Heroes travels

Pegasus squad one search was becoming unsuccessful. Twenty minutes of searching for a similar creature to the one before but nothing turned up.

“I doubt we will find it.” Said the squad leader

“We’ll just have to keep searching.” Said the second Pegasus

“Let’s check the park.” The leader spoke again, both of the other guards nodded. They all turned their flight path towards the town’s park.

Rainbow woke up and yawned. The sun blinding her, she closed her eyes immediately before slowly opening them to adjust to the light. She looked around, nopony in sight. She noticed that Ashley was asleep.

“Is that it?” a voice came from behind her.  She sat up and turned to where the voice came from. There stood three pegasi in guard armor.

“Looks like it.” The leader spoke “It looks like its sleeping.”

“We’ll just have to wake it up then.” Spoke the third guard

“He.” Rainbow spoke

“You do realize I can hear you?” Ashley said tiredly “I have the habit of keeping an ear out for noises while I sleep.” He opened his eyes slowly, the sun’s rays reflected off the guards armor and into his eyes “OW MY EYE’S!” He closed his eyes immediately, holding his hands over them.

“You okay Ash?” Rainbow asked

“I’ll probably be fine, what do they want?” He pointed to the guards, still with his eyes closed tightly.

“The princess asked for us to search for a creature that looked similar to the one earlier and told us to tell her where it is. This creature happens to be you.”

“Right...you go tell her while I try to wake myself a bit.”

The three guards nodded, flaring their wings before taking to the skies.

“Well, looks like I’m probably going to be arrested.” Ashley said in a disappointed tone.

“Most likely, why so glum?” Rainbow asked.

Ashley turned his back towards the sun, patting the grass next to him. Rainbow took a seat and cocked an eyebrow.

“Well?”

“Because I promised to race you tomorrow and I doubt the princess will find that as a good excuse to let me be free until then.”

“Well, maybe Callum has the situation sorted out or the princess doesn’t know it was you yet.”

“True...” Ashley slightly perked up, sniffing his underarm. His expression changed to disgust “Man, I seriously need a shower.”

“Yeah...You do.” Rainbow giggled.

“So do you miss sweat’s-a-lot.” Ashley said jokingly

“One second.” She flew off to a nearby cloud and brought it above Ashley’s head

“Rainbow what are-“ Ashley was interrupted by a large amount of water smashing onto his head. The water was cool on his skin, he let out a sigh.

“There. That’ll probably help.” Rainbow laughed as she peered over the side of the cloud.

“It probably did.” Ashley stood up and shook his body violently. His clothes were soaked. “Now the problem is that I’m soaking wet.” Ashley said in a stern voice.

“Oh I can fix that!” Rainbow hopped of the cloud and started to fly tight circles around Ashley, getting faster and faster. All Ashley could see was a blur of rainbow flying past his vision.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Ashley said, he felt a large amount of wind coming from all directions, he could feel himself becoming dry “Oh now I see...”

Rainbow came to a stop, breathing slightly faster than normal “That, is my infamous Rain-blow dry.”

“Rainblow dry? Nice pun you have there.” Ashley smiled, he felt his clothes which had faded blood and dirt stains but they were dry “Cheers for that.” He noticed his odor was better than before, well it was tolerable.

“Heh, no problem.” Rainbow looked in the direction of where the guards flew towards “I wonder what’s taking them so long.”

Ashley shrugged “Beats me.”

“Yo’ Ashley!” A voice shouted in the distance

Ashley and Rainbow turned their attention to the voice, seeing Callum walking with Twilight, a ton of guards and a smiling princess. He waved over to them before walking towards them.

“So what did I miss?” Ashley said as he held his hand out to Callum when they were in arm distance

“Not much, answered some of the princess’ questions” He shook Ashley’s hand “Came to find you so we can go somewhere with her.” He turned to Celestia “Where was it you wanted to go?”

“I need to visit several guards in the hospital. Apparently, they were attacked by strange creatures.”

“I wouldn’t say attacked...It was self defense.”

Celestia cocked an eyebrow “And how would you know...” It finally hit her “YOU ATTACKED MY GUARDS!?” She yelled. Ashley swore he could see fire in her eyes.

“No need to yell...” Ashley said in a calm voice “Like I said, it was self defense.”

“Explain.” Celestia demanded

Ashley looked at Twilight who was uncomfortable being near Celestia being this angry “Shall we start from the beginning?”

Twilight sighed “Yes.”

“Alright first we shall tell you what hap-“

“No need. I will look into your recent memories. I can’t trust you in case you lie.” Celestia said sternly.

“First, I want to know HOW you will look into our memories...” Callum said, walking next to Ashley.

“I will contact your forehead with my horn as I perform the necessary spell. You and I will appear in your mind. If you do not want me to see something prior to you arriving to this world then just say. I do not want to see creatures being killed.”

Ashley and Callum exchanged glances, unsure if they should allow the princess to practically violate their minds.

“Well?” Celestia asked

“Let us think this through first.” Ashley responded.

“It’s that or I let my guards do whatever is necessary to arrest you.”

“Hmm...” Callum put his hand to his chin “I could go for another guard beat down.”

“Callum...” Ashley said, annoyed “Now is not the time.”

“Actually, I have a better option princess.” Callum stated

“I’m listening” She responded in a slightly calmer voice.

“You search our minds and if you think we should be arrested, we’ll apologise to the guards we injured and allow them to take one free shot at us each. Then you can throw us into cells.”

“And what if I think that you shouldn’t be arrested?”

“We apologize to the guards we injured and you allow us to fight...” He pointed to all the guards behind her “Those guards. I can tell they’re eager to get a little payback for what we did to the others.”

Celestia turned her head towards he escort, most of them did look angry while others shown restraint on their emotions.

“Hmm...” Celestia brought a hoof to her chin “Will you kill them at all?”

“No. We’ll just beat them up a bit. I want to see if those guards are better than the ones we fought.  We can’t guarantee that we won’t break bones.” Ashley said cheerfully, pointing at the two higher ranked guards.

“Do you really think you can beat us?” Solar said smugly.

“I don’t think. I KNOW I can kick your ass!” Callum yelled towards the unicorn.

“Oh yeah!?” Night wind shouted in return, his horn started to glow.

“Stand down Night Wind. We don’t want to aggravate them.” Celestia said in a stern voice.

“Yes your majesty. I don’t know what came over me.” Night Wind hung his head in shame

“It’s fine. You were merely trying to prove how well you were trained but you let your emotions get the better of you. I will let this slide, this one time only.” Celestia said in a calmer voice.

“Thank you your highness.” Night Wind brought his head back up.

“Can we get this thing over with?” Ashley stretched his arms and yawned.

“Of course. Now hold still.” The guards circled the humans as Celestia put her horn on Ashley’s forehead “Now clear your mind.”

Ashley took a deep breath, clearing his mind of all thoughts. He could feel something inside his head starting to grow, he closed his eyes.

*

Ashley was standing alone in a dark empty space. He noticed a faint white light appearing next to him, growing in intensity and size

“Am I...In my own mind?” He thought to himself. The exact words he said were amplified out of nowhere “Looks like I answered my own question.”

As the light grew, it started to take shape into a large pony, a horn started to grow out of its head and wings started to form. Ashley waited for the transformation to complete. When it finished, Celestia was standing where the light once was.

“Let’s get started shall we?” Ashley smiled.

“You’re surprisingly calm about this situation.”

“That’s because I have been in much worse. Would you like me to show you?”

“Does it involve killing?”

“No. But it does involve me being tortured for two weeks straight, going insane and then brutally injuring the people who were torturing me with my bare hands. Quite gruesome stuff but boy was it fun when-“

“I’ve heard enough.” Celestia said in a disgusted tone.

“Right...So how do I show you my memories exactly?”

“Just imagine all your memories are behind doors in a large hallway...Or something like that.”

“Okay...” Ashley shut his eyes and concentrated. A large hallway with many doors started to form around them. Windows started to form on walls that allowed synthetic light to shine through them. Pictures on the walls started to form. Most of them being of his family, Celestia stared into one of the pictures. There were 5 humans in the image.

“Who are these?”

Ashley walked up to Celestia, the hallway was still forming the doors. “Ah.” He pointed to the person on the far left “That’s me when I was sixteen years old.” He moved his finger to the person next to him “That’s my older brother who was twenty two years old back then. He was a jerk to me but I still loved him. That’s my youngest sister who is two years older than me. I didn’t like her at all”

“Who are those two?” She pointed at the two women in the picture. One was blonde while the other was a brunette.

“The brown haired one was my older sister. She’s one year younger than my brother. She was my favourite because she treated me with respect and I done the same. The blonde haired woman is my mother. Great woman, she was willing to do anything for her kids, pretty much like most mothers. But...”Ashley’s volume was barely above a whisper “Most of them were taken away from me.”

“Do you mind if I ask what happened to them?”

“Not going into much detail so here. Basically, three robbers broke into our house and held me and my brother hostage in the front room. My brother tried to defend us but he was shot in the head by one of them. I watched his body fall to the ground in a pool of blood.  Two of the robbers tried to have their way with my sisters but were unsuccessful because they heard the gun shot. I watched them drag them into the same room and kill them...That’s when I snapped...”

“W-What happened next?” Celestia knew she was going to regret asking but her curiosity got the better of her.

“They searched the house for more people. Luckily, my mom was celebrating one of her friends getting married and was partying with others. She worked hard to provide for the family so she deserved a break. My mind went blank, I snuck into the kitchen quietly and got a razor sharp knife and hide behind the door. One of the robbers made the mistake of coming into the kitchen and well...You can see where I am going with this.” Ashley look towards Celestia, he swore he could see tears forming in her eyes.

Celestia was silent so Ashley decided to skip to the end.

“My mom got back and saw my brother and sisters bodies and phoned the local authority. She noticed me in the kitchen and the robber’s bodies, covered in their blood. I shown no emotion in ending their pathetic lives. The police took me away for questioning. I wasn’t charged with anything due to the circumstances of the situation and said I done it to protect myself. This event caused me to go mentally unstable for two years before I joined the army . I hide my insanity well. Not even Callum knew about it or what happened entirely that night. In fact, I have told you more than he knows. In fact, I haven’t thought about that night in the past 5 years.” Ashley had shown no emotion as he spoke. His voice didn’t change in the slightest.

“B-but why? Why have you told me all of this?” a tear rolled down Celestia’s cheek.

“I don’t know. Maybe because I feel though I can trust you yet I hardly know anything about you. Maybe because I needed to tell someone other than Callum?” Ashley sighed “I...I just needed to vent is all.” He put his back to one of the walls and slide to the ground. He held his head in his hands.

“Venting does tend to help out quite a bit.” Celestia took a seat next to Ashley and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Do you want some minutes to get yourself back together?”

“No.” Ashley shrugged her hoof off him “It will only waste time, besides I know their all in a better place now. I doubt any of them would like to see the things I have done so let’s just move on.”

“Well, if you say so.” Celestia stood back up, both of them started to walk down the hallway. Doors they passed were labelled such as ‘Child memories’ and ‘Times with friends’.

“I doubt we will find the memories like this.” She stopped walking “I would like to try another spell on you to aid us in our search.”

Ashley turned around “By all means.” He leaned his head towards Celestia who put her horn on his forehead. Ashley could feel a small tickling sensation run through his body for a brief second before Celestia pulled away.

She looked past Ashley, down the hall. She saw a door giving off a faint yellow glow

“There.” She pointed with her hoof.

Ashley looked back to where Celestia was looking and saw the glowing door. Both human and alicorn walked over to the door in silence.

“Shall we?” Ashley opened the door for Celestia.

“We shall.” She smiled before walking in first. Ashley followed and closed the door.

Small screens flew around the room. Each of them were memories from Ashley’s perspective.

“Now, imagine putting all these memories in order, starting from the earliest one which would be you arriving to this world to the most recent which would be right now.”

Ashley nodded and looked towards the flying screens. They started to fly towards both human and alicorn but stopped in front of them. They started to organize themselves into a larger screen which was now the size of the side of a house.

“Well, that was easy. How do I start them?” Ashley asked.

Celestia shrugged “Try touching it?”

Ashley held his hand out and poked the screen. The image of him waking up started appeared on the screen.  He noticed it was the forest straight away “Um...Play memory?” He said sheepishly, the memory began to play from his point of view.

Celestia watched the screen carefully. She watched as Ashley was smacked into a tree by a Manticore and was knocked out. The next memory played as it was him waking up, seeing what looked like Callum holding a knife over a pony which looked like Twilight Sparkle. Anger started to bubble up in the princess but she watched as Ashley smashed a book into the back of his friends head and released her student.

“Why did you help her?” Celestia asked

“One second. Pause memory?” the memory paused on that moment. He turned to the princess “I don’t know...All I knew was to save her by any means. Before you get mad at Callum, take into thought that we didn’t know anything about this land and he was trying to protect me while I was unconscious. He will do anything to protect me just to let you know.”

“I see...I would like to thank you for saving my student. I don’t know what I would of done if I found out-“ Celestia silenced herself, not wanting to finish the sentence.

Ashley nodded and looked back towards the screen “Resume memory?” The memory resumed its showing.

Celestia watched as Ashley put the knife that Callum had in his pocket after tying him up as well as taking a weird ‘L’ shaped object and putting them into a bag. She watched as Ashley picked up quill and paper and started to write but scribbled out many sentences before circling ‘hello’ and giving the paper to Twilight.

As the memory kept playing, she asked question at certain points of them, mostly they were ‘why?’ questions but Ashley answered them all honestly. They got to the part where Ashley met Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Celestia watched as Rainbow head butted Ashley in his lower torso. She was disgusted by him vomiting in the memory.

“Why did you vomit?” She asked, her eyes still glued to the screen.

“She hit me in the place where it hurts a male the most at a very fast speed.” Ashley replied, he felt his insides turning slightly at that point, remembering the pain from the impact.

“Wait...what?” Celestia asked before realization hit her in the face and mentally facehoofed, she coughed “Well, I hope you made a full recovery.” She said awkwardly.

“Yeah...I did...” Ashley replied. “Just don’t tell anyone else okay? I promised not to tell anyone else unless Rainbow Dash wanted me to.”

“I promise. You are being quite the loyal friend to her. I expect she is being the same to you since she is the element of loyalty. “ Celestia smiled.

“Don’t worry, she is.” Ashley laughed “Let’s get back to watching okay?”

Celestia didn’t respond, her eyes went back to being glued to the screen. She watched as Rainbow, Fluttershy and Twilight were talking to the human. Listening to their every word but paid extra attention to what the human said in the memories.

“Are you really going to get revenge for what Rainbow Dash did?”

“I did want to at the time but she didn’t know WHERE exactly she hit me until I told her so I used it a bit as a meaningless threat, nothing to worry about really.” Ashley replied.

Both human and alicorn continued to watch the screen. They watched the memory of waking up Callum play.  Celestia listen carefully to every word that was spoken.

“You handled that situation quite well. I didn’t expect Callum to adjust so easily.”

“That’s because if I trust someone, he will at least show them respect. It doesn’t mean he won’t trust them though.”

“Mmhmm.” Celestia went back to being glued to the screen.

As both human and alicorn watched the memories play (and Celestia asking a bunch of questions), they got to the part which Ashley feared the most.

The fight with Big Macintosh.

“Pause memory.” Ashley said in a stern voice.

“Why did you pause it?”

“To ask you to be quite until I say so.”

“This is the part where you fought my guards isn’t it?” Celestia clenched her teeth.

“No, that is after this specific memory. I’m not going to spoil it for you so just watch and try to be quiet.” Ashley snapped before realizing what he just did “Sorry for my outburst. Just watch. Resume Memory.” Ashley said in a calm voice, the memory resumed.

Celestia watched as Ashley was walking up to a large apple orchard which she knew was Sweet Apple Acres. Mostly because she always has apples delivered from there for the chefs to prepare her and her sisters meals with. She watched as Ashley did not harm Applejack but merely responded by picking her up and trying to explain what he is.

“Wow.” Celestia was gobsmacked “You had the perfect chance to harm one of my ponies yet you shown resilience and did not strike her even once. You even took a kick from her and still resisted...You are very confusing to understand Ashley.”

“You’re going to want to take those words back.”

“Wait...Why?” Celestia looked at the screen and saw a large stallion smashing its hooves into Ashley’s face. She became shocked to see that Ashley punched said stallion in the face and standing back up to be bucked hard into a tree.”

“Why...WHY DID YOU HIT HIM!?” She shouted angrily

“Pause memory” Ashley said in a calm voice before turning towards the princess and yelling “CALM THE FUCK DOWN.”

“Tell me why you hit him.” She said through clenched teeth.

“Because I knew that he wouldn’t stop and he broke one of my rules. He fucking broke my nose!” Ashley took in a deep breath. He knew Celestia would ask about the rule “One of my rules is that if I am in a fight, if my opponent strikes first then I will respond. Notice I didn’t hit Rainbow or Applejack? That’s because I could easily over power them but I was capable of explaining. Big Macintosh on the over hand was in a full blind rage so I wouldn’t be able to get any words into his head unless I made him tired. He was trying to protect his sister from a creature that no one has ever seen before.”

“I-I...”Celestia was speechless. She was silent for a few minutes, trying to think of what to say.

“Resume memory” Ashley turned his attention back to the screen, so did Celestia.

Celestia watched the human grab the stallion by the throat and smash his chin on a nearby fence. Every time she saw impact, she would cringe. She watched as the human pelted Big Macintosh with its fists. Bruising the stallion’s face badly before being shoved off by Applejack.  The human ran towards Ponyville at a very fast pace. Celestia was surprised by its speed not to mention how well it dodged ponies and obstacles while the stallion chased him.

Then she saw five ponies wearing royal guard armour. She watched as the human stood in its place. Waiting for the guards to make the first move. The biggest shocker was that she saw a guard fire a harmful spell towards Ashley, burning skin on his arm.

“I’m sorry for my guard’s brutality.” She said quietly, still glued to the screen.

“Just keep watching.” Ashley said with a strict tone.

Celestia watched the human easily dispatch two pegasus guards, throwing one into the side of a house and the other into a market stall. She heard what sounded like the voice of Callum. As Ashley dispatched the earth pony guards, she saw Callum come into view and the unicorn trying to get its breath back.

“What did he do to that guard?”

“It’s better if he tells you.”

Celestia nodded and resumed watching the memory. She watched Ashley holding his wound and walking up to the red stallion who was standing in front of Callum with his head hung low.  She listened to Ashley asking the stallion why he attacked him and his answer.

“Even though I disapprove of what you did to my guards. I will admit that they responded in way that was not appropriate. They should have not attacked you unless you attack them.”

“Meh, its fine. I could have done a lot better if I didn’t have that brawl with Big Mac.” Ashley laughed.

She continued to watch the scene taking place on the screen. The part of Applejack, Fluttershy, Big Mac, Twilight and Rainbow Dash as well as the two humans were talking in a circle. She listened to their conversation. She listened to the stories of the humans past and found them interesting.  As the memory drew to a more recent time, Celestia was becoming bored and shown this by yawning.

“Pause memory.” Ashley turned to Celestia “Yeah, I’m bored as well. I’m sure Twilight can fill you in on the next parts.” Ashley smiled “Are you going to go probe Callum’s mind now?”

“You know what? I don’t think I will. I have seen enough and I will decide what happens to you and your friend when we return to the real world.” Celestia leaned her horn towards Ashley who responded by putting his forehead to it. He closed his eyes and reopened them. Appearing back with Callum at his side.

“How did it go?” Callum asked.

“It was...okay I guess.” Ashley shrugged “The princess got to know me better and saw what happened from my view.”

“Cool. I’m guessing it’s my turn?” Callum asked Celestia.

“Actually, I have seen enough already and will not need to look into your memories.” Celestia stated “I will need a few minutes to make my verdict.”

“Go ahead.” Both humans said in unison and walked a few feet away from the princess. A couple of guards went with them thinking they could stop the humans from running away. Rainbow followed as well.

“So...What was it like?” Rainbow asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“It was basically me and Celestia being able to talk to each other. She saw a picture of my family and asked about them which I told her. The memories were represented by a large screen, like a TV and we watched them. She asked me questions during them and I answered. I also tried to explain some of the situations as well, Callum.” Ashley smiled.

“Cool. Better you than me I guess.” Callum laughed “I do NOT want her to see some of the things I’ve done.”

“Like what?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head.

“Some really embarrassing stuff which we promised not to speak about. EVER.” Ashley snickered.

“Whatever.” Rainbow shrugged. She looked back at the princess who was walking up to them.

“Made your mind up?” Ashley asked to Celestia.

“You WILL show respect to the prin-“ A guard said before being interrupted.

Ashley slipped the guard the middle finger “Fuck you. I don’t want to hear your shit.” Callum could be heard trying hold in a laugh in the background.

“I have decided that you two will not be arrested but on certain conditions.”

“Okay.” Both humans said in unison.

“You will not harm any of my guards. In fact, I am making you part of this towns patrol.”

“WHAT!?” everyone said in shock.

Celestia giggled at their response before turning serious once more “You are capable of handling situations effectively and I understand that since you do not serve under an army, you have no means of using your hoof to hoof combat. Am I correct?”

“First. We don’t have hooves. We have hands so it is hand to hand or in this case, hand to hoof and last time I checked princess, these last few days have been quite punch filled.” Ashley couldn’t bear but smile at that last part.

“True...But your training will be quite useful for defending this town since it has been known to be vulnerable from diamond dog attacks and the occasional creature venturing out of the Everfree forest. Not to mention that your appearance here could also drop crime rate significantly as well as I would feel better if we had you on working for us, not against us.”

“I’m not sure...” Callum said curiously

“It’s this or you rot in a cell.” Celestia smiled evilly but you could tell she was joking.

“Guess it’s a deal.” Ashley held out his hand towards the princess who shook it with her hoof. She held out her hoof towards Callum.

“Fine but only because Ashley is doing it.” Callum said jokingly, shaking Celestia’s hoof.

“I admire your cooperation humans. I shall want to get you fitted for armor now. You shall come with me to Canterlot.”

“No can do princess.” Ashley shook his head.

“Oh really? And why is that Ashley?”

“For one, this armor is based on appearance, not performance. It is very weak and has many weak spots. Second of all, I move better without armor on.”

“Same here” Callum said.

“Very well, I will have to see what I can do to show the citizens of this town that you are appointed to the guard.”

“I’m sure I can come up with a design to put on our sleeves. I’m sure Rarity would love to help with this task. I will have to request that my uniform will be in black. I like to remain stealthy.” Ashley smiled, Callum nodded in agreement once more.

“That’s...Not a bad idea.” Celestia nodded “I will need to see the designs first though.”

“Of course.” Both humans replied in unison.

“Very well. I will now visit the guards in the hospital and explain the situation.” Celestia started to walk away, followed by the guards who were giving the humans evil stares.

“Oh princess!” Callum shouted, grabbing her attention “You forgot something!”

Celestia walked towards the humans, followed by the guards “What is it?”

“Remember what I said if we weren’t guilty?” Callum asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling.

“I’m sorry but I can’t allow that.”

“Why not? It will allow you to see us fight and your guards are quite eager to fight us.” Ashley said.

Celestia turned her head towards her guards who were, in fact very eager to fight.

“Even though I disapprove of this unnecessary violence, I would like to see how you humans fight without weapons or killing for that matter. You have my approval. You have five minutes to prepare.”

“Aww yeah!” Both humans high fived.

“Rainbow, alert the town. I want them to see us beat down these guards.” Ashley said happily

“I’ll go tell Pinkie, she’ll spread the word quickly.” Rainbow said before taking off with her signature rainbow trail.

“Do you really need an audience?” Celestia asked

“What’s a better way of showing this town that your new guards are powerful by actually beating your guards? I can’t think of any.” Callum joked.

Celestia sighed “Fine. But I’m sure my sister will want to see this. She has been quite busy trying to adjust to modern times and I think she could really use a break.” Her horn started to glow. A bright blue light appeared next to her that started to dim down, revealing the princess of the night.

“Sister, why did you need to interrupt my studying?” said the dark blue alicorn.

“This must be princess Luna I presume?” Callum asked.

Luna looked before her to see the two ape like creatures in front of her “What are those?” She asked to Celestia.

“They’re humans, I’ll explain later. They will be fighting our guards in a few minutes.”

“Fighting our guards?” Luna shook her head as she examined the creatures “Those two will not stand a chance.”

“Looks can be deceiving princess.” Callum joked “We thought it would be appropriate to have an audience to witness this fight. Celestia here told us you could do with a break from whatever your doing.”

“Very well. I look forward to you calling out for mercy upon our guards.” Luna smiled.

“We’ll just have to see now won’t we? I’m also throwing away my rule for this fight.” Ashley said with a smirk.

As five minutes passed, ponies crowded around the park to watch the fight. Pegasus would bring clouds to rest on. Ponies of different ages, colours and types gathered. Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took a seat next to the Princess’. The guards sorted themselves into four groups. Groups one was earth ponies, group two was pegasi, and group three consisted of unicorns while group four was the two captains.

The arena was a large circle, Celestia used her magic to make invisible walls so that the audience would not get in harms way during the fight. Princess Luna was standing in the middle of the arena with the first group and the humans on both her sides.

“WELCOME CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!” She said using the RCV (Royal Canterlot Voice), the crowd cheered in excitement “Today’s event consists of these humans challenging our royal guard!”

The crowd cheered even louder, practically all of them were cheering for the guards who were waving out to them.

“Uh princess?” Rainbow asked Celestia

“Yes Rainbow Dash?” this grabbed rest of the mane 6’s attention

“Do you mind who we cheer for?”

“Not at all Rainbow Dash. That goes for the rest of you as well.” She smiled towards the others.

“Sweet!” Rainbow replied in excitement.

“Uh princess. There will need to be some rules of this fight.” Ashley said to Luna.

“What are these rules if I might ask?”

“Your guards are not allowed to wear armor but are allowed to use their wings and magic if need be.”

“Trying to make it easier on yourselves are we?” Luna giggled.

“No, the armor will hinder their moving capability and we want them to be at their best.” Ashley grinned.”

“Very well” Luna nodded “Let the battle commence!” She used the RCV once more before teleporting herself next to her sister.

Both teams met in the middle. The earth ponies stared at the humans as if they were better than them. Ashley put his hands together and bowed, he held out his hand to one of the ponies

“May the better team win.”

The pony scoffed and turned away, followed by the others.

“Asshole.” Ashley exclaimed, making sure that his voice was loud enough for the pony to hear it.

Both teams stared at one another from each side of the arena. Ashley was stretching his arms while Callum was stretching his legs.

“Are both teams ready?!” Luna used the RCV, both teams nodded “Three!”

“Two!” The crowd joined in.

“One!” Callum and Ashley got into position

“Fight!”

Both humans walked to the center of the arena while the Earth guard split into two groups of four.

“20 bits that the guards lose.” Celestia whispered to Luna

“You’re on.” They both shook hooves and drew their attention back to the fight taking place.

“I’ll take the ones on the left, you take right. Call out if you need assistance.” Callum said quietly.

“you got it.” Ashley replied. One of the guards was already a couple of feet in front of him and tried to tackle him by jumping towards his chest. Big mistake.

Ashley dodged the tackle with ease. The guard landed and turned towards the human, except he wasn’t there. The guard looked around frantically trying to find him but he could only see Callum who punched one of his fellow teammates in the jaw.

The guard began to move towards Callum but felt a blunt force greet the back of his head. His face hit the floor, he tried to get up but Ashley put his foot on the guards head and applied pressure.

“You’re too easy.” Ashley said as he grabbed the guard from the back of the neck, he threw him into the invisible wall.

Ponies on the other side flinched as they heard a large thud, followed by a crack. Blood flowed down into the guard’s mouth from his nose. His body ached, he struggled to get back up but his legs buckled, greeting his chest to the ground.

Ashley chuckled to himself, seeing the guard collapse was an amusing sight, but it was also a distraction. One of the guards jumped onto Ashley’s back while another tackled from the side, bringing both ponies and human to the ground. The two ponies and their other teammate started to smash their hooves into Ashley’s torso. The pain was unbearable but for some reason, would subside faster than it normally would.

Callum grabbed two of the guards he was fighting by their jaws, smashing their backs into the ground repeatedly. He grew bored of this and charged towards the invisible wall in front of the princess’ and smashed the guard’s backs into it several time. Thuds, cracks and the very common groan / scream of pain could be heard. The princess’ and the mane 6 stared at Callums face. His teeth were clenched; pure anger could be seen in his eyes.

Both guards bodies went limp after another few blows to the wall, blood seeped from the back of their heads and trickled down their necks onto Callum’s hand. They were both unconscious so Callum dropped them and turned his attention to the other two who were shaking in fear. The guards that were pummeling Ashley with their hooves continued but could see in the corner of their eyes what the other human did.

Ashley tried to block as many punches as he could, trying to find the perfect time to strike, he punched one of the guards in the side of his head. The guard groaned slightly from the pain as he accidentally pushed another guard of Ashley. Using his hand to grab the final guard, Ashley stood back up and span in a circle, building up momentum to throw the guard in his grip into the other two. The guard went flying into the chest of the other two, creating a pony pile.

Callum kicked one of his guards in the face while he held the other one in his right hand, punching him in the face several times with his left. The guard which was kicked slowly got back up but was greeted with the guard in Callum’s grasp being thrown into his face.

“Ashley you’re slacking.” Callum yelled

“Just you wait.” Ashley said to himself. He grabbed one of the guards from the pony pile and threw him against the invisible wall. Before the guard could slide down the wall upon impact, Ashley charged into his chest with his shoulder. The audience either looked away or felt phantom pain and said “Ouch”

“They are quite the fighters Celestia, maybe they will actually stand a chance.” Luna said smugly.

“Indeed sister, although I feel that Ashley, the one with the brown mane, is not putting all his effort into the fight. Callum is meeting expectations nicely.”

“I doubt they will be able to take on the pegasi let alone unicorns.”

“We will just have to see now won’t we?” Celestia smiled a bit.

A couple of minutes passed, the entire earth pony guard was either knocked out or refused to fight anymore due to the agonizing pain they were in.

“Victory goes to the humans!” Luna shouted in the RCV.

“WOO! GO HUMANS!” Rainbow cheered, getting looks from the audience but she didn’t care.

“WAY TA’ GIVE IT TO ‘EM!” A voice cheered from the crowd, everyone looked to see Big Mac cheering.

Ashley and Callum smiled and waved to both ponies, they looked towards each other.

“Right Pegasus fight. We need to either tire them out or clip their wings. I’m up for the clippin’.” Ashley chuckled

“I’m not sure about breaking their wings but whatever makes it easier to kick their sorry asses. They will most likely try to swoop down on us and use the momentum of diving down to give them more impact. If you’re capable of grabbing one, break their wings straight away.”

Celestia cancelled the wall so that the Earth pony guards could be taken to the hospital. Medical staff already arrived at the scene just in case somepony needed some quick medical attention before being whisked away.  After the guards were taken away, twenty-two pegasi guards took off their armor and entered the area. Celestia made another invisible wall but made it so that at a certain height, the pegasi could leave the area.

“Rules of this round, pegasi are only allowed to leave the arena for 5 seconds otherwise they are disqualified. Humans will have to use their wits and strength to defeat them.” Luna said in her RCV. The ponies cheered for the guards while Big Mac and the mane six cheered for the humans. Celestia wished she could join them but she had to stick with her guards.

The earth pony guards that were still conscious were being healed by the medical staff’s unicorns but this was only to speed up the natural healing process of flesh. Bones on the other hoof / hand would be under a small effect of the spell and would still require a cast.

“Are both teams ready!?” Luna shouted in her RCV, receiving a nod from both teams

“Three!” The crowded shouted

“Two!” Ashley cracked his knuckles

“One!” Several pegasi guards already flared their wings.

“Fight!”

The guards split into two teams of six and two teams of five. Not realizing they could all rush the humans and outnumber them easily.

“Stick together and watch above you.” Callum said to Ashley who didn’t reply.

One group of five took to the air while the others went higher to watch the fight from above. The five pegasi swooped down at the humans, using their bodies to knock them onto their backs before preparing to perform another strafe run.

“Dodge and grab their back legs.” Ashley said through clenched teeth as he got back up. Callum followed suit and braced his body.

The pegasi turned back around and swooped towards the humans once more. Ashley and Callum ducked and grabbed the legs of one guards at the right time and brought him to the ground.

“you take care of him while I get another.” Callum said, letting Ashley grab hold the Pegasus by the throat, trying to struggle free.

Ashley smashed the Pegasus’ face into the ground, putting his knee on the ponies back. He grabbed one of its wings...

“What is he about to do?” Luna asked

“Uh oh.” Celestia gulped, knowing what was about to happen, she looked at Rainbow who was glued to the fight.  “You might want to look away.”

“Huh? Wha-“ Before Rainbow could finish, a large snapping sound sliced through air, followed by the scream of sheer pain. Many ponies looked away at that moment while others opened their eyes widely.

“Did he just-?” Twilight asked Celestia who already nodded, both were still cringing from the sight before them.

The Pegasus guards watched as the human broke one of their fellow guards wings, they watched as the Pegasus cried out in pain.

Ashley grabbed the pony from the back of the neck, examining the limp wing and the tears rolling down the guards cheek.

“You. Are...” He spun around, gaining momentum as he threw the guard into the invisible wall “PATHETIC!” He listened to the thud of the guard hitting the wall, his scream of agony followed by another thud as he hit the floor.  Ashley stood still, staring at the broken Pegasus. Who was being lifted out of the arena to medical staff. The two pegasi chose smartly and sacrificed their chance to fight to help the guard out of the arena.

“Guard down, two disqualified. Nineteen remain!” Pinkie shouted through a megaphone. Gaining looks from everypony as they wondered where she got the contraption but looked back at the fight because it was Pinkie being...Well Pinkie.

“I ask the humans to stop breaking the wings of the pegasi.” Luna asked through RCV. Both humans shook their heads in disagreement and motioned the next guard to fight.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?” Both humans yelled. They watched the pegasi shaking in fear. They laughed.

“You call yourselves guards!? The ponies without the wings put up a better fight than you! You disgust me.” Ashley shouted. A couple of the pegasi guards hung their head in shame while a few decided to fight. Another wave of five landed and charged towards the humans.

“They never learn do they?” Ashley asked Callum.

“Nope, still going to break their wings though.”

as the fight waged on, Fluttershy looked away in horror. In fact, the only ones who didn’t were Rainbow and Applejack, they still cringed at everytime the humans broke the wings of the pegasi as they laughed at their screams of pain (Mostly Ashley’s maniacal laugh filled the atmosphere). The audience looked away and held their hooves over their ears at these parts. Big Mac watched without flinching as well as the princess’.

After several minutes and a large amount of discarded, broken winged pegasi being carried away from the arena as well as silence, Callum finally spoke.

“So who’s next!?” He yelled, slamming a fist against his chest.

“I...Um...The unicorn guards...” Luna struggled to speak in her RCV, imagining what the humans will do them.

Celestia teleported herself in front of the humans with a look of concern “That was highly unnecessary for you to snap all those poor pegasi’s wings like sticks. You should be ashamed.”

“Yet I remain completely fine and will not be put down on a guilt trip. Send in your next group so we can snap off their horns.” Ashley replied, too busy examining his knuckles.

“Your majesty...” Solar walked up behind the princess “I feel that group three should not fight. Let me and Night Wing fight instead.”

“Are you sure captain? I’m certain these humans will not hold anything back anymore. They appear to be more brutal with each match.”

“Then we’ll just have to calm them down, your highness.” Night wing stated as he walked up next to Solar.

“If you wish to fight, then so be it. You have been warned.” Celestia teleported herself next to Luna.

“What was that all about Tia?”

“The unicorn guards shall not be fighting the humans but instead Captain Solar and Captain Night Wing shall fight. I warned them that the humans are becoming more violent but they’re still eager to fight them.”

“Don’t worry sister, if it becomes too much then we will intervene.” Luna smiled weakly, she turned towards the audience and prepared her RCV

“Citizens of Ponyville! This next fight shall be memorable! Introducing the guards who will smite down the humans! Captain Solar!”

The crowd cheered, Solar took in a deep breath, expanding his chest and waved towards the crowd with a grin on his face

“…And Captain Night Wing!”

The crowd cheered once more, Night wing only waved to the crowd, snapping his vision back on the humans who were looking at them, unimpressed.

“Are both teams ready!?” Luna questioned with her RCV.

Both teams met in the center of the arena. The humans held out their hands, the guards shook them.

“May the better team win.” Ashley said happily.

“I agree. Let’s put on a show for the crowd.” Night Wing replied.

Both Callum and Solar nodded before both teams split. They took several paces back before looking towards each other. All that could be heard was the slight breeze flowing past everyone’s ears.

“Three!”

Ashley flexed his fingers, clenching them into fists

“Two!”

Solar stretched out his hind legs slightly

“One!”

Silence…

“Let the final battle…COMMENCE!” Luna said with RCV, slamming her hoof on the ground. Celestia let out a small giggle.

Both teams circled the arena, staring at each other.

“I’ll go for Night Wing.” Ashley stated with a smirk

“I’ll go for the one with the brown mane.” Night wing stated with a similar smirk to Ashley’s

Both Callum and Solar nodded and glared at each other.

“So…Who do you think will win Rainbow?” Celestia asked

“I’m sticking with Ash and Cal. They’re doing pretty well but they don’t know much about magic so I’m not really sure if they will win as easily as before.”

Solar's horn started to glow. Small balls of light started to appear next to him while balls of darkness floated next to Night Wing as his horn glowed.

"Their preparing their attacks!" Callum prepared himself to dodge

"Break their horns. It may prevent them from using magic." Ashley replied

Both unicorns rose onto their hing legs and smashed their forelegs back on the ground. Sending a small shockwave of light and darkness around them. The balls were at least the size of baseballs. Solar's set themselves on fire while a faint aura started to emit from Dark Wing's.

"FIRE!" Solar yelled. The balls of fire went straight towards Callum who dodged a couple of them. The ones that hit ignited his shirt on fire.

"FUCK! FIREFIREFIRE!" Callum shouted in desperation. There was no nearby water so he tried to pat the fire out, but it only grew. He decided the best course of action was to ditch the shirt. He quickly ripped them off since it became weaker because of the flames. Parts of his skin had already suffered from the flames but not by much

The dark balls struck Ashley in the chest, one smashed into his face. It felt as if someone punched him with a metal fist. On contact, the balls would explode and fade away but leave a mark of dark purple / black where they hit. Half of Ashley's face was covered in it while around a third of his torso was as well.

Night Wing began to laugh, getting a look of confusion from Ashley

"Just wait a couple of seconds..." He said maniacally

"Wait wha-" A large current of pain passed through his body from the impact zones of the magic, bringing Ashley to the ground. He started struggling to breathe.

"Who's pathetic now!?" Night Wing said as he approached the human, smashing his hoof into the side of his head.

"Still you..." A voice came from behind Night wing. He snapped his neck around and was greeted with the sight of Callum. And boy did he look pissed. In the background, Solar was struggling to stand back up but every time he put pressure on his front right hoof, he would scream in pain and collapse.

Callum wrapped his fingers round Night Wings throat and began to squeeze.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" He shouted through clenched teeth, holding Night Wing by the throat above him. He used all his strength into smashing the unicorn into the ground. He let go of his throat and stomped on his chest, winding the unicorn.

Solar saw that his partner was in trouble, He looked towards the sun which was still shining brightly. He started to charge his magic, nearby balls of light would form and be sucking into his horn.

"Is he really going to use that spell!?" Luna looked at Celestia in desperation and excitement.

"I believe so." Celestia answered, her eyes were as wide as saucers.

A ball of energy started to form around the tip of Solar's horn. It set on fire as well as his mane. A large beam of flames shot towards Callum's back.

"FFFFFFFFFFF-" he managed to scream in pain as his body hit the floor. some of the skin on his back appeared to have melted and you could see parts of his flesh, his back felt as though it was literally on fire. Both humans lay on the floor, struggling to move an inch.

Night wing got back up slowly and proceeded to Solar to help him stand. Both walked over to the humans.

"Do you admit defeat?" He said quietly into Ashley's ear.

"...No..." the word managed to escape the humans frantic breathing.

"Very well. Let's see what makes you tick then!" Night Wing's horn started to glow, he put it against Ashley's forehead. Upon contact, Ashley started to scream.

"Luna, what spell is he using?" Celestia asked with concern.

"Just a spell I taught which allows him to see his victims worst fears. If he increases intensity of the spell, he can bring back painful memories...Why did you ask?"

"Just as I expected. Ashley told me some of his past and that he went insane after he watched most of his family killed in front of him. Who knows what other traumatic memories he has." Her horn started to glow "We must end this fight before it gets out of control!"

Ashley's eyes were forced closed. He could see images taking place, each one of something that horrified him. Memory of his brother being killed...His sisters killed...His friends killed on their second mission...Being tortured...Watching one of his soldiers throat being ripped out by the mouth of an attack dog while he lay there, helpless...

He started to remember the emotions he had at those times...

Anger...

Hatred...

Revenge...

Kill...

His eyes shot open. Night Wing was still concentrating on the spell, he opened his eyes and became shocked the human woke up.

"What the-ACK!" His throat was grabbed by Ashley.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE TOUGH!?" He stood back up immediatly, still with the unicorn in his grasp. He punched him in the face several times. He felt his muscles strength going beyond their limit, fueled by anger.

Blood started to pour out of the side of Night Wing's mouth and nose. He was starting to lose conciousness due to the impact of punches he was taking.

"I!" Ashley grabbed one of the unicorns front legs, he twisted it in an awkward position, he could hear the guards voice scream in pain, he twisted it even further with more strength and speed. SNAP! He let go of the leg and proceeded with the other front hoof.

"HATE!" He repeated his previous actions, snapping the bones in the guards leg followed by an even louder scream of agony from Night Wing

Finally...He grabbed the unicorns horn and started to pull on it as if it was a lever with all his strength.

Celestia teleported herself onto the arena

"ASHLEY NO!" She called out but she was too late.

"YOU!" Ashley started to laugh maniacally as the horn was ripped off the guards forehead. His eye started to twitch as a wicked smile grew on his face, causing the crowd to grow in fear, some ponies fled the scene just in case.

The horn was still in his hand, the guard was still in his grasp, a few sparks would appear where the horn once was. Ashley threw the guard towards Solar who was so scared, he couldn't move.

THUMP! The body of Night Wing collided with Solar, both were groaning in pain.

Ashley's vision quickly turned to Celestia who was appalled by the event before here. She stared into his eyes. They called out one single word...

Insanity...

Ashley noticed the wall disappeared and barged through the crowd of ponies (Most of them moved out of the way quickly but those who did not were barged out the way). He felt no pain, only hatred. The images were always flooding his mind. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw a tragic memory take place. He knew he could do one thing...

...Hide...Hide until you die...

He kept on running, tears flowing past his cheeks due to his speed. Ponies that were still in the town started to flee at the sight of the human.

The mane six ran up to Celestia who was channeling magic into Night Wing in the attempt of regrowing his horn or giving his body the energy to start the growing process. Luna was tending to Solar's injuries with a healing spell while Callum was receiving medical attention from the staff at the scene. (By which they tried their best to heal his burns.)

"What the hay was that all about!?" Rainbow shouted angrily when she approached Night Wing who recently gained consciousness from Celestia's spell.

"Wha...what? AAAAHHH!" A wave of pain shot through Night Wing's forehead.

"Hold still captain. I'm trying to repair as much damage as possible." Celestia said in her soothing voice "Unfortunately, you will not be able to perform magic for a couple of weeks until your horn grows back."

"Princess, what happened to Ashley?" Twilight asked quietly.

Celestia sighed "The spell Night Wing performed was originally to find out the fears of his victim. But I'm afraid he increased its power too much and brought back all of Ashley's repressed memories. One of which he told me."

"What was it?" Twilight asked,

Luna finished healing Solar's injuries as much as possible but he would have to deal with sore muscles for the next couple of days.

"He told me...The day that he watched most of his family killed before him when he was merely sixteen years of age. He said that he went insane for two years after he killed those responsible. He told me that he hid it well and that Callum didn't even know. There are most likely many, many more horrific memories and now all he will see is those memories playing in his head as well as experiencing the exact same emotions at those specific events for the next couple of days...hopefully."

"That's awful! But where did he run off too?"

"I don't know, we need to find him quickly since he is in an unstable condition."

"Well you better get searching now..." Callum said from behind Celestia "If someone pisses him off, he's gonna kill them on the spot in the most painful way possible. Trust me, I have seen that face many times."

Ashley continued his sprint, he saw Twilight's house come into view. He approached the door and twisted the handle to see if it was unlocked

The door opened unbelievably...

Ashley frantically started a search in the house, trying to find his bag. He noticed it was still laying against the bookshelf and grabbed it. He checked it's contents.

Pistol...Check...Knife...Check...Pistol clips...Counting five so check...MP3...check...That's all of it.

He put the bag on and stepped outside, his eye was still twitching slightly but was only noticeable on close examination. He started his journey through the town, taking one last look at the scenery before going to the forest...

***

"Are they ready?" The first voice said

"Yes, they are advancing as we speak. one of our scouts said there was a fight between two tall monkeys and pony guards. The monkeys won with ease." The second voice said.

"Good, maybe we can use them to our advantage." A third voice exclaimed "They must hate ponies as well."

All three started to laugh...

This chapter should be just over 10,000 words without this authors note. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and as you a few of you guessed, the enemies are in fact diamond dogs. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I like typing it.

Don't forget commenting and stuff!