Chronicles Of Hope: Book 1 - A Guardian's Rising

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Breakout
Chapter 2: A Wanderer's Arrival
Chapter 4: Newfound Freedom, Part 2 - The Party and the Lover's Reunion
Chapter 5: Aether Rising, Part 1: It's Time to Begin, Isn't It?
Chapter 6: Aether Rising, Part 2: I Get a Little Bit Bigger, But Then...
Chapter 7: Aether Rising, Part 3: I’ll Admit, I’m Just The Same As I Was…
Chapter 3: Newfound Freedom, Part 1 - The Book and the Barfight

Chapter 1: The Breakout

Chronicles of Hope: Book 1: A Guardian’s Rising
Ch. 1: The Breakout

*Few Hours Earlier…*
Current POV: ???
Location: ??? , Canterlot Castle
Who knew that eternal imprisonment could be so damn boring?

I mean, it’s an obvious answer when you think about it, but not really (sort of) during that first 500 years-what with all the “mind games” I’ve played on patrolling guards-after that it’s just purebred boring after Celestia stop ponies from patrolling my room (now I know how Discord feels, but at least he still has visitors). I mean I know I’ll break out eventually, but the main problem being I dunno when, and Celly hasn’t gone back down here to gloat at me in a long time. Hate to say it, but I kinda miss-

Wait…

…The HELL are you all doing here?!

Hold on... the story’s up NOW?!

(Dude. What do you THINK is happening?)

Does this actually mean…

(Yup, but wait for a little while. You’ll understand.)

…riiiight, like I’m gonna wait for a little while when you left me-

*BA-BUMP*

(A heartbeat resonates...)

Ngh! Wha-what was that? That felt like a-

Oh.

I get it now.

I think I can put this to good use.

*Present Time*
[POV SWAP: Celestia]
Location: Celestia’s Room, Canterlot Castle

Honestly, just when I thought the day was full enough, it just gets worse. Sure, Twilight had reported that mare- Starlight Glimmer, if I remember right- having nearly wiped out the Elements from time, and yet decided to give her a second chance at the friendship she was denied. Quite sweet, really, but when news of this deed had reached out, there were some angry groups of ponies coming to me, some demanding that the mare be put to trial, while some demand custody of her, possibly to make her work for them, seeing as she was able to use a high-tier time spell, especially one from Starswirl.

And to top it all off, there are still the everyday “issues” to deal with, meaning endless requests & complaints from the nobles- requests being increasing taxes on lower-class ponies or getting funds for a bigger pool, and complaints like a maid messing up a small order, and requesting she be imprisoned, or somewhere around the lines.

“If only there would be something exciting happening today”, I hear myself thinking aloud, “it’d no doubt be much better than sifting through all this pointless work.”

Wish granted, Milady.

I bolt up from my seat, hearing that disembodied voice from out of the blue. It sounded oddly familiar, but I just can’t put my finger on it. But hearing that tone, it almost reminds me of someone from long ago… but it can’t be. It just can’t be him. He couldn’t have gotten out.

“Hello?” I say, my tone filled with worry and caution. “Is somepony out there? Guards? Luna?”

You really don’t remember, do you? I can’t blame ya, after all, you swore to yourself to never talk about me ever again, right?

…

“So it is you, Brother.”

Yeesh, Celly, why so serious?

“Where are you? Show yourself!”

Not just yet, to be honest. If I did, you’d charge at me like the idiot you are- AGAIN.

“Enough of these games! I’ve defeated you before, and I’ll do it again.”

The only reason you “defeated” me was only cause you had a little help from those Elements, that- need I remind you- could’ve KILLED you from overuse!

“Well, at least I was able to stop you after what YOU did, you bucking bastard!”

First off, Language, and second, I did what I did for the greater good- you’re just too damn blindsided by the crown pulled over your head to see the truth, what with all those douchebags at the Council pulling the wool over your eyes as well, for Faust’s sake!

“Where was the good in what you did then?!”

Can’t say yet, but I’ll leave you to figure it out until I feel like actually saying it.

And by the way, don’t forget: you’re still at fault for what you did back at Sanctuary!

“DON’T. YOU DARE. BRING UP. THAT DAY.”

What’s wrong? Feel the sins crawling up your back after so long?

“Stop.”

Hearing the voices of your many betrayed friends in your head?

“Shut up.”

You NOW finally hear the cries of the MANY children PLEADING FOR HELP AS THEY AND THEIR PARENTS BURNED IN THEIR OWN HOMES?!?!

“SILENCE!”

[POV SWAP: 3rd Person]
After Celestia’s little freakout, the room had suddenly gotten dead quiet, so much so that you could hear a pin drop. The RCV (Royal Canterlot Voice) itself was able to kick up a few small dust clouds. However, just as the dust settled, and she thought that it was all a delusion-

*WHOOOOSH*

A sudden tornado laced in vivid shades of black and blue had whipped up within the throne room , right in front of Celestia, which had spun up for a while, even rattling the windows , until it finally dispersed, revealing the individual amongst the storm.

He stood at height of 5 foot 3, much shorter than Celestia, who practically towers over other ponies, but his appearance was still menacing enough to give even her the shivers. He wore a deep-black hooded coat that went below his thighs, complete with a demon skull on the left shoulder (unconfirmed whether it’s real or not), but he didn’t bother in fully wearing it, so it hangs on his shoulders by a clip around his neck.

Underneath, one would see that he was completely battle ready - decked out in light, otherworldly armor from head to toe streaked in the intense colors of red, black, and blue, complete with his kingdom’s symbol – a coat of arms, with a blue staff on the left and a red sword on the right crossed over each other over the shield, with one angel & demon wing respectively accompanying each weapon on their sides - resting on the left of his chest plate. Although, what was possibly more eye-catching was the jet-black katana propping himself up as he would with a cane, and his hands, which were covered in black gloves that had tough-looking knuckles which could break bone.

But, in all terms of perspectives, Celestia wasn’t really all focused on what he’s wearing, or what weaponry he’s packing, but was more focused on what was above his body - the face – the face of the one she had sealed away long ago.

He had a very strange hairstyle, as though he’d been through a storm (*cough* minutes back *cough*), short, black, but with a white streak on his bangs, held together by a strange headband, and the majority of his face was covered up in a bandana that looked like the bottom part of a jaw. But here’s what’s more interesting: his eyes. Although only his left was opened, anyone- or should we say- anypony can practically feel the massive power radiating from his very gaze, and they’re truly seeing that very power manifest as a deep blue flame from his iris.

This was the power of The First Human.

“So, missed me, Sis?”

As she gazed into the flame, she suddenly could feel many memories resurface after such a long time- those of when he used to 'foalsit' them thousands of years back, of the rigorous yet non-strict training she had been put through with Luna, and of the horrifying realization of what had been done by his very hands – his betrayal.

With that memory bubbled up to the surface, she felt her anger spike and it showed well, seeing as the room suddenly got hotter than usual. She began summoning her weapon, but-

*SHIIIIING*

Within the blink of an eye, she suddenly felt the cold metal of a sword rest on her cheek, then rise to meet with the bridge of her muzzle.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You have really gotten slow since the last time we fought. I kept telling you to lay off the damn cake, but noooo~,” he said, scolding Celestia like he would a child in trouble, “you ended up stuffing yourself silly! It’s no wonder the guards stare at you when you ain’t looking.” It was no lie that Celestia’s face was slightly pink from blushing, which could come from turning red of anger, or possibly from embarrassment.

“Normally, I’d beat the living crap out of you for imprisoning me,” he said, adjusting his katana just at level to Celestia’s eye, “but, you know I’m not one to hold a grudge.”, finally lowering his blade & returning it back to its scabbard. With that, Celestia had slumped down onto her seat, still in a slight state of shock.

“’Cause for now, I’ll have to be on my merry way. Tell Lulu I said hi, though!”

And with that, the figure had faded away from view, as though he were nothing but smoke.

It had taken a full 30 seconds for Celestia to realize this, and at the moment, she did the only thing she could currently do.

“GUARDS!!!”

[POV SWAP: ???]
Location: Everfree Forest
“GUARDS!!!”

*snicker*

I swear to Faust, my 30 seconds of celebratory silence really went down the drain-I literally could hear that filly scream her head off just from where I’m standing! Ha!

What? I read the passage from the last POV swap, so what if the time is too damn accurate?

Whatever.
I probably bet that from the description Yin gave, you thought I’m really the bad guy, huh?
Well… yes, and no. I can explain everything after a few chapters, but until then, I’m currently in the middle of something here, so YIN, do that thing you do when telling readers what I’m doing right now, will ya?

(Erm… Oh, Right.)

As he roamed around Everfree, he made sure to try and turn every stone, look under every stump, and so on, but it looked as though he was looking for something.

‘Let’s see, if I remember correctly, the thing I’m looking for is “guarded by the twins amongst the crowd”, or something like that, but then again a thousand years in a dank vault can make you tend to forget plenty of things, but only the minor stuff when I’ve got the memory. Most of the time.’

And after a couple minutes of speed-searching, he had finally found what he was looking for- “the twins amongst the crowd”, meaning two similarly formed trees amongst a grove of other trees. He then started feeling around on a stump that was right behind the two trees.
“Now, it’s gotta be…somewhere…around… HERE!”

*CLICK*

A switch was felt from somewhere on the stump, and a secret door had opened up, with stairs leading into the depths below the Everfree.

'Hopefully, the place is still in one piece from when I last left it.'

He then proceeded to open a large gate at the bottom of the staircase, opening up to a hidden room he had set up for occasions like this.

You see, he has amazing foresight (or paranoia, can’t tell which is more dangerous), which allows him to anticipate events which could or couldn’t happen, depending on the situation. He had anticipated from the millennia back that he would end up imprisoned for being found out, and prepared an impromptu plan , along with supplementary provisions & equipment for after he finally got out, all within a small underground bunker in the Everfree.

‘Cause no one will suspect the forest to be a hiding place for a secret bunker for a guy whose power can exceed that of gods. Obviously.

“Goes to show how daft ponies can be sometimes – mostly those not “brave” enough.” he said.

After a while, the human had finally gotten what he needed for everything to work according to plan – which, to be honest, has the majority all made up as he went along. With his Katana in hand, his tools in a pack, and a fresh change in clothes, he was fully stocked with what he would need in order for the day to go smoothly.

However, just as he got out, he was suddenly jumped by a pack of Timberwolves from the bushes! Normally, this is where somepony would start running like hella crazy yelling their head off, but then again, he wasn’t exactly a pony.

But, the wolves just circled him for a while, until they blinked, and ended up lowering their heads, as though they were bowing down to him after they realized who he was. The stranger motioned for them to rise from their current stance and then proceeding to give them the universal language of keeping quiet: a finger held up to the lips.

Finally, the Timberwolves then decided to disband, leaving the human in solitude in the forest. And as they left, he started on applying his disguise, then deciding to walk towards the edge of the forest, finally reaching the clear plains away from the woods, which eventually made way to show the beautiful village at the end of the path- Ponyville.

As he made towards the direct road to Ponyville, he looked up to the sky, making a silent statement as he moved along, officially marking his new day fresh out of the stone.

“Watch out, Equestria, ‘cause Samuel Newman is finally back in the game.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note

So here you go. My first story.
Hope you (probably) enjoyed reading it. I might need some constructive criticism on any issues spotted on the story, and what i can do about it. And if it's good enough after a few other chapters, I might decide to keep going!

Thanks. Here, have a 'stache. :moustache:

Although, expect it to take a long time between chapters.

P.S.: small time proof reader wanted for upcoming chapters. pls.

Chapter 2: A Wanderer's Arrival

Chronicles of Hope: Book 1: A Guardian’s Rising

Chapter 2: A Wanderer’s Arrival

*A few days after the Breakout…*
[POV: 3rd Person]
Location: Border of Ponyville

…and with the Amulet in hand, victory taken from Caballeron’s grasp, Daring Do, after once again saving Equis from utter destruction, rides her airship off into the sunset.

Another day, another edition of the Daring Do series gone by. Rainbow Dash was lying down on a cloud by the border of Ponyville, reading A.K.Yearling’s new book, Daring Do and The Amulet of Seven Sins. So far, it had shown plenty more promise just like past books, which just makes readers like Dash crave for more like it.

Anyway, it had been a few days since the whole incident with Starlight, and so far, everything was too normal for comfort. Rainbow Dash was currently restless, seeing as since there were no friendship problems present to be taken care of that involved her, and no threat to Equis popping up from the blue, she was dead bored just as the day started. So, to pass time, she volunteered to keep lookout in the borders for anything suspicious or anything that could exit from the Everfree to cause harm to the inhabitants of Ponyville. For her patrol, she was wearing a sleeveless jacket, a white shirt underneath, and track pants that showed off her athletic curves – mostly her casual wear. Now, despite having been preoccupied with the book from earlier, she was still able to keep a vigilant eye on the lookout, and of course, she’s perfectly able to spot the figure coming out of the woods, looking no doubt suspicious to no end.

She floated, along with her cloud, to inspect the stranger walking out of the woods. The figure was cloaked in brown, with hints of red and blue on the arms, metal kneecap guards, and a hood fully concealing its face. He was also carrying a satchel around his side with a unique symbol on it. Currently, the figure was reading a tattered book filled with papers sticking out while on the path out of the Everfree, and en route to Ponyville.

Rainbow, still somewhat suspicious, decided to confront the stranger to see their business, jumping off of the cloud, and landing at a distance in front of the stranger, but just enough to try and give the guy a small scare. She was then able to get a better look at the stranger’s figure: judging from the body build, it was a guy, and was actually about the same height as her. But right now, that wasn’t too important right now.

“Alright, pal. That’s about as far as you’re going right now,” she says, “what are you doing creepin’ around out of the Everfree, and what’s your business here?”

“Is that really how you greet every stranger you come across?” the stranger says, his voice younger than what she anticipated, “’cause that’s one really good way to give an amazing first impression.” Rainbow winced at that; seeing as she just deliberately judged somepony by looks – again.

“Sorry. It’s been a slow day, and I thought I’d get some action for once.” She says, her voice slightly tinged with guilt and disappointment.

“Willing to give this introduction a do-over? ‘Cause I am. Actually, let me start,” the stranger says, “The name is Cree. I’m a wanderer journeying across Equis, and I came here for no apparent reason but to wander and see more of the world. What’s your name, ma’am?” he said, finishing off with a joking curtsey.

Rainbow chuckled at his playfulness, despite giving him hostile treatment earlier, and decided to play along. “Well, Cree, my name is Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in the world, future Wonderbolt, and also The Element of Loyalty, at your service!” , she said, finishing off with a pride-filled grin.

However, she failed to notice Cree’s smile slightly falter.

‘Makes sense really. At least everything had followed up to the show until now. Yin no doubt must’ve woken me up seeing as this is between Season 5 & 6. Guess the bastard really did something right this time.’

Fuck off, Sam.

Love you too, shitstick.

“Quick question: you said earlier you were looking for some action, right?” Cree adds, “From the looks of it, you’re for the more physical type, more so a good old one-on-one, am I right?” Rainbow, despite being shocked that he easily read her like a book, nodded a yes in response, liking where this was going.

“Well,” Cree says, “I happen to be a pretty good brawler myself – so why don’t we spar for a bit? It’s actually been a while since I’ve limbered up, so this is a good opportunity.” This statement was half true – seeing as he didn’t mention the part about “a while” being over a thousand years.

“Are you sure about this? No offense, but there’s no doubt that I’ll practically mop the floor with you. I may not look like it, but I’m a black belt in Karate. And there have been only a few that have been actually able to hold up against me.” Rainbow says, cockily warning Cree of what he’s throwing himself into.

“Black belt, huh? Well then,” Cree says, readying himself into a fighting stance, “hopefully I’ll help make this fight as interesting as possible.” Right as he said that, Rainbow noticed his gloved hands slightly glowing, but shrugged it off as her imagination.

However, since her attention was slightly drawn away, she may have just missed the huge crowd of ponies en route to their fight, led by a certain pink mare.

*A Few Minutes Earlier…*
Location: Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville

Pinkie was sitting idly by the counter of the store, wearing her casual clothes – a pink dress with a bow on the side of her waist, along with a somewhat frilly skirt with her cutie mark on the side, accompanied with a white vest with pink accents on the edges. She was currently the only one present in the shop, as she was taking her day off from work quietly – as she could manage, but then again, it’s Pinkie Pie, so no way she’s quiet all the time-

That’s not true Yin!

OH CHRIST! Pinkie! Don’t scare me like that!

Goes to show: I can be as quiet as I want – even when dishing out surprises!

Yeah, especially ones that’ll scare the life outta someone.

Sorry! Just been a while hasn’t it?

Damn straight, Pinkie, it’s been too long.

What have you been doing lately?

Nothing much. Just chillin’…

Cool. Cool.

… And also building up to the fight involving Dash coming up.

*GASP* :pinkiegasp: AND YOU DIDN’T BOTHER TO TELL ME?!?!?!

What do you think I was here for?

...Because you missed me?

…OK, I’ll bite – maybe I also came here to see you.

Thought so. :heart:

The fight’s gonna start in a few minutes, so round up an audience, will ya?

Okie-dokie-lokie!

And Pinkie, remember… I was never here. K?

Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!

AND DON’T SPOIL THE STORY, PLEASE!

… And like that, she’s gone, bouncing off to Faust knows where.

Welp, to the fight we go.

*Present Time*
Location: Border of Ponyville

To say that the two were surprised is a complete understatement.

They were beyond it.

It looked as though half the town of Ponyville was there to watch, minus the other Elements of Harmony, seeing as they were busy doing other daily things to attend.

Hopefully, this won’t draw too much attention to me.

Don’t worry, Celestia’s too occupied by the fact you escaped to do shit to notice anything right now, so no worries on your end.

“Alright everypony! Today, looks like we'll witness a challenger from faraway lands do battle against our very own Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie says into a mike, causing the crowd to roar in applause at hearing Rainbow’s name, most of those cheering being fans and a few stallions.
“Will our hometown hero win this fight in ten seconds flat, or shall the mysterious hooded stranger prevail?”

“Hey, speaking of which,” Rainbow says to Cree, “are you gonna remove that hood of yours, or what?”

“Oh, right! Totes forgot – gimme a sec…” Cree then reached out for the scruff of his hood, and then pulled it off with a strong flourish in the process.

No one, not even Rainbow and (probably) Pinkie, really expected how he looked.

Hidden under the hood was the face of a young, yet handsome griffon, with cobalt blue head feathers, and a hint of a lighter blue accent around his eyes, the left eye having a bold blue iris, and red on the other. He wore a peculiar headband that flowed on a non-existent wind, making him look all the more badass as he stretched out his wings.

And just as his face was revealed, a lot of the mares in the crowd squealed in awe, never seeing anyone so damn handsome. Even a majority of the female pegasi in the crowd had gotten their wings stiff-

*POMF*

…even Rainbow, still in shock that this was the face of the guy she just met earlier.

Looks like the disguise works… a little too well.

She shook her head of the various thoughts involving Cree, adjusted her wings and prepped herself in a battle stance.

“Are the combatants ready?!”

“Aw yeah!”

“You know it, Pinks!”

READY…
FIGHT!

Rainbow initiates the starting move, charging at Cree with speeds that make her a visible blur, while he stands there calmly.
As Rainbow reappears behind Cree to deal a strike, the unexpected happened: Cree looks back behind him, plainly staring at her, then simply sidesteps out of the way, then deals a roundhouse kick to Rainbow’s side, sending her rocketing into the plains. Not only does this surprise Rainbow, but also the audience in the process, causing enormous shock amongst the crowd.

Rainbow was able to recover from the kick, but confusion and disbelief was strung across her face like never before.

How was he able to get a read on me? I gotta try and be smart about fighting this guy.

Looks like Dashie here’s spooked. Hopefully, she’ll be playing smart for this little tussle.

Dash then decides not to rush him, but to try and create space for close quarters combat, by zooming right at a distance face to face with Cree. She then sends a flurry of chops, kicks and punches towards him for a while, but he blocks, counters and dodges every single one, much to the shock and awe of the crowd, who are at the edge of their seats ( if there were any.) And just as Dash throws the last blow, he sends every hit he's blocked back in spades with a final counter that tosses her high into the sky, but she quickly recovers in the air.

“Now THIS is a workout! Haven’t seen anypony with the kind of speed and stamina you’ve got for a while now! Keep that up, along with your talent, and no doubt about it – you’ll be making it pretty damn far in the world, Rainbow!” Cree says, his voice filled with glee and good - hearted pride, to which Rainbow returns the smile with a slight blush.

“But it’s only been a couple minutes- let’s shake things up a little bit, shall we?” he finishes, unfurling his wings and taking off to the sky towards Dash and allowing them to continue their battle in the air.

“You know, if you’ve been paying attention during this match, all I’ve been doing this whole time is block and dodge.” If anypony was looking close enough, they’d notice his left iris shine as he grinned. “That was only me assessing your abilities. And within the first minute we fought,” he said, getting back into a fighting stance midair “I’ve already found every weakness on your body.” Right as he said that, he had somehow instantly vanished in thin air, leaving only a small blur in his place.

Rainbow was beyond stunned to see such speed – especially one that’s faster than her’s – was actually possible for anypony to pull off, leaving her staring into the space where Cree once was.

Big mistake.

Before she could realize it, Cree had already reappeared in front of her her, but before she react, he had lightly struck parts of her body with his gloved talons, which had somehow caused her arms and legs to loosen up. He then disappeared and reappeared again, but this time behind her, striking spots behind her wings, locking them up and sending her plummeting back first to the earth.

But before she can hit the ground, Cree reappears on the ground and catches her, holding her bridal-style.

“What? Did you think I’d let you crash like that? Naw… you’ve been the best fight I’ve ever had so far. Ain’t gonna let this go down - especially if it’s from somepony as awesome as you.” He says heartfully, smiling to Dash as she lay in his arms blushing at the compliment.

“Ohohoho~” Pinkie says smugly, “We aren’t even holding out prizes on this match, but it looks like our challenger still won something else in the process!”, and at that very declaration, plenty a stallion and mare were jealous for the couple born from the clash, but most of the remaining crowd cheered regardless, and it took Cree and Dash a mere ten seconds to let the info sink in, and the former duly helped the latter up, the paralysis faded away, and yet the blushing from both their faces having a hard time to do so as well – Dash being the most affected.

“Pinkie! Not cool!” Dash says, still somewhat flustered from the whole thought of her and Cree as a couple. ~~Even though it was nice to think about.~~

“Yeah Pinkie, ’sides,” Cree adds, but not before slinging his arm over Rainbow’s shoulder with a mischievous, smug smile on his face, “it’ll take more than just a fight to win this mare’s heart, amirite?” he finishes, causing the crowd to woop and cheer, and make Rainbow blush even harder, but not before turning to glare at the griffon.

“CREE!!!”

And with that statement, she lunges at Cree... only to miss again, and find him right behind her.

“YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!!!!” he says laughing madly, running towards Ponyville, with Rainbow Dash on hot pursuit.

“YO PINKIE!” he screams out to the pink mare (who, not surprisingly, was able to catch up to him), “Why don’t we settle this match as a draw, and we’ll talk when everything’s all calm?!”

“SURE! Actually, there’s a party I’m gonna throw for ya, seeing as you’ll be setting up home after a while, right?!” she says, somehow audible to only the both of them over the chase.

“Why am I not surprised you know that!”

“Read Yin’s plans, duh!”

“Love torturin’ the Author a lot, don’t ya?”

“You know it!”

“This is what I love about you Pies!”

And at this, he speeds off, with Rainbow still hot on his tail, still laughing his ass off as he ran around town like a grinning idiot.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note

Honestly, why won't those two knock off of breaking the 4th wall?!
The cleanup's just murder. BTW, thanks to Dielox Vufrezal for taking the time for proofreading this chapter.

Chapter 4: Newfound Freedom, Part 2 - The Party and the Lover's Reunion

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 5: Aether Rising, Part 1: It's Time to Begin, Isn't It?

Chronicles of Hope: Book 1: A Guardian’s Rising

Chapter 5: Aether Rising, Part 1 - It’s Time to Begin, Isn’t It?

The next day…

Location: Friendship Castle, Ponyville

POV: Sam (3rd Person)

The game had been all but changed after the revelation of the Rogues’ intentions, but Sam has little to no doubt that things will still go according to plan, meaning until then, he’ll be taking his sweet time stalling until he has to execute his plan. Seeker apparently returned to the room in his sleep and apparently slipped him a note saying to meet him at the café near the castle in the afternoon to discuss more.

Strangest thing, though, was he could have sworn he had the scent of said thestral on his body. He definitely didn’t have contact long enough to get her scent on him while he was comforting her. It definitely chalked up to two possibilities, but he didn’t like one of them.

Donning his disguise, getting dressed in the clothes he wore when he came to Ponyville (now minus the detachable hood) and grabbing his satchel, he moves on, heading out back to the main hall, finally getting used to the layout of the castle. Suddenly, the scent of waffles and hotcakes suddenly hits his nostrils as he finds himself unconsciously walking towards it, until he stumbles upon the dining room, where Twilight was eating a stack of hotcakes alongside Spike, eating a stack of his own, only topped off with sapphires sprinkled on whip cream. Easily standing out, however, was the lone stack next to Twilight, still fresh from the pan.

When Sam shut the door behind him, only then did the two turn their heads to see their visitor walking in.

“Oh! Morning, Cree! Had a good rest?”

“Yup, slept like a baby, too!”

“Well, come on over while your stack’s still hot!”

Eager, ‘Cree’ jogs over and takes the seat next to Twilight, grabbing a fork and digging right in. In the middle of his new journey of flavor, Twilight and Spike heard Cree’s muffled speech, somehow sounding out the words “Hot sugar honey iced tea, this is amazing!” as his way of expressing his gratitude with shining eyes as both chuckled at his childishness. After finishing up their breakfast, a debate of why a guest and friend don’t need to do the cleaning up for their host, finally winning the opposite side of the argument saying this is his way of contributing while he stays over, and finally doing said chore, Cree breaks off from the duo to see the other Elements in their day-to-day lives before he has to meet with Seeker.

Location Change: Ponyville Streets

As he steps out of the castle, he’s greeted by the sun gracing the town of Ponyville, along with the smiling faces of its denizens. Walking around, he was then met with many ‘hello’s and ‘hiya’s from those he realized were present at the party – some of them getting brave to offer high-fives and fistbumps, all which he returned with delight. He eventually reaches Sugarcube Corner, peering into a window to see Pinkie right at work, dashing from table to table serving customers, taking a second to send a good morning his way for him to return. He then moves on to see more of the town.

Sam kept moving along in the town, only stopping at the music store & the sweet shop, in order to thank Vinyl for last night’s help, and to grab some candy, respectively. Moving further on, he finds the Carousel Boutique, and inside is Rarity working on a dress that looks to have more gems on it than a whole mineshaft. On the far side is Spike (who somehow got there faster than he did) bringing boxes and fabrics around with a dopey look on his face when he’s called to attention by Rarity. Although more surprising is the marshmallow white teenage filly with a two-tone colored mane of pink & purple and green eyes was sitting at a table in the store, following the unknowing dragon’s presence in the boutique with dreamy eyes. Looking at this, Sam smiles knowingly and looks to the audience.

“Hey, I ship it too, you know. Just a matter of time before the long awaited confession.”

He stops for a while to take in the rustic views and scents of the marketplace, only to catch the familiar scent of apples, following it to a stand manned by Applejack and a dark red stallion with a deep blonde mane and whose eyes practically showed almost zero emotion, but otherwise projected the aura of a wise big brother. After saying his ‘hello’s and buying a bottle of cider for later, he goes near the outskirts of town, in an effort to find Fluttershy’s cottage.

However, just as he was doing so, he felt a presence behind him and turned around to find who was tailing him, only to find absolutely no-one… until he looked up to see a rainbow mane sticking out of a cloud. He rolled his eyes with a smile and “blinked” (an easier way to explain how to get from one place to another in a ‘blink’, hence the name, using natural speed) his way behind Rainbow hoping to catch her by surprise.

Rainbow had been following Cree around town since he got out of the castle, still too shy to say hello after what she did before she left last night – it still confused her on what came over her to do that - only to no longer see the griffon on the ground (the only reason why Sam hadn’t sensed her earlier was only because he was busy), only to nearly get a heart attack when a talon taps her on the shoulder, causing her to yelp loudly and quickly turn herself around, spotting the griffon… suddenly a few inches away from her. Upon realizing this, she blushes furiously at being caught, but downright turns crimson at how close he was right now. Then again, she’s also put into a very compromising position, with Cree planting his hands on the cloud behind her to trap her with his body, and her being huddled up close under him, causing her to blush even more than before. And not to mention it’s also it’s a good thing that no-one’s around to see that, otherwise it would’ve raised some very… risqué ideas about the situation, especially how creative ponies can be in terms of speculation.

Of course, the immortal idiot on top of her was grinning like a madman at how successful his ambush was, until he saw her face a bright red, and suddenly joined her in blushing after realizing where his plan lead him as an unforeseen fuck-up, which alone took a full fucking minute in total with the ambush. Jolting off of her right after, he sheepishly scratches the back of his head, Rainbow mirroring him in a bout of awkwardness.

Ironic how Rainbow was trying to avoid this kind of confrontation, only to get dragged into a moment worse than what she assumed by one of Sam’s shitty on-the-spot ideas.

…

…yeah, let the awkward sink in…

…

OkborednowtimetoFUCKSHITUP!

“Oh m-my…”

The minute they heard the new voice, their faces paled, slowly turning to the side… to see a blushing Fluttershy carrying a basket of groceries staring back at them. Somehow, in the full minute after Dash’s loud yelp, she had gotten there in time to be fully present in front of the cloud long enough to see… yeah…

This causes them to both exclaim, in perfect sync, “THIS ISN’T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!”

“I JUST CAUGHT HER FOLLOWING ME AROUND TOWN!”

“I WAS JUST FOLLOWING HIM AROUND TOWN AND GOT CAUGHT!”

At the moment, it took a while to realize what the cyan mare had just blurted out, causing her to slap her hands around her mouth in a vain attempt of hoping those words didn’t already get out. But apparently they did, so the griffon and the yellow pegasus turned their attention to the athlete in front of them, causing the mare in question to shrink in on herself and into the cloud she used as a hiding spot, using her wings to hide her blushing face.

Sam couldn’t help but “d’aww” internally at the cute sight before him, but he still had to address the elephant in the room.

“Rainbow… why were you following me? You could’ve just talked to me instead, you know.”

“I know that, Cree. But… I’m still a bit shaky over… what happened last night…”

The last part was murmured, but Sam still heard it, and the blushing from earlier had just returned when he interpreted what she said. “Oh…” he said, “Right… last night! I was… erm… actually going to find you later to ask about… uh… the kiss.”

Just at the mere mention of the kiss caused the rainbow mare to sink her face even further into the confines of her wings, indicating to Sam how discomforting the topic was to her. This in turn prompts the griffon to move closer to the mare, draping his own wing over her back in an attempt to comfort her, causing Rainbow to raise her head from her wings, to see Cree timidly scratch the back of his head as he rested his wing over her back.

“Hey… sorry if that’s such a sensitive topic. I’ll just shut up about it if you want.”

At least he’s thinking about my feelings, other than trying to tease me about it, she thought, her mind drifting back to her first crush…

… If only that guy wasn’t such an asshole, maybe it could’ve been better.

Little did she know, her body ached for the comfort after the memory, and unbeknownst to her current mental state, she began to close the distance between him and her, and then nuzzle Cree, whose response is a reddening face, and a hand petting her mane.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, was feeling her heart melt at the scene playing out in front of her, and silently flew away back to her cottage as to not disturb the two of them.

If only I had someone to hold me and love me like that one day….

Time flew faster than they thought, as Rainbow and Cree spent an hour or two on the cloud, just staring out at the horizon as the summer wind blew by them, eventually getting restless with the quiet and sparking a conversation regarding the things that Cree saw on his travels, and even the adventures that Rainbow and her friends had gone on (although some of the tales she told were clearly over-exaggerations, Sam couldn’t help but smile at the creativity in how each story was weaved, almost having a similarity to his own brand of creativity and enthusiasm), but he eventually had to leave, much to the prismatic mare’s disappointment, which was remedied by the promise of meeting again tomorrow. Rainbow then left another kiss for Cree – this time longer than last night – and flew off to leave.

Right now, it was the time of the day that Shadow said she would be at the café she was talking about on the note. As thus, he heads off.

When he arrived, he found the thestral in disguise, due to her slightly flaring out her magic, allowing him to single her out from the other ponies in the area.

Settling down at her table and ordering a strawberry cheesecake, she sets up an Ignorance Field and gets to the point to explain a recent decision that she forgot to relay to Sam – since his endeavors as Cree ended up with a few of her own in prison, she opted that they try and convince other inmates to help orchestrate a mass jailbreak. This in turn would give them more firepower against the Princess on the final assault. But due to recent developments regarding Sam’s presence, she thought it over and needed it to be relayed to him personally.

This definitely was troublesome, since while Shadow could definitely reason with those on her own rule to let Sam do his work, there is no way she’ll be able to reason with the inmates being “recruited” seeing as they’re no doubt gonna have a massive grudge against both Princesses for having them locked up - one they’ll act upon the moment they get out and fulfill at any cost.

When Sam reveals this new problem, needless to say, Shadow realizes once again how far her previous determination led her to a nigh inescapable obstacle. Regardless, he still assures her that things will still go according to his plan – just that this new predicament has to be prolonged for a few days or so until he can tell her otherwise.

Until that time comes, he’s going to have to spend time on incognito as Cree, at least either when he says go or at least when the inmates begin to get too restless for crowd control. Giving him her phone number, she says she’ll keep in contact ‘til further notice.

What she didn’t know is that he can actually pull off what he needs to do already; it’s just that his time incognito is actually a thinly veiled excuse just to be able to spend more time with the Mane 6 before he actually has to execute his plan. He’s just lazy that way.

Or maybe there’s a bigger picture he’s seeing that we don’t.

Over the next five days, Sam had been bonding with each of the Mane 6, getting to know them all around as he spent his time with them in Ponyville.

With Twilight, he had been discussing with her the properties and formulae of the spells and enchantments, occasionally nerding out over the most simplest of spells and its applications. And yes, Rainbow was there as well, only she preferred to be involved in the practical part of the study… which mainly involved using Ripple in various pranks across Ponyville. But outside of these study sessions, they genuinely spend time with each other’s company, be it reading or going out to either eat or hang out. With Fluttershy, the first day he spent time with her, it was very quiet between the two of them, although when Cree demonstrates his ways with animals, they both bond well, and especially when he regales her with tales of the animals he met on his journey. Needless to say, the goal of fist-bumping a civilized bear has finally been checked off on his lifelong to-do list.

With Pinkie, he had been helping her gain a new spectrum of parties to enjoy, from raves (with assistance from Vinyl and fresh new DJs looking to introduce themselves) and even masquerades and debut balls (yes, he can make even fancy parties fun), which Rarity came in to help design new dresses and décor with him for the latter, and create new types of liquor and apple products with AJ for both – even going so far as to help harvest the apples for the products he makes and then some for the Acres overall.

Things have pretty much been looking up for the Six and Sam, seeing as he seems to have finally gained the trust of all of them… and maybe a bit more than that from Twilight and Rainbow.

However, the girls had been slowly noticing how… dampening his mood had been becoming when they were done with their activities, slowly turning to slightly more depressed as time went on. But they never questioned it, as he always went back to being his cheery self before any of them could bring it up enough to make a point.

And on one of the days, they all truly did decide to confront him on this… but it didn’t go according to plan…

Location: Friendship Castle

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

“Cree? You in there?”

“Yeah, we need to talk.”

The Mane 6 were all standing at the door to Cree’s room, all rounded up by Twilight after she brought up how Cree has been changing in behavior over his time here, and came with the intentions of finding the cause before it could become any worse for their new friend.

After hearing no answer in a whole minute, they assumed that he must have been asleep or something and decided to come back later. Until, they heard something crash inside his room, causing them to jump in shock, and Rainbow responds all too quickly by bum rushing into the door, breaking it down, her eyes filled with intent to kill whoever just tried to hurt Cree.

…Only to find that Cree was just fine, and that he just came out of the shower (judging by the wet trail from the bathroom trailing to him) and slipped and fell, explaining the crash they heard, as a table tumbled as well…

…but it took a while for it to occur to them that he just came out the shower…

…And the towel had slipped off when he fell, leaving him stark naked, all their eyes wandering down his still-soaked chest, down to his abs, and trailing off…“Below the Belt”, to put it to lighter terms.

*POMF*

Four of the Elements looked to the side to see Twilight and Rainbow popping a wingboner as various thoughts, be it provocative, scandalized or otherwise, flew across their heads and those of the Six (sans Pinkie, who’s already in a relationship, and thus is currently exerting all sheer willpower not to stare), but suddenly, Cree stirs, his vision slowly re-focusing, the first thing he sees being the girls in his room with red faces…

…Then the broken down door…

… then, feeling a cold breeze rise up his spine, looks down, then up to the girls, snapping sight back and forth.

He then deadpans, saying, “So… do you want me to stand up to give y’all a better view, or are you gonna leave and let me put on some clothes?”

Let’s just say after a solitary second, everyone ran out with embarrassed expressions and a red face, Pinkie bouncing out to the pace of everyone running, and leaving Twilight and Rainbow’s minds being currently… occupied, as they moved out.

‘By Faust, what was Selene thinking when she left him?!’

‘Looks like I won’t have problems with shlick material for a while…’

Suffice it to say, it was a bit embarrassing for all involved, sans Cree, who seemed forgiving with the whole endeavor, so long as everyone agreed to never bring it up ever again.

P.S, did you know that Sam’s body is actually as toned as described? It’s just that his actual body’s a little less… “panty-dropping” and is much more embedded muscle and little to no fat, and especially –

HEY! FUCK OFF, YIN! TMI INBOUND, HERE! The Readers don’t need to know any more about how I look normally, they can just assume on their own!

Dude, there’s nothing embarrassing about your body, last I checked; you said you were proud of it!

I STILL HAVE INSECURITIES!

LIKE WHAT?!

WHY SHOULD I SAY ANYTHING?! YOU’LL PROBABLY BLURT THEM OUT ON YOUR OWN!

Please, what could I say to the Readers that’s so bad about your body?

Oh please like you don’t know – you could probably end up telling them about how my being short gets me mistaken for a child as a human, or maybe that I’m easily mistaken for a girl if I tie my hair down – let alone not at all! Or maybe even-

Wait…

YIN YOU SONOFA-

We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties, give us a sec around here to clean up everything after Sam’s tantrum…

…

OK, everything’s good here, but for the sake of the story’s pace, let’s skip forward to the fifth day of Sam’s temporary stay in Ponyville, which is conveniently the day after the...erm… incident.

Location: Map Room – Friendship Castle

Ever since that whole “breaking-in” scenario yesterday, the girls had avoided any more attempts of anything like that again, hoping instead that Cree can come out about the problem… well, aside from Rainbow, who’s most likely still wishing to see more than the preview.

However, as everyone was present in the Map Room, doing their own daily thing, Cree enters the room, carrying the Journal under his arm. Turning to him, they were all only able to last a second and a half looking him in the eyes before turning away with a blush, minus Spike, who, like Cree, looks to the others instead in confusion.

Shrugging all of those aside, Cree simply moves towards a big table, placing his book down on it and opening it to a specific page.

With Pinkie being one of the only ones able to regain their composure from embarrassment, she walked over to him, asking, “Hey Cree, whatcha doin’?”

“Gimme a sec, Pinks – I gotta focus on this,” he says, still focused on the page he opened as he pulled out an updated map of Equis. Pinkie, obviously confused, turns to the others present in the room, seeing them looking for an explanation, only for them to get a shrugging Pinkie, obviously signing, ‘I got nothing.’

Looking back at Cree, she turned just in time to see his face slowly turn to a seemingly mad grin, slightly frightening her, shocking her even further when he screams “YES!” as he jumped up, causing her to jump as well, along with the other 6 in the room with her.

Grabbing his Journal and the map, he sets it on the Map Table, and then runs out of the room.

Everyone, still trying to figure out what the fuck just happened, looked over to the Journal to see what the source of Cree’s new excitement was.

Looking over the still-opened page of the book alongside the map, they saw what seemed to be another map of Equis, only they noticed a couple major differences between the two maps:

For one, the map in the book looked older and more worn, seeing as though it had been through plenty of practical use in its time as it aged, showing off places that weren’t present in their current map. It also seemed to have been currently restored, as upon closer inspection, the map used to be in outright pieces.

And another, there was a distinct, yet massive factor that made the map in the Journal stand out – on the location that now rested the Whitetail Woods, a castle, or fortress, stood out in all its glory, resting on the underside of what seemed to be an inverted mountain, atop the forest.

And that particular part of the map was circled out in red ink and surrounded by arrows pointing towards it.

As they tried to comprehend the nature of what this all meant, Cree bursts into the room, jolting everyone out of their stupors, looking to him and seeing him decked out in the clothes he wore when he arrived, and packing his satchel.

Snapping back to attention, Twilight went up to Cree, asking, “Cree, what’s this entire ruckus about? One minute you came into the room all quiet-like, then suddenly jump up and shout, and then come back dressed up. What’s going on?”

The griffon seemed to be looking for an excuse to evade this, but then failed, as he exhales, sheepishly scratching the back of his head as he walked over to where he left the book.

“Alright, alright, I’ll talk. It’s just that… I’ve been studying and researching my whole life compiling this journal, and I’d finally collected all the pieces of this very map just the day before yesterday. This map right here, is going to help make sure my life amounted to a great price.”

“Pretty interesting, big guy, but what’s the fuss about the castle over here?”

“I’m getting to that, don’t worry. You see girls, I’m not just a wanderer, but I’m… sort of an archaeologist, but more discreet.”

Rainbow’s eyes began to sparkle as she heard him being an archaeologist and asked, “You mean… like Daring Do?!”, causing Cree to sweatdrop.

“Um… I guess so?”

And thus, Rainbow gains a newfound – albeit childish – respect for our friend, and seeing her look up to him like that made the immortal’s heart drop knowing that while every lie he tells helps him get closer to them, he must tell the truth sooner or later. And they may see him much more differently after doing so.

“Anyway, what I’ve come across might be a find that will no doubt shake the very foundations of everything you know. This can be classified as the biggest find of my life.”

Everyone in the room was now riveted at they are hearing – such a big and admirable ambition radiated from their friend as he eagerly told them his tale, and they felt compelled to aid him in the way.

“But first, a small history lesson – you all know what I’ve told you about Samuel Newman, right?”

Everyone in the room, even Spike, nodded their confirmations. Over the time he spent with them, they have heard a good deal about Sam, his exploits, and his eventual imprisonment well enough that they all had a personal view of the guy. And a lot of them were conflicted at how he can be told as someone fighting for what was right, but get treated as a criminal in the end.

Then again, Sam was technically pretty much a criminal, but for the right reasons.

“Well, I’ve already explained his power, legacy, and a few other things among others, but I forgot to tell you all one other thing about him. A long time ago, his political power had gotten too high due to having so many kingdoms under his unwitting command, and much to his chagrin, he had to establish a kingdom of his own.”

“Waitwaitwait. Ya mean to say that Sam – the same Sam that you said hates authority all around – made a kingdom of his own?”

“Apparently, according to accounts, it was either he did so, or have a merge in kingdoms with olden Canterlot, and no way in Tartarus was he gonna let all that power go to any power-hungry nobles’ hands, and you know a majority of them only run on greed and stupidity, even as of today.”

All heads definitely confirmed this statement, Rarity seeming to be the most agreeable, seeing she had her fair share of experiences with “nobility” of the sort.

“And thus, he had established his own new kingdom; one that he realized would fortify and protect his ideals of equality and peace amongst everyone – not just ponies, but everyone in general.”

They remembered what Cree had said about Sam’s ideals – his ambition was to build bridges between all species, seeing as low equality and high racism between species seemed to be the biggest firestarter for wars amongst them. And what Cree had said before… apparently Sam had succeeded in bringing them together under his name.

“The castle in the map was considered to be the go-to hub for all cross-species relations, whether it be national summits or even interspecies marriages, it all started there.”

“Ladies… and Gentledrake, I present to you all… the legendary Aether Castle, the pivoting point of all of the Aether Kingdom.”

At this point, the way Sam was talking up about the castle, it was just warranting a lot of attention. And looking to almost everyone’s faces, it was obvious to what they wanted to ask.

“You know, you guys could come with, if you’d like.”

And at those few words, Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, AJ and Spike were just about eager to come along, Twilight mainly jumping in for the opportunity to unearth a long-forgotten history, and the duo were in for the promise of adventure and AJ acting as a chaperone to make sure they didn’t do too much damage, and Spike was in for the same reason as the duo, but mostly for the chance to be able to join in a big adventure. However, Rarity and Fluttershy weren’t too eager to come along. And Sam saw this with much confusion.

“What’s wrong? You guys don’t want to come?”

“Well, Cree, as much as this sounds all too exciting, you know that I’m not too eager to get my hands dirty, so…”

It took a good chunk of willpower for Sam to not groan at her reasoning. However, he already had a counter-reason set up in advance…

“Understandable, but ‘tis a real shame, you know… since from what I was able to gather about Aether Castle, the architecture and design of the whole building altogether was once said to have inspired many great minds to create so many beautiful things. Maybe just visiting the castle and its interior could… bring a spark of creativity to your mind.”

And seeing how Sam had been careful to weave his words correctly, it seemed that Rarity’s attention had been brought into consideration.

“Well… since you bring up such a thing… maybe it would be a good idea to tag along, I suppose.”

“Great. And, erm, what about you, Fluttershy?”

“Oh! Um… it might be… too dangerous, you know? Adventuring has too much excitement for me already, and I don’t think I could handle something this… big.”

“You know, now that I think about it, that reminds me – I’ve also heard stories from zoologists in my travels who’ve heard of Aether Castle, and their biggest interest in it involved a part of the castle known only as “Little Garden”.”

“Little… Garden?”

“According to them, don’t let the name fool you – it isn’t as little as the name itself suggests, but it’s more of a massive animal habitat once said to contain the many animals found on Sam’s journeys – some are bought there to protect them from outright extinction, others were to be rehabilitated from any destruction of their old homes. A massive sanctuary, with… no way to tell if… they’re still alive in there… Oh no.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widen at the sudden realization bought upon by Cree – all those poor animals once tended to by someone who saved them, only for him to be gone, and it had possibly been over a thousand years since anyone ever heard of them…

The yellow pegasus’ eyes suddenly shine with determination.

“When do we leave?”

While Sam showed genuine concern for the animals in Little Garden, he was glad Fluttershy came along – having someone with equal zoology knowledge was helpful. Nodding, Cree draws all attention back to the map.

“I’m thinking about leaving tomorrow, at sunrise. But since I’m bringing ten others as company, let’s settle for the morning around eight. Looking back to the distance from this castle to the woods, and comparing it to the map on the book… I’d count a day and a half for the trip and the expedition, tops. Maybe less, if we’re lucky.”

Everyone nodded as they understood the plan. But reeling back to what Cree just said, there was something wrong with what he just said. And Twilight easily noticed.

“Um… Cree? We’re only seven in the room, not counting you – did you just count wrong?”

“Oh, I’m not wrong – there’s definitely you seven, and also counting the three behind the door over there, that’s ten. Unless of course, you all say otherwise, but no doubt they’ll try and follow us anyway.”

As Cree spoke, he motioned over to the door leading to the room they’re in, Twilight using her magic to crack it open… only for three familiar young mares to tumble through the door, to be put out in plain sight for everyone present to see.

Each of the newly introduced three were one of the three species of pony – one was an orange pegasus with a purple mane, another was a yellow earth pony with a red mane and a pink bow holding it in a ponytail, and the last was the marshmallow white unicorn with the two-color mane from earlier in the story. These three were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a motley group of girls that originally banded together with the full purpose of helping each other earn their cutie marks, eventually reaching that goal and re-purposing themselves towards helping others find the true meaning or significance of their cutie mark.

The pegasus wore a dark orange shirt with a white long-sleeved undershirt, accompanied by denim jeans with a pair of skate shoes. Her cutie mark, the CMC shield (with purple, orange and red lines going downwards) with a lightning bolt in a wing, was solidified into a badge that hung from a chain by her side. Her wings were noticeably smaller than average pegasi, but she never let it bring her down. This was Scootaloo, resident junior daredevil of the CMC, responsible for handling more of the seemingly crazy parts of their plans and pulling it off splendidly.

The earth pony wore a yellow work shirt with denim overalls, with her cutie mark – the CMC shield with an apple in the middle, with a heart outlining in the apple – rested on her left forearm, and work boots. While she may look slender, she actually has enough muscle to hold her own and partially manage in strength. This was Apple Bloom, the main engineer / handymare of the group responsible for bringing their creations – bound to fail or otherwise – to life.

The unicorn wore a silk-white dress that hung from her shoulders and went down just below her knees, the light pink of ribbons giving detail to the dress, and also wearing a small pair of shorts underneath to conserve modesty should a wind (or a perv) come by. Her horn, white like the rest of her body, was visibly smaller for a unicorn her age, showing the possibility of her magic being weak, but she can actually manage a spell well enough thanks to Cree’s help. Her cutie mark, the shield with a musical note in the star, rested as a brooch on her left breast. This was Sweetie Belle, the voice of reason and planner within all of the CMC’s past and present endeavors.

(Appearance is different, but these are the clothes I’m talking about. Did I get Sweetie’s right?)

Oh, and believe me, these three aren’t the young little fillies from the show – they are growing up to be young, beautiful mares, as indicated by the swelling of what could be a ‘bountiful harvest’ within all three, hence why they’re all in high school. But to put it through to your imagination, here’s the lowdown – Scootaloo, being a pegasus, has a sleek and slim body, but her curves are quite exclaimed from her clothes. Apple Bloom, being a rural worker, clearly has gained muscle over her time, but is hidden under the skin so it doesn’t stick out too much, especially when she’s also growing a supple amount of ‘T&A’ under the cloth. Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, is actually growing up to be a prim mare like her sister – sophisticated, sexy, but still subtle enough to make any growing stallion crack a neck to get a good look.

And don’t grill me on this - this is all for the sake of originality, so to give my headcanon universe a chance, and I don’t write foalcon, dammit.

But moving on…

As the trio are about to be scolded for eavesdropping, Sam reminisces about the time that he and the three first met...

Flashback – two days ago…

As Cree had finally wrapped up with helping Fluttershy transport a huge lizard back to its owner, he felt the need to unwind in the park, snagging a newspaper and settle down at a bench, getting a big piece of taffy he bought earlier, popping it into his mouth to slowly chew as he read.

Apparently, his actions – not him specifically – at the bar had hit front page news, although the reporters had never been able to identify who he was, as they never got any good-enough sources to establish who he really was. What they did have, though, was a tip that the one who was behind beating up the Rogues wasn’t a pony, hence why there was a big bustle in reporters from various news companies trying to nail where he was over the past couple of days. In basic, they had the deeds in detail; they just needed to pin it on him.

And speak of the devil – wannabe reporters inbound. Complete with cartoonish cloud rising up behind them as they stampede through the town. Acting on impulse, Cree simply raises his newspaper up to cover his face, obscuring his presence as they passed by him. As stupid as that plan was, you gotta admit:

Cartoon Logic.

Not. Even. Once.

But using crazy logic aside, Cree simply laid back and read, not giving too much of a care of anything in the world. Although he isn’t really giving any relevance to any of the stuff in the print, he actually skips those tabloids and onto the crosswords or any other news that might interest him, namely the report on him.

Rogues Finally Caught! Who Is This Mystery Brawler?

As known across the media, a small group of the infamous Rogues has finally been caught just a few days prior, and a video – posted by the bartender of the Bucking Bronco Bar – caught the whole incident, which is spreading like wildfire on the net. Many still aren’t able to get a reliable source as to who this mysterious “Storm Hunter”, as the masses call him, is, and a hunt is on to get the lowdown on this stranger. While those in Ponyville claim to know him, as he has fought against the Element of Loyalty and won, and even performed in the party held for him, it is still a strong enough lead to bring the very hunt to Ponyville. More information to come when the mystery brawler is interviewed.

Storm Hunter? Well, it’s cheesy, but it’s better than anything else.

*rustle* *rustle*

Bringing his head up from the paper, he hears rustling from the bushes over yonder, just in time to see three figures dart towards a large tree nearby. Apparently they thought they could pull off a Metal Gear and slip from cover to cover. Didn’t work.

“You know, you three don’t need to hide to get a look at me.”

And at that, the trio popped their heads out of their cover to look at him sheepishly.

After clearing up their motives, they apparently wanted to have a talk with him in hopes of getting to know him, Scootaloo especially, as he helped save her idol. Sweetie was interested about the places he went to, Apple Bloom was attentive towards the cultures he encountered, and Scootaloo was interested overall about his feats other than a few days back.

As it turned out, they needed info like this for their special group project involving the very things they asked for. They would have brought along their other friends, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon (much to Sam’s surprise), but they were too busy with other things to come along. Since they weren’t able to find a good enough source in Twilight’s library due to how large it was, and how they didn’t know where to properly look, even with the alicorn’s help, so when Cree appeared and revealed himself as a wanderer, they hoped to ask him for help.

Regardless, Cree was able to indulge them and gave them various tales regarding the ‘many lands’ he passed along, the ‘cultures he was exposed to’, and along the way, told them of his fights.

But let’s be honest, he’s mostly conducting all of this from his own memory in the past, not all to current, so it’s more of a history lesson than an actual current lesson.

But nevertheless, they got what they needed, and promptly left to their own devices, but not before making him promise to spend some time later on to tell more of his stories, as they might consider writing his biography for him sometime.

Back to present…

The trio were currently being rounded on by their three respective parent figures, the former giving reasons to why they can join the trip, based on ‘they’re old enough and can take care of themselves’, while the latter were vetoing their statements, all on the idea of ‘it will be too dangerous’, although it seems the girls aren’t able to sway the CMC either way, they still stand firm to saying no. This debate pretty much went back and forth, until eventually the mares tell them off regardless of the many valid reasons the crusaders bring up.

However, they only smirked as they bought up their trump card.

“I guess you’re right, Rarity. We might as well just leave.”

“Although we might turn out bored…”

“And eventually spread that little secret we know about y’all.”

That statement made heads turn towards them, as their interests were peaked by what they were implying.

“Wait, what are you three getting at?”

“You all know… the one involving what happened before?”

The girls’ eyes widened at a provoked realization. Although the trio were just bluffing their way in, it was clear that just remembering what incident they thought the trio were suggesting was enough to push them to the edge.

“Y-y-you girls wouldn’t, would you?”

“Maybe we will, maybe we won’t. Depends if-”

“Alright, alright! You lot can come with, just keep the trouble to yourselves, or else!”

The trio were inwardly snickering at how lucky they were able to goad all the six, and even get through Applejack’s lie detecting ability to be able to join Cree.

Sam, on the other hand, was completely onto them, but didn’t say shit, as this was too funny to pass up. Besides…

Times are fun with more friends joining the party.

“OK then, now that that’s settled, remember everyone: 8 AM or a little after that – at best 10-15 minutes after, so that we won’t lose too much time waiting for anyone. If you’re late, then sorry, but we’ll leave without you. Harsh rule, yes, but it’s good to keep a time constraint to not admit indolence.

Alright, I’ll leave you all to pack; I gotta go organize my stuff. See ya.”

The next morning…

Sam had already finished packing his things, complete with a provisional supply pack for the girls and Spike, and was now just waiting in the main hall for them to come by, the katana he brought along resting by his side.

A few minutes before eight, Twilight was the first to come, her bags packed with writing implements, maps, and her own supplies, with Spike in tow, his pack stuffed the same way, except the contents seemed to be filled with exploration gear – rope, flasks, a compass, a tent, the works. When he checked the contents of both bags, he looked to Spike and had to ask.

“Um… you do know that I’ve got most of these in bulk, right?”

“Yeah, but Twilight insisted ‘just in case’, seeing as you could never have too many of these.”

Shrugging his shoulders, he gives the OK to both of them; the only thing left to do is still waiting for the others.

Eventually, minutes pass and the girls start to slowly file in:

Fluttershy, who apparently bought her own supplies, and a massive bag of animal care equipment – food (meat and vegetable), first aid packs, medicine; it looked as though she was packing for a relief effort. When asked, she replied that she was going to do her best to help save any of the animals left in Little Garden, but when asked how she was able to afford all the equipment, she claimed that being a horror writer on the side helps fund these kinds of endeavors, much to the group’s surprise.

Pinkie Pie, who walks into the room empty-handed, claiming she bought in a load of supplies from her Magic Satchel, which, much to the group’s confusion, was in her mane, which she demonstrated by reaching into her mane and pulled out a cupcake – no hair in it or anything – and ate it. Sam was ultimately bewildered, as using space distortion techniques was his specialty, but seeing her pull it off was slowly, but surely accepted. She even bought along a recorder camera to get footage of their journey.

Rarity, who bought along her sketchpad, for on-the-spot inspiration, and a good supply pack with her tent. She even decked herself in an explorer’s outfit, khaki and all, so to fit in with the occasion. Sam inwardly facepalms at this, but nonetheless keeps his composure about it. Sweetie Belle follows in, her pack’s content’s actually looking more ready for the trip, as it was similar to Spike’s.

Rainbow Dash, accompanied by Scootaloo, brought along her stock of supplies as well, seeing to it that they also bought along a couple of special gear in case – lights, utility knives, and even a blank book. When asked why she bought that, Rainbow claimed she wanted to sketch any armor or weaponry that Sam might have in display in the castle – it was a hobby of hers to collate weaponry or battle-ready armor, and document it for her collection. When asked how they’re going to sleep, the two of them said they’ll sleep in some clouds.

Applejack, along with Apple Bloom, had bought in sleeping bags, some food for the trip, and Granny Smith’s homemade insect repellant, made so that it keeps bugs away from the crops, and functions normally when used on somepony. And they all managed to bring all this in one bag, possibly an unintentional show of strength, as the contents of the bag were almost bigger than AJ, and the sleeping bags – carried by Apple Bloom, were as big as the teen in question.

After everyone had assessed what they were all bringing, Cree brings all attention to him to finalize an announcement.

“OK everypony – and dragon, we’re gathered today to go on what could be the ultimate expedition! I expect that everyone be safe – while this find is of great importance… I don’t want to see any of you get hurt ‘cause of my foolishness. To me, friends always come first – anything that I came for will have to take last priority.”

They all smiled at his caring declaration. To think they’d all just wanted to join the bandwagon with him, they didn’t want to be a burden, but he didn’t care about that – just the thought of his friends being there was enough to alleviate any burden that they think they’re bringing to him.

“Alright, now is everyone ready?”

“YEAH!”

“Then we’re off!”

And, finally going through the gates, they made their way to the outskirts of the town, the group behind Cree thinking that deep down, there will be something of great impact to the world that’s going to happen – one that, hopefully, will bring good.

They have no idea how right they are.

Meanwhile…

Location: Canterlot Prison (A few days prior to the expedition)

As Dead Ringer and his group lie in their cells, they go over what has been and shall be done in this week:

First, they were able to rally a lot of inmates towards their cause, seeing as they all hate the princess; they decided to spread the word around to the others in solitary confinement – the more dangerous of the inmates.

Second, the maximum security inmates claimed that an outlaw dragon was being kept inside as well, so freeing him will gain them a massive turning point in their fight against Celestia, and thus getting him out of confinement will be a big priority in the jailbreak.

And lastly, they had the location of where the guards established their armory, and were to go en route there upon their chance.

However, they still had a big factor to deal with.

Him.

As their boss had detailed, it was imperative that they try to keep these inmates under control until told otherwise, as he was in on the plan, but that he wasn’t bothered to make sure they stopped, but rather that they prolong it until it could get out of control or otherwise.

There was something new in play, but the small-time leader could no nothing, but push things to fruition.

When he gained the courage to ask why this was needed, their boss gave off the very words that bought hope back into her (but not to their knowledge) and into them.

They all must succeed.

For when Aether returns, it will bring the long-awaited judgment that the sun had long coming.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note

Yup.

BTW, the whole thing with the girls and Sam... I actually intended to have them really confront him on that, but shit pretty much snowballed from there. I'll see to it that it'll be bought to light in the next chapter or the one after.

And just to let you know, Sam is... kinda emotionally unstable, hence why he just spouted that crap real easily arguing with Yin.

There's always a big cost for great power, and a fragile psyche is the change.

Oh yeah - he's pretty built similar to Nagisa (a boy, but looks like a girl, from Assassination Classroom) combined with Pidge Gunderson (actually a girl, but styled as a boy in the beginning from Voltron: Legendary Defender... the new one on Netflix, not the old one.)

But with that cleared up... I'm out, beeyotch. -☯

Chapter 6: Aether Rising, Part 2: I Get a Little Bit Bigger, But Then...

Author's Note

Okay, little heads up - any and all of the things being referenced here on out all still belong to their respective owners and companies, and I don't intend to usurp ownership of them either. I'm just making a story here. And BTW, the color codings for the speech are all still the same, so not to confuse the lot of y'all.

And... oh yeah, sorry 'bout takin' so long again. And expect these kinds of sorry's quite a lot here.

And in advance... spread the good word of the story, will ya? Knowing you guys read this is one of the reasons this still runs.

-☯

Chapter 6: Aether Rising, Part 2: I Get a Little Bit Bigger, But Then...

Chronicles of Hope: Book 1: A Guardian’s Rising

Chapter 6: Aether Rising, Part 2 – I Get A Little Bit Bigger, But Then…

Location: Whitetail Woods

Already a few hours later, they were nearing towards their destination… or at least, the area where their intended endpoint was to be, as Sam had no clue where to start looking, as the forest was vast – and while his castle was equally big enough to cover the majority of the forest, he had no idea where to start looking for any conveniently-placed entrances going underground. So he had the general area down, but just not how to get there. Luckily, from what he remembered from the notes he collated in the book, he’ll find it sooner or later, especially with a lot of help.

The girls weren’t faring too OK either, as they were blindly about to follow him into a circle the second they walked into the forest, and were merely passing time on their own instances as they walked along. Twilight had been reading Cree’s journal, hoping to help their quest go further than wandering in the forest soon. Rainbow had taken to picking around with a utility knife she snagged from her pack, fiddling with the multiple functions on the knife. Pinkie had been recording their every movements with the camera she’d taken to lugging around, occasionally adding random anecdotes as time went along. Fluttershy was determined and excited (deter-cited? IDFK) as she planned out the things she would do when meeting the new animals, although bringing up the hopes that it won’t end up the same as the Gala a long time ago. Rarity had been silently brainstorming what she would be able to come up with for this year’s trendsetting new line, and wondered if seeing Aether might really help fuel her creativity. Applejack had been taking to being the one to keep an eye on the CMC, while the trio in question tended to wander off to various spots that had great views of the landscapes, which indirectly caused the group to slow down, but thankfully, a lot of them took it as times of rest. Spike was foremost the most grateful for these rest stops, as while his somewhat limber body has long adapted to lifting heavy loads thanks to Twilight having him carry so many books, he had yet to build up enough stamina, more or less.

Eventually, after another couple of hours of walking, they made it to a clearing in the woods, setting base up there.

“OK everybody, we’re here – Whitetail Woods, home to goodness knows what and an opportunity to find a long, lost relic!”

“That’s great, Cree. But, there’s something to bring up – how are we going to find this lost relic?”

“Glad you asked, Twi – which is why I took the liberty of having these bought along for the trip!”

Going through his bags, he pulls out many cheap but sturdy compasses, which, for some reason, seem to all be spinning on their own accord. The girls and Spike took all of this with interest.

“As you’ve noticed, these little guys are all going haywire, and while most assume that this is the work of magnets underground, it’s actually due to the leftover ambient magic used to formerly power the castle, and that is a lot of magic being used. Now, to find the entrance, I intended to circle around here and there looking for the entrance until I got tired, but with you all here, the search might go a lot faster! Everyone, grab a compass and split up individually.”

With all said, everyone then grabbed a compass and spread out, but not before Cree stopped them for a final say.

“Oh yeah, by the way, from what I estimated from the diagrams, the range of where we should look should be from the center of the clearing to the border of where the forest gets thicker.”

“At least that cuts off most of the workload. But that’s still a big chunk of the forest to examine.”

“This is where the ambience is the strongest, and where its interference on the compasses gets stronger, that’s where a moreover direct connection between the ambient magic’s origin and the outside world is most open.”

“Um… In English, please?”

“…Just find the place where the compass spins the fastest, and then we’ll look further to find a cave – that’s why the compass gets even more screwed up thanks to the direct flood of magic. Just be careful that the spinning doesn’t get strong enough for it to fly out of the casing, or something.”

Thanks to the simplified explanation, they got the gist and got right to work.

Meanwhile…

Location: Celestia’s Room, Canterlot

Celestia had been worrying endlessly in her room ever since last week – to think that Newman had gained the opportunity to break out of his prison was strong enough to send her fears throttling through the roof. She was also feeling massive guilt, as she had a massive hand in a big crime that could harm everything that she worked hard to keep – order, faith, and so many other levels of peace she had kept for so long.

If Sam let loose about his news, everything she slaved away for would be burnt to the ground… but that wasn’t the biggest worry on her mind, as she was moreover worried about Luna.

When Luna came back, the first thing she asked about was regarding Sam and Aether, and when she heard about what she had done… Luna never talked to her for so long, leading her to lock herself in solitude for so long until she began to talk to her again. Even when she said that all she did was to bring her back, it was all for naught as she felt every life she took back at that day suddenly haunt her in her dreams, and Luna wasn’t there to help calm it, as she was still in recovery back then.

In other words, she mustn’t let Newman spill, in fear of losing what family she has left to her crimes.

And now, after a couple of days of recovery from the shock, and after corralling a special sect of the guard for the eventual confrontation, she’s been breaking her back trying to find a lead, in hopes that she could track down Sam before he does something drastic, especially as he’s known for doing so with reckless abandon.

As thoughts and calculation flew across her head, her Aerial Espionage specialist, Corporal Silent Sky, had entered the room, giving out a new report on the “wanderer”. She had Sky secretly follow the currently unknown griffon as he spent time around the Elements, tracking every single move he made from the background, hence why the pegasus wasn’t entailed in the earlier chapters.

“Ah, Corporal. Any new updates on the griffon’s activities?”

“Yes, Princess. Apparently, the griffon had coerced the Elements into going on an expedition to the Whitetail Woods. I wasn’t able to clearly hear why, but it was clearly important enough to the griffon.”

“Excellent. I thank you for this information. You’re dismissed until further notice.”

Wordlessly nodding, the pegasus leaves the room, leaving the solar alicorn to her own occupations.

Whitetail, huh? So he must be trying to bring back Aether. I can’t let him do it, but I can’t endanger the Elements in any crossfire either, especially as he’s still in disguise, and if I attack him then, it’ll look like I’m killing an innocent. Best option is to wait out whatever he’s doing until he either reveals himself, or when something happens that endangers the Elements. Either way, I have to go. Soon.

Back to the search…

Over the past 2-and-a-half hours, the gang have barely found any change in their compasses. Even Pinkie was getting antsy with how slow this was getting.

Seriously – So. Fucking. SLOW.

Like, processing in the DMV would be faster than this shit.

But, thanks to the power of plot convenience, this happens.

“Guys! We got something!”

“Yeah, our compasses our doing that spinny thing!”

Darting to, then running over, to the location of the CMC, they all also noticed that as they got closer to the trio, their compasses also got faster, and finally reaching them eventually caused the needles to be an outright blur. Finally getting closer to the intended goal bought the hopes of the group to an all-time high, especially Sam, who takes the lead, walking further from their current position, seeing that the compass goes faster and faster, hearing a buzz that’s suddenly getting louder and louder as he went forward, eventually staying on a specific speed when he stopped… in front of an unnaturally-formed cavern opening, the deep part of the inside lined with a shining light with a light turquoise hue emanating from the bowels of the cave.

Pocketing the compasses, Cree eagerly looks into the depths, and then turns back to the group.

“Let’s get our bags – we’re goin’ in.”

Over the next few minutes, they did just that, and stepped into the cave, following the light to its source.

And after a tedious trek through the tunnel, what they saw was breathtaking. (Play Music)

Under the earth was a trail of great pillar arches, illuminated at the top by the turquoise light which filled the whole cavern, and its wide stone brick path led to a colossal castle, the front of the castle greeting them while the rest of the castle was buried under more earth, the white of the quartz used to make the exterior long covered by vinery growing from the grass but not dirtied by the soil and stone from up top, a gorgeous fountain with an alicorn figure pouring water from a floating orb over its head embroidering the front of the gate, where the symbol on Cree’s journal rested smack dab in the middle of the door, which they now realize must be the Aetherian sigil. If what they saw was real, then most likely, this whole castle could cover the entirety of the Whitetail Woods!

As they walked along the stone-laid path, they all had the liberty of taking in the sights, everyone slowly walking, leaving very little time for blinking, as though they didn’t want the view to break away, and especially Rarity, whose sketchpad was surrounded by the cool-blue aura of her magic as she began scribbling new designs – I guess Sam wasn’t bullshitting when he said it helped inspire others after all.

As they made it to the gate, an inscription suddenly glows white on the arch of the gate, the words somehow written in a language they never heard of, but the word and its meaning suddenly bounce to them clearly in their heads.

Velis relinquere omnibus desperandum, per quas ingredieris huc, et vivunt in spe.

Abandon all despair, ye who enter here, and live in hope.

Oh yeah, I remember that – it was fun to set that up on the gate.

As the words rung through their heads, they felt a sea of calm wash over them as the gate gave way and opened, as if the words themselves assured them that no harm would come to them in the castle.

Well… it was half right. (End Music)

The lobby hall inside of the castle was much more regal than that in Canterlot Castle, but it felt more like a home away from home rather than an ordinary castle – aside, of course, from the various weapons on display: swords, hammers, axes – the works, and all in a wide variety from menacing to outright bizarre. Any lights present were only the dim light from magic-fueled flames in the halls nearby, and any other décor present was no doubt the paintings that hung from the walls, all with vivid colors and violent brushstrokes gracing and blending into the canvas. As they prepared to advance into the rest of the castle, a sudden small window of blue appeared in front of the group. Before their minds were able to register what it was, a synthetic female voice rang from the window.

“Welcome, visitors. Please present your CID Card for scanning.”

At that point, everyone was looking to each other. ‘What the hay is a CID Card?’ they all thought. Until, they heard a sigh from their griffon guide as a smile wormed onto his face.

“Of course I’d need that. At least we don’t have to fight our way in,” he says, before reaching into his satchel and taking out a thick, black and metallic card.

The card itself was longer than any normal card they’d ever seen, the thickness about ten times that of a standard playing card; on the back was the engraving of the Aetherian sigil in gold lining, and on the front was a portrait of a pony in a purple cloak, climbing a mountain whilst holding a staff with a lantern tied to the head. (1)

Under the picture was a script that read out a word, but before they could read what it said, Cree brings the card to the blue window, the portrait facing the window, as a line of light dragged downward and upward on the card, a beep signaling the completion of… something.

“Scan Complete. Welcome, Hermit-Class Brawler Cree, and company. Unfortunately, due to the castle’s currently low power output, we can’t give you an All-Clear, so you and your company may have to fight through Security as you traverse these halls. Have a nice day and try not to die as you tour the castle.”

The constant pleasantness of the voice was one thing, but to hear something like that being so bluntly thrown out was clearly unsettling to the group sans Cree, who just sweatdropped at the announcement as the blue window disappeared in a blink, prompting him to slip his CID into his pocket.

“I stand corrected.”

Bringing his katana to attention, he grabs it by the sheath, twirls it and holds it over his shoulder, the handle of the sheath resting on the shoulder.

“Well, we better get to the power room fast if we’re gonna keep security off our backs.”

At that, they all agreed on their current objective. It’s do or die, anyway.

As they prepare to move out, they are interrupted by the voice again, but this time, it came… from Cree’s person, where a sudden buzzing from his pocket drew attention.

“Oh yeah, since by protocol to ensure you don’t get lost or something, we have taken the liberty of downloading the castle’s map into your CID for your safety. It would be a shame if you tried to find the bathroom, only to find one of the balconies or something – that would be really embarrassing. Unless you’re a jerk who likes pissing off the side, hoping to hit someone at the bottom – then by all means, do so anyway.”

Fishing back his CID, Cree noticed that a scaled map of the castle was now displayed where the picture of the Hermit formerly was. While as Sam, he didn’t really need it, as it was his own home, he just used it to help guide the group behind him instead.

Everyone, on the other hand, was amazed by the level of technology being displayed right in front of them. But this awe-filled silence doesn’t go unnoticed, as Cree turns to find the nine ponies and dragon staring at him in bewilderment.

“What?”

“Cree… what is that in your hand just now?”

“I’ll explain more when there’s time, but not now.”

“Why not?”

And as though to answer the question presented, a hole irised open in a nearby pillar, letting a sort of large, metallic ball roll towards them, a set of robotic arms and legs popping out from the sides, and a head to pop up from the top, with white round eyes glowing and blinking, before looking to the group and turning red, the hands arcing with electricity.

But before the ten newcomers could get in any fighting stance, Cree blinks over to the robot, clonking it hard over the head with his Monkey’s Fist, and causing the robot to revert back to its ball state.

As he drew back his Monkey’s Fist, he looks back to the group.

“That’s why. And by the way, it’s your turn now,” he says, motioning behind the group as more of those Rollers (for current lack of better naming) enter the field. Twilight and Rarity try levitating the Rollers into each other, but whatever alloy they’re made of won’t allow any magic grip. Suddenly, before any of them could panic, a pink blur rushes from their side, only to see Pinkie wielding a silly-looking warhammer from one of the displays and use it to play a massive game of croquet using the Rollers, sending them bowling into each other.

While everyone just stared slackjawed at Pinkie, she just answered, “What? It’s not like Mr. Newman will get mad at me for borrowing this from the wall, right?”

No-one even noticed a sweatdrop slide down the back of Cree’s head as she spoke.

Luckily, those are fakes, otherwise it’d be too easy.

“Well Pinks, the displays here were actually made for demonstrations, so I don’t think he’d mind. Other than that, it might be best to return those when we finish up.”

“Why?”

“’Cause if I’m right, that display replica won’t hold too long, so it might be best to set them down either upon finding a proper weapon for y’all to use, or when we’re done here.”

“Cree, not all of us can fight, you know, so why bother trying to find weaponry?”

“It isn’t for fighting, but rather for defense instead – I’d rather avoid tedious combat, if I can. And something tells me that these little buggers are going to go full force the second they see us tired from bum rushing them all over the place.”

Everyone ‘ah’s in agreement, but most settles for going unarmed, as for one, Rainbow is content with using her karate, Applejack her hand-to-hand and her lasso, and the others barely knew how to use any of the weapons being presented, in fear of accidentally hurting the others in a cross fire, or not wanting to fight at all in Fluttershy’s case. However, Twilight and Rarity, seeing their magic barely make a dent in even a single Roller, take the chance to grab a weapon from the wall – a simple sword for Twilight and a rapier for Rarity - while Cree slips his Monkey’s Fist to Spike for him to use in an emergency to protect the CMC, leaving the most helpful advice for it use: ‘Spin it fast on your sides for prep, swing hard and aim for the top or sides of the head. Never spin in front of you or risk losing thought process and/or fertility in a miscalculation.’

With the seldom few of the girls armed, Cree takes the lead with his katana, and leads them into the depths of the castle, the map on the CID showing the various areas of the castle, some of which are noticeably highlighted as he shows it to the group.

“I’ve taken the liberty of selecting the best route to the power room, all the while getting a tour of the place at the same time. So all we need is to follow the map, and we’ll be on our merry way."

After a while of moving around the castle, and a couple of times that Cree smashes, kicks away, or even slices a wave of Rollers before any of the Six could do anything to fight, and a seldom few times that either Pinkie smashes her way through, Twilight starts showing a good amount of skill hacking and slashing at the hordes, or even Rarity fights some of the bigger bots, they reach one of the destinations highlighted on the map, namely the Hall of Arms.

The Hall, as aptly named, is a specialized display room where various weapons are put up, and unlike the displays in the room they first entered in, this one in particular has a more extensive range regarding the types of weaponry being shown – bastard swords, nunchaku, scythes, whips, hammers, longbows, OH MY GAWD!!

OMGSOMANYWEAPONS!

Ahem… sorry, lost myself there.

Although, there were many other weaponry that the group barring Sam have never even seen before, such as bulky sticks with miniature telescopes, boxes on the bottom, or even a blade, ranging from long to short and thick to thin (AKA fucking GUNS, duh.), a wide, toothed sword with a bulky hilt (AKA a chainsaw, ‘cause why not), and what seems to look like Cree’s sword, only with a larger hand guard, and the blade has teeth like one of the other weapons they saw (AKA chainsaw katana. You’re argument is invalid.), and also some rather bizarre weaponry – even stranger than what they first saw in their entry, such as decorative bracelets, a wheel, scarves (one of which Rarity found elegant), including… something… which might just be an immature joke, as proven by the blushing faces of the group sans Cree and Pinkie, who set to uncontrollable roll-on-the-floor and pound-the-ground laughter, and other than the fact that it’s… distinctively long and purple. (I’ll… just leave it to your imagination to try and figure this weapon out. I’m already embarrassed just trying to drop the stupid hint. Or not. I can’t tell.) Aside from that, Rainbow had already taken out her book and started drawing out a few of the weapons, that… thing, included as a gag.

“Ahaha… hah… *sigh* oh my Faust. *Ahem* Anyway, as you may see, everything in this hall is a weapon, including… *snrk* that… and I’ve heard that this very hall stores every weapon used by Sam, whether at least once or twice, in combat.”

“And… um, why does that, in particular, count as a weapon?”

“Hey, even I’m having a hard time seeing it that way as well, but looks can be deceiving. Heck, look at the warhammer Pinkie’s wielding – it looks more like a toy than a weapon, and yet she swings it like a pro!”

Twilight was about to refute as she held her hand up, but turning to see Pinkie actually start swinging said hammer, her brain starts to take in the thought, and eventually accepts it.

“Point taken. But why does Sam need this room anyway? Is this his way of setting up a trophy room for bragging rights or something?”

“I’ve actually asked that question, too, but as it turns out, for every weapon he collects and uses, he can actually be able to teach the usage of the weapon he has more fluidly.”

“Ohhh~, so this is like a choose-your-own-weapon station for any student looking to study fighting under him, right?”

“Um… yeah, actually – how’d you figure that out so quickly?”

“Duh~, this is so much similar to those role playing games being sold on the PBox. N-Not that I bought one or anything!”

At that point, everyone was just staring at Dash knowingly as the athlete tried to cover up being a geek on the side.

“Well, we’re all here, so we better suit up before any more of those varmints start rushin’ in.”

Nodding to AJ’s statement, they – sans Fluttershy – each make a beeline for a random weapon… only for their hands to pass through the displays.

“What the – Cree, these weapons aren’t real! Heck, they aren’t even there!”

“Oh. OH. OOOOH. I see why – these are only on display, and the only way we’ll even be able to use them is if we… we… erm… you know…”

“*sigh* The power?”

“*tsk* Yeah.”

“OH COME ON!”

Everyone joins in on the disappointment, but the whole thing didn’t last, as a large group of Rollers… well, rolled in from where they entered.

“Well, crap – we’d better book it.”

“What? Can’t you just fight?”

“Either we get tired from fighting, and get lost due to exhaustion, or we can run now, and get that All-Clear as quick as possible. And what more with that big guy over there!”

At Cree’s mention, a massive automaton enters the scene. It was an army green color with the Aetherian sigil on its chest, with a hulking torso, arms with one of the hands built similarly to some of the bulky sticks on display, four spider-like legs ending in wheels, and a head looking not unlike a toaster. Strangest thing though, it wore a naval general’s hat and a pink metal moustache for some reason.

“WELCOME TO THE HALL OF ARMS,” it spoke in a rather unique and robotic accent, “I AM GENERAL STEEL, AND I’M ONE OF THE GUARDIANS OF AETHER CASTLE. FROM WHAT I OVERHEARD FROM THAT BRIGHT YOUNG LAD OVER THERE, YOU DON’T SEEM TO HAVE AN ALL-CLEAR. BUT WHILE MY PROTOCOLS SAY I CAN’T HURT A LADY, IT SEEMS I HAVE TO WHEN I’M GUARDIN’ THIS PLACE, SO… PREPARE TO DIE, ASSHOLES!”

At that, Ironsides began preparing to charge at them, the Rollers by his side doing the same.

“So… run?”

“Yes.”

At that single solitary second, they all turned and ran full speed to their next stop, Steel and the Rollers hot on their trails. It didn’t help that the giant sentry was blind-firing ALL OVER THE PLACE while they ran, adding further to their panic.

Over the next quarter hour, it seemed that they were just running for the whole time from Steel. When he wasn’t blitzing their surroundings with hot lead, he would downright shoot at them with a friggin’ laser from his other hand, frying any area that they would’ve been unlucky to stay in hadn’t they moved. And with the few opportunities to do so, any Roller that got too close for comfort, they would bat it away and send it crashing into Steel, dealing some semblance of damage, albeit in minor amounts. (2)

After a while however, it seemed that they were finally able to outrun him after having him trip over the one of the Rollers, and ran even further to reach the gateway to their next destination. Somehow, despite there being low power, there is still enough energy pumping to keep doors, a few lights, and the whole friggin’ Hall of Arms going, for some ungodly reason. The reason to why the displays worked though was because they had a small, separate power supply to activate upon visiting the Hall, but the gang was too busy running from Steel to have time to learn that.

After having a few minutes to catch their breath, they all walk into the gate, which lead into… a sunny forest?

“What the – did we just get sent back to the surface?!”

“No, look – this isn’t natural sunlight, as it doesn’t feel normally warm. This isn’t the surface… this is Little Garden!”

To demonstrate, Cree pulls his CID out of his pocket, showing that they are still in the castle, and apparently in the area highlighted, ‘LITTLE GARDEN’, but as Cree mentioned, the area in general wasn’t anything like the name, but rather a massive chunk of the castle, which, upon Cree selecting that particular piece of the map, showed that it was actually sectioned into various sub-sections, all of which are revealed to be named, ranging from ‘WOODLAND’, the current section they’re currently in, to ‘TUNDRA’, and other areas.

And before Cree could go on to explain, he felt his CID get snagged from his hand… only to see Fluttershy of all ponies holding it. With her futzing with the CID’s map of Little Garden as she crouched down, Cree was conflicted as to whether or not he would do something. But as he actually came up with something to do, Fluttershy jolted up, her face alight in apparent realization.

“I get it now! This whole place is meant to take in various species from varying environments, which is why the place was designed using different biomes! That’s why the other parts are being separated and named – it tells the terrain of that very area! Like an all-natural zoo! Such ingenuity and consideration really went to making this – it’s amazing that so many biomes can exist in this… area… huh?”

Looking back to the others who’re staring at her in bewilderment, Fluttershy realizes that she got lost in her excitement and promptly hid in her mane as she blushed, silently handing Cree his CID back with a silent ‘eep!’ from her mane as she drew her hand back in.

Oh dear Faust, that’s too adorable.

“Well, since Fluttershy here said her piece, I guess I don’t need to explain any further, but we’d still better follow the map through what I assume is the scenic route – that way, we can see all the biomes and get a chance to help any of the animals here.”

“Y-yes, that’s right – these poor animals have been left here for a thousand years, and we need to ensure that they’re still safe. Cree, I know it’s very selfish of me to ask that we put your quest on hold for a while to help fulfill this, but I’m still asking anyway – can we do so?”

“That isn’t really selfish, and besides, it’s not like we’re gonna spend time here forever, hence why I marked off the scenic route of this place in advance.”

Everyone nodding, they walked off into the forest ahead of them, unaware of what creatures Sam had apparently kept in the various ecosystems recreated in Little Garden.

As they walked along, Fluttershy and Sam in the lead, it suddenly dawned on them about how… unnerving the forest surrounding them felt, the towering of the trees over them and the exoticness of their new surroundings making them feel more and more unguarded, regardless of having weaponry by their side, and even the supposedly braver ones like RD and AJ felt their legs lightly quake in slight fear. However, different thoughts flew in the heads of the two in front of them – Fluttershy, while feeling the same fear they have, she felt things she never expected to feel in conjunction with fear – excitement, determination, and all the more… thrill, which wasn’t normally something she was associated to; while Sam was more worried about all the creatures kept here, as they were all his responsibility to take care of, like a camaraderie of pets in a way, but he saw them in a bigger light than that.

As they wandered around the tree line, the majority group hoping that they would make it to the next biome–

*rustle, rustle* *rustle, rustle*

A nearby rustling from the side causes them to jump up and bring their weapons to ready. As the rustling gets closer and closer, their bodies tense up in preparation of what they’re going to face, but the sudden appearance of the white glow of a pair of eyes from a bush draws all their attention to it, as they mentally prepared themselves towards a potential battle.

At a mere split second, something small and grey jumped out of the bush, leaping onto Cree’s face, the griffon suddenly panicking and running around like a headless chicken (irony not intended), the fuss he’s making leaving no room for the gang to clearly see what’s attacking him, especially as their eyes were rather following the currently-panicking griffon as he waved his arms around in a vain attempt to shake off the offending creature, and their self-control straining to not laugh at the repetitive muffled screams of ‘OHFAUSTGETITOFF’. During the wanderer’s crazed run, he had the misfortune to end up running hard into a tree, his attacker leaping off just in time for Cree to crash face-first into the tree, the mystery assailant landing on the fallen fool’s chest.

As the shadow of the tree obscured whatever rendered Cree dazed and temporarily unconscious, the group was still hesitant to approach. However, Sweetie Belle, feeling slightly brave, walks towards the unknown in an attempt to pacify whatever it is, despite the others’ warnings to not to. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any animal food to offer, and didn’t want to turn away to get help from Fluttershy in fear of it doing what had been done unto Cree. Instead, going on a blind prayer, she reaches into her pack to find some edibles to offer, only to pull out… a bag of marshmallows. Deadpanning, she takes a deep breath, crouches down and holds it out, freshly opened, to the creature, a snout looking similar to a lizard’s, but not, sticks out of the shadows to take a sniff of the contents, before the eyes shine, and the creature jumps out of the dark to reveal itself to the group.

They never expected it to be so… so… so adorable – wait, what?

As the artificial light shines on it, the creature in question was the size of a teenage puppy in height, the head was similar to a lizard’s, down to the maw, shape and form, except more ‘toony’, for lack of better term, and much fuzzier-looking, and it had stubby arms ending in tiny claws, lupine legs used to stand upright, and a long, fluffy-looking tail behind it. It also had what is assumed to be floppy ears, which looked similar to one of Rarity’s doilies on the ends; possibly hinting towards female, attached to what seems to be a medallion on the sides of its head.

It was at this point that most of the group sans Fluttershy and Twilight were astounded that such an… adorable little creature had caught them off guard, taking down one of their heaviest hitters, but that thought was left in the dust as most of them began cooing over how cute it was as it nibbled and chomped the marshmallows from the bag Sweetie was holding, the latter smiling as the creature ate, apparently forgetting that this was the animal that made Cree knock himself out.

Although in retrospect, it was kind of Sam’s own fault for overreacting.

While it ate, it eventually strode over to Sweetie Belle’s side, plopping down on its rump and continuing to eat, the unicorn in question sitting down as well and laying the bag with the creature.

Meanwhile, Cree stirs from his unconsciousness, grasping his beak in pain as he rose from his spot. Looking over to the others, Twilight and Rainbow run over to him, the latter helping him up, as he looks to the group and…

“What’s that lizard doing here?”

Looking over to the very animal that just attacked him, everyone turned at his exclamation, following his eyes to the same animal that now sits next to Sweetie Belle.

“Um, Cree, I know you might be mad that it knocked you out, but you don’t have to insult it. It was just hungry.”

“Nonono – I wasn’t insulting it, ‘cause that’s in the name of the creature itself – a Psion Lizard!”

“Say whut now?”

“It’s in the book… chapter 5, the Bestiary – twenty-fifth page in the sub-chapter ‘Tamable Animals’, if I’m not mistaken.”

Getting the cue, Twilight pulls out the journal from her bag, going to the exact page that Cree entailed and reading out loud the entry of the newfound species.

Psion Lizard

Creatures of unknown origin and unknown world, these little beings are not to be trifled with, for while they can be cute, they are known to have the ability to possess other animals, regardless of size to protect themselves from potential predators in the wild. They also seem to have a similar thinking capacity to wolves and ponies combined, occasionally travelling in ‘clusters’ from town to town, and being able to form colonies. Even without having to possess other animals, they can actually handle themselves well in combat, so long as they have the element of surprise.

Their diet primarily consists of sweets, and some of them had gotten smart enough to make their own from sugar cane. Although, they can also rely on the standard food that everyone eats as well to get sustenance when sweets aren’t available.

As it turns out, they have an uncanny attraction to mages with potential, and any that manage to tame them might be the sign of a great mage. To tame one, you would need a brave heart, as in one circumstance, it would test courage by taking out who it senses as the strongest in the group, striking fear into the others. Also, another way to tame them might be slightly simpler: offer them something sweet and see if they trust you good enough to take it – they can somehow ‘smell’ whether you’re good or bad. Still unexplainable how that works, but the best it can be compared to is similar to how changelings can sense emotion.

Upon reading the final paragraph, they all realized they had been tested by the very Psion next to them… and apparently Sweetie Belle succeeded.

“Wait, does this mean… Sweetie Belle can be great at magic?!”

“That’s impossible, Scoots - I can barely manage a telekinesis spell without it fizzling out.”

“Don’t push yourself like that, Sweetie Belle, maybe this means you’ve got a chance!”

“Yeah! Who knows – maybe this is a sign or something!”

Sweetie Belle blushes at the praise, glad that she has such supportive friends at her side. However, AJ walks over to Cree to whisper something.

“Not to be a stickler, but how are we so sure that this isn’t just some superstition?”

“Sometimes, the greatest things can be accomplished by faith in one another or oneself. And I’ve seen quite a few mages with the same lizard by their side – all strong and hard to fight.”

“You fought them?”

“Training – and maybe that I also wanted the challenge.”

As Cree entails more on the history over mages with Psion Lizards, the CMC and Spike were discussing more on the creature in question.

“So, what’ll her name be?”

“Eh?”

“Well, we can’t just call her ‘Lizard’ or anything else – you’ll have to come up with a name, you know.”

“What about… Sia?”

The thought was put into consideration, but they all decided no – including the lizard.

“How’s about…erm… Lizzie?”

Everyone just looks to Spike with blank expressions as he looks at them in embarrassment, before everyone just all vetoed the name as they facepalmed – pawed, I suppose, for the case of the Psion.

“OOH, OOH! I got one – how’s… Ripley?”

They put a whole lot of thought into it, but couldn’t decide properly and thus put it aside for a second.

“Maybe… Echo?”

With that name, everyone voices their approval over it as even the newly-christened Echo skrees in appreciation. Meanwhile, Sam had already finished up on his fake-history session with the Mane 6, all the while getting ready to move on, packing the seldom few stuff that fell out of his bag during his panic. Everyone follows suit, getting their packs and moving on, Rarity still busy sketching some nearby exotic flowers for dress ideas, most of which Twilight notices aren’t normally found in the wild in Equis. However, the alicorn’s attention was drawn towards a specific flower.

“Say Cree, what’s this flower?”

Looking to her and following to where she’s motioning, Sam spots a familiar flower – a lily of sorts, only it glows a golden yellow from the inside, then fades to a sunny red as it travels down the petals, and the standout greenish-yellow filaments curve into a heart. A soft smile graces his face as fond memories come back as he explains the flower.

“Ah. That there’s a very rare find – a Burning Heart Lily, created from a mass amount of Love Magic, and a deep learning of horticulture. They say if you carry even a petal around you, and it becomes soothingly warm to you, you’ll have found you soul mate in someone near you. And if you find your soul mate, and they happen to be carrying a petal themselves… well, you’d know right ahead. Legend has it, Sam created these flowers himself.”

“Kinda hard to believe a tough guy like him could make a flower this… dramatic.”

“Turns out, he made these flowers with the intention of wooing a mare. He was, to quote, ‘a sucker for romance’ in lighter terms, and made the flowers on one of their dates on a cold evening. And it worked pretty well, too – so much so that it became a popular thing in the past to carry a Burning Heart Lily petal around as someone looking to find love. But unfortunately, there aren’t many of these growing around anymore, so the tradition might’ve become lost to obscurity.”

“So… it’s an extinct flower?”

“…Not necessarily.”

As Twilight was busy observing the lily, she didn’t notice Cree looking over a shrub, and, upon seeing him, starts following his example… finding a generous patch filled with the very same flower.

“Yeah, I know – not everyday you see a sight like this, huh? Must have grown over the years.”

“But… how?”

“Magic, I guess.”

Twilight merely rolls her eyes in bemusement in response to the blasé answer. However, it was all she needed as when Cree walked back to get to the group, she stealthily picked the flower and encased it in a sample jar she had in her pack. Feeling the warmth radiating from the glass as she looked to Cree, she shook her head as to put aside the assumption for further inquiry as she catches up to the group.

Meanwhile…

It took her a bit to follow through, but luckily she got the gist when he called about finally doing the deed as she let everything finally unfold up on the surface, all the while following them underground in silence, only waiting for a bit until they got sufficiently far enough to enter safely – especially with the overly-complicated plan he laid out. As she was confronted by the Interface Protocols screen, she pulled out her CID Card, only instead of The Hermit like Sam’s fabricated CID, this one rather had a portrait of a mare with a face filled with inner serenity, despite being hung by one leg on a cross.

Scan Complete. Welcome, HangedMare-Class Ranger Shadow Seeker. Are you late or something? Because a group already went ahead.

“It’s fine. I’ll just catch up with them.”

Would you like for me to send them a message when the power comes back on?

“Sure. Just let them all know I’m here by name. And call for Cree specifically.”

Request acknowledged.

Drawing her weapon, she readies herself for the oncoming horde of Rollers charging in.

Going back to the group…

After getting back to the matter at hand, the group finally continued their trek through the simulated lands, this time with a new friend in tow. As it turned out, Pinkie had her camcorder running the whole time in the castle, so it literally caught every going-on since they entered, which sadly included Cree’s little mishap – and it looked like she wasn’t going to cut that footage out no matter what Cree will say or do.

They found themselves travelling through many fauna such as ‘JUNGLE’, which carried so many magic-infused birds in the treetops such that a few of them were assumed to be part of the trees. Fluttershy then pulled out a massive sack of vitamin-enhanced birdseed, which she began to feed to the massive cluster as they flocked around her and the group. Odd enough, a lot of the birds decided to flock around Cree, using his shoulders and head as roosts as he helped feed them. It just went slightly bad when one of them turned out to be cross-breed of a phoenix and what the book called a ‘Rakk’, which proceeded to puke what seemed to be regurgitated lava where Cree once stood. Especially when one of them almost made off with Echo, only for the little lizard to showcase her other ability – by possessing the same “Rakknix” as Scootaloo began calling it. There was also the scarier of the bunch, like one the book called ‘Swooping Evil’, a very frightening terror of the skies… which became as mellow as a kitten when approached by Fluttershy, much to the group’s amusement.

Moving along, they even traversed through the simulated ‘TUNDRA’ where they met snakes that looked like moving ice blocks with organs inside known as ‘Frost Runners’, massive monkeys with two jaws and four arms called ‘Bullymongs’, and also a few normal animals, like seals – babies, in particular, which Fluttershy fully adored – and even a few polar bears… one in particular, for some reason, had a fully blank stare as it looked to the group as it waved nonchalantly.

Going even further, they reached ‘TEMPLE’, a seemingly out-of-place ancient building which, upon entering, was actually full of animals they’d normally assume was in a Daring Do book – crocodiles, giant snakes, and the highlight of the place… giant, f*cking spiders. Although all of the above were clearly tamed, it was still terrifying the group nonetheless, especially Sam in particular, as being cuddled by one of his biggest fears was not on his bucket list. Yet, there were also other creatures, like the mole-like creature called a ‘Niffler’ which almost made away with the Monkey’s Fist, a few of Rainbow’s utility knives, some of Rarity’s gems, and the whole of Spike’s snack case if it hadn’t been for Cree’s quick thinking… and surprise shakedown of the little pest (“Cree! What are you doing?!” “Don’t worry – I’ve dealt with these little twats before – I know what I’m doing!”), which helped them regain their stuff, including all kinds of valuables, from the creature’s seemingly bottomless fur. They even met three legged stone-like behemoths with yellow crystals adorning their body, which attracted Rarity to the point she’d try and extract a few – but, thanks to Cree’s reflexes and Fluttershy’s stern look, she stopped in her tracks, especially as in the book, it said the creatures themselves, called ‘Crystalisks’, were saved from Griffon miners who specifically wanted their crystals… only to get the short end of the stick when the creatures fought back. So in short, they just saved her from a very painful fate.

Moving on from the slightly sobering experience, they made their way to, hopefully, the end of their trek across Little Garden. Fluttershy had already fed a lot of the denizens of the biomes, and they were just about ready to get out.

The only way out, however, was through a part of the Garden simply known as ‘BOTANY SECTION’, which was basically a massive garden.

Going inside, they get confronted by massive amounts of greenery – plants, fruits, and all kinds of crops being present, most of which they’d never even seen before. Regardless, there were also other plants they were familiar with, like a small patch of Poison Joke (kept in a glass dome, conveniently), a line of pots with Heart’s Desire planted in each, and in particular…

“WAIT ONE COTTON-PICKIN’ MINUTE! Is that… a grove of Zap-Apple Trees?! But it isn’t even in season yet!”

Much to everyone’s shock, sans Sam, yes, there was a small grove of Zap-Apple Trees in the Botany Sector. According to a plaque that rested before the grove, these apples in particular were grown naturally, being fed what was called ‘Mana’ in order to ensure a secure growth, and not… explode in juices?!

“Wait, does this mean… we’ve been growing apple bombs this whole time?!”

“If we were, we’d have already lost half the harvest. But if that’s the case, how come it’s not blowing up in our faces?”

“Maybe… somepony’s been feeding a steady supply of Mana to your trees in secret?”

The Apple sisters took a minute to let the thought percolate in their heads… but they ultimately dismiss it in the end.

Going back to the matter at hand, while Applejack inspected the Zap-Apple Trees, the others begun to browse the other plants – Pinkie looks at some chili pepper bushes, seeing how they look completely different from the normal ones she uses, going so far as to snag one… and get heartburn a few minutes later (luckily, she had a glass of milk at hand, for some ungodly reason, so that problem solved itself.) Rainbow looks to a tall, blue cactus labeled ‘Stinging Cactus: Don’t Touch. Seriously’ and, not heeding the warning, sticks a finger onto a thorn, getting a strong static shock, sending her mane and fur standing in all directions. She also seemed to hear some snickering from behind her, but it didn’t see to come from the others. Twilight, on the other hand was just looking at some watermelons… somehow grown to be square, which perplexed her to no end. Rarity, on the other hand, was looking at some more flowers, in particular, one labeled ‘Osiria Rose’, a flower that is red on the outside, but somehow white on the inside, which spiked even more inspiration for her. Fluttershy looked to a line of small trees, which grew pink petals with a hue similar to her own mane, labeled ‘Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Grove’, which made her feel like she was going to meet someone she loved here, for some reason that stumped her.

However, the CMC and Spike were a different story, inspecting… what looked like a massive, bulbous Venus flytrap, which had a purple hue to it. For some reason, it didn’t have any plaque attached to its pot, making it all the more strange.

“Hey, Twilight! Does the book say anything about this huge plant? Out of everything here, this is the only plant unlabeled.”

Drawn by their call as well, Sam begins to head over to the CMC, going over to the-

Oh. Right. Shit.

Following him is Twilight, already referring to the book for answers.

“Nothing present in the Botanical section of the journal. Not even in edibles, if any.”

“Uh, Twilight?”

“Hm?”

“Try… the Bestiary instead. Under T.”

Confused by his statement, getting even more befuddled as he slowly backs away, she still complies with his request regardless.

It only begins to dawn on her when she finds the entry.

Titanica Flytrap

Seeds for this strange carnivorous plant were found when a meteor crashed from the sky. They get their name due to their massive capacity for growth. Strange enough, it apparently has the uncanny power to attract good fortune to storefronts, but at the cost of feeding it the sustenance it requires: namely the meat and blood of animals – regardless of whether or not it’s cooked is up to the plant itself; yes, confusing as it may be, the plant has a high chance of gaining sentience, so long as the owner continues to feed it, also increasing its size in the process. If appetite is not kept in check however, odds are the owner could end up as its next meal. However, one of the best ways to keep this beast in check is to gain a high level of dominance over it – so long as the owner can reach a strong agreement with it, they will be safe. They are most popular as ruthless guards amongst royalty and rich merchants, serving their owners in return for eating the unfortunate idiots who try to rob them.

Horror sketched on her face, she turns to the CMC… only to find the massive plant moving.

“GIRLS! GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!”

Before the girls could let the warning properly register in their heads, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by vines under their feet. Applebloom and Scootaloo were unfortunate to get caught, and Sweetie Belle was about to get ensnared, but Spike’s fast thinking got her out of the way, but at the cost of getting himself caught in the process.

As everyone sped to the commotion, they were all, to an extent, astounded, by the massive flytrap as they rounded on it.

As the trio in its grasp struggle against the vines, they suddenly find themselves face-to-face with a massive purple maw, a wicked grin seeming to form on its face as it slowly opens… and…

*ROAAAAAA-* *COUGH**COUGH**HACK*

They all get treated to an ear-rumbling roar, only to suddenly be treated to a face full of cough-induced phlegm instead.

*COUGH* *COUGH* “Oh Faust, I am so sorry. Must’ve been something I caught over the millennia.”

They were all outright shocked that this new monstrosity was able to speak. Granted, they saw an automaton talk, but this took the cake as far as they were concerned. The voice was slightly scratchy from the supposed cough, but it was still deep enough to warrant, yes, that it was a male.

“Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. Who are you lot?”

Thrown out of their shock-induced stupors, they suddenly found themselves introducing each other, but he was surprisingly gentlemanly when interacting with Fluttershy, being patient when getting her name (and when Rainbow tried to introduce her in her stead, she got pushed off by a loud “I DON’T REMEMBER ASKING YOU A GODDAMN THING.” instead) and doing so in the same case as Rarity. And as he did this, he also unconsciously let go of Applebloom, Scootaloo and Spike, who all ran to the sides of their respective family.

“Alright then, so it seems fair to introduce myself as well – name’s Clayton, one of the Guardians of Aether Castle. At your service.”

He even went so far as to bow, much to the surprise of others. In response, Twilight looked to the entry on the Titanic Flytrap again to find more insight on him… only to find the answer on a side-note, supposedly handwritten by Sam himself.

Note: Personalities of these guys seem to differ from plant to plant, which can range from tough, sassy, shy, and on some occasions, smooth (as in panty-dropping smooth – no joke, but stretches rather toward other plants, which just makes it feel awkward), but the most domineering personality overall seem to be that they are at best, sophisticated, yet mischievous, assholes - all in one pack. But on the other hand… they do have kickass singing voices.

…Okay…

While it was supposed to be helpful, it merely just went towards befuddling Twilight yet again. However, a certain declaration of ‘Clayton’s stood out towards Rainbow.

“Wait… did you say ‘Guardian’?!”

As Rainbow calls out this fact, the rest of the group tenses up, readying themselves for battle. However, the Titanica Flytrap in their midst merely shrugs them off.

“Looks to me like you lot met Steel, eh? Don’t you worry your little heads none – I’m smarter than that.”

Although he had no eyes, the group could somehow feel him trying to assure them that they’re in the clear. Hesitantly, those with weapons only slightly lowered them as the plant explained himself.

“Sure – we, as the keepers of each part of this castle, are fully required to prevent intruders from stealing anything or killing any of the tenants with any level of force, but we are also here to judge whether or not those who enter are of ill intent – if not, then we merely kick them out with a few bruises and cuts. But those who do… well… we leave them with a lot of broken bones and minor psychological trauma.”

At the final piece of the sentence, a deep shudder rose within the spines of the ponies and the dragon, what with that calm of a tone he explained with.

“Although, it seems like you lot are an okay bunch – buuuuut… you’ll still have to get past me in order to go through.”

Nodding, everyone in the group, sans the CMC, Spike, and Fluttershy, all ready themselves for combat. However, the plant raises a vine, as though to emulate a ‘hold on’ gesture.

“Now, now, let’s not get too hasty here – I’m not like Steel, so we’ll play by different rules.”

“Wait, how does that work?”

“What? Did you expect that every big guy you meet in the castle is going to be a boss fight, like some cliché RPG routine?”

…Granted, they should have actually assumed that possibility firstmost, and upon the realization, sheepishly begin drawing back their fighting stances and weaponry.

“Of course, your griffon friend over there is definitely going to need his katana.”

Blinking, Sam steps forward and draws his sword, a sable black streak of cold iron, and prepares himself mentally. Out of honesty, one of the many things he is wary of is that while he considers and boasts of his unpredictability, the world around him can also match him in that as well – thus, he’s pretty much walking into this one just as blind as the rest of the gang.

Regardless, he primes himself for whatever may come along.

“Alright, I’m up to the plate, so what’s the-OW!”

*THUNK*

Of course, all things considered, he never expected to be beaned in the back of the head with a hard piece of fruit.

“You just have to do one thing. Think fast, kid.”

And out of nowhere, a massive flurry of fruit from the plants around them suddenly tear through the air en route to Cree, causing the griffon to start erratically swinging his sword around (and dodging huge-ass watermelons and bullet-speed fucking durians hurtling towards his head) in an attempt to either cut through the barrage or just deflect them.(3)

More or less, everyone else was just stuck at the sidelines watching their friend swerve & slash through volley after volley of fruit being lobbed at him, especially when they were discreetly handed bowls of the same chopped fruit by Clayton as they watched.

10 minutes-worth of the merciless massacre of innocent fruit later…

The bombardment had finally ended, the griffon in the middle of it all, sweating heavily as he stood covered in the delicious blood of the innocent produce slain in the matter of minutes. He was so tired, he’s actually propping himself up with the sword in a vain attempt to not collapse.

All the while he stood there; the smug S.O.A.B Clayton was laughing his pot off as he wiped a fake tear from his face – why he does that without any eyes is beyond anybody, maybe just for irony. With his vines, he also collected the wooden fruit bowls from the mares, dragon and lizard.

“Ahahaha… hoo boy, was that the best show I’ve ever seen! Alright, you lot can go on!”

“Was all of this necessary though? I don’t see the use in wasting good produce like this.”

“Maybe so, but I haven’t had any fun around since Sam done got stoned, so this is how I make do. Anyway, you ladies said you’re looking for the main power room, right?”

“Yeah - any idea where we head off to next?”

“Well, your friend there has a map, if I’m not mistaken, so why-”

*SQUELCH*

They all turn instantly at the sound of Cree, falling face first into the nearest pile of fruit. Rainbow and AJ rush ahead and help him up, lightly patting his face in order to help him regain consciousness, his face showing him in a haze.

“… I regret nothing. Anyway… you’ll definitely have to take a trip through the Workshop. It’s pretty much in the name – it’s where Sam spends his time creating tech and developing biological wonders. Heck, he spliced together quite a few of the plants you see in this here greenhouse.”

“…Wait, but wouldn’t that be called a lab rather than a workshop?”

“He hates wasting time with trivialities, and just narrows everything down to one name instead.”

“In translation, he’s just lazy.”

“Yeah, that sums it up pretty much. Well, you better head on ahead. Good luck.”

After finally helping the griffon regain consciousness, they finally set off to the exit that was formerly blocked off by Clayton’s presence. However…

“Hey guys, could you all go on ahead? I gotta confer with big and purple over here.”

Puzzled by his request, they nevertheless comply, going on through the door, leaving only the griffon and the flytrap left in the room.

“Alright, what do you want to-”

“Sorry, but I gotta cut to the chase, ‘cause I don’t want the girls to catch on yet.”

Pulling his mask off instantly, he reveals himself to the flytrap, the latter in shock.

“S-Sam?!”

“SHH! Don’t alarm the others!”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s cool. But I need to ask. How’ve been things in the Castle since I was gone?”

“Not much, honestly. We do have a few visitors from the other kingdoms bringing in food from the Network, but since it suddenly shut down after a few centuries, we in the Garden have been relying on some Meatfruit or actual fruit to sustain us for the next few centuries. Since then, no other contact over the years.”

“Shit. Okay then, but they’re still okay though, right?”

“Yeah, last we heard, but that was a long time ago, so we’re not sure. The guys in the lab were able to set a secure line of comms with them, but no new updates since the 500th year.”

“Actually, since you bring that up… is he…?”

“Still active. Just in stasis, though, but the other three in his squad are patrolling the Workshop in his stead – something about IP being active again.”

“Fan-fucking-tastic. No matter. We’ll still move on.”

“You know he’s smart enough to deduce it’s you in a few minutes, right?”

“Duh. I made him that way, after all.”

“Fine. But take care, man.”

“You too. And… thanks for the exercise. Asshole.”

“Didn’t know it was you, so it doesn’t count.”

“Whatevs.”

Replacing his disguise, he steps out of the room once again, following the others.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Side Notes

The CID Card, or ‘Class Identification Card’, is used by those studying under Newman’s teaching standards to keep track of progress, know what sub-courses are needed to advance their central course in combat/learning, and it can show advancement through change in class. In other words, it’s a thin-ass smartphone that doesn’t take in calls or play games (unfortunately), but rather takes grades, data, and other things needed for a student – like a fancy PDA. And if the class Cree is doesn’t give away how progression is identified, I don’t know what will.
Imagine the unbearable Raid Bosses from the Borderlands series, only there’s no way to tell how much damage you’re doing, it’s a solo run rather than a team effort, and on you’re both on the same level, and not being on a higher level than it (think like fighting a Lv. 51 Hyperius the Invincible on Lv. 51). That’s how this chase is going - a migraine ten ways till December. Unless you’re either a bullshit cheater or have a broken-ass collection of loot from other bosses.
…Yeah, I ran out of ideas for this part, so I integrated that cheesy P.O.S. game on purpose. And… I’m not sorry.

… OK, maybe a little. Or a lot. IDFK.

Chapter 7: Aether Rising, Part 3: I’ll Admit, I’m Just The Same As I Was…

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: Newfound Freedom, Part 1 - The Book and the Barfight

Author's Note

Sorry i took too long.
Had too much school crap to do.
But, luckily, i got the time to finally finish chapters, and since i'm on winter break, i'll try to continue on.
Photos used don't belong to me, but belong to pennygu & ss2sonic.

Color Coding for Chapter 3:
Sam (Cree)
Twilight
Rainbow Dash
Spike
Dead Ringer*
Celestia*

*You'll see in a bit later.

Chapter 3: Newfound Freedom, Part 1 - The Book and the Barfight

Chronicles of Hope: Book 1: A Guardian’s Rising

Chapter 3: Newfound Freedom, Part 1 - The Book and the Barfight

POV: 3rd Person
Location: Bucking Bronco Bar, Ponyville

It had taken a while – and some waiting for her to tire out – for Rainbow to calm down, after realizing that Cree (Sam) was merely going the extra mile with Pinkie’s little jest. After that, they had to walk to the local bar to rest up, and since Rainbow had tired herself out like crazy from chasing Cree around the whole town – the latter, who, not surprisingly, still had plenty of energy left to still move properly - had to carry her on his back to said bar.

Then they proceeded to arrange a small table for them to sit at, where Rainbow was slowly chugging down a couple of mugs of Sweet Apple Acres’ soft cider to ease the aches she got from chasing Cree all day, all the while staring at the griffon in question, who gladly paid for every mug she drunk and was currently snacking on some unshelled peanuts from a bowl and savoring a mug of his own.

“Man, this stuff’s pretty damn good – it’s a good thing I’ve got enough bits, ‘cause I’m plannin’ on a few more mugs!” he says, obviously enjoying his current mug of cider. Rainbow was by no end confused by how Cree just acts – calm and calculating in combat, but still foalish and playful in his seemingly everyday nature, especially acting as though he wasn’t just in a fight a few minutes ago or given the cold shoulder on their first meeting, with her still feeling slightly guilty over the latter.

“Why are you doing this?” Rainbow manages to ask, after finishing off her cider.

“Hm?” Cree manages to say over the mug on his beak.

“Why are you treating me like a friend, especially after the way I treated you back at-”

“Are you still honestly hanging over that moment?” Cree interrupts, lightly berating her at the moment. He then put down his mug to face towards Rainbow with a stern yet caring look in his eyes.

“Look, I honestly didn’t care too much about the hostility, ‘cause for one, even I’d react that way with a complete stranger, but at least I’d be a little more civil about it.” Cree says, with Rainbow cringing at the last part, “And for another, to be honest, it rarely matters to me about what happens in the past, but so long as the present is still going to be okay, I’m okay as well. Also, you were pretty fun to hang with, and seeing that you were practically determined to wring my neck like a wet towel, I thought I’d treat you a bit as compensation for my little screw-up.”

In other words, Cree couldn’t really be bothered to give a damn about what others do at first, but what truly matters is if they’re willing to go over what they did to begin anew - as a friend, to which Rainbow felt as though she could easily relate to him.

“So, forget about the whole thing, loosen up,” he slides a mug to Rainbow, “and just enjoy yourself right now. Not exactly everyday a stallion - or griffon – gets a chance to offer a free drink to a cute mare like you!” And Rainbow did just that: forget, loosen up, and enjoy herself. She might have felt her face heat up a bit, but she shrugged it off as she put the mug to her lips.

“Rainbow? There you are!”

POV Swap: 1st Person, Sam (Cree)

“Rainbow? There you are!”

I look up from my drink to find a lavender mare walking over to our table. She stood at a height of around 5ft 5, had a dark purple mane with a rose pink stripe going down the side, and was wearing what looked like a school uniform – it was composed of a purple, long-sleeved front-buttoned blouse that led down to a dark purple miniskirt, and she wore long stockings with black shoes. Her cutie mark, an eight-point purple starburst surrounded by smaller white stars, was situated on the side of her skirt. On the side, I could see her carrying a small sidebag occupied by a couple of books.

And then again, the magical bonfire I felt a moment back earlier practically told me another of the Elements was nearby. Never thought it was the cute and nerdy one.

“Hey there Twi. Didn’t really expect to see you in this joint.” Rainbow says to the mare.

“Well Rainbow, I’m here to talk to you about something,” she says. And she sounds sorta serious ‘bout it too.

She takes Rainbow up from her seat, and drags her away from our table, far enough out of earshot. Luckily, I’ve prepped up for this situation.

POV Change: 3rd Person

Cree begins to pull up his hood to prepare. He pulls out the book from earlier when he first met Rainbow from his satchel. From appearance, it looks like someone’s large, tattered journal, filled with many bookmarks jutting out the pages, but however, the contents are nothing to scoff at. We’ll dabble in what is really inside in a bit, but I’ll just give a taste of what’s inside for now.

From a seemingly random page in the book, he pulls out what looks to be a small paper tag filled to the brim with written enchantments and incantations, and places it on the right side of his head – right over his ear. The tag in question is known as a Sensory Tag, which allows one sense of one user to be amplified, so long as the user places the tag over where the sense in question is designated. In other words, with it enhancing hearing, anyone can eavesdrop on conversations from distances. However, Sam uses this differently: he uses the tag in order to make focusing his hearing easier, like locking on to a specific conversation, otherwise his enhanced hearing just become a fuzzy mix of other noises. If this is only from one page, try thinking of what’s contained in the rest of the pages.

Let’s listen in on the conversation too, shall we?

I don’t get it Rainbow, one minute, you and him were fighting out in the plains, but now, you’re both in the bar drinking?! Don’t tell me you’re actually paying for this guy – you barely even know him!

Ok Twilight, first off, we were just sparring – and he challenged me for the sake of helping me out a bit!

How exactly is challenging somepony to a battle supposed to be classified as helping them?!

He somehow saw in me that I was bored (don’t really know how, though), and decided to challenge me to a small sparring match to help me out clear my head a bit.

And what about you when you were chasing him around town?

In terms… it was kinda his fault on that part. And hey, even he admits to it.

…Alright, but what about this?

He’s the one paying for the drinks, saying he’s making up for his screw-up today.

Okay, so that’s cleared up… but I don’t know about this guy. He seems kind of… sketchy.

Look Twi, try and give him a chance, and no doubt you’ll like him when you get to know him a little more.

… Very well. I’ll try and warm up to him. Say, the way you speak of him like that, I’d say you might have got a crush on him.

I DO NOT!

(I knew it.) Okay, okay I won’t pry further.

Let’s just get back to the table. He might’ve thought we left.

Sure.

And by the way, don’t be weirded out by how he’ll get a read on you. It’s pretty cool if you let it settle in.

… Okay?

POV Change: Sam (Cree) 1st Person

“Oh shit, sounds like they’re done. Better put the tag back.”

I was able to tear off the tag from my head, return it back to its page, and then turn to another random page in the book just as they come back into range of sight.

I shut my book, get a chair from an empty table and prepare it for Twilight to sit on.

“For the Princess and the lady.” I say as I also prep up Rainbow’s chair as well.
Twilight giggles. “Well, aren’t you quite the gentleman?” She and Rainbow then proceed to sit down on the chairs I set for them. As they sat, I notice, out the corner of my eye, that Rainbow was blushing a bit as she settled into her seat. Guess she really likes me as Cree after all. I have a feeling that breaking the news will be hard after all.

As I get back to my chair, I call a waitress to get another round of cider for the three of us. I then turn to the lavender mare and stick out my hand.

“I believe a formal introduction should be in order. My name is Cree, and I’m just an unknown wanderer from far lands. I know you know I’ve met with Rainbow earlier under some … off circumstances, but that was only for a warm-up. And as for the chase around town, well…” I spare a glance to Rainbow before continuing, “…that’ll stay on a need-to-know basis.”

Twilight giggles at that. “Understandable. Anyway, my name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and the Element of Magic.” She then reaches out and shakes my hand. “Pleased to meet you, Cree.”

I then start sniffing around in the air in front of Twilight, which is obviously weirding her out right there. She was about to question what I was doing, but I motioned for her to be quiet for a moment.

After a while, I moved back to my chair when I was done. “Sorry if that was weird, but I can guess that you’re a fellow seeker of knowledge, somepony who likes to spend their time around plenty of books, am I right? Or am I getting warm?”

Needless to say, Twilight was about as surprised as Rainbow when she was read, minus the whole sniffing thing. “How could you possibly know all that… from smell?” she questions.

“Well,” I reply, “not all of it. I could tell from other things: when I shook your hand, I felt small scars on the fingertips, possibly paper cuts from turning pages, and the sidebag looks hastily packed, probably meaning you were supposed to finish that earlier, and had no choice but to bring it along to continue on the walk back, and also… the scent of age-old books and scented candles might also be a dead giveaway – at least to those who pay strong attention away from the lavender shampoo.”

At that point, Twilight just sat there, jaw dropped, and a stare affixed on me. I was then that I realized…

“Oh, sorry if I sounded creepy with that whole reading thing, it’s just a force of habit and -”

I suddenly had my mouth clamped shut by a purple, magical aura – point of origin being Twilight’s horn.

“I-it’s okay, it’s just that I’m surprised that somepony could actually read me properly with such little info. That’s quite an impressive feat altogether!” she says.

I chuckle in relief at that. She also finally releases her grip on my mouth. “Well it’s a small talent of mine in keeping track of things around me. And it even helps in figuring out what ponies like in general, which is why, as a peace offering, I present to you …this!”

I reach into my satchel to pass Twilight the Journal. I guess it’s better now than never she learn about it.

POV Change: Twilight, 1st Person

Cree pulls out of his satchel a large, tattered journal. It looks as though it had been through some tear and wear over time, and on the cover was a peculiar emblem – a coat of arms, a blue staff & a red sword in place of the swords, and on the respective sides of the weapons are an angel and demon’s wings, the whole emblem made in steel and outlined in gold. Bookmarks were jutting out of the pages, meaning each of the pages were somewhat of importance.

“Um…” I let out.

“Don’t let looks perceive. Just read what’s inside and I’ll try and explain.” Cree replies. “All I can say is… you’ll see some things in a more different light after this.”

At that, he was able to pique my interests albeit slightly. I reach out for the book, but Cree pulls the book back, then gives a small dark gaze at me, then says, “And I trust that what you two see won’t reach any others’ knowledge, right?”

I was slightly intimidated, but I had to comply for now. “I understand.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

It was then that I, along with Rainbow, was, by no end shocked. “H-How do you know about that?”

“Let’s just say… her family and I go way back.” He replies.

“Then how come she hasn’t mentioned anything about you to us?” Rainbow asks.

“You probably didn’t ask.” He answers nonchalantly.

The two of us end up facepalming at that logic. Anyway, if I was to get what was inside the book, I might as well play along.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I also did the motions to accompany each verse. Even Rainbow got the
message to follow suit as well.

“Alright, I’m convinced,” his gaze then lightens up from that, “then here you go.” He then finally passes the book to me, to which I reach out and take.

…Although, to be honest, I didn’t take into account on how heavy the book was, seeing as the whole time he held it, he only held it in one arm during the whole conversation!

As I opened it to the first pages, what I was greeted with was beyond comprehension.

The page I opened illustrated an amazing factor in magic that aren’t even present in any of the books I read back at the castle. It
stated that any living species – as long as it’s done right, can be able to perform magic that normally only unicorns can do: spells, enchantments, everything!

I then turned to the other pages, and it showed many other things that are never even shown anywhere else at all – instructions for standard training, spells that are normally difficult to cast alone, techniques used for spellcasting without mediums, and even ways unicorns can use magic… while still under the effects of an inhibitor ring!

“This… Cree, this is incredible! All of these notes… all of these spells… these have probably never been heard of in Equus!” I was practically ecstatic after finding out about another field of magic never before seen. “Did you write these?”

“Oh great. She’s in Egghead Mode again.” Rainbow says to Cree, which he snickers to, and to which I send a glare to her.

“Not my work, to be honest.” Cree says. “But I can say that I’m a proud student of these teachings.” He then proceeds to take a long swig from the cider he received from the waitress.

I was shocked yet again realizing that Cree was only a student of these teachings, but if he’s only a student…who’s the teacher?
Maybe if I ask…

“Cree? Can I ask you something?” If I do this right, I might be able to learn something that nopony might have before.

He nods a silent yes, and then goes back to his cider.

“Who came up with all these?”

POV Change: 3rd Person

Cree stopped drinking just as Twilight asked that very question. Even Rainbow was about as curious as she was, seeing as she took a peek into the book a minute back, and had already read the same amount of pages as she has.

Cree put his drink down, and then looked directly to Twilight and Dash, eager to learn about the teacher of these seemingly impossible lessons. Although, imagine how weird you'd feel talking about yourself like a damn history lesson.

“Well, if you really want to know, the only things I can do are these: … right now, I’ll only say his name and what he is… and maybe… I’ll give a small demonstration of the results of these lessons. How does that sound?”

The two mares had both the same reactions: while they were only going to get the name, which was much to their dismay as they’ll get a vague answer, they were more excited about a demonstration of magic – not from a unicorn!

Of course, something told Twilight that at least she could try and act a bit professional for now, so to not scare him off with her “Egghead Mode” as Dash calls it.

“Alright, Cree. We’ll take the offer.”

Although, I wish we could say the same for Rainbow, who was more focused on the whole ‘demonstration’ part of the whole deal
right now.

“OMIGOSHOMIGOSHOMIGOSH! Are you going to cast a fireball?! Or make lightning jump from your hands?! Or -”

And this is why Twilight had to clamp her mouth shut with her magic for that moment.

Cree, though, was trying somewhat hard to stifle his laughter for a while, but still complied anyway.

“Very well. Although, to be honest,” Cree says “I think you might find the identity hard to believe, and I might sound a bit crazy talking about it.”

“Don’t worry, Cree. We won’t consider you crazy, we swear.”

Rainbow nods in confirmation to that remark.

Although, I do wonder… what does he mean by “what he is?”

“Alright. Now, listen close, ‘cause I ain’t repeating a second time.”

Twilight and Rainbow slightly lean in towards Cree, so to show they’re paying proper attention.

“Know his name, for he is the one who truly helped shape Equus into the great land it now is.”

“He is the one who has powers beyond even that of our own gods.”

“He is only known by one name… Samuel Newman, also known as the First Human.”

There grew a small silence between the three. It was as though during that moment, they were cut off from the whole world, and it was only them present in the room. And Twilight was glad to break the silence, but out of the current situation, she could only let out very little.

“Whoa.”

Cree, or Sam, could plainly see the confusion in her face, but decided to let it slide either way. Wasn’t the first time a pony or anyone else couldn’t accept the existence of a human before, seeing as they’re mere myths at current time.

After a moment, Twilight finally regained enough awareness to be able to form proper sentences for a conversation.

“Th-that’s impossible, Cree.” She says. “There is no such thing as humans. Even Princess Celestia, who, may I remind, has been around for over a thousand years, can confirm they’re only a myth.”

“Oh, really?” He retorts. “But how about even before she was born? Ever wonder about long back, when the Princesses were only young fillies at the time, and the world was still ruled by… the First Royals?”

Again, Twilight was rendered speechless. How were there were humans before the Princesses were born? And who were the First Royals?

“Well… I think I’ve given enough revelations for your fill of the day.” Cree says, much to the lavender mare’s dismay.

“Next, we might as well-”

“Hey ladies.”

POV Change: Sam (Cree), 1st Person

I hear a voice from behind the girls, and find a unicorn stallion behind them. He had a lime green coat, a black mane and wore a denim vest, with the sleeves ripped (probably trying to show off his arms), and wore cut up jeans. On his arm, accompanying the cutie mark, a bloody knife across a bell, there also seems to be a tattoo of a pony skull, carried up by flaming wings – which was cool and all, but in my opinion just makes him look dumb.

The air around the guy basically screamed “spoiled douchebag” all around, even had a smug ass look in his eyes, no doubt thinking he’ll get lucky tonight. And thanks to my awareness of the surroundings, no prize needed to figure out that he didn’t come alone for this catch - and I count eight more: counting the two earth ponies by his side, the two pegasi at a nearby table, a unicorn at the bar, two others in a nearby booth … and a minotaur at the far back.

All had the same tattoo on their arms as well.

Well shit, don’t think these guys’ll be much of a challenge.

He suddenly grabs a chair from under an unsuspecting patron just as the poor guy sits down. The pony gets up to attempt to retaliate, but the earth ponies the unicorn had as entourage glared at the guy, and he started backing away.

“So, what’s a pair of lovely mares like you doing with a loser like him?” He gloats, gesturing to me. “Why don’t you go with a fine, strong stallion to keep you company at night?” He says, purposely showing off the tattoo on his arm to the girls, to their surprise and sudden anger. Guess this guy’s a part of some big gang.

“Unfortunately dear sir,” I say, looking back and forth across the bar, “I don’t think the girls see too many fine, strong stallions currently in front of us – aside from the obnoxious prick sitting right next to us.” Looking back at the girls, they seem to be motioning for me to stop what I’m doing.

Like hell I’ll comply.

The stallion slowly turns to me, and then gets up from his seat with a shit-eating grin and a malicious chuckle.

“Looks like the new guy doesn’t know who he’s dealing with here. Maybe to be fair, I might as well introduce myself – the name’s Dead Ringer of the Rogues, and you…” he then grabs one of our cider mugs and tosses all the contents onto my face, also splashing Dash in the process, and begins giving me a death stare, “… better learn to show respect.”

He then gets close-up to my face to try and shake me down. “So I suggest you leave before things get even worse than just a splash of cider.”

I wipe my face, then bring my hands up in “surrender”. “Okay. Okay. I’ll just leave you to your own thing.” I turn to the girls and give a sly wink. Hopefully they got the message.

I turn my back on them as I pretend to walk to the door-

“Maybe that’ll teach you from messing with me next time, shorty.”

I stop right then and there. “What did you call me?”

“Hit a nerve, did I? Maybe you’re just hard of hearing, right, shor-”

I then zoom to him in a blink of an eye and give a good sweep kick to the side of his head, sending him flying into a wall.

When everyone in the room saw this, they instantly ran out of the bar leaving me, Dead Ringer and his seven goons, the two Elements, and the barkeep (she decided to stay hidden behind the bar for some reason)

The only thing he does after that is shoot his hand up to stop his group from charging at me instantly.

However, I think he just wants to do the deed himself.

He gives of a low menacing laugh, which somehow reverbs throughout the whole bar.

“You got guts, kid. I’ll give you that.” He gets up from the hole in the wall, and then starts walking off to regroup with his gang, before looking back at me with an evil grin on his face. “Shame you won’t live long enough to tell others about it.”

He looks to one of the pegasi, who nods, then flies charging at me full speed.

Biggest. Fucking. Mistake. Ever. (Play Song)

POV Change: 3rd Person

As the pegasus closes onto Cree, it would have been thought that he hit the mark – only for the cobalt blue griffon to disappear into thin air just as the pegasus was about to hit him, then reappear spinning, then pull off a drop kick directly onto the base of the pegasus’ wings, causing immense pain and for the poor prick to crash to the floor, then disappear again.

Cree then reappears into view, sitting on top of a nearby table, with a satisfied smile on his face, seeing the slightly surprised look on Dead Ringer’s face from seeing one of his best taken down so easily. But the unicorn wasn’t easily fazed.

“Kill him.” Dead Ringer orders to his grunts.

The two earth ponies arm themselves up: one was armed with a spiked knuckle duster, the other just took a bar stool to fight with, and the pegasus at the bar took the bottle she was drinking with and broke it, and all blindly ran towards Cree.

The knuckle duster pony went in first, attempting to throw strikes at the griffon in a fatal spot, only to be dodged over and over again, and is given a direct jab to the gut, knocking almost all the wind out of him and causing him to lose consciousness. The pony carrying the bar stool throws it, attempting to catch Cree off guard, but he ducks. However, the stallion then starts swinging fists wildly at Cree, but he ducks under each swing, until the griffon finds the remains of the stool from earlier nearby, snatches a large remaining piece, then breaks it over the stallion’s head, knocking him out.

“Cree, behind you!”

The pegasus charges at Cree, broken bottle in hand, trying to stab him in the back, only to fail, have her arm pulled to another direction and get elbowed to the face.

However, just as Cree was about to get a breather, he suddenly gets lifted into the air surrounded by an aura of two colors.

“Heh. What are you gonna do now?” Dead Ringer smugly says, while his horn- and one of the other unicorns’ – glowed as he held Cree midair, planning to crush him where he was. However, this was short lived, as Cree simply spread his wings out, and their combined hold on him was easily broken, and both unicorns were knocked back by the force of their magic being broken as Cree lands still standing.

Now this gets Dead Ringer shaking in fear, who had most of the color drained completely from his face, turning him visibly pale.
The stallion in question then yelled out to the minotaur, “D-DON’T JUST STAND THERE! CRUSH HIM!”

The huge bastard prepared to charge directly towards the blue griffon, but of course, our hero is always prepared for this kinda crap.

From his pocket, he pulled out what looked to be a ball of rope tied to the same rope with the colors of yellow, orange and black. As he pulled it out, Twilight and Rainbow noticed something – Cree looked as though he was taking in a deep breath, and the ball-and-rope started sparking with electricity, then he started spinning it till it appeared as a cascade of colors and lightning. He then looks back to the girls, who are standing by, watching the whole fight.

“Hey girls, remember how I promised a demonstration? Well, let the show begin!”

Cree stands up on a table, and as the minotaur charges at him, he ducks then sends the ball throttling towards the minotaur’s ribs, and as it hits, an audible and sickening *krack* can be heard, causing Ringer and the remaining Rogue grunts to visibly cringe… but it wasn’t over. Just before the ball hit, the lightning from earlier sparked from Cree’s hand, through the rope, and into the ball.

“Neon Yellow… OVERDRIVE!”

And as the ball hit the ribs, the lightning discharged from the ball and into the minotaur, sending the shock visibly and painfully coursing through the body and rendering the big guy unconscious with his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

‘THIS ASSHOLE CAN USE MAGIC?!?!’

“Shocking, ain’t it?” As Cree said that, a small bright ball of energy suddenly appears in his open hand until he crushes it, sending bolts of yellow bursting across his arm, and arcing across his body, making him look all the more intimidating. But they all failed to notice that all the lightning happened to be sparking towards his left eye, turning completely neon blue.

The unicorn grunt next to Dead Ringer got so shaken, that he shot a magic blast towards Cree, only for it to be deflected with a flick of a finger, being sent back to the sender at twice the speed it was shot, and give a painful direct hit to his horn, but before the stallion could get back his bearings, Cree throws a punch to the gut infused with the same electricity from earlier, which courses throughout the stallion’s body, filling all senses with pain.

The other two were smart to try and hide behind some upturned tables to try and shoot him with magic from there, but that doesn’t mean they were out of the woods yet. Cree then reaches to a nearby table, then grabs a handful of peanuts from the bowl, to which he uses his magic to shoot them from his hand via flicking them from his thumb. And every shot made, he was able to hit vital points on the attackers; mainly the horns and between the eyes, to disorient them, till he runs up to them and slams their heads together, knocking them out.

Dead Ringer attempted to bolt for the exit, but suddenly felt as though he had stepped on something. He instinctively turned to Cree, who was holding a rope – which led directly to him. But before Dead Ringer could react, Cree tugged hard on the rope, setting off a trap which fully ensnared the unicorn with rope.

As the leader of the Rogues fell to the floor, he suddenly realized he was being slowly pulled – directly towards Cree.

“NO! NO! NO!” he looks to the side and sees the two mares from earlier. “PRINCESS! PLEASE, SAVE ME! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!” but the princess simply glares before looking away.

Dead Ringer suddenly gets pulled up, and is now face to face with Cree, whose face turns from a hateful glare… to that a frightening smile which sent many chills going down the unlucky unicorn’s spine. As Dead Ringer stared into his eyes, which spewed a blue flame within the iris, he could suddenly feel every sin he’s committed crawling upon his back, weighing him down until it got unbearably heavy.

(End Song)

“Normally, this is the part where I’d beat you to a bloody pulp…” Cree raises a fist, while the unicorn in his grip braces for the strike.

“…But I won’t.” He puts his fist down and shifts his grip to behind the stallion’s neck. “But on another case… this is for calling me short. ”

Cree suddenly knocks the wind out of him, then starts dragging him towards the exit, where a bunch of royal guards are standing by on the outside, spears at ready, but shocked at seeing one of the most ruthless heads of the Rogues bound in rope.

He then turns his gaze to the guards.“ There are eight others inside – three unicorns, two pegasi, two earth ponies and a minotaur. And don’t worry; they’re all knocked out. If you want help with the big guy, I’m happy to oblige.” He says with a smile, as though he wasn’t being serious a moment back.

The squad captain snaps out of her daze to respond. “No need sir, we can handle this on our own. Although,” she says, “Could I bother to ask how you took down eight dangerous trained mercenaries and their leader in one fight? That isn’t exactly a walk in the park.”

“Well, I can just say this: if they’re that bad,” Cree responds with a shaky smile, “The only thing worse than them is a fly buzzing around your muzzle. That’s how it kind of felt overall, really.” He says, scratching the back of his head as he spoke.

After a small moment of talking with the captain, the unicorn in the griffon’s grip suddenly starts struggling. “Y-you won’t get away with this!” He exclaims. “When my boss hears about this, th-they’ll be here to make your life a living Tartarus!”

Cree breaks his gaze from the captain and turns to the unicorn stallion in his grasp, and nonchalantly responds, “Really? Then tell that to someone who gives a crap.”, then proceeds to properly knock him out.

Twilight, Rainbow, and the guard captain just blankly stare at Cree, all with bewildered looks on their faces as the griffon just blatantly shrugged off such a threat as the Rogues coming to Ponyville.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!” Twilight shouts out, not giving an apparent flying fuck that the crowd from earlier just snapped their heads to their direction. “Cree, as powerful as you are, nopony just squares off against the Rogues and gets to live to tell the tale!”

Cree took a moment to glance to his side to notice that some of the ponies in the crowd had been paying attention to the whole conversation since Twilight’s outburst.

“I agree with Princess Twilight, sir,” the squad captain (whose name Cree just now learned was Swift Strike) said, “nearly every squadron of the royal guard that fought against even just a small group of them, whether from the Day or Night Guard, had always come back to the castle critically wounded or near dead. You can’t just shrug this off like it’s nothing.”

But even after that little rant, Cree does just that: shrug it off like it’s nothing.

After just seeing the griffon’s blank look that clearly stated, “ And your point?”, they just gave up trying.

“There is no way we’re going to change your mind, is there?” says Twilight, clearly seeing how stubborn this griffon is.

“Nope.” replies Cree. “By the way Dash, you’re still soaked in cider from earlier.”

Rainbow looks down on her clothes, and noticed that he was right: she was still soaked from when Dead Ringer threw that cider into Cree’s face, the splash hitting her, but not Twilight (who apparently put a small shield up to protect herself at an impulse, but forgot to put one up for Rainbow). Now, this wouldn’t exactly be too much of a problem… but then again, she was wearing white, so Cree instantly saw through the shirt to see the cute light blue lace bra underneath…

*POMF*

…to which he, potentially like any male with wings, naturally reacted to, and to which he tried to fix. Luckily, the pants he wore were pretty baggy, otherwise he’d be pitchin’ a tent right about now.

Shut. The Fuck. Up, Yin.

It took only a slight moment for Rainbow and Twilight’s minds to register what just happened, and both blushed; the former having to cover herself up, and the latter struggling not to spring one up herself.

Twilight also took a moment to look at Cree’s wings: they were slightly bigger than hers (giving her a bit of envy), had blue, sharp-looking feathers, and had a strange pattern across the wings not akin to normal wing coloring patterns, but more towards a tattoo of sorts.

Cree was finally able to calm down his wings to take the time and re-assess the situation, “Anyway, um, that… ‘moment’ aside,” he turns to Rainbow, still blushing furiously, “Rainbow, why don’t you go home and, uh, change up quick? I’ll probably meet up with you again later for some other things.”

Rainbow didn’t need a moment to stop and think about it , as the second Cree was done saying his end, she nodded fast and gave a quick “kthanksi’llbebacklater!” and flew off, leaving a dust cloud.

Cree then turns to Twilight, who was shaking herself out of a daze, asking her, “Come to think about it, you might be one to actually help me out with my problem, Princess. I’m actually looking for a place to settle down for a month, and I think here might be a good a place as any. Think you can help?”

The mare in question began thinking of a solution to this, until her face brightened up at an apparently good idea. “Actually,” she says, “I think I know the right place for you to settle in. Follow me.”

“I actually need to head off as well,” Swift Strike said, “ Got to bring these Rogues into prison. Thanks again for rounding them up. And if we need some help, we know who to call.”

“Thanks. Be seeing you soon!” I tell Swift as she flies off to regroup with her squad. I look farther to see Dead, and see him and his goons crammed into a carriage, and the former giving me a deadly glare. I send a smirk back to him, but I make sure to flash my eye blue to scare him a bit. No surprise that his face changes, but his look doesn’t really seem scared, but more… in surprise and disbelief?

Meh. Probably not important.

A moment of wandering around later…
POV Change: Sam (Cree), 1st Person

After an apparently impromptu tour across Ponyville, we finally got to where Twilight was leading us: a large castle held up by an enormous tree trunk, both of which were formed out of crystal. The whole place was practically more breathtaking than Tia’s castle, it make me kinda jealous about mine. Almost.

I then hear a breeze coming along from behind us, and I turn around to look, and see a cyan blur come from behind us and stop. Rainbow was back, and she definitely changed up: replacing what she wore earlier, she was now wearing a light blue midriff, accompanied by a matching pair of shorts and jacket, wearing light blue and white sneakers.

Shit, why’s my face heating up?

“Sorry I took a bit, had to, uh, take care of something on the way here.” Rainbow said, albeit somewhat shakily.

Did… Rainbow Dash just actually take the time to pick out a change of clothes to appeal to me?! Damn. This’ll be harder than I thought.

Twilight giggles, then turns to me. “Alright Cree, this is where you’ll stay.”

I change my expression to that of surprise. (Although in truth, this is only slightly surprising, but still pretty awesome regardless.)

“Um… Princess, I really couldn’t. This is a great honor and all, but I’ll be fine in the hotel we passed by earlier.” I humbly say.

But Twilight shook her head, saying, “Nonsense Cree, consider this as a favor between friends. Besides, this is also my way of saying thanks for defending us from the Rogues. So don’t try and work your way out of this.”

I look up to the castle for a moment, until turning back to Twilight and saying, “Alright. Why not? Ain’t every day that a cute Princess offers a place to stay.”

Twilight brightens up (and blushes) at this. “Excellent. Let’s go in and get to where you’re staying.”

Looking back to Rainbow, I noticed a trace of envy within her eyes as she looked to Twilight.

I guess I gotta watch what I say next later on, otherwise I’ll look like I’m just some player.

Location Change: Castle of Friendship

While the exterior of the castle was amazing, the interior on the other hand… Dayum, son.

The décor that covered every hallway, the organization of every room, the way all the colors completely fit with the crystals, the throne room ( I assume the Tree thought it’d be funny to take some ideas from me), and the library… Oh. My. Gods. I mean, the library I have is bigger, but you have to admit: real care was given to it.

…What? I’m a guy who enjoys the finest of detail. Don’t judge.

And I’m pretty sure Twilight saw the awe in my face as we took the small tour around the castle, which felt longer-

Fucking long-ass hallways, man.

-we finally came to a stop, in front of a door, which I’m pretty sure…

“Alright Cree, this is where you’ll be staying.” says Twilight.

…called it.

When Twilight opened the door, I was able to go inside, and I saw something built for royalty: A queen-size bed, a scenery of the plains at the balcony, a large table in the middle of the room , and a bathroom practically a royal would have.

But then again, I also kinda miss my old room back at the Castle.

I grasp my head as I suddenly feel a flood of memories from back then…

Flashback - 1000 Years in the Past...

“How could you do this to us?! We trusted you!”

“Wait, Tia, what are you talking about-”

“NO! NO MORE LIES! The nobles were right – YOU WERE SEEKING TO RUIN US FROM WITHIN THE WHOLE TIME!”

“NOW HOLD ON! You actually believe those fuckers?! What do they have that’ll have you on their side?!”

“Maybe THESE will refresh your memory.”

“……”

“Just as I thought.”

“Tia, please, I can explain-”

“Enough.”

“Sis, wait-”

“NO! NEVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN!”

“AGH!”

“Consider this a warning. As of today, Equestria and the Aether Kingdom are now enemies. In a few days, we will wage war. Your kingdom may be powerful, but we will fight until our last dying breath.”

“Don’t do this. Please.”

“… I shall see you on the battlefield.”

“Goodbye, Brother.”

Present Time

After one huge ass migraine, I find myself on my knees, tears soaking my face, and suddenly see Twilight by my side, her hand on my shoulder.

“Cree, are you okay?!” she says, her tone filled with worry.

I wipe my eyes clean of tears, then get up. I don’t know why I suddenly had a hard time getting up, but I was staggering like fuck. I sniffle a bit, then look back at Twilight with a forced smile, hoping she’d understand.

“D-don’t worry. I’m fine. Just… don’t really want to talk about it.” I manage to say.

Twilight then looks at me , and finally nods in understanding. “Alright then, just um… I’ll leave you to settle down for a bit. Meet me in the main hall when you’re done.” She closes the door to the room behind her as she leaves.

As she shuts the door, I silently lock it behind her, and pull the drapes over all the windows. When I know I’m no longer being watched, I send an anti-magic pulse which knocks out any surveillance spells, and a soundproofing spell for safety. One can never be too cautious, you know.

As I’ve ensured I’m clear, I walk to the bathroom, take off my thick clothes and finally dispel my disguise, allowing me to finally take a look at my body after all these years.

While I can’t really call myself too buff or too skinny, I can definitely say that a proper amount of muscle had been built up over time, but not enough that it’d be bulging. But I was more focused on how many scars I had built up over the years.

I practically earned quite a few from many battles, most of them heal up easily, but very few actually stay on, like the ones from my battle with Galaxia and Eternia, and the one from…
…

…

No.

I won’t let the past drag me down.

Not today.

If I’m going to do my best to clear everything up, then I need to keep myself up as well.

I look to my right to see the big shower.

‘Might as well.’ I think to myself as I walk in.

(End song)

Location Change: Canterlot Prison
POV: 3rd Person
An hour prior to Cree’s arrival in the Castle…

Canterlot Prison is home to many an offender to Equestria law – thieves, murderers, kidnappers, and the whole lot, all of which are never seen in the show due to the special location it happens to be in: within the mountain where Canterlot City rests, where those imprisoned shall never see the light of day or night ever again, and kept deeper within the lower and seemingly bottomless levels of the prison depending on how despicable their deeds are.

Dead Ringer and his group were sent somewhere into the levels near the bottom ( I said “seemingly”, and not “totally”, after all), and kept in a cell with tough bunk beds, a small sink, and the only light source being the 2 torches by the door, which were snuffed out to signal curfew. The walls were also etched with anti-magic seals, so that any unicorn prisoners can’t teleport or blast out.

While the rest of the group were plotting revenge on the griffon that kicked their asses as soon as they served sentence, their leader was in deep thought and disbelief at what he saw from the griffon.

It… it can’t be. Wasn’t he imprisoned?

…

Then again, it could have just been my imagination.

…

No. There is no-one else in existence with that eye except him.

…

No doubt about it – he must have broken out and had a disguise.

…

That has to be it. But, what’s he doing in Ponyville?

“Hey, Dead, you okay, dude?”

The unicorn snaps out of his daze to find one of his group, the aqua unicorn (named Hawk Shot) catching his attention.

“Uh, y-yeah, I’m fine.” He replies

“Dead, you clearly aren’t alright,” the earth pony (named Black Knuckle) added, “ on the whole ride here, you’ve been pretty quiet
ever since you looked back to that bastard of a griffon. What’s up?”

“Listen, guys, you’d probably think I’m crazy if I tried to say what I saw.” Ringer says.

“Just try us. The griffon clearly could use magic, and I don’t think there’s anything else that’d surprise us after that.”

“Alright then. You all know that, but I’m sure there’s more to it.”

“Like what?”

“When I looked back to the griffon, he just smirked as he looked to me.”

“Tch. Smug asshole. What else is new?”

“His left eye. It flashed blue.”

That very statement got the attention of everyone within the same cell as Dead.

There is only one being in all of Equus – no, in all of existence that can do that.

As it turns out, they’ve heard the story of him when they were raised as Rogues, but they were told the truth, and not the version told by the Princesses. After all, why would they listen to the killer of their ancestors in the first place?

And to top it all off, they also learned that his return signals a new age of Equus – one where worlds can crumble if he wishes for it.

“Are you sure that’s what you truly saw, and not an illusion?” Black Horn says.

“Yeah, and I’m definitely sure it wasn’t an illusion. We gotta tell this to the boss somehow.”

“No need to wait.”

The group in the cell turn to the doors and see a cloaked female figure.

This was the feared true leader of the Rogues, Shadow Seeker, a thestral with a dark purple mane and eyes that can pierce through the night. She has a very shapely figure, but yet, no stallion dared to try and hit on her, as no male ever survived being in her circle, most being her targets, hence her nickname, “The Black Widow”. Her overly tough exterior practically helped this, and everyone in her group – all genders, be young or old – easily feared her within the first minute of meeting.

“B-b-boss! Thank the gods you’re here! You heard all that, right?” Ringer said, fear clearly visible in his voice.

“Of course. But I must check this myself. If this griffon is really who you assume he is, then this can really help us against the “Princess”.” She spat the name out like it was practically an awful disease. “You lot stay here for now – try spending time rounding up some new recruits for later.”

“Um… y-yes, ma’am.” Ringer shakily replied.

The cloak and its wearer practically sank into the shadows of the prison, signaling the mare’s disappearance from the scene.

Ringer may be on the sidelines for now, but there’s still work to be done.

Location Change: Canterlot Streets

Minutes later, a mare appeared in an alley far away from the prison itself. Shadow Seeker wandered into the sea of ponies and made her way to the train station, barely noticed by any of those that passed by that she suddenly came out of the alleyway.
This was practically the way she earned her name – melding into the shadows to either execute the most seemingly unreachable targets, or to blend in with crowds to avoid capture.

To quote a criminal, “ The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that… he is gone.” This, combined with her power, made her akin to a boogeyman (or mare) to the criminal world – always striking when least expected, but when first heard of, they always assume her to only be an urban legend.

It was also one of the results of Samuel’s lessons.

In the deep parts of her mind, one part of her wanted to finally meet the one who helped revolutionize the world in the past, but
another part was in disbelief and slight fear, all of which didn’t show on her face.

If this “griffon” was really who Dead thought he was, then this can really change the game for everypony involved.
As these thoughts scattered across her head, the train was now en route to Ponyville.

POV Swap: Sam (Cree) , 1st Person
Location Change: Friendship Castle, Ponyville

After a bit of time in the shower, I got changed up from my old clothes, and into something a little more lighter: a small combo of a black sleeveless shirt and a pair of camo shorts, the shirt having a black and blue lightning bolt across it, accompanied by a scarf I had packed early back. After that incident with Twilight, it’s best I make sure she forget it, otherwise it’ll definitely show I’m hiding something – and the last thing I need is something happening before I can talk to Tia myself.

Hopefully, Lulu’s doing well after so long.

But the past is in the past… for now.

Until then, I gotta make light of the current situation. I better head out quick – daylight’s burnin’, after all.

I open the door and walk out to head towards the main hall to meet up with Twi.

But it was then that I realized…

I have no idea where the fuck I’m going to go.

Shit.

This’ll take a while.

A few hours of wandering (geddit?) later…

FUCK. ME. THIS IS TAKING TOO LONG!

I’ve been roaming around the damn castle for Faust-knows how long, and I STILL can’t find the main hall. But then again, it’s not like I’ll find a tour guide just waiting for me – “OOF!”

And RIGHT when I thought about that, a door suddenly flies open, striking me square on the nose (or beak, actually) and having me fall back. I then clench my “beak” in pain.

I then look to my “attacker” and see a teenage dragon by the door. He stood at about 5 feet, had mulberry scales on his body, and green spikes on his head and tail. He wore a white hoodie, a black shirt underneath with a white cross pattern, and a pair of jeans. He also had a pair of fingerless gloves on as well.

Damn, since when was the Spike of this world lookin’ so badass?

“Huh?! Oh, I’m so sorry, I – I didn’t see you there!” he apparently says behind the door, but the look on his face changes from worry, to thought, then to… fear?

“Whoa! You’re the griffon from the bar!”, he says, raising his claws up to try and brace himself, “uh-um, I didn’t know you came here! I-I didn’t mean any harm, I swear!”, he pleaded.

Man, that is fucking pathetic. Better calm him down, or else he’ll be kissin’ my toes next.

“Easy, pal. I don’t intend to hurt ya, seeing as this was an accident.” I raise my arms up to assure him as I slowly get up.

“Oh. Okay then, sorry if I overreacted.” He said, his expression slowly softening to a smile as he lowered his arms. “It’s just that everypony in town knew what you did, and I thought - ”

“Wait – what do you mean?” I cut him off.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Hold on, let me show you.”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out what looks to be a sort of iPhone, complete with a touch screen and camera. He opens it up, enters an app, and apparently shows my whole fight with the Rogues, all on video, and also has…

…over 9000 hits.

I shit you not, that’s how much it says. It took me a lot of my willpower to not bust a gut to that.

But wait, who-

“Apparently, this was recorded by Berry Punch – you know, the barmare? She was hiding behind the bar at the time, and decided to record the fight.”

Oh. So that’s what she was doing. I fucking knew that thing poking up from the bar looked like a camera.

Wait.

Shit.

This is gonna reach Tia in no time, is it?

It won’t, as she doesn’t really keep up to date on everything. Just bet that Luna will get the news first.

Good riddance. If anything, she’ll be there to visit me at Pinkie’s party.

“Um... sir?” I snap out of my small chat with Yin as Spike calls out for me.

“Hm? Oh, uh… sorry, I spaced out. You were asking something?”

“Actually, I wanted to ask your name.”

“Well then,” I put my hand out for him to shake as I introduce myself, “ my name is Cree. And yours?”

He reaches out and shakes my hand as he says, “Name’s Spike. Nice to meet you, Cree.” I then take my hand back.

…

“Umm…” I let out, scratching the back of my head as I break the silence between the two of us standing in the middle of the hallway.

“So…”

“Yeah…” Holy SHIT this was awkward!

“Umm… actually, what were you doing here?” Spike said, finally breaking the silence with a question.

“Oh, actually, I’m looking for a way to the main hall. But, you know, seeing how huge this place is…” I reply.

Spike’s eyes light up in realization. “Ohhh...” he then starts to walk off a small distance, then beckons me over, “ well follow me, then. I know where to go from here. Come on!”

How amazingly convenient, huh, Yin?

Your welcome, you know.

TO BE CONTINUED…