The legend of Lee Roy

Chapters

Worlds Apart
The Hero Emerges
Legend
Old friends, Old wounds

Worlds Apart

“I'm sorry,” the stallion repeated, bowing so deeply he was practically laying down.

Twilight didn't know how to react to the situation. He was apologizing repeatedly for so long that Spike and Pinkie came from wherever they were thrown to in order to sit near her. Applejack was even able to climb down from the tree she was tossed into, lending a hoof to help Fluttershy with Rarity's, “predicament” before the three of them could also walk over to Twilight. She was looking at her friends for guidance and all they could do was just offer her blank stares and shrugs.

“It's fine, really,” Twilight said. In reality, everything wasn't fine, but she was prepared to do anything to get this mysterious stallion to stop apologizing and start answering questions.

He finally let out a big sigh and then sat up eyeing them looking a bit sullen, almost like a pet knowing like it did a bad thing.

Finally having a moment where she wasn’t running for her life, Twilight could finally make out what he looks like in a little more detail. The stallion was a light sandy brown, his mane was a darker shade and was long - reaching all the way to his torso. He had stone-like features and a strong jaw lined his unshaven face, not to mention his soft, black as coal eyes. His voice was low but carried power behind it - each word was rough, unpracticed, with a very distinct latin accent. The armor that he wore seemed to be straight from this castle. His most obvious aspect of him was, of course, is that he was absolutely huge by comparison to the rest of them.

The stallion cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of all of them. “May I ask, who you are?”

Twilight stood up straight. “I could ask the same of you,” she said, trying hard not to sneer.

He seemed to jump at Twilight's words. “I apologize, how rude of me,” he says, bowing again to Twilight's dismay. “I am Le Roi Arion the twenty-fourth,” he stated, bowing once more.

“I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship,” she said confidently. The stallion just stared at her like as if she was doing something odd.

“That’s all fine and good, but would someone, please help me!” Rainbow Dash cried, hobbling and squirming towards the group.

We must have overlooked her - why was she so quiet? Thought Twilight, trying hard to stay somewhat regal in the situation.

“I got her,” mumbled Applejack, moving forward. Making sure to keep an untrusting eye on the stallion whilst helping with Rainbow Dash’s predicament.

“Arion?” Spike murmured speaking up “The Arion?” shrieked Spike excitedly, getting up and running to Twilight. His claw disappearing into Twilight's bag and he pulled out the book he has been reading thus far.

“Woohoo!” Pinkie cried suddenly, just being as Pinkie as usual.

“Ah! Somepony that knows of my exploits,” the Stallion said to Spike, giving Pinkie a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah! You fought nefarious dragons, a big thing called a golem and even a thunderbird! You helped lots of ponies! You're a real life hero!” exclaimed Spike as he shuffled excitedly. “Right, mister Le Ro-” started Spike, his face contorting as he tried to repeat the stallion’s full name.

The stallion put up a hoof interrupting Spike. “Please, call me Lee Roy, it is what the pony folk know me by,” he said with a smile.

What pony folk? Twilight had never heard of this stallion before, - well until now.

Spike simply nodded rabidly clearly fanboying internally.

Lee Roy turned his attention to the book Spike was holding “How do you know all this? Is it the book?” Lee Roy points out.

“Yeah! Here have a look,” Spike says with pleasure handing him the book.

Lee Roy skimmed the book, flipping page after page keeping that ever prevalent stony expression making it hard to tell what this stallion is thinking.

He let out a loud sigh, closing the book “thank you” he uttered as the look of contemplation breaks thru the stony expression he had just moments before.

What is he thinking, Twilight wanted to know. She was so anxious to shpiel out all of these questions she had.

Lee Roy started to fiddle with one of his gauntlets - a mess of metal and leather straps - as he looked up at Twilight once more. “I'm sure you have questions, Princess. Ask away,” Lee Roy said, through a mouthful of leather straps.

Twilight could only think of one logical question. “Why were you a statue?” she asked.

The gauntlet Lee Roy was working on dropped from his large hoof, making a hollow clang against the floor. “I was umm ...” he paused. “I'm sorry my common pony isn't very good, let me think,” he apologized. After a quick pause, Lee Roy cleared his throat and continued. “...I was fighting Medusa, a terrible encha-, magic user, who turned ponies to stone and somehow I got turned into this myself. I think my curse saved me.”

Medusa - Twilight had heard that name before, but could not put a hoof on who that pony was. She quickly dispelled any thoughts, as the task of finding out who this stallion is, was far more important.

Twilight heard another hollow clang, snapping her back to reality. She straightened up, trying to appear regal again. “How did you get through my barrier? And what is this 'curse'?” she asked.

Lee Roy let out another sigh, his shoulders shrinking slightly “I, ugh”, he paused again. “I was born with it. I don't like to talk about it, it only brings me strife. Princess, could I perhaps borrow your hoof maiden?” Lee Roy asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Wha-” Twilight started, with a confused expression.

The others were just as confused as Twilight.

Lee Roy turned his gaze to Rarity. “Bonjour madame, pouvez-vous m'aider?” he said confidently.

Rarity jumped, her face curling in confusion “Um, I'm sorry but I don't speak French” she said, flabbergasted.

Wait, he knows French? Twilight didn’t know a word but Rarity clearly knew he was speaking the language. This stallion was getting weirder and weirder.

That strange look appeared on Lee Roy's face once again.

“Could you help me?” he paused again,” ...These straps, madam? I can't reach them,” Lee Roy explains, blowing his mane out of his eyes.

Rarity hesitated, not sure about Lee Roy - but she put on a brave face.

“Alright, darling, I'll help,” Rarity stated as she moved forward somewhat cautiously.

Lee Roy waited for her patiently. Once she was near enough, he pointed to where the straps were fixed. Rarity got to work immediately, taking the straps in her hooves and with magic.

“Princess?” Lee Roy stated, grabbing the attention of Twilight. “I have a few questions of my own if you would allow me?” Lee Roy asked.

She nodded. “Sure, go right ahead,” Twilight agreed, having no idea what Lee Roy would ask. Her mind was still reeling from his actions from before, and her questions were only bringing up more questions. It didn’t help that her horn hurt, either.

“Why are you naked?” asked Lee Roy, with a straight face.

Everypony was shocked. Spike snickered loudly but clearly, couldn’t hold it in and before long he was rolling on the floor.

Reading everypony's reaction, he quickly realized he had said something odd. Thinking once more over what he had asked, he tried to apologize. “That came out wrong,” Lee Roy said, trying hard to salvage this situation “What I meant was, why do you not wear a crown? Or a dress of any kind?” he asked.

Twilight didn’t know what to make of this question. “I don’t just wear a crown or dress around - not for any particular reason,” she answered.

“Why do you not use the Royal Canterlot Voice when speaking?” Lee Roy asked, dead seriousness tinting his voice.

Twilight was taken back as to how serious Lee Roy suddenly became and how soon the question came, she didn’t know how to answer.

“Well, I’ve never needed to use the Royal Canterlot Voice, nor was told I needed to,” Twilight explained.

Lee Roy nods, staring at Twilight. “What happened to the castle? Where are the princesses - are they safe?” he asks, keeping the same serious tone and look upon his strong face.

“The castle is very old and fell into disrepair. Celestia and Luna moved to Canterlot a long time ago,” Twilight reports.

Lee Roy glares at Twilight for a few moments holding his serious look before his expression finally softens. Lee Roy looks bewildered for a split second before wiping away the look from his face.

Just then his breastplate finally came loose, Lee Roy quickly putting a hoof to his chest turned to Rarity “thank you ms-, I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name,” he stated.

“It’s Rarity, no need for the ‘Ms’, darling,” Rarity stated confidently, moving back to sit with Twilight.

“Thank you, Rarity,” Lee Roy said with a small bow, rolling his shoulders loosening the breastplate more before it finally fell with a hollow boom, revealing what was underneath.

The Stallion had large muscles - as to be expected, but the most peculiar thing was the large red cape he was wearing. It was less of a cape and more like a cover, as it was tied down by the small satchel on his waist. The cape in question was large enough to cover his whole back and part of his flanks and was in a state of considerable disrepair.

A huge, loud-sounding sigh of relief escaped from Lee Roy, echoing throughout the courtyard. He closed his eyes and his head tilted back.

He rolled his large shoulders before stretching out like a cat, sending a flurry of audible pops to assault their ears as he cracked his back and shoulders before letting out another loud sigh.

In the meantime, Twilight’s mind was reeling. Thinking back - now that she wasn’t running for her life, the language that he spoke before, that was Latin. Twilight didn’t have a single doubt - she had a multitude of books on the subject, he definitely spoke Latin. The problem is that no one spoke Latin anymore as a common language, not since the time when Starswirl was still around.

Medusa is another problem entirely. This was silently driving her crazy - she swore that she read something about this pony but couldn’t for the life of her figure out who this pony was.

Twilight wanted to ask another barrage of questions, but Rainbow Dash had other ideas.

“Stop moving, Rainbow, you’re making it worse!” hollers Applejack.

Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything but continued to struggle against the bola she was bound in.

Wordlessly, Lee Roy stood up - giving Twilight a quick bow before taking slow, large strides over to where they were. Upon seeing Lee Roy, Applejack immediately stopped working, gazing up at the towering stallion.

“Please, allow me to help” Lee Roy uttered softly, gently blowing strands of his mane from his eyes.

“Heck no!” yelled Rainbow Dash with anger in her eyes.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” Lee Roy stated calmly.

“You attacked us!” Rainbow snapped, squirming away from him awkwardly.

“Hurting you was never my intention. If I recall, you attacked me first,” Lee Roy said nonchalantly. “Besides, I was far more scared of you ladies,” he adds.

“Huh? Why!?” asks Rainbow Dash in disbelief.

Lee Roy looks apologetically at Twilight. He pauses a moment before continuing.

“Think for a second, imagine suddenly…” he paused again looking for a word, “awakening, to see six young ladies and a dragon in a ruined castle, the place where the two sister princesses are no longer. Wouldn’t you think that was a little strange?”

Rainbow Dash was silent, a sneer plastered on her face.

Lee Roy continues. “A princess is here in this…” he pauses again “disheveled place, without a single guard or servant - you can’t tell me that’s not a little strange? Especially when she is without any understanding of the old language.”

He must mean the Latin he spoke, Twilight thought to herself.

Rainbow Dash kept silent.

“If I was going to hurt you, don't you think I could have done worse? Hmm, you're talking to a stallion that can shake the earth beneath you and rip trees from their roots,” Lee Roy asserted, staring into Rainbow’s eyes.

“If my intentions were to hurt you-” he pauses for a second, taking a breath. “Don’t you think I could have done a better job? Can you at least understand why? Will you allow me to help you?” Lee Roy says with an even tone.

It took a moment but the sneer on Rainbow’s face melted. “Fine, but no funny business or else,” she threatens.

Before touching Rainbow, Lee Roy looked down at her with a calm expression.

“Blue one, take a deep breath try not to struggle. You’ll undo everything if you do,” Lee Roy states.

Rainbow only nodded as Lee Roy took the strings in his large hooves

"What was your intention then?” Rarity questions.

Lee Roy peered at her from his work. "Well I intended to arrest you all and then get information before bringing you to Celestia," he answered. "You could call me a guard of sorts," Lee Roy added.

Applejack steps forward “What did you think we were” she states.

He chuckles softly “changelings really, maybe some golem from Medusa,” Lee Roy says.

“But obviously, I was wrong,” He states looking sullen.

“How do you know, exactly,” Applejack questions.

He turns his gaze to Twilight “I can tell by the look of your eye,” he pauses “admittingly it takes some time to know for sure.” Lee Roy answers.

“You are all, very strange.” Lee Roy states “Not at all that I’ve imagined,” he adds.

“In what way?” Twilight questions.

Lee Roy carefully stretched and loosening the strings that bound Rainbow. “Hmm, well originally I thought you were all here for the princess,” Lee Roy states glancing at Twilight.

“But I’m sure you're not here for the reason’s I thought originally.” he glances at Rarity.

“You there, Blue one,” he calls down to Rainbow Dash “Are you not a guard?” he questions.

Rainbow glares up at him “No, I’m no guard, I’m a Wonderbolt,” she states.

He turns to Applejack “Don’t tell me you're not a guide or farmer,” Lee Roy says with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, you got one thing right, I’m a farmer but I ain't no guide,” Applejack quips.

“You are all, just friends?” Lee Roy asks.

Everypony just nods, as if this wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world.

He suddenly stopped working on the bola, his expression darkening, “Princess?” Lee Roy says over his shoulder

“Yes, Lee Roy?” Twilight questioned.

“I think I know why we seem so strange to each other,” he stated.

“Yes, you are from a different time, aren’t you?” Twilight claims.

“I think you may be right,” Lee Roy agreed. With the strings of the bola in his hoof, Lee Roy bit through them, finally freeing Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash cried excitedly, quickly flying away to where Fluttershy was quietly cowering.

“You said the princesses are safe in Canterlot, correct?” Lee Roy asked.

“Yes,” Twilight confirmed.

“I must have an …” he pauses again. “audience with Celestia - I’m sure she will straighten out everything,” Lee Roy announced. “But first, your horn. It must really sting - let me get something for you,” Lee Roy uttered, quickly searching his bags.

“No-no I’m fine,” Twilight rebutted, subconsciously reaching up to touch her horn.

“Why did you do that in the first place!” yelled Rainbow Dash, still clearly agitated.

Lee Roy gave up on his search, frustration sprawling on his face. He resorted to ripping a narrow but long strip of material from this red cape.

“Well, can you tell me how a unicorn makes magic?” Lee Roy asked, looking at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow was taken back, probably because she didn’t expect to be quizzed. “Ummm, from their horn?” she mutters.

“That’s where the magic comes from, I asked how,” Lee Roy corrected, searching his bags once again whilst still holding the piece of fabric in his large hoof.

“I don’t know, doesn't it just happen?” Rainbow Dash states, looking confused.

“Thought - it comes from thought,” Lee Roy answered, pointing to his head. “Think of magic as raw, undirected power your emotions can mold. Each unicorn having a set amount of magic and skill to use it.”

Lee Roy pulled out a canteen of water and poured a bit of it onto the fabric. “Unicorns gently guide the magic inside them with thought and focus it to whatever spell they want, this is where the horn comes in - it's there to focus and…” he pauses thinking of a word. “distribute that magic.”

Lee Roy steps closer to Twilight, fabric in hoof. "The horn may be dense but it’s sensitive - put any amount of force onto the horn and the magic inside cannot focus correctly because of the pain, thus rendering any spell useless. It’s an old trick to disable magic without seriously hurting the pony in question."

“Hold still,” Lee Roy breathed, moving slowly bringing the damp fabric towards her. Before Twilight could politely decline, the damp fabric made contact with her horn, causing her to make a noise that is a mix between a yelp and a moan that echoed throughout the courtyard. The others - already on edge with Lee Roy actions from earlier - Jump at the ready.

“Don’t worry, calm yourselves,” Lee Roy said to the others, with a calm expression.

Twilight could only nod, reassuring them that she was indeed okay, blushing hard at the embarrassing noise she had just made. But the cooling sensation on her sore horn feels so good. It still hurt a bit, but the cooling sensation seemed to sap the pain away.

Lee Roy slowly and gently wrapped the long damp fabric around her horn, sending sensations up and down Twilight's spine and making her coo silently to herself. Lee Roy finally finished by ever so gently tying the fabric. “I only know how to do a bow-tie, but this will do for now,” he says, giving her a look over. “Cute, too” he stated.

Twilight lifted a hoof to her horn, feeling the damp bow. Rarity rushed over to give her a look, only to gasp with that familiar shine in her eye.

“Twilight You look absolutely adorable!” Rarity gushed.

Twilight didn’t care what it looks like, she was just thankful that the painful sting of her horn has finally been dulled.

Twilight turned away from Rarity with the intention of thanking Lee Roy, only to see his curious expression.

“Is she okay?” Lee Roy asked, pointing with his large hoof.

Twilight followed his gaze to a sleeping Pinkie Pie, who is still standing straight up with a napping Spike by her side, both gently snoring. “No wonder she was so quiet,” Twilight muttered to no one particular. “Pinkie?” Twilight said, shaking her gently. Spike woke up but was standing, wordlessly rubbing his eyes.

Pinkie on the other hoof continued to sleep, muttering and snoring softly to herself.

“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled, shaking her with a little more force.

“Uh- what- who!?” Pinkie started, finally awakening. “Oh, hey everypony,” she said with a stretch. “Are you guys done with your dialogue? It's been like two episodes.” She yawned.

“We are just about to leave, Pinkie,” Twilight announced confidently.

“Before we go, I didn’t catch all of your names. I know of Ms. Rarity and Princess Twilight,” Lee Roy interrupts, “But who are you?” his soft gaze falling on Pinkie.

“I’m Pinkie Pie!” she quipped.

“Pinkie,” Lee Roy repeated, as he turns his gaze to Applejack.

“I’m Applejack, sir,” she said, trying to hide her nervousness.

“Applejack,” Lee Roy repeated. Unexpectedly, Lee Roy started to giggle, then the giggle quickly turned into a hardy laugh.

“So, let me guess your name,” Lee Roy said while still laughing, turning to Rainbow Dash.

“Blue Fast?” Lee Roy laughed loudly wiping a tear, with Pinkie joining in momentarily.

“My name is Rainbow Dash!” she stated through clenched teeth.

Lee Roy suddenly stopped laughing, the serious look returning. “Say that again? ” he questioned.

Rainbow Dash was taken aback over how quickly his look changed, but she cleared her throat remembering what he said earlier. “It’s Rainbow Dash,” she repeated bravely, staring challengingly.

Just as quickly as the look came, it was gone, replaced with a soft expression akin to that of earlier. “Rainbow Dash,” Lee Roy repeated. “How about you?” he asked, turning his gaze to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy only cowered away from him, whimpering behind Rainbow Dash, Rainbow stepping forward in her defense.

Lee Roy, clearly getting the memo gave a small apologetic bow with a sad expression. He then turned to Twilight, shaking off the rest of his armor with ease. “Now, with that out of the way, let's get out of here” Lee Roy suggested confidently.

Lee Roy quickly trotted over to the tree blocking the passage they’d just gone through, and with a mighty grunt, he hefted the tree away with ease leaving the passage revealed.

Twilight and her friends cheered as the passage was cleared, finally being able to get out of there.

Lee Roy turned around and trotted back to Twilight and her friends. “This way.” He said as he proceeded past them.

“Wha-” was the only thing that came out of Rainbow’s mouth, the others giving him questionable looks.

“Why take the long way? I know a shortcut, come on.” Lee Roy directed with a smile.

He trotted over to a wall covered in vines, standing adjacent to where he was just a statue. Looking it over, then feeling up and down, clearly looking for something.

“How do you know this shortcut’s here?” Twilight asked, her friends close behind.

“Well, I used to live here, did I forget to mention that?” Lee Roy mentioned.

“No, you’ve never mentioned that,” Twilight said in surprise.

"Well, I did help to be close to the person you are guarding," Lee Roy stated.

Lee Roy continues his search until his expression changed. “Got it!” he yelled excitedly.

He looked back at Twilight and the others, motioning for them to come closer.

“Come on, everypony get close,” Lee Roy ordered, shoving his mane out of his eyes.

Twilight and her friends obeyed, with various amounts of wariness. Lee Roy waited until everyone was acceptably in range and then pushed the wall, walking back a few paces before suddenly the wall turned and tucked before suddenly stopping. Simply turning revealed that they were back in the throne room, just below the actual throne.

“Yay!” Pinkie cheered, throwing confetti everywhere.

“Finally, let's get outta here,” Applejack said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Twilight celebrated with her friends, giving hugs and high hooves when she suddenly realized Lee Roy was gone. It didn’t take her long to peer around to see the big stallion. Lee Roy was just peering around, slowly walking forward until he stood near a crumbled pillar.

“Lee Roy?” Twilight called, stepping a few paces forward.

Lee Roy looked over to her, It was hard to read his expression - but Twilight knew instantly that something was wrong.

“Twilight, I wasn’t gone for just a few years, was I?” Lee Roy asked.

“No, Lee Roy I think .…” Twilight trailed off.

“How long was I gone?” Lee Roy asked, his expression unreadable.

“Lee Roy, I think you were in that statute for over a thousand years,” Twilight stated.

Lee Roy looked at Twilight, his glare unblinking for just a moment before looking down.

“Over a thousand years,” Lee Roy said, his expression unreadable. He sat brushing his hoof slowly down his mane. “Over a thousand years,” he said louder than he did before.

Lee Roy stood up suddenly and started to pace around the area. “Over a thousand years,” he repeated, continuing to pace.

“L-lee Roy?” Twilight said, stepping forward and trying to get his attention. Lee Roy turned back as if he had just learned that the other ponies were there.

“A-are you okay?” Twilight asked warily, not sure of the situation, but moving closer anyway.

“I don’t know,” Lee Roy said, sitting again. “Over a thousand y-” a sudden hug from Twilight cut him off.

“It’s okay, Lee Roy. It may not seem okay now but, it’s okay,” Twilight said tightly embracing the large stallion.

Lee Roy didn't return the embrace - only looked at Twilight in bewilderment, then up at Twilight’s friends quietly surrounding her, silently supporting her.

Lee Roy let Twilight pull away from the embrace and he took a deep breath. “Now I really need to see Celestia,” he breathed. “Let’s get going,” he muttered, walking past Twilight and her friends and motioning them to follow along.

It was a short walk to the doors outside. Lee Roy was the first to exit with Twilight and the others following closely. Twilight was happy to finally be outside - especially after what had happened earlier. The sun is high in the sky with its beams of light on her face and she could not help but smile a little.

“Princess?” Lee Roy asked, grabbing Twilight’s attention

“Princess Twilight, I took enough of your time. I’m off to Canterlot, goodbye,” Lee Roy stated with a quick bow, as he turned to walk southeast.

“Uh- Lee Roy? Canterlot's that way,” Rainbow Dash says, pointing in the opposite direction, her eyebrow raised.

Lee Roy stopped in his tracks, his shoulders shrinking. “Oh,” he muttered, his ears flat.

He spun on his hooves - looking quite embarrassed, giving yet another small bow as he passed them.

No, this is wrong. Lee Roy may have mistaken us for something else, but I just know that he is a good pony at heart. Not only that, but he is over a thousand years old - a lot has changed and who knows what trouble he could get into? We can’t just let him leave.

“Wait!” yelled Twilight, as Lee Roy halted once more in his tracks, silently turning with a raised eyebrow.

“What are you doing, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash whispered harshly. “We can’t trust this guy,” she muttered, clearly agitated.

“I agree with Rainbow, something's not right with him,” Applejack murmured.

“Come on guys! I believe him, everything checks out according to the book,’ Spike whispered holding up the book so everyone can see it.

“Let me see that,” Rainbow muttered, grabbing the book from Spike’s claws.

“Hey, give that back! I’m not done reading it!” Spike whispered harshly, jumping up helplessly trying to get the book.

Rainbow Dash ignored him, holding him down with one hoof and reading the book with the other.

“I like whispering, too! Whisper, whisper, whisper,” Pinkie whispered, having a little too much fun.

Fluttershy, following Rainbow, cowered behind her and only whimpered something incoherently.

“Enough!” Twilight hissed loudly, surprising everypony there. “He clearly needs our help, I won't just let him leave. It’s my duty as Princess of Friendship to at least help him,” she explained.

“Why are we whispering?” whispered Lee Roy unexpectedly, making Twilight jump.

For such a large stallion, he could certainly move silently. Lee Roy continued to stand there waiting on Twilight’s response, as she cleared her throat. “Just uh, we were going to ask you if you would like to escort me as I’m clearly in need of a guard,” Twilight explained, to the others dismay.

Lee Roy raised an eyebrow. “True, but you need not lie to me, Princess, all you needed to do was ask for my company,” Lee Roy said. “I hate traveling alone anyway,’” he added.

Twilight didn’t know whether to be impressed or shocked. How did he know I was lying? More importantly, can he tell I was telling the truth earlier?

“Could you please accompany us to Ponyville, I promise we will meet with Celestia - she should be there,” Twilight pleaded, trying hard to be somewhat formal.

“Yes, I can,” Lee Roy said with a bow. “But first,” he said, moving forward and stopping in front of Pinkie.

Pinkie looked up at him - surprisingly not scared but beaming up to him - “I wanted to do this the moment I saw you,” Lee Roy said, moving his large hoof to Pinkie’s head and gently patting the fluff that was her mane, much to her surprise.

“Fluffier than I thought!” Lee Roy said, with a hearty laugh.

Lee Roy quickly turned, "now with that done, off to ponyville!' he commanded. "Where is that exactly?' he added turning to Rainbow Dash making her sigh and facehoof.

Twilight had a sudden feeling, this is going to be quite the adventure.

The Hero Emerges

It turns out Lee Roy isn’t especially quiet.

The stallion insisted on leading them - even if he had no idea where they were going.

Lee Roy was far clumsier than she would have guessed, he seemed to hit every branch and twig he came across.

Him being so large was another problem, they tracked through the forest with ease. Lee Roy on the other hoof was assaulted by low hanging branches, vines, and other foliage. They may have been tracking for only a short time, but with all the foliage coupled with his clumsiness, Lee Roy started to look quite beat up.

On top of all of this Lee Roy strangely kept his head low - fortunately, this did save him from large amounts of foliage hitting his head, Lee Roy also stayed about three paces near her at all times - for whatever reason.

“Lee Roy, maybe I should lead, I can move the foliage for you.” Twilight insisted.

“Yes, Princess.” Lee Roy muttered with a small bow - or she thought it was a bow, letting her pass.

With her leading their walk, through the forest was much faster, she was holding onto her end of the bargain using her magic to gently move bits of foliage away. Lee Roy on the other hoof continued to keep his head low keeping to her right about three paces away.

Behind Lee Roy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity followed shortly with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy bringing up the rear.

Spike of course hitching another ride on her.

She almost regretted asking all of those questions earlier, because the walk back to Ponyville was almost too quiet- even with Pinkie with us, thankfully Spike broke the silence.

Hey, Lee Roy, what are you doing?” Spike asks, looking down at the stallion.

“I don’t know what you mean dragon.” Lee Roy answers. “I’m sorry, I never got your name.” Lee Roy apologizes.

Spike waves away Lee Roy’s words “Nah, it’s fine. I’m used to it by now. By the way, the names Spike.”

“What do you mean when you say, what are you doing, Spike?” Lee Roy questions.

“Why are you keeping your head so low?” Spike asks.

“Ah, a guard's head may never be as high as the princesses.” He pauses “It is most disrespectful.” Lee Roy explains.

“So, why are you following so closely?” Spike questions.

“Again, a guard must keep a respectable distance away from the pony he is guarding.” Lee Roy answers.

“Your guarding Twilight?” Spike utters.

Lee Roy raises an eyebrow, “Of course I am, she is a princess she must be guarded, I would do anything to give her the proper respect.” Lee Roy states.

Pinkie hearing the exchange, bounds over to Twilight with a mischievous grin.

“Anything,” Pinkie asks.

“Of course.” Lee Roy states

She reacts by suddenly gently pushing Twilight forward.

“Pinkie!” Twilight remarks looking back at her.

Lee Roy reacts by speeding up to keep the distance required.

Pinkie then stops pushing Twilight, Lee Roy slows down keeping the same distance as before.

Pinkie laughs hysterically gently pushing Twilight’s head down.

“Pinkie!” Twilight remarks again.

Lee Roy reacts by putting his head much lower, to which Pinkie giggles loudly and gently pushes Twilight's head even lower.

”Pinkie!” Twilight hisses.

With Lee Roy being so big, and Twilight being the size she is there was no way for Lee Roy to put his head any lower.

So, Lee Roy reacts by laying down.

With the sudden stop, the others bump and trip over the large stallion, causing quite a crash.

She shoots daggers at Pinkie, who laughs nervously in apology before quickly galloping over to help the others.

Lee Roy quickly gets up, his head still lower than her’s. He helps Applejack and Rarity up, giving them apologetic nervous smiles and small rapid bows.

“Lee Roy, thank you for going to such great lengths not to disrespect me, but this is not needed. Please walk as you normally would.” Twilight asks, looking down at him

“Is that an order?” Lee Roy asks with a stony expression.

“No, it’s a suggestion - I just want you to be comfortable.” Twilight states with a calm expression.

Lee Roy finally straightens up to his full height. “Thank you, Princess.” Lee Roy says with a deep bow.

“Please, call me Twilight.” She urged.

“Yes, Prin- Twilight.” Lee Roy answers, giving her a small bow.

Suddenly a strange gurgle echoed throughout the area, Lee Roy’s expression suddenly changes “Ugh, ladies if you would excuse me.” He said, trotting quickly off in a different direction.

“What’s the matter, Lee Roy? Is something wrong? Do you need help?” Twilight said stepping forward with a worried expression.

“Yeah, where do you think you’re going?” Rainbow Dash adds.

“NO!, no just stay here, I'll be right back.” Lee Roy yells back sprinting further away.

Several minutes go by, as they wait for Lee Roy.

She was starting to get worried about him, leaving so suddenly.

Twilight looks off into the distance where Lee Roy left.

She just hopes whatever he is doing, he is okay - with the two thousand years old thing and all.

With all that waiting they all just decided to make camp, it was about lunchtime anyway and I am famished - she didn’t get to have much to eat during their little break.

Rarity and Applejack volunteered to cook for everyone - using a small pot Applejack brought with her. Spike got a small fire going instantly then immediately back to reading the book about Lee Roy.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were making themselves useful dashing off into the woods and arriving shortly with forelegs full of firewood.

Which only left Fluttershy and her waiting patiently next to the fire, waiting for the food, or for Lee Roy to come back, whichever came first.

I for one, found myself retreating back to my thoughts.

We now have a stallion protector, who is super strong was somehow untouched by magic by what he says is a curse and apparently protected Celestia and Luna - he even fought Medusa, only to get turned to stone for two thousand years. Only to break out just as we arrive in the courtyard his statue self-was kept in.

If she hasn't seen him in person, she would have just written this entire day off as a weird dream or a poorly written fanfiction.

But there was evidence stacked against this train of thought, she remembered back to where they first met the stallion, he yelled ‘Duratus’ if she remembers correctly he was telling them to freeze or stay still.

He then hollered ‘Quis es’ she was sure this meant “who are you” meaning he was just as scared of us as we were scared of him.

The way he carried himself, the way he talked, the way he dressed, the old, weird traditions he upholds these just scream “ancient pony”.

I’ve have seen some really crazy things before, Lee Roy is just out there.

“Twilight!” Spike yelled pulling on her mane to get her attention, pulling her out of thought.

“Oh, sorry Spike I was just thinking.” Twilight uttered.

“Jeez, Twilight you're getting lost in thought a lot lately.” Spike remarks with a sly smile.

Twilight laughs nervously rubbing her neck a little, “I know.” She says.

“I was just wondering what you think of Lee Roy so far, Twilight?” he asks, looking up at her.

She blinks, What does she think? She really doesn’t know how to answer that question.

“What do you think, Spike?” Twilight asks.

“I think he’s cool! He is just like who he is in the book - kind, chivalrous, strong and huge! He’s like a real-life superhero! ” Spike exclaims excitedly.

“I second that!” Pinkie yells, giving Spike a high hoof.

“What about you, Applejack? You seem a little quiet lately?” Twilight says, turning to her.

“Well, he gives me the hebejebes.” She shudders. "Also, I think I heard stories of this Lee Roy fellow." She continues with a nervous expression.

“You have? When?” Twilight asks, both she and Spike suddenly intrigued.

“When I was really small like, my great pappy would tell me of a pony that could defeat dragons and even move mountains if he wanted. He may have helped a lot of pony folk but … ” Applejack shivers "It just ain't natural is what I am sayin'." She adds.

“I for one do believe he is a fine gentlecolt. Although he could use some help with his fashion sense.” Rarity states

“How could you guys just be okay with him!?” Rainbow Dash hollers, making everypony jump.

“This guy hurt Twilight so bad, she can’t even use magic!” Rainbow states

“I’m fine Rainbow, my horn doesn’t sting much anymore.” Twilight reconciled.

“That’s not the point Twilight, you didn’t see yourself when he hurt you.” She pauses “I never want to see my friends getting hurt ever again.”

I, I agree with Rainbow." Fluttershy silently added. "I mean he’s not as scary as I thought. There is something about him." Fluttershy shivers.

“What about you Twilight?” Spike questions.

“Me, well I-” She starts until suddenly a flurry of noise that only could be Lee Roy stomping his way towards them.

Lee Roy bounds toward them - for some reason from the opposite direction that he had left. He let out a loud breath “No one go over there for a while.” Lee Roy states pointing in the direction he went. “Sorry for the wait, I picked up some mint on my way back,” Lee Roy says, sheepishly chewing.

“You made us wait, for mint!?” Rainbow Dash asks, obviously annoyed.

“I said I was sorry.” He replies, before clearing his throat. “I’m horribly,” he pauses, “... addicted to the stuff. I couldn’t help myself.” He says sheepishly.

“Plus I kind of smell, I hoped to spare you all.” Lee Roy added with a sour expression.

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes.

“It's okay, Lee Roy, I didn’t mind waiting.” Twilight reply's reassuring.

“May I.” he pauses “ join you?” Lee Roy asks.

She just motions for him to sit down.

Lee Roy lays down with a flop, sitting across from her.

The others already done with what they were doing take their seats around the fire, sifting through their bags snacking on whatever they had left, Lee Roy sat there patiently watching them.

“You okay Lee Roy? She questions, looking at his expression.

“You want something?” Spike adds.

“No, no, you girls keep eating, I got mint.” Lee Roy says throwing up a hoof in defense.

But just then, a sudden growl breaks the quiet chewing of the rest of them - Lee Roy’s stomach.

“Your stomach betrays you.” Twilight teases.

Spike, Rarity and Pinkie laugh.

“I guess so.” Lee Roy says with a chuckle.

Suddenly with a flash of yellow, a sandwich falls onto Lee Roy’s forelegs he turns to watch Fluttershy dash away hiding behind Twilight and Rainbow Dash, she sheepishly peeks out giving Lee Roy a small smile.

“Thank you.” Lee Roy says quietly, giving her a slight nod.

He made short work of the sandwich, scarfing it down with ease.

Lee Roy takes a deep breath, then suddenly his expression changes - becoming far more stony than usual.

“Uh, what's this?” Lee Roy states pointing to the covered pot sitting in the low green flames of the fire.

Rarity and Applejack share a look.

“I - It’s just some veggies boiling, Darling.” Rarity finally answers.

“What! I thought you were boiling water!?” Lee Roy responds immediately standing.

He then quickly turns, scanning the tops of the trees looking frantically.

“Lee Roy, what’s wrong?” Twilight standing cocking her head to the side in confusion.

“We have to go.” He pauses “Now.” Lee Roy states immediately turning on his hooves taking the pot in his jaws and planting it into the ground causing the hot pot to sizzle in impact.

“Lee Roy!” Applejack cries standing “What the hay are ya doing, we were going to eat that!”

“We will bring it with us, wrap it with something.” he commanded.

Lee Roy then rushed to the campfire and hastily stamped it out, causing the rest of them to stand.

“Hey, bud! I got a bone to pick with you now!” Rainbow Dash snarls flying into the stallion's face.

“We will talk about this later Dash.” he pauses “we need to move.” Lee Roy commands “I can’t explain it’ll take too much time.”

“Packs on, Let’s move!” He ushers shoving each of them their packs.

"Well, I ain't going nowhere. We are settling this right here and right now.” Rainbow Dash replies crossing her forelegs in defiance.

Lee Roy continues to frantically scan the tree line.

This time Twilight followed his gaze, the canopy's wafted but there was no breeze then suddenly a large flock of birds takes flight flying away chirping incisively.

What’s going on?

“Get flying Dash! Or I’ll carry you out.” He said with a sudden serious tone.

“I-” Rainbow Dash snarled until she was interrupted with a sudden boom.

Lee Roy whips around taking a low stance “suus 'venire! Get behind me!” He commands.

Ripping through the trees, charging forward a large scaled beast its multiple heads snarling and drooling as it stomped into view before letting loose a deafening roar.

“Hydra!” Pinkie yells.

The hydra's many heads look down at them, licking their lips as long strings of saliva drips from their mouths.

They all seemed to freeze at the gigantic figure before them, this small moment felt like forever to Twilight, the waiting for the first move.

However, the first move did not go entirely as planned.

“AH! Everypony run!” Pinkie screamed, darting off to their left Fluttershy following her lead.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash calls flying after the two.

“No! Don’t scatter, stay together!” Lee Roy calls out to them.

In their panic they paid him no mind and kept running, the hydra immediately took notice of the two panicking ponies.

Lee Roy suddenly galloped, charged towards them - looking back for only a moment.

“Stay there!” He barks turning back, continuing his charge.

A head shot forth smashing into the group creating a small crater and a corresponding cloud of thick dust.

Twilight calls out to them.

Her heart skipped a beat as the dust quickly settled, her eyes growing wide.

Her friends were completely unharmed, they were thrown from the impact but standing inside the crater was Lee Roy, his face a twisted snarl as he struggled against the hydras maw.

“Come on, get up!” He uttered.

Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash get up from the ground only for their eyes to widen at the spectacle.

“Get to Twilight! She is helpless!” He commanded lifting a large hoof punching the head making the hydra whip it’s back his head and roar in surprise.

“I’ll distract it, you girls sneak away.” Lee Roy instructs.

“Lee Roy the tail!” Rarity suddenly shouts running forward in desperation.

Fluttershy suddenly reacts pushing Rainbow and Pinkie out harm's way until her sudden scream as she instantly wrapped by the tail and pulled skyward.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash cries.

“No!” Lee Roy Shouts.

The hydra started to wheeze, sounding to Twilight almost like laughter.

“You will not hurt the little lamb!” Lee Roy roars.

He fearlessly charges that soul-piercing gaze appearing once again.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Rainbow Dash mumbles, charging the hydra herself.

She could not just stand here - she knows just the spell to help the situation.

Her horn glowed with magic as she struggled to concentrate the spell into form.

But only useless sparks came.

She never felt so defeated in that moment but she steels herself, she doesn’t need magic she just needs her friends.

“Rarity, Applejack we need to help.” She commanded.

“Rarity tries to distract the hydra the best you can,” Twilight says putting a hoof on her shoulder.

Rarity nods, horn glowing stepping forward.

“Applejack we need Pinkie to distract that hydra, Lee Roy is going to need help dealing with it.” She says confidently.

Spike, Spike? She searched, she ended up finding him behind her hind leg looking up at a mix of awe and fear.

“Spike!” She yelled to get his attention.

“Uh yeah!” He says suddenly giving his attention

“I know this is really cool, but I need your help - we need to help Lee Roy.” She explains.

“Don’t think he needs that much help.” Spike states pointing.

A hydra head lunges forward, roaring in defiance. Lee Roy quick on his hooves leaps away at the last second - causing the head to crash into the forest floor.

Without much time to think another head came snapping, Lee Roy twisted around with a mighty roar punching the hydra right on the nose.

The hydra recoils his head being flown back, the creature bellowing and screeching in anger.

Fluttershy screams, as the tail that binds her shook and whipped violently.

“Little lamb!” Lee Roy cries “I’m coming!” He shouts.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash screams. Flying in on mech speeds speeding past their heads.

“No, Rainbow!” Twilight called out in vain.

Another hydra’s head almost instantly intercepted, Rainbow responded by trying to fly over that hydra’s head until she was intercepted again with another.

“Uh oh.” She muttered her face a twisted in worry as she flew back - looking back for only a split second.

The two heads of the hydra give chase their jaws snapping as they followed her as she zig-zagged trying to desperately escape.

A sudden flurry of stones bombarded one of the heads, the head snaps to glare at Rarity.

Rarity flips her hair in defiance “ Unhoof her you, fiend.” She commands.

The head snarls and before anything could happen there was a large boom as it was hit by a mountain of creampie.

It quickly turned its attention to Pinkie Pie cheering and laughing as she fired mass amounts of the pie in its general direction - riding her party cannon around like a chariot.

Lee Roy smiled at Pinkie's spectacle display of a distraction, but a scream that could only be Rainbow Dash snapped him back to attention.

Rainbow Dash continued to zig-zag but the head of the hydra was gaining. It got close enough to snap at her hind hooves causing her to lose altitude sending her crashing to the ground - luckily only a short way down.

Rainbow skid a little then swiftly stood turning to fly once more, only to see the outstretched maw of the hydra.

Then out of nowhere Lee Roy lands in between them both Lee Roy once again enduring the hydra’s attack sliding a short distance stopping just before where Rainbow stood.

“Stop saving me!” She cries.

“Stop needing to be saved.” Lee Roy replied giving the hydra another punch sending the head recoiling away.

Rainbow Dash scoffs ready to take off.

“We will get her, to safety I promise.” Lee Roy states looking back at her.

Rainbow pauses at his words, then takes off saying nothing.

Meanwhile, Twilight, Applejack, and Spike were in the bushes, crouched low trying to keep as quiet as possible - even with the hydra well distracted.

They carefully inched shifting from bush to bush already coming very close to Fluttershy. Spike eyeing the spectacle of flying mountains of creampie, flurries of stone, daring flying and plenty of punching and shouting.

Twilight quickly turns to Applejack.“Come on we need to get moving, quickly.” Twilight urged her voice down to a whisper.

“Right behind ya, Twilight.” Applejack whispers stepping carefully.

Twilight turns back and immediately steps on a stick, causing a loud crack making them all jump.

“Quick!, Hide!” Applejack commands, as they both dive into the nearby bushes.

Sure enough, a head of the hydra comes to check out what was heard, the head scanning just beneath the treeline.

Twilight and Applejack stare at each other, Applejack put a hoof to her lips as the hydra’s head hovered from side to side continuing to scan until finally, it’s head stops just over the bush which they were hiding.

Twilight held her breath, Spike putting his claws over his mouth as it’s breathing hit them gently.

Then suddenly a small boom followed by a shout in gibberish make the head suddenly recoil hissing angrily before rocketing away - leaving them to pant regaining their breath.

They leave the bush quickly without a word shuffling as quickly and as quietly as they could.

Before long they finally make it. Fluttershy was several feet above them struggling with all her might with no avail.

“Psst! Fluttershy!” Twilight whispers loudly, eyeing the hydra carefully.

Fluttershy immediately shot her gaze down to them, her face wide with a smile.

Applejack Immediately signals her to be quiet pointing to the hydra.

Fluttershy looks at the hydra for a moment and then turns back nodding.

Applejack takes the rope from her waist, and motions to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nods hooves at the ready. Applejack reared the rope back spinning it over her head and flings it at her.

The rope nearly missed its target Fluttershy having to scramble to catch it. With the rope in her hooves, she puts the rope around her and gives them a wave in reply.

They desperately pull their faces contorting, until suddenly the hydra tail shifts upward, bringing both Twilight and Applejack and Spike with it.

The hydra’s head turns all eight eyes glare at them, the hydra roars in defiance.

“Pull! Pull!” Twilight yells abandoning all stealth.

Twilight and Applejack pull with all their might, as Fluttershy struggles wildly.

Fluttershy finally comes free, making Twilight and Applejack crash to the ground Fluttershy doing the same momentarily.

Twilight and Applejack swiftly stood up helping Fluttershy to her hooves.

“Run!” Twilight and Applejack say in near perfect unison, breaking into a gallop for their lives.

The hydra roared angrily stomping around and swinging its necks around to snap at them.

They continued to gallop as fast as they could as the heads of the hydra closed in.

A large boom of the party cannon broke the monotony of the roars splattering ahead with a pile of cream, slowing its pursuit.

A sudden large stone smashes into the hydra, making it recoil and give up pursuit altogether.

Rainbow dives down at mach speeds kicking the hydra on the nose, slowing its pursuit even further.

Lee Roy seemingly out of nowhere, leaped up landing on the final head crushing it into the ground.

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike finally make it back to the waiting embrace of the rest their friends, all coming together for a moment to hug one another.

They then turn to the hydra, looking down at them Lee Roy at the ready ahead of them.

Lee Roy roars charging the hydra, leaping to an impossible height meeting the hydra head to head.

The hydra swings its heads, gnashing its maws wildly.

Lee Roy punches one head grabbing onto it, then the hydra swiftly rams itself into Lee Roy sending him careening off into the distance.

“No!” Twilight called.

The hydra turned, looking down at them its eight eyes glaring at them, stomps toward them. It's wheeze like laughter emanating from it.

Then the hydra rockets one of its heads towards them.

At this moment Twilight felt as if somepony cast a time spell, time suddenly slowing drastically we all seemed to freeze as the head cascaded towards us.

She didn’t know he lept until Spike came into view charging forward. The two would have touched if not for the torrent of flames that spewed forth from him nearly consuming the hydra head.

Time seemed to start again as the head recoiled and sent Spike rocketing behind them.

“Spike!” They all called in unison.

The hydra looked at us, pure hate covering it eight eyes and it roars until a sudden sound from far away met their ears.

“Leeeeeeeeeeeee Rooooooooooooy!” Lee Roy thunders charging at incredible speed, Followed by the most deafening roar that Twilight has ever heard a pony utter. He connects with the hydra punching it with a force she swears she could feel, followed by a deafening boom.

The hero emerged.

Lee Roy again grabbed the beast and leaped up as the beasts head’s tried to chase him down, only to come down on them with a large hollow boom.

Lee Roy leaped again punching the hydra’s furthest left head, punching it with another large hollow boom again grabbing the hydra in mid-air and launching the hydra, flipping back letting it crash into the other heads.

Lee Roy lands back on four hooves sliding back with that ever-present stony expression.

Just as Lee Roy landed Twilight thought she saw something, something glowing as his cape took form around his flanks, but before she could really make it out in detail his cape blocked all hope of view.

The hydra dazed, wobbled on its footing, Lee Roy charged once again.

“Equestria!” He shouted leaping once more bucking the hydra with incredible power, launching the whole hydra away and off into the distance.

We all stared in silence at Lee Roy, Twilight was in mix of awe and dumbfoundedness and she was sure the others had the exact same feeling.

Lee Roy straightened up and turned walking back to the group, breathing hard with that stony expression again.

“Is...everypony, okay?” Lee Roy questions through breaths.

That seemed to break the others out of there little spell there where under.

“Phew!” Pinkie Pie breathed laying down legs outstretched.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash cries suddenly giving her a hug.

Applejack and Rarity share a sigh giving Twilight a nod.

“We are all okay, Lee Roy just a bit tired I suppose.” Twilight answers.

Lee Roy scans them all “Where is.... the dragon, Spike?” Lee Roy questions, walking over to them.

“H-here…” a small voice calls from behind a tree. Spike comes back from fidgeting with his claws as he walks over.

Lee Roy puts a hoof on Spike’s head and ruffles his ridge, making him react.

“Hey! What are you?” Spike states.

“Glad you're... okay.” Lee Roy says giving him a nod.

He walks over to Twilight “Where you injured?” He states, his breath sounding a bit more labored close-up.

“I’m fine, Lee Roy thank you, you were a big help.” She mutters.

He nods giving a small bow and turns walking past Twilight to where Fluttershy was sitting.

"Are you okay-" Lee Roy whispered softly, "- Little Lamb..."

Fluttershy winces pulling away from his presence.

Lee Roy took a deep breath and turned once again.

“Wait are you-” Fluttershy calls out just before Lee Roy suddenly falls limp.

Lee Roy is far heavier than he looks, well the log doesn't help either.

We were - not surprisingly exhausted from the hydra attack, we took some time to rest - again.

No campfire this time.

With all of us moderately rested we then came to the conundrum of Lee Roy, he needs a doctor or something, we can’t just leave him in case that hydra comes back.

Carrying the stallion was not going to happen. Not even one of us could even lift the stallion, so we improvised.

Luckily Spike found a sturdy log and between the six of them - and a little guiding from Spike we were able to roll him onto it.

Applejack quickly found her rope from earlier and was able to attach the middle of the length to the end of the log.

With our makeshift sled, two of us were able to pull the sled and two of us could push on its end at any given time. One of us making sure to walk beside the log to make sure Lee Roy didn’t roll off while one rested. We alternated many times and put a fair distance between us and the hydra.

Twilight and Fluttershy pulled their makeshift sled in the air while Applejack and Pinkie Pie pushed, Rarity and Rainbow Dash taking a long deserved rest - Rainbow taking up the responsibility of keeping Lee Roy from toppling.

Spike was being super helpful, walking in front moving sticks and stones before we could hit them.

They were mostly silent, well can’t really talk with your mouth full of rope, can you. Can't tell you what the others were thinking but I for one was - not surprisingly, was worried.

“Little Lamb!” Lee Roy suddenly shouted. We all jumped at the sudden shout stopping instantly, we grouped around the stallion to see - he was still unconscious.

“Little Lamb?” Pinkie whispers to no one particular.

“Isn't that what he called Fluttershy?” Rarity whispers back confirming Pinkie’s suspicions.

“Lee Roy!” Fluttershy says gently while shaking him “ I'm here! I’m okay!” She confirms.

“Come on Lee Roy, get up!” Rainbow Dash urges crossing her forelegs.

Lee Roy’s eyes finally flicker open, he groggily looks around his eyes stopping at Rainbow Dash at his side.

He slowly lifts his hoof just staring “Rain.” He mutters softly almost a whisper. His hoof continuing up to Rainbow as if he wanted to touch her.

Rainbow steps back from his reach her face twisting in confusion “What are you doing?’ She states.

Lee Roy freezes instantly “you going to stand there, or are you going to help me up?” He asks looking far less groggy then he did before.

Rainbow looks at him wordlessly grabbing his hoof in both of hers and pulling back helping him to his hooves.

“Thank you, Dash.” Lee Roy says through a long stretch, assaulting our ears once again with a flurry of pops and cracks.

“You okay, Lee Roy,” Twilight states grabbing his attention.

“I'm fine.” Lee Roy confirms stretching out like a cat.

“No one that ‘fine’ just faint like that.” Twilight scolds with an eyebrow raised.

Lee Roy clears his throat “I, uh.” He pauses “I was in that statute a long time it seems, I lost a lot of strength in that time.” Lee Roy states shaking his head.

You mean he is stronger than what we have seen? Twilight thought to herself.

“Well, if that's so why didn’t you tell us about that hydra?” Rainbow asks flying up to him poking him in his chest.

“Rainbow!’ Applejack hollered quick to get after Rainbow’s rudeness.

Lee Roy took a deep breath “I cannot speak common.” he pauses for a quick second “Well, it would have taken a long time.” he finally finishes.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know that hydra was coming anyway?” Fluttershy asks peeking over.

“Hydra’s are ambush...” Lee Roy pauses putting a hoof to his chin.

“Predators?” Fluttershy peeps quickly covering her mouth from her rudeness.

“Yes, thank you.” Lee Roy says giving her big smile. “They may be big, but they are quiet when they want to be, even for their size.” He continues.

He peers over to their makeshift sled “I apologize for making you do this.” Lee Roy stated with a bow.

“It's okay Lee Roy.” Twilight says “We are just glad you are okay.” She continues.

“Just doing what I was put on Equestria to do, protecting others to the best of my ability.” Lee Roy states with a bow.

Lee Roy turns in the direction they were heading to Ponyville “May we make our way to,” he pauses again “Ponyville?” Lee Roy asks.

“Hold up!” Rainbow Dash suddenly hollers, flying over with a huff.

“I got a bone to pick with you, again.” Rainbow Dash sneers flying eye to eye to him.

“Go on?” Lee Roy says giving her nod.

“I’m not going to trust you so easily, even if you helped saved Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash declares.

“Rainbow!” Rarity and Applejack say in unison.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash then get into a small argument, leaving Lee Roy rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry about Rainbow’s rudeness, Lee Roy.” Twilight whispers.

“You shouldn’t be.” Lee Roy whispers to her surprise. “She has every right to be suspicious, she is very loyal.” He whispers back.

Twilight nods. “That's our Rainbow Dash.” She says with a smirk.

“Don’t worry I know how to deal with ponies like her, I was once like her you know.” Lee Roy states in a hushed tone.

Lee Roy then steps forward “Hey, Dash.” He says getting her attention.

“What you want.” Rainbow Dash turns crossing her forelegs once again.

“At the castle, you said you were something called a ‘Wonderbolt’.” Lee Roy stated. “What are they?” He continued.

“You don’t know what a Wonderbolt is!” Rainbow Dash screeched “We are only some of the best flyers ever in Equestria!”

“I don’t know what they are, tell me about them.” Lee Roy asks stealthily looking back at Twilight giving her a wink.

Twilight smiles, not because of Lee Roy. But because he just opened a can of worms he could never hope to contain.

With that, they were finally back on track to Ponyville.

Finally, they were in familiar territory.

They walked in silence since Rainbow Dash told Lee Roy about the entire history of the Wonderbolts, Lee Roy looked a bit rough with all the info overload - and getting a little beaten up by all of the branches hitting him once more.

Home was suddenly finally in sight, they all galloped forward - leaving Lee Roy to walk on his own. Cheering all the way there, it felt so good to be home again. Twilight and her friends couldn’t help but hug and laugh. By the time Lee Roy wandered his way over, Twilight and her friends were finally calming down.

“Lee Roy!” Twilight called, waving at the large stallion.

Lee Roy calmly and slowly walked over, eyeing his surroundings.

“Lee Roy, this is my home, Ponyville.” said Twilight, clearing her throat and gesturing around her.

Lee Roy ignored Twilight to her surprise and continued to walk with his normal stony expression, he walked forward looking around.

The townsponies were hard at work cleaning up the mess that had transpired during the quakes, but they did it with the normal glee-filled smiles - they must have come out of the castle once the quakes have stopped. Ponies were working, fillies were playing and filling the air with fun and laughter.

Lee Roy continued to walk forward, looking up at the pegasi overhead and around him at the pairs of ponies out and about, until stopping suddenly. He turns quickly, a large smile sprawled on his face. He took quick long strides - faster than Twilight had ever seen him go - closing the distance between them. “She did it! She did it, didn’t she!” Lee Roy said excitedly, grabbing Twilight around her cheeks, his face bright.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asks, giving the stallion a look since he was acting so strangely all of the sudden.

Lee Roy releases Twilight and just starts to giggle, smiling widely. Applejack raised an eyebrow at Twilight - clearly wondering about Lee Roy’s sudden change in behavior. Lee Roy quickly turns again and looks around, bounding off into the direction of a group of young foals.

The small group of foals was just chatting away until one of them -a young colt, a pegasus with a blue-gray coat - caught sight of Lee Roy and just stared dumbfounded. The others quickly notice his bewilderment as he points out Lee Roy’s presence to the rest of the group.

Lee Roy trots over smiling wide. He leans in slightly, looking at one of the unicorns of the group.

“Hello, sweetheart, how are you?” Lee Roy asks, looking down at her.

They say nothing, only stare. Twilight doesn’t blame them - Lee Roy is probably the biggest pony they’ve seen in their lives, even with Lee Roy’s kind demeanor, he is quite intimidating.

“Don’t be scared, I’m Lee Roy.” He says, giving her a very low flamboyant bow that made them all giggle “What is your name?” Lee Roy adds, looking up from his low, funny bow.

The unicorn swallows hard and with the smallest peep. “I'm Sweetheart.” She mutters.

“Ah, she speaks! Sweetheart, what a beautiful name.” Lee Roy announces with a laugh. He peers at Twilight. “She can understand me!” He whispers with a bright smile.

What does he mean by that? Twilight thinks. Before she could ask, Lee Roy quickly turns back to the filly. “How are you today, Sweetheart.” Lee Roy asks, smiling wildly.

“Good! We saw the princess's ride into Canterlot, it was amazing! We could see her hair from here.” Sweetheart says with wide eyes.

Twilight quietly curses to herself. The Princesses aren’t here, she thought they would be in Ponyville by now, but unfortunately, they are in Canterlot.

“But ...” Sweetheart mutters, looking down with a sad expression.

“What is it.” Lee Roy asks, his smile disappearing - replaced with a look of concern.

“Well, me and my friends always like to play in my room with my toys, but.” She stares off to a half crumbled home being worked on this very moment. “We can’t get to my toys, they were… buried.” She says with a sniffle.

Lee Roy gets that stony expression again. Standing at his full height, he motions her to come along and wordlessly walks towards the crumbled home.

Twilight chases after him. “Lee Roy, what are you thinking?” Twilight's friends following in hot pursuit.

“Where is your room?” Lee Roy asks Sweetheart walking past some ponies. “It’s there, blocked by that big beam,” Sweetheart states, giving him a strange look.

The beam was huge, it was at least as big as the beam that Twilight and her friends lifted together.

Lee Roy walks towards the beam, looking it up and down - then bends down to attempt to lift it.

“Hey wait, what are you doing? You're going to hurt yourself hu-” a pony shouts, just as it starts to lift from the ground.

Lee Roy grunts, lifting the beam slowly - higher and higher until before long the beam was over his head. Ponies all around looked on in awe at the single pony lifting this huge beam. Lee Roy turns his head to a pony in a hard hat - their eyes large and their mouth agape. “Where can I put this?” Lee Roy asks his voice straining from the effort, snapping them back to reality.

“Oh, over here, that beam still looks good.” The stallion says, rushing off to a small pile of similar large beams. Lee Roy takes a few large steps before hefting the beam onto the pile. There was complete silence as the other ponies around are still awestruck.

Then there’s a flash of color as Sweetheart rockets past Twilight and her friends, diving into Lee Roy and giving him a hug, a teddy bear in her hoof. She looks up at him. “Thank you, Lee Roy, thank you!” She gushes. He smiles at her and everypony around them finally breaks out of their awe and cheer.

“You’re welcome, now off you go - your friends are waiting,” Lee Roy says. The filly smiles brightly, nods and gallops off to meet her friends and to run off somewhere to play.

Twilight trots up to Lee Roy. “Thank you, Lee Roy, that was very kind.” Giving him a bright smile.

“Princess?” Lee Roy states, grabbing Twilight’s attention “What are you celebrating?” He asks, motioning to the decorations - or what was left.

“We are celebrating over one thousand years of Celestia and Luna’s rein.” Applejack explains.

“Yeah! There was going to be apple cider, dancing, and everything!” Rainbow Dash exclaims, flipping excitedly.

“Celestia and Luna were even going to come!” Spike said, making his presence known.

“I’m also here!” Pinkie quips.

“I was going to go, too.” Fluttershy utters, almost too quietly for anyone to hear.

“Well, I made the most beautiful evening dresses, but alas we never got to use them,” Rarity says, defeated.

Lee Roy turns to Rarity. “Why you say th-.” and then his expression darkens slightly. It was only for a split second but Twilight saw it in time.

Lee Roy clears his throat, slapping on a wide smile. “What's stopping us! Let's make merry! Let's celebrate while we work!” He says with a wide, wild smile, bounding off to another crumbled home.

Make merry they did, with Pinkie rallying up the towns ponies as per usual. They brought out mountains of food and drink, the musicians stopped working around town and started playing their instruments. Applejack motioned to Twilight and trotted off to oversee the food - as it was her job to do so.

Rainbow Dash rushed past, wordlessly heading straight toward the large barrels of cider. Fluttershy rushed to keep up with Rainbow Dash, whilst Rarity stuck close to Twilight but mingled with several other ponies. Spike jumped off of Twilight’s back and ran his way toward the buffet, eyeing Lee Roy the whole way - Twilight could see why.

Lee Roy is a party animal - laughing and humming along with the music and even dancing. All the while working, lifting huge beams and repairing the roofs of buildings, He worked using his strength to his advantage to finish the job quickly. Then he would gallop to party, dancing and laughing before he would bound off to work again, moving large piles, setting up foundations, nailing things down, before doing it all over again - Twilight looked tired just looking at him especially what he and the others just went through.

It seemed to be his own personal vendetta to dance with all the mares, young and old. He danced oddly - and far from gracefully, but it fit fluently with the music. From what Twilight could see, Lee Roy would just grab a mare and do this odd “folk dance” as Twilight would dub it. They, of course, were wary of Lee Roy but as they circled each other as they dipped and dived, they would always change their minds. Soon the entire town was folk dancing - it was quite the spectacle.

Lee Roy - after dancing with his latest “victim” - trots over to Twilight wearing that familiar wide smile. He offers his hoof to her. “Princess, could I have this dance.” He asks.

Twilight thought about how much fun the other mares had while dancing with him and she was silently glad she actually had a choice in this matter. But before she could say anything, Lee Roy’s stomach growls sounding more like a roar than anything else.

“I guess I’m hungry.” Lee Roy laughs, rubbing his neck and looking embarrassed, while his stomach barks again as if on cue. They share a laugh.

“I guess you are,” Twilight says, returning a smile.

Lee Roy peers around quickly finding Pinkie Pie. It wasn’t hard to pick her out of the crowd as she fired her party cannon sending confetti everywhere. “Pinkie!” Lee Roy yelling, grabbing her attention.

Pinkie zips to Lee Roy. “Yeah, what you need.” She gasps dramatically. “Do you want to join in on a game of pin the tail on the pony!?” Pinkie squelches, not containing her excitement, bouncing up and down. Lee Roy was about to say something, but his stomach roars yet again.

Pinkie gasps dramatically again. “You're hungry! I’ll be right back!” She exclaims, zipping away before appearing again in a blink of an eye with a small table of well, everything.

Pinkie suddenly has a realization and gasps. “I didn’t grab drinks!’” She declares, zipping off again.

Lee Roy blinks and gives Twilight a look. “You can’t tell me this is normal, Is she okay?” Lee Roy asks, holding the look.

Twilight shrugs “She’s Pinkie Pie. You can’t explain her, she’s just Pinkie.” She says.

At that moment Pinkie zips back carrying an arm full of jugs - one for each of them, filled to the brim with apple cider. “Here you go!” She says cheerfully, drinking hers down within seconds, passing a drink to Lee Roy than to her.

“Ah, cider, I’m glad some things never change.” Lee Roy says as he takes a long swig, emptying his glass in moments. He eyes the mound of food and motions to Twilight clearly offering something from the pile. Twilight shakes her head, she was still full from her small lunch she had in the Everfree forest.

Lee Roy shrugs and digs in. He was again far from graceful. He was stuffing his face, eating pastries, apples, even a few pies completely whole - no surprise due to his size. Twilight and Pinkie eyed this spectacle, as bits of food were flying everywhere. Pinkie giggles in delight and joins in doing the same. Twilight could only sip her drink and watch.

Lee Roy stops his eating suddenly and looks down at a small colored pastry. “Pinkie?” He says, eyeing the small thing in his hooves.

“Wha-.” Pinkie said with a mouthful of random assortment of apple pastries, cheeks filled with food.

“What is this?” Lee Roy asks, showing the small pastry. Pinkie swallows and peers at the pastry.

“It’s a cupcake!” Pinkie replies.

“Whats a cupped cake?” Lee Roy responds with a questioning look on his face.

“You don't know what a cupcake is?! It’s only one of the most delicious things ever!” Pinkie proclaims, taking one from the pile and devouring it.

“What is this colored thing on it?” Lee Roy asks, looking the cupcake up and down.

“That's frosting, Lee Roy It’s-.” Twilight starts.

“Frosting is basically powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese and sometimes vanilla. It all really depends on the recipe.” Pinkie interrupts.

“It's good, try it,” Twilight suggests, ignoring Pinkie and motioning him to do so.

Lee Roy shrugs and devours the small pastry all in one mighty bite. “Mmmm, you’re right! This is really good.” He confirms, grabbing two more.

Twilight laughs - Lee Roy seems so much like a child, seeing things for the first time. It was almost adorable, but it was interesting. Twilight couldn’t imagine what information he had about how ponies were over one thousand years ago. She did have books on the subject but this is a real source. She had that feeling again like she was forgetting something - she hated this feeling. Oh, Celestia! She forgot about seeing Celestia - what was up with her today.

Twilight quickly takes another sip before putting down her jug and nudges Lee Roy, getting his attention. “Lee Roy, we forgot about Celestia,” Twilight states urgently.

“I didn’t, Twilight, she won't mind us being a little late. Besides, the ponies need me here.” Lee Roy says with a calm expression, pointing to the large beams he recently stacked.

“But-.” Twilight starts. Just then somepony clears their throat, catching the attention of both of them - as Pinkie continues to eat loudly.

They both turn to see, Lotus and Aloe and an older stallion wearing a hard hat - Twilight has never seen before.

The stallion steps forward. “Hello, Lee Roy. I’m the lead work pony here in ponyville. I just wanted to thank you. You turned a month's work into only a few days.” The stallion says, holding out his hoof for a shake. Lee Roy smiles and shakes the offered hoof.

“I just wanted to express my gratitude and tell you to enjoy the party - we will take care of the rest.” The old stallion insists.

Lee Roy shakes his head. “No sir, we are far from done.” He starts.

The older stallion puts his hoof on Lee Roy's shoulder. “You did enough. Please take it easy and enjoy the rest of the evening.” He says with a smile.

Lee Roy paused for several moments. “As you wish.” He finally says, giving him a bow. The older stallion nods with a smile and takes his leave. As he does so, Lee Roy turns his attention to Lotus and Aloe. “Who might you ladies be?” He asks, looking down at them and blowing some hair away from his face.

“My name is Lotus, and this is my sister Aloe,” Lotus says, as she exchanges smile with Aloe. “We would like to extend an invitation.” Lee Roy just looks blankly at them. “We have overheard that you need to see the princesses, but you look so rugged perhaps you would like a makeover? All expenses paid of course, for helping our little town.” Lotus offers.

Lee Roy seemed to snap out of whatever spell he was under. “I’m sorry, I was distracted by your beautiful accent - I wasn't listening.” He says rubbing his neck and blowing his hair out of his eyes again.

“Lee Roy!” Twilight says with annoyance. “They are offering you a makeover, which is fine but we should-.”

“A MAKEOVER!’” Rarity gushes, popping seemingly out of nowhere. “We must leave immediately.” She states, pulling a reluctant Twilight with her, while Lee Roy just shrugs and follows, leaving the party with Lotus and Aloe galloping to keep up.

Legend

"A long time ago there once lived a legend; a mighty stallion with a strength to rival all. His name was Lee Roy," Spike read, sitting in the dim room with only a candle to read from. He was infatuated with the pages of this dusty old book.

Twilight walks in and sees an opportunity. With a small giggle, she sneaks into the room. Spike continued to read aloud, "Lee Roy, The Sky Watcher, The Earth Shaker, the-"

"BOO!" Twilight yelled suddenly, seemingly popping out of nowhere.

Spike yelped, rocketing up on the nearby bookshelf shaking he looked down, his face in a scowl.

"Oh, Twilight, what are you doing in here!?" he asked, his voice still raw with surprise.

Twilight looked up at Spike, half surprised how he managed to leap so high. She lifted Spike down with her magic, trying hard not to snicker too loudly.

She can't wake up Starlight, she did get Spike good this time.

"I sent you to get these books hours ago," Twilight said, nodding to a large pile of books stacked nearby. "So, I came to see what you were doing."

Spike shifted embarrassingly. "Ah, I was, but then I found this!" Spike excitedly pointed to the book he’d been reading, which had ended up on the floor. Running over, he gave the book to Twilight, and with her magic, she began inspecting it.

"Hmm. Legend of Arion," she muttered, scrunching her face in confusion. "When did I get this book? I’ve never seen this one here before."

"Celestia got it for you! Well, one of many," replied Spike, staring at the very large pile of books. They had spent all of yesterday sorting through them, and there wasn't even a visible dent in the stack.

"That's weird." said Twilight, skimming through the book in the candlelight.

"Why's that Twilight?" asked Spike, looking over her shoulder.

"Well, they’re legends, Spike. You know - stories that are often a fabrication of what really happened, sort of like myths," she explained, setting the still-open book down on the table. "Stories of them are told over and over, so this pony, ‘Lee Roy’ may have done something like these pages suggest, but those stories can get exaggerated or are outright impossible." Twilight skimmed through the book again until she found something that clearly proved her point. "Aha! It says that Arion was immune to magic, that's just impossible!"

Spike nodded. "I see what you’re getting at, Twilight," he agreed, yawning loudly.

Twilight smiled. "Come on, Spike, let’s head to bed. We have a big day of fun tomorrow."

It was a bright shimmering day. It was still very early, but the birds were chirping. The bright sun rising began to kiss the morning dew. This would be a lovely morning If it wasn't for all the sudden shaking of the ground that is. The shaking started suddenly and grew over time.

“It's making this whole celebration a total hassle. I mean, it's the two-thousandth anniversary of Celestia’s and Luna's reins and I want everything to be perfect. We can't even put up decorations! Calming down the other ponies is becoming a chore, maybe it’s because I'm just as worried as they are. I don't want this getting out of hoof,” bemoaned Twilight, who was too deep in thought to notice Spike talking to her.

Spike was forced to pull her mane slightly to get her attention. "Twilight?" he asked.

Twilight, finally noticing Spike, she gave him a look of concern. "I'm sorry, Spike, I'm worried because these are the first quakes Equestria has seen in years."

Spike, with a large grin, waves away Twilight's words. "Nah, Twilight, we’re fine - it's probably an ursa major rolling in bed or a dragon or something. Look - we are even done putting up the decorations for the Town Hall. See? Everything is fi-."

A sudden roar broke the bustling of the working ponies as a wave of violent vibrations hit without warning, Twilight jumped forward grabbing Spike before both of them were completely floored.

She carefully stood - trying hard not to lose her footing, to see the horror around her.

It was as if she was seeing everything in slow motion, homes juddered tearing themselves apart, the trees around her seem to gyrate around her, but the thing she will never forget where the screams that pierced even the roar of the ground - the screams of panicking ponies.

"Twilight!" Spike screamed at her.

Twilight snapped back to reality, Spike desperately pointed to her left, Twilight followed his claw to a group of young ponies taking cover under one of the many platforms they used to set up decorations.

The brittle platform juddered and groaned before suddenly snapping in two. Quick on her hooves, she quickly concentrated - horn glowing brightly firing a bolt of magic which froze the platform in mid-air.

"Run!" Spike screamed to the others, "Get to cover!" The ponies under the platform wasted no time in running away. Twilight let the platform drop, breaking under its own weight and crumbling to a million pieces. Without a moment to think suddenly just within earshot - the terrible sound of cascading debris.

She turned around as an entire wall of a tall home collapsed, ready to cascade upon a small group of fillies.

No magic could possibly reach them in time.

Twilight yelled, desperately galloping as fast as she could even though she knew she could not make it in time. Then suddenly she saw a sudden dash of color.

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled in awe.

Rainbow Dash decked out in full Wonderbolt uniform gave a salute to Twilight and pointed the other fillies to safety.

"Applejack is coming shortly!" Rainbow Dash hollered, and with that, she was dashing off to help as many others as she could. With no time to spare, Applejack arrived with a large wagon filled with a bunch of brave relatives.

Just like Rainbow Dash said, a wagon filled with - what could only be Apple family relatives, dashed into town; Applejack riding it like a wild bull turning it swiftly to the right making the wagon skid ever so slightly before stopping.

Jumping out, she faced them, "Alright, everypony, we need everypony safe and out of danger!" followed by a loud cheer of agreement, and they all fanned out to find and help as many other ponies as they could.

Applejack shot Twilight a quick look of concern.

Twilight dispelled any worry with a swift nod of encouragement

Applejack simply returned the nod and then rushed off into a direction.

In the meantime, Twilight began to do her own searching with Spike close behind her. She met pony after pony ushering them to relative safety.

But it wasn't long before a sudden crack broke through the air and a home started to topple. Quick on her hooves, she rushed into range and began concentrating. Her magic spilled forth and became a blanketing barrier which pushed against toppling structure. She winced while her face contorting from the sheer force.

"Spike!" Twilight called. Spike knew exactly what to do, running over to direct the ponies inside out of danger.

“Hurry!” Twilight called the force from the structure becoming too much for her.

Spike ushering the last of the ponies inside, peered inside one last time before running away from the building, “Okay, Twilight that’s all of them!” Spike hollered.

With all the strength she had Twilight pushed the structure making it cascade into a large crumbled pile.

Then just as suddenly as it started, the quake stopped. Everything became eerily quiet, as everypony slowly came out of hiding.

The only sound that broke that silence was the Wonderbolts zipping by. Twilight peered around. She looked at the ponies, the still standing homes, the… crumbled piles. The destruction, of her little town, made her want to cry.

"Twilight!", called Pinkie Pie breaking her out of thought. Twilight looked off to her side to see a frantically galloping Pinkie Pie, who was gasping for air. "Twilight,” she gasped, “we need you! It's horrible! They're trapped!"

Pinkie Pie was clearly in a panic, but Twilight wasn’t wasting any time. "Take me to them," she insisted, as they started running off to the outskirts of Ponyville.

It was bad - very bad. The entire home they arrived at was a crumpled pile, only being held up by Starlight's bright cyan magic, flickering oddly time to time and a single, huge support beam. Just within eyeshot, in what looked like the living room, three foals were sitting and by Celestia they were scared. The quake may have stopped, but by the groaning emanating from the large beam, it may not hold out for much longer. The home was surrounded by ponies, all desperately trying to help.

Rainbow Dash, in the thick of it, was lifting everything she could. Applejack was doing the same, while Rarity and Fluttershy were doing their best at calming down the mother. Starlight was trying to hold the entire structure aloft, she looked absolutely exhausted - she looked like she may have been doing this for some time.

The mother was frantic, and upon seeing Twilight and Pinkie Pie she rushed over. "Please help my babies! They have been in there such a long time! Please Princess Twilight, save them!" The Mother then fell to her knees, hot tears streaming down her face.

Twilight gently lifted up her chin and with her calmest voice said "I'll get them out of there unharmed, I promise." she said staring intently into her eyes further legitimising her promise.

The mother seemed to calm down and she began wiping her tears away.

"I need you to stay with Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike. We will get them out," Twilight declared.

Spike then took the hoof of the mother and moved her away.

"Rarity, I need your help to lift this beam," Twilight continued.

Rarity was trying hard to keep her mane in some semblance of dignity but quit on the task at hoof to give a confident nod. "Will do Twilight, ready when you are," she responded.

Starlight on the other hoof wasn't so confident. "Twilight! glad to see you here the-", she paused for a second to catch her breath, "- I was here for so long, I don't know if I can do this any longer."

Twilight, gave a quick look of concern but shook her head clearing her thoughts. The sooner those foals are out of danger the sooner Starlight can rest, she instantly turns on her hooves.

"Rainbow Dash! Applejack! We are going to move this beam! I'll need your help!" she commanded.

They gave her nod, and rushed over to the beam, having to clear debris away by desperately throwing and shoving away the large disjointed parts of the building. Twilight and Rarity lend a magic hoof frantically moving the rather large boards that joint out everywhere.

Suddenly Starlight's magic begins to wain. A long moan shot forth from the beam sending chills down Twilight's spine. "Hurry! I c-cant, hold it much longer!" Starlight pleaded.

No, we are running out of time, they did not remove as much as she would have wanted but, this has to happen now.

“We can't wait any longer, this has to happen now,” Twilight commanded, "Everypony get ready to lift the beam!"

Rainbow and Applejack launched themselves to the gigantic beam, they gave each other a nod and then looked to Twilight awaiting their signal.

"NOW!" Twilight yelled. Horrible moans erupted from the beam as the ponies struggled to lift it. They were trying with all their might, but it was just... not enough.

“Come on!” Rainbow’s face contorting as she struggled.

Suddenly in a blink of an eye, two Wonderbolts in a dramatic style landed almost instantly.

Rainbow’s face brightens, “Spitfire!, Soarin!” she called.

“We got you, Rainbow.” Soarin beamed.

“Need some help?” Exclaimed Spitfire.

Spitfire and Soarin both took a side next to Rainbow Dash each ready to do their part.

Horrid moans escaped again, but the beam started to move ever so slowly as dust and sand seeped from every pore.

“Harder guys! Pull harder!” Applejack exclaimed.

“I'm comin’ Applejack!” Declared somepony barreling past Twilight.

Applejack face brightened, “Big Mac! Aren't I glad to see you!” she beamed.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac exclaimed taking a place next to her.

“We are here too, Twilight!,” Somepony shouted.

Two unicorn guards flank Twilight’s every side, eyes fixed on the beam horn’s glowing wild with magic.

The beam erupted in terrible moans as it was significantly lifted higher and higher. Debris started to fall just about everywhere as they were displaced.

"Just a little more," blurted Rainbow Dash. The beam moaning its disapproval as it was lifted even higher before finally there was just enough room for three teary eyed foals to escape.

Galloping past the legs of the others, they ran towards the embrace of their loving mother.

Suddenly, Starlight's magic broke and the entire building came tumbling down. Dust and debris went everywhere, not only creating a large crash but also a huge dust cloud.

"Applejack! Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called out stepping forward gripping the tuft of fur on her chest in anticipation.

To her relief both came out of the dust, coughing along with the others, all unharmed.

"Yeah!" cheered Rainbow Dash while making sure to high hoof the other parties.

"YEEHAA" Applejack hollered, throwing her hat into the air in celebration.

"Glad that's over," Rarity said. letting out a long sigh of relief and sitting down.

Twilight was taking a moment to calm down. All she wanted to do was think and catch her breath.

"Princess Twilight!" one of the foals was yelling, grabbing the attention of everypony there. "That lady!" the foal continued. Twilight whipped around, eyes wide with worry, to see Starlight was completely unconscious.

Thankfully whatever the palace is made of, it may shake but it's impervious to quakes.

Twilight was sitting with the others in the throne room, staring at the map waiting - just waiting. It's hard having this many guests in one place, This was the only place other than Cloudsdale that she could think of that is safe. The palace is big, but housing every pony in ponyville? Let's just say it's a little cramped.

Including Twilight, there were five of them present.

“We are just waiting on Rainbow Dash to report back, and for a report on whatever Pinkie is doing," Twilight said. “While we are waiting, did you guys get everything done?"

Applejack rose walking to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder "It’s okay, Twilight, I made sure that all the ponies are safe, everypony is accounted for."

Fluttershy quietly flew over, giving Twilight a reassuring smile. "I made sure to bring all the animals too, they’re safe."

Rarity wandered over, giving Applejack a pat to move aside. "I made sure that everypony here is comfortable. I even had Spike write a letter to Celestia, so there is no need to worry, darling."

Right on cue, Spike - who was just sitting reading the book from last night, trying to pass the time - felt that familiar gurgling sensation before burping up a letter, luckily saving the book he was reading in the process. The book fell onto the floor. With a sigh of relief, he picks up the letter.

Twilight galloped over to investigate. "What does it say, Spike? Are the Princesses coming?" she asked, anxiously shifting on her hooves as she waited on Spike’s response.

"Hmm. Celestia and Luna are on their way! But Griffonstone is very far, so it will take them a little while before they get here. She also apologizes for not being able to be here sooner."

Twilight was relieved, sitting down once again. Just then the throne doors opened, grabbing everypony's attention and revealing a familiar pink flank.

Rarity was the first to speak up "Pinkie, what are you doing?"

Pinkie was continuing to walk backward, her head shifting from side to side as if she was afraid of being followed, before finally turning around.

"Pinkie what's that silver thing on your head?" Applejack asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"It's tinfoil, Applejack, but never mind that. I finally know what's going on!"

Spike began to chew on this claws nervously. "W-What is it? Is it your Pinkie sense?"

"No, Spike, I didn't sense anything - that's half of the problem. But it. Is. Far. Worse."

Twilight was giving Pinkie a curious look. "What is it, Pinkie?"

"I know why I didn't sense anything, why Celestia and Luna chose today to go to Griffonstone on their own day of celebration, why I didn't help much with the collapsed house and why Fluttershy has barely even been mentioned so far!" Pinkie said, before running over and standing on her chair. "I EVEN know why Starlight fainted!" she proclaimed.

Everypony was too confused to say anything.

Pinkie Pie, looking around some more and then over her shoulder, to tell those present what her theory was. "It’s because we are in a poorly written fanfiction! It all makes sense! Everything that has happened is convenient for the plot."

Twilight facehoofed, but could not help smile at Pinkie’s ridiculousness. "Pinkie, your sense wasn't explainable in the first place and come to think of it I haven't seen it much at all. Celestia chose today to go to Griffonstone because she was inviting them over for the celebration and Luna loves to travel. You helped a lot in that calamity - no one was ready for a quake that big and that fast, and you know how Fluttershy is.”

Fluttershy nods, "I might not be able to lift beams, but I do know how to calm down just about anypony and corralling animals," Fluttershy smiles proudly.

Pinkie looked bewildered for a second. "Huh, I guess you're right," she said, throwing the tinfoil hat to one side.

Twilight's mind began to wander. "Does anypony know how Starlight's doing?"

Rarity and Pinkie give each other sad looks. Rarity clears her throat,

"We don't know Twilight. She used her magic for hours and the doctors say that she may just need rest. They want to be certain." she says looking down.

This was not something Twilight wanted to hear. She was proud, but her heart broke knowing Starlight may be hurt. She could not help but tear up, but before the tears could fall, she felt a warm embrace. Spike was looking up at Twilight and her heart couldn't help but melt. The others used this as a window of opportunity to do the same. Now surrounded by her friends, she could not help but feel better.

"Thanks, guys I needed that," Twilight announced.

Spike, giving a nod for a job well done, went back to reading his book. It was not long before a very tired Rainbow Dash flew through the nearby window.

"Rainbow!" everypony seemed to cheer in unison.

Rainbow Dash flopped on her back on a nearby chair and let out a large, loud sigh. She stretched as she groaned, "Hey, everypony."

Twilight give Rainbow Dash her full attention. "Rainbow Dash, what did you learn?

Rainbow sat back up and pointed to the map. "Canterlot, Appleloosa, even Dodge City have all been getting hit by quakes," she reported.

Rarity gasped. "Canterlot! Oh, my!"

Rainbow Dash put on a reassuring face. "Don't worry, they’re being protected by the Guard, even the Wonderbolts," she said reassuringly.

Applejack chimes in. "What about Appleloosa?"

"Dodge City and Appleloosa have been evacuated to Cloudsdale, but that's the weird part,” Rainbow Dash reported. “No other places have been hit! Not Manehatten, or the Crystal Empire - just these places."

"Whoa, how is that even possible?" Pinkie asked.

"I don't know, Pinkie, but I think I have our answer."

"Why's that, Twilight?" Pinkie queried once more.

"Well Pinkie." she paused to think of an explanation, before continuing. "Quakes are like dropping a coin into a fountain. They create waves that move out from a point like where the coin hits the water."

Rarity interrupted. "So, if the quakes are hitting these places, then that means..."

Rainbow Dash gasps "There! The Ruins! It has to be coming from around there!"

"That's right! All we need to do is go there and I can use my magic to repair the earth around there. Then this whole thing will come to an end!" exclaimed Twilight.

A now reinvigorated Rainbow excitedly flips, "Sounds like a pla-." Just then, another quake hit, shaking the castle. In the distance, pony screams and yells could be heard throughout the castle, as the quake continued for several seconds before stopping. "And not a second too soon."

"Twilight, what are we doing again?" moaned Spike.

Twilight rolls her eyes, "Spike, weren't you listening?" She looked back at him and she could feel him squirm embarrassingly. After a deep sigh, she explains their plan once again. "Rainbow and Fluttershy have flown on ahead to look for a fault or some kind of fissure," she said.

Spike looked confused. "Huh?" he managed.

Applejack turned to look at Spike. "It’s like a crack, Spike," she reiterated.

Pinkie started snickering "Crack!" Pinkie and Spike were both now laughing hysterically. As Spike calmed down and wipes away a tear, Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.

"If Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash find the - crack," Twilight continued, as Pinkie and Spike were trying hard not to laugh," I can repair it right then and there. That's why we are going near the ruins, Spike."

The Everfree forest seemed untouched from the quakes that have been happening. There only appeared to be a few sticks here and there that had fallen off the trees. Twilight couldn't help but feel anxious again, she hoped the castle was alright. She felt a pat on her shoulder and looked to find Applejack.

"Don't worry Twilight, everything will be fine. We can fix the castle right up,"Applejack reinsured, giving a reassuring smile.

Just then Spike gasped loudly, "They’re back!"

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew down. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy!" Twilight called, running over to greet them and hoping for good news. "Did you find anything?"

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other with a sad expression. Seeing the exchange took some of the wind out of Twilight's sails. Rainbow nudges Fluttershy.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, Twilight, we didn't see anything," she said sadly.

Rainbow Dash, jumping in, continued. "We looked at every place we could think of but we didn't find one crack," she grumbled, kicking a stone tossing it a few inches.

Twilight looks to the ground. "It has to be here, I am sure of it. Let's keep searching."

Concentrating, Twilight made her horn glow with sudden magic, and a beam of light shone forth onto the ground, revealing the earth beneath.

Spike, his eyes wide with surprise, was looking at Twilight with a sort of awe. "I haven't seen you use that before!" he exclaimed.

Twilight, smiled proudly, "Come on girls, let's find that crack!" as she charged forward with renewed vigor, her friends close behind.

They searched for what seemed like forever, so they decided to take a quick break at a small clearing near the castle of the two sisters. Twilight took a small bite of the lunch she’d brought with her as Spike snored quietly next to her.

Poor Spike, he was so jittery when the quakes came - not to mention the aftershocks. She was just glad he was trying to relax, like reading that book.

Twilight retreated to her thoughts with a sigh.

Maybe they somehow had the wrong area? Did she and her friends make a mistake? I know what to look for, I read up on the subject prior to our coming out here. Why aren't I seeing any of the signs? It has to be here! It has to be near the ruins. She stares off to the castle in the distance and wondered at how much of their hard work was lost due to these quakes.

Her thinking was interrupted by a large boom.

Spike jumped awake. What is tha-" he began, just as another quake hit, rocking the earth beneath them and making the trees gyrate violently. Then just as it started, it was gone almost instantly.

"Everypony OK?" yelled Twilight, whipping around.

Applejack was the first to get up. "We’re okay, Twilight. More importantly, what was that?" she asked.

"It came from the castle!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

Rarity, dusts herself off "Oh my, what is happening up there?"

Twilight was looking to the castle once again. "I don't know, but we need to check it out, let's go." sounding more worried than she wanted. Twilight quickly used her magic to put Spike on her back, galloping off with the rest of the party following close behind.

The Castle did not look as bad as Twilight feared. Inside it was another story entirely. All of their hard work was ruined. Twilight was devastated, looking at all the debris and fallen decorations. She wandered over to a pillar that had fallen, now just a crumbled mess.

Before she could say anything, she could feel that ever familiar hoof on her shoulder. Applejack - she knew she was there for her. Everypony was there for her. She looked around only to see the others doing exactly what she was doing - wandering around and looking so sad.

“What was I thinking? We all helped clean up the castle, we all have a history here, and this was the place we all became friends after all,” stated Twilight.

"Twilight?" The small voice of Spike met her ears his small claws gently tugging at her mane. How long has he been this quiet? She had quite forgotten he was even there. "Twilight, are you okay?" Spike asks.

Twilight used her magic to put the dragon down onto the floor. "Yes, Spike. I am now," she replied, giving him a big hug before turning to the others. "Come on girls! let's find us a crack!"

"Hey! I found something!" suddenly exclaimed Pinkie. Everypony turned to see Pinkie waving at the end of the room, just to the right of the thrones. Everypony curiously trotted or flew over to where Pinkie was standing. Pinkie pointed down, revealing a dark staircase.

Rarity gasped. "Oh my, where on earth did this come from?"

"I don't know." Pinkie shrugged “Pretty convenient huh,”

Twilight peered into the dark staircase. "The quakes must have opened this up."

Applejack stepped forward "Does anypony know where this leads?"

The others stared at each, confirming that not one of them knew.

Rainbow Dash, trotting forward and walking down a few steps, looked back. "Well, let's find out! It has to lead somewhere. If it’s nothing then we can always just come back."

Twilight nodded and concentrating once more, a small light erupting from her horn as she slowly walked down the dark passage. Fluttershy whimpered and hesitated for a moment as the others followed Twilight, before stepping forward and catching up with them.

The passage was dark and debris littered the floor. Vines were everywhere, they were on the ceiling, the walls - nobody could walk two paces without walking into some. The passage went down further and then went straight. It was not long before you could see a light at the end of the passage and the light emitting from Twilight’s horn was no longer needed.

Twilight and the others kept walking until they come to another staircase that leads up to an opened doorway, itself also covered in these vines. As they entered the doorway, they all gasp in unison.

They had found a large courtyard, completely overgrown, the bushes filled with brilliant flowers and fallen pillars. Large trees were smothered with these green vines that seemed to cover everything. In the center of the courtyard was a large statue of a pony in armor, braying magnificently.

"Dead end, sorry everypony," sighed Rainbow Dash.

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash, this place is wonderful," responded Twilight trotting forward taking in their new surroundings.

Spike, peered around jumped with glee "this place is awesome!" he exclaimed.

Applejack nudges Twilight's shoulder "It looks like somepony likes this place," she said with a smile, pointing over to Fluttershy and Pinkie smelling the nearby flowers.

“Wait - where's Rarity? Better yet, where's Spike?: thought Twilight. It did not take long for her to peer toward the statue, noticing Rarity eyeing it with a frown and Spike eyeing Rarity more than anything else.

Twilight nonchalantly trotted over. Upon seeing Twilight approaching, Rarity ushered her closer. "Twilight, do look at this statue. I never saw anything like it."

Twilight looked closely at the statue. It looked so real - whoever had made this was an amazingly gifted sculptor. No detail was overlooked, from the bolts and hinges of the helm to the straps on the breastplate, even the shine of the metal. Unfortunately, the statue was in a state of disrepair, with deep cracks running head to hoof.

"It looks amazing, Rarity," Twilight admitted, stepping still closer for a better look.

Rarity nodded. "Too bad it is in such disrepair, I would have taken it home."

Twilight trotted away from the statue and became enamored with some gorgeous flora. She suddenly had an odd feeling that she had forgotten something.

The anomaly!

She quickly concentrated and that familiar light shimmered on the ground once more. She was scanning the ground and almost immediately found something. "Ah Ha! I found it, the thing that we’re looking for!"

The others cheered and come to look at what Twilight had found.

"Yeah! It wasn't a dead end after all!" said Rainbow Dash, flipping happily.

Twilight frowned "That's weird." she murmured.

Spike, looks up at Twilight "What’s wrong?" he asks.

Twilight, taking a deep breath "well Spi-", she states just at that moment another loud boom shot through the air. The earth shook beneath them as the sound of loud cracking replaces the loud boom. All eyes shot to the statue as the cracks deepened and the stone splintered.

"Everypony! Get to me NOW!" yelled Twilight with all her might, as they all galloped to her. She forces a magic bubble, surrounding them just in time. The sounds of shattering stone and a huge roar erupted out of nowhere, covering the area with thick dust. They all stared at the place where the statue had once stood, from within Twilight's bubble, as the dust in the air started to clear. Where the statue had once stood was a large, living, breathing stallion, covered head to toe in heavy armor.

The magic bubble dissipated, leaving the ponies in silence. The heavily armored stallion seemed to be unaware they were even there. He just began stretching and looking around slightly. Who was this stallion? Why had he been a statue? Why was he here? So many questions raced through Twilight's head. She just needed to stop freaking out and calm down.

Rainbow Dash had other ideas. "H-hey!" she yelled to the stranger.

The stallion immediately stopped what he was doing and turned around, shooting his gaze at them. The others glared at Rainbow Dash. "He clearly started this! He's totally a bad guy," she harshly whispers.

"Let me handle this, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, straightening up and clearing her throat. The stallion just continued glaring at them, unmoving, Twilight started to move forward, attempting to introduce herself. "Hello my-"

"Duratus!" the armored stallion commanded, his voice booming and echoing throughout the courtyard, “Quis es!?” he commanded again, kneeling low as if he was about to sprint or even fight.

"That's it!" yelled Rainbow Dash without warning, Applejack jolted to life stepping forward to try and grab her before she could do anything drastic, but Rainbow Dash bolted past her grasp and the others. Flying straight at the armored behemoth, he suddenly leaped up almost impossibly high, catching a surprised Rainbow midair. Twisting her around, he launched her in the opposite direction. The pony landed with a loud bang before reaching back and whipping forward a bola, ensnaring Rainbow Dash as she landed in front the others.

"Rainbow!" yelled Twilight, turning to see if she was ok.

"Twilight!" Spike screamed. Twilight heard the loud clang of armor before whipping around to see the armored pony closing in on her. She forced up a barrier as he approached forward, the stallion's pace never altered.

“Vos non potestis prohibere ad me!” The stallion roared as he approached the barrier. Suddenly the barrier, - Twilight couldn't explain what she was seeing - the stallion never stopped, the barrier started to fold in on itself. Expanding like rubber AROUND the stallion as he moved forward before tearing completely.

The Stallion charged forward -leaving the spell to disperse- closing the distance quickly as the stallion's mighty hoof shoots forward hitting the intended target.

Suddenly Twilight felt a sharp pain explode from her horn. The sudden jolt made her crumble and squirm away. She looks up at her attacker only to see a sudden bolt of magic smack into the helm of the stallion with a loud ping. His helmet rocketing away, leaving the mystery stallion revealed. Grunting, stumbling back covering his face.

A hoof touched Twilight's shoulder making her jump. Rarity, accompanied by a very worried Spike, pleaded "Come on, get up, Twilight!"

Rarity was frantic but helped Twilight up and away from her attacker, her hoof instinctively went to her horn. She couldn't help a sigh of relief to find it was still intact, even if it still stung.

Rarity gave Twilight a wary, frantic look. "Are you alright, darling!?"

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I am fine, Rarity," she said with a voice that sounded shakier than she would have wished. Her horn was hurting, but she didn't care at that moment. She needed to know how her friends were doing. Gently pushing Rarity and Spike away, she peered over to see Fluttershy frantically trying to untie the bola, whilst Rainbow Dash was squirming to get out.

She then saw something that sent chills down to her very soul.

The stallion - he had fur and mane of brown but beyond that, his features could not be seen clearly in any real detail. He towered above all of them, so much so that his shadow seemed to consume them. But those eyes - those eyes were black as coals that pierced right through the ponies in front of him. His head unmoving, his eyes unblinking. Twilight could feel her legs give way, his face showed no emotion making him all the more terrifying.

"Spike, protect Twilight!" Yelled Rarity quickly galloping forward.

Spike nodded, as Rarity joined the rest of her friends as they lined up to face this foe. The stallion was silent, his terrifying gaze never leaving Twilight. Then he started to walk slowly, each armored step clanging loudly. Rarity, tired of waiting, her horn glowed brightly as she sent a bolt of magic at the attacker.

The stallion didn't move, nor did he alter his pace. His hoof shot up, blocking the bolt of magic, as he continued to walk forward. Rarity shot another, then another. The stallion blocked both with ease. Rarity's cheeks inflamed, her eyes narrow, her horn glowed brightly as she reared back letting loose a huge bolt of magic. The stallion did not react. The bolt of magic hit him, the impact making a large dust cloud to form around him.

Applejack gives Rarity a look of surprise. “Whoa!”

Rarity shrugged.

“Ugh, guys?” Pinkie said nervously, putting a hoof on Applejack's shoulder and pointing up.

The armored stallion roars as he landed smashing the ground in front of them, violently shaking the ground beneath them. Applejack recovered quickly and charged forward, turning to buck her attacker. The armored stallion met her strike head-on, hitting him square in the jaw. Without so much as a pause, he grabbed her leg and launched her behind him, but not before taking the rope that was tied around Applejack's waist. Quickly laying down as Pinkie Pie went sailing above him to land on Applejack. He stood back up to block two more bolts of magic from Rarity.

The armored stallion, now with the rope in his jaws, whipped the lasso forward, ensnaring a surprised Rarity before yanking it back in an ark. Finding herself in the air, Rarity shrieks loudly. As she went soaring through the air, the rope intertwining itself around a tree branch. The armored stallion then took the end of the rope and smashed it into the ground, keeping Rarity aloft.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash cried as she finally struggled free. The armored stallion didn’t miss a beat, however, whipping forth another bola and ensnaring her once again. “Oh, come on!” she complained struggling once again.

Fluttershy frantically moved in to help Rainbow Dash untie herself. The loud clanging of the armored stallion coming ever closer, until he finally altered his gaze to Fluttershy, instantly freezing in fear. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cowered away from the terrifying figure. Pausing only for a second, he passed by them.

When his soul-piercing gaze left Twilight for the first time, she could finally think. She needed a spell to help her friends and she knew just the one. She concentrated, her horn glowing, and then nothing - just sparks. What? She tried again, and once more her horn produced nothing but sparks. What’s going on!? The clanging from the stallion coming ever nearer. Come on! Nothing but sparks.

She needed to run, she needed to get away. “Spike? Let’s g-!” Turning around, a large tree lands in front of the only exit. She looks back and meets the armored stallion's gaze, shocking her once again, he was closer than ever. She could fly! She needed to get help. Twilight, grabbing Spike and taking off, the armored stallion leaped once more into the air as she smashed into him. They crashed back to the ground, Twilight squirming backward until she hit the tree. Spike valiantly charged forward only to be swatted aside, rocketing to a nearby bush.

Suddenly, Applejack roared, tackling the armored stallion followed closely behind by Pinkie. The armored stallion roared to life, bucking wildly and smashing the ground. Applejack hung on for dear life, before being thrown off and crashing into a leafy canopy of a nearby tree. Pinkie didn't last much longer, as the armored beast simply grabbed her, tossing her away.

He slowly walked toward Twilight, as she squirmed, trying to get away. Her back pressing against the tree, he smashed his hooves on the tree towering over her.

“Tu sub aresto!” he snarled. Twilight could not help the hot tears starting to fall down her cheeks. Suddenly his gaze changed, subtly. “Look at me” he commanded. His voice was rough but clear as day - Twilight did not know how to react.

“What?” she questions, averting her gaze and trying to look for her friends.

“Don't look at them, look at me!” he commanded once more. Twilight reluctantly obeyed. The armored stallion stared into her eyes for what seemed like forever, and just as suddenly as he spoke, he flopped back with a clang. He sat and looked at all of her friends behind him. As he turned back to face Twilight, it was if he was a completely different creature. “I've made a horrible mistake haven't I?” he stated, rhetorically.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading, for those of you interested in the story.

If you have a question, just ask

EternalPony.

Old friends, Old wounds

Twilight could not help but squirm in her seat, she tried to not look to antsy - even if she was failing miserably.

When she was half dragged here by Rarity she quickly rushed out saying something about her boutique, leaving Twilight and Lee Roy with the spa sisters.

She would say Lee Roy looked a little overwhelmed if he didn’t look so stoic all the time. He peers around listening closely as the spa sisters give him a small tour around the spa.
It’s just, it is urgent that we get Lee Roy to Celestia right away. Honestly, she still does not know what is really going on. It’s unbelievable really - a stallion from another time, one so strong he could buck away a hydra.
Apparently, he knows Celestia and Luna to a degree. But then why was he never mentioned, She liked to think Celestia and her are friends and would tell her anything and furthermore if he was this great pony why was their noth-

The Book! The one that Spike found, now she just had to get back to read it, take notes - organize these notes into spreadsheets. She could just squeal, she just can’t wait!
Suddenly a thought crossed her mind, If the book was given to her by Celestia then Celestia had to have known about Lee Roy and...and.

Twilight couldn’t think of this anymore or she is going to explode! She took a deep, calm breath -
Just focus on the task at hoof, getting out of here and reaching Celestia as soon as possible.

Twilight got up and strolled over to Lee Roy and the spa sisters.

“This place, looks nice,” Lee Roy says looking down at both of them, his stony expression suddenly fades noticeably. “A few cracks in the walls, though.” He points out.

“Yes, but no worry. We were lucky to be largely untouched by the quakes.” Lotus announces
“We are just glad the spa has such old, well-made walls” Aloe adds.

Lee Roy notices her presence right away turning towards her allowing her to get a good look at him - his face was rugged, his mane was far too long, and it always seems to fall in his eyes. He did smell a little - if not for the sharp smell of the mint, it may have been stronger. His coat did desperately need a brushing, seeing him like this - maybe it was good they were here.

Besides, Celestia wouldn’t mind him looking more - touched up.

“Uh, Princess Twilight?” Lee Roy utters looking at her with a cocked expression.

She immediately straightened in the realization she was lost in thought and was just standing there.
“I, Uh - was just wondering what you’re going to try first?” She stammered trying to salvage whatever dignity she has left, slapping on a wide smile for good measure.

“Me? Thought Miss Rarity or you could instead -” Lee Roy pauses - standing straighter surprisingly looking tenser, behavior not yet seen by him.

This was new - actual emotion breaking through the stoic, stony expression he normally wears.

“We will do whatever you want. Should we start with a bath?” Aloe suggests, tugging the cape playfully draped on his back.

“NO!” Lee Roy shouts in sudden surprise, grabbing his cape - moving away leaving them shocked by what has transpired.

“No, thank you,” He says much calmer, he continues to stand straight as his eyes stray to the public tubs.

Before she could intervene, Lotus without skipping a beat - caught his tense expression bravely steps forward. “We have private tubs too, darling.” She responds calmly gently patting him on the shoulder.

Aloe steps forward a little more abrasive than her sister. “We won’t disturb you.” She adds.

“We promise,” Lotus adds for effect.

Lee Roy takes a deep breath. “Maybe that would be best.” He says regaining a bit of his normal composure.

Lotus bows. “As you wish. How about you, Princess?” She asks, as her expression changes as if she was seeing something for the first time. “Twilight, what a beautiful bow, where did you get it?” She gushes looking at it up and down.

Twilight’s hoof instantly went to her horn. Lee Roy and Twilight share looks. “It’s a long story,” Twilight says. “And don’t worry about me, you both focus on Lee Roy.” She adds.

“I’m sure I will need it.” Lee Roy says with a laugh. Aloe and Lotus chuckle, leading them both down a hallway toward the private baths

Lee Roy’s bath was short but he came back fresh as a daisy, but the entire time Lee Roy was very adamant about taking off his cape, even for the spa sisters famous massages. Twilight patiently waited as Lotus and Aloe went to work with the rest of him, including his hooves.
Finally doing something with his rugged face, they were about to do something with his mane when Rarity finally squandered through the door.

She stumbled through the door with a large forearm full of fabric of every color that she could think of obscuring her face - fabric falling down from the pile here and there, she continued her course a few feeble steps before Twilight leaped into action.

“Rarity, What are you doing?” She asked picking up some lost fabric from the floor and taking some from the pile, suddenly noticing the large sewing machine lazily floating behind Rarity.

“Thank you, Twilight” Rarity breaths already donning her red glasses.”I was just thinking we would fix two things at one time,” Rarity states setting the large sewing machine down. “That cape of Lee Roys is falling apart and could be much more stylish. She stated confidently, “But I do think I’ve gotten a little carried away,” She added with a smile.

“I’m not sure about that, Rarity.” Twilight whispers “Lee Roy has shown thus far that he was very attached to his cape.”

“Maybe it had sentimental value?” Rarity asks in a hushed tone

“Don’t know,” Twilight whispers

Twilight suddenly remembered that bright glow during that fight from the hydra.

Or perhaps it was what was under the cape what he was hiding. Twilight chased that thought away. Lee Roy’s business was his own, but she couldn’t help but wonder.

Rarity went to work setting up the sewing machine and organizing the pile of fabrics to her liking, Twilight tore herself from the need to organize and went to listen in on what Lotus and Aloe were doing to Lee Roy.

Lee Roy was sitting in a large reclining chair facing a large mirror, Aloe either much too short or better yet the latter being Lee Roy being far too tall needed to find a stool to stand to steadily balance on to even reach the towering stallion.

Twilight and Lotus could not help but stifle a giggle, as Lotus looked quite silly.

“What would you like to do with this?” Aloe said grabbing a few strands of Lee Roy’s mane. “Any style you would like?” She asks politely. “Maybe, long and flowy,” She teases.

“Military.” Lee Roy says without a pause as Aloe chuckles. “I thought you might say that.” She says and goes straight to work sheering away his long mane.

It doesn’t take Aloe very long to finish - it was a simple haircut after all - she looked Lee Roy up and down. “Perfect, and quite handsome,” Aloe states smiling at her work.

Lee Roy looks at himself in the mirror and runs a hoof down his mane. “Yes, perfect.” He says smiling up at Aloe. Lee Roy stands and turns to Twilight allowing her to finally get a full view of him. It was as if he was an entirely different pony. His face was cleanly trimmed, his coat evenly brushed, his mane now a militaristic mohawk, his hooves shined and his tail cropped short - he cleaned up rather nicely.

“You look absolutely ravishing.” Rarity states, standing from her seat and looking him over.

“You look amazing, Lee Roy,” Twilight says, also standing and walking over to him.

“Thank you, both of you.” Lee Roy replied, Then something caught his eye. “What are these?” He asks, motioning to Rarity’s pile of colorful fabrics.

“Oh, I saw that your cape was in such disrepair, I thought I could give you a new one.” Rarity says with a gleam in her eye.

“Oh, Rarity you don’t ha-.” Lee Roy starts.

“Ah Ah! No way mister, I have already made up my mind.” Rarity interrupts.

Lee Roy suddenly looks like a child in a candy store, picking up the colored fabrics one by one and admiring them closely. “What wonderful colors! Is this all for me?” He asks.

“Yes, darling, yes.” Rarity assures, smiling at him.

Lee Roy continues to look over and admire the fabrics, keeping that child-like look in his eye. Twilight has never seen anyone get so excited about colored fabric before - well other than Rarity. It was odd - well, everything about Lee Roy is odd, but at least he wasn’t ‘Pinkie Pie’ odd.

“What kind of cape would you like? I brought all the colors I have.” Rarity questions.

Lee Roy looks at every color and looks defeated. “I can’t choose, I like all of them.” He says with a sigh.

“All of them?” Twilight asks. She couldn’t stop herself in time and she suddenly felt a slight warm blush from the embarrassment.

“Oh, I ah.” Lee Roy mutters, sounding flustered and shifting on his hooves.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean … ” Twilight starts, cursing herself for thinking out loud.

“Oh no, it’s fine. I know it’s strange for a stallion like me, but some of my fondest memories have such beautiful colors.” Lee Roy explains, turning to face her

He turns to the pile, picking up a piece of red fabric. “This shade is called ‘flame’ It reminds me of the time when I was just a colt, watching Celestia lower the sun for the first time.” Lee Roy says, staring deeply into the fabric. Then he looks around and picks up another color - a light blue fabric, “This is my favorite color, but not this particular shade. This is ‘steel blue’. The one I like is a deeper blue, like the ocean after a heavy storm.” Lee Roy explains as he looks up at Twilight.

Twilight was flabbergasted - not in confusion or disbelief, but at her own “awe” she guessed. She never - in a million years - would have thought that Lee Roy would like colors. Well, just a few moments ago he was an unstoppable armored warrior, ready to take on the world. This just gave Twilight a realization that maybe there was more to Lee Roy then just being a big, strong stallion. Twilight felt like she judged him, and that was not fair to Lee Roy. It looks like she may still have more to learn.

“That’s amazing, Lee Roy! I’ve never met another pony that knows shades as well as I do.” Rarity says excitedly. “Is there a color that catches your eye? Maybe we should find a color that complements your own.” Rarity adds, peering at the fabrics.

Lee Roy’s face scrunches. “Ugh, brown is such a boring color.,” He says. “Do you have ‘spartan crimson’? That’s the color I am wearing now.” He questions, turning to Rarity.

Rarity shakes her head. “No, I do not. Hmm, how about- .“ She says pausing suddenly, freezing her action. “No.” She responds, putting a hoof to her chin and contemplating.

Twilight does the same. Looking at all the colors sprawled out, she may not have the knowledge of the shades but she picked out a color that jumped at her. “Hey, how about his color? It kind of looks like what you have on.” Twilight says, holding out the fabric for them to see.

“Scarlet.” Lee Roy states, taking the fabric from Twilight, suddenly his stony expression vanished replaced by deep sadness his shoulders shrinking his ears folding behind his head as he stared longingly.

Twilight thought for a second that she may have done something wrong. She looked to Rarity, she only returned the look clearly thinking the same thing, But as soon as it appeared Lee Roy shook his head and the expression disappeared.

“I like it! What do you think, Ms. Rarity?” He asks.

“I love it - I’ll make it right away.” She declares, taking the fabric from him.

Lee Roy turns back to Twilight. “Thank you, Twilight.” He says with a slight bow.

“No problem, Lee Roy,” Twilight says, smiling up at him.

“All I need to do now is to take a few measurements. We could use that same collar too.” Rarity says, taking out a measuring tape. “Could you take that off?” She asks.

Lee Roy suddenly looks uncomfortable, holding the cape. “Ugh, I... Ugh.” Lee Roy utters as his eyes dart around.

Rarity looks at him questioningly, as she did not know this was his usual behavior. But her expression softens in sudden realization - as she has dealt with just customers like Lee Roy at her boutique. She peers around until she finds something that would fix this situation.

“Lee Roy, darling.” Rarity says. “Over there.” She states, pointing to a changing divider that Lotus and Aloe use for privacy. “You can stand behind that. We won’t peek - we promise, alright?” Rarity announces loudly to Lotus and Aloe. They smile and nod as they continue to sweep up the rest of Lee Roy’s mane.

Lee Roy lets out a shaky breath. “Okay, I’ll do it.” He says with that stony expression once again.

Rarity ushers Lee Roy behind the changing divider, moving it so that no one can see him. It took him a moment but the red cape did appear over the divider. Rarity - without pause - takes the cape away and finally gets to work.

Several minutes go by as Rarity works on the unsewing of the collar of the original and doing the line work for the other. In Meanwhile Twilight watched Rarity work - she had nothing else to do - now with the cape in full view, Twilight was surprised that Lee Roy would wear such thing.

The cape was a slightly sun bleached, tattered, semi-ripped monstrosity - no wonder Rarity was so eager to fix him up a new one. Even with all of these flaws, the cape was well taken care of being only tattered at one end and keeping the whole integrity in one piece.

Rarity continued to work carefully unsewing the collar - getting all those tiny, tiny strings made her envy Rarity that would have driven her crazy for sure. Rarity then carefully flips the cape over and she instantly saw where Lee Roy ripped a strip for her bow.

In fact, she does not feel much pain at all. Twilight put a hoof to her horn feeling the bow that has dried significantly since she received it this morning. Twilight looked around a little shifting in her seat before a mirror caught her eye.

She had a sudden urge to find out what she looked like. Twilight shifted herself in her seat as her reflection came into view. Rarity was right, I look adorable, she couldn’t help but smile she looked like a little school girl.

In her reflection, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Put it simply it was Aloe, craning her neck her eyes squinting. Aloe must have been just as curious because she’s trying to crane her neck around to desperately try to see Lee Roy. Twilight was about to do the same until the sound of someone clearing her throat made them all jump. They turn to see Rarity, shooting them daggers. Twilight and Aloe try to look casual as if nothing was happening.

It was not until soon afterward that Rarity finally finishes her work, lifting the large cape above her and folding it on her arm. “Lee Roy, I’m finally done.” She says walking over to the divider.

“Ah, good pass it over would you?” Lee Roy asks. Rarity does so, taking small steps, trying to preserve Lee Roy’s privacy.

Her hoof disappears behind the divider, but suddenly her expression changes and her eyes become big. She stampers back her hoof shooting straight to her mouth, her eyes screaming from what she just saw.

She saw - she saw whatever it was that Lee Roy is hiding.

Twilight couldn’t help but be jealous and her expression didn’t help her curiosity. Rarity wipes the look off of her face, shaking her head. “H-how does it feel?” She utters in an odd way.

“Perfect.” Lee Roy states as he steps out of the divider, completely covered with the brand new cape - Clearly not knowing the event that transpired. “Thank you, Rarity.” He says, closing in with a big hug.

Rarity is slightly surprised - maybe still recovering from what she had just seen. She hugs Lee Roy back with a big smile. “You’re welcome, Lee Roy.” Rarity replies.

Ee Roy releases Rarity from his embrace and he finally trots over to Twilight giving her a bow. “Princess, I have taken enough of your time. We will leave for Celestia this instant.” He says. “But, before we go.” He says as he trots past Twilight and faces Lotus and Aloe, who are waiting patiently. “I must pay you for your kindness.” He says with yet another bow.

Lotus and Aloe look at each other quickly. “But Lee Roy, our services were a gift to you there is no need to pay us the bits,” Lotus says reassuringly.

“I did not say you had much of a choice.”Then Lee Roy’s face twists in confusion uh, what are bits?” He asks, looking to Twilight for help.

“You don’t know what bits are?” Twilight questions.

Lee Roy shakes his head.

Twilight is again reminded that Lee Roy is not of her time. Twilight stalls a little whilst looking for an example, but she, unfortunately, doesn’t have a single bit on her. She turns to Rarity for help and Rarity - catching her helpless expression - quickly searches and finds exactly what she was looking for.

She holds a single bit out with her magic. “Lee Roy, this is a bit. This is what we pay with now, I pay with gems sometimes.” Rarity explains showing him the currency.

Lee Roy eyes the currency curiously. “Well, I don’t have any gems, but I do have something to trade.” He says. Reaching back and digging into his satchel, he pulls out a small round stone like object - about the size of a golf ball. the object was rough and coarse but it gleamed and shined slightly.

Twilight and the spa sisters stared in awe, “What is it?” Twilight questions Rarity was two steps ahead grabbing the object and looking at it with a microscope - created using her magic.

“Oh my, Lee Roy!’ Rarity gushes. “This is gold! This is what bits are made of. It’s very pure, this could buy several of my spa treatments.” Rarity revealed eyeing the gold sphere intently.

Lee Roy takes the gold from Rarity - to her dismay, “Please take this a token of my generosity, between friends.” He says, giving Lotus the gold sphere.

“Thank you, Lee Roy you, are very kind.” She announces holding the gold close.

“Please come back anytime,” Aloe says, giving Lee Roy a smile.

Lee Roy simply nods and gives them a final bow before turning sharply toward Rarity.

Lee Roy looked down at her - clearly with the intent with helping her with her things, but before he could even ask Rarity speaks up.

“Oh no, you two don’t have any time to help me now, leave it to me,” Rarity states with conviction.

Lee Roy cracks a smile through his stony features - knowing he was beaten he turns to her.

“Canterlot, here we come,” Twilight announces.

They all begin to take their leave, finally heading to their original destination of Canterlot.

She was ready she couldn’t wait for Celestia’s face and the answers she would hopefully get.
She stormed forward with excitement with an idea to help them save some time.

A sudden crash took the wind out of her sails, she quickly turns back to see Lee Roy frantically picking up bottles from a large pile scattered upon the floor. He already had a good amount in his forelegs already as Lee Roy must have already caught some from there decent.

“I - ‘m sorry.” Lee Roy stampers. “I got too excited it seems,” He breathes.

“It’s okay Lee Roy, nothing broken,” Twilight reinsures.

Lotus frantically trots over - probably hearing the crash. She glances at the mess and helps Lee Roy with his armful of bottles.

“Are you all alright?” Lotus says, her face full of worry.

“I’m sorry I bumped into the shelf, what is this stuff?” Lee Roy asks, looking at one of the bottles closely.

“It’s hair dye, Lee Roy,” Twilight states putting the fallen bottles back on the shelf - reorganizing and alphabetizing as she goes, Lotus puts the last of the fallen bottles on the shelf

“You know, they add a little color to your hair,” Lotus says, not knowing the consequences of what she just announced.

“Color, you say.” Lee Roy smiles wide and Twilight sighs, already knowing what he is thinking.

Thankfully, Twilight talked him down to only one color, thank Celestia.

Lee Roy and I sat in the balloon carelessly drifting to their destination and Lee Roy was enjoying every moment.
Lee Roy peered over the edge of the carriage with that child-like grin plastered on his face.

Twilight on the other hoof was a little bummed as most of her friends had to watch the party back in Ponyville - Spike hilariously being asleep at the buffet, probably eating too much again.

They floated there way down to land after a short journey, as they landed Lee Roy’s child-like grin dissipates as they take in Canterlot after the quakes.

Canterlot looked far better than Ponyville, there was very little debris and no fallen homes to be seen - but roof shingles, broken glass littered some of the ground but most disheartening of all was the sunken in roofs of the homes that dot the area.

Fortunately, the guard where everywhere - many stood at attention or made constant patrols. They seem to be helping everypony and anypony.

When they finally land Lee Roy suddenly wordlessly hopped out of the carriage walking in large strides away from where they landed, leaving her to call out to him and hastily tie the balloon down. She followed his tail a short distance down turning a corner about to ask him what he was doing - until she saw her first ruined home in Canterlot.

The home was a two-story building, but the second story was severely caved in leaving only the first story. The first story wasn’t entirely intact as the inside was completely destroyed by fallen debris. Broken glass and shards of wood were scattered everywhere, bits of splintered board sticking out every witch way.
She hoped that whoever was in there, is okay.

She looked up at Lee Roy to see not his normal stoic look he normally wears. But a sullen and sunken expression as he gazes at the structure wordlessly.

“Lee Roy?” She calls out softly trying to get his attention, but he still looked onward holding the sullen expression as his hoof suddenly reaches to tug on the tuft of fur on his chest.
Twilight springs into action without thinking calling out to him once more than carefully reaching out to his shoulder, as she made the slightest contact with Lee Roy it was like she shocked him he jumped slightly turning in attention his expression changing back to normal stoic Twilight expects from him.

She didn’t quite think this far ahead so she quickly racks her mind “A - are you okay?” She asks “You zoned out there for a second.” Twilight adds softly.

“I’m fine.” Lee Roy states finally gently stepping back from her touch. He takes a deep breath and walks around her “shall we go?” He questions awaiting her company.

“Okay…” She states joining him finally, she takes the lead heading to Canterlot castle. They kind of walked in silence for a bit as they strolled down the normally more lively streets of canterlot but Twilight could not get that moment out of her mind, something was clearly wrong.
“Lee Roy, are you sure nothing’s wrong?” Twilight urges looking back at him.

“I’m fine.” Lee Roy states again keeping his stoic expression.

“No, nopony looks like that and is just fine.” Twilight states “You can tell me,” Twilight adds walking in pace with him.

Lee Roy looked like as if to quietly cursed under his breath “You weren’t supposed to see that.” Lee Roy admits.

“Ah ha! So there was a problem, you don’t have to keep it to yourself.” Twilight says “I’m worried about them too.” Twilight adds.

“Lee Roy will deal with Lee Roy problem.” He states.

“What does that supposed to mean!?” Twilight announces.

“It means exactly what it means.” Lee Roy announces.

“That’s just stubbo-” Twilight called out just before she bumped into somepony and before she knew it she was on the ground as the sharp sound metal and the flurry of debris great her ears.

Almost instantly Lee Roy was by her side lifting her to her hooves.
“Hey watch where you’re going!” Somepony announces in front of her snapping her to the figure in front of her.

The figure in front of her was an armored stallion in full uniform, this stallion was clearly part of the Canterlot guard the recognizable golden armor shined and glistened brightly. The stallion already stood straightening he helm that seemed to be too big for this stallion.
Until Twilight suddenly caught the face of the pony to realize that she was not a stallion at all.

“I - ‘m sorry.” Twilight stampers.

A sudden stomp suddenly booms turning their attention to Lee Roy. He stood straight looking down at the armored mare. He was a towering vigil paired with a scowl and the soul-piercing gaze she knows all too well from before, no need to say he was furious.

“How DARE you talk you the Princess this way!” Lee Roy barks

The armored mare stood her ground and put on a brave face, but she could not help a gulp as her hind legs visually shake slightly. She does not blame her, she felt Lee Roy’s soul-piercing gaze first hoof.

“I - I -” The armored mare stuttered before Lee Roy’s hoof instantly rises making her pause.

“Sit.”Lee Roy scowled at her, the armored mare instantly sits. “Are you okay, Princess?” Lee Roy turning “That was quite the fall.” He adds his expression completely changing as his scowl melts away and his eyes become softer, kinder looking her over carefully.

This sudden change in Lee Roy’s behavior was surprising to her and she did not like it one bit.

“Lee Roy I am fine.” Twilight insured “Are you okay.” She asks walking over to the armored mare looking her over much like Lee Roy did.
“I-I am fine, Princess.” The armored mare states somehow regaining that brave expression from before and standing, she lifts off her helmet placing it next to her.

She was a Unicorn, and she was taller than Twilight. But she was remarkably thin. She was a beautiful pale silver color, her mane was a kind of blue-violet, a shade Twilight would bet Lee Roy could place.

Oh, Celestia, Lee Roy must be rubbing off on her. Her eyes were probably what Twilight liked most, a striking light blue. Her tail was, of course, cropped short in militaristic style as she managed to look strong and beautiful at the same time.

“What is your name?” Twilight asked with a bright smile.

“My name is Morning Glory.” She stated.

“Can I call you Glory?” Twilight questioned.

“Yes, you may,” Glory announces she shifts on her hooves and eyes Lee Roy “Who is he?” She adds nonchalantly scowling in his direction.

“Do not speak to the Princess in this matter, remember your place initiate!” Lee Roy barks stepping closer.

“Who are you calling initiate, civilian!” The Glory responded, through clenched teeth.

“Civilian!? I am High Royal Protector, you will spea-.” Lee Roy started charging forward to the young guard.

“Enough!” Twilight yells - almost too loudly, the two look at her instantly and stop their argument. Twilight sighs and continues. “This is all a huge misunderstanding. Lee Roy, many ponies here know me. They speak to me less formally, because it always was that way.” Twilight explains before turning to the guard. “Lee Roy is very... Old fashioned, he just wants others to give me the respect he thinks I deserve.” She explains.

Glory’s anger melts away from her face “I’m at fault too I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” She said looking a little embarrassed as her hoof travels back to rub the back of her head. “I was angry already, did you say you are a High Royal Protector, Mr?” She asked somewhat sheepishly.

“Le Roi Arion the twenty-fourth, but please call me Lee Roy.” He states putting out his hoof to shake.
Glory takes the hoof in her own and they shake hardily.

“Oh, that reminds me.” Lee Roy continues, dropping the shake and searching his bags and quickly finding a brooch and fastens it to the front of his collar.

The brooch was ornate but made of nothing special. It was made from some non-reflective metal material that she didn’t recognize, but it had the royal equestrian seal. She had seen this mark often when she was still under Celestia’s tutelage, but only on certain guards.

Glory’s jaw drops. “Y-you have a royal seal? Only the most important guard ponies get these, does that mean … ?” Glory stammers. She looks at Lee Roy as though she has seen him for the first time and hastily grabs her helmet placing it on her head.

“Vita, fide, et honorem.” Lee Roy states, standing at attention and slamming a hoof to his heart.

She stands dumbstruck for a second before standing to attention. “Vita, fide, et honorem.”Glory proudly states, giving Lee Roy a solute.

Twilight vaguely remembers this phrase from the time she was a filly - Shining Armor would say this all the time. It was the guard mantra - life, faith, and honor. It was traditionally spoken in Latin. It symbolized the life you give to the Princess, the faith you have in yourself and others and the honor you must carry.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”Glory utters while keeping a rigid formation.

“At ease, initiate, it’s my fault for forgetting to put the thing on Lee Roy says, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

“And mine for bumping into you in the first place,” Twilight adds with a sheepish smile.

“How do you know she is an initiate?” Twilight Questions turning to Lee Roy with a raised eyebrow.

“The armor, Twilight, is very shiny. Like it’s brand new.” Lee Roy points out.

Lee Roy was right the armor Glory was wearing. It looked pretty much brand new, everything seemed to glisten and shine in the sun.

Glory looks down and her expression tells Twilight that bringing that up angered her, something was chewing at her.

Lee Roy puts a mighty hoof on her shoulder, making her go lopsided from the weight. “What is the matter.” Lee Roy questions. “Your still not mad at me are you?” Lee Roy asks.

“I- um.” Glory starts as she peers at Twilight and her face steels. She looks up at Lee Roy straightening her helmet. “I was given the worst job possible. Stand here and do nothing but look out for everypony. I can help out! I am fully capable!” She says with fire in her eyes.

“Just look,” She points to a sarge pile of debris off to her right “I have been carrying and clearing just like everybody else.” She scoffs and looks down “I just want something to make my filly proud, but they don’t let me do anything like that.” She adds.

Lee Roy raises an eyebrow “So you prove them wrong by, not doing your duty and putting yourself in potential danger?” Lee Roy states.

“But-” Glory starts to reject.

“What if somepony needs your help or if you’re needed?” Lee Roy states “you would be off doing, this,” Lee Roy motions to the scattered pile that Twilight quickly puts together that Glory was carrying.

These bits and pieces of debris looked like it came from the building nearby with a poor sunken roof, they were large splintery, misshapen and looked quite heavy.

“But-” Glory states looking down.

Lee Roy reaches down picking up a piece of debris with ease “Here.” Lee Roy warns before gently tossing the debris to Glory. She caught it with a grunt having to hold the debris with both forehooves to carry it.

“You carried a lot more than you could, to prove yourself,” Lee Roy states “But it backfired,”Lee Roy adds.

Glory puts down the debris “Then, how can I -” She pauses finally sitting defeated.

“One hundred and ten percent.” Lee Roy stated making Glory lift her head. “I haven’t met many guards that were mares, but if you want to prove yourself, you must complete the tasks you are given.” Lee Roy chuckled “When I was an initiate they had me shining armor all day, so I made the armor shine so bright the the very sun was jealous. ”

“But.” Glory starts looking down again. She looks up at Lee Roy and then to Twilight.

“I think what Lee Roy is trying to say, is that you should prove that you can do this job to the best of your ability and give it as much attention as you would any other. If you want to prove yourself, the best way is to give it your all.” Twilight states confidently.

“You’re right, then. I’ll do this better than anyone else.” Glory declares with new fire in her eyes.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Lee Roy says with a laugh, giving her a mighty pat on the shoulder and making her helmet go crooked again.

“If you would excuse me, Twilight, I’ll need to get back to what I was doing.” Glory insists, giving a confident nod while straightening her helmet a final time. “And thank you for your words of encouragement, sir.” Glory says giving him another salute.

“You’re welcome.” Lee Roy says, giving her a nod, returning the salute by slamming his hoof to his heart once again.

Glory laughs, “Twilight was right. You are old-fashioned. The guard stopped using that salute a long time ago.” She states.

Lee Roy only nods, keeping quiet with his normal stony expression.

“Thank you, Glory, but before we go did you happen to see the Princesses?” Twilight asks.

“No, I haven’t, but I’ve heard that Luna was helping with the repairs they must be at the castle.” Glory replies.

Twilight had thought as much. “Thank you anyway. Goodbye, Glory.” She replies.

Twilight and Lee Roy left without another word, leaving Glory to watch diligently. They were wasting no more time heading straight for the castle.

They finally arrive to her relief, the castle was in full alert guards peppering everywhere outside the castle gates. The guard took one look at Twilight and they let her and her company pass a guard mentioning that Celestia was waiting for her arrival.

Lee Roy kept that ever-present that ever predictable stoic, stony expression so it was hard to see what he was thinking.

Twilight could only hope Celestia could shed some light on this mysterious stallion.

They walked straight toward the throne room, their hooves echoing throughout the marble halls until finally, they reach their destination with surprising ease.

Celestia sat on her throne doing what had to be a large amount of paperwork. Her quill danced quickly aglow with her magic as it also held multiple sheets that could be nothing but reports skimming them with urgency. She sighed sounding a little stressed. Twilight can understand why, with the recent events.

Twilight trots towards Celestia. “Princess Celestia!” She calls out cheerfully.

Celestia instantly looks up from her work and beams. “Twilight Sparkle!” She exclaims, matching the cheerfulness. She stands and gracefully trots over to nuzzle Twilight - keeping some paperwork aloft with her magic.

Celestia suddenly gasps “What a wonderful bow, wherever did you get that.” Celestia says, looking Twilight up and down.

“Well-” Twilight tries to answer.

“Hey, Sunbutt!” Lee Roy calls nonchalantly.

Celestia suddenly drops the papers she was keeping aloft with her magic. Celestia turns to the source just staring her face in complete shock.

She was floored. Why would Lee Roy say such a thing - especially just after telling Glory she should talk to her better.
What was he thinking!? She could not help a sudden twinge of anger she was ready to give him a scalding of a lifetime.

Until Celestia suddenly cautiously steps towards him, as if he could disappear at any moment. The look of disbelief stuck on her face.

“Lee Roy?” Celestia mutters, just audible enough for them to hear.

“No, it’s Santa Hooves.” Lee Roy replies with a wide smile.

Celestia suddenly breaks into a gallop and half tackles, half hugs Lee Roy - flooring Lee Roy in his surprise. Tears stream down Celestia’s face but she smiles brightly.
Twilight, in all her years of being her student, had never once seen her like this. What is going on?

“Oh, Lee Roy it’s You, I-.” Celestia chokes up and continues to hug Lee Roy. “We thought we had lost you for good,” Celestia says through tears.
Lee Roy suddenly stands pulling Celestia with him holding her, a large wide smile on his face.
“Celestia, you did it! You united the tribes, they speak to each other now, true peace.” Lee Roy says, nuzzling Celestia.

“I’ve seen them, I’m so proud of you!” Lee Roy continues picking her up and giving her a quick spin laughing merrily then holding her in a close embrace.

Celestia only hugs him tightly, clearly overtaken with emotion, tears continuing to stream down her face.

What’s going on, Twilight repeats to herself.

Celestia suddenly stops, breaking away from Lee Roy. “Luna! We have to get Luna!” Celestia says excitedly, wiping her tears and galloping towards a nearby window.

“Luna! Luna! Come quick!” Celestia yells out the window. She then shifts on her hooves, looking to Twilight like an excited school pony, as she waits. Twilight could only repeat her last thought - what is going on.

Not long after Luna, her eyes sagging hair a slight mess as if she just put her head on a pillow floats in - curiously wearing possum slippers she has never seen. Her face filled with worry. “What is it, sister, what is wrong? You look like you have been crying.” Luna utters upon seeing Celestia.

Celestia stays quiet, looking on the verge of tears once again. “Hey, nice slippers, Mooner.” Lee Roy states, grabbing Luna’s attention.

Luna develops the same look of shock that Celestia was wearing. She turns to the stallion and she steps forwards a little. “L-lee Roy?” Luna says, her voice meek.

“Why do you guys keep asking me that? It’s like you’ve forgotten me.” Lee Roy says with that wide smile of his.

Luna breaks into a gallop as well, diving and giving Lee Roy a hug. She then suddenly breaks away, with Twilight expecting to see the tears that Celestia had. They are replaced by Luna’s look of anger. Luna takes a hoof and gives Lee Roy a mighty slap on the face that echoed throughout the throne room.

“Ow! Hey!” Lee Roy says, holding his cheek and giving a sigh. “Okay, maybe I deserved that after what I did.” He says, rubbing his cheek with care.

Luna’s expression of anger melts almost instantly and tears begin to stream down her face. She gives Lee Roy another hug, in which is shortly joined by Celestia. They stay like that for a while - the two Princesses crying and hugging Lee Roy, the three of them nuzzling each other. Twilight can’t hold it in any longer.

“Could somepony please tell me what is going on!” Twilight yells.

The two look up at her like they just remembered her, wiping their tears from their faces once again.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, you must have so many questions,” Celestia states as she takes a deep breath, calming herself. “Let’s all go sit down.” She says, magically picking up all the papers from the ground with one swift motion of her horn and motioning for the group to follow her.

Celestia leads the group to a small room - a sitting room. The room is small, cozy, warm and inviting. Bookshelves line the walls and a small table is stuck right in the middle of the room, surrounded by comfy looking chairs.

They all take their seats and get comfortable. Celestia takes a breath. “Okay, Twilight, what do you want to know?” Celestia asks.

“Well, everything really,” Twilight says sheepishly.

Celestia looks at Lee Roy then back at Twilight. “Lee Roy was a colt with a fantastic power that Starswirl had found. He had the dream of becoming captain of the royal guard. Lee Roy came to be the youngest ever Royal Protector in Equestrian history.” Celestia explains.

“This was all the way back when we were still foals,” Luna adds.

“Right. Lee Roy not only became our Royal Protector but our first real friend outside the castle of the two sisters.” Celestia explains.

Twilight’s mind is reeling. She never thought Lee Roy would be that important, Well until she met Glory, but she had something else on her mind.

“Celestia, how long do you think Lee Roy had been in that statute?” Twilight asks, Lee Roy listening in closely.

Celestia pauses and she trades a sad expression with Luna and then to Lee Roy. “He has been in that state for one thousand years,” Celestia confirms, her expression dark.

Lee Roy looks a little floored - almost like he did when he was in the castle of the two sisters. It is hard to determine the extent of his feelings, as his ever-present stony expression made it hard to tell anything, really.

“Are you sure?” Lee Roy mutters, his expression stoic as he stares intently at Celestia.

Celestia only nods, confirming that what she said was indeed the truth.

Twilight quickly racks her mind for another question. Anything to get them off this topic.

“Uh, Lee Roy was saying something about uniting the tribes. Didn’t you do that a long time ago?” Twilight asks abruptly.

“Yes, when we were put on the throne to rule Equestria, we did unite the tribes into one nation, but-.” Celestia trails off, looking at Lee Roy.

“But, that didn’t mean they mingled or got along all the time. Pegasi would only live with pegasi, unicorns would only live with unicorns, heck they didn’t speak the same language half the time.” Lee Roy reports, sitting back and lets out a loud sigh.
“The only time they would see the other if they were visiting the other’s capital or buying food from the earth ponies. That’s not to say there weren’t exceptions, as with my parents. The pony folk just wanted to be with their own kind and ignore the others. ” Lee Roy shrugged.

“It was quite the problem back then.” Luna adds, “but that was almost one thousand-ish years ago.” She nods.

Twilight racks her mind once more. “Didn’t you say that Lee Roy had a ‘Power’? He said he has a curse.” She asks, holding back her curiosity.

Luna turns to Twilight. “Lee Roy has the power to be immune to all magic. It saved him and us many times.” Luna explains.

What? That’s just insane, immunity to all forms of magic, that can’t possibly be true. But Twilight had seen it with her own eyes. She had seen her magic have no effect, watched her barrier warp around him. This completely contradicts everything she has learned about magic and friendship to an extent. Twilight’s mind is officially blown, everything that she had learned told her that this was impossible.

She wanted nothing more than to study Lee Roy and ask a billion questions, but she desperately holds it in but could not help squirming in her seat.

Lee Roy scoffs, pulling Twilight out of her thought process. “I wouldn’t call a ‘power’ something that can’t allow you to be held by your mother’s magic.” Lee Roy remarks shaking his head.

Luna sighs. “It is clear what Lee Roy thinks of his abilities, but my sister and I think otherwise,” Luna says, turning to Twilight.

“What about his other abilities?” Twilight questions.

“What other abilities?” Celestia says with an eyebrow raised.

Twilight gives Celestia the ‘are you kidding me’ look. “How about Lee Roy’s massive strength?” Twilight says with an eyebrow raised.

Lee Roy chuckles. “If you think I could move mountains, you are mistaken. The ponies of Equestria have always been over ...” he begins, pausing to think of the right word. “... Zealous, with what I could actually do. Not to say I’m not strong because I am. Just not as much as ponies think.” Lee Roy states, stretching.

“Says the guy that punched a hydra away.” Twilight remarks with a raised eyebrow.

“You punched a hydra!?” Luna gasps.

“What happened on your little adventure? Celestia says placing a hof upon her chest. “Is it why you have the bow on your horn?” Celestia expertly deduces.

“Oh no, Lee Roy gave it to me after are misunderstanding” Twilight states.

“Lee Roy!” The princesses shout shooting him piercing glares.

“What! I thought they were changelings or an evil spell!” Lee Roy announces “In what time or place, other than the heavenly skies would you be greeted by not one, not two, but six young mares!” Lee Roy stated, “It was very suspicious.” Lee Roy adds crossing his forearms.

Twilight shifted her gaze to the princesses, each of them had the same expression - they were not buying it.

“Did you even talk to them?” Celestia says raising an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Lee Roy confirms.

“Not in pony latin?” Luna states.

Lee Roy stayed silent for bit until he suddenly let out a big sigh “No.” He states sounding defeated.

“I said I was sorry, a lot and I will talk about this to you two later Princess Twilight still has questions.” Lee Roy states.

She only nods her head still reeling from the exchange but she already had her next question ready. “How did Lee Roy end up a statue?” She announces, and suddenly the air between everypony becomes odd. Everypony seemed to get instantly uncomfortable. Lee Roy and Luna share a stare - although about what Twilight could only speculate.

Did I say something wrong? She thought, as the air suddenly grew very tense, so much so that Twilight could swear you could cut the tension with a knife.

“Medusa,” Celestia says in a serious tone. “She came from the south. She started to turn everything to stone. The ground, the trees... Ponies.” She trails off.

Something about Medusa is nagging at her, she clearly remembers this part of equestrian history but, something. She made a mental note to check her history books later.

Luna suddenly jumps into the conversation. “My sister saw in her visions that Lee Roy would fight Medusa but be turned to stone. My sister’s visions are absolute and she tried to warn him, but Lee Roy was-.” Luna was trying to say until interrupted.

“A big stupid knucklehead, and went to fight anyway.” Lee Roy finishes, making them all smile. “That reminds me, why was I in the castle?” Lee Roy questions.

Celestia and Luna look at each other.

“We brought you to the castle to find a cure of course, but with your… gift, we lost hope.” Celestia says looking down at the floor. “We eventually put you into the gardens, so we could always visit you.” She adds.

“You used me as a garden ornament!? For pigeons to poop on for the next one thousand years!?” Lee Roy says with an eyebrow raised, but by his expression, he is clearly joking.

“Lee Roy! This is no time to be joking.” Celestia snaps, her expression betraying her words as she smiles a little.

“I’m sorry, Cele, I should have listened.” Lee Roy mutters, worry suddenly in his eyes.

Celestia looks to be on the verge of tears again. “Lee Roy, I’m just glad that I was wrong and you weren’t gone for good.” Getting up to hug the big stallion again.

Luna joins in the hug, Lee Roy holding them close. They took a quick moment before they freed themselves from their embrace.

Celestia turns to her and gives her a big hug, “Twilight, thank you for finding Lee Roy. This is such a good gift for our day of celebration.” She beams.

“Yes, thank you,” Luna says, sounding a little choked up.

“You’re welcome.” She breaths, a wonderful feeling washing over her.

“What are you going to do now?” Twilight says, getting up and turning to Lee Roy.

“I don’t know about you, but there is a party I want to get back to.” Lee Roy pauses looking at Celestia, then back to Twilight. “You go on without me, I would like to stay here for a while longer.” Lee Roy breaths with a small smile.

Lee Roy watches as Princess Twilight left for home, Celestia by his side once again.

“And that was what happened.” Lee Roy reports. “Yeah, it was stupid of me, huh,” he adds rubbing his neck.

“Yeah, pretty stupid,” Celestia confirms.

“Oh, thanks.” He says both sharing a smile.

They sit near a window, viewing the sun as it slowly began to set, Celestia’s horn aglow just like old times.

“Lee Roy...” Celestia murmurs, quickly trailing off looking to the floor.

Lee Roy turns to her. “What, you’re not going to cry again are you?” He teases, trying hard to hide his emotions.

H-he doesn’t want to believe it. They’re gone... Everypony, even.

Her.

His heart ached, he couldn’t help but clutch the tuft of fur on his chest.

One thousand years.

“Lee Roy I’m-” Celestia starts.

“No!’ He shouts. “Don’t” He states.

Celestia swallows hard, closing the distance in where they sat for a gentle embrace.

Lee Roy remembers these famous embraces well they always made him feel better when they were just foals.

This time was different.

“Cele what should I do now?” He asks not looking at her.

“You... You could try to make some friends?” Celestia answers.

Yup, this is still Celestia, she is still going on with her friendship stuff.

Well, he is glad that some things never change.

“You two are the only friends I need.” Putting a hoof on her shoulder.

“I’m just glad I got to see you two again.” Lee Roy states.

Lee Roy stands “I don’t mean to leave so soon, but I have a promise to keep.” He states walking away before stopping short a few paces.

But, before I go.” Lee Roy states.

“Yes, Lee Roy?” Celestia answers.

“Where in Tartarus is that disgusting worm Discord?’ Lee Roy asks coldly.

Author's Note

Next Chapter, Bayu Bayushki Bayu