Author's Note

The offer is still up, editors and proofreaders will get love and affection from me if they accept it.
I was originally going to do chapters of 10 days, but at the time of submission I just wanted the story out.
sORRY ABOUT THE MONTHS IT TOOK TO UPDATE ~~(not really)~~

Days 6-10

Day 6

I woke up and did the job I was given, patrolling the outskirts of the forest. Nothing of note happened, and I ended my shift in the best possible way: with no news to report.
With the time I had, I went to twilight to see what she had to report on the chitin and slime I gave. She said that the slime was rich in magic and nutrients, similar to the breast milk of a mother. This irked me, but I can think of weirder things that could happen.

She hypothesized that this was what changelings used to feed their young after they were born, though I think it was similar to honey. From what I was told, the changelings were insectoids that gathered love. Perhaps this what they produced as nutrition...

Or maybe it was just changeling waste, you never know.

The chitin seemed to be a hell of a lot softer than the chitin she was able to procure from what little she could get her hands on. Wait, she has hooves, so should it behooves on? Anyway, the chitin seemed to be unsuitable to be normal chitin.

While with twilight, I ended up getting her to explain to me in depth about magic. Spike groaned and left. Anon left with him. I listened to every word and took notes.
I learned the origin of magic, the three types of magic and the ten tiers of spells. More information in notes.

After the long lecture on magic, I left and checked up on the smithy. He was working on a hefty order for guard armor; the guards had fought off a manticore and the armor was ruined. I got to help out for some pay, and now I am twenty bits richer. I think ill be here a lot more often, the work was decent. The day was starting to wind down by the time I finished, and I only had about one or two hours to train by myself. This time I started practicing assorted stabs and swings I once saw in a game that were probably plausible techniques. As it turns out, the martial arts and such were fairly fluid when done right. In fact, I think I got a lot better at swinging a stick with a pointy end.

Day 7

I got up before the sun came up today, and I took a light jog around the town before I had to get to work. Along the way, I met this child who jogged with me for a bit, a filly with an orange(?) coat, red bow, and mane. We talked about anon, and I learned that he gets a little touchy-feely with the ponies around him, especially Buttershy. That's her name, right? Anyway, besides that, now that he has magic, she told me she was getting worried this might get out of hand. She left to get back to work on her farm and I finished my jog soon after; my house is near her farm, after all.

The patrol saw that I had no fight today, as a large bird looked my way. It salivated and looked ready to fight before I hefted my spear and threw it directly into its face, killing it instantly. It looked as awesome as it sounded, but I was hoping it was at least able to dodge. I thought it was going to dodge, but apparently, I'm either stronger than I thought or it was just weak. Probably both, but who cares. I took my spear back and cut off some pieces of meat, and gathered the edible parts in my bag before throwing the surprisingly light bird into the forest. Thankfully, the bag wasn't a bright cloth, and I was at the end of my shift, so I could bring the bag home before the meat could rot. I reported the event to the captain, and I had to prove my accomplishment, because the Nachtkrapp, as it was named apparently, was a fearsome beast. I was told that for this I would get specially made armor from the local smith, with a magic gem. I was ordered to make the order myself, to sort out the specifics.

The Nachtkrapp meat tastes like the entire Thanksgiving meal, all in one bite. It's lovely. Now that I think about it, I probably should have taken a trophy of the thing, but the skull was too ruined for that...

I put away the rest of the meat and washed my bag before starting to write. I'm gonna go see if I can help the old blacksmith, maybe learn a thing or two about smithing.

So I learned a lot about smithing just from watching the old stallion fight the metal with flame and his hammer. Apparently, it was abnormal to shift metal without using magic for a unicorn, as it was easier to form metal using magic to form molten metal into a shape. He used a hammer and blacksmith tools to create a guard's helmet, which I helped out as an assistant. I got paid eight bits this time because there wasn't much to do. I made a farming tool myself, which turned out to be of great quality.

After that, I made the order, and I helped him make my armor. It was nice, seeing the old stallion work on the gauntlets and greaves I would soon be using. I actually got to come up with the design, adapting it to the standard equestrian guard design- which was pretty simple. After that, I helped him make some other armor pieces for the other guards. The rest of the armor would be made later, he told me. I left to make use of my home, and now I’ve decided to go out for a bit.

The day was starting to come to an end, so I decided to hang out at the park which was a tree on a hill with a bench nearby. I climbed the tree and sat down, watching the sun go down and all the people play. It was nice until Rainbow Dash decided to ruin it by hitting me off the tree. It wasn't too large of a fall and she didn't hit me too hard, but it was painful. She messed up a stunt and hit me on the way down, so I lectured her on practicing stunts without proper protection and fail-safes. She looked down and I went back to the tree. After the sun went down, I went back home and now I sleep.

Day 8

Today was a good day. Everyone got their guards armor, and mine looked really good. I put on the shirt and pants first, which made me look like I had on a cobalt suit. The material was surprisingly comfortable despite supposedly being able to resist being torn, cut and punctured. The next to go on was the metal plates that go on my back and my chest, held together by belts. I had a bit of trouble with this, but I was able to get it on relatively comfortably. The next part of my armor was a cloth that goes draped over the front and back of my body with a hole for my head. It had the symbols of the sun and the moon on both sides; probably the symbol of the country. After that, I put on the greaves, then the belts that go around my waist over the cloth, then the belt pouches that go on the belts, and finally the gauntlets. The whole set made me uncomfortably warm. They said that we would get our guard helmets if we volunteer for the actual guard, and that only during duty can we wear our armor. I had to stay to get my armor's magic gem, which would be embedded in my gauntlet. The gem was a star-shaped sapphire that glowed like a light on frozen blood, which went into an engraving in my right gauntlet. They told me that having that on would protect my body from physical harm, and keep me cool in warm weather- and had the nice side effect of making me no longer warm in my own armor. After that, I went back to patrolling like normal. After I finished today I went home and ate the rest of my Natchkrapp. The rest of the day was spent with me and my good ol' spear, who I've decided to name pokey. I had to take a shower before going to bed from how much I sweated from the workouts and drills. I sleep now.

Day 9

Today I killed five changelings, a manticore, and got turned more into a changeling.

The day started off normally; I woke up, ate, did a light jog around Ponyville and then I went to the guard's station. I had just enough time to put on my armor before one of the guards jumped me and blasted me with a spell full force to the face- I didn't know what it did immediately, so I panicked and smashed his head into the floor, and broke the horn off which undid the changelings disguise. I held the bug down long enough for the guard to hold it in a bubble, but then more changelings came out of hiding and started attacking the other guard. They didn't have any armor on, so I didn't immediately suspect that any of the guards were changelings, so I unsheathed my spear and poked some of the changelings to death. I got five confirmed kills before there was a huge pain on my face.

Thankfully, Twilight was there and interrupted the spell before I was affected too much, and didn't immediately succumb to the pain. So much happened at that moment that I don't remember much, but I do remember that a manticore with glowing green eyes showed up and I punched its face in. After that, the pain overtook over me and I collapsed.

When I woke up I was in a hospital, where I was greeted with the lunar princess, Princess Luna. I was about to be condemned for the crime of invading Ponyville but Twibright, Anon, and AppleJock helped me out. That's their names, right?

Anyway, they convinced Luna that I wasn't a spy and I was given a mirror where I found that half my face, my left arm and most of my chest was chitin. My left hand still looked like a hand but covered in, well, chitin. The plates shifted as I moved them, and they were polished like a mirror. The chitin was a contrast to my tan skin, but it didn't really bother me too much.

After the doctor checked me out, as I didn't really have any injuries, and I went back home. I was later informed that I had killed five changelings and one changeling controlled manticore, who were the only ones inside Ponyville. I had pretty much saved Ponyville, they told me. The other changelings came too late because by then Twilight had already erected a barrier around Ponyville, and that that gave the royal guard enough time to come and chase off the changelings.

Quite a lot of things to take in, and I've only been here for a week and a half.

Oh, also, Anon had to give Twibright his magic for the barrier, which flushed him out and now he has a nice light turquoise colored magic.

Day 10

After I got up, ate, and cleansed myself, everyone was to be assigned to a royal guard. I was paired up with one who was named Flutter Rose, a mare with a curled magenta mane and a light pink coat. After she put on her armor, though, her coat became bleach white and her mane became that striped blue that came out of most the guard's helms. I still didn't have my helm so I just put on my armor and had my spear in hand at a resting position. The patrol was very quiet. After it was over I went ahead and left to the smithy. I found out later that Flutter was Tempered's niece, so you can imagine my surprise when my partner almost tackled the old man in a hug. Tempered trusted me enough to leave me by myself working on the farming tools, so on I worked. He was satisfied with my work and I got eighteen bits despite only having done very little.

I wanted to spar with someone who actually had some experience with a spear, so I invited Rose to my home. A few jokes about hitting on ladies later, I ended up getting my ass handed to me by a pastel pony with a stick. She didn't even use her magic, and she kicked my ass. We sparred for a while, earning both of us tired and bruised bodies. The bruises we both had were fixed up with her magic, and she complimented on how fast I learned how to use a spear. Honestly, I just wanted to try the martial arts from those games on an actual moving target. Some of the ones I thought were plausible turned out to be pretty shit and a few of the ones that looked like they only looked cool actually worked, if only because they seemed so absurd that Rose got caught off guard. Maybe if I had magic, I could make some of those moves work better, but that's for later.

We got a bite to eat at some restaurant and we ate in silence. Rainbow Dash broke the table and would have ruined the food if we weren't already finished. I had to pay for the table because Rainbow dashed away from the problem after seeing me, which left me with a less money.

I went to the antique store after I cleaned myself at home to find out that it wasn't there anymore; the building just up and disappeared. So instead I just went back home.

Tomorrow I get a day off, so maybe I can convince Twilight to give me a magic core- Telekinesis sounds wonderful right now.

Notes: Spells are divided into levels, from ten to one. Levels ten to eight are the kind of spells allowed to everyone, seven to five are for the certified, four and three are for military use only, and ranks two and one are spells only extremely powerful mages can cast.
The origin of magic is the earth. Magma overflows with magic, and that magic is the raw primal magic which seeps into the air around it, filling the magic void like water in an empty cup. Raw magic needs a catalyst in order to be used. Mana is the magic that comes from the core in the soul, which filters raw magic into mana. Raw magic is used in Potions, and some spells- usually ones that deal with nature. Mana is used for almost everything else.
Runes are a thing, according to the magic lesson, but its kept secret to anyone who isn't a unicorn.

Reminders: ~~Check back with the Antique store when you have money.~~
Find out what happened to the Antique store.
Check the blacksmith regularly.
Your soul is magical, be careful about power hungry demons.
~~Find out more about the chitin and magic ooze you have.~~
Find out more about Rune Making.