my horror, Nightmare Moon snapped her head to me at the last moment. She unleashed the green bolt at me. I saw a maniacal smile on her face and realized that she’d tricked me. There was no way I could dodge in time.

*BONG*

An instant before the spell impacted my body I saw it slam into an invisible barrier. Nightmare Moon's smile turned to shock. Ignoring my stroke of luck I quickly reacted to this development and rammed my fist into her windpipe. Even with her physical barrier of magic I could feel my fist sink into her throat. She coughed and I saw spit fly from her mouth. But I wasn’t done with her.

As her head bucked down to cough again I caught her neck over my shoulder. With a mighty heave I viciously swung the rest of her body over me and slammed it down. The floor shook as her impact cracked its tiles. Not giving her a chance to recover I jumped onto her back. Hooking my legs around her side I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled back to disorient her.

“BLOCK HER MAGIC CELESTIA!” I yelled.

Almost instantly I felt a great pressure decent on us both. Nightmare Moon dizzily struggled to free herself.

“NOW GIRLS!” I yelled.

Nightmare Moon was quickly coming out of her daze. She began to flail violently, trying to escape my hold. This only prompted me to tighten my grasp around her neck. I could feel her throat wheezing for air through my strong grip. She let out a hoarse, “NOOO!”, as something bright flashed in front of us.

Jerking my head towards the flash I saw first hand what it was that defeated Nightmare Moon before. The girls were all floating in the air with their eyes glowing bright white. A white line of magic was growing brighter as it connected all of the girls jewelry together.

*BOOOOM*
A rainbow of magic energy exploded out of the girls and flew directly towards me. The beam crashed into Nightmare Moon and I felt my body's internal energy flow go completely haywire. I could sense Nightmare Moon writhing underneath me as the beam continued to envelop us. Whatever the beam was doing to her was obviously not the same as what it was doing to me. The only thing I felt as the rainbow washed over me was an immense sense of contentment and joy. The emotional overload was too much for my body to handle.

My mind informed me that I was about to lose consciousness. I could feel my grip on Nightmare Moon’s throat beginning to loosen. My head fell back and I watched the rainbow magic swirl around our bodies. The colorful vortex continued upwards and completely filled my vision. Even in the middle of this intense situation I couldn’t help but stop and appreciate it’s beauty. I smiled at the thought. Then I knew no more.

Author's Note

Google docs newline and tab rules are making formatting a miserable experience. I believe I caught all strange formatting issues before posting Ch.9 Part 1 and 2. If anyone notices any that I missed, please let me know. Thank you.