A Voice Like Water

After tea and my impromptu private concert, As agreed we made our way out to the sparring grounds behind the armory. As we went, I accessed my physical condition. As a specimen, yes, I was intimidating. With my more than six-foot profile, shark teeth and yellow slit-pupiled eyes, I knew many would quail before me. But my current opponents knew it was all a friendly competition, intimidation wouldn't matter to them.

With my tail, I wouldn't be able to maneuver a whole bunch, but despite being grounded, a few test punches confirmed I was still fast. Very fast. I guess I would have to compare myself to a viper, I moved quickly, as long as I didn't have to move a lot. I'd probably be taking a Defensive-Counterattack stance. I had extremely good sensory ability, so defense wouldn't be a bad idea.

My new body had nine senses, as opposed to my old ones five. The normal ones, taste, touch, sight, smell, hearing, plus several more. First, my ear flaps, while capable of traditional hearing, also were extremely sensitive to vibrations, giving me a sort of limited spatial sense, almost akin to echolocation. On my snout, I had a pair of thermal pits, like a boa, capable of sensing infrared radiation. These, essentially, gave me heat vision. I also had lateral lines along the side of my body like a shark, giving me electroreception, the ability to feel electrical current. And finally, some sort of hydrosense, an ability to feel Water. I knew that there was a well of her a few hundred feet below me, and a fountain of her in the courtyard, and about a million other places thoughout the castle. Honestly, they all seemed a bit redundant to me, who needs NINE senses? I would've been overwhelmed by it all had my brain not been bigger as a result of my transformation.

I digress. With me, there were two kinds of fight; Easy, and No Fight at All. I'm not bragging, either, when I was a police officer, I will admit that I went a bit overkill with my extra training, even going as far as to journey to Shaolin and train with the monks there. I was a master of Six Harmonies style, and also practiced Eagle and Snake styles. Over the years they started to blend together into my own personal style of fighting that focused on defensive counterrattack, because criminals always attack first or don't attack at all.

I would be squaring off against Shiny first. Celestia and Cadence were watching a safe distance away. No idea where Luna went. I yanked a spear off the rack and, using my tail, snapped the end off. I rolled my neck and arms, cracking joints along the way. Then, I tensed my lower back and tail, cracking the vertabrae in my spine. All fourteen feet of them. It was glorious.

"Don't hurt my Shining Armor!" Cadence called. I smiled at her and held up two claws, roughly an inch apart. "Just a little?"

Apparently, Shiny likes to fight dirty. He tried to use my distraction as an advantage. I heard the little jingly sound that horns make when they do magic, indicating he was charging a spell. I started the music. It would help me concentrate. When he released the spell, I whipped my staff around, blocking the blast. The wood was slightly charred where it struck, probably nonlethal, but it would sting if I got hit.

"Sorry, Shiny, but you're going to have to do better than that."

"Where in Tartarus is that music coming from?"

"You mean this isn't normal?"

Apparently, Shiny also is not one for banter. I developed a bit of a habit of bantering while fighting, because A, serial killers are crazy, so they like to talk, and B, I have the mental capacity to do it. So, rather than answer me, he let loose another volley of magic blasts. These were relatively easy to block, as his horn had to point where he was aiming, and the blasts were highly visible. I moved slowly toward him as I did this, reminding myself of a Jedi as I spun my staff. He started to look nervous and redoubled his efforts. I was within striking distance and he started to show signs of fatigue. By now I was to close for him to be accurate. He began charging a spell, this one larger than the rest. I closed the distance between us and asked him something I'd been meaning to ask ever since I got here.

"Hey, Shiny..."

".........What?" His voiced was strained from the concentration he was putting into this new spell. I had a feeling it would be a big one.

"You got any feeling in that horn?"

"What?"

SMACK!

That last sound was me cracking him across the horn like I was hitting a baseball. This prompted him to cry out in pain and fall onto his side, the spell discharging and taking out a big chunk of the armory. It also illicited a gasp from Cadence, and prompted Barricade to charge me like a bull. Of course, I didn't see this, but when you're flapping that fast, it's hard not to hear you. Without moving my body, I swung the stick behind me, blocking her flurry of hooves.

I turned around, keeping her at bay with the staff. "Ah, Mevrouw Shy, you present me with a dilemma. In all my years, I have never been able to bring myself to hit a fine-mannered lady such as yourself."

She actually growled from the frustration. "That stick is so unfair!"

Without hesitation, I tossed it aside. Just as I planned, she immediately divebombed me. Unfortunately for her, she was too close to get any real momentum, so I sidestepped and grabbed her waist. Before she knew what was happening, I had her in a headlock, pressing tightly against her back. I felt her wings attempt to flare. She was getting...... awfully hot. A wicked grin crossed my face and I began to whisper in her ear.

"You haven't been handled like this in a long time, hmm? Don't you feel so....." I gently moved my free claw down her belly.

"Helpless? I could do anything I wanted to you right now, and there's nothing you could do about it. It's a shame, a pikant pegasus like you, being left so....." I began to moved my claw softly in little circles over her sensitive stomach.

"Unsatisfied?" She gave an adorable EEP just like her daughter and began to wriggle in my grip. I let her go and gave her a light pat on the rump as she flew away to hide, her cheeks a bright scarlet. Two down. I heard Harbinger give a grunt as he stood up. As I slithered to greet him, I passed Shining attempting to get to his feet, appearing more dazed than hurt.

"Don't make me kick you while you're down, Shiny. It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me." Taking the hint, he flopped back down, seeming almost grateful. Now, for Harby.

Did he get bigger all of the sudden? I picked up my staff from the ground.

"Do you mind if I use this?"

"Nervous, Zeeslang?"

"Cautious, my dear Harby." Nervous, but never uncomfortable.

Of course, he made the first move. They always do. He swung one of his tree-trunk hooves at me. I could almost hear the power in it as I ducked under. If he had hit me, I probably would have to deal with broken ribs and internal bleeding. Not pleasant.

Now for my counterrattack. I swung the staff with as much force as I could muster into his barrel. And guess what happened?

It shattered.

It just fucking SHATTERED.

Like a piece of fucking matchwood.

"Okay, NOW I'm nervous." He laughed like freaking Santa Clause before punching me so hard in the face that I flew backwards, my tail flailing like a streamer, and smashed into what was left of the armory. My scales protected me from the sharp bits of rubble, but as I said before, now I would be dealing with broken ribs and internal bleeding. Not gonna be pleasant.

Water.

WATER!

I felt her to the right. A little canteen of her. She would help me! I crawled with my arms, tail dragging behind me. Reaching with my claw, I picked the little tin container with the gingerness of a mother to her child. I then held it above my head and crushed it like a beer can, catching some of the sweet nectar in my mouth and pouring the rest over my face. The fiery pain in my head receded and was replaced with a warm, jittery energy. My new slit-pupils dilate as this unexpected fuel rises in me. I must act now, lest it go away.

Jezus Christ.

"I'M...... ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!" Tucking my arms at my sides and using my whole body for locomotion, I gain intense speed, covering the fifty feet I flew in seconds. I fling myself at my friend like a pit viper and, latching on with my claws, I wrap my tail around his midsection and begin to squeeze the life out of him like a python. His massive amounts of muscle tense under me, fighting me. I squeeze harder, overpower him. He can't move, he can't speak, he can't breathe. I keep squeezing till he goes limp. It is done. I relax. I let out one final scream before the fire consumes me.

"I THINK I'M HAVING A HEART ATTACK!"

Then I black out.

(AN INDISCERNABLE AMOUNT OF TIME LATER)

Vroeger was ik vraag me af wat vriendschap zou kunnen zijn,

"I think he's waking up!"

Totdat jullie allemaal deelde de magie met me,

"He took a bad hit. It's a wonder he's still breathing."

Groot avontuur, veel plezier, een prachtig hart, trouw en sterk,

"Where's that water we sent for?"

Het delen van vriendelijkheid, het is een eenvoudige opgave,

"I hope he comes out of it okay..."

En magie maakt het helemaal compleet, My Little Pony...

"What the hay is he singing?"

Weet je niet je bent mijn beste vrienden!

SPLASH!

"WAH!" Water jumped at me, and her prescence woke me.

"Ach, hoe lang was ik uit?" I felt strange... and my jaw hurt.

"Equestrian. We don't speak crazy serpent language." Barricade stood over me, looking concerned.

"How long was I out?" I still felt the dusty ground of the sparring arena, so it coudn't have been that long.

"About fifteen minutes."

Fifteen minutes... what knocked me out in the first place?

Het Laden...

Het Laden...

Het Laden...

Gebruiken TraumauticMemory.exe? [J] [N]

[J]

Verwerking...

Verwerking...

Verwerking...

Gedaan.

"OH MIJN GOD I KILLED HARBY!" I jumped to my tail.

"No, you didn't, shut up and sit down." Barry pushed me back down with a hoof. I started to rock back and forth
until she slapped me and I went into scary-calm mode.

"What did you do with the body?" I asked, the picture of serenity.

"HARBY ISN'T DEAD, YOU IDIOT! He woke up a few minutes before you did! I've seen that stallion take a cannon to the face and trot it off!" She deadpanned.

"So..... I didn't kill Harby?" I asked, giving her a skeptical look.

"NO!"

"Oh, dank God, Jezus, en al zijn discipelen." I gave her a big hug, causing her to blush horribly. That reminded me...

"And, uh... Sorry for, uh... (ahem) molesting you earlier. I'm as much a psychological fighter as a... physical one. I guess I didn't really think about how that would affect our future relationship. It was uncalled-for and very ungentlemanly of me."

She broke the hug with a smile. "Don't worry about it, Zee. I've been through worse. This one time, a bunch of zebras tried to worship me as their goddess of mating and fertility. It didn't end well." I decided to stop her before she got into it. While her stories were amusing, I really didn't have time right now.

"Tell me later, I want to see Harby."

"Oh, he's over there." She pointed with a hoof. He was sitting on his haunches over by the now-destroyed armory. I slithered over to him. I don't think he saw me.

"Hey, big guy."

"Zee!" He immediately jumped to his hooves and gave me a huge hug, nearly crushing me. After a few seconds, he reined in his strength and dropped me.

"Good to see you, too." I laughed and rolled my shoulders

"I thought I killed you!"

"I thought I killed you!"

"Nah, I only passed out a little while. You looked bad, though."

"As well I did, that was a hell of a punch! Guess how many teeth I'm missing now?"

"I saw two on the ground..."

"Twaalf."

"TWELVE?"

"Ja. Well, I have like two honderd now, so it's not a big deal-"

"Hate to interrupt, boys, but, we've got a captain to report to." Barricade cut in.

(A FEW MINUTES OF BORING WALKING LATER)

After a few minutes walk we finally made it to the picnic table that the trio of princesses and Shining Armor had
set up in the garden. It was laden with various foods.

"Luna! Where were you? You missed an amazing fight!" I gave her a hug, then bowed and exchanged pleasantries with the other princesses and the captain.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Yes, amazing. From what I heard, two of the combatants ended up unconscious, another smitten in a corner, and the last one with a sore horn and a migraine."

I turned to Shining Armor. "Ja, excuses about that. I hope I didn't hurt you too bad."

"Yeah, like the princess said, just a sore horn and a headache. I'll be fine."

Luna cleared her throat. "Well, since we are gathered here, now is as good a time as any." She turned to me. "While you were having your 'amazing fight,' we were at our forge, smithing your badge."

"My badge?"

"Yes. A Mustang's badge has not been forged in over a thousand years, and for good reason. They are very powerful artifacts, even I, do not know the full extent of their power. They are created by bonding two of the rarest and most magical metals in Equestria, Solar Gold and Lunar Silver, into a solid piece. This feat is impossible for anyone other than me and Tia, as the metals repel each other like the poles of a magnet. The badges form a magical bond with their Mustang, and while they wear it, none can doubt their authority."

She turned to Shining Armor. "Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, if you have any doubt in Zeeslangs abilities in combat, voice them now."

Shiny saluted. "Much as I hate to admit it, he bested me and my fellow captains. He'll get the job done, and he'll get it done right. I'm glad he'll be on our side."

She addressed her sister. "Princess Celestia, if you see any blemishes upon Zeeslangs body, mind, or spirit, bring them to light."

Tia looked at me, hard. After a few seconds, she spoke; "His body is strong, his mind is clear, his heart is pure. He will make a fine Mustang."

"If anypony here can see any reason why Zeeslang should not be granted the title of Mustang, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

No one spoke.

"It is settled then." She pulled a round badge out of her... necklace-hauberk-thing... with her magic and made it float a few inches in front of my chest.

"Zeeslang, do you accept this badge, as well as the power and responsibility that it entails?"

"Ja."

She nodded once, and attached the badge to my harness. It felt... connected... now.

It had no pin, so I assumed it attached magically. As she promised, one half was gold and the other, silver. The halves were intricately wrought with a carving of the sun and moon intertwined. The gold half was carved like the sun, and the silver half like the moon. It was beautiful. I could almost feel its power against my chest. I saluted crisply as I was forcefully reminded of my graduation from the police academy.

"Great, now that that's over, let's eat! We got some pretty heavy training to do tomorrow!" Barry chimed in, ruining the moment.

And so we did. And it was pretty good.