Sweet Apple Acres

“Where is he going?” Twilight asked as she and the rest of the girls tagged behind him. They had been following him for a good while, for a being on two legs he sure was able to run far ahead of them.

“And Why are we back at the farm?” Applejack asked as well. Looking around, at all her apple trees.

“Why don’t I just fly up to him and ask him?”

Twilight was silent for a moment. After some time this caused Rainbow to smirk.

“You didn’t think of that, did you?

Twilight blushed in embarrassment, she was so focused on following him that she never thought about just simply having Rainbow easily fly up to him and grill him for answers. As Rainbow laughed, Twilight grumbled “Just get up there Dash.”

“Girls, I believe that is no longer necessary.” Rarity called to everyone before pointing out toward where they last saw Dan. They were in for a shock when they saw Dan gaze at a Manticore that somehow got into the orchard. Even worse was that the creature was trying to break down the door leading to a familiar treehouse. And even more familiar screaming

“No, Applebloom! The girls!” Applejack yelled

“They’re inside the clubhouse?! Oh dear, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity felt like her stomach just dropped like a rock from the terror of the news. “We have to do something!”

“Looks like, that new guy is already doing something!” Rainbow pointed out to where they saw Dan chuck a fallen apple at the beast’s head. This thankfully got it’s attention away from the Crusaders, but now Twilight and the girls were facing a new problem with the safety of their new guest.

“Oh no…” Twilight blurted out as her pupils shrunk to pinpricks.

Over by the Manticore, Dan wasn’t feeling too great about his newly gained attention either. However, Aegis seemed to be not only ok but wanted exactly this to happen. ‘OK, good job, young blood. Now his attention is away from the innocent.’

“Yeah, that’s great, so what about us?” Dan took a step back as the beast growled as it made its way toward him.

‘Well it’s more of a YOU problem honestly since I’m already dead and all.’ Aegis replied

“NOT. HELPING. AEGIS.” Dan grumbled through his teeth as he tried not to yell the words angrily.

‘Calm down, just keep your distance while I have a look at this guy.’ That was when he saw the ghost of the old unicorn exit his body and fly up toward the creature and began examining it. No problem since he was already dead and invisible for the beast to notice him. However, he couldn’t get a long enough analysis before the beast lunged for Dan.

“Ah! Crap!” Out of reflex Dan back jumped, normally this movement wouldn’t do much to aid him and he was prepared for that, which left him unprepared with how far he actually jumped back. It felt impossible given the last time he took stock of his average abilities, but there he was, somehow flying 10 to 15 feet back. “WHOA! What-!” This also caused him to not look back so that he could prevent falling on his butt and tumbling back a few yards. “Ow…” He stopped lying on his back and immediately sat up, questions running through his mind about how that even happened until that malicious looking lion face caught his attention since it was still barreling right toward him.

Before he could even move however a Rainbow streaked blur zoomed right over him and right at the manticore’s face, the collision knocking it off its forepaws. Meanwhile, that blur bounced off the creature’s head with a grunt and tumbled back to reveal that blue pegasus Dan met earlier. “Ow…. talk about a hard head.”

“Rainbow Dash, what was… Wow, I guess you really meant it about being fast.” Dan replied, but mumble the last part under his breath. Taking this opportunity, Aegis then returned to check out the manticore.

“Are you two ok?!” Dan looked back to see the other girls make their way over to him and Dash, with Twilight leading the group.

“For the most part.” Dan replied getting back to his feet.

This was when Aegis returned to Dan’s body and with quite a rush. ‘My fears were correct, Dan! You must slay this creature before it has a chance to harm these ladies.’

Dan decided to reply in his mind since the girls were within listening range.’ I dunno, that rainbow one seemed to have done more damage than me right now.’

DAN!

‘ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! You don’t have to yell in my mind. That crap echoes, man!’ When Dan reached for his Eagle, Aegis chimed in again.

‘Stop! Do you mean to traumatize these ladies?!’ At that moment the Manticore finally came to its senses after that dazed moment.

Dan eloquently vented his frustration to Aegis. ‘WHICH IS IT, GRAMPS?! KILL IT OR NOT?!’

This was when the girls ran to his side, neither of the boys was paying attention to what any of them were saying at the moment as they were arguing with each other. Twilight tried to take command of the situation. “OK Dash when your back with us you and Applejack get ready to subdue it.”

Dash shook her head until her senses returned to her and nodded joining Applejack as she got her rope ready.

“Rarity, think you can go check on the fillies while we handle this.”

“Of Course, Twilight!” At this Twilight teleported her past the manticore in front of the clubhouse to check on the Crusaders as they kept the creatures attention on them.

“Fluttershy, can you see if you can convince it to leave peacefully, we don’t want to hurt it if we don’t have to.”

“A-alright….” The timid pegasus hovered her way over toward the beast.

“Pinkie you-” When Twilight turned to give Pinkie an order she noticed Pinkie was wearing some sort of camo outfit with a matching headband, a serious look on her face, along with warpaint under her eyes, on her hind legs holding a creme pie in each fore hoof.

“Just say the word and I’ll make it rain.” she said in a somewhat low tone

…. Twilight decided not to bother. “Roger that, Pinkie.” then looked forward she decided to use her magic to hold it in place… but for some reason, something was preventing her from magically grasping the lion. “What the-?”

Yes we must end this creature's life but not in front of them. Your main task as Royal Hunter is to take care of these things outside of the eyes of the public. We must guide this creature away from them and handle it in a more secluded area!

‘Twist my arm, will you!?’ Dan grumbled as he tried to think of something. The girls were now trying to subdue the beast, he even was surprised that the shy looking one actually flew up to it too… to... ‘Is she seriously trying to talk to it?’ The look on the manticore’s face did not bode well for this situation, his body moved on its own.

Fluttershy was at a loss, she tried speaking to it. But, it wasn’t listening. No, it was, but it chose to ignore her. “Please. We don’t want… we don’t want to h-hurt you” She could sense it, every cell in her body told her to run. The moment it locked eyes with her. It wasn’t a look of hunger or desperation.

It just wanted to kill her.

Fearing for her life she tried to back away. But it was all slow motion as the creature was already upon her, jaws wide open. Her friends all having the same look of horror on their face as they tried to move in to stop the beast. They weren’t gonna make it… She wasn’t gonna make it. Already half her body was technically in its maw now. Tears already forming in her eyes from sheer despair. She wasn’t fast like rainbow to avoid this…. But that hand she suddenly felt on her stomach seemed to be fast enough as she didn’t realize it till just then. The next thing she knew she was being pulled away from the Manticore’s jaws just in time as the row of jagged fangs closed, only managing to shave off a few inches off the tip of her tail, tucked safely under her Savior’s arm. It was then that she noticed that it was the strange newcomer they were speaking to earlier. The cloak hid his face, but she could sense righteous anger coming off him.

Her senses were spot on, He was mad and for a good reason. This monster, its eyes only said one thing, to kill whatever held a heartbeat. No moderation, no concern of what happens, or whatever it’s target is. If it breathed, it wanted to kill it. This utterly pissed him off. The gall this beast had to think it could just end a life whenever it pleased. It was worse than a poacher, and he hated poachers. His free hand was already balled up into a fist and wound back. As his body just followed how he felt and struck a fast punch at the manticore’s jaw. “BACK OFF!” he yelled as his fist connected…. And broke off more than few of the Manticore’s teeth.

“Whoooaa…..” Rainbow Dash was shocked, but probably because she didn’t expect much from Dan in the first place, He sure wasn’t brawny looking like a minotaur. Evidently, she wasn’t the only one there shocked at his surprising strength. Manticore teeth had to be pretty tough to knock out, and that creature ended up stumbling over and rolling onto his back from the impact. Heck, even Dan was shocked.

HOLY CRAP…. He thought before as he looked at his fist for a moment.

‘Hmm, you seem to be assimilating well with the medallion... Good.’ Aegis spoke

“The medallion?” he mumbled to himself, however, his current passenger picked up on it.

“Um, what medallion?”

“Huh?” Dan turned to Fluttershy, who was still in his arms, suddenly which made her squeak and shrink into herself.

“S-sorry…”

“Sorry for what?” Dan asked but was caught off guard by Twilight’s voice.

“Quick AppleJack, Rainbow, tie it up!

Both named mares were brought back to attention and reality noticing the Manticore starting to get back up.

“Whoa, Nelly!” Applejack swiftly through her lasso and snagged one of its legs. With a yank she caused it to lose its footing and tumble back down again for Rainbow to grab the rope from AJ and started tying its legs up in the rope in high speed so the beast could only snap at air whenever she passed by the reachable zone of its jaws. When she was done, the Manticore was hogtied on it’s back growling and trying to get at the closest living creature with its jaws, and it’s already tied up stinger.

“Well, that takes care of that.” Dan sighed.

‘It’s not over yet, we still need to move this creature away from the eyes of the bearers and the public to terminate it.’ Aegis replied

Dan rolled his eyes, ‘Why don’t we just tell them? It’ll make things a lot easier.’

Because it was decreed that a Royal Hunter’s true purpose must remain unknown to the public, this includes even most authority in even the Royal Guard. Sometimes it is needed to take a life of another, but that does not mean others are obligated to know about it. Only those essential, do. Ponies. do. not. kill. Other races do, but there is no hunting in this country.

Dan held a deadpan look on his face. ‘That decree sounds stupid. How can you hide any of this from society for so long.’

Well I managed, besides I don’t see why you’re so surprised, this is what the Princesses have been trying to stress to you the other day. Aegis replied

‘Yeah, but I figured that it'd be cool letting these girls know since they have to affiliate with me from now on..’ Dan argued

“Hey! Buddy!” Dan was snapped out of his thoughts and conversation with Aegis when he heard Rainbow.

“Huh?”

“You mind putting Fluttershy down already and explain to us what’s going on here.” She continued.

Dan was unsure at first. “What?” but then felt tiny movement from under his arms. “O-oh! Right, Sorry about that.” He set the pegasus down, and she murmured a few words involving “Thank you” and quickly moved over toward her friends.

“Alright, enough stalling!” Rainbow was now right in his face. “Seriously, who are you? Do you know something about this?!” She pointed toward the struggling angry manticore. “Did you bring it here?!”

A little taken aback by her barrage of questions he looked at the other girls. They all seemed just about as curious. He shrugged “Might as well tell you guys.”

Dan you will not.

‘Look old man, in the long run, having THEM know would probably be for the better for us in the future.’ Dan replied in his mind as he stepped to the side to get a better view of- “OH CRAP!”

“What? What does that even mean?” Twilight asked before noticing his gaze going over and behind them… “Nooo… don’t tell me!” she turned around and saw the Manticore seemed to thrash around so much that it got it’s jaws on the rope and ripped it off “Oh Horse-apples.”

“Da Fu-” Before he could finish that, his voice halted briefly.

Language, Dan. there are women present. Aegis replied

‘Oh Bite me, Aegis’ He replied as he stepped forward, walking past Rainbow.

Twilight turned to Applejack “Please tell me you have more rope” Before Applejack could reply she felt someone walk past her. Turning her head she could see Dan seemed to be walking towards the beast.

“Bag that, it’s just gonna eat it again, and I’m getting tired of dancing around what needs to be done.”

“What needs to be done?” Twilight repeated in confusion, but for some reason, it was making her feel a little uneasy.

Dan I implore you-

‘See, old timer I think I got you figured out. You can’t control me right now when I’m this close to the beast, right? Out of fear that it might leave me open to it killing me. So I KNOW you can’t stop me from this.’ Dan was already reaching for his side arm. The rifle would be more of a hindrance from this close range.

Dan, don’t you see? The effect of the Medallion is finally working. You remember when you punched it’s teeth out? How you ran so swiftly? The very fact that I am speaking to you should be proof enough!

‘Honestly, that last part I just assumed I just created you in my mind from my gradually decreasing sanity and grief of taking your life, but I can see where you’re coming from. However, I barely know what this new power can do, and NOW I have no time to test it all out.’ At this moment the Manticore already closed the distance, jaw wide, probably roaring if the two of them were paying attention enough. However, Dan didn’t need to hear it’s rage. In lightning fast speed that would make a pro gunslinger jealous. Dan had already pulled out his new pride and joy, the Desert Eagle Mark XIX. At this moment, time slowed down for Dan. He smirked, It made aiming so much easier.

During all this Twilight, watched in horror as the beast was nearly a second away from mauling her new guest, but she did catch a glimpse of the strange metal object he was now holding out toward the beast. She could see Rainbow fly over her in an attempt to “rescue” Dan. As fast as she was, she hesitated too long to make it in time, that much she could tell.

BANG!

It was loud, it silenced everyone. No one moved. Rainbow halted in her flight and cringed away from the source of the sound.

Then the girls all witnessed something that was just as horrifying. The manticore looked stopped in its tracks and as it’s head suddenly jerked back as if struck by something. A red mist coming off its face. Then it fell to the ground, lifelessly. When they finally got a look at its face, it was covered in blood and distorted in a way that looked like something pierced through its very face and skull. It was sickening to look at. Pinkie was turning green, Fluttershy was in utter shock, Applejack was at a loss for words. Twilight… turned to Dan.

He sighed as he pulled his gun back and holstered it and made his way over to the dead creature. “Glad that’s finally over. 50 Cal. Yeah, I’d like to see you get up from that, punk,” as he walked he pulled out his right hand to look at it. Astonished that with that very same hand he punched the teeth out of a previously mythical beast AS WELL as hold onto an extremely powerful Desert Eagle single-handedly. ‘I guess you weren’t lying about having powers now. Am I like some kinda superhero now?’ That was when he noticed some black smoke seeping out of the dead creature’s corpse for a few moments before finally vanishing completely. “What the….”

‘Dan… What have you done?’ Aegis finally said

‘What?! The job is done. Sure we had a few witnesses but I’m sure even they would agree to let this one slide’. When he turned around, the looks on the girl's faces said otherwise. ‘Or not… great…’

“Why?...” was the first thing to come out of Twilight’s mouth. “How could you DO such a thing?” Yeah, he could tell this was starting to not turn to his favor.

He looked back at the face of the corpse. He had to admit there probably would’ve been a prettier way of killing it. That is one UGLY hole in its face now, and the blood splatters only emphasized more. When he looked back at the girls the only thing he could think of saying was. “Royal Duty?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Canterlot: Celestia’s Study

A Half Hour After Dan’s Actions on the Manticore

Celestia’s day at Day Court was as boring and practically pointless today as it was most other days with the tiresome nobles. Sure there were some good ones in the bunch with ACTUAL points or issues to bring up and she was more than happy to deal with those. But there was a lot of pointless ones she would have to sit through to get to them. It was probably due to her immortality that after so many centuries dealing with this was a lot easier for her. It was still annoying though.

Thankfully it was all over and behind her until the next day. She took this time to think of more pressing issues on her mind. Such as Dan, Aegis’ successor as the Royal Hunter. Where would she even start about him? He definitely wasn’t what she expected, that much was for sure.

She remembered the day when Aegis took over the role from the last one. He was a mature fully grown stallion-er man… It didn’t take long for him to get into the swing of what his duties were.That was definitely needed as she and her sister were still new to ruling over a country themselves. He was capable, efficient, adaptable, charming… her cheeks burned a little as that last part was more of a personal opinion, but nevertheless, Aegis was exactly who she needed when she just starting out as a ruler and a faithful companion. Able to take care of the monstrous beasts and problems she was afraid would reach her subjects, and on a more personal level, he was just so dashing and charming. Always there for her in her times of weakness, actually caring about her well-being. As her cheeks started burning as she was thinking of Aegis in a more nonprofessional way, she dialed it back when she thought of the NEW Royal Hunter.

Dan was hardly any of those qualities that made Aegis so great. He was young, lacking in the skill and discipline she would’ve assumed should be expected Aegis’ replacement should have had. The memory of his weapon going off the other day came to mind when she thought of that. He seemed more reliant on his tools than his own abilities. During her brief window being able to see Aegis’ last day alive using her magic. She remembered Aegis once saying no matter how efficient a weapon is, it is useless in the hands of a beginner. However, her experience with Dan worried her. If the medallion chooses the right human to be the successor, she wished she could see how. She sighed and took a sip of her tea. She suddenly needed some cake right now.

Perhaps she was just being too negative. Despite everything that’s happened to him, he’s been more than compliant with his situation, and she and Luna did feel guilty about it. Even though his other self is still on Earth continuing his Daily life, that didn’t mean the Dan that was sent here shouldn’t feel as confused and frustrated as he was when the deed was done. She had to wonder then, was the process the same when Aegis was first chosen? Wouldn't she know? He never told her about his “initiation” into being the next Royal Hunter when the last one scouted for him. It all happened during the last few years of her parent's reign. And they were so secretive about it at first. Now she was starting to feel utterly foalish. Maybe this was exactly how it happened for him too. And after all these centuries she never even ONCE bothered to ask him that, even after being so close. Even when she fell in love with him. Now she was reminded once again of how she treated Dan when he first arrived. All that was born from her anguish and pain of watching Aegis die by this newcomer’s hands, but now she had to ask… “Was it not the same for Aegis, As well?” What she wouldn’t give to just speak with him once more.

She could only be thankful her sister was the mediator of the whole situation between her and Dan, and that honestly killed her inside that is how it went down because of how she behaved. Yes, she apologized to him, sort of, earlier this morning, but honestly, she could’ve done better than that. And she should. She should arrange to make a trip to Ponyville and have a talk with him once he’s finally all settled. Given the letter she sent to Twilight in advance, they would need some time to explain things with one another and it’s a good idea for him to make friends in this world since it will be his home now, and what better friends than the ones that embody friendship.

It was at that very moment that a letter appeared in front of her in a flash of green fire and smoke. “Oh, a message from Twilight already?” Celestia opened it and began reading. In time her face changed from “reassuring" to that of worry and exasperation. “How? How did it come to this?” It was apparent that her presence was needed immediately. In a brief flash of light, the Princess of the Sun vanished leaving behind the letter she was just reading to flutter to the ground, where on it, read as thus:

Dear Princess Celestia,

The guest you spoke of has arrived, however, a terrible event has occurred and your presence is needed before any of this escalates. This guest, or Dan as he is named, has done a very rash act that cannot be reversed. My apologies for not going into detail but right now I am trying to mediate a conflict between him and my friends at the library. If at all possible that you are able to teleport here, PLEASE HURRY. This matter is getting worse by the second.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia heaves a sigh “Buck my Life...”

Author's Note

Almost there! One more Chapter to get through and all your questions can be answered!