Author's Note

I decided to look at this to see what I did wrong and why would it get hate (although it’s because a certain someone added it to ‘Absolutely Disgusting’ and put it under Terrible Cover Art....which is bullshit)

But I look now and see...It looks rushed...yet when I first wrote this chapter...it didn’t feel rushed yet when I look back on it...I guess I was rushed.

So I rewrote this chapter, it’s actions, and most of it’s conversations and they feel more clear now.
Hope you enjoy!!!

II. The Shadow's Greeting

Sam was slashing his sword around, it seemed he was practicing, he slashes at a tree which leaves a huge cut, more than normal scratches from a Manticore.

“Hm…at least nothing has changed with combat,” Sam says.

Sam then looks up past the thick trees to see it was nighttime, “I better find somewhere to sleep.”

Sam walks through the forest with ease, he then discovers a fog, a thick one to be exact, “No problem,” Sam then turns into his Shadow Form and turns to smoke to ease through the fog and not get hit by obstacles that would be hard to see.

After he reaches the other side of the fog, he is greeted with a Large and Abandoned Castle. Sam reverts to normal as he looks at the Damaged Castle, “I guess a battle happened here…years ago I bet.” Sam walks to the entrance and looks at the broken, cracked, leaf, and root covered walls.

He then sees two banner…one of Sun and one of Moon, “Hm…fancy.” Sam walks through the main hall and up some stairs, “I think I’ll find a bedroom probably…a royal one.” Sam says as he chuckles to himself.

His footsteps were the only sounds that were heard through the castle, besides some crickets and bats. He steps into some puddles as well; the splashes are heard as if they were the only thing in the castle that sounded loud.

Sam then enters a large room where it was pitch black, “Well…no problem.” Sam’s hand glows as then torches around the room were lit up, as well as a chandelier.

“Oh damn,” Sam says as his eyes widen.

The room was a Library, it was filled with books…shelve after shelve, Sam was amazed, “I bet I can learn something about where I am.”

Sam had a stack of Thirteen Books, all were pretty large as if they were a Dictionary.

“Well, I’ll be here awhile…not that I’m complaining.” Sam says as he smiles.

There were a few beanbag chairs so Sam happily took a seat in them and then grabbed some earbuds from his pocket. He clicked a button in his Pocket and he opened the first book while music played to him

Sam had his head bumping to the music, while he read, “Equestria…huh…interesting.”

Sam had not taken his eyes off the book for a second, he was amazing at the information, it was like back then when he was learning about Gateway, the Temples, and the Guardians…all its history. Now he was learning about the Land of Equestria.

“Fuck me…that’s interesting,” Sam looked around him real quick, “So…this is…I guess was the Castle of the Two Sisters…if these books were here before the…attack…I guess they’re outdated.”

12 Hours Later

Sam was fast asleep with a book in his hand but different from last time. The warrior awakens as he yawned, “Damn…how long has it been since I actually have slept…considering I’m a Vampire.” Sam says.

Sam was back in the forest, away from the Castle…he looked around for some food.

“I don’t think I’ll have some luck.”

He then comes across the town again…back to normal…it seems everyone there has gone back to their normal lives, “Well, that’s good news at least,” He then looks to see the Statue of Discord was gone. “Guess they took it somewhere secure.”

Sam puts his earbuds back on as he had music playing still…but not that loud. He looks at the town with ease, and a smile under his scarf, “I guess this place will be okay now.”

He then turns around to walk back to the forest.

“Hold it right there!”

Sam straightens his posture and turns around. He is greeted with spears to his face.

“Demon! You are trespassing into our home and might possibly be a threat to our land! You will come with us for Questioning!”

There were three…Pony Knights in his face…more like Guards and one Knight since two of them had spears and one had a sword in their Holster.

Sam looks at them with one of his eyes slightly shut and one wide open as well as a frown.

“No…I’ll pass.”

The Guards and the Knight look at each other, “You have no choice Demon! We will use force if we must.”

“And are those your orders?”

“I do not have to explain that to you Demon!”

“First off, stop calling me a Demon and Second, I say no…you can’t just take someone against their will when they haven’t done anything wrong…I need to find a way home and I will not let you stop me from returning to my land.”

“You will not oppose!” The Knight says as he puts his sword in his face.

“…I don’t have time for this horseshit.” Sam turns around and starts to walk away into the forest.

“Halt! I order you to Halt!” The Knight says.

One of the Guards then charge at Sam with their spear pointed in front of them. As he was about to stab Sam, he suddenly turns around and grabs the Guard and throws him to the Ground with no damage to his body.

He also had the spear in his hand in which he snaps it in half and drops it in front of the Guard, “Don’t do that…not a bright idea dude…I’ve got better things to do if you’ll excuse me.” Sam walks away from the three and he puts his earbuds back in.

“You hurt?” The Knight asks the Guard.

“No…not at all…not even one single pain in my body, I don’t think he wanted to hurt me.” The Guard says as he was surprised.

“He basically still attacked you, however.”

“Wait, but I think he’s being serious I think he just wants to go home…he doesn’t want trouble.”

“That’s not going to happen.” The Knight’s horn then glowed and a light shined in the sky.

Sam walked to the Castle again and he sighed.

“I hope me not harming him was a message to them that I don’t want trouble.”

Sam then enters the Castle and is greeted with a Platoon of Knights, “Oh for fuck sake.”

One Knight Walks up dressed in a more detailed Armor…like he was a Captain or something, he had Light and Dark Blue Hair and a White Coat.

“You will come with us…one way or another.” The Captain says.

“I refuse to be taken away for something I didn’t do...or for doing absolutely nothing.”

“You are a threat as reported! You will not walk our lands freely.”

“Who says? I didn’t do anything except…stop that Discord asshole…if anything, a thank you would be nice…but I usually don’t ask for that, but it’s better than being harassed.” Sam says as he went face to face with that Captain.

The Captain grabs his coat and a fist to his face, “Listen here you son of a bitch, I don’t know who you are…and I don’t care.”

“That makes two of us.”

“I have my orders…you will come…or I will hurt you.”

Sam snaps and yanks the Captain’s hand off of him and looks at him close-up, “Do you not understand?! I just want to go home to my friends and family…or can you not comprehend that in your stupid fucking pathetic military mind?”

The Captain’s anger was pushed and he decided to pull his scarf down from his face and punch him.

Sam had his head turned from the punch…he then turns back looking at the Captain with a death stare…his scarf was down…showing his two sharp teeth sticking out of his mouth, “I guess not,” Sam lifts a boot to the Captain’s stomach…not hurting him, but pushing him.

The Captain is pulled back into his Platoon where his body knocks all his Knights down in a Domino effect.

Sam quickly turns around and sprints out of the Castle. He sees there were Knights at the outside as well now…there weren’t any when he came in.

“Fuck sakes, can’t you please leave me alone?!” Sam shouts.

He continues to run as he leaps from tree to tree now, he then looks behind him to see a shine of light coming towards him.

“Oh, shit--“

The light strikes him and he falls from the tree and onto the ground.

“Ugh…by the Goddesses.”

Sam wakes up in a dark cell, he looks to see he didn’t have his, Hoodie, gloves, scarf, or Waist Coat on…only his Tank top, his Jeans, and his boots…none of his weapons were on him.

He looks around the room, there was a bed, a torch, and nothing else, “This is fucking stupid,” Sam says as he had an angered voice. “Oh look a being saved us all from…whatever, let’s lock him up against his will as our thanks.”

Sam kicks a wall as hard as he could which leaves huge cracks as it now looked like it would shatter, “Hmph…stupid wall.”

Sam checks his pocket real quick, he couldn’t find his device or earbuds, “Oh, of course, they take my player, I swear to god, I’ve had that thing for years and if they take it apart…so help me--“

“So help you what?”

Sam turns around and his eyes widen a Celestial Being…a Goddess…a beautiful being, “Oh my goddesses…”

The being was female, she was a pony alright…anthropomorphic like all the others…but she was probably over seven feet tall. She was wearing a clear white gown that covered her legs and…hooves, she had a long horn and large wings. Her hair flowed in a certain direction, with multiple colors. She wore a crown and band around her neck and chest.

“Who…are you?” Sam says in awe.

“I am Princess Celestia, I rule over Equestria.”

“That’s right, I read about you in your old castle.”

“So that was you peckering in my library.” Celestia giggles after her sentence.

“Yeah…did you order to bring me here?”

“Yes…I had my guards ordered to escort you here.”

“Escort, more like kidnap…I was basically being taken against my will…especially when your soldiers but their weapons in my face.”

“They had to be cautious…after what I heard what you did…and after we got you.”

“Wait…did you knock me out?”

“Yes…there was no other way…but I guess I can understand why you would run.”

“But why? I don’t want any trouble! All I want to do is return home! I HAVE to go back! Why did you order to bring me fucking here?! Do you want to experiment on me? Do you want to see if I am a demon?!”

“Well, your appearance says so…especially your hair flowing Snow-White like the Tartarus Spirit.”

Sam becomes more angered and turns around as he releases an extremely frustrated sigh.

I don’t want to take it out on her…even if she did order to bring me in…she has no idea who I am…I could be dangerous…I am but…I don’t want any trouble. I’m not helping my case by lashing out my anger.

Sam takes a deep breath as the mark on his arm blinks red. He turns around to face Celestia.

“My deepest apologies Princess…I now understand that you are just curious and worry for your subjects…I mean hey, a Dark being suddenly appears out of nowhere? Who looks like he came from hell or something…yeah, when you say it out loud it makes sense. Welp, I’m an idiot.”

Celestia giggles as she puts a hand on Sam’s shoulder, “I accept your apology…and I apologize too, I do care for all my subjects and when a new creature or being appears…I just become curious and worried…and yes, You do look like a being from Tartarus…no offense at all.”

“Please, don’t apologize and don’t think I’m offended, I’m meant to strike fear into anyone…it’s my job actually.” Sam says.

“I’m sorry, but…what are you? I’ve never seen you before.”

“Before I answer, do you have some citizens out there wondering who I am as well?” Sam asks.

“I…yes there are…how did you know?”

“Believe it or not, it kinda was a guess but since one of your guards said in the report I am a threat…even though I don’t think I did anything that made me a threat to your world,” Sam says as his frustrated expression returned.

“Weren’t you the one who stopped Discord?” Celestia asks.

Sam looks at her with a small surprise, “Well at least someone actually brought that up, but I can’t take all the credit…six girls used some magic to entrap him into stone.”

“I know, everypony in the land knows…there was a ceremony for their hard work,” Celestia says.

“Oh, and I get no credit?” Sam asks as he crosses his arms with a skeptical look.

“Oh well, I…”

“I’m just kidding your majesty…I’m usually the type of being to do and not be recognized for it, half the time,” Sam says.

“I apologize, but I didn’t send all those guards…only three…did you do something to send them all?”

“After I refused to come with them, one charged at me with their spear, I turned and dropped them to the ground and snapped his spear in half…I didn’t hurt him at all actually, I had no intentions to make enemies or cause trouble, but I had no intention to be forcefully taken against my will, considering I had Spears and Swords pointed at my face.” Sam says.

“I see…then I can apologize for their force…but it’s their job…it’s like how you strike fear.” Celestia says as she giggles.

Sam laughs along with her as he snaps his fingers, “I guess you’re right…considering I would do the same thing…I guess I am a hypocrite…a huge one.”

“Why, what do you do?”

“I will answer that when I come out of the cell and talk to everyone else outside.”

“Oh, would you like to right now?” Celestia asks.

“You sure?” Sam raises an eyebrow.

“I’m sure, I trust you.”

“That’s a bad thing to do considering your talking to someone in a Jail Cell.”

“And you’re talking to someone who holds the power of the sun in her hands and has lived for over a thousand years,” Celestia says as she giggles again.

“Heh, I read about that in your library as well,” Sam says as he laughs.

“How many things did you learn about our world?”

“I know you have a sister, I know there are many other lands beside this, I know that the Planet is called Equis, I know that there were more threats than Discord, and I know you are the daughter of the Goddess…Faust.” Sam says.

“Wow, I know someone who might share your knowledge…you read a lot don’t you?”

“Well, the job can get boring at some points,” Sam says as he chuckles

Celestia giggles at the answer. The two then reach Large Gate-Like Doors, two Guards were posted at them, “He is no threat…let us in.” Celestia says.

The guards push the doors open and Sam witnesses the large hallway. Glass art on each side of the walls, large pink carpet…leading up to two large Chairs, one Gold, and one Midnight Blue.

There were also the same six ponies Sam assisted with taking down Discord. Then, there were a few guards, the same ones he attacked and ran away from, there were some high-end ponies as well.

“Didn’t think there was a party for me,” Sam says as he smiles.

“No! That comes later,” The Pink Pony says, “Oops! It was supposed to be a surprise!”

Sam has a skeptical look at the Pink Pony, “Well okay then.” Sam chuckles.

Celestia then walks up to the crowd of Ponies and smiles.

“He would like to explain himself and introduce himself…everypony, please show some respect.” Celestia says as she then stares at the High-End Ponies.

Sam walks up to the Ponies, he had a straight look and stared at them, he then smiles and bows, “Well, hello everyone…I shall introduce myself and say some other things, then I will take Questions.” Sam says as he chuckles.

Everyone sees his smile and sees the two small and sharp teeth poking out of his mouth, some then had their eyes wide open, “My name is Samuel Knight, and I come from Gateway…A land filled with peace and harmony, we are hidden from the outside world of the Planet Earth.”

Sam walks up looking at all the Ponies.

“First off, I would like to apologize to the Knights and Guards…severely, I am a serious Hypocrite, I understood your actions and you had every right to do them, but I hope I did not hurt anyone because that was not my intention…and to the Captain…I’m sorry for insulting you, I bet you’re a good captain.” Sam looks down and puts a fist against his chest.

The Captain from earlier then walks up to him, “I thank you for the apology to me and my troops…but how are you a Hypocrite?”

Sam smiles and puts his hand up, and shows the mark, drifting from his hand to his arm, “This mark is something that is embedded in me, In Gateway, the place has been protected for over 3.2 Billion Years…and it’s all thanks to the Guardians. I am one of them, I am known as the Gatekeeper…I make sure anyone who is not part of our community does not step foot in, as well as disrupt the peace, and the temples that keep us hidden. What you guys did to me…I can do to outsiders in Gateway, so I deeply apologize. You were all protecting your land…and that is, and I find that very noble of you all.”

The Captain as well as a few knights smiled and chuckled, “We all accept your apology…so…you’re basically a Knight from where you’re from?” The Captain asks.

“I prefer Warrior…I’ve been walking the Earth even before I became a Guardian.”

“Ooh, can you tell us more about what you are?” The Purple Unicorn asks happily.

Sam sees the Unicorn and gives her the wink, nod, and smile like last time, “Certainly…but before I do, may I see my gear and clothes so I can go into more detail?”

“Certainly…I trust you, Knights, bring his things.” Celestia says.

Two Knights levitate a Table as well as all of Sam’s Belongings.

Sam smiled as he saw his attire, weapons, and…wait…

“Hey, what’s this…ugh, what an ugly necklace, and what are these gross names? Someone burn this.” A High-End Pony was holding onto a necklace that held at least Eight Dog Tags.

Sam’s eyes shot open and he put his hand up and his mark glowed. The Dog Tags were snatched out of The Pony’s hand and shot straight towards Sam’s, “You will not do anything with those! You will not lay a hand on these if that’s how you’ll treat it!” Sam says with anger.

“I Apologize Sam…what are those?” Celestia asks.

“These are called Dog Tags…In my world, outside of Gateway, I served in the Military…I was part of Special Forces, and every Soldier carries these that show their name, their blood type, small things you need to know about them…All of these Dog Tags were my friends…”

“You mean…they--“

“Yes…they died on the battlefield, I took their tags to remember them…after I resigned, I burned mine…I didn’t deserve to be remembered for what happened to me…especially since I didn’t die with them.” Sam says.

The whole room was dead silent, “So…do you want to continue where you left off?” Twilight asks.

“Sure,” Sam looks through his weapons and he grabs one of the two Handguns off the table, “This is called a gun…do you have anything like this?”

Celestia and everyone else shook their heads.

“Do you have any type of weapon that has a trigger or something to release something deadly?” Sam asks.

“We have Crossbows.” The Captain says.

Sam sighs and then he removes the magazine from one of the handguns, “This is basically like a crossbow, but more advanced, these fire little metal bolts called bullets,” Sam ejects a bullet from the magazine and holds it up to them. Celestia levitates it over to herself to look closely, “One part is what is fired, the other is the shell which keeps the bullet in there, once fired the shell ejects.”

“These ‘bullets’ they hurt?” Twilight asks.

“Of course…the type of bullets I carry are FMJs which can pierce through even metal, hard armor, and anything else.” Sam says as the bullet is given back to him.

“So you could’ve used this to hurt the guards, but you didn’t?” The noble from earlier asks.

“No, like I said, I’d rather not make enemies…besides that, I’d rather not lose my rights as a Guardian. Anyway…these bullets are used to hurt, they can pierce through skin and fur and such and really hurt, depending on where it hits, it will either wound or kill.” Sam says.

“Oh my, is that what they were made for, to kill?” Celestia asks.

“Or to protect, like I do…do you guys have target dummies or something?” Sam asks.

“There’s the field where we have soldiers test for battle...” The Captain says

“May we go out there?”

The group head out to the practice field as all the targets stood there motionless. Sam starts to put his attire back on with all the darkness on him.

“Alright, I’m going to demonstrate all my weapons and then I’ll show you combat,” Sam says.

The group nods in understanding, “Okay, the handgun here is called an M9, it’s a classic and common gun to use, also known as Pistols.” Sam says.

He turns around and fires three bullets out into the field, he then turns back to see some of the ponies had their ears covered.

“Whoops…should’ve warned you first.”

“It’s quite alright, but that seems fearful if they’re loud,” Celestia says.

“Damn right they are,” Sam fires more bullets without looking and still staring at the crowd. All bullets hit the head, “This is not easy…not even close.”

Sam reloads the M9 and places it back on the table, he then picks up one of the two SMGs, “This is called an MP5K, a Submachine Gun, besides the pistol firing one bullet at a time, this fires continuously until the magazine is empty,” Sam loads the magazine and places the mag in the gun, he then cocks it and switches off the safety, “More loud noises incoming.” He says with a smile.

He fires a burst of bullets, then fires one bullet at a time, then continuously until the magazine is empty, “Ta-Da.” Sam says.

The Ponies look with amazement and having their ears covered. He reloads the SMG and places it back. He then grabs the Dual Combat Knives, “These might be something you guys are familiar with.”

“Kinda, but not like that.” One of the Guards said.

“Well, that’s fine,” Sam says, he then does some knife tricks and swishes them around. The Ponies look with amazement. He places them down and picks up the final weapon, his prized possession, the one thing that makes him a Guardian, his Sword.

“This…is something to not be messed with and not touched by any others…this is Juliet,” Sam says.

Some ponies chuckled, “Juliet, you named your Sword?” The Captain asks.

“This is not a normal sword, it carries Blood within it…anyone I’ve killed with it, their blood sinks into it…like so,” The sword then glows black and red along with some aura. “This is the Shadow’s Wielder…it looks a little like a Katana yeah…but it’s a little curved plus the colors and such on this bad girl.” Sam says with an evil smile.

“If you want we can make the Targets come to life and look like any enemies we want,” Celestia says.

“Alright, I have an idea, but put a shield around you guys so you won’t get hit,” Sam says.

Celestia puts up a force field and all watch from behind, “I have another idea, bring them to life, I’ll change them to what I want them to be.”

The Captain casts the spell and Sam’s mark glows and the Targets change into something Sam recognizes…PMC Forces. Sam grabs all his weapons and puts them in their places.

“Here we go.”

The PMCs put their Rifles up at Sam, he responded with his hand, disarming one of them and firing the gun at another PMC. He drops the rifle and takes out his Dual M9s and fires at different Soldiers, they fall to the ground dead. Sam stands his ground, firing at the Soldier’s heads.

More Soldiers appear and Sam takes out his Dual MP5Ks and Fires at the sprinting PMCs. They start to drop like flies or ants tasting poison, Sam continued to fire either way, more appear with riot shields which could block the bullets, this wasn’t a problem for Sam as he ran towards them kicking three of the Shielded Soldiers, disarming them of their protection, Sam then fires on the unprotected three. He then jumps up above the soldiers firing on them where they were unprotected…they all succumb to the pain of the bullets entering their bodies and it kills them.

Sam lands back down and looks to see more Soldiers coming at him with CQC Equipment like Shock Batons, Knives, Combat Axes, any type of Blunt of Sharp Weapons. Sam holsters the SMGs and takes out the Combat Knives, he runs towards them all as he swung his knives around. He slides and stabs one of them in the knee making him collapses to the floor, Sam stabs another one as he got back up and flipped his knives around at the standing soldiers.

“Come on…who’s got the better balls here?”

One of the Soldiers shouted and charged at him with his Shock Batton, Sam quickly circles around him and sticks his blade in the Soldier’s neck, after he takes the knife out, blood spews out quickly as the PMC falls to the ground. Sam looks at the remaining standing Soldier and he finally charges which Sam responds with throwing his knife which hits his eye. He falls and Sam takes the knife out of him and another Soldier whom he stabbed in the knee, which reminds him…he takes out his M9 and finishes off the two injured PMCs.

Sam turns around to see more Soldiers standing there, weapons up, ready to fire, he slowly puts the Knives and his M9 Pistol away and he stands his ground again, his leather boots stretching their sounds. He then unsheathes his Sword…it starts to glow again, Sam chuckles and he starts to run towards the Soldiers, “Come and get it fuckers.”

They fired their weapons but Sam then slowed and he swished his Sword around very quickly which was deflecting the bullets that were being fired at him. Sam continued to deflect the bullets as he reaches the first soldier and he slices him in half horizontally, The Torso and Waist split apart.

He wasn’t done yet, he deflects more bullets as he turns around, he quickly pulls out his M9 and fires a round into one of the PMC’s shoulders, Sam runs over to the wounded man and he decapitates him…head clean off, the Shadow then sprints towards the next Soldier in which he cuts off both Soldier’s arms and then he impales his heart.

The final Soldier stopped firing and looked at the Shadow in disbelief, he just saw him kill every single one of his comrades…he puts his weapon down and turns around to flee.

Sam shook his head as he threw his Sword to the Soldier which impales the Soldier’s head and out of his mouth, Sam walks up to him and takes the Sword out, the Soldier falls to the ground…the final Soldier.

“A real Soldier would’ve kept firing at least.”

Celestia uncovers the Shield and looks at the Carnage.

The entire crowd looks at the horror of the blood and gore…which slowly start to turn back into Target Dummies.

“Is…this what you do for a living?” Twilight asks.

“It’s usually not like this at all believe it or not…most of it involves standing around all day and walking back and forth temple through temple…I kill and fight only to protect…I promise you.”

“You are a force to be reckoned with Sam,” Celestia says, “Do you have any bad intentions at all?”

“Not at all, I’m a Guardian remember? I protect not destroy.” Sam says.

“Alright, I understand you do not have a place to stay…while we try to figure out how you can get home…Twilight may Sam stay in Ponyville with you for the time being?” Celestia asks.

“With me? Are you sure Princess…I…I.”

“Hey, it’s okay…I don’t bite at all I promise…even though I’m a Vampire.” Sam says as he laughs at his own joke.

They all then stare at him.

“What? Too soon or something?” Sam asks.

“Anyways…yes, Sam may stay with me for the time being.”

“Okay, you two will leave back to Ponyville in a bit…for now, let’s get to know each other for a bit.” Celestia says.