Author's Note

Ok, this chapters finished. Got it out! whoo!

Now if you excuse me, im off to bed...

Also, I'm looking for someone to help correct Destination Equis. (because i'm terrible at correcting...)

And finally, if you have a character you've created, and want to see him/her in D.E. Then please message me the characters name, a description of his/hers appearance. And a bio of the characters hobby's, fav foods, personality, Ect.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy! ... ... ... ... ...

Chapter 25 - Summoned by Celestia...Oh dear...

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Night guard camp, Sunrise hill. Neighagra falls.

1820 Hours.

Shining was pacing back and forth outside the entrance of the royal purple tent, his breath creating small clouds of steam in the rather nippy night. 'Winter is certainly coming with a vengeance for that warmer than average summer...' He thought to himself whilst looking to the cloudless crystal clear night, admiring the endless blanket of stars and the beautiful greens,blues, and pure white belt of the milky-way.

He was in the process of packing his tent when he was pulled aside by one of his orderly's. The scroll he was given had requested his presence at the royal tent. After the half hour walk from the remnants of his camp he found himself sitting out the front of the entrance to the purple structure. And there he sat, in the rapidly cooling night air. Ponies came and went into the tent, and had been for the last half hour.

'Surly somepony told the princesses i'm out here... Perhaps i should go ins-' Shining's train of thought was interrupted by a light tap on his hind quarters with a steel-capped boot. Spinning around and leaping to his hooves, he turned to face his assailant. "You!" Shining said with no small measure of annoyance, and a twinge of indignity.

"Good evenin' to you too Shining spoon" Johnna said with slight irritation at the stallions reaction. Johnna leaned against the tree that the royal tent had been erected under. "Let me guess mate-"

"Summoned by the Princesses" Shining finished with skepticism as well as a raised eyebrow. His answer earning a nod from Johnna as his eyes lock onto something behind the captain. Turning, Shining saw a batpony poke her head out of the tent flaps. Turning to face her Shining nods in greeting.

"Captain armour." She replies with a slight glare. She then turns to Johnna and smiles warmly. "Johnna. You both my enter now." She said in a singsong tone.

Shining looked to Johnna just in time to see him raise an eyebrow. After a few seconds the Human just shrugs and begins walking the short distance to the tent flaps. After standing alone in the dimly moonlit night both confused and more than slightly concerned, Shining follows the human inside.

Once Shining pushed past the tent flaps the comforting warmth inside washed over him, ceasing his light shivering almost immediately. 'How that human can wear only boots shorts and a T-shirt in this weather i'll never know...' Shining mentally grumbled to himself.

After a short walk through the tent Shining found himself in the cavernous central room. The four princesses sat in their cushioned chairs opposite the doorway. Johnna stood before them calmly, with his hands behind his back, not in the least concerned about showing them the respect they deserved. Shining hadnt realized, but he'd begun glaring two holes into the back of Johnna's head. And Twilight had noticed this.

"Brother? Are you alright?" She asked with concern. Shining couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the Humans jaw dropping open, and his arms falling limply by his sides.

"BROTHER?! That TWAT-" The man exclaimed in shock, pointing a finger at the white guards pony, whom is currently wearing a grin that would creep out a Cheshire cat. "-IS YOUR BROTHER?!" Twilight cringed slightly at his volume, before sitting upright and changing her expression to that of a piercing glare.

"Yes, Captain Shining Armour of the solar guard is my older brother. As well as the husband of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. And i'd appreciate you showing my brother some respect if you wouldn't mind." Johnna managed to finally get a grip, mentally slapping then chiding himself for reacting in such manor.

"That i would ma'am." His response cause Twilight's eye to twitch in slowly developing frustration and confusion.

"Why would that be?" Twilight said with an internal sigh.

"Because ma'am. Respect is something that travels both ways. I will show him respect once he begins to address My people and I with the same courtesy." This response earned a nod of agreement and understanding from Luna, Cadence was now glaring at her husband, who was now trying to avoid her gaze, only looking back occasionally to see if she had changed her target.

"And what has my husband done to earn such a response from you John" Cadence inquired whilst sitting up in her chair. Never taking her glare off of the captain, a bead of sweat slowly starting to form on his brow.

"He has shown a complete lack of sympathy. Lacked the communication skills required of a leader. Openly displayed his distaste of my people. Betrayed our trust by breaking an agreement between our leadership, and his. And shown a complete distrust in us VIA an attempt to confiscate our only means of protection." With each point, a new bead of sweat began glinting on Shining's forehead in the red glow of the various crystals around the room, providing heating.

"I'm sure shining has Perfectly, Legitimate, Excuses, for his actions?" Cadence said, raising her voice for emphasis.

Shining stood there as an awkward silence enveloped the room. After several seconds Johnna turns to face the captain. his deadpan betraying no emotion. All eyes on captain Armour, he clears his throat, then begins his explanations.

"Allow me to begin with an apology. I apologize for my rather incompetent command during the past few weeks. However. I only acted the way i did in the best benefits of your people." Before Johnna could speak his protest, Shining continued, raising his voice in order to continue uninterrupted. "I'm sure your aware, that winter is rapidly approaching. And building a town capable of supporting several thousand pon-err, people. isn't something that can just be thrown together in a week. I figured that with your knowledge of the current date, you'd understand that. So i tried to ensure that a certain distance was covered each day, as your location to settle was still to have been chosen by your leadership, Since the only true way for some-one, to choose their home is to go to that location and see it themselves.-"

Johnna speaks up whilst shining inhales to continue. "So, let me get this straight. Your guards forcing up to move near constantly from sun up to sun down was actually your attempt to get us to the possible locations where we could build a settlement before winter?" Johnna asks with a raised eyebrow. "What's the date?" Johnna asks with a confused tone to his voice, his question causes everyponies jaws to drop.

"You don't know what the date is?!" Twilight exclaimed in such a high tone that her voice squeaked.

"we've just been using the continued dates that our world, dimension... Whatever. was currently following. That brings us to- The fourteenth of March."

Everypony face-hoofed. "Well, Theres the primary problem. Without communicating with them brother, You've rushed them to their new home to prepare for Autumn." Twilight exclaimed with sarcasm.

Luna and Celestia looked to each other before joining Cadence in a little chuckle at the captains expense.

"Righto, Now that you've all stopped giggling like school girls. My question still hasn't been answered.

"Correct." Shining opened his mouth to say, but Celestia answered for him. "This may have been my fault also, i gave the captain the order to have you settled at a location of your choosing before winter. But it appears that you've chosen quite well with Neighagra falls."

"Wait a minute, You all were going to give us...-" Johnna's expression deadpanned. "-Really. Neighagra falls? I mean really?" The princesses looked to eachother confused at the humans sudden questioning of the locations name. As Luna was about to ask what the problem was, the Human answered for them. "Neighagra falls? Canterlot? Are all your settlements just puns of places from my world? Are there any others that i should know about?" Johnna asks cautiously.

Twilight and Cadence then take turns listing off the names of the many major settlements in Equestria. "Manehattan"

"Philly delphia"

"Baltimare"

"Vanhoover"

"Los Pegasu-" Twilight was cut off the the human holding his ears with his hands and groaning "Okay, Okay. I get it. Yes, the answer to my question is . Yes. Noted" Luna and Cadence chuckled with each-other once more, only this time at Twilight's pout for being cut off more than the humans reaction.

Celestia cleared her throat. "Are we not all becoming a bit sidetracked to the matter at hand here?" Everyone nodded in agreement. The princesses of love and night respectively recovering from their laughter.

Johnna speaks up once again. "Well thats the lack of communication and sympathy dealt with and explained away. But what about the 'showing your distaste for my people', 'breaking our agreement' and 'trying to confiscate our weapons'." Johnna asked with an inquisitive tone.

"I'll have you know, i didn't break our agreement-" Shining raises his voice to continue, once he sees Johnnas expression change to a 'Yeah, right, Is that so?' expression "-OR, at the very least, never intended to."

"Go on" Cadence asks.

"Once the meeting between your peoples leadership and I concluded that morning, i ordered my orderly's to spread the change of plans, however they never managed to make it to the guards at the rear of the formation, due to the convoys immense length and the narrow mountain roads. So the guards at the rear of the convoy were not aware of the change in schedule."

"OK, That makes sense, i probably should of offered you a radio to speed that communication up... Ok, fair play, I'll take responsibility for that cock-up. But please do explain the part about showing your evident hatred towards u-... O-K,Nevermindithinkiknowtheanswerthothatone..." Johnna mumbled quietly at such a speed his words were barely legible.

"Oh, Really John" Cadence inquires through a glare. "Please do explain..."

Johnna places his hands behind his back and averts his gaze. "Well...You see Ma'am... A large majority of my people had continued to work well past sunset and into the very early hours of the sunrise the next day. So, our leadership and Shining got together and discussed plans to up-tent later that day to allow the several hundred people whom hadn't slept to do just that. But as your aware now-"

"My husband couldn't get word to his troops at the rear of your convoy fast enough and his guards began collapsing tents with your people still trying to sleep inside them" Cadence finished for Johnna. Earning a nod from the tanned Australian.

"Well, after that happened, and reports started to funnel up the radios about this happening...I... Maaay have gone on a witch hunt for the good captain, then confronted him..." The princesses leaned in awaiting a response, but they got awkward silence instead. Shining stepped forward and continued for the suddenly tongue tied Human.

"Once he confronted me, he verbally let me have it. Threw around names like 'You backstabbing Mule.', 'Jackass.', And my personal favorite. 'Shining spoon' The 'Captain with a silver spoon lodged up his arse.' If i remember correctly?" All the princesses looked to Johnna, Twilight looked at the Human as if her glare alone could melt him into a puddle of goo. Cadence and Celestia looked upon the human with expressions of understanding. And Luna's expression looked as if the next thing she found funny would set her off into a laughing mess.

'She's enjoying the captains 'trial' here a little too much... I Like her!' Johnna thought to himself with a mental smile.

'I Swear Princess Luna likes to see the solar guard and i Squirm...' Shining groaned to himself mentally.

Shining continued "After that, when i tried to explain myself to you, you stuffed an apple into my mouth then kicked me out of your leaderships tent, onto my face." Shining said with indignity. It was at this moment that Luna stood bolt upright form her chair, and began to take her leave from the room, mumbling about 'taking a short break', and we should 'continue without her for the time being'.

After several seconds we heard the faint sound of a zipper being zipped shut, then the faint cacophony of uncontrolled laughter. Shining looked as if he was about to melt away to nothing in embarrassment.

No matter how much shining may have deserved every bit of this before, Johnna could see that most of the problems was as much his fault as it was Shining's. So with a nudge of his boot, Johnna got the captains attention.

"Chin-er... Muzzle up, Captain." Johnna said professionally. This little pep-talk seeming to remind shining of his rank, causing him to stand at a relaxed attention and to hold his head high. That little display of kindness form the Human caused the remaining three princesses to smile.

Luna returned shortly afterwards, and sat once more in her chair.

Shining finished his explanation. "And finally, the reason i had my guards attempt to confiscate your weapons. After the incident with your people, and your little witch hunt and display once you finally found me. My guards noticed that you Humans were becoming increasingly rowdy. And in some cases raised your weapons towards my guards, We know that you have... Ammunition... That isn't paint. But its impossible to tell which ones had the lethal ammunition or the paint. so i opted to confiscate all of your weapons, since i have the vague understanding that they are interchangeable with their ammunition. It was a measure to ensure the safety of the guard. I'm sure you'd do the same had our positions switched."

"Alright Captain. Your not wrong, but in terms of the interchangeable ammunition, its not as universal as you think. Different firearms have their common calibers, yes. But the way the caliber is measured between the respective country of that weapons origin and another is different. For example. German designers measure the caliber of the weapon without the bore, but the Americans measure weapon caliber with the bore. So even though their both 9mm's, their ammo ins't interchangeable." Johnna stopped his explanation when he realized he lost the attention of the ponies he was trying to explain it to, he noticed that Twilight had been furiously scribbling down information onto a scroll during his manor rant. "At any rate, Captain Shining Armour. I Apologize for my childish behavior, and my peoples rash actions." The human said professionally, holding out a hand to the captain.

Shining looked to the Humans hand for several seconds, before looking to the princesses, then back again. Smiling, he took the humans hand and shook it. What happened next surprised everypony.

Johnna turned to and addressed the princesses. "You highness's, May i request that the solar guard also be responsible for our protection, at least until we can defend ourselves properly." The princesses were stunned at the Humans request, it was the last thing they were expecting. Even Shining's jaw was agape.

After looking to each-other Luna spoke up. "I don't see why not? What do you think dear sister?" All eyes were now on Celestia as she pondered the decision for several moments. Eventually letting out a sigh and nodding her agreement.

Shining let out a relived sigh, whilst his sister practically leaped out of her chair and wrapped her brother in a hug. Satisfied with the outcome, Johnna turned and left the tent.

Cadence poked her head out through the tent flaps, inhaling deeply, enjoying the clean and cool night air, she exited the tent, not bothered by the cold at all. After a short search, she found the Human she was looking for, Leaning against a tree not far from the tent.

Walking over to him, her hooves leaving a trail of prints in the frost covered grass. She sat next to him earning a confused expression from the alien creature. As she stared up at the moon, she felt a sudden warmth, turning, in an attempt to look at her back. She found herself under the humans T-shirt. Looking up at the Australian she saw that he now only wore a Singlet, as well as his other attire of boots and cargo shorts.

She opened her mouth to protest, but she was cut off by the humans response first. "Don't worry about me, Despite how frail my race may be to the elements and diseases, i'm honestly not bothered by the cold. Heck, my country spends most of its time in blistering heat, so when its cold or raining, we practically walk around with summer clothes on to enjoy the cold whilst it lasts."

Cadence looked up to the human as he stared at one particular constellation. "Is that one familiar to you?" She inquires. Earning a silent nod from the Human.

"Back home its called, 'The southern cross' It means a great deal to my culture, its Arguably one of our country's national symbols. That constellation was the symbol of our rebellion against the redcoats. Its also currently one of the primary features of Australia's flag. I look up at that constellation every night. it relaxes me for some reason. Puts my mind at ease..."

Cadence looks back to the human this time with a smile of realization on her face. But she soon looks back to the sky, waiting for an opportunity to confirm her theory about the 'Tough as nails' 'Australian'.

Several shadows watch the humans stockade from the darkness of a treeline. Peering at the unaware creatures through binoculars. Digital Binoculars.

A patrol walks past once more, but the shadows remain unnoticed. Their furious note scribbling and observations are abruptly cut short by a twig snapping above them. A dozen eyes snap upwards into the trees above their heads, before they all reach into their their bags and pull out lightly glowing bottles. Popping the corks they all quickly down the purple liquid. One by one as they finish downing the last drops from the bottle they =Telipoof= away.

A second after the last shadow disappears into a cloud of purple mist, a Batpony leaps from the tree canopy and lands in the purple cloud floating just above the ground.

Letting out a frustrated screech she punches the ground with a hoof. She missed her targets again, The Lunar guard had noticed the 'Shadows' watching the humans the day before, but hadn't managed to catch them, or even find out what, or who, they were.

Her minor temper tantrum was cut off when she noticed her hoof had brushed up against coming. Looking down to the ground, she saw a small fluffy dark brown feather, with a black spot in the center.

"Huh. I don't remember a bird having this pattern before..."

The bat pony places the feather in her saddlebag before returning to her 'Shadow' hunt.

Meanwhile, the humans continued their sleeping and patrols, oblivious to the events happening outside their stockade.