Heroes travels

Dear Princess Celestia.

I’m sorry that I have not been able to send any letters for the past few days. I have been quite busy...It’s hard to explain through letters so I was hoping you would have time in your schedule to come for a visit. There is something I would like to show you.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

“Okay Spike. Send it.”

“Alright” Spike replied, he held the scroll in front of him and breathed a green flame over it. The scroll burned within an instant

“She said send it. NOT burn it!” Callum groaned.

“I did send it. This is how I send letters.” Spike said reassuringly.

“Either way, that was pretty cool.” Ashley said.

“Hehe, thanks.” Spike smiled from the compliment before a familiar feeling started to rise inside of him. The intensity was working its way up Spikes throat as he emitted a loud burp which sprouted out green flames. A scroll appeared in front of him.

“Let me take back what I just said and replace it with that was pretty damn awesome!”

“You think that’s cool. Prepare to find out what dragons can eat.” Spike looked at his claws with a smug look.

“What’s he talking about Twilight?” Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Dragons eat gems. You know, like rubies, emeralds, sapphires and other types as well” Twilight replied.

“No. Freaking. Way.” Ashley’s jaw dropped “Surely that costs you loads for those gems?”

“Not really. Gems are quite common to come by. In fact, Rarity makes a lot of her dresses with gems embedded in them.  You can find them quite easily if you have the know how or the right spell.”

“I want to go gem digging at some point. Seems like fun.” Ashley smiled “Anyway. What was does that letter say?”

“Oh right, the letter.” Spike opened the scroll and held it out in front of him “Dear Twilight Sparkle. I have begun my journey to Ponyville. There has been a situation involving some of my guards and I shall visit them after we have talked about your discovery, from her royal highness. Princess Celestia.”

“Oh no...” Twilight started to panic “She knows about the guards...”

“Twilight calm down” Ashley said in a calm tone “She’ll probably want to talk to us when she gets here and if she wants to arrest us, then so be it. As long as I get to hang out with Rainbow Dash first, not to mention race her tomorrow.” Ashley said reassuringly.

“Don’t feel like breaking a promise, eh Ash?” Callum taunted.

“You know it.” Ashley said smugly.

“Alright, maybe if she see’s that I trust you then maybe she won’t be harsh.” Twilight added.

A cyan blur broke through the front door. It darted around Twilight’s house before stopping in the kitchen where the dragon, unicorn and humans were. As it stopped, Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway, leaning on it.

“Oh hey guys.” She looked towards Ashley with smile “Its later.” Trying to look casual.

“Alright fine.” Ashley got out of his seat and walked towards the front door with Rainbow following “See you guys later. If you want me then I will be at...” He looked towards Rainbow and whispered “Where are we going?”

“Beats me, the park I guess?” she shrugged.

“We’ll be at the park.” Ashley called out to the others.

“See ya’ Ash and Rainbow. Don’t get in any trouble” Callum called out before diverting his attention back to Twilight and Spike “Like that’s going to happen.” He said, rolling his eyes.

“I know.” Twilight giggled “When the princess arrives and if the introduction of you goes well then we will go find Ashley.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Callum yawned “I’m going to go take a nap.” Walking over to the spot he slept on the previous night. Grabbing the pillow and blanket from last night, he laid them on the floor before resting himself on them. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.

“Alright. I’ll wake you up when the princess arrives. I’m just going to do some reading.”

“I’m going to have some shut eye as well” Spike hopped of his chair and made his way to his bed.

“Okay Spike. Do you want me to wake you up as well?”

Spike stopped for a second, bringing a claw to his chin before shrugging “Sure why not?” He started his journey to his bed once more.

“So what was it you wanted to do at the park?” Ashley asked as he walked next to Rainbow.

“I was hoping show you some of my tricks.”

“That would be cool. I would of thought you would have some questions for me.”

“Well if you don’t mind me asking...”

“You’re going to ask about the whole ‘not wanting to go to a party’ thing. Weren’t you?” Ashley interrupted

“Actually, you’re wrong” Rainbow smiled “I was going to ask what you think about me and my friends so far.”

“Oh that’s an easy question. Where should I start?”

“Let’s start with...” Rainbow stopped and held a hoof to her chin “Twilight. What do you think about her?” she began walking again.

“I think that she is a smart, secluded individual who cares a lot for her friends. Not to mention that she basically took us in even though she didn’t know much about us as well” Ashley said confidently “Who’s next?”

“Your choice.”

“Alright, I think I’m going to with...wait...scratch that. I want to save the best until last. I choose Big Mac”

“Oh I wonder who the last is going to be.” She said rolling her eyes.

“You’ll have to wait and see.” Ashley smiled “Anyway. Big Mac to me...Well, he reminds me of when it comes to someone hurting someone he cares deeply for. He’s one of those guys who are great to have as a friend even though he doesn’t talk much. I can tell he has very powerful legs from experience” Ashley rubbed his chest. Remembering the kick he took and how far it sent him flying.

“Let me guess, he bucked you?”

“Bucked? You mean the kick with both back legs?”

“Yea, that’s what is called a buck. Him and Applejack buck apples at the farm.”

“Ah. Alright then.” Ashley noticed all the ponies around were scattering in different directions. He looked back at Rainbow who was gone. He looked around and noticed a rainbow tail going into one of the buildings “HEY!” he shouted. He walked up to the door and realized the building looked like a carousel “Weird house design if you ask me” he thought to himself as he banged on the door with his fist.

“RARITY! What the hay!?” Rainbow yelled at the white mare

“Didn’t you see what that...that..THING did to the guards!? Not to mention its horrible sense of fashion.” Rarity said as she went into the kitchen “I’m sorry Rainbow but I don’t want to see you be hospitalized by the ruffian.”

“He isn’t a ruffian! He’s my friend!” She walked towards the door which was locked “Unlock the door. Now.” Rainbow demanded.

“I’m sorry Rainbow but I can’t-“ She was interrupted by a loud knock on the door “It knows we’re in here! Be quiet!” she whispered

“Fat chance! Now open this door!” Rainbow yelled.

“Rainbow, move away from the door.” Ashley’s muffled voice filled the air.

“What? Why?” She slowly edged herself away from the door.

Ashley took a couple paces back, prepping his shoulder, he charged in to the door.

THUD!

Nothing...Ashley prepared once more but took more paces back. His shoulder ached but the pain subsided quickly before he charged once more.

THUD! CRACK!

The door was starting to splinter, cracks were becoming visible. Ashley stood in front of the door and took a sideways stance. He breathed in deeply and exhaled. He raised his leg slowly and went to kick the door...that was until the door was unlocked and opened, causing Ashley to fall into the building.

“My precious door!” Rarity said desperately, she walked up to it and inspected the damage. There were large dents as well as the wood cracking open. She looked at the beast that got back up and towered over her “You. Will. PAY FOR THAT!!” She yelled angrily, her horn started to glow but Ashley didn’t flinch. He waited for her to strike first.

“Rarity!” Rainbow intervened “Don’t do something you will regret.”

“Regret!? I will enjoy hurting this door breaking, poor sense of fashion piece of garbage until it cries for mercy!” Rarity yelled as her horn grew brighter.

“Don’t do it!” Rainbow stood in front of Ashley, her wings flared “That’s what he wants you to do, to strike first.” She said in a slightly calmer voice “Just...stop.”

Rarity stared angrily towards Ashley who returned the stare but with a smile on his face as well. She looked down slightly to Rainbow who had the look of pity on her face.

“Fine...BUT, only because you say so Rainbow Dash.” She said in a slightly calmer tone, but the hostility in her voice was still noticeable.

“She’s right you know.” Ashley said “About the striking first thing. That’s why I was fighting the guards and Big Mac.”

“What has striking first have to do with anything!?” Rarity’s volume rose.

Ashley sighed “So much explaining.” He thought to himself, remembering that he has to see the princess “Oh god she will want to know everything.”

“Uhh Hell-o? Equestria to Ashley?” Rainbow flew to Ashley’s height and tapped on the side of his head.

“Huh? What?” Ashley shook his head, breaking out of his track of thoughts “Oh right.” He noticed Rainbow and Rarity staring at him. “First strike, or as I prefer to call it, first blood. Basically, if I can tell there will be a fight, I allow my opponent to make the first hit. I then respond in self defence and beat the crap out of them.”

Rarity stood in silence. Completely gobsmacked of the thing inside her house.

“FYI, I’m a soldier who has killed many of his own species in the act of war. I could’ve easily killed Big Mac and the guards but since I’m no longer in the army. Killing is not necessary so I just beat them up a bit. Big Mac did a number on me and we worked things out. The guards however, I have no idea what happened, probably taken to a hospital or something.”

Rarity ushered Rainbow to the kitchen “I need to have a word with my friend here.” She called back to Ashley.

“Take your time.” He said, crossing his arms.

As they entered the kitchen, Rarity closed the door and turned to Rainbow “Okay. Now tell me Rainbow, does Twilight and the others know about him?”

“Of course. Me and Fluttershy found him in the Everfree a few days ago and asked Twilight to help him.”

“But why would you help...that thing?”

“That thing has a name and it’s Ashley. It’s a long story...”

“I have plenty of time. Explain.”

And thus a very long explanation of the past few days events started. It went on for at least half an hour. Ashley was looking around the house, noticing a lot of sketches of dresses and various types of fabrics in neat piles. He found a very large closet that held many dresses. Some look pretty good and quite a few of them had gems embedded in them

“Twilight wasn’t lying about the gem thing...” Ashley thought to himself. He wondered back to the front door and continued to wait for both ponies to return.

Another 5 minutes passed and both emerged.

“Sorry we took so long...” Rarity said before going silent, trying to remember the human’s name.

“Ashley...” Rainbow said with a bored tone.

“Right...Ashley. Sorry about the whole ‘going to enjoy hurting you’ fiasco. It was terribly un-ladylike of me.”

“It’s okay. Sorry for breaking your door. Hopefully I can earn some currency around here and I’ll pay you for the repairs as soon as possible.”

“That would be nice.” Rarity smiled faintly “Although I have to ask. Why are you wearing such dreadful clothes?”

“Oh here we go.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. Earning a evil glare from Rarity and a smile from Ashley.

“This is my uniform from my mission before me and Callum were sent here. Before you say anything, it’s supposed to camouflage me in the snow and has to give me a good range of movement. You probably wonder about human fashion don’t you?”

Rarity’s eyes shimmered as she eagerly nodded her head.

“Well. I wanted to hang out with Rainbow so I’m going to give you a quick version. We usually were clothes to hide our bodies due to our anatomy being different and to hide...Ahem, private areas.”

Rarity and Rainbow both thought about what the human implied. Rarity was the first to blush deeply, followed by the cyan pegasus.

“Although these clothes are pretty banged up” Ashley said, ignoring the blushing ponies. He looked down at his outfit. There were many rips and tears. Some parts were stained in his blood and covered in dirt as his boots were worn down.

“I agree with you there Ashley” Rarity said with the blush gone “If possible. I would love to measure you for a new outfit. Oh something that is casual...Maybe a few gems in it as well.”

“No gems.”

“B-but why?”

“Because in the art of war. You want stealth. If you were to be seen by a sniper with clothes on that really stood out. Then you would be dead in seconds not to mention that it would make the outfit look girly.”

“What’s a sniper?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“A sniper is a soldier who expertise's in long range weaponry. They are deployed mostly for scouting missions and assassinations. So you would want to stay out of their sight.” Ashley said.

“So gems are a no-no?” Rarity asked, disappointed.

“Correct. If anything, just go with a black version of this outfit. I like to be one with the shadows if possible and this is quite practical.”

“Hmm...I think black would suit you well. Come see me another time and we will get started.” she said, imagining the outfit in black.

“Alright. Callum will probably want one as well...”

“Just bring him down with you so I can measure him” Rarity smiled.

“Will do. It has been nice meeting you Miss Rarity.” Ashley bowed before making his way to the door “you coming Rainbow?”

“Finally! Let’s go.” The cyan pegasus sped past Ashley, through the door.

Ashley turned back to Rarity and waved goodbye. Rarity waved back as Ashley left the building. She closed the door and let out a sigh.

“Oh I can’t wait to start on this task” She thought to herself.

***

Twilight was reading a book until she heard knocking at her door. She walked over to it and opened it with her magic. There stood her mentor. Staring down at her with a motherly smile. Twilight bowed down

"Welcome princess" She said

"You may rise Twilight" Celestia said with a giggle "What was it you wanted to show me?"

"Oh that's right. Let me just wake him up." Twilight walked over to the sleeping human and nudged him with her hoof.

Callum groaned and went back to sleep. Twilight nudged him even harder.

"Wake up. The princess is here."

Callum opened his eyes slowly. Allowing them to adjust to the light "Huh? What?" He asked tiredly.

"The princess is here." Twilight repeated. Callum shot up and stood up immediately. He looked down at Twilight

"I'm ready."

"Okay then." She turned towards the door and yelled "Come in Princess!"

Callum's jaw dropped. He looked at the pony in front of him. Not only because she had both horn and wings but instead stared at her mane. It flowed even though there was no wind current Her coat was literally glowing slightly, she was the most majestic thing he ever saw. Celestia was almost the same height as Callum. She stared at his features. Short black mane, small amount of facial hair could be seen growing. Indicating it was male but she wasn’t quite sure. Its arms were muscular and long with claws which were blunt. The creature was bipedal.

“Could this be the thing that attacked my guard?” She thought to herself.

Celestia continued her examination of the creature in front of her. Making more mental notes of its appearance "Oh my...This is quite the find Twilight." she gasped.

Twilight blushed lightly at the compliment "Thank you princess. I believe that introductions are in order." she looked at Callum

Celestia raised an eyebrow "Are you implying that this creature can talk?"

"Indeed I do your highness." Callum bowed down "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Callum Thomson. You can call me Cal if you prefer to."

"I think I will refer you as Callum. You may rise" She giggled, leaning towards Twilight and whispered "Did you teach it how to address royalty?"

Twilight shook her head in disapproval.

"Knowing how to address royalty or superiority is something everyone should know." Callum said amusingly "I'm going to take a wild guess and you will want to know a bit about me?"

Celestia nodded

"Alright. Basic version. I am a human which is basically an evolved ape. I am a soldier who no longer serves an army due to arriving to your fair land." He bared his teeth towards Celestia "As you can see, my species have sharp teeth to rip flesh but..." He hooked one his fingers around the edge of his mouth, revealing the flatter teeth at the back "We also have flat ones to eat vegetation so we are classed as omnivores. Eating meat is a decision we humans can make and it is highly frowned upon in the society I grew up in to eat horses or ponies." He said reassuringly,

Celestia was awe struck, trying to process everything Callum just said. She was relieved that the creature wouldn’t eat her subjects.

"Don't worry princess. I have notes that you can look at." Twilight said in a cheerful tone, walking over to her desk and taking out the notes via magic.

“Thank you Twilight.” She nodded, turning her head to Callum “Although I must know. What gender are you?”

“Male.” Callum said, his face showing he wasn’t amused.

“I see. I would like to continue these questions another time.”

“Whenever you feel like asking. Just do so.” Callum said reassuringly.

“Oh! I almost forgot. There is another human. He arrived with Callum and he’s with Rainbow Dash at the moment.”

“I would very much like to meet him. Come Twilight and Callum. We shall go find him.” She opened the door and walked out.

Callum and Twilight exited the building, Callum closed the door and his jaw dropped. There he saw a ton of guards, mixture of pegasi, earth pony and unicorns. Two of the unicorn guards were staring at him angrily. Their armour was slightly different from the others. Instead of being gold armour, there was a red strip that went down the top of their helmets. There was a blue trim on both sides of their body armour.

“They must high ranked guards.” Callum thought to himself.

“Your majesty.” Both guards said in unison, bowing down to the solar princess

“Rise captains” she said in a calm tone.

“Your majesty, are you ready to go to the hospital?”

“Not yet. There is another human I would like to meet.” She gestured towards Callum “I need some of the pegasi to scout Ponyville for a creature that looks similar to this one.”

“As you wish. Pegasus squad one.”

“Yes sir?” One of the pegasi spoke up.

“You will scout the northern half of this town for a creature that looks like this one.” He gestured towards Callum “Pegasus squad two.”

A Pegasus landed on the ground and saluted “Yes sir?”

“Your squad will search the southern half of this town for the similar creature to this one. Both squads are to report to me in half an hour with your findings.”

“Yes sir.” Both said in unison. The flapped their wings and took to the skies. Parting in opposite directions, followed by two other pegasi each.

“I was wondering princess. Since we are waiting for Ashley, would you like to answer some more questions?”

“I don’t see why not.” Celestia smiled “Question one. As a soldier, what do you expertise in?”

“Well...” Callum began “Me and Ashley were part of a squad known as Delta. I’m not going into detail about why we were in that group until Ashley wants me to. We specialise in stealth missions, missions that are thought to be suicidal to other soldiers. We kill because those are our orders or it is necessary to complete the objective. Anything else you want me to cover?”

“Yes. Why did you join said army?”

“Because Ashley is my closest friend and I wasn’t going to let himself get killed without me by him. To be honest, I’m glad I joined.”

“Why? Why would you be glad you killed all those humans?”

“Because If I didn’t my country would be either enslaved or destroyed. I was protecting the lives of the innocent even if meant I had to kill.”

“Have you killed anything since you came here?”

“No.”

“That’s good to hear. You said that you eat meat, what animals do you eat?”

“My personal favourite is beef which comes from a cow. I do also eat chicken and pig and some fish. Ashley likes to eat mostly chicken and won’t touch fish.”

“Do you have magic from where you are from?”

“Nope” Callum said happily

“Why are you happy about not having magic? Who raises the sun and the moon for your species? Who takes care of the weather?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You see, since we don’t have magic. We used our intelligence to create tools to complete tasks. Such as grant us flight, allow us to travel on the seas, send humans to space and back. We have accomplished many things using technology. Technology was used for weapons which made killing easier, I would go into more about that but I doubt you want to hear about wars of humans killing humans.”

“You’re right. That sounds absolutely horrible!” Celestia held a hoof to her mouth, shifting herself due to being uncomfortable about the subject. Callum on the other hand was completely fine with said subject.

“I’m no scientist but all I know is that our planet, Earth, orbits the sun while the moon orbits earth. Weather comes by naturally and we can’t manipulate it so we predict what is coming and prepare if need be.”

“Your planet sounds dreadful. No offence.”

“None taken, I like it here much more than Earth.”

“That’s very good to know.” She smiled

***

“Alright show me your moves!” Ashley yelled up to Rainbow who was standing on a cloud, stretching.

“I will! Just need to warm up!” She yelled back, she started to flap her wings until she got to a good altitude. She then started to fly straight down, spiralling. A faint rainbow could be seen to take shape behind her as she picked up speed. She noticed where Ashley was standing flew down towards him at a fast speed. She banked her body to the right, narrowly missing the human. She then arched her back upwards to start gaining altitude. She whizzed past several clouds and started to pile them together. When she felt happy with the size, she started to shape the cloud. All Ashley could see was a small cyan blur with a rainbow trail zooming around the cloud, stopping to kick the clouds into shape at some points. Rainbow grew tired after she finished her cloud art. She flew back down towards Ashley but exhaustion stopped her from flapping her wings and allowed herself to drop towards the earth. Ashley started to run towards where he calculated Rainbow would land and held out his arms. He bent his knees slightly so he could cushion the impact.

“Got ya’.” Ashley said as he caught her but the impact caused landed onto his back (luckily, the ground was grass and soft). He could feel her body heat on his chest and could smell sweat. He looked down at Rainbow’s head on his upper chest, her body curled up on the rest of his torso. He saw her covered in sweat, her chest was increasing and decreasing in volume at a fast pace to provide her body with more oxygen. He could hear her panting. To be honest, he wished he could take a picture of this.

“You alright?” He asked

“Yeah *pant* I’ll be fine *pant* Just let me *pant* Get my breath.” Rainbow said tiredly.

Ashley looked towards the clouds, his jaw dropped. One of the clouds looked like a fist that was pounding against what looked like a hoof. Behind it was Rainbow’s cutie mark in cloud form.

“T-that...That is...FRIGGIN’ AMAZING!” Ashley yelled, noticing Rainbow’s head was on his chest and the fact he just yelled into her ear “Woops, sorry about that.” He apologised in a calmer voice

“It’s okay.” Rainbow said joyfully but you could still tell she was tired “I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? I absolutely love it.” He started to stroke Rainbow’s mane slightly with the back of his index finger “Thanks for making it for me.”

Rainbow smiled contently, she could hear Ashley’s heartbeat, and she could feel it pulse through her ear every time it done so. Exhaustion started to creep over her as she slowly closed her eyes; she shifted body slightly to get comfortable and drifted off to sleep.

Ashley leant his head to the side and saw the Pegasus with its eyes closed.

“Awww.” Ashley thought to himself “She looks so cute when she’s asleep”

Rainbow let out a loud snore (The kind which make people think twice about watching someone sleep or makes them leave the room)

“Huh...Still cute” Ashley thought to himself as he shrugged it off. He placed the hand that wasn’t stroking Rainbow’s mane behind his head to rest on. He continued to stare at the cloud art. Not having to worry about something that could kill you as you slept was great. He actually felt at peace in this world. He could feel himself growing tired due to not sleeping last night and being so relaxed.

“Maybe a nap wouldn’t hurt.” He thought to himself as he allowed himself to go to sleep.

***

Meanwhile, in a distant location not far from Ponyville

***

“We need more workers” A voice said from the shadows

“We need more...” Another voice said

“We need...slaves.” a third voice could be heard

“Shall we send the troops?” The second voice said

Silence...

“Yes. Tell them to grab as many as possible.” The third voice said

A scattering of claws hitting rock could be heard, running away from where the voices came from.

“Let’s see them try and stop us.” The first voice said, smiling evilly.

Wow. I've just noticed that chapters are becoming much longer than earlier ones. Must be because the story is starting to get a bit more exciting than previous chapters. I Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I liked typing it. As you can probably tell, there will be some enemies.

Comment and rate, You guys know the drill! (And it shouldn't be the one that shall pierce the heavens either.)