The Journals Of A Human

An island in the of Equestria, currently not mapped. The area around it dark, dead, and ravaged, and in the middle of it, a dark castle rises like a needle injecting its poison into the world. Inside it, sits a pony adorned in jagged armor, one of darkness, one who seeks to drain the life from this world. The one they call Pauron. His voice deep and surrounded by shadows and echoes, and before him, a cowering beast made of timber “What do you mean they were saved?”

The wolf stepped forward “My liege, just as we were about to carry out your orders, another being managed to stop us with this.” the wolf raised its paw up to the dark pony and opened it to reveal a small piece of metal

“What is this? You and your pack was defeated by a small scrap of metal” flames began to pour out of nowhere and forming behind the dark pony. “Give me one reason why I don’t drain the life from you where you stand”

“M-My liege, the being was using a weapon, one that we have never seen before, one of immense power, but not magical. One that our regenerative powers could not best, unlike the king and queens magic.”

The dark pony rubbed his chin, “And what being possesses this weapon?”

“It stood on two legs and-and arms and hands, its face was featureless, just a white mark in the shape of some kind of skull.”

“You idiot, that was a human in a mask! I thought you said that the king and queen had banished them!”

“T-t-they did my liege, my minions saw them perform the spell.”

“Then how is it that a human was around to save them!”

“I do not know my liege.”

“Hmm…...It matters not, this human could become a great ally…leave this place before I decide to punish your failure.”

“Y-y-yes my liege.” and the wolf scampered out

“Hmm…a human…if he is anything like his brethren, then he should be easy to take care of, and then the king and queen shall fall…and the world will be mine for the taking.” as Pauron thought said this he began to laugh maniacally, his laughter seeming to echo through the castle as well as the rest of the world.

I snapped awake and sat up in bed sweating and breathing hard “What the fuck did I just dream about?” I slowly got up and shook my head “Fuck it, I don’t care anymore, after what I’ve been through over the past months, that is probably normal…...I need a coffee.” I got up out of bed and slowly made my way down to the kitchen and made myself a cup before going back to my room. Of course, there was a royal guard trying and failing to follow me covertly. You think that’s since they’ve been doing it ever since I got here a month ago they be better now, but whatever I guess. I’m just going to let the king and queen could do whatever. I got back to my room, or at least what had been my room for the past two weeks, and sat down on my balcony with my drink and listened to the sound of the forest. There wasn’t much happening so I checked my watch and saw that the time was about 0600. Most of the castle was probably still asleep. So, I spent some time sitting on the balcony before I got an idea. “I’m probably going to be in some trouble for this but I don’t care, I need something to do.” I got up from my chair, put some clothes on, grabbed my shotgun and MP7, along with my pack and some ammo for the two, and then walked out to my balcony. From the looks of it, the room was in a tower about 300 feet off the ground. “Well shitbucket, that cuts off that route of escape, but then again…” I turned around and walked back into my room and began to look through my stuff. “It’s got to be here somewhere…..bingo.” I picked up the a bundle of rope and walked back out to my balcony, secured it to the railing, then tossed it over the side and hooked in. “Let’s hope the air guard isn’t up.” and with that I began to rappel down the side. Now you’re probably wondering, “Why not just take the front door?”, well that answer is simple. Since the king and queen tasked a guard to me, I know for a fact that they aren’t going to let me waltz on out the door, thus I needed to find another way out.

I reached the ground and unhooked from the line, and began my walk to my house. The twenty minutes was very uneventful, but I still kept my shotgun at the ready in case I ran into more trouble. As I approached my house, I saw that the door was partly open. I stopped at the edge of the tree line and racked the shotgun. Of course, I put a few bean bag rounds in there, but I also had a few slugs just in case. I made my way up to the front door and silently entered my house. I could hear a voice inside the garage, so I cleared the house before making my way there.

“Hmm, this is very interesting indeed.” said the voice on the other side.

I kicked open the door and raised my gun “On the fucking ground asshole!” and standing before me in my gunsight, frozen in fear, was none other than Starswirl himself. “Starswirl?...What the fuck are you doing in my house!?”

He remained frozen for a second, but began to speak more as I lowered my gun “Uhh…. I…. Well…I w-was performing research.”

“What kind of research requires you breaking into my FUCKING HOUSE!!”

“If you would calm down I would tell you.”

I sighed “…...You know I could have shot you.”

“Yes, I know, but the risk was worth it so study who you are as a person, which I was doing, until I saw this thing here.” He gestured over to my truck with his hoof “What exactly is it?”

“It’s called a truck. It’s a type of powered vehicle that allows me a fast means of transportation to almost any location, I actually came here to mount a weapon on it and take it for a drive.”

“Well then, I am going to come with you.”

I chuckled “I never took you for a comedian”

“I’m not joking.” he replied

“Well you’re not coming along, I came out here to be alone.”

He rubbed his chin “And did you have the permission of the king and queen to do so?”

“I don’t need their permission to go to my home.” I replied

“If I remember correctly, the castle is also your home.”

“Ah yes, because I obviously want to get stalked by guards all day.” I quipped

“That could happen here, all I would have to do is cast a simple spell and I could have an entire regiment here.”

“You wouldn’t.” I responded

“I would…but I think I can look past this transgression and tell the king and queen that I asked you to come with me if you take me with you.”

I stared at him for a few seconds, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. “……. Fuck…Fine, you win, get in the damn truck…BUT don’t touch anything!”

He smiled at me and I walked back into the gun room and grabbed the 50 cal and a some ammo boxes for it. I then carried them all back to the garrage and mounted the gun to the truck, and placed an ammo box next to it, so if I needed to jump on the gun, all I would have to do is load the belt in, cock it and fire. I secure the spare boxes in the bed and I opened the drivers door to a slight surprise. From the looks of it, Starswirl had jumped into the driver’s seat and touched everything.

“Are these the controls to this machine?”

“Get the fuck outta that seat! My truck, I drive…and yes…. now move.”

He got out of the seat and got into the passenger seat “Well come on, I am anxious to see how it works.” He floated up a quill and some paper

“Just don’t distract me” I replied as I got into the truck and unclipped my carabiner with my keys on it and put the key into the ignition, pressed a button that opened my garage doors, and turned the key, starting the truck. As the trucks engine, rumbled and came to life, Starswirl began to take notes furiously, and he kept looking at me like a kid on Christmas. “If you think this is good, just hang on.” I turned on the radio and I definitely knew it was my truck. I smiled as Slipknot began to blare from the speakers as I floored the accelerator. The trucks engine screamed, and the trucked launched out of the garage. The force of the acceleration sent Starswirl into the back of his seat, and I let my foot off the pedal as the truck reached 80 MPH.

“This…This machine is amazing!” Starswirl shouted

“Yeah it is, and it’s all mine.” I slowed the truck down to a stop as we came into an open field. It was a field I had seen before, this…this was where ponyville would rise.

Starswirl looked over at me as I put the truck in park and turned it off “Why did you stop?”

“This field is where the town that first took me in when I got here will rise.” I pointed over to the mountain “And that’s where Canterlot will rise.”

“Ah, you are homesick aren’t you.”

“…I’m not going to lie, I am…I miss my beautiful princess.” I got out of the truck and leaned on it.

“Yes, I saw that.” He got out and walked up to me

“Look, I’m sorry about what I said a few weeks back, everything you said…you were right…I’m a sorry excuse for a man.”

“No, I was wrong. I’ve seen your home, you are a good man Johnathan, you were taken away from the love of your live and thrust into this time. Your reactions are just, but you have made some ignorant decisions.”

I chuckled “Story of my life.” I sat down on the grass and put my back against the tire

Starswirl sit down with me and I felt him place a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up to see Starswirl had taken off his hat and laid it down next to him. “You are a good man John, I see it, the king and queen see it.” his horn glowed and I saw that he was levitating my pendant and tags up “And they see it. You’ll get back to them, I promise you that.”

I held the pendant in my hand and pulled it close to me. I felt it grow warm and I could have sworn I felt Celestia's lips on my cheek, but before I could do anything else, I heard what sounded like the footsteps of a large animal, and the sound of trees cracking. I slowly reached my hand into my truck, and pulled out my guns. And motioned for Starswirl to stay down. I peeked my head over the truck and saw that it was the same wolf thing that attacked me before. I quickly pulled up my face shield over the lower half of my face, and pulled a pair of shooting sunglasses out and put them on before maneuvering to the back of the truck and getting on the bed of it and firing the non-lethal round into the air and loaded my lethal rounds “Hey ugly! Looking to get your ass kicked again!”

The wolf slowly turned toward me and spoke “You are the human that defeated us earlier…our master Pauron the great wishes to speak to you. he wishes for you to join his conquest of the world.”

I slowly started to walk around the bed and ready the .50 cal. “Oh really?”

“Yes, but first he wishes to know your name.”

I smiled under my mask “Call me Reaper, and how much would I stand to make off this?”

Starswirl stood up and pointed his horn at me “You traitor!”

The beast reeled “The gray beard! Master must know of this!” the beast turned to run

“Oh, come the fuck on.” I whipped around and brought the browning to bear on the wolf, and opened fire, the massive rounds tearing the beast apart and rendering it into nothing but wood chips. “I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere except my fireplace.”

I was about to get off the gun when a magical beam blasted by me “Stay where you are traitor!”

“Oh, you have got to be shitting me, you ruined the element of surprise, and I’m the traitor?”

Starswirl looked at me confused

“Wait, you seriously thought I was going to join them? Fuck no!”

“Well then why were you saying that you were considering his offer?”

“Because I wanted to keep him distracted while I readied the gun. I got lucky that all I had to do was get behind it and cock it when you blew the element of surprise.” I walked over to the what remained of the wolf and started to pick up the pieces “Now come on, grab some firewood.”

Starswirl just stood there.

“Come on man, this stuff aint gonna pick itself up.” I knelt down to pick up more wood, when I saw a tiny black orb, maybe the size of a marble. “Hey what’s this?” I picked it up and handed it to Starswirl

“That is what gives the wolf the ability to reconstruct itself, but it’s supposed to be green, this one has been corrupted somehow…...or maybe enhanced.”

I took the orb back and placed it on a tree stump “Well then.” I took out my shotgun and pulled the trigger, firing the slug into the tiny orb, and basically turning it into dust.

This shocked Starswirl and prompted him to yell, “What was that for! I was going to study that!”

I put the gun back in the truck and a bunch of wood in the back before responding “Better safe than sorry…. now come on, I’ve gotten my fill of memory lane, and this field is too open. I’ve lost the tactical advantage, now get in the truck.” he just stood there as I opened my door and started the engine “Come on, unless you want to walk.”

He just closed his mouth and got in the truck. We sat there as I drove back to the house, and only when I turned the truck off in the garage did he say anything “I don’t know if I will ever truly understand you or your actions.”

“If you want my advice, don’t.”

“John, despite all that has happened, this doesn’t change my opinion of you, you ARE a good man.”

Before I could respond, the voice of the queen came from behind me as her and Orbash walked into the garage through the now open garage door. “Yes, he his, and he is now going to explain himself.”

I sighed “Of course you found out of my escape.” I turned around to see that the two were looking very pissed.

The queen spoke first“Yes, we did. Would you care to explain why?”

I was about to open my mouth when Starswirl moved in front of me and spoke “I asked him to come out here to help me survey this area. I did not feel right entering his home without his consent or his presence here in case it was booby trapped.”

The queen raised and eyebrow and looked at me “Is that what really happened?”

I looked to Starswirl and back “Yes, it is.”

“Well if you were being watched by Starswirl, then my anger can be excused, however, my husband and I are wondering why there is a copious amount of wood in the back of your…truck as you call it, and why there is a piece of it sticking out of your right arm.”

“Wait there is?” I asked as I looked over on my arm to see a small piece of wood had stuck itself in there and that the wound was bleeding. “Huh, would you look at that, there is, as for the wood in the back of the truck, well I ran into that wolf thing from a few weeks ago, let’s just say we won’t have to worry about him anymore…as for the wound, well you can ignore it, I’m gonna go get some plyers, gauze, and alcohol.” I walked over to the work desk in the garage and pulled out some plyers and took out some gauze from my med-kit, but before I could get to my still, I was cut off by the king.

“And what do you intend to do with those items?”

“Well isn’t it obvious? I’m gonna take the wood out of my arm, disinfect the wound, then wrap it”

“That process sounds painful” the king commented

“Oh, it probably will, that’s the second reason for the alcohol”

The queen stepped in as well, blocking my escape from behind “In that case, we cannot allow you to do that”

As she finished her sentence, blood from my wound began to flow down my arm, and onto the ground. I looked at the queen who was looking at the wound, the blood, and then back to me as I said “Were ignoring that.”

“No, we are not!” she replied before she pulled me close and held me close to her with her hoof as her horn glowed and began to work its healing magic on my arm. It painlessly removed the fragment, and then began to heal the wound before my eyes

As she finished healing it and let me go I turned around and yelled at her “The fuck did you do that for!?”

She yelled back “You would rather bleed and suffer pain from infection in your arm!?”

“Yes!......I’m responsible for my own self, wounds and all.” I turned away from her and put the plyers back in the work desk and my gauze back in my med-kit.

She looked at me for a few seconds before speaking “Johnathan, you may find it hard to believe, but I do care about you. I consider you a member of our family, and I want what’s best for you. I want you to be able to live a happy life.” She lifted her hoof up to my shoulder and turned me around to look in her eyes, “I want to make sure that you make it back to our daughters in the future, because my husband and I believe that there is no one better suited for the task of protecting them than you.” The king stepped up next to her and they both opened their wings as much as they could in the garage, and their horns glowed as the king spoke

“Johnathan, we have decided that it is time to bestow your armor upon you.”

“Oh?...well, where is it?” I asked.

“Follow us outside and we shall bestow it upon you.” The king replied

“Or we could just do it in here.”

“Oh, shut it and come outside Johnathan, it will be easier as well as less dangerous.” the queen replied before wrapping me in her magic and dragging me outside. “Now stand still” their horn glowed and with a flash, I felt a strong weight all over my body, and my vision became obscured. I looked around to see what their armor was. It was a bunch of old metal plates, kind of like a knight armored suit, but a lot heavier, and on top of my head, was an old guards helmet.

“Uhh what is this?” I asked

“Your armor.” the queen replied with a smile

“I seriously doubt that you expect me to protect you in this, this isn’t practical for me at all!”

“Oh, we do, but it’s not done yet, we still have to bestow magic onto your armor”

“Ah I see, you just wanted to get a laugh out of me first”

“Yes, now stand still.” the queen replied.

“And think of an armor that best supports the way you fight.” The King finished.

I did as they said. I stood there and began to think of an armor that would work best with both firearms, as well as swords or whatever weapon that I had. As I did this, their horns glowed and I put the helm back on and signaled to them that I was ready. Right after I gave them the thumbs-up, a beam of magic leapt from both their horns and struck me square in the chest and radiated over me for about 30 seconds before a burst of it hit me all over and sent me flying back about 50 feet and knocked the wind out of me.

The king and queen ran up to me as I got my breath back and as I laid there on the ground, I offered only this remark, “Why does magic fucking hate me?” the king and queen smiled as they helped me to my feet before the king spoke

“Feel any different?”

I took a second to assess how I felt, more specifically, I could barely feel the weight of the armor on me, “Well the armor feels lighter.” I replied.

“Well that’s because it’s been imbued with out magic.” The queen replied, and as she did she made a mirror appear “Take a look.”

The king began to speak “We put some thought into your armor, and we decided it would be wrong to rob you of your combat abilities with your weapons of choice, so we took your…vest as you called it, and applied some magic.”

“Please tell me you didn’t break into my room and fuck with my stuff.”

“No, we broke into your room and improved upon the thing that will keep you safe should you be attacked.” the king responded.

I sighed. “Well at least your honest about the breaking into my room part…Why can’t a guy have any privacy?” they opened their mouths to speak but I stopped them “I was being rhetorical….so what ‘improvements’ did you make?”

The queen smiled “I’m glad you asked” their horns glowed and with a flash their armor disappeared of my body, and re-appeared in front of me, but instead of the blank metal pieces that it was originally, it now looked like the demon love child of my vest and their armor. The leg pieces had been adjusted so that they were less stiff, and on the right of the right leg piece, there was a holster for a shotgun, and inside it sat the 870, and on the front of it there was a place for a knife. On the left leg piece, there was another sheath for a knife, but that was it. Moving up to the chest piece, around the waist area, there was something similar to my battle belt, but it was still fully connected to the armor, as to not leave a gap. On the front of the armor, MOLLE had been added so I could put my mag pouches on it, and a scabbard for my sword had been added to the back, and tucked under the scabbard, looked to be a pair of wings. Moving onto the arm pieces, on the right, there was another scabbard for a knife, some places to put some shotgun shells, and it moved down into an armored glove. On the left, there was some places to put large caliber sniper rounds, and on the arm, it moved down to some kind of screen on the left just after my hand, which upon closer inspection turned out to be my phone. And as I looked at the caliber of the rounds on the vest, it seemed that it had been made to accommodate the weapons that I had brought with me to the castle. The king and queen just stood there as I stared at it, but before long, the queen spoke. “Well try to put it back on now” I picked up the armor and before I could try to slide it on, the armor itself moved. It became dark for a second, almost like a shadow. I looked around to see where it went, but I soon realized that the armor was now on my body.

“Well this is actually pretty badass.” I commented.

The king spoke, “Yes we thought you would like it. It has been customized to work with most of your weapons.”

“Huh, using magic to tailor make my armor” I again looked to the bullets on my vest “…. And let me guess, you also decided it would be beneficial to look at my guns while you broke into my room?”

“Yes.”

I sighed “Is nothing private?”

The queen responded “Well it is our castle.”

“True, but you got to have some faith in me” I countered.

“Ah yes, we shall put our faith into a man who has attempted suicide twice.” The king responded.

“Ow…now that’s just cold” I replied

The Queen cut in again. “But that’s not all, look at your helm.”

I took it off my head and what I saw amazed me. The helm covered both my head and face, and what I saw was a masterpiece. On the front of it, was a white skull similar to the one on my face shield. The eyes were covered with black glass, and the entire helmet was made of their metal, but the inside was cushioned with padding. I put it on and noticed that as I did, a HUD appeared in the glass and the control pad on my left arm lit up “Holy shit, made you think to do this?”

The queen replied. “You did. Like you said, the armor is tailor made. The magic has changed it based of your thoughts and ours. The armor itself will give you the ability of flight and magic, as well as boosting your physical abilities, allowing you to spar with the strongest warriors in the land and come out on top.”

The king cut in, “In essence, it turns you into an alicorn, almost on par with our power.”

“So that means magic should come easy to me right?” I asked

“Not exactly.” the king replied “While it is true that your magical power is almost the same as that of an alicorn, you must first learn a spell in order to perform it. So while you will be able to master spells easily, you will not be able to perform them all.”

“Got i.t” I replied

“There is a difference between magical power and ability.” Sunflare finished.

“Huh…...So how do I look?” I asked

“Do you want the truth?” the queen asked

“Yes” I replied.

She looked at me in the eyes as she replied, “You look like a monster…like darkness”

“Good.” I replied

“Why is that?” the king asked.

“The simple answer is that it will strike fear into my enemies…... the more in depth one is that it almost mirrors how I see myself on the inside.”

“You do realize that if we wanted to we could change that armor to a bright gold or blue or something else.” the queen replied

“You wouldn’t.” I replied

The queens horn glowed, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”

I sighed, “You don’t want ‘good people’ protecting you from evil. The ones that shake hands or keep everyone happy…No, you want those who have stood in the darkness for long enough …that they became it.”

The king and queen stared at me for a while, I don’t know what they were doing, but eventually the queen spoke “I see…..now come along, it’s time to return to the castle before anypony sees that we are gone.” And with that, she took off followed by her husband, and with a flash, Starswirl had disappeared as well, leaving me on my own

I sighed and picked up my guns and holstered them “Looks like I’m walking.” I began to make my way to the trail while studying the features of my HUD, I had a location display which was currently put up onto the castle, and a small ammo counter that switched with my guns.

From the looks of it, I could make some tech to link up with it and use it in tandem with my gear. It took me about an hour, but I finally made it back to my room. I couldn’t get through the front door because of my looks with my armor, and since I had no idea how to get the armor off, I had to climb back up into my room. At least the helmet was like a helmet and I could get that off, but the rest I had no idea. Fortunately, it looks like the king and queen were waiting in my room for me “Am I going to have to change my locks?”

The queen smiled “We can teleport.”

I replied “Oh bite me…now can you tell me how to get this armor off?”

The queen used her magic to lift my arm up as se spoke, “Well there are claps and some ties, but that method would take time, and there may be some cases where speed will be required.”

“So how do I get it on or off quickly then?” I asked

The king replied “It’s simple, just will it off.”

“And how exactly do I do that?” I replied.

The king stepped up “Just close your eyes and imagine a wind blowing on you”

I did as he said “Ok, now what?”

“Imagine that wind blowing a little harder, and its slowly taking your armor with it. Imagine it slowly fading off of you.”

I did as he said. I concentrated on the wind and when I opened my eyes, I saw that the right arm of my armor was gone.

“Good, now do the same for the rest.”

I tried to do the same, but I think the astonishment kept me from fully concentrating, because try as I might, I could not get the rest off. “Uhh Houston we may have a problem, I can’t get the rest off.”

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve done well enough.” The king responded. Both their horns glowed and the armor faded into shadow and disappeared

I watched as it went, and found myself wondering about it. “May I ask where it goes?”

“I could tell you but with your own lack of understanding of magic, I doubt you’d understand.”

“Fair enough.” I replied, though I had my ideas of where it would go. “So why do this all now?”

The queen stepped forward and I saw Starswirl behind them with a look of worry on his face “Well we have decided that it is time for you to know…I am pregnant.”

I stood there in awe “You…you mean…for how long?”

The queen replied “10 months…she is due in 1 month from now.”

“I…that’s amazing.” I reached down for the pendant on my neck and held it tightly “…I’ll pack up my stuff”

“Why?” the queen asked

“Well I figured that I’m not exactly the kind of person that you would want to have in the castle while you are raising a child.” I walked over to my bags and picked it up, but as I did, the blue magic aurora, and the marigold magic aurora of the king and queen wrapped around me and my bags, putting my bags back in the closet, and floating me in between the two of them.

“You’re not going anywhere.” the queen replied “We choose you as the family guard, and we aren’t letting you quit.” She raised my pendant up with her hoof “They wouldn’t let you quit……...I know you find this hard to believe, but over the past few weeks of your residency in or home, we have come to consider you part of our family, not just our protectorate.”

“Ah yes, because it’s obviously been me protecting you.” I remarked

“Sarcasm aside, you are right, we are capable of handling ourselves in most situations, but do you remember that wolf?” the queen turned me to look into her eyes.

“Yes.” I replied

“That is proof that there are some things that you can keep us safe from, and it’s also proof that you need protection.”

“You two would have figured it out eventually, and besides that’s why I have armor.”

“Not that kind of protection. You don’t need protection from others, you need protection from yourself.” the queen replied

Her answer was true, I was a danger to myself, but it also got me thinking about earlier today. “And speaking of that wolf, how did he know Starswirl?”

The two set me down from their magic before the king stepped in, clearly having thought of his answer beforehand. “Ah yes, he informed us that he referred to him as the gray beard. Well Starswirl is well known throughout the land as a master of the magic arts, perhaps the beast feared him because he could counter his regeneration.”

“Yeah that could be it.” I doubted his answer, there was more to what happened, but at the moment I didn’t want to ruin the mood by pressing the matter. “Well enough about me, when is she due?”

The queen smiled, I think she was happy to move on as well, but I could detect a hint of worry behind her mask of cheer. Even the king was discontented. Trust me, after having a mask both physical and metaphorical on myself for a long time, I know how to see through them. “Well unlike humans, ponies take 11 months to have children. So, she is due in a month from now, so June”

“Wait its May?”

“Yes, I assumed that you would have figured that out.” the king answered

I looked at both of them and deadpanned, “I plead the magic tree that I think likes to take joy in fucking with me.”

“Ah, I see, Yes, the tree of harmony works in mysterious ways.” The queen answered

“Well at least I know now.” I replied. “I take it you’ve already settled on a name?”

The queen beamed, “Yes, we have, as you know our daughters name shall be Celestia, and her eventual sister shall be named Luna.”

“Yeah, time travel will do that, honestly, I’m getting a headache thinking about it, but sorry.”

She shook her head “There is nothing to be sorry about, both of us were happy to see the pictures I your home, and the ones that you keep in here. It helps us to know that our daughters will grow into wonderful mares. That they will one day be there to help you.”

She used her magic to lift the pendant up into my view “You’ll get back to them Johnathan” she studied it a little longer before realizing something that had been a suspicion of mine “This pendant has been imbued with their magic. I can sense three distinct auroras” she didn’t get much time to study it because the pendant began to spew out light, and when it faded away after a few seconds, all three princesses were standing before us. The queen doubled back in shock as Orbash moved up ready to fight, and Starswirl stood there mesmerized. All the queen could say was “How did you get here? Did the pendant bring you here to console your lover?”

The three princesses offered no response and the king tried to touch them, but his hoof phased right through them “What is this?” he asked

“They’re projections…. Its a message for you two I think.” I replied. The three projections moved away from the king and queen and surrounded me, with the projection of Luna on my right, Tia in the middle, and cadence on the left. I went and sat down next to my table and started cleaning my shotgun while the images of the three princesses all just stood there. For a second I thought that’s all that was going to happen, but then the projection of Celestia stepped forward “Mother, Father, if you are seeing this then John has most likely given you permission to investigate the magic coming from the pendant around his neck. That magic is ours. We put it in the amulet for him, so he wouldn’t be alone. Please do be kind to him, he is my husband to be, he is going to be the father of our eventual child.” I stopped what I was doing and looked up. To the image of Celestia as it turned around to face me “That’s right my handsome prince, you will one day be a father. I’m not going to let this separation hurt our love.” she stepped back and Luna stepped forward “Mother, father, I know that by now, Johnathan will most likely have done something extremely idiotic and brash.”

“More than once.” the queen replied

“Hey!” I interjected

“But just know that while he may not be the easiest individual, he is a good man, one haunted by his past. But under the royal families tutelage, maybe he can one day move past his pain, but until then please, watch over him as we have.” she stepped back and the image of Cadance stepped forward and bowed.

“Your highnesses I am Princess Mi Amore Cadance, princess of the crystal empire, and the niece to Celestia and Luna. I came to know John very shortly after he came to Equestria. I presided over the marriage of him and Celestia. He is a very good man, and the three of us want him back in one piece. Although his heart is broken, it is still pure, and myself, Luna, and Celestia were just beginning to put it back together. I hope that you can add a few pieces to our work…and keep john safe. Although he is very caring, he does have a nasty habit of forgetting his own needs….we love him.” she stepped back with the other two and all three of the images disappeared.

“How did they have the time to come up with all this?” I asked

“When you care for someone as deeply as they do for you, you make the time.” The king responded.

“Touché.” I went and sat back down at the table and continued cleaning my guns while the three of them watched on in awe

Starswirl was the first to shake the shock and walk up to me “And you don’t have any other reaction to what just happened?”

I looked up at him while beginning to re-assemble the shotgun, a mix of anger and sadness brewing in me “Oh yeah I do, but if I let those emotions out…” I racked the pump on the shotgun “it’s not gonna be pretty…my being sent here is not a topic that pleases me, now please, before my emotions get any worse, I’d suggest you give me some space.”

“You’re not going to shoot me.” he replied

“No, not with lethal rounds, but beanbags still hurt.” I countered

“Johnathan, please, calm down.” the king pleaded.

I spun around to face him, the anger in me growing ever stronger “No!”

Now the queen was getting ticked “Johnathan if you do not calm down then WE will calm you down. They were just images and messages.”

I looked at her like she was speaking in a different language “Your kidding, right?... THEY ARE NOT JUST FUCKING IMAGES AND MESSAGES TO ME!!...they are a reminder of what I’ve lost, that I’m stuck here and at the mercy of a fucking tree with some damn crystals in it. They are a reminder that I am not allowed to ever experience joy for more than maybe a few months. That no matter where I am, I will always have what I love taken away from me when it will hurt the most…. now please…get. Out.”

The look on their face was that of shock, disappointment, and sadness, but they did as I asked, slowly the three of them turned around and left my room, looking back a few times as I sat back down at my table, pulled out a flask from my bag, and began to drink from it. After a minute, I hear my door close. I got up and locked it, I was finally alone. My emotions began to build up inside me my rage, my sadness, until eventually I couldn’t hold it in. “FUUUUUCK!!” I stood up from my table and three it across the room “FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” my vision began to blur and I began to see red as I tore through my room, destroying everything in sight in a burst of rage and fury. When I was done, nothing was left standing. The mirrors were destroyed, the walls cracked, all my gear lay in shambles, and other various odd and ends littered the room, with me standing in the center, bloodied, bruised and breathing heavily. Eventually my vision cleared and the strength faded from me. I collapsed to the ground and with my anger satiated for the moment, sadness began to take its control. I just laid there on the ground, and began to cry. I felt pathetic, I kept wondering what they would all think if they saw me like this…that maybe the world was better off without me…so I crawled over to a pile and searched for a pistol. Eventually I found one, and I put it to my head…and then I pulled the trigger, but instead of a bang and the end of my life, the pistol just clicked. The stupid fucking tree at work again. So, I dropped the gun and just curled up there in the ground and waited to die from anything.

I don’t know how long I laid there with my tears, but eventually there was banging at my door, followed by a crack as a beam of magic sliced through it and tore the door away. Two sets of hooves ran in, I didn’t open my eyes, I didn’t even move, I just laid there, hoping that whoever had just entered the room would put my pathetic ass out of its misery. But instead I hear the sound of a horn and its magic, and I began to feel weightless. Whoever was in the room with me said nothing. I heard the sound of hoof steps again, and I felt a small breeze on my skin. Whoever was with me was moving me. after 30 seconds, I felt something soft on one side most likely a bed. A few seconds later I felt a pony lay down beside me, and pull the covers over me. I had very little energy left, but I felt a hoof and wing wrap around me and pull me close. I heard the sound of magic again, and the room began to fill with Celestia's angelic singing.

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when times are gray.””

Hearing her voice...it calmed me, but it also awoke a deep sorrow inside me. I tried to get up ad stop the singing, but the pony who was with me held me down, and for the first time, I heard the voice of the pony who was with me. As she pulled me close Sunflare spoke softly “No, stay with me…its ok…you’ll be ok.”

“You'll never know just, how much I love you”

She began to nuzzle me and being drained of all my energy, I just laid there and fell asleep.

“So please don't take, my sunshine away.”