The Knights Trinity

Chapter Four: Meeting the Gang

Dustin found their rooms and knocked on Anthony and Adrian’s doors. Adrian cracked the door open just far enough to see out. When he saw Dustin he opened it the rest of the way.

“So whats goin on?” he asked, stepping out into the hallway.

“Lets get Anthony, I have some info to share.”

They knocked on the door to Anthony’s room. It slowly opened as Anthony peered out rubbing his eyes.

Dustin walked in and looked around the room, which was almost identical to his own except the curtains were red. There also seemed to be a door leading out onto a small balcony.

“Okay guy’s here’s the deal. Tomorrow they wanna take us to see a Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at the capital city. Apparently, these two are the rulers here and they know how we got here.”

“So we’re gonna get some answers.” said Anthony.

“Yeah, and their going to make us lunch today. Twilight said they’ll let us know when its ready. We should keep thinks quiet on our end. I’m not sure how much they know so lets figure it out.

“So is everyone here a horse?” asked Adrian.

“As far as I can tell, but their not just horses. Some are pegasus, unicorns, and regular horses. The ruling class are Alicorns, which are kind of a mix of all three.”

Adrian looked at Dustin and shook his head.

“So this is what happened to all the mythical creatures from earth huh. Why not? I mean we have dragons, unicorns, pegasus. What else? Are we gonna run into minotaurs, centaurs, and ligers next?”

“Come on dude enough with the smartass remarks.”said Anthony with a stern look.

“We’re here now so we take it as it comes until we get it all sorted out.”

Suddenly there were two loud thumps on the balcony.

The trio ran to the glass doors and out onto the balcony. Looking around they saw a gray pegasus with a blonde mane in a heap on the floor against the wall. Dustin and Anthony ran over to it and knelt down.

“Are you alright?” asked Anthony.

The gray pony sprang to her feet causing Anthony to fall over backwards.

“Special Delivery.” she said as if nothing had happened.

Anthony looked at her trying to figure out if it was he or Dustin she was talking to. Her eyes seemed to be looking in opposite directions. She bent her head back and pulled three letters from her saddlebag. Anthony took the letters and stood up.

Dustin leaned forward and looked her over for injury.

“You should really be more careful. Did you just crash into the castle?

“Yeah, I’m a little, I’m a little clumsy.”

“A little?” said Adrian with a laugh, earning him a glare from the other two.

“I’m Dustin, this is Anthony and that’s Adrian.”

“I’m Derpy, Derpy Hooves.”

“Well Derpy how did you know which room we were in from outside.” asked Anthony.

“I didn’t. Pinkie told me you were all at the castle and I was on my way here. I flew into a cloud and before I made it out I crashed into a wall.”

“Well are you sure your alright?”

“Yeah, it happens all the time. Anyway I gotta go, there’s a lot more invitations to deliver.”

“Alright Derpy, just be careful okay.” said Dustin.

“No problem.” shouted Derpy flying off to town.

Adrian started laughing. “Can you believe that! A walleyed pegasus. So I guess this isn’t a perfect world after all.”

Anthony started chuckling at the irony as well.

Dustin just looked at the two and walked back into the room.

“So whats with these party invitations?” asked Anthony as he walked into his room.

“Well apparently a pony named Pinkie Pie is throwing us a “Welcome to Equestria” party.”

“So what do we do with our weapons?” asked Adrian. “I didn’t see anyplace to safely secure them.”

“I guess we take em with us.” replied Dustin. They don’t know what guns are so we should clear them before hand to prevent any accidents.”

Anthony agreed with the idea.

“I’d rather have em anyway just in case things aren’t what they seem.”

“Okay well I’m gonna go get cleaned up for lunch. We are dining with a princess after all. It wouldn’t be a bad idea if we all looked somewhat presentable.” said Dustin as he walked out the door.

The three showered, shaved and put on clean uniforms. Once they were done they rejoined Anthony in his room to discuss the days events in more detail.

After a while there came a hard knock on the door.

Anthony walked over and opened it to find Spike on the other side.

“Its time to eat. Please follow me?”

Together they followed the dragon to the dining room.

“What is that? It smells delicious.” said Anthony as they walked up into the room.

There, seated around a rather short table were six ponies chatting among themselves. When they saw the three humans they all stood. Dustin stepped forward towards the table.

“Anthony, Adrian let me introduce you to everybody.

“Everypony.” corrected Twilight.

“Right. Everypony. This is Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and you already know Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“You can call me Twilight.” she said with a nod. “Come here and join us.”

The three walked up to the table and realized the easiest thing would be to sit on the floor due to the table height.

As they sat down Spike came in carrying a few covered platters which he placed on the round table.

“Is that fried chicken?” asked Adrian, nearly drooling.

There was a collective gasp around the table.

“Humans are carnivores!. How simple dreadful.” said Rarity, causing Fluttershy to visible quiver.

“Actually we are omnivores, meaning we can live off a plant or meat diet.” replied Anthony.

“That’s good to hear because we don’t eat meat.” said Twilight.

Twilight lifted the covers off the food with her magic and moved them down to the waiting dragon. The three humans stared wide eyed as a purple aura covered the lids and they levitated across the table.

“How does that work?” asked Anthony still dumbfounded. “Is it some kind of trick?

“All unicorns and alicorns can use magic.” said Twilight with a smile. “We simple concentrate on an object then focus on what we want it to do. After you practice a lot it becomes almost second nature. Some of us can also learn and cast various defensive and offensive spells. That’s what you saw this afternoon by the forest. Even earth ponies use magic to make plants grow at a rapid pace. Isn’t there any magic on earth?”

“Yeah we have magic, but it’s sleigh of hand and parlor tricks. It’s nothing like what we’ve seen you do. There are legends in our history about mages and magicians that could use that kind of magic. Even stories about witches that would cast spells to curse people. Nothing that has ever been able to be proven though.” replied Anthony.

“For that matter, unicorns and pegasi are depicted in old books and artwork. But to us they are considered mythical creatures.” added Adrian.

“Here you are considered the mythical creatures. So no humans possess any magic. That’s interesting I’d li...

“Boooring” yawned Rainbow Dash.

“So what did the three of you do on earth? Was it something awesome?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Well, We were soldiers in our country’s army. We protect our country and our allies from anyone that threatened us.” replied Dustin.

“So you fought monsters and stuff to protect everypony.” “See I told ya they’d be awesome!!” added Rainbow Dash as she nudged Applejack’s shoulder

“Sadly not Rainbow Dash, we fought other humans.”

Twilight looked over in confusion.

“Why would you fight other humans?”

“Fights would break out between many countries for a variety of reasons. They would fight over resources, land, religious beliefs, or simply for power and control.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very happy life.” came the soft voice of Fluttershy.

“Well most humans live a pretty peaceful life. Only the armies of a country fight. Our country tends to only fight if we or our allies are attacked. So when we fight we try to prevent harm from coming to anyone not in the opposing army.” said Dustin.

“So ya’ll er more like protectors.” said Applejack.

“Yeah something like that.”

An awkward silence settled on the room.

“Anyway how bout that food it smells delicious.” said Anthony changing the topic.

The group dug into the waiting meal and idly chatted about the differences of earth and Equestria. The ponies even started teaching the humans about pony etiquette and language usage so they wouldn’t feel to awkward when meeting the princesses.

“I never would have thought I’d be full from eating fried daisies and oat patties.” chuckled Anthony patting his stomach.

“Well silly, I hope you left some room for dessert because there will be all sorts of goodies for you to try at your party tonight.” said Pinkie Pie as she bounced by.

“Does she really need more sugar?” asked Adrian as he watched the pink pony bounding around the room. “I mean she’s already hyper. Where does all that energy come from.”

“Don’ ask, and don’ try and figure it out neither.” said Applejack with a laugh.

“Twilight tried to once and I though we was gonna hafta put her in the hospital.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” replied Adrian with a smile.

“Well guys, what are we doin this afternoon?” said Anthony looking at his friends.

Twilight trotted over and tapped on Anthony’s leg with.

“What is it princess?” he asked.

“Please just call me Twilight. I was wondering if you’d join me for a little while. I have so many questions and I need to document a lot, you are the first humans I’ve met and our information about your kind is very limited.

“I’d love to, if you don’t mind me asking a few questions in return. This place is all pretty strange to us as well.” relied Anthony as he stood up.

When he glanced down at Twilight he saw she was nervously staring at the two weapons he carried.

“Is something the matter?” he asked.

“Its just I notice all three of you are carrying those weapons. Do you really feel threatened here? We ponies here in Ponyville are peaceful we’d never do anything to hurt you or your friends.”

“Of course not. Its a matter of not having a safe place to keep them. We don’t want anybo...pony intentionally or accidentally using them. We just feel more comfortable if they are with us, that way we don’t have to worry.”

“So if I could provide you with a safe place to store them, you wouldn’t feel the need to carry them?”

“If we are convinced that we are the only ones who will have access to them, then in the future we would consider it.”

“Alright I’ll see what I can do.” replied Twilight as she led the way out of the dining room.

“Thank you Twilight. We appreciate everything you all have done for us.” said Dustin as he left the dining room and towards the large doors heading outside.

“So Adrian whatcha all do back home fer fun?” asked Applejack.

“What do humans wear besides those ghastly uniforms darling? Surely not all humans have a total lack of fashion.”

“Now Rarity, yer just bein rude.”

“I’m sorry dear, I hope I didn’t offend you. I’m always looking for inspiration for my next line of clothes, and I have a feeling humans are going to be all the talk of Equestria before to long.”

“It’s alright, Fashion is actually a really big deal on earth I think you’d fit in well.” replied Adrian kindly.

“Really!!” squealed Rarity in excitement. “You simply must tell me more.”

“Excuse me Rarity, but I was tryin ta have a conversation with em til you butted in.” said Applejack with a snort.

“Well sorrryy Applejack, I didn’t realize you were the only one with permission to converse with our new friend.”

“Now Rarity ya know that ain’t what I was sayin.”

“Alright girls there is no point in arguing over me. I can answer your questions, if you both slow down and give me a chance.” replied Adrian holding out his hands to calm the two mares down.

Dustin walked out into the grass in front of the castle and laid down, lighting a cigarette.

He stared up at the cloudless sky and closed his eyes.

“This has all got to be a dream. I’m gonna open my eyes and wake up in Iraq or in a hospital bed somewhere.” he though as memories of his wife and kids passed through his mind.

“Whatcha doin?” came a somewhat familiar voice, invading his peace.

Dustin opened his eyes and sat up, finding the young Scootaloo looking at him with a questioning expression?

“Just relaxing, and trying to wrap my head around things is all. This place is really different then where we come from.”

“Different in a bad way?” replied Scootaloo with a frown.

“No, not in a bad way, its just back where we come from I have a family, with a couple kids of my own.”

“So you miss you goats?”

Dustin laughed at the remark.

“No my children. I have three, a son and two daughters.”

“I suppose you miss em huh?”

“Yeah, I was away from home in a different country for over a year and then I wind up here and I’m wondering how much longer I’ll have to wait before I can see them again. That’s why we came here to find the princess. We were told she maybe able to help.”

“Well, Princess Twilight has really powerful magic and knows a lot a spells, and if she can’t help I bet Princess Celestia and Luna can. Their the most powerful alicorns in all Equestria.”

“I certainly hope so.”

“If ya wanted to chillax, ya could have asked me. I know all the best places in Ponyville.” came a call from above them.”

Scootaloo’s eyes went wide.

“Rainbow Dash!” she shouted in excitement.

The rainbow maned mare flew out from a small solitary cloud and landed next to Scootaloo.

“Whats up?” asked Rainbow Dash running her hoof through the filly’s mane.

“He’s missing his family.” replied Scootaloo sadly.

“Well a little excitement will cheer ya right up.” said Rainbow Dash launching herself in the air. “I’m still waiting for you to do something awesome. Or are humans just as lame as almost everypony else around here?”

“I’m not really one for showing off.”

“That’s what I was afraid of, humans are just boring.”

“Alright, you wanna see something cool? Do you have an apple or an orange?”

The pegasus smiled and disappeared in a flash. She returned just a quick carrying a bright red apple.

“Will this work?” she asked presenting the fruit to Dustin.

“Yep,” he replied taking it from her and looking it over.

“I got it from one of Applejack’s apple trees. Just don’t tell her that.”

Dustin grabbed the large red apple and took a bite out of it.

“What? That’s not awesome, that’s just you eating.”

Dustin swallowed, smiled and handed the apple back to Rainbow Dash.

“See that old tree stump out there?”

“Yeah what about it?”

“Go set that apple out on top of it. And make sure there isn’t anybody behind it.”

A questioning look came over the pony’s face, but she did as she was asked.

“Okay, now what.”

“Just watch the apple! Scootaloo you may want to cover your ears, there is going to be a pretty loud bang.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes and smile widened in excitement as the filly laid down covering her ears with her hooves.

“TEST FIRE, TEST FIRE, TEST FIRE!” shouted Dustin as he brought up his rifle and took aim at the apple.

He let his breathing settle and made sure the sight picture was true as he flipped the rifle from safe to fire.

“Come on already.” blurted Rainbow Dash impatiently.

BANG, the rifle called out and almost instantly the apple exploded. Raindow Dash’s mouth dropped open and she flew to the tree stump. Bits of apple littered the ground.

“Wow, mister Dustin. Did you make it do that?” came a small voice from beside him.

“Yep I sure did.”

Rainbow Dash came zooming back, looking closely over the weapon in Dustin’s hands.

“What kind of magic is that. It was great.”

“No magic here, Just quality human engineering.”

…..

Twilight and Anthony sat across from each other at a table in the center of the library. Twilight levitated a quill over top of a scroll quickly writing anything she felt was important.

“What is earth like? More specifically your home.” asked Twilight Quill poised at the ready.

“Believe it or not, it’s kinda like your town here. Families live in houses, we have places to do business. The difference is we have a lot more technology. We have devices that allow us to communicate with people all over our word. We have computers that can figure out complex equations in an instant. They can also access what we call the internet. It provides a worlds worth of knowledge and information at the touch of a few buttons.

Twilight sat staring dreamily at nothing in particular as the ideas and possibilities raced through her head.

“Anthony that sounds amazing. The applications of such a thing are endless. We could revolutionize teaching. Share thoughts and ideas with other like minded ponies all over Equestria. It would allow us to work together to make all ponies live a better life. What would it take to create an internet?”

“I’m sorry Twilight, but from what I’ve seen from your technology level. You would have a long way to go to even consider a system like that.”

“Can’t you teach me?”

“I wouldn’t even no where to began. Back home I used that technology almost everyday but, I never learned how those things were built or made to function. Their are people who go to school for years just to learn how to design and make these things. I studied mechanical engineering which is…”

Anthony stopped mid sentence hearing a shot echo through the castle.

“That’s weird.” remarked Twilight looking out the window, There isn’t suppose to me any rain for a few days. Rainbow Dash must be.”

Anthony grabbed his rifle and jumped to his feet, nearly causing the princess to fall over backwards.

“What’s wrong she cried.” as she righted herself and chased him out the door into the hallway.

Halfway down the hall Adrian ran out of the dining hall and joined Anthony as a group of confused ponies followed close behind them.

They ran out the front doors of the castle and heard Dustin’s voice around the corner. Weapons at the ready they rounded the corner and stopped, scanning the area.

“Oh hey guys. Did you hear that in there?” asked Dustin with a grin.

“You know damn well we did, asshole. What were you thinkin?” replied Adrian as the pair lowered their weapons.

“Hey I announced a test fire.”

“Man, you know we have limited ammo, you have no business wastin any of it just to impress a couple of girls.” scowled Anthony as he made sense of the situation.

“Don’t be mad at him, I kinda egged him on.” said Rainbow Dash landing at Dustin’s side.

“REALLY RAINBOW DASH!” cried out Twilight. “What in the name of Equestria were you thinking? I nearly had a heart attack when Anthony jumped up, I thought I had done something wrong.”

“Don’t blame her Princess. We were just having a little fun. I shouldn’t have done it but nobody got hurt.”

Rainbow Dash looked up at Dustin with a smile and they both started to laugh.

“UUuugggg!” was the only response they got from the purple pony as she and the rest of the group started back inside.

“Did you see the looks on their faces? That was great.” said Rainbow Dash wiping a tear from her eye.

The three of them all sat down and settled into the grass, as they started to talk.

….

Later that afternoon Twilight went to the humans rooms and offered to escort them to the party.

”I feel pretty honored to be getting escorted to a party by a princess.” said Anthony as they walked.

“I’m the one that’s honored.”, replied Twilight. “You three are special guest to Equestria after all, and I would like to think of you as my friends.”

“I’d be honored to call you all my friends.” replied Dustin pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it.

Twilight saw the flame bounce up from Dustin’s hand.

“You lied to me!! Human’s do have magic.”

“What?” Came the response from three very confused humans.

“I saw the fire come from his hand! How else could you make fire from thin air if you don’t have magic!”

Dustin held up his hand showing Twilight his lighter.

“Its a device that produces fire.” he said lighting it again.

Twilight took the lighter with her magic and looked it over.

“This is amazing. I’m so sorry I accused you of lying please forgive me. You where right Anthony, your technology is, more advanced then ours.”

“Its alright I suppose some of our stuff would look like magic here.”

“So what is that in your mouth.” asked Twilight

“Its called a cigarette. Its made from a dried out plant called tobacco. Inhaling the smoke helps reduce stress and calm the nerves.”

“They’ll also kill you if you smoke em for to many years.” added Anthony.

Twilight cocked her head with a puzzled look.

“Why would you keep doing it if you know it will kill you?”

“That’s the problem, the chemicals in the smoke are also addictive. So after a while your body develops a need for the chemicals. If you go without one for to long there are some side effects. You get headaches, become anxious, and a little short tempered.”

“You humans truly are a confusing species. You risk your lives doing things knowing they will cause your own death, but live in such an amazing place.”

“You have no idea. That’s the life of a warrior I guess.” said Dustin as he blew out a puff of smoke. “I suppose I’ll have to quit if we are here to long. I doubt I can get these around here.” “Where can we get stuff in Ponyville anyway?” asked Anthony.

“Well let me show you around a little. Replied Twilight pointing to different buildings as they walked. “That over there is The Carousel Boutique. Its Rarity’s shop. She can make you all some clothes whenever your ready. This is the Town Hall and over there is Lightning Anvil’s blacksmith shop and our little restaurant. Here is the school house, and this is Sugarcube Corner.”

The three looked in amazement at the structure in front of them.

“Is that a gingerbread house?” asked Adrian.

“It just looks like one, so please don’t try to eat it.” replied Twilight.

Twilight opened the door with her magic and gestured for the trio to enter. As they walked in, the room erupted in to a thunderous “Welcome to Equestria!”

Before they even had time to react a pink blur passed by them. Dustin felt something on top of his head. He reached up to find a pointed party hat. He looked over to Adrian and suppressed a laugh. He had a party horn stuck between his lips and was covered in confetti. Anthony was also equally adorn with a new party fashion.

“Twilight it looks like the entire town is in here.” said Anthony.

“Well of course they are. This is a party for the newest members of our little town.” she replied.

“Whoa Whoa Whoa. We never said anything about staying here.”

Twilight felt her heart drop.

“Please stay for the party. Pinkie Pie did all this for you, and I’d hate to disappoint her. So at the very least stay and enjoy yourselves. We’ll go see the princesses tomorrow like I promised.”

Anthony looked down into her large lavender eyes. He could hear the desperation in her voice.

“Alright.” He said forcing a smile. “I’ll stay for Pinkie Pie, and you.”

“Thank you.” said Twilight softly. “Let’s go introduce you to some of the other guests.”

Anthony started to place his hand on Twilight’s back then thought better of it. She is a princess after all. He thought to himself.

Scootaloo ran over and grabbed Dustin’s pant leg.

“Hey the other school fillies didn’t believe I was friends with a human. You wanna help me out?”

Dustin smiled down at the young pony.

“You bet. Lets go meet your friends.” he replied as he followed her into the crowd.

Adrian walk over and leaned against the wall shaking his head.

“This is nuts.” he said aloud.

“Yep, that’s Pinkie Pie. Always makin a fuss over any reason to throw a party.”

Adrian jerked up. Standing next to him was a very cranky looking donkey with a blonde crop of hair.

“She did the same thing to me ya know. Always tryin ta get me to smile and be happy. Oh boy can she be annoying. I mean look at all these ponies, half of em don’t even know what their here for.”

“I know right. Their all running around making a big deal outta what? Oh wow three humans showed up. I still think this is all some weird dream.” replied Adrian as he chuckled at the cantankerous old donkey.

“The names Cranky.” said the donkey as he nodded.

“Adrian.”

“Well Adrian, whether your dreamin or not let me share something I learned. As annoying, crazy, or frustrating this place and these ponies can be...You’ll never meet a better group of friends.” Cranky let a smile cross his face for half a second. “Just don’t tell none of these goofballs I said that.”

“Cranky! Hows he suppose’d enjoy the party hanging out talkin to you.” came a familiar country draw.

Applejack walked up to the odd pair placing a hoof on Adrian’s hip pulling him away from the wall.

“Come on sugar cube. Yer missin yer own party.”

Adrian looked at Cranky and shrugged.

“Guess, I better mingle a little bit.”

Adrian looked back as he was pulled into the crowd. If he didn’t know better he could have swore Cranky gave him a wink.

The lights dimmed and dance lights started bouncing around the room. Adrian looked around and saw a white pony with purple sunglasses standing behind a turntable. She threw a record down and the music started booming throughout the room. The club style music was pretty good to. Adrian looked at Applejack.

“Who’s the DJ? He asked his head bobbing to the music. “

Oh that’s Vinyl Scratch she’s always playin some sorta racket at these shin digs.”

Applejack noticed the change in Adrian’s attitude as he started to get into the music.

“I don’ suppose ya’d wanna dance with me would ya?” asked Applejack shyly.

“If you think you can keep up.” was all he said, as he walked into the center of the room and started to dance.

They spent the evening meeting almost everypony in town. Occasionally Pinkie Pie popped up out of nowhere trying to cram some new treat into their mouths. After a few hours or so the party started to slow as ponies started to say their farewells.

“You should get some rest, its going to be an early morning for all of us.” said Twilight to Anthony with a yawn.

They looked around and saw Apple Jack and Adrian seated at a corner table laughing as they talked.

“Dustin you still here?” hollered Anthony.

“YO!” was his reply as he sat up from a heap of colts and fillies he was dog piled by on the floor.

“Its time to call it a night.”

“Well, what else would you call it.” asked a tiny colt with a near british accent.

“He means its time to go Pip Squeak.” said Dustin with a laugh.

Scootaloo crawled up on Dustin’s back resting her head on his shoulder.

“Do ya really have to leave? We were having so much fun.”

“I’m afraid so Scootaloo. We are going to see the other princesses tomorrow.”

“Awesome, do you think I could go to?”

“Probably not little lady. Maybe another time.”

After saying their goodbyes, they all walked back to the castle to get some sleep.