Fight for survival (redone)

(Chapter 5)
-1 week later-

For a whole week after the attempted invasion Crimson, Straight, River, and I were stuck in bed as we recovered from our injuries. Each day guard after guard would come in and wish the others well. Though I was just lucky enough to get a few visitors. I was visited by Chrysus (who gave me some mead), Amber, Captain dark, and Diamond. Even though I might not of gotten many visitors it was still touching that anyone was there for me at all, especially as I was an alien in their world. At the moment I was covered heavily in bandages, and I probably looked like a mummy fresh from the tomb, and this was sadly more covering than any clothing I had been wearing since I arrived in Equestria. At the moment Amber was in the room sitting in the chair next to my bed and was telling me about the progress on my armor and sai blades, which was going rather well. According to Amber my armor was nearly finished, though my twin sai would take slightly longer as they were a new weapon type to the smiths, so they had to make it without any prior experience. Other news I was told included Diamond telling me she had finished two sets of clothes for me, and Captain Dark telling me that I was to begin training after I finished recovering.

"Hey Jack, can I... feel your chest?" Amber asked hesitantly, catching me by surprise.

"Um, I'm not sure why you want to but go ahead," I said hesitantly, just figuring she wanted to check my body and make her own assumptions on how injured I really was. Slowly Amber reached down and ran a hand (claw?) down from my chest to my stomach. She continued to feel my abdomen for several minutes before she finally stopped, 'hot damn, a little bit longer and I would have had to explain why there was a tent being pitched under the covers' I thought to myself as she pulled away.

"You feel like you're pretty healed up to me," Amber commented as she looked over my body once more.

"I keep telling the doctors that I'm fine but they keep telling me I need to stay until at least the end of the day," I said. After that I talked to Amber for another hour, with us just talking about our personal life as well as our likes and dislikes. After the hour Amber left to continue her work and I was left in silence for all of 5 minutes before Straight decided to ruin it.

"So you and Amber are pretty close, oh, do I hear wedding bells?" Straight joked before bursting into laughter as I just let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Fuck you Straight," I said.

"Sorry but I don't swing that way," He responded, prompting River to join in by chuckling as I just groaned from the stupid joke.

"Come on man, I was having such a good day," I said.

"*sigh* sorry man, I didn't mean to ruin your day," I heard Straight say before there was silence for awhile.

"It's fine, I just don't like being teased for things that aren't gonna happen," I finally let out, causing my teammates to perk their ears and look at me in interest.

"Why? Don't you like her?" Crimson asked as all of them were focused on me, waiting for my answer.

"I like her, it's just that I've accepted that no girl would would ever like me," I answered, looking away from them, and since I was on one of the furthest beds to the side, I didn't have to worry about them seeing my face.

"Really, is that what you think?" River asked with a sad tone.

"Well yeah, every time I've ever tried to ask a girl out I've been turned down... though, what brought me to that conclusion was when a girl told me that no one was ever going love me," I explained as I laid back and rested my head on my pillow, staring up at the ceiling in the following silence.

"To quote your use of words, that's fucked up," Straight said. I chuckled a bit at his usage of my cuss words.

"Jack, ask her out the next time you see her," River told me. I regarded her with suspicion, not really liking the idea.

"I don't know, I haven't even tried to ask a girl out in a long time, plus I doubt that she likes me that way," I said.

"Trust me, from what I've seen your a great stallion... er... guy, so ask her out, and she'll say yes, I promise," she responded.

"Fine, but if she says no then I'm not trying again," I told her. River nodded and rested her head on her pillow.

The day passed and I was released the next morning. Something that was figured out was that I healed faster than the average pony (and most definitely human) and was already good enough to go to training, at least that would be the case, if I wasn't called by the princesses for a meeting beforehand. What was the meeting about? I didn't have a fucking clue. I walked through the hallways in my new armor and new under clothing, wielding a short sword at my hip (which probably would have helped against the changelings). It took awhile to get the the throne room but I was quickly let in by the guards at the door who only gave me a slight nod of acknowledgment as they opened the doors.

As I walked inside I saw Princess Celestia sat upon her throne as she talked to a large unicorn stallion with white fur and a two tone blue mane and tail, and his cutie mark was a blue shield with a magenta six pointed star at its center. "Hello Jack, I would like you to meet Prince Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, and former captain of the Equestrian royal guard," Princess Celestia introduced as I gave a bow from my hip to both the Princess and the Prince.

"Nice to meet you, I am Jack Cresten, a new addition to the Equestrian royal guard," I said as I stood back up straight.

"The Princess and I were actually just talking about you and your team, it's not everyday that a member of an alien species takes out chrysalis with no more help then three other guards," he said, as he lightly trotted over to me.

"I didn't do much, I just fought, that's all, and I wasn't the only one, I'm almost one-hundred percent sure I would have died in that fight if my team hadn't been there" I responded as I kept my gaze leveled on him as he got even closer with a small smile.

"Even if that's true, you managed to fight against over four hundred changelings without armor or weapons, and lived to tell the tale, not to mention knocking out Chrysalis herself while being heavily injured and fatigued," He stated as he stopped 4 feet away from me and sat down on his haunches and looked up at me.

"I've taken worse, plus I've gotten a great deal stronger just coming to this world," I said as I looked down at him.

"Are you strong enough to train with the best of them?" He asked me.

"If I had to say so, then I'd say yes, personally I think that my whole team could be with the best of them," I answered just as seriously.

"And why is that?" he asked again in curiosity.

"Because we showed in that battle that we can work as a team to face insurmountable odds, such as winning a fight where we are very heavily outnumbered," I explained. The Prince seemed to think over the idea, coming to his own conclusion before smiling at me and nodding moments later.

With a hint of amusement the Prince asked, "How would you and you're team like to come to the Crystal Empire and be trained by myself, as well as a few of the more experienced guards there?"

I looked down at him in shock, not expecting such an offer, before finally answering, "Personally, I'm not sure, My job is to protect the people of this land, and I can't exactly do that in another kingdom," my answer was short but honest, and only seemed to make his smile widen (you may wonder about the loyalty to a kingdom I had only spent a week in, but I've always had a first come first serve kind of loyalty, and I had landed in Equestria first).

"I'm glad to hear that, I was honestly hoping you were as loyal to your service as the Princess said, we can't exactly have guards who aren't loyal to Equestria guarding it can we," He spoke with a smile, though I could tell his words were serious. With a quick nod he moved over to whisper something to the Princess before walking out of the room.

"Is that all Princess?" I asked as I looked at her more directly now that the Prince was gone.

"Actually, I was hoping to hear your thoughts on the guards armor, from what I've heard from Onyx Armor, you seem to have quite the opinion, and I'm curious as to what you think," The Princess told me.

With a slight nod of the head I began my explanation, "Well there's several things I've taken note of, number one is that the armor used for the guards is gold, which is a weak, soft metal that gives near to no protection, as you'd be just a protected, if not more so wearing armor made out of wood, a better choice would be iron or steel, preferably steel with the same enchantments as the gold armor to make it lighter. Secondly is the use of weapons, which I have noticed leaves almost every guard without the weapon they are most proficient with, the main exemption being those mostly proficient with a short sword anyway, but the rest are hindered to a degree by not at LEAST having the weapon they are most comfortable with around them in case a problem arises. Thirdly, and lastly, is the fact that even if the armor wasn't gold, it still protects near to no points of the body, and from what I've seen this leaves all but the head, upper body, and limbs such as hands or hooves unprotected, leaving a guard more open to attack, a way of protecting the open areas could be to us chain-mail to cover the open areas, or even using light plate armor. And of course there is the fact that you call your military 'guards' even though guards are meant to fight on the idea of being the last line of defense, and rarely expects to survive so they fight for their county with a belief in protecting their loved ones, while a soldier fights and fights to stay alive in order to return home to a place safe from conflict, without the cost of needless death,".

Throughout my little speech the Princess had paid close attention to every word out of my mouth, and even looked over my armor as I talked about certain key details about its design. For reference my armor covered only my upper body, hands, feet, head, and pelvic region, leaving most of my arms, legs, and neck open to attack.

"You've given me much to think about, and I believe that the points you have made are very reasonable and logical," She said she slowly nodded and then smiled at me. "You may leave now, and I think you should head to training for the rest of its time," She suggested. I left with a bow. Using what I could remember I headed to the same place where I did my physical tests, only getting off course twice during my trip. When I got to the doors that led to the training grounds I pushed them open and was greeted to the sight of hundreds of guards doing push ups in sync. I stepped further onto the field and was quickly noticed by Sargent Flawless Fury, who was watching over the exercise.

"Private Cresten, it's good to see you today," She greeted me with a nod that I returned, though after a quick moment I realized something she said that heavily surprised me.

"Private Cresten?" I inquired with one raised eyebrow, curious as to why I was not being called a cadet.

"The Princesses moved you up to a Private ranking after your actions in protecting Equestria against the changelings, even your fellow teammates moved up a rank each," Flawless explained as she went back to observing the training cadets to make sure they weren't slacking on their work out.

"Should I join them?" I asked. After getting a nod I thought it to be fruitless to find a spot among the others, so I moved to the front and started my push-ups. After a few sets I noticed that I had not begun to strain, more than likely due to whatever had given me my increased physical abilities in this world. Getting bored I decided to spice things up a bit and pushed my lower body up and off the ground while standing on the palms of my hands, taking a few moment to get myself stabilized due to my wings adding more weight to my back, I finally got it and started pushing myself up and down in a handstand position. I did this until Flawless blew on a whistle that signaled for the end of our exercise.

"ALRIGHT CADETS, NOW I WANT YOU TO GIVE ME 4 LAPS AROUND THE CASTLE! MOVE!" She shouted as many of the guards groaned out loud. I was smirking, typically not one for exercise, my newfound strength and endurance had made the task seem like a fun way to test my limits. I Waited for everyone else to get moving before I began running and quickly took the lead as I began to slowly pick up speed until I was full on sprinting around the castle as fast as I could, watching as the world around me seemed to blur slightly and for the rest of the group to quickly fall behind. I continued running around the entirety of the castle, too fast for the ponies at the front gates to notice me, and finished slightly out of breath as the rest of the group finished their 2nd lap. "nice hustle Private, though next time you should stay with the group," Flawless suggested. I nodded to her as I sat down underneath the shade of a nearby tree and rested, catching my breath for the next fifteen minutes as I waited for the rest of the group to finish. By the time the rest had finished I was good to go again, though I noticed that most of the group was sweating profusely and/or panting heavily, probably not used to the level of physical activity they had just experienced. "Alright cadets, Dismissed," Flawless said loudly as the guards went on their way, looking rather grateful that they could finally rest. As I got up and was prepared to leave I was stopped by Flawless as she said, "hold up Jack, I'd like you to finish the rest of the exercises you missed,".

With a nod I spent the next half an hour doing stretches, sit-ups, jumping jacks, etc. When I was done I was finally given the go ahead by Flawless to leave and headed into the castle to find something to do. I wandered around for an hour, taking in as much as the castle as I could for memories sake in order to not get lost. "Oh, hi Jack, what are you doing here?" I was asked by a familiar voice as I turned around and noticed Amber looking at me.

"I'm just wandering around right now and trying to find something to do," I answered as I looked out the window at the city. From what I could remember the place was called Canterlot and was the capital of Equestria. From the window the entire place seemed to sparkle in the afternoon light, giving the entire city a sense of wonder and beauty I had never seen before on my world.

"Oh, okay then," Amber said as she began to walk past me. When she was a few steps ahead of me I remembered what I promised River I would do and moved to catch up with her.

"Wait, there's actually something I wanted to ask you," I told her as she stopped and turned to look at me with a curious gaze.

"And what would you like to ask?" She inquired with a small smile. Taking her in I actually realized just how beautiful she really was, from the way her blue eyes sparkled like gems in the suns light, the way her amber scales seemed to glow, and even the way her smile made me feel warm inside. "Jack, are you going to ask your question or stare at me all day?" She asked in amusement, making me realize that I had just been standing there and looking at her.

"Um, yeah, I was wondering if you'd, maybe, like to go out sometime?" I asked, feeling myself blush as I looked away from her and stared out the window. 'Come on man, you faced down hundreds of changelings without weapons or armor and yet this is making you more nervous, get a fucking hold of yourself,' I thought before taking a steadying breath and looking back at Amber, who I now noticed was now closer to me than before, as her eyes were now inches from my own.

"Really?" She asked. I couldn't formulate words as I stared into her eyes, too captivated to work my mouth properly I just nodded dumbly without breaking eyes contact. "I'd love to, how about tomorrow we go get dinner in town," She suggested. Yet again I just nodded dumbly as she smiled and turned around walked away. As she left I couldn't help but let my gaze fall lower, taking in the view of her voluptuous behind. 'Since when was she so sexy? and how the hell can something reptilian have such an nice ass?' I asked myself in my head. Shaking my head to snap myself out of my stupor I headed to the medical wing of the castle and quickly went to the room where the rest of my team was, hoping they could give me some advice on the matter.

"Why are you blushing?" Straight asked me the moment I walked into the room.

"I just asked out Amber," I replied as I took a seat in one of the guest chairs.

"Really, and what did she say?" Crimson asked. All three of them looked at me questioningly as I prepared to answer.

"She said yes, so we're going to get dinner tomorrow," I answered as River smiles brightly at me.

"See, I told you she'd say yes," River said.

"Hey Jack, can you even afford a date right now?" Straight asked. I felt my eyes widen as the realization hit me, I just asked Amber out on a date, without any money to pay for it.

"Um, I don't think so," I responded. My teammates shared worried glances before Crimsons eyes lit up and he looked at me with a smile.

"Ask the captain for money," Crimson told me.

"What?"

"Ask the captain for money," He repeated.

"And why in the hell would I do that?" I asked as I looked at him dumbfounded, unsure as to why he would even suggest something like that.

"Because you should get a paycheck for the week anyway, and because when a guard gets injured in battle they're given a small amount of money as compensation for going above an beyond in their service of the country," He answered. I thought it over before looking back at him with a smile.

"Thanks Crimson," I said as I stood up.

"No problem," He replied. I said my farewells to my team before heading to the barracks to talk with Captain Dark Snow.

"Hey Jack, why're in such a hurry?" I heard Chrysus ask me from a table to the right of the barracks entrance.

"I have to talk to the captain about my paycheck," I answered.

"Well how about you have some mead first," Chrysus offered as he held out his flask to me.

I thought about his offer for a few short moments before replying, "Not right now, maybe later though." With a quick 'see ya later' I went towards the door to the Captains office and gave it 3 quick knocks.

"Come in," I heard from the other side of the door. Opening it I quickly ducked in and closed the door behind me. "ah Jack, good to see you, what do you need?" he asked from his position behind his desk.

"I was hoping to get my paycheck," I requested as I opted to stay standing instead of grabbing any chairs.

"For what reason?" he questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

"I maybe, sorta, kinda have a date tomorrow and need my paycheck to afford it," I answered. The Captain's eyes widened for a moment before he slowly gained a look of amusement.

"I see, so who is the lucky lady?" He asked as he leaned over the desk slightly, a very prominent smirk on showing on his face.

"It's Amber, the dragoness who works with the blacksmiths," I replied, averting my gaze a bit.

"Oh okay, you have earned the money so you can have it, just remember one very important thing," He started, I looked at him in anticipation as I wondered what he would say, "try not to move too fast and forget to practice safety in bed,". With starting so serious I thought he was about to say something like, 'if you try anything you'll be sent to the dungeons', but instead he chose to make a joke that made me sigh in slight annoyance.

"I swear, as soon as someone's had sex they'll make sure to joke about using a condom whenever they possibly can," I muttered under my breath, quiet enough that the Captain couldn't hear me.

"Alright, come back here after training tomorrow and I'll give you your paycheck, now run along," he said. I nodded and quickly left, making my way over to Chrysus and taking a seat at his table.

"Got any mead left?" I asked. The only response I got was Chrysus holding up a large cup of mead to me with a smirk. With a thanks I started drinking down the alcoholic beverage. For the rest of the day I just talked with Chrysus about what it was like to be in the guard, until he found out about my date and started giving me tips on what places sold meat in the town and where to watch out for when avoiding the more racist ponies. By the time night had fallen I had drank three mugs of mead and was buzzed, but not yet drunk. I made my way to my bunk, making sure to remove my armor, as well as my shirt cause I didn't like sleeping with shirts on, and fell asleep very quickly.

-next morning-

I had gone through the morning routine of putting on my armor before following the cadets to the training ground. But as I left the castle and entered the open area I noticed that there was a large obstacle course. "Alright Cadets, line up and prepare for the obstacle course, you shall all be timed, and evaluated on your performance in this test," Sargent Flawless explained. I noticed many of the Cadets taking off their armor so I followed suit, taking off my armor, weapon, and even my shirt. "You May All Take A few Moment To Stretch Before The Course! You Have Five Minutes!" She shouted. For Five minutes I did stretches that made my limbs more limber and flexible, while I noticed that most of the others were doing simple push-ups and sit-ups to prepare. "Alright, LET'S BEGIN" Flawless shouted.

One by one every guard in the line went through the obstacle course. With the main rules being no magic and no flying, the best time achieved was 6 minutes and 36 seconds by the time I got to the front of the line. "Alright Cresten, BEGIN!" Flawless ordered.

I quickly began the course, which started with a climbing wall, then went into a rope ridge at least 25 feet above the ground. Moving forward I reached the end quickly before leaping off the platform to the next part. Before me was a dug out section of land filled with loose mud that wouldn't be able to support my weight. Taking a short moment to take in my surroundings I noticed that there was a single board (4 in x 8 in) set across the 20 foot wide hole for getting across, so working fast I ran across it, using my faster speed to get across without falling. On the other end of the hole was was another, longer hole with a rope ladder stretched from one side to the other to be climbed across or by swinging. The hole was 25 feet across and 15 feet deep, just shallow enough not to break anything, but just deep enough to make it overly difficult to climb out. grabbing the beginning of the rope ladder I began to swing my self across, using my lower body weight to add more momentum to my swings as I made it to the other side in 10 seconds flat. The end of the course consisted of a typical barbed wire bear crawl, set just high enough that I would have a chance of getting through without ruining my wings. Beginning my crawl I quickly realized that while the wire didn't do too much harm, it did dig painfully into my wings every time I shifted to the next arm or leg to move forward. After 20 seconds of pain I emerged from the other side of the wire and stood up to my full height as I heard a pony call out my time, "6 minutes, 25 seconds,".

After the course we all did the same basic exercise from the previous day before being allowed to go back to our business, so with my day already planned out, I began my walk to the Captains office.