Fight for survival (redone)

(Chapter 3)

"Hi, I'm guessing you're our new teammate Jack, Crimson here's been telling me about you," The mare said as I sat down with Straight arrow.

"Yeah I am, and I'm guessing that you're River Breeze?" I asked. She nodded with a small smile as she looked at the food I had gotten with mild surprise as she noticed the meat.

"You're a carnivore?"

"Yeah, well actually all humans are Omnivores, so we can eat both plant material and meat, though we usually consider ourselves to be more on the predator/carnivore side," I explained and she nodded at my answer. We continued to eat while making small talk until we had all finished our meals.

"Alright, well we have another hour and a half before the night shift begins, what do you wanna do?" Straight asked, looking around the table for anyone with any ideas.

"I say we get Jack out of those clothes, they don't cover much anyway and they don't look very clean," River suggested. All eyes went to me and I let out a small sigh at this.

"My clothes stay on, especially in public," I said, getting looks of curiosity from the others.

"Why? it's not like we're wearing anything under our armor," Crimson asked.

"Because my bodies different from yours," I replied straightly.

"Aw come on, we won't judge you cause you're different," Straight chimed in.

"Let me explain, from what I can remember about equine biology stallions have a protective sheath to hide their genitals, humans don't have that, so ours is always out, hence one of the reasons I need to wear clothes," I elaborated. The three ponies at the table, as well as a few that were passing, gained wide eyes at that information.

"Oh, then I guess they stay on," River said, blushing lightly.

"Well... the pants stay on,, but I guess the shirt is kind of useless," I said. Raising my hands up I hooked them under the bottom of my shirt and in one swift motion I pulled the shirt off, revealing my upper body to everyone present. Looking down to see how my body looked, since I hadn't looked for any other physical changes as of yet after discovering my wings, and was surprised to see that my body was in much better shape than I remembered it being. Instead of a slightly pudgy stomach there was a rather defined six-pack, and instead of thin, noodle like arms I had decent sized muscle. I sat there flexing and poking my arm, enjoying the feeling of actually having real muscle and having abs, a large smile stuck on my face. I was brought out of my fun by a slight cough that came from crimson who was looking at me in amusement.

"You okay Jack?" he asked.

"Yeah, It's just that I wasn't this muscular before," I answered. Most people would probably be embarrassed in this situation, but my lucky ass self had dulled emotions, so it took A LOT to embarrass me.

"Well, now what?" Straight asked again, trying to figure out something to do.

"We could show Jack to where his bunk is going to be," River suggested. We all agreed with her, so with that they led me out of the mess hall and back to the barracks. As we walked we made some small chit chat, and I even learned that Straight was the best sharp shooter with a bow and arrow in the guard, that's what his name and cutie mark meant. And that was also when I learned about cutie marks, which the group explained were marks that appeared on a ponies flanks when they discovered their special talent. Straight took even took a moment to show me his, which was a picture of a green arrow hitting a targets bulls-eye, River showed hers, which was a picture of waves being pushed by curled white lines representing powerful winds, and Crimson's was an eye that had a cone going out from it showing a very wide range of sight.

As we got back to walking and they explained more to me about cutie marks, I looked at the decor of the hallway, trying to find anything of note to allow me to navigate at a later time on my own. As I was examining the large windows I felt something make contact with my legs as I was knocked back slightly. Looking ahead I saw a white unicorn stallion with curled blond hair and who wore a suit lapel, but just the lapel, as well as a blue bow tie, and his cutie mark seemed to be a compass rose, so I wondered maybe he was good at navigation or something. "Who let this disgusting ape into the castle, guards, take it to the dungeons and chain it up," the stallion ordered.

"I'm sorry Prince Blueblood, but he is actually a member of our squad, we cannot put him under arrest without reasonable cause," Crimson explained.

"This creature is a guard, THIS APE, Take me to your captain, I will not believe this until he has told me himself," Blueblood demanded. With a sigh Crimson nodded and continued on to the barracks, I also began to follow, but was stopped by the Prince. "I command that you stay here ape, I don't want you anywhere near me, and if you leave I will have you arrested," He commanded. I glared down at him, not particularly impressed by a pony that only came up slightly past my waist.

"As the lieutenant has already said I cannot be arrested without reasonable cause, and since I am a guard movement to learn the new environment of the castle grounds is within my jurisdiction to be able to preform my job at the highest proficiency, and if you wish to hinder the work of the Equestrian guard, then I could always take that up with one of the Princesses, as I don't remember Princess Celestia mentioning you as one of the ruling bodies," I stated as I slowly leaned down to get in his face. I wasn't sure how my face looked, but as the Prince looked into my eyes I could see his widen in slight fear as he started to lightly shake in place.

"F-fine, you may b-be allowed to f-follow at 10 paces behind," He said, a hint of fear in his voice. I just let out a sigh and stood back up, stepping back to ten paces as I didn't wish to waste anymore time on the obnoxious prince. We walked on in silence, mostly because none of us wanted to talk to the Prince, and I could assume that not many guards liked him.

We finally arrived at the barracks doors and Blueblood ordered River to open the door, which she did as she then waited for me to go past but I told her to go first, so I held the door for her and walked in still ten paces behind Blueblood. I followed until I was ten paces from the door to the captains office and stopped, deciding to let the fool of a Prince talk to the captain without me.

"What's going on?" I was asked, I looked to the left and saw one of the Griffons looking at me expectantly. He (I think he) had ash grey feathers with a black body, but he had piercing gold eyes and the fluff of fur on the end of his tail was a vibrant golden color instead of black.

"*sigh* Prince Blueblood wishes to verify that I am actually a member of the guard, so we brought him here to speak to the captain, but the Prince ordered me to stay 10 paces behind him," I explained. The guard nodded with look of understanding as he grabbed what I could only assume to a flask of some sort of alcoholic beverage.

"You drink?" He asked as he offered me the flask.

"What's the legal age to drink?" I asked back, accepting the flask and taking a whiff, definitely smelling alcohol in it.

"Where I'm from 16, here in Equestria, 18," He answered. I thought over his answer for a few moments, 'ehhh, I might not be 18 yet, but I will be in a month,' I thought as I took a swig of the drink. As I drank I could make out the subtle taste of honey with the burn of the alcohol, a flavor I remember hearing to describe honey based mead.

"Not bad, I'm guessing this is a type of honey mead?" I inquired as I handed him the flask, lightly hitting my chest with a hand to stop myself from coughing at my first experience with alcohol.

"Right, do you drink a lot of mead then?" He asked as he took a swig of the drink as well.

"No, that was actually my first time drinking anything like that, I just remembered reading an article that talked about the taste of certain types of alcoholic beverages," I said. I was about to say more when both me and the Griffon were cut off by a loud "WHAT!" being shouted. After the shout I couldn't help but chuckle, knowing that something had been said to make the Prince mad, evident by the anger in his voice.

"My name is Chrysus, what's yours?" he asked taking another swig of the mead and held out a talon to shake.

"Jack Cresten, nice to meet you," I answered as I shook his talon. I was yet again cut off as the captains door slammed open and a VERY pissed off Blueblood stepped out, quickly setting his eyes on me he stormed his way over, glaring at me the whole time.

"I don't know what you plan to do, but an ape like you has no place here, and if you step out of line even once, I will make sure that you are thrown in the dungeons for the rest of your miserable days," he said before storming off yet again, leaving the barracks to go wherever he was going.

"Mind if I have another drink?" I asked Chrysus. With a nod he handed me the flask and I took a long drink, not caring about the burn at all as the drink went down my throat. "thanks," I said as I handed him the flask.

"Wow, Blueblood already driving you to drink huh?" I heard Straight ask me from behind.

"Somewhat, plus the mead tastes pretty good," I answered as I turned around.

"I'm going to my bunk, see you in the morning Jack," Chrysus said as he got up and left.

"Well, how'd it go in there with the Prince?" I asked, curious what happened to make him so upset.

"The captain told him that you were a new recruit and that he wasn't going to have you imprisoned, which Prince Blueblood didn't like so he tried to make demands, and that didn't win him any favors with the Captain, so let's just say the outcome wasn't what he expected," Straight explained. I nodded and we just sat down and talked, mostly planning what to do tomorrow as the captain had appointed him as my guide. "Alright so tomorrow I need to show you around the castle as well as get you measured for a set of armor, get you equipped with a weapon, and get you some under clothes for your armor," Straight said as many of the guards in the area headed for separate doors that lead to the rooms for the day and night guards.

"So I'm guessing that means sleep for now," I said, to which he nodded, "alright, well I'm tired, so I'm completely fine that," I said as I stretched a little to crack my back. I followed Straight to a door 6 and a half feet in height, meaning I didn't need to bend down, and had an engraving of a sun on it. Opening the door Straight and I entered a room filled with bunk beds. Looking around I could see many of the beds were already filled but I could see Straight walking over to a corner where I noticed Crimson and River were at. Crimson and River were each at a different bunk with the bottom bed free, and before I could make any choices Straight hopped into the bed under Crimson, leaving me with the bed under River. Lying down I tried to cover myself with my blanket but discovered it didn't go too far past my chest, so with a small sigh I decided to go without it and took a position on my back with one arm lazily hanging off of the side of the bed. All around me I could hear the sounds of soft breathing and hushed whispering, but after a few minutes all I heard was the sound of breathing from sleeping bodies. With my eyes closed, my hand touching the ground, and my wings feeling cramped, I was finally able to fall asleep.

I awoke rather abruptly to the sound of a loud voice yelling at us to wake up. standing up and stretching I saw everyone else was up and sanding at attention, but that quickly changed as they moved to put on armor they had removed the night prior, as some also got ready to patrol or just stand guard.

"Alright Jack, let's go," Straight said, having just finished putting on his armor as he yet again looked like half of the other stallions and mares in the room.

"Alright, lead the way," I responded, following behind him as he left the room, though I did have to focus on him rather hard because many of the stallions in the room looked identical to him.

"Starting off I'll show you to the castles smithy so that we can get you set for some armor and a weapon, then I'll take you to the seamstress to get you some clothes, and after that's all taken care of I'll show you all the patrol routs and around the castle so you can navigate it better," he said as we left the room and took a left, going down many hallways before arriving at a set of grey metal door that were surprisingly tall at around 10 feet tall.

"Why's this room got such tall doors?" I asked.

"Because we have a few younger dragons working here and they're taller that most ponies, most of them are actually taller than both you and Princess Celestia," he answered as we stepped inside. As soon as the door opened and we entered the room I could feel the heat of the furnaces that kept the metals hot, and I could see a few dragon and earth ponies hard at work crafting items. I continued to follow Straight to an earth pony stallion with black fur and a grey mane/tail as well as a smiths apron.

"Whoa, who's that?" The stallion asked as he pointed to me with a hoof.

"I'm Jack Cresten, I recently joined the guard and need some armor and a weapon," I answered. The stallion looked over to Straight who nodded to the stallion, and then the stallion looked back to me with a small smile.

"Alright, I'm Onyx Armor, the head smith here, follow me and we'll begin measuring you for your armor," Onyx said. I was led to a smaller room that had a few mannequins shaped like several different species as well as measuring tapes. I could only guess that the room was where they measured guards for their armor as well as checked the size of the armor to make sure it fits the species correctly, or maybe it was where they designed new armor, I couldn't be sure what the mannequins were for.

"Hello, I'm Amber, please step into the center of the room and I'll take your measurements," I was told from the side. Looking over I noticed what looked like a dragoness with, fittingly, amber scales and blue eyes. I nodded and walked to the center of the room and waited for any other instructions. "Now take off your clothes so I can get more accurate measurements," she said.

"Can it be to my boxers?" I asked.

"Why?"

"*sigh* because I don't have a sheath," I answered plainly. With a slight blush amber nodded and I removed my pants (if they can even be considered pants at this point) and stood there with my arms perpendicular with my torso as my underwear just barely covered my package, as it was torn in several places. I stood there for nearly an hour and a half as Amber used her tape measure to get what she needed before she finally said I could put my clothes back on. "I feel like that took longer than it should have," I muttered as I pulled my pants the rest of the way up.

"Yes, well, you're a new species entirely so I wanted to make sure my measurements were exactly correct," She said with a small blush. I didn't press the matter further, mostly because I didn't care, it wasn't like she could be interested or anything.

"Alright, I'll leave you to design Jack's armor, now then, follow me so we can decide on your weapon," Onyx instructed as he led me back out into the main room and brought me to an area where many weapons were up on racks for display. "look around and find one that suits you," he said. Looking around I saw many different weapons from spears, swords, shields, bows, crossbows, knives, daggers, and more, but that got me thinking on something.

"Hey Onyx, can I ask you a question?"

"um, sure," Onyx said as he looked at me in curiosity.

"Well, I've noticed the variety in the weapons here, but every guard seems to carry the same thing, a short sword, why is that?" I asked.

"That's so that there is a better look of unity and so that every guard has a proficiency in the same weapon," Onyx answered.

"but what about specialization, aren't most of the guards better with a different weapon than a short sword?" I asked again, pressing further.

"Well, yes, but it wouldn't be a good idea for everypony to have different weapons," he said, his look of curiosity growing as he seemed to be thinking about what my point could possibly be.

"But wouldn't having the guards using the weapons that their most proficient with be better, it completely undermines the potential of someone if they're forced to use a weapon they aren't even at their best with, not to mention it also undermines the point to have them select a weapon from the beginning if they don't even have it on them in the case of spontaneous combat," I said.

"Look, if you have a problem with the system you can take it up with the princesses," Onyx said, seemingly not amused with what I was implying.

"*sigh* fine, I was going to talk try and talk to them about their horrid choice in armor material anyway," I responded, going back to looking back at the weapons.

"What does that mean exactly?" Onyx asked with a bit of hostility in his voice.

"Gold is a weak, soft, and conductive metal that leaves the wearer open to any number of attacks as well as heat stroke in warmer environments, not to mention it stands out too much and makes it nearly impossible to commit a sneak attack, and don't even get me started on how the weight of the material doesn't match up to the level of protection it gives, all around it's just a bad choice for any armor or weapons," I explained. I looked over and saw that both Straight and Onyx had looks of surprise etched onto their faces, as well most of the others in the room as well. "what?".

"I didn't know you knew that much about armor and weapons," Straight answered.

"Oh, It's not so much weapons and armor as it's the actual metal, I know a good bit about how strong most metals and crystals are and know a bit from my world about how effective certain weapons are as armor and weapons," I said.

"And what would you suggest for a better material?" Onyx asked, back to being intrigued.

"I don't know, I'd say steel or titanium, though that's a bit iffy due to the weight, if you have enchantments for weight reduction then I would definitely recommend either steel or titanium with an enchantment to make it lighter, as well as looking over your armor designs to protect more of the body," I suggested. Everyone looked at me with even wider eyes now. "I'll just talk to the princesses about that, but anyway I've decided what weapon I want, though you don't actually have it here," I said as I looked over the selection again.

"And what would that be?" Onyx asked.

"The weapon is known as a sai and is both a defensive and offensive weapon that comes in pairs or as 'twins', the weapon has a handle and three prongs, two shorter ones on the side with a larger middle one, the middle prong is usually 10-24 inches and is usually straight while the other two usually are usually slightly curved, typically this weapon doesn't have an edge but some have been known to sharpen the middle prong for the use of stabbing and thrusting," I explained, liking the idea of the sai due to the ability to disarm and potentially break other swords and bladed weapons.

"Can you draw it for a us?" Onyx asked as he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill to draw. I quickly drew an image of a sai and showed it to him, getting an approving nod in return.

(Obviously not a drawing, but it's an example of what a pair of twin sai look like)

"Alright, I'll see what I can do, though it might take awhile to create since it hasn't been made here before," Onyx stated.

"Alright then, let's get started on the clothes then," Straight said he began to lead me back out into the hallway and towards wherever our destination was. Looking down I really studied my clothing and was slightly shocked at what was left. My blue jeans were torn and shredded beyond what even the edgiest of teens would wear as well as covered in slight spots of dried blood, showing some of my also torn underwear, while the only thing not very destroyed was my generic ass sneakers. "Hey Jack, we're here," I heard Straight say and noticed that we had arrived at a very fancy looking door that is expected of a fashion designer.

"Okay," I said back as I went and opened the door to let him inside before following closely behind, though I did have to bend a bit as the door was only 6 feet high. Inside I could see a room reminiscent of the one where I got measured for my armor, the main differences were that this room was much brighter, it was not as hot, and there was fabric everywhere.

"Hello, I am the castles fashion designer Diamond Blossom, and who might you be?" Spoke a unicorn mare from my left who had yellow fur and a cyan blue main and tail, I could also see that her cutie mark seemed to be scissors cutting a length of fabric.

"I'm Jack Cresten and this is Straight arrow, I'm a new member of the guard and I need new clothes because of a certain difference between my species and ponies," I explained.

"And what would that be?"

"*sigh* Human males like myself don't have a sheath for their genitals," I answered with a sigh, getting annoyed by the number of times I've had to answer that question in one morning.

"Oh, alright, well step up onto the platform and I'll begin you're measurements, though you'll have to take off as much clothing as you can while still being decent," Diamond said, her cheeks slightly pink. I nodded and yet again took off my pants before stepping onto the platform in the same pose with my arms as before. This time I only had to stand there for half an hour, making me feel slightly suspicious of Amber as I put back on my pants.

"All I need is something light to wear under my armor, nothing too fancy," I said, getting a nod from the mare as she had already started to work on designs to fit my bodies shape. I looked over to Straight and saw him motion for me to follow him out, which I did as he yet again started to lead the way down the hallway. We walked in relative silence before two stallion guards started to follow us, I didn't think anything of it until 10 minutes had passed and the two had been getting steadily closer to us.

"Excuse me, but why are you following us?" I asked the two stallions as I stopped and turned to look directly at them. For a few moments they didn't say anything, until one of them let out a light hiss at me.

"Wait a minute," Straight muttered as he walked closer to one of the guards and started to look closer into his eyes. Straight looked for several moments before I saw his own eyes widen and he gasped. I could see was about to yell something but the guard lunged at him as he was enveloped in green flames and landed on Straight completely changed. In the stallions place there was now a bug like pony with a black chitinous hide, that lacked a mane or tail, had a jagged horn, transparent bug like wings, and blue pupil-less eyes. "Run Jack," Straight tried to yell as he use a hoof to hold the creature off from biting his throat.

Before I could even respond the other guard changed as well to look the same as the other creature and lunged at me with it's mouth open to bite me. Thinking quickly, but not very smartly I held up my right arm to block the creature, and the creature bit into it, hard. I held back a gasp of pain as I swung my arm and smashed the creature into a wall with all my strength, earning a loud snapping sound as many of its bones were broken, as well as it's neck. I used my free hand to pry the limp creatures mouth from my arm and let it drop before I felt an immense pain in one of my forgotten wings (don't know how I keep forgetting that I have those) and quickly turned around to see the other creature off of Straight and spitting out some of my crimson feathers.

"Hey asshole, THAT HURT!" I yelled as I lifted the creature by its horn. wincing slightly as the sharp and jagged horn lightly cut the palm of my hand, and dropped it back down as I drop kicked its head hard enough to send it from looking at me, to looking directly at the floor behind it.

"Damn, that's brutal," I heard Straight mutter to himself as he got back up.

"Never tell me run, so what the hell are these things?" I said and asked as I motioned to the dead creatures.

"Changelings, and where there's one, there's usually more, so you may want to stay here while I try and make sure that there's no more in the castle," Straight answered as he turned and started to fly down the hallway.

With a sigh I started to sprint after him, catching up to him rather quickly and starting to match his speed as we went down the hallway, "What did I just say about telling me run, that also means telling me not to do my job, which as a guard means to protect the inhabitants of this place from harm, I think," I said as I looked at Straight, whispering the last part to myself. Straight looked over to me for a few moments before turning away and smiling.

"Well at least you have a strong sense of duty," He responded, no longer trying to get me to leave.

"Well I also need to be there to save your ass, last time I checked I'm the one who took out those changelings, so my kill count is at 2, while yours is still at zero," I said with a slight smirk on my face as we both made a sharp left turn which I slightly recognized as the path to the throne room.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't even be fighting yet, especially since you were supposed to begin your real training as a guard tomorrow, so you'll be fighting a day before you begin training, which isn't usually good for a new guard," Straight said as we took another turn, this time right.

"Well maybe I can skip training if I show off a little, huh," I said, getting Straight to chuckle at the end of my statement.

"Maybe, maybe," Straight muttered as we took the final turn that led to the throne room doors.

"Well then, as a famous doctor from my world once said, ALLONS-Y!" I shouted as we neared the throne room doors and smashed them open to see...