Apex Is Coming

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: Long Away From Home
Chapter 2: New Style, New Me
Chapter 3: Spreading The Word
Chapter 5: One Long Week
Chapter 4: Doing Favors and Claiming Favors
Chapter 6: Touching The Stars
Chapter 7: There's A First Time For Everything

Prologue

Ever since Japan became the safest country in the world back in 2023, America desired to surpass them. But this desire didn’t come to pass. Jenifer Freelox became the 46th president of The United States, and the first female president of the nation. During her tenure as president, she made many controversial decisions, the biggest of these being the ban on all guns.

No one knows how it even happened, considering that the law violated the second amendment. Citizens didn’t even think the law would actually get passed, or even be allowed to go into effect. They were wrong. It started out with people forced to either hand over their firearms or face imprisonment. People who owned gun shops had to shut down and give up their weapons. Gun manufacturers had to be closed down. People were outraged, people were furious, people panicked. So people did what they thought would work, they did what they thought would get the attention of the president and the government. They purged.

It started out just like the purge movies, people were killing each other while others looted. It was really bad in Florida, so bad in fact that it’s not a state anymore. Florida was burned to the ground, it became known as the 'wasteland', miles and miles of nothing but ash and ruins. Only around half the population of Florida survived and evacuated.

It somehow got worse from there. The loss of roughly ten million lives caused the government to step in. The government at the time was completely corrupt, they didn’t care about the people. They threatened to start bombing states and kill those who refused to listen to their rules.

People refused to listen to anything they were saying, they wanted their freedom back, they wanted their rights back. So the government actually decided to follow through with their threats, they dropped hundreds of bombs on North Carolina, where the most killing was happening. The bombs completely destroyed the state and killed the remainder of the population.

Everyone was scared. After seeing that the government wasn’t joking and was being serious, it made everyone stop. Everyone listed, no one questioned them anymore, they all obeyed.

This leads us to today. Fifty-four years later. A terrorist group called ‘REMEMBER’ has formed. Its goal, to give the people of America their rights back, and remind everyone that the government had taken everything away. The government decided to counter REMEMBER by forming a special forces team called Apex.

Apex only had four members, but being backed by the government, they had everything they needed. They were elite assassins, trained since birth with weapons other than guns to fight the forces of REMEMBER. Their names were Beta, Charlie, Delta, and their leader, my big brother Alp-

I decided to take the earbuds I was given out and glare at my only medical staff member. “You had something going there. But then you ruined it.”

“Aww, what’s wrong with it! I worked hard on that you know,” Alice replied, giving me her signature little pout. Alice gave me her phone so I could listen to a voice recording that she made not too long ago. Apparently, she was trying to make it for a video she was working on with a friend. Her monologue was inaccurate, but not all of it though.

The true story didn’t involve bombing or anything like that. The government handled the situation very carefully, making sure not to get other nations involved. The war took decades to end, causing food supplies to be terrible for years to come. Even fifty-five years after the war, hatred for the government was still strong in middle America, causing most of REMEMBER’s supporters to reside there. Another thing was that we actually were not trained since birth. But I digress.

Alice was the only member of my medical team. She was only 15 years old, but a genius when it comes to the medical field. She’d been studying ever since she learned how to read and write. Alice was wearing a nurses outfit, which didn’t look right seeing as she was actually a doctor. She had long blonde hair that was always tied into a pair of pigtails, but she only had her hair like that because she enjoys exploiting my weakness.

“Listen, Alice,” I began to rub her head gently. Since she was pretty short, head rubs were always fun and easy to give. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes, a goofy grin forming on her face. “If you’re actually gonna make something like that, and also show it to people, you shouldn’t add random details like that.” Should I tell her it was inaccurate?

“Why? I want the world to know that you’re my big brother!” She’s not even related to me, I’ve only known her for about a couple months. Why did she call me this? I had no idea, but it's not like I minded, I actually kinda liked it.

Currently, I was standing in Alice’s office, a room about the size of a small apartment. The room itself had no windows and only a single door leading in and out. She had two counters that lined the left and right side of the room with all sorts of medical equipment on them. A bunch of cabinets with fingerprint locks were lined up along the back wall. There were even a couple of couches that sat on a carpet, just next to the cabinets.

I took a seat on my favorite couch and watched as Alice started to move some of the medical items on her counter. Sometimes she looks like an actual doctor rather than just a kid playing as one. “Alice, can I just get the shot and go? We have intel coming in on our next target and I need to discuss it with my team,” I said while slouching into the couch. What I said technically wasn’t a lie, we did have intel coming in today, but I just didn’t know when.

“Hmm... Fine then you big baby,” She spat at me. She walked over to one of the cabinets and pressed her finger on the scanner. A second later, a click could be heard as the lock disengaged and she opened the cabinet. She pulled out some alcohol pads, along with a small vial of red liquid with a needle to go along with it. She sat on the couch right next to me as she pushed the needle into the red liquid and pulled back on the plunger.

I lifted up the right sleeve of my hoodie so she could do the actual injection. After rubbing some alcohol on my arm, she stuck the needle into me.

“So what does this do exactly?” I questioned, watching as the red liquid left the needle and went into my body.

“Dummy. It’s for the nanobots in your bloodstream. This is to make sure they’re working properly,” She said while puffing her cheeks out and pouting at me.

When Apex was originally formed, the government wanted to make sure we actually survived. So instead of making super suits, or something even better, they spent all their effort on nanobots instead. Micro-sized robots were injected into all of our bloodstreams. They even came with some special abilities that I didn’t remember.

“There, all done. Now, what do you say?” Alice gave me a smile as she said this. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Even if she was almost an adult and had taken on several responsibilities, she still acted like a kid sometimes.

“We say thank you.” I flexed my right arm trying to increase circulation and help the fluid disperse. After having it inside of me for almost a minute my arm was starting to feel numb. Alice stood up and threw the needle and the alcohol pad into the biohazard container in the corner of the room. After doing so, she grabbed a tablet and sat back down next to me.

“What do the bots do again? I keep forgetting.” I watched Alice press a few buttons on the tablet. She looked up at me with a frown but continued to press more buttons.

“You really are a dummy! The great team leader of Apex can’t even remember what goes inside of his body?” She was right. She’s explained the process to me many times, I just couldn’t be bothered to listen or actually remember.

“The easiest explanation is that they speed up the rate at which your cells divide. Meaning that when an injury occurs, your cells will divide faster, healing the injured area.” She continuing to press buttons on the tablet. Hearing what they do actually kinda makes sense. “Also, they’re even able to split in half and regrow into more. Meaning that even if you lose a lot of blood, you’ll still have plenty inside of you!” She continued, never stopping with the button pressing.

“Oh.” I couldn’t think of any other way to really respond to that. We ended up sitting together, not having anything else to say. The only sound being the tablet beeping for every button she pressed.

After almost three minutes of silence, she finally spoke up. “There, all done. The bots are working as they should be.” Finally being able to leave, I stood up and walked to her door.

“Hey! You’re forgetting something!” Alice called out. I was already halfway to the door when she actually said something. I turned around to see her standing with her arms stretched out and a big smile on her face. She was practically begging for a hug.

“Hmm... I don’t know. You were kinda mean to me,” I replied while crossing my arms.

“Please?” She began to pout. It actually looked like she was about to start crying. It actually kinda hurts when she looks like this.

I let out a sigh and decided it would be better to just hug her. She let out a loud giggle when I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed. “Thank you!” She was able to reply in between giggles. After about a minute and a half, I decided that the hug had been long enough.

“Well, I’ll cya later, Alice. Stay out of trouble,” I said while breaking the hug and walking to the door. The automated door opened for me, but before it could actually close, Alice grabbed my hand.

“Stay safe, Alpha. And also no promises!” I turned and looked at her as she was stuck her tongue out by me. I couldn’t help but smile. She let go of my hand as I backed up into the hallway as the automated door closed and locked.
“What’s the matter, Alpha?” A familiar, monotone voice called. I looked to my right to see Charlie, a member of my team. He had stepped out from his medical teams lab, and into the all-marble hallway.

“Nothing. Alice just tried to sho... the fuck are you wearing?” I asked while looking at him like he was retarded. Charlie was wearing an all black bathrobe. His fiery red, spiky hair was wet as if he had just went swimming in the medical lab.

“Had to wash up after a quick workout with Beta. Too lazy to go to our room.” His green eyes bore into mine as he gave me a bored and tired expression. Charlie was the support role for the team. His job was pretty self-explanatory. All he had to do was either support or defend one of us while working on a mission. His weapon of choice was a katana with a modifier that allowed it to cut through the toughest of metals.

“Wait... you have showers in there?” I was actually surprised to hear this, considering that I only get a couch in my medical lab. He gave me his usual tired expression. He then started to shake his head, spreading some water onto me and into the hallway.

“Yes, I do. Does yours not have one?” He asked. He completely ignored the annoyed look I was giving him. I’d rather not have water on my hoodie and sweatpants. Shit would look like I pissed myself.

“No, I don’t,” I replied. All he did was shrug and let out a loud yawn. I had to fight the urge to yawn too, his yawning did however actually reminded me of something. “Hey, do you know if Delta is up yet? We should be getting intel soon, and I’d rather have us all there to get it.” Delta always slept in late. There had been many morning missions we had to do without her because she was too tired to stay up and concentrate.

“I don’t know. But do you know our next target?” I started to walk through the medical and training area of the facility. Metal automated doors lined the long hallway on both sides. Each door was meant as a part for the medical wing.

“If I knew the target we wouldn’t be getting intel.” Charlie was following behind me. He was matching my footsteps so it didn’t even sound like he was even following me, but I could still feel his gaze on my back.

Charlie chose not to respond to that. Instead, he chose to speed up and get to my side and lightly hit my arm. We kept the same pace turning down hallways, and finally getting to the first floor’s central square.

The facility itself consisted of three major floors. Currently, Charlie and I were on the first floor, where the medical staff worked. We walked through central square like we owned it. It was only called that because it’s where the majority of people hung out on their breaks. The central square was a massive circle. Many well-known restaurants and cafès were spread out all over the place. In the center was a massive map that connected to the floor and the ceiling, it also worked as a support pillar. The map showed the entire facility, including all three floors, and what all three represented.

I watched as doctors and nurses were getting breakfast from various restaurants and cafes. “Yo Charlie, can you grab me a muffin from Dunkin’,” I said while pointing towards the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts. I wish other restaurants were serving lunch instead, but I can’t be picky.

“Sure.” Was the only response I got as he started to walk off to get my muffin. The next thing I needed to do was talk to my engineer.

I walked over to the closest elevator and called it to the bottom floor. Luckily no one was in it, so I didn’t have to deal with anyone. I went to the second floor, the science and engineering wing, and stepped out of the elevator and walked through the second floor’s central square. It was built the same as the medical square, the only difference being instead of doctors and nurses, it had a bunch of scientists and their assistants.

I went over to the door that led to the actual labs. After walking through a bunch of hallways, I finally found the lab where my engineer worked and let myself in. I didn’t really care if she was busy or not, I simply wanted her attention.

“Yo, Sara, you here?” I called while looking into the room. The room itself was the same size as Alice’s, except that the room was a fucking mess. Gadgets of all sorts were scattered across the tables, while some were even on the floor. I eventually spotted Sara sitting in the corner of the room playing on her computer while keeping track of everything on her monitors.

She was oblivious as I walked over to her, carefully trying not to step on anything. I tapped her on her shoulder, causing her to jump little, but she eventually spun around to face me. “Sup.” Was the only thing I said.

“Learn to knock.” She pushed me back so she could stand, her voice tinted with annoyance as she did so. Sara was a lot closer to my height compared to Alice, but she was still a bit shorter. She had a slender build, with brown eyes and a pair of black glasses to match her hair. She always kept her hair in bangs and allowed the back to lay over her shoulder. Sara was wearing a lab coat with a pair of white jeans to match.

“My bad. Anyway, what’s with the mess?” I asked while jumping to sit on her chair. I looked at all of her monitors. None of them had the same thing open, and each of them showed some type of project she was working on. But one of them was different though, it had an audio file that was in the process of being downloaded. “Don’t mean to be nosy, but what’s with the audio file?”

“Since I don’t have nearly enough room compared to the other teams, I had to make do with what I have.” She adjusting her glasses to glare at me while she told me this. Must be mad about the seat I guess. “And the audio file is a project I’m working on with Alice.”

“Oh. Why are you working with her? I’ve always seen you as the type to hide in your room or lab like a hermit crab,” I said while putting my feet on her desk. She must have been really annoyed by that comment because she started to sigh.

“It’s a history project I have to do with a partner. And since I’d rather work with someone who’s close to you, I thought it was perfect, since she also didn’t have a partner,” She said while pulling my feet off her desk. I forgot that since she was still 16 she had to go through the facility’s learning program.
The third floor of the facility was where everyone lived. To actually work here, you had to be able to live here, but you were allowed to bring your family. People under 18 had the option to go through a learning program, which is basically school. But since Sara and Alice actually worked here, they were forced to go through it.

“Makes sense. Also, what she made was inaccurate.” I’d rather not have my staff members fail and go through the process again. Even if would be funny.

“That’s the point. We were tasked to make two audio files. One with information from rumors online and one with actual facts.” So that’s why it's inaccurate. Also, what are they being taught? That project sounds dumb. Alice hung over me as she started using the mouse to move the finished audio file into a folder titled ‘School Work’.

“Isn’t this computer outdated? I could probably ask the higher-ups to upgrade it for you.” Computers nowadays were all digital. Instead of monitors, they were hologram screens that popped up next to the user.

“I prefer it this way. And besides, I’d rather have a bigger room.” She pulled away from the computer and went over to a table that wasn’t as messy as the others. “Also, before I forget, I have two pieces of equipment for you. You only get to choose one though.” I was actually surprised to hear that considering that I haven’t gotten any in a while.

“Why only one?” I asked while standing up and walking over to the table. On the table were two cardboard boxes, both were the same shape and size.

“Cause I’m going to wrap the other one and give it to you for Christmas.” She grabbed both boxes and held them up to me.

“Wow. When did you become so thoughtful,” I said sarcastically as I examined both boxes closely. It didn’t help though since they were identical.

“I’ve always been thoughtful. You’re just ungrateful” She said with an unreadable expression.

“Fuck you too then.” I grabbed the box that was in her left hand and opened it. Inside was something I wasn’t expecting to see. “Oh wow, a pair of sunglasses,” I sarcastically said while holding them up. The entire thing was made out plastic, well besides the actual glass part.

“See, ungrateful.” She grabbed the glasses from my hands and put them on for me, tinting my vision instantly. “Since you always complain that your helmet is too hot, I decided to make glasses that had the same features.” She was right. That helmet was way to hot for my liking.

She stood on her tippy toes and pushed a button I hadn’t noticed on the left side. The second she pushed it, my vision brightened just like my helmet would. It didn’t even look like I was wearing sunglasses. “Are they working?” She asked while adjusting the glasses for me.

“Yeah. But what about the other features?” She moved her hand to the other side of the glasses, where another button was located.

She pushed it down once. “Heat signature.” Everything in the room became blue. Besides Sara, she was glowing red and orange, clearly showing her heat signature. She pressed it again. “X-ray.” This time, instead the glasses started to show her skeleton. I was about to comment on how useless that was because it doesn’t even work through walls, but before I could say anything, she pressed the button once more. “And finally, heartbeat scanner.” This time the glasses showed a big red blinking blip over Sara’s body.

I was actually kinda surprised she was able to compress the helmet's technology down into a pair of sunglasses. “Wow. Nice job, Sara. But what about the other features?” I asked while pressing the button, turning off the heartbeat scanner.

“Its voice configured.” Was the only response she gave while walking away with the other box and setting it down on her desk.

“Time.” Right after I said that, a digital clock appeared at the top of my vision. It even had the seconds. Neat.

“And to turn everything off, just press the left button.” I pressed It as my vision blackened as if they were normal sunglasses. I took them off and slide them into my hoodie’s pockets.

“Thank you. See, I can be grateful!” I said while walking over and hugging her from behind. She accepted the hug since she didn’t push me away or try to get away from it. “Oh yeah, before I forget, is my gear ready for the next mission?” I broke the hug as I looked around for my gear. She responded by walking over to a closet I hadn’t even noticed.

“Everything is in here. I updated the armor and was able to install a unique update. And before you ask, I’m not telling you.” She must still be upset after I called her a shut-in. Not that I cared.

“Thanks,” I called out. I headed for the door, but before I left I turned around. “I’ll pick it up when I’m set to leave. Also, wrap the other thingy up with a green ribbon.” I backed into the hallway, letting the door shut before she could respond.

I headed back downstairs to meet up with Charlie. But I was shocked to see Beta sitting at a table with him. Both were enjoying their breakfast in peace, while my muffin rested on a napkin next to Charlie.

“Ayeee, Beta,” I said while slapping his back. Beta was the tank of the team. He was always charging in ahead of us. Beta stood a whole foot taller than me. He had muscles ripping through the t-shirt and the jeans he was wearing. I was surprised he hadn’t ripped the fucking shirt. He had a buzz cut that matched his dark brown eyes quite well. Beta’s weapon of choice was a giant hammer. He was probably the only person I knew who could actually lift it. Its modifier had the ability to release compressed air. The air increased the speed at which he swung the hammer.

“Hello, Alpha.” He said while nodding at me. His deep voice fitting perfectly with his muscular build. I took a seat next to Charlie and started to munch on my muffin. It turned out to be blueberry.

“I thought you were still pumping weights. Why’d you stop?” Around this time he’s always in the gym trying to keep his musculature.

“Wanted to eat earlier.” Was the only response I got as he kept eating. Ok, well that’s a first.

“Or your old bones wanted a rest,” I said with a smirk. Charlie snickered as Beta rolled his eyes. I wasn’t lying when I said old bones. Beta was the oldest in the group at 33. Charlie is only 19 while Delta was 22. But I’m a whole different story.

We all sat in peace enjoying each other’s company. Till it was ruined by the last member.

“SAINT, YOU CUNT!” Delta screamed as she ran up to me and got up in my face. That’s right, Saint. I actually didn’t really like being called Alpha all that much. Sure it was cool and all, but I always thought I should name myself instead of being named by the higher-ups.

Delta was the last member of the team. She stood as tall as me and Charlie. She had a ponytail that was dyed blue and barely shoulder length. It went well with her dark blue eyes that always seemed to look tired. She hadn’t even bothered to change seeing as she was still wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a plain white t-shirt.

Her role on the team was the sniper. She always provided covering fire with her steel bow. Since it wasn’t technically a gun she was allowed to use it. Her modifier allowed her arrows to penetrate most surfaces.

“Shut the fuck up. How many times have I told you not to call me that in public?” The last thing I needed was to get in trouble and have my second name taken away. So only my team members and my staff members called me that, and only in private.

“I don’t care.” She sat down next to Beta and gave me a death stare. She was already attracting attention. Doctors and nurses were giving us curious looks and glancing over, but looked away when I glared back at them.

“What’s got you so tight this morning,” I asked while looking back, munching on my muffin.

“You know why!”

“I actually don’t.”

“How many times have I asked to get a new engineering and medical team?” Oh, it was about that. I was the only member of Apex that had one dedicated medic and engineer. The rest all had full teams consisting of over thirty members. The reason for this was that I’m not good with crowds. So to counter that, the higher-ups assigned to me the best in each respective field at the time. Sara could probably work twice as fast as Delta’s engineering team. While Alice could probably cure some fatal disease before Beta’s medical team could identify it.

“What was wrong with it again?” She looked like she was about to jump forward and strangle me.

“All of them are girls! I want at least two cute guys.” She held up two fingers to emphasize her point.

“Does that really matter?” Beta respond before I could. He seemed to be annoyed by Delta’s antics.

“Yes, it does!” She responded while shifting her angry glare towards Beta. “For fucks sake Alpha, we talked about this last week.” She snapped her head back towards me.

“True. But I forgot.” I honestly didn’t really care about her problem. I didn’t think it was all that important. “Why don’t you just ask the higher-ups yourself.” To get different team members she’d have to ask them for that to be cleared.

“Don’t you think I fucking did that! They told me to ask you,” She said while snatching my muffin and taking a huge bite out of it.

“Cursing at me won’t get you far. Cunt.”

“Asshat.” she took another bite.

“Bitch.”

“Dickhead.” another bite.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” I practically growled at her. She usually is never awake at this time. She’s always up around lunch, sometimes even later than that.

“I should be. But this is an important matter.” This time she didn’t take a bite.

“Can I at least have my muffin back?” I asked as nicely as I could.

“Sure.” She handed it back to me luckily. I took a bite and it was still delicious.

“I’ll ask after the next mission, which should be soon.” She kept her glare. “I’ll even invite you to come along.” This time she smiled and nodded at me for at least putting in more effort than usual.

After the argument, Delta got breakfast and ate with us. No words were said throughout the meal, besides the occasional noises Delta made in between bites.

After all of us were done eating, we just sat and chilled for a while. Till a doctor came over.

“Umm... Team Apex has been requested.” He said nervously. He then bowed and took off to continue whatever he was doing before.

“Were people always nervous around us?” Beta asked while scratching his head.

“I’d be nervous too around people who could snap at any second and murder me in cold blood. Shits scary.” I pushing my seat back, and put my feet on the table. Something like that had happened before. Someone thought it was a good idea to wake up Delta by banging on the door to our room. She actually didn’t murder the nurse, just yelled really loud.

“Yeah, but we wouldn’t do that. Right Delta?” Charlie asked while sending a smirk her way. She answered by flipping him off and standing and walking off towards the elevator.

We all followed after her towards the elevator. We were sent up to the third floor where the meetings with the higher ups usually happened. After cutting through the third floor’s central square, we all walked towards a door to where the meeting would take place. We all barged in like we owned the place, well besides Beta, he took the time to make sure the door was locked.

The room itself wasn’t all that special. It was a common conference room with a big circular table in the center. The room had no windows, and little in terms of air circulation, so it was hot as all hell. There were four seats in the room, all having a respective area of the circle. We all took our seats. I sat at the head of the circle because I was the head honcho.

Four monitors were attached to the corners of the room, though none of them were on at the moment.

“I’m hoping we don’t have to do this today,” Delta complained as she hit her head on the table. The rest of us chose not to say anything as we all watched her hit her head repeatedly.

Finally, after about six minutes, the lights turned off while all four monitors turned on. All of the monitors showed what appeared to be the silhouette of a person. It showed their figure and body type, but they were blacked out, obviously hiding their true identities.

“Hello, Apex.” One of the monitors spoke in what was a New York accent. He had a muscular build, but it was not comparable to Beta’s build. This person called himself David.

“Hi.” All of us said in unison. There wasn’t much else to say. They were the ones who were supposed to be talking.

“We are able to confirm that this mission type is a search and destroy one.” A different monitor spoke. This one was a more feminine voice. She spoke as if she was above everyone else in the room. Even if she technically was, she didn’t have to act like it. She had a slender build as well. This person called herself Crystal.

“Location and item?” Beta asked before I could. Seems he just wanted to get this over with. I could agree with that.

A holographic map of the world appeared above the table. It spun around for a bit before it zoomed in on New York. After a while, it zoomed into Manhattan.

“There is an abandoned hotel in Manhattan. “ A different monitor said. As soon as the monitor said that, a street of Manhattan appeared. The hotel was in the center of the hologram, glowing. “We believe this is where REMEMBER is hiding an illegal item.” The monitor continued. He had the same accent as Dave, but he had the figure of a heavyset person. He was known as Bruce.

“You don’t know what the item is?” Charlie asked while sounding extremely annoyed. He had a point though, they don’t even know what the item we are looking for was.

The map in the center zoomed in closer to the hotel. It was seven stories tall with a bunch of boarded-up windows and graffiti completely covering it. It was clearly abandoned. “All we know is that the illegal item is located in the basement. Sadly, the basement is a dead zone, so communication is going to be tough.” The final voice spoke. It sounded annoyed due to Charlie’s outburst, even if they tried to hide it. This person called themselves Kyle.

“This is obviously a trap,” I said while putting my feet up on the table. My team all said some type of agreement. “Dead zones are extremely rare, so it’s perfect for a trap,” I continued. Dead zones were areas where our headpiece stop working. It’s like losing service when you go through a tunnel. The only difference was that dead zones could get us killed.

“We understand this, Alpha. But we can confirm that there is indeed an illegal item located in the basement.” Bruce said. “You have 48 hours to plan accordingly. The mission will take place on Sunday.” Well, at least I have time to think of something.

“Understood.” Was the response my team and I gave. Delta seemed extremely annoyed while Charlie looked worried.

“Good luck,” All the monitors said as they turned off. Delta shot up in her seat and slammed her fist on the table.

“This is bullshit! It’s clearly a trap.” She looked like she was about to rip off the monitors and throw them.

“Calm down Delta,” I said while leaning into my chair more. Shit was actually pretty comfy, not going to lie.

“Fuck you mean calm down?! It’s obviously a trap.” She was right, it definitely was a trap. To make matters even worse, the map didn’t even show that the hotel even had a registered basement. “Look, no basement problem solved.”

“That doesn’t solve any of our problems. And the basement could have been custom built.” Beta was right. But the more I look at it, it looks more and more like a trap. I really didn’t want to do this mission. But I knew we had to.

“We’ve dealt with worse, Delta. I know we can do it,” I said. Delta seemed to be at a loss of words because she began to stutter.

“Yeah, Alpha’s right,” Beta said, stopping Delta before she could come up with something to say. He stood up and walked over to my side. “If anyone could do this, it’s us.”

Charlie took a while, but he eventually did the same. He stood up and walked over to me and sat on the table.

“Yeah. It shouldn’t be that hard.” He stretched and yawned as he said this.

Now all eyes were on Delta. She looked like she was going to start screaming at me, but she let out a loud sigh instead. She walked over and stood directly behind me. “You’re right. We’ve dealt with harder bullshit before.” She sighed dejectedly, still sounding upset about the situation.

I looked at each member of my team. We all knew what we had to do, even if none of us wanted to. I stood up and slammed a hand on the table. “Shit should be easy. Besides, I already have a plan."

“I swear my suit got tighter. Shits suffocating me,” I said while trying to stretch the suit, but to no avail. After the 48 hours we were given, my team and I were ready to start the operation. Charlie and I were now sitting on the roof of a building that overlooked the hotel. We watched as Beta and Delta blended into the night. They were hugging the walls of the hotel, just below some windows so they wouldn’t be seen.

“If you’re going to complain like a kid, take off your headpiece.” I heard Delta complain in my left ear. All of us were wearing the same thing. It was a black skin-tight suit with little white lettering that said ‘APEX’ on the left side of our chest. The suit was made out of some type of strong flexible metal that I couldn’t remember the name of. Glad Sara wasn’t here, she’d likely call me retarded.

The suit blocked poorly made steel knives and swords. But since Sara upgraded mine, and wouldn’t tell me what she did, my suit could probably protect me from a lot more.

The suit went over our entire bodies, except for our feet and heads. We all wore a pair of simple black boots that matched the suit as well as a helmet with an attached face piece that allowed it to cover our entire head. The face piece was made out of bulletproof glass, and was tinted so we could see out, but people couldn’t see in. The back of the helmet was just made out of strong plastic. And just like my glasses, they also had buttons to activate their features.

All of us were equipped with hidden magnetic pouches connected to various areas around the suit. In the pouches were throwing knives we used to help take out ranged targets. I had two pouches behind my knees and two pouches on the side of my legs towards my boots.

To top everything off, all of us had a utility belt where we kept our grenades. Hey, guns were banned, not grenades.

I had three flash grenades, three smoke grenades, three cluster grenades, and three impact grenades strapped to my belt, making twelve in total. I also had my helmet attached to the belt as I was using the new glasses Sara had given me. All of us had the same type of grenades besides Charlie. He had six flash grenades and six chlorine bombs.

Flash grenades and smoke grenades were pretty self-explanatory. Same with Charlie’s chlorine bombs. But cluster grenades were grenades stuffed with a bunch of smaller grenades that go off after the main one detonated. While impact grenades blew up as soon as they touch a surface that wasn’t your hand.

“Where’s your helmet? And what’s with the glasses, how can you even see?” I looked to my right to see Charlie sitting on the edge of the building, looking at me through his helmet. I actually completely forgot to tell them about the sunglasses.

I disabled the headpiece I was wearing and lifted my glasses to look at Charlie. “They do the same thing as the helmet, they're just smaller. Sara made them for me after I complained once.” I slid them back on and looked back at the building.

“That’s dumb. The helmets are so our facial features don’t get seen. And so we don’t lose our heads,” He said while taking his helmet off and staring at me. He was right. I hadn’t even thought about that.

“Shit. Fuck it, it’s too hot.” It really was. Even if it was the night, we were in the middle of summer, so nights were still hot

“The higher-ups will get mad.” He got up and walked over to me, poking my chest with his helmet.

“If someone sees me and somehow lives, I’ll dye my hair purple. And besides, It doesn’t matter, it’s gonna be dark in there anyway.” I was right about the dark thing. Turns out the building lost power a while back, so the lights wouldn’t even work. “If nobody seems me, off with your hair.” Charlie put his hand on his chin as he began to ponder taking the bet.

“Bet,” He said while giving me a smirk and sticking out his hand. I grabbed and shook it, sealing the deal. Jokes on him, purples my favorite color. I turned my headpiece back on and looked down on to Beta and Delta.

“How many targets? Time.” I watched as the time popped up at the top of my vision. It was currently 11:58:53 PM. Roughly a minute until we start the operation.

“I’m getting fourteen heartbeats. Teams of two on each floor. I can’t see the basement, so down there is currently unknown,” Beta responded. The more we go into this the more it’s looking like a trap. We can’t back out now though.

“Remember the plan. You two clear out the first floor silently, use your throwing knives. After you clear it, scout out the basement and check for hostiles. Rendezvous on the main floor at 12:30. By then, me and Charlie should have cleared the upper floors,” I said into the headpiece. Charlie slipped his helmet back on to join everyone back in the voice channel.

“Understood,” They all said in unison. Glad I have a team that actually listens. I remember when Delta used to question my tactics.

“Remember. If you’re spotted and they sound some type of alarm, whip out that hammer and start breaking shit, Beta.” He acknowledged what I said by taking the hammer he had on his back and lifting it up. I looked at the clock as it read 11:59:30. “Remember the dead zone. You can only speak to the person next to you.” They all acknowledge me by saying some type of agreement. “Weapons up everyone. Well, besides you, Beta,” I continued. Charlie unsheathed his katana that he kept on his back. Delta already had her bow at her side. She had a quiver of all sorts of arrow types on her back.

Then there was me. My weapon of choice was a pair of daggers that I had hanging behind my belt by a wire. The daggers blades were made out of a recently discovered metal called noirinite. Black in color, the metal become one of the most durable to ever be found. No matter what, the metal won’t rust, or even scratch for that matter. The handle was also metal, but it was covered in leather so it wouldn’t be extremely cold every time I picked them up. The modifier for my daggers wasn’t really a modifier at all. Everyone else got cool shit while I got something dumb. The daggers were connected by a very thin wire made out of noirinite. When I twist the handle of one of my daggers I’m able to stretch out the wire to its full length, which was about fifty feet, and if I twist it again, the wire would retract back into its housing. I mainly used it to choke people or set mini-traps.

After making sure my daggers were still on my belt, the clock struck 12:00:00. “Begin.” Was the only thing I had to say as I watched Beta and Delta open a window and climb in. I turned off my headpiece and looked at Charlie. “Let’s go.” He listened, as we both jumped from the rooftop and onto the hotel.

He followed me as I walked to the west side of the building. Even the roof seemed to be decaying, parts of it looking so bad that if I wasn’t careful I’d likely fall through. I turned on the heartbeat sensor on my glasses. I watched as two red blips appeared. They seemed to be on the floor below us, but instead of a room, they were in the middle of the building.

“We’ll enter through the windows, they’re in the hallways,” I said as I turned the heartbeat sensor off and set the glasses back to their default. I didn’t even turn to look at him as I dropped down onto my stomach. My head hanging over the street. Luckily, no cars were passing by. Charlie already knew what to do, as he walked over and sat on the edge. He grabbed my right arm and slid himself off the building.

I held onto Charlie as I watched him get to work from just above the boarded up windows. He used his katana to cut into the wood lightly, being careful not to actually break it yet. Once he decided he’d done enough, he looked up and handed me his katana. Using my free hand, I grabbed it and set it next to me.

He started to rip off small pieces of the wood, being careful not to make noise. He kept handing the pieces to me and I kept taking them and placing them to the side. After about five minutes, he apparently decided he was done, as he let go of my hand and slipped into the room.

I grabbed his sword and lowered myself down into the window. I slid into the window easily and handed Charlie his katana. My sunglasses were currently on, but the room was still pretty dark. Wait, why didn’t Sara install night vision? Whatever, I didn’t have time to really look around as Charlie tapped my shoulder and pointed towards a door on the other side of the room. We slowly moved towards the door, making sure not to make any noise. When we got to the door, I turned the heartbeat scanner on again.

I looked at the door and the wall and saw that the two red blips popped up. One on the left of the hall, and one on the right. I turned back to Charlie, and he was looking at the guard through the wall on the right.

I tapped his shoulder and pointed towards the left. He seemed to understand what I meant as he nodded and pulled out a throwing knife from a pouch. I grabbed one as well. I grabbed hold of the door handle and held up three fingers. I put down a finger. Charlie gripped my shoulder in preparation. I put down a second finger, then finally, the third, forming a fist.

I flung open the door and threw a knife to the left. I watched as the knife hit his hand, causinging him to flinch and lower his weapon, an AR-15. I dashed towards him and pulled out my daggers. I thrusted a dagger at him, aiming for his exposed neck. The guard tried to bring his weapon up, but couldn’t in time. I had already shoved my dagger all the way through his throat before he could even lift his gun half way. He started to gargle on his own blood as I held onto his body so he didn’t just collapse and reveal our position with the noise.

After he stopped struggling and dropped his weapon, I slowly lowered him onto the floor. I picked up my throwing knife and slid it back into a pouch and clipped my daggers back onto my belt, I then turned around to see how Charlie was doing.

To no surprise at all, he was already looting the body. “What do you think you’re gonna find?” I asked while approaching him.

“Something useful.” His focus never leaving the body. I looked over the body and saw that Charlie had stabbed the poor guard repeatedly with his Katana.

“We don’t have time. Let’s bounce.” I tried to pull Charlie away from the body, to continue the mission. But instead he shoved me away.

“This is impossible!” He shouted. I instantly smacked him upside the head for the loud outburst, but it didn’t work out well as he was still wearing his helmet. “Look.” He jabbed a plastic card in my face

I took it out of his hand and examined it. At first I thought it was just a simple ID card, but after reading more of it, I realized that it was actually an all access pass to the facility Apex lived at. The only people who had these passes were Apex and the higher-ups. And the only people who could sign these cards out were the higher-ups. Meaning one of two things. Someone in the higher-ups was a traiter, or someone on Apex was a traiter. And I doubted Beta, Charlie, or Delta would do something like this.

“Fuck it. Where grabbing Beta and Delta and leaving.” I pushed pass Charlie as I started to run down the hall and towards the emergency stairs. “There’s a rat among the higher-ups!” I shouted as I kicked the door off its hinges. I pushed past the broken door and started running down the stairs.

Charlie caught up to me. “But how? It doesn’t make sense!” Charlie was starting to get loud. Never heard him this loud before. But he had a good reason for it.

The building seemed to come to life as voices could be heard yelling through the doors we were running by. “Charlie, pop chlorine on the stairs,” I said while never stopping. Charlie listened as he ripped one off his belt, pulled the pin, and then threw it behind us. Before I could give another command, a door at the bottom of the flight of stairs flew open and two guards stepped out.

Before either one of them could even get their weapons up, Charlie hurled his katana at one of them, cutting through his head and killing him. Since I never stopped moving, I jumped at the second guard and tackled him through the open door.

I landed on top of the guard and started to punch him, hoping I could just knock him out. The guard didn’t give up though, as he rolled to his side, throwing me off. He used his newfound leverage to jump at me with a dagger in hand. I panicked and reached for the first thing on my belt, which was my helmet. I was able to pull my helmet off the belt and use it as a shield to block the dagger.

The guard clearly wasn’t expecting that judging by his reaction, he looked shocked and confused. I didn’t let up though, as I jumped up and lunged at him. I hit him in the head as hard as I could with my helmet. The hit was strong enough, because the guard collapsed to the ground. I hit him again for good measure.

Charlie came into the room right after I attached my helmet back onto my belt. “You good?” I was panting too much to even respond, so all I did was nod repeatedly.

“We need... to use a.... different set of... stairs.” I was able to say after a while of panting and gasping for air. Charlie took off running towards the end of the hall. “Oh fuck off.” I muttered as I took off after him.

I followed after him. We turned down several hallways until we found a broken elevator shaft. It seemed that the elevator itself wasn’t there. The wires holding it must have snapped, dropping the entire thing all the way to the basement. Charlie didn’t even stop to think, as he straight up jumped down it. I didn’t stop either, I trusted him to know what floor we were on, because to be honest, I had no clue.

I was right to trust him, because we only fell a few feet, landing on the broken elevator. The door leading to the lobby was closed. “Use your sword,” I said, finally catching my breath. He listened, as he shoved his katana through the crack and started prying the door open. After a couple of minutes, he was able to open it all the way. I walked through it and into the main lobby of the hotel. Delta and Beta where nowhere to be seen. I then realized that it wasn’t 12:30.

“Beta and Delta must still be in the basement,” Charlie said while looking around the lobby.

There was still a lot of yelling throughout the hotel, so we didn’t have a lot of time. “Where’s the basement door?” I called out. It was just a normal, empty, broken hotel lobby. No door that looked like it would lead down was anywhere in sight. I even noticed a couple of bodies were scattered on the floor, most likely from Delta and Beta.

Charlie hopped the receptionist counter and called out from behind it. “There’s a trap door over here.” Well, that’s convenient. I hopped the counter and stood next to him. We didn’t have time to wait, so I just said fuck it and jumped down.

Fortunately it wasn’t a long fall. We both landed in what seemed to be a completely different building altogether. “The fuck is this place?” I asked no one in particular. We seemed to be standing on a metal catwalk that connected to a concrete wall. The room itself was massive. I looked over the railing and my mouth dropped at what I saw. The room was filled with huge metal containers. All of them were filled to the brim with a green chemical like substance that I’d never seen before. I watched as a conveyor belt was bringing glass bottles to and from glass containers. Some of the bottles were even filled with the mysterious green liquid.

“How is this even possible?” Charlie muttered as he leaned over next to me. We didn’t have time to just sit and sightsee. We needed to find Beta and Delta.

I turned on the earpiece and spoke into it. “Beta, Delta, come in.” As I expected, I didn’t get a response. “Fuck it. Let’s go,” I said while walking over to a door at the end of the catwalk. I would run, but the last thing I needed was the floor to break and Charlie and I to fall into potential acid.

Surprisingly, when we got to the door, it opened as if it was automated. The room we entered seemed to be some sort of control center. The controls were located next to a big glass window that looked over everything that was in the room. I instantly ran over to the controls and looked them over.

I didn’t understand what any of the buttons were, but I pressed them all anyway. Hey, it’s not like I own the place or anything. After a couple of seconds, I heard the door Charlie and I had entered through open again. As I turned to look, I was shocked and happy to see Beta and Delta.

“What happened to you two?” Charlie asked. I was certainly thinking the same thing. They were covered in sweat, while both of their breathing was very heavy.

“We were betrayed.” Beta replied after finally catching his breath. He had started to use his hammer as a type of walking stick.

“Yeah, I fucking realized. We’re blowing this place up and then bouncing.” Blowing the whole place up seemed to be the best decision in all honesty. At least it would break the metal containers. I started to press more buttons on the controls, hoping maybe I could trigger some kind of meltdown.

Before I could finish tinkering with the controls, I heard the sound of what seemed to be air being released from something. Everything around me seemed to slow down. I looked to my left and watched as Charlie flew through the glass, shattering it, and flying into one of the metal containers. I spun around to see Beta setting down his hammer.

“WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING DOING!” I yelled while reaching for my daggers, but before I could grab them, I felt pain explode from my stomach. I fell onto my knees as I watched Delta set her bow down. I looked down at my stomach to see an arrow, the tip of which having gone completely through my suit like it wasn’t even there.

I could taste copper in my mouth as I started to cough. Blood splattered all over the floor with each one. I fought through the pain and was able to stand up. Both Delta and Beta took off their helmets and threw them on the ground. Instead of having their signature dark blue and brown, they both had bright, emerald green eyes.

The green liquid had to have done something to them. That’s the only thing I could think off. Is something like this even possible? “Make this easier on us. Stand down,” Delta said, her voice lacking any emotion.

I spat blood on the ground and pulled the arrow out of my body. I dropped the arrow onto the ground and watched as my blood followed suit. I didn’t feel any pain as adrenaline was the only thing keeping me up. I grabbed my daggers and got into a fighting stance. “Blow me.”

They didn’t even respond, instead, Beta instantly rushed me. He swung his hammer wide, causing me to duck and roll to the side. Before I could turn and get a free hit on him, I had to jump to the left to avoid an arrow. I decided it would be a good idea to run.

Before Beta could swing his hammer again, I turned towards the door and booked it. The door swung open and I started to run down the catwalk. The catwalk wasn’t big enough for two people to walk side by side, meaning Beta would be rushing ahead while Delta stayed behind him. After mentally preparing myself, I spun around and started to rush Beta, he was a lot closer than I was expecting, but he wasn’t my target.

He lifted his hammer high above his head, but that didn’t stop my rush towards him. He released the compressed air in the hammer as he swung it in a downwards arc at dangerously high speeds. I reacted fast enough as I slid between his legs just before his hammer crashed into me. I didn’t turn around to look at the damage as I closed the distance between me and Delta.

Delta already had an arrow ready to fire, but before she could do so, I twisted the handle of my daggers and threw one at her. She released the arrow just as the dagger had collided with it, throwing off its trajectory and making it hit the wall. I pulled back on the dagger I still had in hand, causing the other one to come back to me.

Delta took out a pair of throwing knives, preparing for hand to hand combat. I responded by throwing one of my daggers at her. Just as I expected her to, she dodged it with ease. I watched as the dagger stuck into the door leading into the control room.

I got close to her and fainted a lunge to the left. She took the bait and sidestepped to the right. Normally Delta would’ve expected that coming from me and would have reacted differently. I tried not to think about it too deeply and brought my attention back to the fight at hand. I twisted the handle of the dagger I still in my hand. Just as I planned, the wire connecting the two tried to retract, but instead, it tightened. Delta tripped over it and fell onto her back. Before she could get up, I kicked her fairly hard in the head. Hopefully it would knock her out without causing too much brain damage.

Before I could get the dagger out of the wall, I heard Beta behind me. I had completely forgot about him, as he slammed his hammer into my side, sending me flying into the concrete wall. I felt the air leave my body as I started coughing and gasping for air. I didn’t get the chance to move before he slammed the hammer into me again, sending me further into the concrete wall. I started choking on the blood flowing into my mouth. I kept spitting out more blood before I could choke on it.

I tried reaching out to Beta before he could swing once more, but I was too late. This time, he hit me using his modifier. Which sent me straight through the wall and into another room entirely. I tried to use my dagger to dig into the ground and crawl away, but the effort was in vain as it was still tightened to the other one in the control room door.

I tried to get back up but I couldn’t, my body just wouldn’t move. I let go of my dagger, hoping it could do some type of damage. I watched it fly from my hand, but Beta must have expected that because all I heard was my dagger hit metal. “Who knew Alpha was so persistent.” It was an all too familiar voice that I heard.

I lifted my head to actually look at the room I had been forced into. All it had was a simple desk and chair. There was a door leading into what I assumed to be a hallway behind the desk. I looked to the right to see a heavyset man leaning against the wall.

“Bruce.” I regretted saying that as I was sent into a coughing fit, spitting blood everywhere. All he did was laugh as he went to go sit in his chair. “Careful, you might break it. Fat fuck.” I croaked out. I regretted it instantly because Beta slammed his hammer into my back, sending me further into the floor.

“Watch the tone.” Bruce hissed at me. Adrenaline must have been wearing off because everything I had gone through hit me at once. I wanted to cry at this point, everything was hurting. It felt like my entire body was broken. To make things worse, the blood in my throat was making it harder for me to breath. I didn’t want to die, but if I was going to, I at least wanted to take Bruce with me. I forced through the pain and moved my left arm to my belt to grab a cluster grenade, but before I could grab it, I felt my arm explode into even more pain. I started to scream as I slammed my head into the concrete, hoping to knock myself unconscious.

“Glad you could join us, Charlie.” I heard Bruce call. Charlie ripped his sword out of my arm as Beta picked me up by the arm that didn’t have a hole in it.

I watched as Delta entered the room through the hole, carrying my daggers before throwing them into one of the corners of the room. How was she still conscious? That kick would have killed a normal person.

“How?” I forced out. I needed to know how she was still standing.

“Don’t worry your little head about it.” Bruce called while walking over to me and taking off my sunglasses. “Sara really outdid herself with these.” He started to examine them in his hands, even putting them on.

I spat at him, not caring about the consequences. All he did was chuckle though. “Look around you, Alpha. You’ve lost. Apex is under my control.” He seemed to be out of breath just from that.

“Go fuck yourself.” I managed to strain out through gritted teeth. He looked annoyed as he went to grab my daggers. I watched as he tried to stretch them out, but to no avail.

“I’ll never understand the things Sara makes.” His voice filled with wonder as he kept attempting to pull them apart. After a couple more attempts at pulling and stretching, he let out a sigh and slowly walked up to me.

I was about to make another fat joke, but before I could, he slammed one of the blades deep into my right eye, causing me to scream out in pain. I started praying to whatever god was listening to just let this end.

He ripped the dagger out of my eye. I instantly forced it closed. I felt blood pour out from my eye and slowly trek down my cheek “I’m going to love testing my newest project on you,” He chucked out before putting my glasses back onto my face. “Give him his weapons. He’ll need them.” I watched as Charlie obeyed his orders without pause, hooking my daggers back onto my belt before going to stand beside Bruce. “Follow.” Delta and Charlie took charge as they followed him through the door with Beta at the rear of the group, dragging me along.

I must have blacked out at one point, because I awoke to extreme pain in both arms. “Oh good, you’re awake.” I looked up to see Bruce standing over me. I was sitting in a room with dried blood staining the brick walls. In a corner sat my team. All of them staring at me with unreadable expressions.

I tried to stand up, but for some reason, I couldn’t. I looked down and saw that through my suit, both of my arms had been nailed to the chair I was now in. My entire body was aching and still in extreme pain. I was even fighting the urge to not cry. Bruce seemed to notice my expression as he began to laugh. “The serum worked better than I thought!” He put his fat sausage fingers onto my shoulders. “It’ll wear off sooner or later.” What serum? What is he talking about? He patted the side of my cheek and walked back over to my team. “Make sure he has everything he needs.” Bruce commanded while walking out of the room.

My team all nodded and walked over towards a table that contained some of my equipment. Charlie grabbed my throwing knives, Delta grabbed my helmet, while Beta grabbed my grenades. They all just dumped the stuff onto me and went back to the corner. I tried to beg for help but I couldn’t talk. My voice was extremely horse from all the dried blood.

After what seemed to be hours of me just sitting and wallowing in my own dried blood, Bruce reentered the room carrying a small metal box. “Stay alive long enough so we can meet up again,” He said walking up to me. He twisted the metal box and jammed it into my mouth. I started to panic as I tried to spit it out of my mouth.

Before I could do that though, the metal box started to vibrate. “Good luck Alpha,” Bruce said while walking out of the room with my team following him. I tried to scream out to them, but the metal box started to hiss extremely loudly. I watched as the room seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. Before the room could close in on itself, my vision went black as the chair began to rock side to side. Not too long after it started rocking, it fell over with me still in it.

After about an entire minute of me just laying across the ground, my vision returned. I was extremely confused as I noticed two things. First, that I was lying on a patch of grass. And second, that patch of grass was in the middle of a dark, scary forest.

What?

Chapter 1: Long Away From Home

All I could do was stare into the forest in awe and confusion. How was this even possible? One second I was in a room, the next I’m in a creepy forest. I was snapped out of my confusion as I felt the metal box start to heat up.

I quickly spit out the box in front of me and watched as the box started to turn red from the heat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to spit the box too far away from me, so I could still feel the heat radiating off it as the temperature just kept increasing. After a couple of seconds, it bursted into flames.

I tried to get out of my chair, but I had forgotten that I was still nailed into it. I needed to get out before the fire ended up spreading to me. Even though the grass was partially green, it was still dry enough to have started to catch on fire. I already knew what I had to do, even if I really didn’t want to do it

Unfortunately, I needed to. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. After mentally preparing myself, I said fuck it and lifted my right arm as fast as I could. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. My right arm felt like it was on fire, after getting stabbed by Charlie and having to rip a nail out of it, I’m surprised I was still able to even move it. But I knew I couldn’t stop now, I needed to keep going. I swung my right hand over to my left arm, and gripping the nail, I pulled it out.

I completely ignored the pain as I rolled out of the chair and began stomping on the fire. Luckily for me, it eventually extinguished. I collapsed onto the ground and just started to breath through my nose. My entire body felt broken and destroyed, I couldn’t even open the eye that Bruce stabbed. I just wanted to lie here and cry, but I knew that now wasn’t the time for that.

All of my life I’d been with Beta, Charlie, and Delta. Yet I lost them so easily, betrayed by one of my bosses. He took everything from me. They were the only family I’d ever had. Thinking about what he could do to Sara and Alice scared and angered me. If he ever touched them, he’d regret it deeply.

After a while of me just laying there, I started to hear a light hissing sound. After figuring out how close the noise was to me, I realized it was actually coming from my suit. I lifted both of my hands and stared at the holes through both my hands and the suit. My blood was still leaking out of my hands and dripping down my suit, but that wasn’t what was making the hissing sound. I watched in amazement as the suit seemed to be reattaching itself. The suit appeared to be reconnecting itself, trying to patch up the holes that were in it. It only took a couple of seconds, but my suit had completely repaired itself. Guess that was the update Sara had added. But the suit repairing itself was reminding me of the nanobots.

Wait, why hadn’t they started healing my hands yet? It’s definitely been more than enough time for the nanobots to start working.Then I remembered that Bruce was talking about a serum before he shoved that metal box into my mouth. He also mentioned that it would wear off after a while. But I couldn’t just stay in this forest waiting for that to happen.

After a while of contemplating, I said fuck it and forced myself up. I limped over and leaned against a tree. Looking around, I noticed all of my stuff was on the ground, my glasses, my daggers, my grenades, and my helmet. I looked back at the tree I was leaning on and ripped off a branch that looked long and sturdy enough to be used as a walking stick. I limped over to my stuff and began attaching everything besides my glasses onto my belt before slipping them both on.

I tried to say ‘time’ but I ended going into another coughing fit. The inside of my throat was caked in a thick layer of my blood from earlier. Guess I’ll need to wash that out.

I started to limp in the first direction that looked like in might lead out of here. Sadly, there weren’t any noticeable paths that I could discern. The floor of the forest was barely visible due to the sun being blocked by the thick canopy. I just kept walking in my chosen direction, simply listening to my surrounding. I heard birds chirping and owls hooting. I also heard what sounded like a chicken clucking. Wait, a chicken in a forest?

I turned around and saw something I thought I’d only see in TV shows. It had the body of a dragon and the head of a chicken. It had beady red eyes and even a pair of wings. I thought I was just tripping on some acid so I decided to turn around and ignore it.

Before I could even take a couple of steps though, I heard the clucking get louder. It dashed by me and flew up into my face. I tried to jump back, but instead, pain flared through my leg, causing me to wince and fall onto my ass. The chicken thing took the opportunity and jumped into my face. I prepared for it to bite me and eat me, but instead it’s eyes just glowed a brighter red.

I then watched as the bottom of the chicken thing seemed to be turning to stone. It seemed to notice this as well, because it looked back towards its legs and started clucking loudly. It even tried to fly away, but it's ever increasing weight caused this to fail. It kept clucking and clucking, until it was completely covered in stone. It then fell onto its side and sunk into the dirt. Ok ,weird. I stood back up and tapped the stoned animal with my branch. It had actually turned to stone, and judging by the sound it made when I tapped it, was completely hollow.

I found the ability for an animal to just turn to stone like that pretty useless. Whatever, I walked around the dumb chicken and kept going. I continued bumping and leaning onto the trees as I went, my legs feeling broken and destroyed. Some of trees even looked like they had faces, which was extremely unsettling. After walking for god knows how long, I finally heard flowing water. I quickly limped over to the noise, and after a while, I eventually found a river.

The river was flowing fairly calmly. Luckily, for a reason I couldn’t fathom, it was extremely clean, but I paid that no thought. I limped over, putting my glasses and branch to the side before shoving my face into the water. The water was extremely cold, but that didn’t stop me. I pulled water into my mouth, lifted my head out of the water, gargled it, then finally spat it out onto the ground. I repeated this process four more times until my mouth no longer tasted like copper. When that was done, I finally drank some of the river water, hoping I wouldn’t die from some random disease.

After finally feeling refreshed, I grabbed my glasses, slid them on, and began to speak. “Map.” I was successful able to say this without being reduced to a fit of coughing. I watched as the globe appeared and started to spin. After a while of spinning, the globe went away, replaced by the word ‘Error’.

I let out a loud sign, annoyed that I had gotten a error. I decided to turn my glasses off to save some battery, if I’m lucky they’d be solar charging like my helmet. I then stood up, grabbed my branch, and began limping off again. I kept walking and walking, looking for some type of path in this dumb forest. If I ever get out, I’m burning the place down.

Before I could turn and start walking in a different direction, I heard a branch snap behind me. I instantly turned around and went to go grab a impact grenade. A couple of tense seconds passed, the bushes rustling and rustling. Then the rustling stopped, and out walked what I believe was the cutest thing I ever saw.

I thought it was a baby lion at first, but attached to its body was a pair of dragon wings, and instead of a normal tail, it had a scorpion one. It had all white fur with a pair of purple eyes. I watched as it slowly came towards me. I really wanted to pet it. I lowered my hand and forced myself onto one knee since the lion type thingy only came up to my knees. I reached out for it and tried to pet it, but instead, it reached out and bit my fingers.

Since I had my suit on, it really didn’t hurt, it just felt like something nibbling on me. The lion must have not like the taste of it because it stopped biting me and made a sour expression. “Sorry. My skin probably tastes just as bad.” I smirked down at the lion. I tried to pet it again, but before I could fully reach out, I heard more rustling from the bushes.

I looked up and was surprised to see another lion walk out of the bushes. This one was a lot bigger, and I had a feeling it was the smaller lions mother. I could tell it was female because it didn’t have a mane like a male lion would have. But I could also tell it was it’s mother because, just like it’s child, it had white fur with purple eyes, along with the same dragon wings and scorpion tail.

I dropped my makeshift cane and tried to slowly back up. I failed, miserably, because I ended up bumping into a tree and falling onto the ground instead. I watched as the mother lion moved to the side of its kid and gave me a confused look. “What manner of creature are you?” It asked in a motherly tone.

“Wait, what?” I was shocked that it could actually speak. I tried to get back up, but my body was still hurting from the fall. I was still in so much pain that I was honestly hoping that if they were going to eat me, they’d let me kill myself first.

“What manner of creature are you?” It asked in the same motherly tone. I watched as it took a few steps closer to me and seemed to be trying to look me over.

“Uhhh. I’m a human.” I spoke nervously . She walked around my body, trying to look at every nook and cranny of my suit. She eventually seemed to finish her examination as she walked back over and stood next to her child.

“Are you injured?” She questioned while raising a brow.

“Yes…,” I awkwardly said. I watched as her tail seemed to stretch out further than it should have been able to. It curled for a second before shooting straight towards me. I was about to roll to the side and actually throw an impact grenade at her, but her tail was much faster than me. It wrapped around my torso, the stinger just inches from my head. I was about to start struggling, but before I could, she lifted me off the ground and gently set me down on my feet.

“Oh, thanks.” I tried to sound as thankful as I could. Instead of responding, she simply nodded with a neutral expression. “So if I may ask, what are you exactly?” I was certainly curious as to what the fuck she was and also how she was talking.

“We are manticore. We are a loyal and mute race.” Wait why are you talking to me then? “I am only conversing with you because I realized you were actually intelligent, and I was also curious as to what you were.” Never mind then.

“So you don’t eat things that can actually talk?” I asked while limping over and leaning onto a tree for support.

She seemed to ponder this for a while, and after an awkward silence she responded. “Yes. It’s a rule my family follows. You’re lucky to have run into us instead of another manticore.” Oh cool, my luck is still around. The mother bumped its child with its head and pointed using its tail towards my branch. The child seemed to understand as it walked over to my branch, picked it up using its mouth, and brought it over to me.

“Aw, thanks.” I said as I grabbed it out of its mouth and started to use it instead of the tree. It nodded its head and went back over to its mother's side. “So I don’t mean to bother you, but can you direct me towards the nearest city?”

“Yes, I can do that.” The mother's tail started to stretch again. “Just head that way and you’ll run into a small village. Just ask for the yellow one. She’ll be able to help you.” That’s fucking racist, but whatever.

“Thank you once again.” I waved while heading towards the direction she pointed to.

“Wait,” She called out. I turned around and looked at her. I was starting to get annoyed because I just wanted to lay down and sleep for a while. She then tapped her child with her tail and pointed towards me. The child seemed extremely scared because it began to rapidly shake its head and jump behind its mother. “Come on, I know you can do it. He won’t hurt you, trust me.” Well I certainly wasn’t planning on it.

The child still seemed scared, but it’s mother gave it a loving smile and a nod. It seemed to gulp, but it trusted its mother as it came out from behind her and headed towards me. It slowly and carefully crept towards me. It was still clearly nervous because it actually almost tripped at one point.

After finally about thirty seconds of me just waiting, it was finally in front of me. It looked up at me with its adorable purple eyes and spoke in a gentle voice. “Sor.... sorry... mis..mist..mister.” Turns out it was a young girl, judging by its high pitched squeaky voice. She paused a lot through her sentence, almost like she was just learning english.

“Don’t worry about it.” I smiled down at her. “That was honestly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” She instantly looked away while blushing, which was pretty easy to see through her white fur. The mother must have found this funny because she started giggling.

“Yes, she is certainly cute. Come along dear.” The red faced manticore instantly went over to her mother and hid behind her again. “It takes a while to teach children how to talk, but she’ll be able to speak perfectly sooner or later.” Hopefully that’s not true, because that was way too cute to just throw away.

“Well I better get going before something happens.” I spoke while waving at them. They both waved back with smiles on their faces. After a while, they turned around and began heading back into the depths of the forest.

I started limping again in the direction the mother showed me. So I’m looking for an asian. Hopefully it wouldn’t be that hard, I mean it’s just a village.

After limping for what felt like hours, I could make out the light of the sun ahead of me. I rushed to it as fast as I could and pushed myself out of the forest and into the light.

I was about to throw my arms over my eyes before I realized I was still wearing my sunglasses. I looked into the distance and saw what the mother manticore had been talking about. It really was a village. I started limping over to it, I even had to cross over a mini bridge just to get into the village. I was walking very slowly throughout the village, my eye twitching slightly at the fact that there were no humans around. Instead, there were only ponies.

“The fuck?” I muttered to myself. I must have been loud because all of the ponies heads snapped to me. They weren’t even normal ponies, all of them had a completely different color concept. Their coats and mane were all different colors of the rainbow. What was even more confusing was that some of them had horns, others wings, while some had neither. So I’m seeing unicorns, pegasi, and normal ponies. Maybe I’m in some third world country that’s experimenting on animals.

I tried to ignore the stares of the ponies and just push on through the village, walking down the dirt path. I noticed that the houses that the ponies lived in didn’t look like modern ones. They were like houses from back in the medieval times. They didn’t even have normal roofs, being made out of either straw or hay.

I was starting to get annoyed because the ponies just kept staring at me. Their multi colored eyes were starting to creep me out. I even think some of them were following me. I tried to quicken my pace, but instead, something caught my attention. Instead of the normal poor houses around me, there seemed to be a treehouse of sorts. Well I believe it was a treehouse. It was as if someone carved the inside of the tree out and made it their house. It had a small red door at the base of its trunk, along with several windows that were carved into the tree itself. There was even a pair of balconies that were hanging on the branches of the tree.

I limped in front of the building and noticed a sign. All it had on it was a picture of an open book. I instantly thought of a library, I was hoping someone inside could give me information. I pushed the door open using my branch and carefully walked in, making sure not to bang my head on the small door.

“One moment, Twilight, I’m almost done.” I heard a childish voice call. I looked around and saw a mini dragon wearing a pink apron. I watched as it dusted down the shelves of books using a pink duster. At this point I wasn’t surprised that it could speak.

The dragons scales were purple while green spikes went down the back of its head and towards its tail along it's spine. The spikes on its head made it look like it had a mohawk, which was kinda cool. “I don’t know any Twilights. But regardless, think you can help a brother out.”

The dragon clearly wasn’t expecting me, because it spun around and dropped the duster. “Whoa. What are you?” He gawked while looking me over.

“Human. And I’m looking for the yellow one. Know where I could find them?” He kept staring at me for a while, examining me. He then gave me a confused expression.

“Yellow one? There’s a lot of yellow ponies. There’s Fluttershy, oh and also Applejack if you count her mane. There’s also-” I cut him off by throwing one of my impact grenades at him. Of course I didn’t actually activate it.

“Yeah, I know it was a stupid question.” He rolled his eyes and grabbed my grenade and began to examine it. “Do you know anyone who could help me?” I asked while limping over towards a weird horse head statue and leaning on it.

He looked up from my grenade. “If you need help looking for a book I could help,” He said while running up to me and giving me my grenade back. I strapped it back onto my belt and noticed he was looking at everything on my belt with a nervous expression.

“No. I’m currently in a lot of pain and I didn’t see a hospital anywhere.” Not that I was actually looking in all honesty. He snapped out of little trance and looked up at me

“Wait, really? You seem fine to me.” He crossed his arms while giving me a look of suspicion.

“You can’t see it, but I have holes where they shouldn’t be.” I lifted and hand and waved it around slightly.

“Wait, you’re bleeding!?” He shouted, sounding scared and concerned.

“A little, but I’m fine at the moment. Just sore and needing to be patched up.” He seemed to calm down a bit because he let out a breath.

“Well Twilight could easily help with that. She could heal you using her magic.” Magic? Does that mean the unicorn can actually use their horns for magic?

“Cool. Do you know where I can find her?” Hopefully I can find her sooner rather than later.

“She went out to grab some quills. She’ll be back eventually if you just want to wait here.” I was relieved to know that I can just relax finally.

“Good. Also, uh... are there any chairs or something? I can barely keep myself up.” The horse head was shorter than me, so leaning on it was starting to become uncomfortable.

“Oh, sorry, follow me,” He said while he took off towards a pair of stairs I hadn’t even noticed.

“Oh fuck off.” I muttered. I really didn’t want to go up stairs. I forced myself to move from the statue and headed towards the stairs. After struggling up each step, I finally got to the top of the stairs. There weren’t that many, but I was still panting heavily.

“Over here!” The dragon shouted. I looked up and saw a couch that was pushed back up against a wall. I dropped my walking stick and hurried over to sit down. I gently sat down in the center of the couch and let out a sigh. It felt good to just sit and relax.

“Thanks my guy, I really needed a seat.” I watched as the dragon hustled over to my stick and picked it up. He then ran over and sat the stick down onto a set of stairs that were leading up to a bed that was just above the stairs I had used to actually get up here. I originally thought this was the second story of the library, but it looked like more of a living area.

“Wait, does that Twilight person live here?” I asked. After setting down my stick, the dragon walked over and sat on the edge of the couch.

“Yeah, Twilight lives here. Why do you ask?”

“Never mind.” I dismissed while leaning back more into the couch. Hopefully I could take a nap and relax. After about a minute of silence, the dragon decided to speak again.

“Hey, what’s your name?” I completely forgot that I had never introduced myself. Now that I actually think about it, a child let me into it’s house without asking the persons name.

I was about to answer the question before I stopped myself. I thought back to what happened and how I got here. I had practically been kicked out of Apex and sent into exile after being betrayed. So I’m not technically Alpha anymore. I tried to hide the sadness in my voice. “It’s Saint.”

“I’m Spike!” That name actually makes sense.

“Nice to meet you Spike.” I extended my hand out for a handshake. He eyed my hand for a second but eventually grabbed and shook it.

“So what happened to you?” Spike asked while eyeing my belt.

“Got jumped.” I let out a groan as I attempted to lay down on the couch.

“But look at all of this stuff. How could you have gotten hurt!” He tried grabbing my helmet, but it was still attached to my belt, so he wasn’t able to pull it off. He tried pulling it again, but it still didn’t come off. He looked up at me with a sheepish grin.

I sighed and undid my belt and all its contents before tossing it all onto the floor. I watched as Spike jumped at all of my stuff. He completely ignored my helmet and instead held up my daggers.

“Whoa! These are so cool! Wait, what’s with the wire?” I watched as Spike tried to stretch out my daggers, but couldn't get far due to the metal wire connecting them. I’m surprised he didn’t question why I had a pair in the first place, but whatever I guess.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll show you after I get healed.” I kept a close eyes on Spike, waiting to see if he would attack me or something. All he did was shrug his shoulders and start playing with the other stuff. Hopefully he won’t know how to activate my grenades.

After about ten minutes of watching Spike bump into stuff while wearing my helmet, I heard a voice from downstairs. “Spike!” It was a female voice shouting. “Spike, you didn’t even finish your chores!” Damn my homies mom just came home. Spike didn’t even take off my helmet as he just ran down the stairs. I tried to listen in on their conversation, but I couldn’t hear them at all.

Hopefully this Twilight character would be reasonable and think about this logically. “YOU DID WHAT!” I heard a different female voice scream. I didn’t even get the chance to look shocked before a rainbow streak shot up the stairs and tackled me.

“FUCK!” I shouted as pain that I thought had left me came rushing back. I shoved whatever was on me onto the side of the couch and fell onto the floor. I tried to crawl away to the stairs but I didn’t get far enough, because I watched as a unicorn came galloping up the stairs.

“Wait, Rainbow!” I heard the unicorn call. I wasn’t surprised that they could talk as well.

I felt my entire body get picked up by something, but I felt nothing touching me. I was carried into the middle of the room, as was the the rainbow thing that had crashed into me. Turns out it was actually a pony.

The pony that crashed into me turned out to be a pegasus. Her tail and mane were both rainbow colored, both extremely unkempt, making her look like a boy. She also had a cyan coat with rose colored eyes. “Why should we wait! We don’t even know what this thing is, it could be dangerous!” Oh well fuck you too then.

“That’s true, but it hasn't done anything to harm Spike.” The voice was the same one I had heard earlier and that I was assuming was Spike’s mother. I took a good look at the unicorn, she had a purple coat along with lavender colored eyes to match her coat. Her mane and tail were dark blue with a pink and purple stripe going through both of them. What confused me though was that her horn seemed to be glowing. A violet aura was surrounded her horn, I then realized that the same aura was surrounding me. Wait, was she controlling me with magic?

I tried to shake myself free but to no avail. My body was still in pain and aching. I watched as Spike finally decided to come to my rescue as he ran up the stairs and stood in front of the purple unicorn. “Wait, Twilight, I never finished what I was saying. I was going to say that he’s injured and needs help,” He said while taking off my helmet and lifting both of his arm up in an attempt to defend me.

“Why didn’t you start with that!” I shouted and glared at Spike. The ponies clearly weren’t expecting me to be able to talk because they both gasped.

“Wait, you can talk!” The pony named Rainbow yelled, curiosity and amazement in her voice.

“What did you even tell them Spike?” I was becoming extremely annoyed at my current situation. Spike turned around and gave me another sheepish grin. He put down my helmet and slipped behind the unicorn who I assumed was Twilight.

I tried to position myself better in the air, but my body wouldn’t move. “Spike, take notes.” Twilight spoke enthusiastically . I then watched as Spike pulled out a quill and a piece of paper out of nowhere.

“Twilight, this isn’t some science experiment! This thing could be dangerous.” Rainbow angrily growled while flailing around in Twilight’s aura.

“ThIs tHing CoUlD bE DanGerous,” I said in a mocking tone. I heard Spike snicker behind Twilight, but Rainbow clearly didn’t find it funny at all because her head snapped towards me.

“What did you say?” She growled at me. She started to glare at me, but I was not scared at all. I might be injured, but no way will I be afraid of a pony.

“I thought horses had good ears.” Was the only response I gave. Rainbow seemed to snap, because after that remark she started to rapidly flap her wings, trying to get out of the magical grasp.

“Horse!? You take that back you buckin-“ Rainbow was cut off as a purple aura wrapped around her mouth and closed it. I couldn’t help but stick my tongue out at her, I was gonna taunt her more but Twilight cleared her throat.

“You’re right Rainbow, he could be dangerous.” I grinned at the fact she didn’t call me a thing. “But, like Spike said, he’s clearly injured.” Twilight levitated my helmet and my other things next to her before looking everything over, her eyes stopping on my daggers. “Just get the girls, we can deal with this together.” She looked back towards Rainbow with a nervous smile.

“On it! But don’t think this is over!” Rainbow said while saluting for the first part and glaring at me for the second. Twilight let her go, allowing Rainbow to fly down the stairs, leaving the same rainbow streak from earlier trailing after her. I looked over to Twilight with a frown.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off before she actually said anything. “If you’re planning on interrogating me, I’ll talk if you heal me. Spike said you’d be able to.” If Spike lied to me, I’m really throwing an impact at him.

Twilight looked up at me with a soft smile. “Of course. Also, it isn’t an interrogation. We just want to make sure you don’t intend to harm anypony.” Twilight levitated me closer to her and pressed the tip of her horn into my stomach. I watched as her horn started to glow brighter, and after a couple of seconds, I felt my aches and pains slowly start to disappear. I even felt the holes in my hands start to regrow from when I had to rip the nails out of them. She was really healing me with magic! But there was still one thing that wasn’t being healed.

After I was fully healed, Twilight removed her horn, letting out a loud yawn in the process. I had to fight the urge not to yawn as well. I opened my right eye, completely forgetting I had had it closed the entire time. But to my disappointment, I couldn’t see out of it. The entire right side of my field of view was shrouded in black.

I didn’t have much time to be worried about my eye though, because Twilight stared trotting down the stairs, leading the way for Spike while she carried me and my gear with her magic.

We entered the lobby of the library and Twilight lightly put me and my gear down. The second I was on the ground and out of her magical grasp, I looked at my gear and contemplated taking my stuff and running. I decided it was a terrible idea since she could just levitate me back. “Umm. How many girls do you have exactly? I’m not really good with crowds.” I looked back towards Twilight and began to rub the back of my head.

Twilight closed her eyes and began to hum, I assumed she was thinking of a response. She didn’t take long, because she opened her eyes not long after that. “There’s only six of us in total. But if Spike trusts you, then I can at least show some trust.” Well that was easier than I expected. I looked at Spike with a smile and gave him a thumbs up, he returned the gesture by giving me a smile. “Spike, when the girls get here, tell them to wait here and watch his stuff. It shouldn’t be long.”

“What about the notes?” Spike asked while looking down at the quill and paper in hand.

“Oh right, after you tell them to wait, meet me in the lab.” She has her own lab? Twilight motioned for me to follow her using her hoof. I complied, and she lead me to a door in a corner that I hadn’t noticed. She opened the door using her hoof and lead me down into what I assumed was her lab. I looked around the room and saw a bunch of lab equipment that looked extremely outdated, but considering I didn’t see a single street lamp in this village, I figured that this is really advanced for the ponies.

Twilight lead me to a table in the center of the room. She sat at one end, while I sat on the other. I don’t know how she sat down on a stool, but whatever. The ponies only came up to my stomach in terms of height so this table was perfect for Twilight, but extremely uncomfortable for me. I was about to complain about it but Twilight cut me off. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m the librarian here.”

“Yeah, I figured that.” I grunted out, trying to shift myself into a better position. “The names Saint.”

Twilight gave me a warm smile. Before I could return it, the door leading to the lab opened and in walked in Spike, quill and paper in hand. “Rainbow said they’re on the way. But she isn’t happy about you doing it alone.” Good, fuck that cunt.

“I’ll be fine. Now, are you ready, Saint?” I nodded my head, hoping to just get this over with and be on my way. “Good. I’m going to cast a lie detection spell on you, is that fine?” What happened to trusting me? I’m not really in a position to say no anyway.

“Go for it.” Spike went and stood besides Twilight, ready to jot down everything I say. Twilight pointed her horn in my direction and watched as it started to glow with its signature purple aura. It got brighter for a second before dying down.

“Done.” Twilight spoke while lifting her head back up. I didn’t feel any different, so I don’t know how this spell is going to detect a lie. “Ok, first question is where are you from?”

“Earth.” I watched as Spike wrote down what I said. “Also, do you mind if I ask questions as well?” Hopefully I can get some information about this place.

“Of course you can! But where is Earth exactly? I’ve never heard of it. Is it outside of Equestria?”

“Time-out. The fuck is Equestria?” I stood up in from my stool, extremely annoyed. She’s clearly fucking with me. I thought this was a third world country that was experimenting on animals. But I never heard of a place called Equestria before.

“Equestria is the place you’re in now. Well you’re technically in Ponyville, but Equestria is the country.” I never heard of Equestria before, I’ve been to many countries but this one is a first. I sat back down and started to rub my temple.

I turned my glasses back on and said ‘map’ out loud, completely ignoring Twilight’s and Spike’s questioning glances. Just like before, I watched the globe pop up, spin around for a bit, then display ‘Error.’ How was that possible? Maybe I was drugged while I was unconscious. “Twilight, is there like a magic thing that detects if people are under the influence?”

Twilight was snapped out of her confused state and looked back at me. “Yes, there is. But I don’t think it would work on you, since I’ve never seen your species before.”

“Fuck sake.” I mumbled to myself. I tried to lean back but I forgot I was in a stool, so I ended up falling to the floor.

I blocked out Twilight and Spikes shouts as I closed my eyes and just tried to process everything that was happening to me.

Nothing was making sense. Was it possible that I was sent to another planet? Or possibly another dimension? That shouldn’t even be possible, but if anyone could make it happen, it would be the higher-ups. Bruce is planning something huge, and I need to stop it.

I quickly stood back up and rushed back over to the table to ask Twilight something, but I also noticed Rainbow and four other ponies in the room. I paid them no mind as I started to speak. “Twilight, who runs Equestria?” Worry evident in my voice. I refuse to let Bruce have his way, I’m going to ruin his plans and avenge my team.

Before she could answer me, Rainbow shouted while jumping up onto the table. “Hey! Don’t just start talking like nothing happened!” She was clearly annoyed because she was glaring at me like I had murdered her family. I ignored her and moved my head to the side and looked at Twilight.

She had a look of concern on her face but she responded. “Princess Celestia and Princesses Luna.... Are you ok, Saint?”

“Yeah, I’m straight. My stomach started to hurt is all.” I was plastering a fake smile on my face as I told her this. Twilight gave me a confused look at first but then frowned at me, I then realized I just completely lied to her and she had probably detected it with that dumb spell.

“She didn’t ask what you preferred silly! She asked if you were ok!” A bubbly female voice said. I looked over to my right to see a pink pony. Her coat was pink along with her mane and tail. But her tail and mane were both extremely poofy. She had a pair of cyan eyes, and I also noticed she was lacking a horn and and pair of wings.

“Uhhh no... It meant that I’m fine.” I said becoming nervous because all of the other ponies in the room were looking at me.

“Oh in that case, I’m straight to!” She giggled. She started hopping over to me and somehow bumped Rainbow out of the way as she jumped onto the table.“Hiya, my name is Pinkie Pie!” She smiled brightly while extending her hoof out towards me.

I assumed she wanted to shake hand so I grabbed it and gently shook. “Saint.” I nervously responded. She seemed to ignore it, as her smile somehow got brighter.

Pinkie let go of my hand and started hopping on the table. “Maybe you're hungry, and that’s why your tummy is hurting!” She said while pulling a cupcake out of literally nowhere, offering it to me by holding it with the underside of her hoof.

I looked at her with a baffled expression, but she just kept smiling. “Nah, I’m not that hungry.” As if I’m cue, my stomach let out a loud growl. I forgot that I haven’t eaten since the mission. Everyone in the room started laughing at what just happened. I let out a sigh and shrugged my shoulders. “Whatever I guess. May I have it?”

Pinkie finished her little laughing fit. “Of course you can silly!” She plopped the cupcake down onto the table and hopped off of it. I grabbed it and looked it over. It was just an average vanilla cupcake with pink frosting. I unwrapped the cupcake, but before I could even take a bite, I heard hoofs slam into the ground, almost making me drop my snack. I decided to set it on the table, just in case something happened to it.

“Pinkie! That thing is dangerous!” I heard Rainbow angrily say. I looked at her and watched as steam seemed to be coming out of her nose. I didn’t really care about how Rainbow was feeling because fuck her. I was about to grab my cupcake and take a bite, but before I could, I was interrupted by someone walking over to me.

“Come on now sugar cube, he ain’t all that bad,” A pony with a southern accent said. I looked over and saw the pony in question. She had an orange coat with a blond mane. Covering her mane was a cowboy hat fitting the southern cowgirl look. She even had freckles under her green eyes, which I found adorable. Just like Pinkie, she also didn’t have a horn or wings.

I didn’t even get to respond as another pony spoke. “Yes darling, you described it as if our Twilight was in danger.” The new pony spoke in a manner that reminded me of Crystal. This one walked over and stood next to the southern pony. She had an all white coat with an indigo mane and tail. Her tail seemed to even curl towards the end. Just like Twilight, she too was a unicorn. She had azure eyes that seemed to be watering slightly. I then noticed one of her hoofs was raised to her snout, covering her nose.

Do I smell? I lifted my arm up and sniffed my armpits. I instantly regretted it because my eyes started watering. I smelled like sweat, blood, and dirt. “Damn, I need a shower.” I said as I began coughing.

“Don’t worry dear, you’ll be able clean up soon I believe.” She looked over towards Twilight. The unicorn in question got out of her seat and slowly approached us. She let out a loud yawn as bags seemed to be appearing under her eyes.

“Of course you can. Spike can show you where the bathroom is.” Well at least I can get cleaned.

“Actually, Ima have to put that on hold. I only have this, and it smells just as bad as me,” I said while motioning to my suit. The white unicorn looked me over, examining me.

“Don’t worry dear. I believe I might be able to help with that.” I was happy to know someone was going to do my laundry. “Wait just a moment!” She happily said as she elegantly trotted to the stairs. She had forgotten my suit though.

I was about to go ask Spike where the shower was, but before I could, Rainbow jumped in front of us. “Did you not see what he was carrying around? He’s clearly dangerous,” She said while hovering in front of me. I’m really starting to hate her. “And Pinkie, don’t you have a party to plan?” She questioned while pointing a hoof at Pinkie.

“Oh my gosh! You’re right!” She jumped into the air and hugged Rainbow. “I’ll cya later, Saint, I have a party to plan!” She called while dashing up the stairs and closing the door behind her

Rainbow still didn’t let up though. “He had two knives! Look!” She turned away from me and dashed up the stairs. A couple of seconds later, she came back down with my daggers in her mouth, carrying them by the wire. She spat them on the ground and flew back up. She brought one of my grenades down, and just like before, she spat them on the ground. She repeated this process a couple more times, bringing the rest of my grenades and my helmet. She had them all in a little wet pile just next to the stairs.

The farm pony, Twilight, Spike, and the last pony walked over and looked at my stuff. The last pony was a pegasus, just like Rainbow. She had a yellow coat with a pink mane that covered her cyan eyes somewhat. She hadn’t said a single word through this entire ordeal.

The yellow pony looked up and spoke first. “Sure he has those Rainbow, but he’s obvious scared and confused.” She spoke in a soft and quiet voice. I’m not scared, but definitely confused.

Then the hat wearing cowgirl looked up. “Yeah, and the rest are just some metal balls and ah helmet. Can’t do too much harm to nopony with them.” Little do she know I could level this entire village with a single cluster. But I ain’t gonna say that of course.

Finally Twilight looked up. “Rainbow. He won’t harm anypony, just trust us ok?” She was clearly tired, because she let out a yawn at the end.

Rainbow became flustered, she kept opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, looking for words to say. Finally, she just turned around and flew back up the stairs.

“Rainbow!” The yellow and orange pony called out before they both began to chase after her. I let out a loud sigh and started to rub my temples again. This is starting to give me a headache. Spike seemed to notice my expression because he walked up to me.

“You ok dude?” he asked while looking at me with concern in his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just concerned about what I’m gonna do now.” I waved him off while sitting on the stair steps. Twilight walked in front of me with a sad and tired expression on her face.

“Spike, can you finish cleaning the library please. And if any of the girls come by, tell them that I’m sleeping and Saint is busy.” I didn’t think it was that late. I figured healing me took a lot out of her.

Spike nodded at Twilight and looked back at me. I then realized I was blocking his path, so I got up and went to sit on the table Twilight and I had used.

After Spike was gone, Twilight trotted over to her original seat and picked up a quill and a piece paper using her magic, both were just laying on the floor. I guess Spike dropped the notes he was supposed to take. Twilight let out a loud sigh. “The lie detection spell wore off just a couple of seconds ago.” I was about to respond, but Twilight continued. “Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” I’m definitely not telling her what’s going on.

All I did was shake my head. Twilight frowned at me, but she quickly changed it to a neutral expression. “Maybe next time. But did you want to talk to princess Celestia and princess Luna?” I did indeed need to speak to them, especially if they ran the place. But I’d prefer to speak to the king and queen.

“Yeah, if possible, anyone at the top will do.” I then noticed the cupcake from earlier was still on the table, so I picked it up and took a huge bite out of it. “Damn, this shit’s good.” I kept eating it till I was finished.

Twilight giggled at my antics and then let out a yawn. “I can send them a letter if you’d like. I bet they’d be interested to know I met a new species.” She makes me sound like a science experiment.

“Really, you can do that?” I was definitely surprised that she could contact royalty. All she did was smile at me.

“Of course, I’ll send it out in the morning. I don’t know how much longer I can stay awake.” She let out another yawn and walked over to my gear and levitated it up. “You’re welcome to stay the night.” She then started to walk up the stairs, of course I followed right behind her.

“Thanks I suppose.” We walked into the lobby and I saw Spike standing on a wooden ladder, dusting the upper shelves. He was equipped with his apron for some reason. “You sure you’re ok with that, Twilight?” Concern filling my voice. I certainly was surprised that she’d let someone she just met stay the night.

“Of course. If you don’t mind, I was planning on putting your stuff somewhere else. Unless you need something from it.” Oh, that’s cool I guess.

“Yeah, that’s ok.” Not like I need anything from it. “Take these too, I guess.” I unstrapped the pouches containing my throwing knives. They almost dropped to the floor but Twilight caught them using magic. She gave me a confused look at first but then just shrugged. I followed her up the stairs that lead to the living area. After climbing for about three seconds, we were standing just below what I assumed was her bed.

“If you’re okay with it, you can have the couch.” She pointed a hoof at the couch.

“I can do that.” I tried to hide the concern and worry in my voice. I was worried that Twilight and Spike would try something while I was sleeping. I could easily deal with Spike, but Twilight could just use magic to hold me.

“Good. Also, you should shower before you sleep.” She said while giggling. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at that. “Goodnight, Saint,” She said while turning and walking up the steps that lead to her bed. Before she actually got there, she grabbed my cane with her mouth and brought it up with her. I completely forgot it was left on the stairs.

“Night.” I turned away and started walking down the stairs. I returned to the lobby and sat on the stairs. “Guess I’m sleeping over.” I announced while watching Spike clean. He dropped his little duster and turned to me.

“Really?!” He shouted, clearly excited. All I did was nod as I watched him pump a fist into the air. ”Awesome! I’ve never had a sleepover with another guy before!” So my little homie is a ladies man.

“First time for everything,” I said while leaning back onto the stairs. It was kinda uncomfortable but I was too lazy to move.

“Let me just finish cleaning and we can do something,” He said while speeding up his cleaning.

“Okay.” I continued to watch him for a second, he kept jumping and running from place to place, quickly dusting everything off. I was thinking of grabbing a book, but I don’t really read that often.

I just closed my eyes and thought about what I’m supposed to write in the letter for the princess, maybe I should try to get them to relay the message to the king and queen. Before I could think of anything else, Spike came running up to me while breathing heavily. “ I finished!” He didn’t have to rush it to be honest. It’s not like I would’ve gone anywhere.

“Cool. But you didn’t have to rush,” I said while rustling his head like a dad would for his son. His spikes were surprisingly soft. He only let me do it for a couple of seconds before he swatted my hands away.

“Nah, I wanted to finish fast anyways,” He said with a annoyed tone. “Anyways, what do you want to do?” He looked up to me, now that I was actually taking a good look at him, I realised just how short he was.

“Last time I checked, you’re the one who actually live here. So I don’t know what you do for fun.” I crossed my arms and let out yawn. All he did was roll his eyes and push past me and up the stairs. I followed after him and into the living room. He went over to a desk and opened it, after looking for a second, he pulled out a deck of UNO cards.

“We can play UNO if you want.” He waved the deck around while wearing a smile. Oh shit they got UNO.

“That’s more of a three and up kinda game. Besides, I’m still hungry.” I emphasized this by patting my stomach. As if this world really was a cartoon, I heard Spike’s stomach growl. All I could do was roll my eyes.

Spike looked up to me with a sheepish grin. “Hey, there’s a super cool pizza place in Ponyville. Wanna go there?” Pizza didn’t sound perfect, but then again, I’m flat broke.

“I’m broke, Spike. I literally just got here.”

“That’s fine, I can use some of my allowance!” He took off, running by me and down the stairs. I followed him into the lobby and watched as he grabbed a bag from behind a book on the shelf before running to the front door and turning around.

“Let’s hurry before they close.” He then pushed the door open and walked out.

After sighing and saying fuck it for the umpteenth time today, I followed him. It definitely was getting late in the day. Luckily my glasses were still on, so I could easily see everything. Just like before, all the ponies eyes were on me, I tried to ignore them as best as I could and just follow Spike. It was proving to be difficult though, as I kept looking towards them, fortunately they couldn’t tell what I was looking at though due to the glasses. After only about ten minutes of walking, we arrived at the pizza place.

The place seemed to be similar to a classic pizza restaurant from my world. It had picnic tables just in front of the entrance and an orange and red banner hung in front of the building with the words, ‘Princess Cheese’ written across it. Tinted glass panes served as the walls of the store, preventing me from really seeing what was inside the building.

Spike and I walked in like we owned the place. The inside was just as I expected, booths lining the walls with tables in the middle. No one else was in the building besides the mare behind the counter running the cash register. She didn’t notice us at first, seeming to instead be reading some type of magazine. The mare had a yellow coat with a red fiery mane. Sadly, her tail was being blocked by the counter she was sitting behind while her mane was mostly covered by a hat shaped like a pizza.

Spike walked up to the counter and tapped the top of the counter, he was just barley tall enough to even do this. The mare jumped a little from the scare, but regained herself quickly. “Sorry about that. I didn’t think I would... Whoa.” Her expression was utterly shocked as she finally noticed me, she seemed to be examining me with her golden eyes all the while.

“Sup.” I said while waving. Spike seemed to be looking between the both of us repeatedly. “What’s on the menu?”

She snapped out of her daze by shaking her head repeatedly. She then went behind the counter and pulled out two menus. “Take a seat wherever and I’ll be there in a second.” Her voice being muffled due to the menus in her mouth. She placed the menus down and turned around and trotted through a pair of double doors.

Spike grabbed both menus and lead me over to a booth, we both sat on opposite sides. The seats were extremely uncomfortable though because of my height. I decided to at least look over the menu to see if anything looked good. Nothing special was really on it, well, besides the fact that some of the pizza toppings consisted of hay and flowers.

After a couple of minutes of debating what to get, Spike and I decided to order two large cheese pizzas, two lemonades, and a side of hay fries. Didn’t know what hay fries were, but whatever.

After a couple of seconds of Spike trying to balance the menus on his nose, the mare from the counter trotted over. “So what would you two like?” She asked while floating a notepad and quill next to her, she had a red aura that matched her mane and tail. I didn’t even notice she was a unicorn because of that stupid pizza hat.

Spike relayed our orders and the mare jotted them down. “Those will be ready in a couple of moments. Also, cool sunglasses mister,” She said while trotting back over to the counter.

I adjusted my sunglasses at that. I’m surprised no one’s said anything about them yet. “Yeah, why do you wear those?” Spike asked while looking at me with a questioning expression. Never mind I guess.

“I have my personal reasons.” I leaned back into the booth. My right eye hadn’t came back, which was making me wonder if I’ll be permanently blind in one eye. “Besides, it makes me look cool and mysterious.”

“They do make you look mysterious.” Was the only response I got. While we waited for the food, Spike kept asking me questions about my world, but the only response I gave was ‘I’ll tell ya when you’re older’, which just seemed to annoy him.

After about ten minutes of Spike asking questions, the mare returned. She was holding our food in her magical grasps. She gently sat all the food onto the table. The pizzas were on metal trays while the hay fries were in a container. The fries looked like normal french fries, but the pizzas looked delicious. Both pizzas had steam coming from them, proving them to be hot and fresh.

I quickly grabbed a piece and took a bite. The pizza burnt my mouth a bit, but I didn’t care because of how hungry I was. It tasted amazing though, the perfect amount of cheese and tomato sauce. Even the crust was crunchy. “You sure were hungry mister!” The pizza mare said.

I watched as Spike grabbed a slice and starting eating it. “You can call me Saint,” I said while looking over at her.

She gave me a warm smile and nodded slightly. “I’m Red Domino.” I was about to say something about Dominos from my world, but it probably wouldn’t make any sense.

“Nice to meet you.” I took another bite of my pizza carefully, trying not to make a mess.

“Sorry for staring like that earlier. I was just surprised. I’ve never seen anything like you before.” For some reason she took a seat next to me in the booth.

“It’s fine, you should have seen it when I walked into town,” I said while scooting closer to the wall.

She seemed to not notice me moving, because she moved closer. “I bet that was awful.”

“Oh yeah, it was pretty bad.” Bad was a understatement. I was like a walking freak show for everyone in town.

“It wasn’t that bad, Saint!” Spike said with a mouth full of hay fries.

“Spike, everyone was basically checking me out, like I’m some freak show that’s not welcome.” I tried to hide the annoyance in my voice. He just shrugged his shoulders and kept eating.

The pizza mare giggled at my suffering of being a freak show. “Well, you’re always welcome here. Next time you’re here I’ll even give you a pizza, free of charge.” Well I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

“Really?” I asked, suspicious of the offer. I was trying to think of a catch to this free pizza proposal.

“Of course! You’re just like me when I first got here.” I cocked my head to the side, thinking about what she meant. She then removed her pizza hat, showing off her horn. Spike gasped while I just had a dumbfounded expression on my face. Just as I expected, her horn was the same color as her yellow coat. But her horn seemed to be shorter than what he had seen on other unicorns. “I’ve always been bullied because of my smaller horn.” She put her hat back on and looked up to me with a sad expression. Even her ears dropped down onto her head. “Everypony stared at me for a while when I first got here. I felt like an outcast” I actually felt kinda bad for her to be honest.

I couldn’t help but start rubbing her head and behind her ears with the hand I wasn’t using to eat. She just giggled and leaned into me more. “Aye, we can be outcasts together.” She kept leaning into me more, I was already against the wall so I had nowhere else to go.

“Thank you.” She said while letting out a quite groan.

Our moment was cut off by someone shouting from behind the counter. “Red! It’s closing time. Make sure everything’s clean!” I heard a angry male voice call. After he was done shouting I heard a door open and then close. Must have used the back door I guess.

Red let out a sigh as she looked up at me with a frown. “That was my boss. Here, I’ll get you some boxes.” She got off of me and exited the booth. I watched her trot away for a moment, observing as her tail swayed back and forth. I then noticed something weird. She had a tattoo of a cheese pizza with a slice missing on her flank.

“That’s a weird spot for a tattoo,” I muttered out loud while rubbing my chin. Spike seemed to be done eating pizza because he started rummaging through his bag.

“Her cutie mark?”

“What?” I asked while looking at him with a confused look.

Spike looked up and set down a couple of golden coins onto the table. “You don’t know what a cutie mark is?” All I did was shake my head. “Oh, a cutie mark shows the special talent of a pony. It only appears on the pony when they recognize their talent.” I let out a loud sigh at how stupid that sounded.

Red came back not to long after Spike explained what a Cutie Mark was. There was just no way everybody had one. I definitely would have noticed. She came back floating two small boxes. She sat them both onto the table and opened them. I watched as our leftover pizza was floated into a corresponding box. There wasn’t even that much left, to make matters worse, judging by the size of the boxes, Spike had eaten what amounted to an entire box of pizza and finished the fries.

“There. Your total is... oh, you already paid.” She levitated the golden coins over and counted them. I assumed Spike paid for everything like he said he would. “Yep, everything there. Have a good night you two,” She said while trotting away with the coins. I grabbed both of the boxes and headed towards the main door, Spike following close behind.

It definitely was getting late into the day. The sun was just now setting. Spike and I headed towards the library while talking about how good the pizza was.

We made it there in no time and headed straight to the living area. We both could hear Twilight lightly snoring, so we decided it would be a bad idea to make too much noise. Spike lead me into the door I had seen earlier, turns out it lead to the kitchen. It was a regular kitchen, but some of the appliances were smaller than normal. Spike shoved the leftovers into the fridge and turned to leave.

“Yo, where’s the shower at. I still smell.” I refuse to go to bed smelling like this. He just rolled his eyes and showed me the way to the bathroom door, which was located right next to the kitchen for some reason.

“I’m heading to bed. Just leave your clothes in here and I’ll wash them tomorrow.” He let out a loud yawn when he finished speaking. I watched as he turned around and left.

When I entered the bathroom, the first thing I noticed was the huge bathtub with curtains surrounding it in the corner of the room. It was definitely bigger than what I was used to, but it made sense seeing as the ponies were wider than people. Cabinets and windows were against the back wall. Luckily the windows had curtains covering them. I put my glasses down on one of the cabinets and wasted no time in stripping down, turning on the water, and jumping into the tub.

I almost ended up burning myself because I couldn’t figure out how to work the faucets. But after struggling for a couple of minutes, I was finally able to get it to the perfect temperature. I scrubbed myself till my fingers became all pruny. I even thought about using some shampoo for my hair, but I decided against it.

After only fifteen minutes of washing and scrubbing, I turned off the shower and stepped out onto the hard wooden floor. I quickly shuffled over to one of the cabinets and opened it. It was fortunately filled with towels, all of them were purple for some reason.

I quickly grabbed two and started to dry myself. After I was fully dried, I grabbed a third towel and wrapped it around myself. I didn’t want to use my suit since it probably still smelled.

I grabbed my suit, my boots, and my socks, and put them in a neat pile next to the door so Spike could easily grab and clean them. I then grabbed my glasses and headed for the living room.

When I entered the living room, I set my glasses on a nearby desk and climbed onto the sofa. I didn’t want to think about anything because I was too tired to keep my eyes opened. I’m just praying I didn’t wake up with a knife in my back.

Chapter 2: New Style, New Me

I couldn’t sleep well that night. I kept having nightmares about everything that had happened to me. Getting betrayed by my boss, losing my team, getting tortured, losing an eye, and finally, getting sent to another world. Would certainly make for a cool book.

I awoke to something poking my side. It felt hard, and it kept jabbing me in my ribs. I quickly responded to this by trying to swat it away with a hand and just roll over. I instantly regretted that as I had forgotten that I was sleeping on a couch. I ended up face planting on the hard, wooden floor.

“Oh no, I’m sorry. You were just sleeping for so long, I got worried.”

I rolled over and looked up to see Twilight. She was looking at me with concern in her eyes. She kept ranting about my safety and the way I was sleeping, I’m pretty sure she was also scared that I might hurt her because she had practically harmed me. I didn’t want this to be the first thing I heard in the morning, so I put a finger on her lips. “Shhhh. I’m fine.”

After a while she calmed down, and a small smile formed. “Oh Good. I thought I hurt you.” She trotted away and up the stairs to her bed. I stood up and let out a loud yawn while stretching. I then noticed something was missing.

“Did Spike ever clean my stuff?” I asked while tightening the towel around me. I watched as Twilight peeked her head over the edge, holding a branch in her magical grasp.

“He should be doing it now. Also, do you still need this?” All I did was shake my head and sit back down onto the couch. I watched as Twilight trotted down the stairs, my stick floating behind her.

She trotted by me and headed down the stairs leading to the main lobby. I wanted to go back to sleep, but not if I was going to continue having those nightmares. I stood up and grabbed my glasses and headed towards the kitchen.

I turned them on and watched my vision brighten. After they were fully on, I called out ‘time’. Just like always, a digital clock appeared, showing me that it was nearly 13:00.

I pushed past the doors and stepped into the kitchen. I then made a beeline for the fridge and swung it open. I started rummaging through it, looking for the leftovers from the day before. I started muttering curse words at not being able to find them. “Saint, are you okay?” I turned around and saw Twilight with a concerned expression on her face.

I closed the fridge and looked down at her. “I’m straight. Also, do you know what happened to the leftover pizza?” I asked while crossing my arms. I’m going to be annoyed if Spike ate it.

Twilight frowned at me. “I’m pretty sure Spike ate it for lunch.” I sighed and walked back into the living room and sat onto the couch. I couldn’t change and go get my free pizza till Spike cleaned my stuff.

Twilight was still following me for some reason. She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. “I don’t mean to be a dick head or anything. But when can we send that letter?” Annoyance was evident in my tone.

Twilights frowned seemed to deepen, she let out a long sigh and looked at me. “When Spike gets here, I’ll write it and send it out.” I watched her trot away for a bit as she turned around and walked down into the lobby. As I was doing this, I noticed that she also had one of those cutie marks. It just seemed to be a big, dark purple star surrounded by smaller white stars. So Spike wasn’t messing with me when he said everybody had one.

I decided to just chill on the couch and wait for Spike to get back. I had nothing else to do, so I decided to mess with my glasses and see what other commands it had.

After about half an hour of command testing, Spike walked up the stairs with Twilight behind him. Sadly, during that time, I couldn’t find any new commands. Guess I should ask Sara if I ever make it back.

Spike had my suit and boots in a basket, while Twilight had a quill and a paper in her magical grasp. I quickly got up and grabbed my stuff and went to the bathroom.

After changing into my stuff and throwing the towel into a hamper, I exited the bathroom and went back into the living room. “You definitely clean better than the maids.” I started stretching and cracking my knuckles. I actually wasn’t lying, my suit was all nice and warm and smelled like apples.

“You have maids!?” Spike gasped while running up to me. I glared at him, but then realized he couldn’t actually see it.

“I only talk to people who leave me food.” I pushed by him and stood next to Twilight. Spike seemed to scratch the back of his head while Twilight just rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky Red was nice enough to offer me free food.”

Twilight gave me a confused look at first but quickly shrugged it off. “Okay, Spike, take a note.” Twilight levitating the quill and paper to Spike. I don’t know why she doesn’t write it herself.

Spike grabbed it in mid air and got ready to write. Twilight then looked at me with a awaiting gaze. “Tell them you discovered a new species and they have an important message.” I walked over and sat on the stairs that lead to Twilights bed.

Twilight nodded at me and began to talk as if she was giving a speech. “Dear Princess Celestia.” She began to pace back and forth in the room. “I’ve recently stumbled across a new species called ‘Humans’. So far, I have only encountered one member of their species, a male, and am allowing him to stay with me for the time being. He has turned out to be intelligent and has informed me that he would like to speak to you in regards to something important. Your personal student, Twilight Sparkle.” I was definitely not ready to hear that last part.

“Whoa, you’re her student?!” I jumped to my feet. If she was her student then I could easily meet her.

Twilight stopped pacing and looked at me with a smile. “Yep, she’s been my teacher since I was a filly.” After she finished, I watched as Spike blew green fire onto the letter.

“YO! What are you doing?!” I was annoyed and irritated that he had just burnt the letter.

He looked at me in confusion and opened his mouth to respond, but Twilight did so before he had the chance. “That’s how he sends the letters. When he does that, the letter gets sent directly to Princess Celestia.” That doesn’t make any sense at all.

I sat back down on the stairs and started to flex my fingers. “How long does it usually take?”

“Should only take a couple of minutes. Unless she’s super busy.” Spike said while jumping onto the couch. I let out a loud groan and began waiting.

After roughly three minutes of me just messing with my fingers and hair, I heard Spike let out a extremely loud burp. I was about to say something about the pizza till I realized that a letter had come out of his mouth.

He caught the letter before it could hit the ground and opened it. After coughing twice, Spike spoke in a announcer like tone. “Dear Twilight Sparkle. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to speak with your new found friend currently. Since the Grand Galloping Gala is right around the corner, I’m extremely busy with the preparations for it. If he would like, I’ll gladly speak to him then.” So I have to wait for a ball to speak to her? Spike wasn’t finished because he then added. “Also, make sure that he isn’t dangerous. Just yesterday, I felt a chaotic force appear somewhere around the Everfree Forest. I have already sent a contingent of royal guards, including your brother, to investigate. Sincerely, Your teacher, Princess Celestia.”

I was definitely annoyed that I would have to wait to speak to the people in charge. I let out a groan as I stood up and started to walk to the stairs leading to the lobby. Before I could get there, Twilight slid in front of me with a sad expression. “Saint, what’s bothering you?”

“Like I said earlier. I’m straight.” I was trying to suppress my anger as I told her this. I tried to get by her, but she didn’t move.

“Saint, please. Something is clearly bothering you, I want to help you.”

“The fuck? Why do you care? We just met yesterday.” I started getting angry. Twilight slowly backed up a bit.

“Calm down, Saint.” There was a hint of nervousness in Spike’s voice as he said this. I looked at him and he quickly turned away.

“Saint, I just want to know if you’re the chaotic force princess Celesta felt.” Twilight seemed to have gained some courage as her voice sounded more confident, and almost accusatory.

I let out a sigh and turned back around to sit on the stairs. “I mean, I did come out of a forest.” Twilight seemed to calm down a bit as she approached me.

Twilight set her hoof down onto my shoulder. She levitated my glasses off my face and looked into my eyes. “Saint, be honest with me, are you the chaotic force? I won’t even use the lie detection spell because I trust you.” I don’t understand why she trusts me so much. What had I ever done to earn that from her?

I looked deeply into her purple eyes. They reminded me of something that I’d seen before. They awakened a memory from around a couple of months ago.

“This is extremely boring,” I said while spinning in Sara’s chair.

“This isn’t supposed to be fun,” Sara responded, clearly annoyed that I wouldn’t sit still. Sara was trying to test something on me and kept asking me questions that I didn’t really understand the meaning behind.

“What’s the point of this?” I stood up and began walking over to her. Sara was currently putting metal objects into a box labeled trash.

“It’s for your new medical staff member. The more they know about you the better.” I forgot I needed a new one. The last one quit because I was an asshole to them.

I jumped up and sat down on the counter next to Sara. “What’s the point? Why can’t you just do both?” I really didn’t want to have someone I never met before mess with my body.

She let out a loud sigh and looked at me. “Because I’m not trained to do it.” She handed me a piece of scrap metal. I examined it and it seemed to be a piece of a broken impact grenade. I quickly slipped it into the box.

“Why do I even need one?” I looked away from Sara. I definitely didn’t want a new medical staff member. I actually didn’t want one at all.

“Sai-“ I cut Sara off my placing a finger on her mouth. After a couple of seconds I removed it and she continued. “Alpha, You need one so they can look after your mental health. Also, they program your nanobots.” I had to cut Sara off because every room in the facility was monitored. Besides the living areas.

“That’s true. But I think I’m perfectly fine.” I slipped off the counter and headed back over to her chair. I sat back down and stretched out my legs.

Sara slammed a metal object onto the desk and walked over to me. She grabbed the sides of the chair and leaned in closer to me. “You’re not fine, Alpha. You have issues. You need help.” Her eyes bore into me, she even seemed hurt for some reason.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I quietly said while pushing her away

Sara looked hurt at first, but she leaned in and hugged me. I definitely wasn’t expecting this. “Alpha. I’ve known you for years. I know it’s hard on you. You were abo-.” I cut her off by squeezing her tightly. I didn’t want to think about that day.

“Ok. I get it, just please don’t make me remember that day,” I said while on the verge of having a panic attack.

“Sorry.” We stayed like this for a couple of minutes. Just embracing each other and enjoying the moment. The hug was broken as Sara stood up and looked down at me. “I know it’s hard Alpha. But promise me, that you’ll at least find someone you can trust. Find someone that you can trust with everything.” I was about to respond to that but then she continued. “You already trust me so I don’t count.” Dang it.

I let out a sigh. I knew she was right, I needed to open up more and actually trust people. The only people I’ve ever been able to trust were my team and Sara. They were all I ever had. “Fine. You’re right, I’ll find someone. I promise.” I honestly hated making promises, but I really did need to change. Sara gave me a warm smile and went back over to continue her job.

“Also, that’s the only hug you’re gonna get.” She spoke coldly.

“What!” I shouted while jumping out of the seat and running over to her. “Why?”

“Because it’s out of character.” Was the only response I got. That actually made sense and I decided to just drop it. I went back over to the chair and sat down. I spun around and started messing around with her computer.

After a couple of minutes of playing ‘Type Racer’, I was kinda annoyed that I couldn’t get pass 70 words per minute, I remembered something. “Wait, when’s the new medic coming?”
“Should be about now.” I didn’t get a chance to respond as I heard the automated door open. I spun around in the chair and was almost thrown off of it as something jumped onto me.

“Oh my god! It’s really Alpha. I thought you were a myth!” The voice was young and high pitched. I looked down to see a young girl with blond hair squeezing me.

“What?” Was the only response I had. I looked up and watched as Sara let out a sigh.

“Her name is Alice, and she’s kinda a big fan of yours,” She said while trying to pry Alice off of me.

“How? No one should know about me. And she’s like 13!” I shouted while also trying to push Alice off of me. Her grip tightened a little as she looked up at me.

“I’m 15!” She shouted back at me. I started to get annoyed.

“Get off!” I kept pushing and struggling but she wouldn’t budge. I looked over to Sara for help. But all she did was go back over to her stupid box.

“No! Only a little bit longer.” Alice began squeezing me more. She looked up at me, she had a big smile on her face and her blue eyes seemed to bore into me.

Her eyes seemed to slowly turn purple while her face seemed to morph into a pony’s. I then realized that I was just having a flashback of a distant memory.

“Wait, what was the question?” I had completely forgetting what was happening. Twilight removed her hoof from my shoulder, set my glasses back on my face, and let out a groan.

“Please, Saint, you’re making this harder than what it has to be. I want to trust you, but you’re just making it more difficult for me,“ Twilight cried out . It even sounded like she was going to start crying.

I remembered Sara’s words. They replayed through my mind. Could I actually trust Twilight with anything? Was she the right one? Out of everyone I met, Twilight was always trying to protect and help me. She let me stay the night and didn’t let her friend harm me. She even healed me when I was hurt and had weapons.

But what if this was just a part of her plan? What if her intentions were elsewhere and she planned on using me for something?

I let out a loud breath. I then looked over at Twilight and Spike. Spike seemed interested and nervous while Twilight looked hurt and sad. “Hey, Spike, can you give me and Twilight a minute?” I asked while looking at him.

He jumped up and stood on the couch. “What, why? I want to know if you’re the chaotic force.” He sounded annoyed that I was excluding him.

“I’ll let you play with my helmet. I’ll even turn it on for you,” I said in a cheerful tone, even if I wasn’t cheerful at all.

Spike seemed intrigued by my offer. “Deal! I knew there was more to it.” He began jumping on the couch. After a couple of jumps, he climbed down and headed downstairs. After about ten seconds, a door could be heard being opened and then closed.

I looked over at Twilight, she seemed to be curious and concerned at the same time. She didn’t even look sad anymore. She was probably curious about what I meant by turning on the helmet. “Twilight, why do you trust me so much?” I was definitely curious to know why she put so much stock in me not trying to mislead her. She met me just yesterday and she trusts me so much.

Twilight was snapped out of her confusion and looked at me. Her horned started to glow its signature purple. She trotted over to me and touched the tip of her horn onto my chest.

She then looked up to me with her lavender eyes and smiled. “I cast the lie detection spell on both of us.” A little smile was forming on her lips.

“So I can tell if you’re lying too?”

She nodded once. “Yes, here, I’ll show you how it works.” She then cleared her throat and began to speak again. “My name is Saint.” She tried mimicking me, which she didn’t do a good job at.

I was about to respond to her but I heard a light buzzing sound. I started to look around the room wondering where it was coming from. My search was cut off as Twilight started to giggle. “At least I know it’s working. When you hear that, it means that I lied.” I looked back at her and watched as she trotted over and jumped onto the couch.

“That’s fucking weird.” I muttered, the buzzing sound stopped and I was able to finally think straight.

Twilight levitated over a book on one of the many shelves and then opened it. “There’s other stronger variants of the spell.” She levitated the book in front of me and I grabbed it. “I learned them all, but I still prefer the original.” The book she gave me was opened to a page that was tilted ‘Lie Detection’. Fortunately, it was in english.

The other versions of the spell scared me a bit. I read over the many variants and some stood out. One apparently sent pain into the liars body, while another burned the liar.

I quickly set the book down onto the stairs and looked back at Twilight. She was still looking at me with a smile. “So, why do you trust me?” I asked while leaning forward a bit. Her smile took a hit.

“It’s because you remind me of Spike.” Wait, what? She continued while sounding depressed. “I hatched Spike when I was just a filly, it was an accident caused by Rainbow Dash.” That’s her full name?

“Seems like she causes trouble a lot.” I went over and took a seat on the couch next to Twilight.

She moved over a bit and looked away from me. But eventually, continued speaking. “A lot of ponies were afraid of him. I had to convince everypony he was safe and wouldn’t harm them.” She looked up at me. Her eyes sparking a bit. “That’s why I trust you. It’s because no one should be judged by your looks. You should be judged by your actions. So until you prove that you can’t be trusted, I think you should be given the benefit of the doubt.” I was actually surprised by Twilights wisdom, I had been expecting her to say something dumb. But If I’m being judged by my actions, than I definitely belong in hell.

I started at her for a couple of seconds. “Did your teacher teach you that?”

She looked away from me awkwardly. “Yes.” I heard her mutter.

A couple of minutes passed by. We both didn’t say anything, just staring at whatever we could find in the room. But I looked over at Twilight. “I might be the chaotic force.” I decided to break the awkward silence.

Twilight turned around to look at me. “You mean you’re not certain?” She cocked her head to the side a bit.

“Nope.” I stuck my tongue out at her. She rolled her eyes at me and closed them, as if she was deep in thought.

Then she opened them. “Well. You’re definitely not lying.” She began to frown a bit. “Are you okay?” She asked, sounding concerned.

I turned away, unable to look her in the eyes. It was now or never. Should I trust Twilight? I looked back down at her. She was wearing a full frown this time. “No.” Was the only thing I said. I needed to trust someone in the world. As much as it hurt me, as much as it broke me. Sara was right. I needed to change my ways.

“What’s bothering you?” Twilight was clearly worried and concerned about me.

I looked deeply into her eyes. “I need to trust someone in this place. All I’m going to say now is that I’ve been betrayed.... and that I was sent here, by the people who betrayed me.” I choked on my words slightly. I decided to give Twilight a chance, I’ll slowly build up my trust with her, until I can tell her the whole story.

Twilight looked shocked at my words. “Why?! How did they even send you here!?” She looked like she was about to ask more questions but I cut her off by covering her mouth with my hand.

“I don’t know all the details. But that’s all I’m telling you for now.” I released my hand from her mouth.

“But why? I don’t understand. Why don’t you trust me?” I watched as tears seemed to be forming at the edge of her eyes. “I just want to help.” She muttered quietly.

I let out a sigh and began to speak softly. “Twilight. I have a lot of issues. I decided to put a little bit of trust into you because of all you gave me.”

She wiped her eyes using a hoof. “I just don’t get it. Why were you betrayed?”

“It’s a long story that I will tell you one day. Well, as long as you don’t break my trust.” I smiled at her.

She let out a sigh. “Ok, Saint, I trust you’ll tell me one day.” Her horn stared glowing. I watched as a desk next to us started glowing. It opened, and out came a quill and some paper. “But can I ask some general questions? I hardly know anything about you! And it’s hard to trust someone you barely know!” She smiled brightly at me.

She was definitely right. I really don’t know anything about her. “Sure, ask away.” Twilight looked like she was about to ask a question, but before she could, her ears flopped down and she frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She let out a groan. “Somepony’s at the door.” She slid off the couch and looked over to me.

“What? I didn’t hear anything.” I stood up as well and looked at her. She rolled her eyes and trotted down the stairs that lead to the lobby, of course I followed behind her. When we entered the lobby, I finally heard the knocking. It was so faint that I doubted it was even a pony.

Twilight trotted over and opened her door. I peered over her to see the yellow pegasus from earlier. She seemed to notice me because she quickly hid behind her hair. “What’s the matter, Fluttershy?”. I just rolled my eyes and went back upstairs. Her name definitely fits her personality.

After a couple of minutes of me just trying to scratch Apex off my suit, which was met with as much success as trying to stab someone with a hammer, Twilight came up the stairs. “Sorry, she wanted a new book about animals.” She floated a bag up and over to her bed as she said this.

“Say, does she know any manticores?” I was curious to know if the manticore I met was talking about Fluttershy.

Twilight didn’t hesitate at all. “Yeah, she does. She’s met all sorts of animals.” She said while floating a quill and paper next to her. “Now, on to those questions!” She had a bright smile on her face as she said that.

I quickly shook my head before she could even ask anything. “I’m hungry, and I was promised free pizza at this one restaurant.” I quickly moved past her and headed to the lobby.

She followed behind me as I pushed opened the front door to the library and headed Into the bright, sunny afternoon.

All the ponies of Ponyville watched as I walked around swiftly, looking for that Pizza place. Sadly, I didn’t remember how to get there. I paid the staring ponies no mind and ignored their curious glances. Twilight eventually caught up to me. “Don’t just run off like that!” She started trotting by my side.

“I’ll let you ask all the questions you want during my lunch.” I kept looking around, unable to find the place. I wasn’t planning on sharing any of the pizza with her though in all honesty.

“Good, I’m just curious to know more about you and where you came from.” She said in an enthusiastic tone. I don’t know why she’s so excited.

“Ooo, I have a question!” I instantly jumped at the new voice. I turned around and saw Pinkie Pie standing next to Twilight.

Twilight seemed just as startled by her randomly showing up as I was. “I’m not even going to ask,” She muttered while bringing a hoof up to her temple.

“I will though. Where did you come from?” I asked while getting annoyed. How did she sneak up on me?

All she did was giggle at me. “I’ve been here the whole time!” She started bouncing closer to me. “How old are you?!” She looked up to me and had a massive smile on her face.

“Why does that matter?” I asked while turning away and continuing my look for my lunch spot. I didn’t get much of a chance though as Pinkie zipped in front of me.

“Come on, it’s super, duper important!” Her massive smile still plastered onto her face. I tried to move past her again, but she side stepped to the direction I was moving.

“Now that I think about it, I do want to know how old you are,” Twilight said while trotting over to me and looking up at me with a questioning look.

I was definitely getting annoyed and becoming uncomfortable. But then again, they can’t really do much with the information. “I’m either 19, 20, or 21.”

Pinkie stopped bouncing almost immediately, while her smile disappeared. All she did was look up at me with her big cyan eyes. Then she started giggling. “You can’t be three ages at once silly.” Her smile returned.

I looked over to Twilight expecting to hear a response. But she seemed shocked for some reason. “You good?” I asked.

“You’re not lying?” She asked me with a confused look on her face. Then I remembered that the spell could still be activated.

“Twilight, I just said I’m going to start trusting you. I’m not gonna lie.” I began moving past Pinkie to continue my quest for pizza.

I wasn’t able to do so for long because Pinkie zipped right back in front of me. “How do you not know your age?” Twilight asked while trotting over to me and Pinkie.

I let out a extremely long and loud sigh. “It’s because I don’t know when I was born.” I really didn’t want to have this conversation. “Only reason I know the age gap is because of my doctor.” Alice really did help me out a lot back then.

I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t know when I was born. Alice was able to tell approximately how old I was by a blood test, but I digress.

I watched as Pinkie’s hair seemed to deflate a little. She looked up at me with a sad expression, tears even seemed to be forming. “That’s so sad!” She choked out. She stood on her hind legs and wrapped her hoofs around me.

I decided to hug her back because I’m a nice person. After a couple of seconds I broke the hug. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” I pushed past her, looking for my free lunch.

Finally being separated from those two allowed me to find the ‘Cheesy Princess’. I rushed inside as fast as I could. Luckily, there was only a couple of ponies inside. Not so luckily, they instantly ended their conversations and began looking at me. I tried my best to ignore them and walked over to the counter.

Red Domino was behind the counter, pushing buttons on the cash register. I really wanted my pizza so I tapped the counter twice. She instantly looked my way and smiled. “Hey, Saint.”

“Hi.” I then pointed towards the stack of menus she had on the counter. “Sooo, I came to cash in on that pizza.” I was starting to get really hungry.

She looked at what I was pointing to, then looked back at me with a smile. “Of course, just take a seat and I’ll get you what you want.” She said while floating a menu over to me. I grabbed it and went to go sit down at the same spot Spike and I used yesterday.

After looking over the menu, I decided to just get one large cheese pizza and a water. Considering there’s no meat toppings, and several toppings were things I couldn’t eat, cheese was all I could get. I set down the menu and started to wait for Red to come over and take my order.

After waiting a couple of minutes, I watched as the menu started to glow a familiar color. I turned around and watched Twilight trot over and sit in front of me. She opened the menu with her magic and examined its contents. “You know my meal is free right?” I asked Twilight. I’m hoping she knows I’m not paying for her meal.

“I figured that.” I watched as she sat the menu down on the table. “I can pay for myself, don’t worry.” She smiled at me. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could she continued. “Also, I’m sorry.” Her smiled instantly turned into a frown.

“For?”

“I shouldn’t have pushed you like that. I didn’t know it was personal.” She sounded sincere.

“About my age? It’s fine, it’s not really a big deal.” I started cracking my knuckles. Twilights ears twitched a bit and she flinched with each crack. “Also, what took you so long? I thought you were right behind me.

“Pinkie wanted to talk about something.” She shifted her gaze to the other booths. I followed her gaze, and to my surprise, I saw Red trotting over. Quill and notepad in her magical grasp.

I smiled as I watched her approach. “Sorry about that. Now what can I get you two?”

Twilight ended up only ordering hay fries, while I had my large pizza and water. After Red left to actually make our food, Twilight and I just sat in silence, just enjoying each other’s company, until I remembered something from earlier. “Wait. What’s a Grand Galloping Gala?” I was guessing that it was some type of party, but that’s all I knew.

“It’s a ball that the princesses host. It only happens once a year.” Twilight responded. Ok good, just like I expected, it’s a party.

“When is it?”

“It’s in a few months. My friends and I should be getting our tickets soon.” I started choking on air after Twilight finished that sentence. I definitely was not expecting that. “Are you okay!?” Twilight asked with worry and concern in her voice.

I pounded my chest a couple of times. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Why does it take so long to plan a stupid ball? I needed to speak to them as soon as possible. “It’s just that I can’t wait a couple of months.” I finished while finally calming down.

Twilight seemed to relax as well. “I was planning on going to Canterlot to visit my parents next week.” She smiled at me as she continued. “Would you like to come?”

“How does meeting your parents help me?” I started to get annoyed.

Twilight seemed to notice the annoyance in my voice, because her smile turned into a frown. “Well, I might be able to at least see princess Celista for a few minutes.”

“Oh shit. Then I’d definitely like to come.” I was excited to know that I could speak to the princesses much earlier than planned.

Red ended up bringing our food by. Twilight and I ate while casually talking about meeting her parents. I also decided to be a nice person and give Twilight a few slices.

After we both finished, Red stopped by with the bill. Just like she promised, my meal was completely free and the only thing on the bill was the hay fries. After Twilight payed for her food, we both headed towards the exit.

After exiting the building, Twilight took the lead by walking in front of me. I followed behind her while watching the ponies of Ponyville pass by.

We didn’t walk for long because Twilight stopped suddenly, almost making me bump into her. At first I thought we were at the library, but instead, we were standing in front of an unfamiliar building.

The building was very elegant. It had large windows on the ground floor with purple and white adorning the entire building. I figured it was some type of beauty store, which made me think, did the ponies use makeup and stuff? I mean, I definitely couldn’t tell, at the end of the day, they were still ponies.

But the image of a beauty store was instantly ruined. “This a ride?” I asked, wondering why there was a merry-go-round at the top.

Twilight giggled at me as if she thought I was joking. “Of course it’s not.” She pushed the door open with a hoof and trotted in. A dinging sound could be heard as we entered the building. I looked around and noticed many pony shaped mannequins. Some of the mannequins were even wearing clothing, which was weird considering that the ponies don’t seem to wear any. There were also several full body mirrors in the room, but I had to bend down to actually use those.

“One moment please!” A familiar elegant voice could be heard in a distant room. I looked down at Twilight and she was looking up at me.

“Why are we in a clothing shop?” I asked, while raising a eyebrow.

“Well, I’ve been thinking.” She trotted up to one of the mannequins.

“That’s usually a good thing.” I moved over and stood next to her and examined the mannequins. It was wearing a classic tuxedo with a red tie to match.

“You know what I meant!” She huffed, while turning to look at me. I paid her no mind as I went to go look at the other pony clothes.

I didn’t get much time to look because that elegant voice from earlier spoke again. “Welcome t-... Oh, hello, Twilight dear.” I looked over and saw the white unicorn from yesterday.

Twilight must have not been paying attention, because she jumped a bit when the other unicorn spoke. “Hi Rarity, I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

Rarity beamed at the opportunity to help Twilight. “Of course darling. What ever do you need?” Excitement clearly evident in her voice.

“Well, it’s not me you’ll be helping.” Twilight then trotted over to me and swatted me in the back with her tail. “I was wondering if you could help him.”

It only took a second for me to register what she had said. “The fuck?” I turned to look at her. All she did was smile up at me. I looked over at Rarity and she seemed to be just as perplexed as me. I’m glad Rarity had seen me before, she wasn’t freaking out or staring like the others.

“With what darling?” Rarity asked while shifting her gaze back to Twilight.

“Yeah, with what?” I crossed my arms while glaring at Twilight.

Her smile didn’t fade at all. “Well, I’ve noticed you’re always wearing those clothes.” She gestured towards my suit. “And I’ve been thinking that maybe you needed more.” Well, she certainly was right, even if my suit was washed, I still felt pretty gross in it.

“What makes you assume that?” I asked, curious as to how Twilight came to this conclusion.

“Well, you’ve been wearing that ever since you got here. And the only time you took it off was to shower.” She started pacing back and forth. “And you kept the towel wrapped around you until you were able to wear it again.” She stopped pacing and looked back at me and Rarity.

“I’d love to make clothing for you, Saint!” Rarity chimed in. “It is pretty uncouth to wear the same thing everyday.” She began to trot deeper into the building.

“I’m impressed.” I began while leaning against an empty wall. “You assumed all that just from my behavior?”

Twilight smiled brightly “I’ve been studying you as much as I can.” She trotted up to me and continued. “I’ve also been studying your stuff, so far, I couldn’t really tell what the metal balls were, but your weapons are made out of materials I’ve never seen before!” She seemed to be bouncing in place.

“It’s a newly discovered metal where I’m from,” I added, making her even more excited.

“Really!? So far all I can tell is that it’s not from Equestria... I would have studied your clothes, but they were being washed.” She continued

“Creepy.” I muttered while trying to slide away from her.

Twilight must’ve heard me because her ears flopped down. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She looked away from me with a frown.

I couldn’t help but let out a loud sigh. “I’m fucking with you.”

Twilight instantly brightened up at that. “Good, I thought I really did creep you out.” Her smile came back. She continued speaking though. “Then there’s your helmet. I haven’t had the chance to study it either, but what did you mean by turn it on?” She was looking me over as she asked this.

“I have so much to show you, Twilight, but I will eventually.” I replied. I definitely would show her everything one day.

“I trust that you will, Saint.” She smiled warmly at me.

The moment we had going was ruined as Rarity entered the room carrying a bunch of measuring tape along with a notepad and quill. She was levitating it all with a blue aura next to her. ”Sorry for the wait. Right this way darling.” Rarity guided me over to a raised platform that was surrounded by mirrors.

I stood in the center and raised both of my arms. Rarity started measuring my body while writing my measurements in the notepad. “I can’t wait to see you in a suit, Saint. It would be simply define.” She spoke in her usual elegant tone.

“I was hoping for something simple.” I spoke while looking away from her gaze.

“Simple! I can’t just give you something simple darling.” She finished her measurements and went to go back deeper into her shot.

But luckily, Twilight came to my rescue. “He’s right, Rarity. Maybe when the Grand Galloping Gala comes around you can make a suit for him.”

Rarity frowned at Twilight. After a couple of seconds she responded. “I suppose I could do something simple. But when I make the suit it’s going to be the center of attention!”

I just rolled my eyes and then I remembered something important. “Hey, Rarity, can you help me with something?” I asked while rubbing the back of my head.

Both Twilight and Rarity looked at me with curiosity. “Of course I could darling! Right this way.” She began to trot deeper into the building.

I looked over at Twilight and she was still looking at me with curiosity. “Just head back to the library. I don’t know how long this is gonna take.” I turned around and followed Rarity

“It’s fine. I’ll wait outside.” Twilight responded. I don’t know why she was planning on waiting outside.

I met back up with Rarity, we were standing in a room which I believe to be her workshop. Yarn and fabric of all kinds were sitting on shelves. Unfinished clothing project were displayed on a table next to some stitching machines.

“What did you need darling?” Rarity questioned.

“Think you could do my hair.” I asked while pointing up at it.

Rarity just stared at me for a second. Not saying anything. Then she just smiled brightly. “I would love to!” She levitated me over to a chair with a massive mirror in front of it. She sat me down in the chair, which ended up being way to small for me. “So, what can I do for it?” She spoke while ignoring my discomfort.

I took off my glasses and set them to the side. I stared at myself in the mirror. My one brown eye looking back at me. My short black curly hair was messy and dirty. I definitely did look like a mess. I tried to ignore Rarity’s concerned looks at my one glossy eye. I honestly didn’t care much about it, I was just hoping it would heal eventually. “Think you could straighten it and dye it purple?” I thought back to the deal I had with my ex team member.

I bet he’d be surprised when I came to save him with my hair actually being purple. I couldn’t help but smile thinking back about Charlie. “I could do that. What shade of purple were you thinking?” Rarity said cutting into my memories.

“Ever seen a gengar?” Gengar was always my favorite Pokémon. I definitely would like nice with that color.

“A gang what?” Rarity asked. Guess Pokémon isn’t a thing here.

“Never mind.” I thought about getting dark purple but then a wild thought hit me. “What about Twilights coat?”

Rarity gave me a mischievous grin. “Any reason you’d like that color?” She asked while hitting my shoulder with a hoof. All I did was shake my head and roll my eyes. After a while Rarity let out a giggle. “It shouldn’t be long.” Then she went to town on my hair.

After roughly ten minutes of Rarity doing her thing and me just zoning out,she finished and patted me on the shoulder. “Voilá!” I was snapped out of my daze and I looked myself in the mirror.

She definitely did a good job. My hair was straightened and purple just like I asked. My hair was longer and hanging lower on the right, it was slightly blocking my right eye’s field of view, but then again, it doesn’t matter since that was that eye had been blinded.

“Perfect.” I said while moving the hair out of my eyes and grabbing my glasses. I slid them on as I stood back up. Luckily, the glasses kept my hair from covering my eyes.

“I’m glad you like it.” Rarity spoke in a sweet and gentle tone.

“Thanks, Rairty, I will definitely find a way to pay you back.” I began stretching and cracking my fingers.

Rarity’s ears twitched at each crack. “Don’t worry about that darling. Anything for a friend in need.” I didn’t consider her a friend, but I guess I can pretend I do.

“Thank you.” I moved past her and headed back to the entrance. “Also, when do you think the clothes will be done?” I spoke while reaching for the door.

“Sometime tomorrow dear. I will see you then.” She called out.

I exited the shop and found Twilight standing off to the side, watching the ponies of Ponyville go about their day.

I stood next to her and watched some of the ponies pass us by. “Sorry it took so long.” I then noticed that there weren’t that many ponies about. I guess it was getting later in the day, but usually there would be more mingling around.

“It okay. I wasn’t wai-.” Twilight abruptly stopped talking. I looked over at her and saw that she was staring at my new haircut.

“Like what you see?” I jokingly asked.

Twilight shook her head repeatedly, apparently trying to snap herself out of her daze. “Yes.” Was the only thing she said as she began trotting away from me.

I quickly followed behind her and continued. “Don’t think too deeply about it.” I stepped in front of her and began walking backwards.

“If you say so.” I then realized she was blushing slightly.

“Anything else on the agenda?” I’m hoping we can just go home and I can nap.

Twilight shook her head before she replied. “No, I did everything I needed to do.” I was about to turn back around and walk side by side with but something wrapped around my legs.

The thing around my legs instantly tightened. I hopped around for a bit before falling onto my back. I tried to roll over, but before I could, I felt something jump up onto my stomach. “We got em!” A childish voice with a southern accent shouted.

I looked at the pony who jumped me. It turned out to be a filly. She had a yellow coat with a red mane and tail and orangish eyes. To top everything off, she had a huge red bow in her mane. “Nice job, Applebloom!” Another filly spoke with a raspy voice. I looked over at the other filly. This one had an orange coat and tail, with a magenta mane styled into Rainbow Dash’s mane, along with purple eyes. She also had a small pair of wings.

“Fuck off.” I spoke in a cold voice. The filly named Applebloom instantly jumped off of me and hid behind the orange pegasus.

“It can talk!?” Another high pitched voice spoke. I looked over at Twilight and she was trying her hardest not to laugh. Right next to her was a filly unicorn. She had a white coat with a purple tail and mane, both of which had a different shade of purple streaking through it. She had a pair of greenish eyes as well.

After sitting up and untying myself, I stood to my full height and glared at the fillies who practically jumped me. All three of them were huddled behind Twilight.

I let out a loud sigh and rubbed my temples. “Not even worth it.” I muttered. I ended up turning around and just continued on back to the library.

I didn’t get far because Twilight came trotting over to my side. “I’m sorry, those three usually don’t mean any harm.” She spoke in a panic.

“It’s fine.” I spoke without looking down at her. The rest of the walk back home continued in silence. Twilight kept looking up at me when she thought I wasn’t looking. Advantages to wearing sunglasses, no one knows what you’re looking at.

After a couple of minutes, I spotted the treehouse. I let out a sigh, I’m happy to finally be able to rest, though I noticed something off about the library immediately. All of the lights were off. I know for a fact that it hadn’t been like that when Twilight and I had left.

“What?” I turned to look at Twilight.

“I guess Spike came home and went to bed early.” She gave me nervous smile. That definitely did make the most sense. I just shrugged my shoulders and opened the door.

“Damn this bitch dark.” I muttered out loud. My sunglasses made it extremely dark and almost impossible to see inside the building. I went to turn on the lights, hoping that I could see a bit better.

But before I could, a bunch of lights flicked on. “SURP-“ Reacting on instincts, I immediately slammed the door shut. I didn’t have time to think because my body was already running in the opposite direction of the library. But I didn’t get far, because I soon started floating a few feet off the ground.

“Let me go!” I shouted trying to get out of Twilight’s magical grasp.

“Im sorry, Saint.” She spoke quietly.

I stared at her as she lowered her head. “Uhh, you good?” I asked, wondering what her deal was.

“I betrayed your trust. I knew this party was happening. I tried to get Pinkie to stop it, but it’s almost impossible to make her not throw a party.” She sounded like she was about to have a panic attack.

“Jesus, Twilight, relax.” I spoke while crossing my arms in mid air. She lifted her head up to look at me. “Listen, I’m not gonna blame you for something you have no control over. So let’s go sleep at a hotel or something” I pointed in some random direction

Twilight cocked her head to the side thinking of a response. “We can’t! Pinkie takes her parties very seriously. She’d be devastated if we skipped it.”

“And?” I wasn’t seeing a problem here.

“I can’t do that to her!” She said frantically

I let out a loud groan. “Twilight, I specifically remember saying I hated crowds.” I was very annoyed at this point. I had barely gotten a glimpse inside the room, but judging by the many unfamiliar voices I heard shout, I could tell that there was a crowd.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. Just please, bare with it.” She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. I had to look away, I couldn’t fall into the cute trap.

“No.” I closed my eyes and gritted by teeth.

“Please, Saint!” She sounded like she was about to cry. “I know that it’s unfair of me to ask, but I didn’t know what to do!”

I let out a sigh. It actually hurt to hear a pony beg. “Fine.” Twilight instantly seemed to brighten up. “Under three conditions.” I held up three fingers to emphasize.

“Anything.” She smiled up at me.

“One, you can’t leave my side at all throughout the night. Two, I’m sleeping in your bed tonight. Three, if Pinkie plans anymore parties, tell her to keep the guest list under seven.” I watched as Twilight closed her eyes. Pondering everything I said.

“Deal.” Her smile brightened. I watched as the aura around Twilight’s horn died down. I felt myself start to fall, but luckily for me, I landed on both feet. After stretching for a bit, I headed back to the library.

All the lights were still off, so I figured they were waiting till I came back. I cracked open the door a little so I could speak. “Aye yo... my bad, thought the spot was getting robbed... pretend I just walked in for the first time.” I heard a few snickers from inside, but still closed the door.

I turned around and saw Twilight looking up at me with a warm smile. I looked back at the and started breathing in and out. After repeating this a few times, I decided I was ready. I pushed the door open.

Just like before all the lights flipped on. “SURPRISE!” Many ponies from around town were standing inside the lobby of the library. The room was covered in streamers and other party favours.

The ponies who used to stare as I walked by, were now all smiling at me. I instantly felt myself tense up and begin to shake a little. This was why I wasn’t a soldier who fought on a battlefield. The room was easily somehow holding fifty ponies. I didn’t want to move. But my wish was denied because I felt something grab me and pull me to the center of the room.

“Hiya Saint! Nice hair by the way!” Pinkie Pie spoke, holding my hand somehow in her hoof. “Now that the guest of honor has arrived.” She let me go and jumped over to a classical looking phonograph and put the needle onto the record. “Let’s get this party started!” I listened as I realized the song sounded like a old party song from my world.

I watched as all the ponies in the room started doing there own thing. Some were at a punch bowl while others were at a snack bar. Even if I was the guest of honor, I was glad they were leaving me alone.

“What’s this party for exactly?!” I had to shout my question because of the music.

Pinkie smiled brightly at me. “It’s your welcome to Ponyville party of course!” After she finished speaking she went into a giggling fit. “I didn’t expect you to open the door and leave like that.” She was still giggling even after saying that.

“That was hilarious, Saint.” Spike walked up to me with my helmet on his head. I rolled my eyes and angled Spike’s head slightly. I then pressed the button that actually turned on the helmet. “Whoa!” He shouted as I let him go. The helmet must have just lit up, allowing him to see better. After a couple of seconds, he continued. “Awesome!” The time and map must’ve just popped up.

“What is it, Spike?” Twilight’ voice was filled with curiosity and wonder. Everyone around us watched as Spike reached out and tried to grab something.

“You actually can’t touch that stuff.” I tried to hide my laughter slightly.

“Touch what!?” Pinkie Pie spoke while reaching for the helmet.

I quickly swatted her hoof away. “It won’t fit. You’ll probably end up breaking it.” Pinkie began to pout and look at me with puppy dog eyes. I countered this by walking away.

While walking away, I noticed a punch bowl. I instantly headed over to it, because I was honestly thirsty as all hell. I grabbed a cup and poured myself some punch.

I didn’t even get the chance to drink any because the cup was engulfed in a purple aura. I turned around and watched as Twilight approached me.

“Sorry, can’t have you drinking that.” She dumped my cup back into the bowl.

“What, why?” I questioned.

Twilight gave me a confused look. “Because you’re not old enough.”

The dots connected as I realized what it was. I honestly didn’t care, so I grabbed another cup and filled it up as quickly as I could. After it was filled, I walked away while drinking it. “Saint!” She groaned as she followed me. “You’re underaged! You can’t drink that stuff.”

“And?” I tried my hardest to ignore Twilight as I went over to the snack bar. Sadly, there were a bunch of ponies loitering near it. I let out a sigh, annoyed that I’d have to deal with ponies I didn’t know to get something to eat. I decided to just forget it, I then walked away and headed to the door that lead to Twilight’s lab. I was starting to feel claustrophobic.

I didn’t get far, because I noticed Twilight was at my side. “You can’t drink anymore!” She shouted up at me.

“You sound like Beta.” I quickly spat out and went to go push open the door.

Sadly, before I could, I felt something tap my hip. I turned to look at what had tapped me, and it turned out to be Fluttershy from earlier. “Yes?” I questioned.

She let out a squeak as she looked down. I watched as her hoof seemed to be tracing the wooden floor. “Welcome to Ponyville.” She muttered quietly.

“Thanks.” I focused my attention back at the door. Sadly, Twilight was standing in my way, giving me another stern look.

“You can’t skip the party, Saint.” She said, unmoving from her location.

I let out a loud sigh and groan. “Whatever.” I started to lean against the wall next to the door. I honestly enjoy partying, but only with people that I actually know and trust.

I sometimes ended up partying with my team. We only did it after completing a difficult mission. Delta always invited a bunch of doctors and engineers which always made Beta, Charlie, and I uncomfortable.

Then there were the parties with Alice and Sara. Sometimes we would get together and just hang out like friends. But sometimes Alice would invite her classmates from the learning program. So, sometimes Sara and I ended up standing in a corner, awkwardly watching her talk with her friends.

My train of thought was ruined as I felt something poke my knees. “Hi girls.” I heard Twilight say. I looked down and saw the three fillies who jumped me. The unicorn was the one who poked me.

“Sorry, for earlier mister.” The unicorn spoke. All three of the fillies bowed their heads slightly.

“It’s cool, I’ve been jumped before, nothing new.”

“Really!?” All three of them spoke in unison. I didn’t understand why they were so excited.

“Yeah” I smirked adding to their excitement.

“What happened, did you beat them all up?” The orange filly was rapidly flapping her tiny wings.

“Guess you could say that. So, why’d you jump me?”

All of them looked away with sheepish grins. “I heard my sister and Rainbow Dash talking ‘bout some monster.” The southern filly spoke. “She said it took Twilight hostage!”

I rolled my eyes at hearing this. I was about to say something but the filly unicorn spoke next. “So we thought we could get our cutie marks in hostage rescuing!”

“That would make for a cool mark.” I encouraged the three fillies. “Keep trying for that one.” All three of the fillies smiled brightly at my words. I decided to walk away before any of them could try continuing the conversation.

After moving throughout the crowd of ponies, and stealthily grabbing another cup of punch, I spotted something that annoyed me. I saw Rainbow talking to the farm pony. I was curious as to why she came, knowing it was my party, and that I didn’t like her. I decided it was a bad idea to pick a fight, so I just ignored her.

After an hour of me just stuffing cupcakes down my throat, dragging Twilight around, and being forced to talk to random party guests, the party was finally over. During the party I ended up getting a severe migraine, it felt like Beta had somehow gotten into my head and was trying to use his hammer to break out. Sadly, I couldn’t rest yet because the only ponies who remained were Twilight and her friends. Spike was passed out next to the stairs with my helmet on.

I went over to him and tried to pry it off his head, I would be pretty upset if he got drool inside of it. “What are you doing?” I heard Twilight question from behind me.

After successfully pulling the helmet off, I held it in my hands. “Getting my helmet back. Shits expensive,” I forced out from between clenched teeth before turning to face her.

“Expensive how? It looks like a simple design.” Rarity decided to join the conversation.

“Why the fuck are you still here? Actually scratch that.” I then pointed to each of the extra ponies in the room. “The fuck are you all doing here?”

Fluttershy hid behind Twilight, while Rarity backed away. Pinkie jumped in front of me and spoke in her usual bubbly cheerful tone. “To help clean up of course!” She jumped over to a half eaten cupcake on a bookshelf and ate it.

I just rolled my eyes and sat down on the stairs Spike was on, obviously moving up a bit so I didn’t sit on him and closed my eyes and began to massage my temples to try to ease the pain I was in. “Before I forget.” I turned my head and cracked my eye open, looking over at Twilight and gesturing for her to move. She obeyed and moved, showing the shy pegasus. “You know any manticores?” I don’t remember seeing that many yellow ponies, so I was betting on her being the one.

She perked her head up a bit. “I do.... why?” She asked, unable to keep eye contact with me.

“A pair helped me out.” I stood up and walked over to her and kneeled down. “I wanna see if I can find them and say thanks.” I spoke as softly as I could, both to not scare her and to keep the pounding in my head from getting worse.

“I know a couple. I might be able to help.” She looked at me and smiled. I couldn’t help but smile back. I wonder if she knows they can talk.

I turned back around and headed back to the stairs. I didn’t get far because Twilight slide in front of me. “You met a manticore?!” She shouted up at me, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut and wince.

I moved past her and continued towards the stairs. “Yeah, they pointed me in this direction.” I took a step up the stairs and turned around to face the ponies. “Catch.” I threw my helmet at Twilight, and just like I expected, she caught it in her magic. “It’s already on, so do your thing. Also, don’t break it.” I doubt she’d actually break it, but just to be on the safe side.

I watched as all the ponies eyes were glued onto the helmet. “If you girls want, you can use it.” All of them had looks of nervousness. Well, besides Pinkie and Rainbow, they both looked pretty excited. “Actually, not you.” I pointed a finger towards Rainbow.

“What?! Why not?” She shouted as she began glaring at me. I winced again at the shouting. What was it with these ponies and loud noises?

“Cause fuck you, that’s why.” I was actually tired of her. I probably would’ve strangled her by now if it wasn’t for the fact that she’s Twilights friend. I stepped off the step and slowly walked towards her. “Ever since I got here you’ve been a pain in my ass.” The room was deadly quite, all that could be heard was Fluttershy’s whimpering

“Why don’t y’all just get along now.” The farm pony spoke.

“Can it, Applejack!” Rainbow shouted while flapping her wings repeatedly.

Everyone in the room gasped. “Rainbow, calm down.” Twilight spoke calmly.

“Why should I?!” Rainbow shouted while glaring at Twilight. I honestly didn’t care about her little temper tantrum and my migraine had only gotten worse with all of the yelling. So I turned around and headed back to the stairs.

After climbing up them, I instantly made a beeline towards Twilights bed. I set my glasses down onto her desk and threw myself onto her bed. Turns out, it was incredibly soft and comfortable. She even had a bunch of violet pillows. Sadly, my legs hung off the side, so I was forced to curl my body into a ball just to sleep.

Sadly I didn’t get to sleep as I heard the sound of hoofs against wood. A moment later, Twilight began speaking. “Sorry about Rainbow. She’ll come around eventually.” I’m hoping she doesn’t, hearing her voice hurts my ears.

“It’s fine.” I turned around to face her. She was holding my helmet in her magical grasp next to her.

“I’m going to study for a bit then head to bed.” She spoke with a soft voice.

“Okay. Night Twilight.” I turned back away from her and snuggled against the pillows.

“Thank you. And goodnight.” I listened as she left the bedside and headed downstairs.

I’m hoping next week comes by fast so I can meet the rulers of this stupid place. Hopefully I can convince the rulers to help me out. But I’m mainly hoping that everyone back home is safe. I will find a way back and I’ll save them. And that’s a promise.

Chapter 3: Spreading The Word

After sleeping on an amazing bed for a day, then sleeping on a rough couch for the next six, Twilight and I were ready for the trip to her parents. Throughout my entire week in Ponyville, I was practically always in the library, all I did was nap and beg Twilight to pick me up pizza.

Of course, every time I asked, I had to answer a bunch of questions about my world. Most of it was just general knowledge about technology and mortality. I answered them to the best of my abilities, leaving out certain details I had a feeling she would prefer not to hear. Twilight was generous enough to not ask me personal questions, but she did ask a lot about my gear though.

“I still can’t believe there’re over 9 billion humans!” Twilight was bouncing in place next to me.

“I still can’t believe you’re so excited about that,” I muttered. Currently, Twilight and I were standing in front of the Ponyville Train Station. Twilight had already purchased our tickets, so all we had to do was wait for the train to arrive.

“Why shouldn’t I be?!” Twilight was attracting unwanted attention. Sure enough, literally every pony at the station was staring at us.

“Because, it’s not that important.” I lowered my glasses and glared at the eavesdropping ponies. All of them instantly looked away, pretending that nothing happened. “Keep it down though,” I whispered to Twilight while adjusting my glasses.

“Sorry.” She looked up with a sheepish smile. All I could do was sigh. “Well, maybe Ponyville wouldn’t treat you like an outsider if you actually interacted with any of us.” Her sheepish smile turned into a frown.

“Did that party not happen?”

“Yes, but that’s all you did! You only left the library twice. And that was to get your clothes from Rarity.” Her frown turned into a stern look. Rarity did a better job then I thought she would. She made me a couple of long sleeve shirts due to it now being fall in Equestria. The shirts were made out of cotton, which felt amazing against my skin. So far, she had only made two shirts. One was white, while the other was black, neither had a design to them.

Rarity also made me a pair of sweatpants. When I first told her what they were, she freaked out. She kept screaming at me about how it would be a disgrace to the fashion industry. After convincing her that they were extremely stylish where I came from, she gladly made them for me.

The extremely awkward thing though was that I forgot about underwear. I don’t wear anything underneath my suit, so it’s not like I had a pair with me. So my second visit to her shop was to tell her how to make underwear. Luckily, she was able to successfully make a pair before Twilight and I left.

“I think you’re mad cause I’m fly.” I gestured towards my outfit

“What does that mean?” Twilight asked while cocking her head to the side.

“Means I look nice.” I flipped my hair, moving it out from my vision. My hair was still the same color as Twilight’s coat, which she hated because she had to deal with teasing from Spike and Pinkie Pie on the occasions when she visited.

“I suppose you look nice.” She quietly said.

I was about to call her a hater until a loud whistle filled the air. I watched as an old locomotive train pulled up to the station. The doors on the side of the train’s passenger cars opened and ponies began to pour out. After the flow of ponies exiting the cars ended, the pony who I assumed was the conductor stepped out. “Let’s go,” I said as I started walking to the entrance of one of the closer cars.

I showed him my ticket and ducked down into the train at the same time. After that, I instantly started heading towards the back. I was hoping I could get a seat away from everyone else.

I sat down and let out a sigh, while Twilight took a seat in front of me and sat her saddlebags to the side. “I can’t wait to catch up with my family.” She mumbled as I watched her open her saddlebags using magic, pull out a massive book, and open it.

“Wait, how long is this train ride?” I asked, worried to hear the answer.

“Two hours. Didn’t I tell you?” She had a mischievous grin as she finished.

“No!”

Twilight let out a giggle. “Here.” She opened her saddlebags and pulled out something that actually surprised me. “Maybe they are for entertainment. I wish you could just tell me.” She floated over an impact grenade and gently sat it on my hand.

“One day.” I smiled and started to balance it on my palm. Only two other ponies entered the cart Twilight and I were in. It was only a filly and what I assumed was her guardian. They both sat closer to the front of the cart, sending a couple of glances my way.

After a couple of minutes of me just balancing the grenade on my hand, the train let out a loud whistle and started to move. I wasn’t ready for the sudden motion, so I ended up dropping the impact grenade. Somehow, it ended up rolling to the front of the cart. “For fuck sake,” I muttered as I stood up to go grab my things.

Before I could get it, I watched as the filly got out of her seat and grabbed it using her mouth.

“Uhh...” I awkwardly spoke.

She trotted up to me and held her head high. I assumed she was letting me grab it. “Oh, thanks.” I grabbed the grenade from her mouth and started to wipe her saliva onto my shirt.

“No problem mister.” The filly spoke with a lisp that I found adorable. She was a normal pony who had a pale coat with a red curly mane and tail. She was wearing large purple glasses with magenta eyes behind them.

I smiled at her and bent down. “Thanks.” I gently rubbed her head.

I heard a muffled laugh come from my right. I looked over and saw a familiar looking pony. “Sorry, I just didn’t expect you to be good with children.” She spoke in a sweet tone. I assumed it was the fillies mother. She had a pale coat with a red mane and tail. The only difference between the two was that the mother’s mane and tail were straightened and she had cobalt eyes. Just like her filly, she was a normal pony.

“Have I seen you before?” I stood up and began examining the pony.

“Well, I was at your welcome party.” She finished with a soft smile.

“That makes sense.” I nodded while turning and walking away. “Well, cya around.” I quickly shuffled back over to Twilight to avoid a conversation.

“Have a good day!” The adorable filly called out. I went back over to Twilight, and just like before, I sat across from her. Twilight seemed like she was deeply focused on her book, so I choose not to disturb her.

The two-hour train ride was awful. For some random reason, the filly and her mother decided to move next to me. They tried to engage in small talk with me, which didn’t go well since I kept my responses extremely short and didn’t try to contribute anything to the conversation.

They eventually gave up on the boring chit chat and went on to questions about me. The only questions I answered were my name and stuff about Earth. Any personal questions I decided not to answer by saying ‘to personal’.

“Have a good day, Saint.” Sugar Crash, the mother said. She stood up and headed towards the exit.

“Bye, Alpha!” Twist, the filly said while handing me back one of my grenades and following her mother. I ended up giving her one to play with because she asked me to, apparently she thought it was a metal ball.

“Alpha?” Twilight questioned. I looked over and saw her floating her book back into her saddlebag.

“She has trouble pronouncing Saint. So I told her my nickname.” I stood up and slid the grenades back into my pockets. I then headed towards the exit of the car and stepped out onto the Canterlot Train Station.

I instantly noticed that the train station here looked ten times better than the one in Ponyville. It was a lot fancier and very clean. Not many ponies were present, but the ones that were were wearing fancy clothing. The mares were wearing dresses of sorts while the stallions were wearing suits.“What type of city was this again?” I turned around and questioned Twilight.

“It’s the capital of Equestria. It’s where all the nobles live.” She trotted over and stood by my side. I watched as some of the fancy ponies entered the train cart, while others gawked at me. “Come on, I wanna see Princess Celestia before I see my parents.”

I turned around and followed Twilight. She lead me out of the train station and into the actual city of Canterlot.

I only took a couple of steps into the city, but I spun around and examined my surroundings. “Wow.” I muttered. The entire city seemed to be connected to the side of a mountain. The only reason why I knew this was because in the distance a waterfall was coming down from the mountain the city was attached to.

Following the path of the waterfall, I noticed a massive castle. I couldn’t really tell what it was made out of due to how far away I was, but I was able to see that it had a couple of towers that went up pretty high.

“That was always my favorite part of this place.” I spun around and looked at Twilight with a dumbfounded expression.

“Why can’t we live here?!” I questioned.

“Because, all my friends are in Ponyville of course.” She started to trot off as she finished her sentence. I quickly hurried after her and stayed by her side.

Twilight and I kept a steady pace as we walked down the cobblestone road. We passed by many buildings with very fancy architecture. Some buildings had marble pillars, while others were stores with glass panes showing off their fancy clothing and jewelry. The place was definitely nicer than Ponyville, but something about it was off.

I spun around and saw all the ponies staring at me, watching my every move. Examining me. It made me feel cold and sick. “Twilight, anyway we can get breakfast?” My voice filled with unease.

“Oh sure. I know this amazing donut place we can go to.” She must have realized I stopped walking because she was closer than I expected. “But, are you ok?”

I sadly shook my head. “In all honesty, no I’m not. I feel cold and sick.” I emphasized my coldness by wrapping my arms around my sides. In an attempt to hug myself.

“Maybe you’re just hungry. We did come here pretty early.” She was right about that. She woke me up at around 6 and I told her to wake me up later and went back to sleep. She woke me up an hour later, telling me how the train was going to be here soon. I had to quickly get changed into my new clothes and leave, causing me to miss breakfast.

“Yeah,” I muttered quietly. I followed Twilight as she lead me down street after street. No words were said, which made everything worse, but we eventually made it after only a couple minutes of walking.

“I was expecting Dunkin’. But this will do I guess.” I scratched the back of my head as I read the sign. Twilight and I were currently standing in front of a building that had a sign that said ‘Donut Joe’s’. But the sign also had a massive pink frosted donut on it.

“What’s Dunkin’?” I looked over and saw Twilight gazing at me with curiosity in her eyes.

“Same thing as Donut Joe’s I guess.” I walked towards the building and entered it. A bell could be heard chiming with the opening of the door. My nostrils were instantly hit with the smell of frosting and donuts. The inside actually reminded me of a donut place from my world. They had mismatching tile flooring and small tables along the sides of the shop where you could eat. The counter was filled with donuts and other good looking pastries on display. The windows had a promotion for some special deal they had going on today, but I couldn’t be bothered to read it.

The only thing that was different from the donut shops I had been to was that instead of a human cashier, there was a male unicorn. He had a light yellowish coat with a brown mane and green eyes. His tail was currently being blocked by the counter. He was wearing an apron and a miniature chefs hat to complete his look. “Long time no see, Twilight.” The stallion called while waving us over.

“Hey, Joe.” Twilight began trotting over to counter. I quietly followed behind her with a confused expression on my face.

“What can I get you two?” He questioned her with a bright smile after Twilight and I had made it to the counter. Twilight was looking over all the donuts and acting as if nothing was strange.

“Ok, I’ll ask. You’re the only pony who acts as if they’ve seen me before. What gives?” I crossed both of my arms and waited for a response from Joe.

“I’ve seen all types of species. I’ve seen dragons, griffins, and diamond dogs.” He then gestured with a hoof towards his various donuts. “At the end of the day, we all like donuts.” He finished with a grin.

“Definitely, right on that one.” I looked down at Twilight who seemed to still be deciding on what to get. “I’ll take whatever you get.”

“You sure?” She looked up at me with a confused look.

“Positive.” I walked away and sat at one of the nearby tables. Sadly, the table was really low to the ground, so I was very uncomfortable with how I was sitting.

I attempted to play with my impact grenade, but I still felt extremely cold and sick, making me not want to move. So, I decided to let it sit in the center of the table.

It didn’t take long till I heard the clopping of hooves approaching me. “Hopefully I didn’t make you wait long.” I heard Twilight say from behind me.

“Nah.” I gently shook my head. Twilight slipped her saddlebags off and gently sat down right next to me and floated over two brown paper bags onto the table. I quickly grabbed one and opened it to see its contents. All it had were two chocolate donuts with chocolate sprinkles.“Can’t go wrong with chocolate.” I muttered as I took one out and bit into it.

It tasted far better than any donut I’d ever had before so I quietly kept munching on the delicious treat. The quietness didn’t last long though, as I heard Twilight start to hum. “I still can’t believe I can’t figure out what these are.” I looked up from my snack and watched Twilight as she levitated my grenade around.

“You probably can’t make them here, that’s why. Well, I hope you can’t.” I quickly snatched it out of the air using my free hand and held it on the palm of my hand.

Twilight looked at me with a frown. “Why don’t you just tell me? I thought you trusted me.”

I looked at her with my own frown. “I do trust you, Twilight. It’s just that I don’t know if I shou-“ I was completely cut off as the bell from earlier rang.

“Twilight, I heard you were back in town!” A male voice shouted. I looked over and watched as a stallion came trotting over and sat right next to Twilight.

The stallion had a blue mane and tail. His mane was straightened and long enough to cover his dark blue eyes a bit. He had a cyan coat with a cyan horn to match. “How’s it been.” He continued. He wasn’t paying attention to me at all, his focus being on Twilight.

“Hey, Blue Bridge!”Twilight erratically said. I tapped my grenade on the table, getting the attention of both the ponies.

Blue Bridge looked at me with an annoyed glance. “I also heard you had a pet monkey.” I felt my eye twitch a bit at hearing that.

I gently slipped the grenade back into my pocket and looked at Blue. “I ain’t no pet.” I tried to speak in the deepest and most intimidating way possible.

Twilights ears flopped down while Blue looked dumbfounded. “Wait, you can actually talk!” I was about to say another comeback, but Blue kept talking. “I didn’t know you were that good with magic, Twi!”

I let out a sigh, I still didn’t feel better, and I was too sick to deal with this. So I decided to just pick up my donut and continue where I left off. “Well anyways, what have you been up to?” Blue tried to continue his conversation with Twilight.

“I’ve been good I suppose. How’s my brother been?” I’ve heard very little about Twilight's brother. Only that he’s some type of ruler of an empire.

“He’s been fine. Just been busy being a prince I suppose” Blue chuckled as he finished. I tried my hardest not to react to learning that Twilight was related to a prince.

“Yeah, I’m sure he and Cadence are doing a fine job of ruling the Crystal Empire .”

“Yeah, but you’re here to visit your parents, right?” Blue leaned in and waited for Twilights response.

“Yep.” Twilight nodded after answering.

“Suppose I could walk you there.” I almost choked on my donut as I watched Blue get up and walk towards the exit.

I stood up and looked at Twilight. “Who the fuck is that?” I angrily said after finishing my donut.

Twilight gave me a weird look as she stood up as well. “He’s just my brother’s friend is all.” She grabbed her saddlebags and headed towards the exit. Right before she got to the exit, she threw a crumpled up brown paper bag into the trash can.

I let out a sigh and just grabbed my second donut and took a bite. Once I did that, I crumpled my paper bag and threw it away. I then headed for the exit with my donut in hand.

Once I was outside, I began to stretch while rubbing my stomach with my free hand. I still felt sick, and the food wasn’t helping. But I would feel bad if I just threw it away. “Follow close now little guy.” I looked down and saw Blue looking at me with a smile.

“I’m not a pet for fucks sake,” I growled while angrily finishing my entire donut.

Blue looked shocked at first, but before he could respond, Twilight cut in. “He’s right, Blue, he isn’t my pet. Or a pet at all actually.”

Blue looked over to Twilight with a confused expression. “So, he’s not a hairless monkey?”

I let out a sigh and just shook my head. “Nope! He’s actually from another world. He’s called a human.” Twilight responded for me.

Blue looked at me with a look of excitement. “Really!?” Then his looked changed to one of sorrow. “Sorry, about that, I didn’t know.”

“It’s whatever.” I pointed ahead of us with a finger. “Let’s just get this over with.”

And just like that, we began walking through the city, heading towards the massive castle. Blue and Twilight chatted away while I just looked at the oncoming ponies.

The ponies of Canterlot had this sophisticated vibe to them. It made me want to speak without slang, dress fancy, and actually mind my manners. A majority of the ponies were unicorns, but all of them had their eyes on me when I passed by.

My investigation was cut off as I heard Blue speak up. “Hey, what’s your name exactly?”

My eyes flicked to Blue and I watched as a dark blue aura around his horn died down. “It’s Saint.” I suspiciously spoke.

He had a frown on his face as he continued to ask questions. “Twilight said you’re from a place called Earth.” I nodded once. “What kind of job did you have in Earth?”

I squinted my eyes behind my glasses and looked away. “I cleaned up trash.” I technically wasn’t lying since I did kill people who were considered ‘trash’.

I was suspicious of Blue, I was thinking he had cast the lie detection spell on me. I looked at Twilight and she was looking at me with a weird look. “What?” I asked.

“You collected trash?” She raised an eyebrow and awaited my answer.

“No.” I quickly flicked my eyes to Blue, but kept my head facing Twilight. He had a glare on his face while his horn was glowing a faint Blue. “It’s a long story that I’ll tell you when we get back home.” My eyes flicking back to Twilight.

She looked away from me and shook her head. “If you say so.” She muttered. I looked back at Blue and he was staring off to the side of us.

I looked over and noticed we were passing by an alleyway. “Hey, Saint, let me show you a great view of the waterfall.” My eyes twitched as I looked back at Blue, who was looking at me with a big grin.

“Pass.” I didn’t hesitate in saying this. I didn’t trust Blue, he was creepy and I was getting a bad feeling from being next to him.

Twilight turned around, forcing us to stop our walk. “You should go, Saint. It’s always good to learn the layout of Canterlot.”

I’ve never wanted to strangle someone as badly as I did at that moment. I looked at Twilight with a frown. “No, I don’t plan on being here longer than I have to.”

“Aww, come on now.” Now Blue began speaking with a fake sadness in his voice. “It won’t even be that long.”

I kept shaking my head. “The princess is a lot more important.” I kept trying to persuade them into dropping the detour.

Twilight frowned, but then then changed it into a smile. “I’ll meet you two at the castle. I wanna talk to Celestia alone first anyway. Blue, show him around, but don’t take long.” She then turned around and headed towards the castle.

“This bitch,” I muttered while rubbing my temples.

I looked over at Blue, and he was wearing a bright smile. “It’s this way.” He said while walking towards the alleyway. Which I wasn’t surprised by.

After taking a couple of deep breaths, I followed him. I stepped into the alleyway and began walking to the other side. “I think Canterlot is a lot nicer than Ponyville,” Blue spoke while backing up slightly, letting me walk side by side with him.

“I agree.” I was getting more suspicious by the second. Everything felt wrong.

We walked in silence for a couple of seconds, yet those seconds felt like minutes. The only sound that could be heard was the clopping of hooves, and my boots hitting the stone ground.

Sadly, the silence was broken as Blue began to speak. “So, what’s your real name?” My heart dropped as I stopped walking. Blue stopped directly in front of me and took an aggressive stance. “What’s the point of lying about your name?”

I let out a sigh and crossed my arms. “I’m not lying though.” Right as I finished speaking, I felt it. My entire body felt like it was on fire, as if someone lit me on fire with a match. I dropped to my knees and tried to scream, but nothing was coming out.

Then it stopped suddenly. It just disappeared, as if nothing happened at all. I tried to stand back up, but my legs felt sore.“The fuck was that.” I croaked out.

“That’s what happens when you lie.” Blue sounded smug. I looked up and watched as he began to approach me. His horn started glowing a dark blue, and seconds later, I felt myself get lifted into the air.

“What’s the point of this!” I shouted.

Blue frowned and shook his head. “A chaotic force appears in the Everfree. Then the next day, Twilight sends a message to Princess Celestia about a new species.” Then his changed to a more angry look. “That’s not a coincidence.”

I tried to move my body, but I couldn’t. “How do you even know that!” I growled.

Blue let out a groan. “That’s not important. What’s important is you telling me why you’re in Equestria.”

“Kill yourself.” I spat at him. Blue shook his head and his horn started glowing brighter. “Ok! Chill out for a second.” I continued.

Blue gave me a confused look as his horn died down. “So you’re going to talk?” He asked.

“Somewhat, just let me move for a second.” Blue gave me a flat stare. “It’s uncomfortable to talk without being able to move.”

“I’m not stupid.” He protested.

I gave him my own flat stare. “You’re a fucking unicorn. Just grab me if I try to do anything.”

Blue had a look of realization as he nodded his head. “You have a point.” He dropped me to the ground and I landed with a stumble. “So who are you?”

I kept my eyes on Blue as I started digging into my pocket. “I’m me.” Blue glared as his horn started glowing. “Relax!” I pulled out the impact grenade and held it for him to see.

“What’s that exactly?” Blue growled.

“Well, want the long definition or the short one?” I still held it out for him to see it. My plan was to just blow him up and move on with my day.

Blue stopped glaring, but his horn was still glowing. “Long.”

“Well, I don’t know how to make them, but this is how they work.” I pressed the button on the metal ball. “There used as distractions.” It wasn’t technically a lie since I sometimes use them as distractions.

“What do you mean?” Blue cocked his head to the side.

I twisted the cap and the impact made quite a loud beep, signaling that it was armed. “I mean exactly what I said. You can throw it and it’ll cause a distraction.”

Blue’s horn stopped glowing. “So it makes a loud noise?”

I shook my head while making sure not to drop the grenade. “Yeah, but that’s not it though.”

“Well, what else does it do?” Blue sounded annoyed, but that was what I was hoping for.

“Makes an explosion.” As soon as I fished speaking I hurled the impact at him. Time seemed to slow down as I watched the impact slowly approach Blue.

Blue looked confused and then shocked. Yet it was too late. He wouldn’t be able to use his magic in time.

Yet, right before it hit him, the grenade was caught in a rose-colored aura. “What?” I was confused as to what happened.

Blue let out a breath as he chuckled lightly. “Looks like I’m still lucky.” Then his horn started glowing, and all of a sudden, he vanished with a loud pop.

I didn’t have long to question what just happened, because I heard the sound of hooves from behind me. I spun around and watched as a stallion was approaching me.

The stallion had a pure white coat with a blue mane and tail. His tail and mane had different shades of blue streaks going throughout them both.

Turns out, he was the unicorn who caught my grenade. His horn was glowing the same rose color. “So who are you?” I questioned.

The stallion just had an angry expression on his face. I watched in awe as my impact was floated by my head. “Don’t let it hit the ground. Or anything for that matter.” The grenade was levitated over to the stallion. He looked it over once before looking back at me.

I slowly crept backwards, hoping to just leave and run away, but the stallions horn started to glow, oh brother. I tried to keep moving, but I couldn’t, it felt like something was crushing me. I dropped down to my knees and began coughing. “You’re under arrest for attempted murder.” I forced my head up and looked the stallion in his eyes.

His sapphire-blue eyes bore into mine. He looked angry, almost like he wanted to kill me. I could see the hatred in his eyes.

Then the pressure stopped suddenly. I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t for some reason. I kept struggling and struggling, but my entire body wouldn’t move. Then I felt myself being lifted off the ground, a familiar aura surrounding me.

“I didn’t even do anything!” I shouted. I tried to break free of the hold, but I couldn’t move anything. Neither my legs nor arms would move.

“Don’t play dumb.” His voice was cold, very cold. “I was listening the entire time.” He shook the impact grenade around in his magical grasp. If it ended up touching anything, it would go off.

I had an annoyed expression on my face. If he was there the entire time then he should have helped me.

The angry stallion turned around and started trotting off, while I lazily floated behind him. We exited the alley and began heading down the road. The second we were out in the street, everybody stopped and stared. I tried to signal that I needed help, but for some reason, I couldn’t even speak.

We were like this for what felt like hours. I felt tired and really wanted to sleep, but the position I was in made it nearly impossible. But then I noticed that we were approaching the castle.

Up close, the castle still looked massive. Part of the castle was hanging off the side of the mountain, while the waterfall from earlier continued down it. We stepped onto a lowered drawbridge and began heading towards the entrance.

We walked by a door and into the actual castle. I didn’t get to examine my surroundings because my vision suddenly went black.

I tried to move my arms to my eyes, but I still couldn’t move. I tried to speak out, but I also couldn’t do that.

At this point, I gave up. I stopped struggling and accepted what was about to happen to me. There was nothing that I could do. No escape, and no exit.

During my time floating, I tried my hardest to listen to my surrounds. I felt multiple eyes on me, whispering could be heard from many directions. I tried to listen to them, but I sadly couldn’t make any of them out.

Then the whispering was replaced by a door being opened. After hearing the door slam shut, I heard the sound of hooves on stone. That was the only sound I heard for a few minutes before I heard the noise of metal grinding against something. That sound only lasted for a few seconds. Right after it stopped, I felt myself get thrown like a rag doll.

I landed on the stone ground with a loud thud. I let out a groan as I rolled over and tried to get on my feet. I had trouble getting up, but eventually, I was able to stand. Then I heard the same noise of metal grinding against something. I tried to reach for the noise, but my hand hit something. I felt around for a second and realized it was a metal bar. I felt around a bit more and felt more metal bars.

Before I could realize where I was, my vision returned. I looked around and realized I was in some type of prison cell. The pony who had taken me here was nowhere to be seen.

I turned on my glasses because of how dark it was. Like always, my glasses brightened, allowing me to see. I peered out of the cell and looked around. I then realized I wasn’t in a prison, but instead, a dungeon. It looked like I was in a cave. Other cells were carved into the rock walls along with a staircase that was off to the side.

I started banging on the bars, hoping to break them. “Let me out for fuck sake!” I shouted, my voice echoing a bit before dying out. I started kicking the bars, trying to loosen them. But they wouldn’t budge at all.

After a few minutes of pulling, kicking, and screaming, I gave up. I sat against the corner of my cell and started panting. I still felt sick and cold for some reason. I hugged my sides in an attempt to warm myself up. The worst part was that the cell I was in didn’t even have a bed.

After a few minutes of panting, I lightly laid across the hard stone ground and stared at the ceiling of the cell I was in. The cell barley being lit by a nearby torch that was in the hallway.

I turned my glasses off, slid them off my face, and set them on the ground a few feet away from me. I closed my eyes and just tried my hardest to at least sleep before that pony got back.

Sleeping proved to be difficult as I kept moving around, trying to find the most comfortable position. After a couple of minutes of struggling, I ended up curling up into a ball, which proved to be pretty comfortable.

I was awoken by the sound of something banging against metal. I quickly rolled over to my side and locked eyes with the unicorn from earlier. “Hi.” I yawned. I slowly stood to my full height and began stretching. My back was killing me sadly. “Definitely not better than the couch,” I muttered. But, a plus side to this situation was that I didn’t feel sick or cold anymore!

I crouched down a bit and grabbed ahold of the bars and stared the unicorn in the eyes. “So.... attempted murder huh?” I tried to sound as cheerful as I could.

The stallion shook his head repeatedly before responding. “The princesses wishes to speak with you.” His horn began glowing with that same rose color aura. The metal bars I was standing behind slowly started to swing outwards. Making that grinding sound from earlier.

I quickly grabbed my glasses, slid them on, and stepped out of my cell. Before I could adjust to my new surroundings, I felt myself get picked up into the air.

Just like before, my vision blacked while I heard the unicorn start trotting. I tried to move around, but just like earlier, I couldn’t move at all. I tried speaking, but couldn’t do that either.

I was like this for only a few minutes before I heard a familiar voice start shouting. “Saint!”

I tried to move my head to the sound of her voice but I couldn’t. I tried to call out to her, but before I could, I felt my feet suddenly touch the ground, causing me to stumble a bit.

My vision returned as I watched Twilight run up to me. She threw herself at me as I caught her in a hug. “Jesus, it hasn’t been that long.” I staggered back a bit, trying not to fall on my back.

After a couple of seconds of awkwardly hugging, Twilight got off of me and looked up at me with a stern look. “It’s been 5 hours!”

“What?” I crossed my arms and looked over to the unicorn who kidnapped me. “Blame that guy if anything.”

“You’re the one who committed the crime!” He barked at me. He approached me and glared up at me. “You’re a monster!”

“Wait, what crime!?” Twilight shouted.

I completely ignored her as I kept my attention on the unknown unicorn. “First of all.” I crouched down onto his level and stared into his eyes. “You were watching what was happening. Why the fuck didn’t you do anything?”

He turned around and trotted away from me. “That’s not important.” He spoke coldly. I rolled my eyes and stood back up.

“What happened, Saint!?” Twilight kept pestering.

I ignored her again as I spun around to view my surroundings. “Where are we exactly?” I asked. Currently, we were in a massive room that had many stone pillars along the walls. Between the pillars where glass panes that had images of what seemed to be different times of the day.

My inspection of everything was cut off as an unfamiliar voice spoke. “You’re in the castles throne room.” I looked over and saw a strange sight. There was a massive throne sitting on top of a golden dais.

On that throne was a single pony. She had a white coat with a mane and tail that seemed to be blowing in the wind. Her mane and tail both consisted of pink, turquoise, and two shades of blue that I couldn’t really identify. Along with a pair of magenta eyes. She also wore a golden crown and necklace, both having a single purple gem embedded into them.

The strangest thing though was that she was a lot bigger than any of the ponies I’d seen so far. She also had a pair of wings along with a horn. “You seem important.” I adjusted the glasses I was wearing slightly.

“That’s Princess Celestia!” Twilight loudly whispered.

“That’s perfect!” I ecstatically shouted. “I have a message for you. Kinda urgent.” I began to approach the majestic princes. During my stay with Twilight, I learned that apparently there isn’t a queen or king. Instead, Equestria was governed by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“So urgent that you almost harmed one of my citizens.” She spoke coldly while glaring down at me.

“What did he do princess?!” Twilight butted into the conversation from behind me.

Before I could respond, that evil stallion spoke. “He almost killed another pony, Twiley.” He sounded disgusted by my actions.

“First of all, you know that’s bullshit. Second of all, that’s not important.” I spun around and glared at the stallion.

“It is important. You’re a danger to my sister and everypony around you!” He shouted while trotting over to me.

“Your sister?” I questioned. Before he got any closer, he jabbed a hoof at Twilight. “Wait, you two are related?” I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

“It’s true. That’s my brother, Shining Armor.” This time it was Twilights turn to speak.

I was baffled by the fact that this was actually her brother. “I thought your brother was the prince of an entire empire! Why the fuck are you even here?” I growled.

“The princess had a special task for me, so she summoned me here. And during my stay here, I learned a lot about you.” Shining Armor began to approach me again.

“Oh?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “What makes you so important?”

“Being the captain of the royal guard allows me to arrest you for attempted murder!” He shouted. At this point, he was only standing a few feet in front of me.

“You, the captain!” I burst out into laughter and held my sides. The laughter only lasted for a few seconds. “This place is fucked then,” I said after calming down.

“How?” He growled.

I just shook my head repeatedly. “You set me up for fuck’s sake! You do that a lot?”

“That would be my fault.” I turned back around and watched as Celestia was stepping down from her golden dais and beginning to approach us. “I requested Shining Armor, to watch you as you walked throughout the city.”

“That’s not fair.” I turned back around to face him. “That doesn’t mean watch me suffer you ass.”

Shining Armor glared at me. “I would’ve done something if you didn’t try to kill him with that thing!

“What thing?” Twilight questioned. “And what do you mean kill somepony!?” Twilight began to approach me.

“Those metal balls, Twiley.” Shining lifted a hoof to stop Twilight before she got any closer to me. “I’ll show you what it did.”

Shining then turned and began to walk towards a big doorway that was already closed. “Wait, you let it detonate?!” I called out to him.

He didn’t even respond as he pushed open the doorway with a single hoof. He then turned back and looked at Twilight.

Twilight turned around and looked at me. After a few seconds, she let out a sigh and looked back towards her brother and began to approach the open doorway.

I watched as they both took a left before the door shut with a loud bang. “Well anyways.” I turned back and looked at the princess.

Before I could say anything, Celestia let out a sigh. “Can you explain the situation to me? I fear Shining Armor told me a very bias version of it.”

“Uh sure” I adjusted my glasses before continuing. “Just use the lie detection spell, the default one please.”

She nodded her head and I watched as her horn began to glow a golden aura. Seconds later, it died down. “Ready.”

And then I explain everything. I explained what happened between me and Blue, explained how Shining basically set me up, and how I’ve slept in a dungeon cell for hours.

When I finished my story, Celestia seemed to be thinking deeply. After a few seconds, she sounded calm as she spoke. “I appreciate you not lying, and I’m sorry for what happened between you and Blue.” Then that calmness changed into more of a stern look. “But that doesn’t give you the right to attempt to harm him.”

“Sorry about that.” I honestly didn’t feel sorry in the slightest. “But I kinda panicked. Magic actually scares me, there’s nothing I can do against it.”

Celestia had a perplexed look on her face. “I see.” She nodded her head once and had a smile on her face. “I’ll forgive you for now, but only because you were scared and you were lashing out.”

I clapped my hands and bowed my head slightly. “Thank you, your highness.”

“I’ve heard many things about you from Twilight.” Celestia continued.

I lifted my head and smiled. “Like?”

“That you’re introverted and tend to be quiet.” Her smile brightened. “She also said that you’re kind and nice, while also being sarcastic at times.”

“That’s practically me I suppose.” My smile brightened as well.

Celestia began to approach me as she continued speaking. “So, you said you had an important message?”

I opened my mouth to speak but was were cut off as the door from earlier opened. “That was fast,” I muttered while turning around. I watched as only Shining Armor entered the throne room. “Where’s Twilight?.”

“That’s none of your business.” His tone was cold. He began to trot over to Celestia and me. “She said you had more of those things. What do they do?” He demanded.

I let out a sigh and decided not to keep asking about Twilight. “Let’s see.” I began to rub my chin as I continued. “One causes a blinding flash, another causes a smokescreen, and the last one is better than the one I used.”

Shining Armor looked past me and looked at Celestia. “Is he telling the truth?”

“Yes. I’ve cast the lie detection spell on him.”

“Okay then. Well enough about me.” I clapped my hands together and looked at Celestia. “I have a message for you.”

“What manner of message?” She cocked her head to the side.

“A warning. I would’ve told you sooner, but apparently, the ball you’re planning is important.”

She smiled again as she began speaking. “I was lucky enough to get a little break from my duties.” Then the smile turned into a frown as she continued. “Then my guards alerted me about an unknown creature that entered the city.”

“Guards? Surprised that you only have him in here.” I pointed at Shining as I finished speaking.

“I don’t always need guards around me.” She replied.

“Cool, cool.... anyways, back to the topic at hand.” I looked between Celestia and Shining Armor as I spoke ominously. “Apex is coming.”

“Who?” Both of them spoke simultaneously.

“Oh, forgot this isn’t a third world country.” I scratched the back of my head as I continued speaking. “Apex is a highly skilled assassin group from my world.”

Celestia had an unreadable expression while Shining looked confused.

“So, an assassin group from your world is coming here?” He questioned.

I took a serious tone as I began to speak. “Yes.”

The room was silent for what felt like ages. None of us spoke. Shining Armor kept looking between me and Celestia, while she seemed to be deep in thought.

Celestia looked like she was about to say something, but Shining began to speak instead. “What makes your worlds assassins so special?”

I got pretty annoyed by how confident he sounded. “The fact that they will destroy you and everyone else.” I turned and looked at Celestia. “I mean no disrespect when I say this, but they could easily kill you.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at this, but before she could say anything, Shining Armor cut her off again. “You’re underestimating the princess and Equestria.”

“I’m not. I’ve been here for long enough to know that you ponies are actually pretty smart.” Shining Armor opened his mouth to speak. But I continued. “But, they’re stronger and smarter than you.”

Shining shut his mouth as I finished my statement. But Celestia began to speak. “Shining Armor, leave Saint and I for a while. I’d like to speak to him in private.” Celestia began to trot off towards the door. I quickly followed close behind her.

“Why?! You shouldn’t trust him.” Shining started to complain.

Celestia and I were already at the door. Her horn started to glow a golden aura. After a couple of seconds, the door opened, showing a marble hallway. “I’ll be fine. He gave us a warning he didn’t have to. We should at least show some trust.”

I stepped into the hallway with Celestia by my side. Right outside of the door were two ponies who were equipped with golden armor and golden helmets.

Shining Armor stepped into the hallway with us and began to complain again. “He almost killed somepony!”

Celestia sounded annoyed at this point. “That’s true, but this group could kill more and possibly pose a bigger threat.”

Shining let out a sigh and began to trot away from us. Before I could say something, Celestia began to trot off in the opposite direction.

I sighed and quietly followed behind her. The guards from the door walked by my sides while we followed Celestia.

We passed by many windows that had an amazing view of the city. I tried to pause and look out the windows, but the guards kept bumping me to keep me inline.

During the walk, I saw many closed doors, along with other guards. But I noticed that the majority of the guards all looked the same. White coat with blue manes and tails. Every time we passed them, they tensed up and watched as we walked by them.

We walked for what felt like ten minutes, passing by guards and doorways leading to unknown parts of the castle, turning down hallway after hallway, till we were standing in front of a bigger door than usual. It wasn’t as big as the door that lead to the throne room, but it was bigger than the other doorways I’d seen.

The guards left my side and moved over to open the doorway. After opening the door, Celestia and I stepped into the room, and the first thing I noticed was a massive dining table. “What?” I looked at Celestia with a raised brow.

“I would like to discuss things over dinner.” She began to trot over to the dining table. Celestia took a seat at the head of the table and I sat in the chair closest to her. And to my surprise, the chairs were actually big enough for me.

Seconds after we took our seats, a far off door opened up, and in came a unicorn wearing a chefs uniform along with a chefs hat.

He trotted over to the princess and bowed his head. “What would you like today your majesty?” He said after lifting his head back up.

“The usual,” She spoke elegantly. She looked over to me with an awaiting glance.

“Uhh... whatever you’re getting I guess.” I wasn’t expecting her to ask for what I wanted.

The chef bowed one more time. “As you wish.” After lifting his head back up he left us.

Celestia and I sat in silence for a while. I kept glancing at her when I thought she wasn’t looking. She seemed to be deep in thought about something.

Then Celestia began to speak. “How dangerous is this group?”

“Very.” I let out a sigh as I continued. “They could easily destroy Ponyville if they wanted.”

Celestia let out a sigh. “I can tell your telling the truth. But may I ask, how do you know they’re coming?”

I hummed a bit before responding. “I’ll answer that on one condition.” I put my elbows on the table and intertwined my fingers.

“And that condition is?” Celestia squinted her eyes slightly.

“You don’t overreact.” I squinted my eyes at her as well, but quickly remembered she couldn’t see because of my glasses.

“What do you mean?” She dropped the squint and cocked her head to the side.

“Exactly what I said.” I let out a loud sigh before continuing. “The only reason why I know this is because I’m the leader Apex.” Celestia looked shocked, then she looked angry. I watched as her horn began to glow its usually golden aura. “BUT. I’m the ex-leader.”

Celestia had a look of confusion as her horn died down. “Explain.” She demanded.

“So much for not overreacting,” I muttered. I moved my hands and began tapping the table lightly at a slow rhythm. “I shouldn’t even be here. We were betrayed by one of the bosses, and he somehow gained complete control over their minds or something.” I began tapping the table harder. “And instead of doing the same to me, he sent me here.”

Celestia took a calm expression and began to speak softly. “So, you were betrayed and cast away to Equestria. What makes you so sure they will follow after you?”

I was about to respond, but before I could, I heard the sound of a bell. I looked over and watched as the kitchen door flung open. Out came a massive cart, followed by the male unicorn from earlier.

He pushed the cart over to the table and began to levitate the food over onto the table and place the plates in front of Celestia and I.

Turns out, Celestia’s usual meal contains a side salad with a bunch of flowers in it, a basket of bread, a plate of pasta, some tea, and to top it all off, a piece of chocolate cake.

The stallion also levitated over a couple of spoons and forks for the both of us. “Can I get a glass of water?” I asked the stallion.

He gave me a confused look before looking over at Celestia. She nodded once and he bowed his head again. After lifting his head, he began to push the cart away.

I decided to ignore the salad and pick up a piece of bread instead. It was pretty hot since it was freshly made, but I ignored it and took a bite.

The bread tasted amazing. The inside was soft and hot while the outside was nice and crispy. After finishing my bite, I looked at Celestia. “The person who took control is power hungry. He always wanted the group to be powerful, and prove to everyone that we were unstoppable. Taking over another world would definitely prove that.”

Celestia let out a sigh as she levitated a piece of bread over to her mouth. Celestia and I ate in silence. The stallion was nice enough to bring my water out quickly. The only sounds that could be heard were the occasional clatter of silverware and me tapping on the dining table. The food was amazing, but I didn’t even try the salad or tea. I’m more of a coffee person, and the salad had flowers that I didn’t even recognize.

After all of the food I considered edible was finished, I began eating the cake. “You can stay the night if you like, but I’ll be assigning guards that will follow you and stay outside your room.” I looked at her and realized that she had already finished eating everything.

The cake was really good, but I quickly swallowed the piece that was in my mouth. “That’s fine.”

I went to go take another bite, but before I could, she spoke up. “I would like to speak to you again tomorrow about the best way to deal with your group.”

I nodded and began eating the cake again. After taking a couple bites, I realized that Celestia was waiting for me to finish. I didn’t want to make the situation awkward, so I scarfed down the cake as quickly as I could.

After I finished, I stood up in my seat. “Come along.” I looked up and watched as Celestia got out of her seat and began to trot over to the exit. I quietly followed behind her.

We exited the dining hall and stepped into the hallway. But, before we could actually turn to walk down it, Celestia paused, almost making me bump into her.

“Before we go, I’d like to ask something.” She sounded calm yet concerned at the same time. I didn’t know how to explain it. She continued, but didn’t turn to face me. “ Why, were you the only who sent here?”

I let out a loud sigh and began to scratch the back of my head. “In all honesty, I don’t know.”

I walked up and stood at the side of Celestia. She had an unreadable expression on her face as she turned to face me. “Another thing. During your stay in Equestria, you will not harm another pony, unless they intend harm to you first, and you will not solve the problem by taking their life.”

“No promises.” I crossed both of my arms and looked at her. Celestia didn’t respond to that, her face void of any emotion. All she did was trot ahead of me.

I let out a sigh and followed behind her. I wasn’t lying when I said no promises. Killing is just my thing. You can’t just stop me from doing it.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Celestia and I turned down a hallway. Down the hallway were many closed doors. We both stopped in front of the first door. “You ain’t gonna kill me or something while I’m sleeping, right?” I looked at Celestia with a nervous expression.

Celestia gave me a deadpan looked and shook her head once. “Cool, well, cya later.” I opened the door and stepped through it. Upon entering the room, I turned around and quickly shut the door behind me before Celestia got any ideas.

I let out a sigh as I shuffled across the room I was given. The room was pretty large, with a couple of dressers and desks, along with a door leading to what I assumed was a bathroom. I took my glasses off and set them down on the desk closest to the bed. I then laid across the large bed and stared at the ceiling.

Sadly, I wasn’t tired at all because of the nap I had earlier, so I stood back up and headed for the door. I opened the door and peeked my head out. I instantly noticed that there were two guards trotting down the hallway. Unfortunately, I made eye contact with them.

They were both wearing unreadable expressions, which creeped me out. I decided to close the door before they questioned me.

I sighed and sat down on the bed. “Fuck it,” I muttered. I slipped under the blankets and decided to just force myself to sleep. I didn’t feel ok about sleeping at the palace. I’m just hoping Twilights teacher is smart and doesn’t harm me.

Chapter 5: One Long Week

I remember Celestia saying that she’d send a letter as soon as she could. But I wasn’t expecting her to take her sweet time.

After three days of doing nothing, I eventually lost my wings. Apparently, there was a spell that allows people to walk on clouds that I could have used. Which of course, lead to a massive argument between me and Christmas. I mean, she did give me wings that I detested.

Rainbow was disappointed that she didn’t get the chance to teach me how to fly. But I didn’t care because I refused to be in public with those wings.

But after three days of just lounging around, I was starting to get bored, so I decided to chill in Ponyville instead. Of course, every time I wanted to go, Christmas had to come with me. I didn’t mind the first couple of times, but then she started judging the things did.

“You truly disgust me.” Christmas angrily whispered from behind me.

“Blow me.” I whispered back. “You did a perfect job, Rarity!” I shouted.

During my stay with Rainbow, we ended up having a really awkward conversation about my hair color. She apparently thought I dyed it purple because I lived with Twilight at the time. After I debunked her theory, she seemed disappointed for some reason. I truly didn’t want to dye my hair like a flipping rainbow, mainly because it reminded me of a person I couldn’t remember the name of. So instead, I decided to do something different for her.

When I entered Ponyville for the first time in three days, the first thing I did was ask Rarity to make me some new clothes. Apparently, she’s really generous, so of course I was going to exploit it.

Unluckily, for me Christmas realized what I was doing and tried to stop it. But I made the very good point of saying that I didn’t have any extra clothing, and I needed some made badly. I was stuck with only two shirts and a two pairs of pants.

I told Rarity to make me a bunch of sweatpants, long sleeve shirts, and underwear. All being different colors. But that wasn’t the main thing I wanted. I had to show Rarity how to make a hoodie.

“I knew you’d like it!” Rarity beamed. “But are you sure you wanted this for the design?”

Currently, Christmas, Rarity, and I, were standing over Rarity’s newest creative creation. “Yes, it’s exactly how I wanted it.” I reassured Rarity. “Also, you didn’t have to rush it. I mean you made all that in two days.” I pointed behind me at the stack of clothing.

Christmas and I came back two days later, we came to see how she was doing on the clothing. And to our surprise, she was done with everything.

“Nonsense dear. I can’t leave a friend in need.” I shrugged. I appreciated her, but I still wouldn’t classify her as a friend.

“Why don’t you try it on?” Christmas asked from behind me.

“Yeah, I probably should.” I quickly took off my shirt and threw it behind me. “Now or never.” I muttered.

I grabbed the hoodie, quickly slid it on, and started posing in front of the mares with it. Rarity looked impressed while Christmas looked annoyed. “You look marvelous, Saint.” Rarity praised. I watched as Rarity’s horn began glowing. “Take a look.” She levitated over a body mirror in front of me.

The hoodie was almost entirely black, having black strings with cyan coloring at their ends. In the center of the hoodie was Rainbow’s cutie mark, outlined with a black trim just slightly darker than the hoodie itself. Her cutie mark depicted a cloud with a rainbow lighting strike.

I spun around to see the back off it. The only thing on the back were the initials R.D., both in cyan coloring. “I look amazing.” I finished by throwing the hood on. Having my hood and glasses on made me look extremely suspicious. But then again I didn’t care.

“You certainly do!” Rarity praised.

“You still look ugly.” Christmas muttered.

“Fuck you.” I directed my message towards Christmas. “Mad cause it’s not your cutie mark?”

“I’d be disgusted if you wore my cutie mark.” Christmas spat at me.

I rolled my eye and looked back at Rarity. “Ignore this hater.” I pointed at Christmas. “Wait, actually, Rarity, what’s your cutie mark?”

“You mean you don’t know?” She cocked her head to the side with a confused expression.

“I try to avoid staring in that general area.” I explained.

“That’s very gentlemanly, Saint.” She then turned to the side exposing her cutie mark. “But I have no problem with you looking at my cutie mark.” Her cutie mark was simple, it was just three diamonds.

“You should make one like that. Just instead of initials just put your name in cursive.” I finished by pointing at my back.

“That’s genius, Saint!” Rarity then trotted over to a desk with a bunch of fabric on it. “I’ll work on it right away.”

“No, that’s perfectly fine, just take your time.” I spoke before she already began working on it.

“But I must see what it would look like! I’ve never thought to use my cutie mark as a design.” Rarity protested.

“If you say so.” I muttered. I turned and began walking towards the exit of the boutique, but not before grabbing my pile of extra clothing and the shirt I threw behind me. “Let’s bounce, Christmas.” I called before exiting.

Once Christmas and I were outside, I instantly threw all of my clothing at Christmas. She reacted instantly, catching all of my clothing in her magical grasp. “I’d appreciate it if you stopped treating me like a maid.”

“I’d appreciate you not being a cunt.” I turned to face her with a glare.

“You’re abusing her generosity.” Christmas had a point. I definitely was, but I didn’t care.

“Anyways,” I turned back around and pointed ahead of us. “Onto the next task.”

During my welcome party, I remember asking Fluttershy if she knew any manticores, and to surprise, she actually said yes. I wanted to thank the manticores for directing me here. I’d feel bad if I never got the chance to properly show them my appreciation. I was mainly just hoping that she could direct me to their den or whatever.

“Do you remember the way?” Christmas asked while trotting up to my side.

I frowned as I realized I didn’t. “No,” I turned to look at Christmas with a sheepish smile. “Lead the way.”

She sighed, but eventually walked ahead of me. “If you try to run off, I’ll drag you around Ponyville.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” I instantly replied.

The walk to Fluttershy’s place was boring. Christmas and I never said a word, so it made things very awkward. We crossed over a little bridge and began walking up to Fluttershy’s door.

I noticed something odd while walking up to the door. Outside of her house were a variety of animals, all looking at me with curiosity in their eyes. Birds were perched on the many bird-houses hanging from her house. Squirrels sat next to the window sills of her house, and bunnies were huddled together next to a little garden.

Fluttershy’s house was definitely odd. It was like a tiny little hut with a bunch of grass completely covering her roof. I personally wouldn’t live here, but it seemed perfect for someone like her.

I tried my hardest to ignore the animals as I began knocking gently on her door. “Why are we here again?” Christmas whispered.

“Personal reasons.” I whispered back. The sound of birds chirping and animals scurrying could be heard behind the door. But eventually, the sound of hooves could be heard.

Seconds later, Fluttershy’s door opened, revealing Fluttershy herself. She gasped when she saw me, and with a frightened expression, asked, “Is that you Saint?” with a frightened voice scarcely above a whisper.

I was confused by her reaction. “Yes, why would-“ I cut myself off as I realized why she couldn’t identify me. I quickly flipped my hood back, revealing my face, before beginning to scratch the back of my head. “Sorry about that. Maybe I shouldn’t have my hood on while walking through Ponyville.”

Fluttershy relaxed and smiled at me. “Hi Saint... sorry I couldn’t tell it was you.”

“All good.” I pointed at Christmas and put on a fake smile. “This is my friend Christmas.” I almost threw up just from calling her a ‘friend’.

Fluttershy looked at Christmas, she instantly lowered her head, her hair covering her eyes. “Hi,” She whispered, so quiet that I almost didn’t catch it.

“Hello.” Christmas spoke sternly, causing Fluttershy to shudder slightly.

I rolled my eye and stepped forward before the conversation became awkward. “Fluttershy, remember my welcome party?”

Fluttershy looked back at me and had an adorable smile on her face. “Of course I do, it certainly was an enjoyable party.”

“Yeah, definitely. But remember towards the end when I asked you if you knew any manticores?”

“Yes, of course I do.” Fluttershy didn’t hesitate in responding.

“You able to describe what they look like?” I asked.

Fluttershy hummed for a couple seconds before responding. “Of course I can. I know one that has reddish coa-“

“Let me ask a different question.” I cut in before she could go any further. “Do you know a pair of them, like a mother and daughter?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I do, they both have such beautiful white coats.” She finished with a grin.

“Cool, is it possible for me to meet them? They helped me when I needed it.” I finished with a grin as well.

Fluttershy nodded a couple of times before responding. “Of course there is. Just let me grab a few things before we go.”

“Sure, take your time.” Fluttershy nodded once more and went back inside her house. I turned to face Christmas, she was wearing an annoyed expression. “What’s your problem?” I asked.

“Are you going to abuse her kindness?” She asked, changing her annoyed expression into one of anger.

I frowned as I shook my head. “God no. She’s adorable. I’m a dickhead, but I’m not evil.”

“So you don’t take advantage of the ponies you find ‘adorable’?” Christmas asked while cocking her head to the side.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “Now shut up.” Christmas began muttering something under her breath. “What was that?”

“I said you’re an irrespo-“ I cut off Christmas as I started pulling on her ear. “Ow! Let me go!”

She started shaking her head while trying to pull away from me. “I’m not letting go till you say sorry.” I demanded.

“No! What about all the rude things you say to me!” She protested.

“I’ve never said anything rude to you!” I said sarcastically. “Name one thing.”

Christmas stopped struggling and instead glared at me. “Earlier you told me to ‘blow you’.”

“And?” I decide to let go off her ear. I crossed both of my arms and gave her a stern look. “I’ll let you go since I’m nice.”

Christmas snorted while looking away from me. “Cunt.” I muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

Christmas instantly spun around and glared at me with intense hatred. “I hate you.”

“Love you too.” I started rubbing her head. Eventually, she swatted my hand away with a hoof. I shrugged as I decided to leave her alone for the time being.

Minutes later, Fluttershy came out of her house wearing a saddle bag. “I’m ready.”

I nodded while gesturing for her to lead the way. “After you.”

Fluttershy nodded while trotting ahead of us. Christmas and I stayed a couple of yards behind her and began whispering to each other. “So why are you trying to meet manticores? I’m supposed to defend you, but I can’t protect you from a suicide attempt.” Christmas whispered.

“The day I become suicidal is the day I lose it all.... but don’t worry, they’re actually nice.” I whispered back.

“What do you mean by ‘lose it all’?” Christmas asked.

“Hey look, we’re entering the forest!” I shouted, completely avoiding the question.

Fluttershy lead us down a path into the creepy forest. Unlike the last time I was here, the forest was brighter and soothing. I quickly sped up and walked side by side with Fluttershy. “Do you usually enter the forest alone?” I asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I’ve always been scared to come in here alone. But I’ve gotten better, I can walk the path to Zecora's now if I want to.”

I didn’t know who that was, and I didn’t want to know either. He or she sounded like they could curse me if I mispronounced their name. “Yeah, this forest is pretty scary.” I muttered.

“What are the forests like from your world?” Christmas asked from behind me.

“Well,” I started scratching the back of my head. “They’re exactly like yours, minus all of the deadly creatures. We don’t have things like manticores for starters.”

“Really? What kind of animals do you have in your forests!?” Fluttershy sounded really excited for some reason.

“Well it kinda depends. Most of them have deers, bears, foxes, and squirrels.” I’ve rarely been inside forests. A majority of the time that I’m in one is because I’m chasing a member from REMEMBER.

“I think I’d love to visit your world's forests one day, Saint.” Fluttershy claimed. I chose not to respond to that.

After walking down the path for a few minutes, we ended up taking a turn and began walking through the forest. After carefully stepping over exposed roots and other things that could trip me, we eventually made it to a clearing. “Now what?” I asked.

Fluttershy ignored me as she started rummaging through her bags. Moments later, she pulled out a red whistle. “Is that a manticore whistle?” Christmas asked from my side.

“Yes, they should hear it and come to it,” Fluttershy explained.

“Wouldn’t that attract the attention of other manticores?” The last thing I needed was to outrun another manticore.

“No, most tend to avoid them. But those two will come to the whistle. Sorry, but it might take a few minutes.”

“Take your time.” I reassured Fluttershy. I watched as she nodded and began blowing into the whistle.

The whistle wasn’t as loud as I was expecting it to be. Instead, it was more of a low whistle that you would do to get someone’s attention. My concentration on the whistle was ruined as Christmas nudged me. “What?” I asked while looking down at her.

“Are you positive they’re friendly?” Christmas whispered.

I sighed while nodding. “Yes, you’ll be fine, you’re a unicorn guard, just zap them if you feel threatened.”

Christmas rolled her eyes while adjusting her glasses with a hoof. “Being a unicorn doesn’t make you invincible. And carrying your clothing around makes it harder to cast spells.” She finished by shaking my clothes around in the air.

I rolled my eye and looked back at Fluttershy, who was currently taking a breath of air. “This is going to take a while.” I muttered.

I don’t know how long I’ve been staring at Fluttershy. She definitely was the most adorable of the ponies I knew, but she wasn’t the cutest. I believe Twilight, when she’s learning something new, is the cutest thing possible. That’s another reason why I can’t wait to go on that mission with Shining. I’m hoping I could earn Twilight’s trust again by helping this country.

My train of thought was ruined as I felt Christmas nudge me once more. “Is that them?” She whispered.

I looked down at her with a frown. “Why the fuck are you whispering?” I spat at her. I ignored her reaction as I looked back up towards Fluttershy.

To my surprise, the manticores who helped me were standing directly in front of Fluttershy. I smiled as I began walking up to them. “Yo!” I called as I reached them.

The mother manticore looked confused while the daughter looked ecstatic. “Umm... Saint can you help me?” Fluttershy whispered to me.

I looked down at her and she was looking up to me with a blush. “With?” I asked. Fluttershy pointed a hoof behind her at her saddle bags.

I nodded once and opened one of her saddle bags. And to my surprise, there was an entire fish inside. “What the?” I muttered. I grabbed the fish by its tail and held it in the air. “What do I do with this?”

“Feed them of course.” Fluttershy explained. I shrugged and tossed the first fish at the mother manticore. I didn’t want to watch a manticore devour a fish, so I instantly looked back at Fluttershy’s bag. I opened the second bag and pulled out the second fish. This time I tossed it at the daughter.

After a few minutes the fish were nothing but bones. And I took this opportunity to step forward. “I just wanted to say thanks for practically saving me.” The mother manticore had an unreadable expression while the daughter was wearing a smile. “I definitely owe you one.” I lowered my glasses and winked with my only working eye.

The mother got the message because she nodded her head slightly. I forgot that manticores are a mute race. So I bet ponies don’t even know that they can talk. “Now,” I turned around and fixed my glasses. “Let’s bounce.”

“What!” Christmas began shouting. “You came here just for that?!”

“What were you expecting?” I crossed my arms and waited for her response.

“I don’t know! I thought we were going to be here for longer!” Christmas complained.

I rolled my eye as I started walking towards her. “You could’ve waited for me at Rainbow’s.”

“You know I can’t do that.” She finished by adjusting her glasses.

“Well, life sucks cause that’s the only reason why I came here.” I walked past her while letting out a yawn. “We’ll leave when Fluttershy is ready.”

It took roughly ten minutes for Fluttershy to finish up doing whatever she was doing. I wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing because I was busy annoying Christmas.

“Are you two ready?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yep.” I nodded while letting go of Christmas’s ear.

Christmas started muttering angrily, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to leave the forest and continue on with my day.

After dropping Fluttershy off, Christmas and I were walking through Ponyville. “Anything else on your list?” Christmas sounded annoyed, but like always, I didn’t care.

After mentally scrolling through my list, I nodded. “Yes, last thing, but it’ll be fast.” I quickly turned on my glasses and called out ‘time’. It was currently 14:39.

“Why do you do that?” Christmas questioned from behind me.

“No reason.” I turned off my glasses while letting out a yawn. “When can we head back?” I asked.

Christmas paused and began adjusting her glasses. “I think we have another hour to burn.”

I let out a loud groan while stopping in place. “The fuck are we going to do for an hour!” I shouted.

“I have an idea!” I jumped a bit at the new voice. After calming down, I turned to face a smiling Pinkie Pie.

“Hi Pinkie.” I waved. Suddenly, there was a loud pop behind me, which made me jump again. I turned around, and to no one's surprise, Christmas was gone, and so were my clothes.

One thing I realized about Pinkie was that she throws welcome parties for every new resident in Ponyville. Ever since Christmas came here, she’s been avoiding Pinkie for that reason. Apparently, she hates parties for some odd reason.

“Awww she left already!” Pinkie began pouting. Before I could reassure her, Pinkie started gasping loudly. “Is that!” Pinkie jabbed a hoof at my hoodies design. “Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark!”

“Yes.” I didn’t hesitate in responding.

Pinkie started bouncing in place. “I didn’t know you liked Rainbow!” Then she stopped bouncing and frowned at me. “Are you cheating on Twilight!” She shouted up at me.

“What?! I’m not dating them!” I nervously shouted back.

“So you’re dating both of them?” Pinkie questioned.

I started shaking my head repeatedly. “No, I just said I’m not dating either of them!”

Pinkie started giggling repeatedly. “Don’t worry Saint, your secret is safe with me!”

Before I could even think of a response, another voice cut in from behind me. “What secret?”

I turned around and was greeted by three familiar fillies. “There isn’t a secret.” I responded before Pinkie could. “Shouldn’t you be in school or something?” I tried to change the subject before it went back to my supposed ‘secret’.

“Today’s Sunday, we don’t got school.” Applebloom explained. “Hey, that’s Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark!” She began shouting.

I began rubbing my temple while breathing deeply. “Let’s ignore the cutie mark okay?” I asked nicely. Before anyone could actually respond to what I said, I began speaking with a serious tone. “Do you three need something?”

“Oh, right.” Applebloom cleared her throat. “Saint, can we ask ya a favor?”

“Uhh, sure.” I looked back at Pinkie and smiled. “Think you could give us privacy?”

“Okie dokie lokie! I’ll cya later, Saint!” Pinkie finished with a bright smile. I watched as she turned around and started bouncing away from us.

“That was easier than I thought it was going to be.” I muttered quietly. I turned back to the fillies. “What do you need?” I asked.

“Can you be my dad?!” Scootaloo started shouting loudly.

I was completely dumbfounded as to what I heard. “What did you just ask me?” I was hoping that I was just hearing things.

“She means can you pretend to be her dad for Family Appreciation Day.” Sweetie Belle cut in before Scootaloo got the chance to.

“Time out.” I pointed a finger at Sweetie Belle. “Explain, please.” She nodded her head once and started explaining everything.

Apparently, there's a filly at the school who, for some reason, bullies them for having a ‘blank flank’, whatever that means. So this fillies name is Diamond Tiara, and her dad is some rich guy who everybody knows. And Scootaloo wants to bring in someone cooler to show her up. “Why don’t you bring in your real parents?” I asked.

“They’re out of town for their anniversary!” Scootaloo began complaining. “And I already asked Rainbow Dash to be my mom, but she’s busy!”

I began rubbing my temples as I sighed. “Scootaloo, why don’t you ask a pony instead?” I couldn’t understand the logic of asking another species to be your ‘dad’.

“Rainbow Dash said you’re really cool and that you’d be able to do it.” Scootaloo started beaming. “So, can you do it?”

I sighed as I started scratching the back of my head. “No one is gonna believe I’m your dad.”

“What if you say you’re cousins?” Sweetie Belle pitched in.

“You can do that?” I questioned.

“Course ‘ya can, I brought Granny Smith again, and she ain’t my mom or dad!” Applebloom explained.

I didn’t know who that was and nor did I want to. “Well, still no one's going to believe I’m related to you at all.”

I turned around and began walking away from the mischievous fillies. Sadly, I didn’t get far before Scootaloo zipped back in front of me. “Just say you’re adopted

I frowned as I started scratching my head. In all honesty it sounded like a bad idea to have me pretend to be her dad. “What do I have to do?”

“Just say what you do for a living and tell a story!” Scootaloo quickly explained.

Now it sounded like a worse idea. How would I explain that I’m an assassin from a different world? And all of my stories are rated R. I sighed as I shrugged my shoulders. “Sure, why not.” I would’ve felt bad for saying no and leaving. Besides, I should be able to think of something, even if it involves lying.

“Really?!” Scootaloo began bouncing around. “This is going to be awesome!”

I rolled my eye as I turned to face the other two fillies. “When does this thing happen?”

“Tomorrow morning.” Sweetie Belle explained. “What do you do for a living, Saint?”

I stuck my tongue out before I started speaking confidently. “You’ll find out tomorrow.” I began stretching while walking away from the fillies. “I’ll cya tomorrow. I gotta think of a story to tell for now.” I had nothing better to do with my life, so I might as well entertain myself and others.

Fortunately, the trio didn’t follow me. I needed peace and quiet to think of a plan for tomorrow. I walked through Ponyville while humming a sweet tune.

In all honesty, I was kinda excited to be shown off at their school. It definitely makes me feel better to be thought of as cool by others. But that’s pointless if the person that hated you was that same one that you wanted to think of you as cool.

Twilight and I were on terrible terms. And when Rainbow went to talk to her, she somehow ended up making the situation worse. The last time Twilight and I talked was when she wanted me to leave Ponyville, and obviously, I didn’t leave.

I assumed Celestia must’ve sent her a letter, because she hasn’t asked me to leave Ponyville again. Instead, she just ignores my presence when I’m around.

One time Christmas and I were getting breakfast at a place called ‘Sugar Cube Corner’ and Twilight walked in. We locked eyes for a second and she instantly turned around and left. It honestly hurt a lot more than I expected.

Ever since that happened, I try my hardest to avoid her when I see her in public. For example, I saw her walking with Spike once and decided to duck behind one of the stalls at the marketplace.

I paused my humming as I realized I was standing in front of my destination. Currently, I was standing in front of the library. I needed to ask Spike if the letter from Celestia came in, but I didn’t want to go in for some odd reason.

“If you’re too afraid to go in, I will.” I looked to my right and watched as Christmas trotted up next to me.

“Didn’t you teleport away?” I was annoyed that she was able to find me so fast.

“That’s not important. But if you’re too afraid to go in, I will.” She spoke sternly.

I noticed that Christmas didn’t have my clothes in her magical aura. “Where are my clothes?”

Christmas began growling. “Don’t worry about that. And again, if you’re too afraid to go in, I will.”

“I’m not afraid.” I trailed off as I couldn’t think of something else to add.

“Then let’s go in.” Christmas began trotting up to the door.

I tried to step forward, but I couldn’t muster the courage. I didn’t want to see Twilight. “You got it.” I muttered while leaning against the tree. “I’ll be out here.”

Christmas frowned while shaking her head. “Last time you said that you lied.”

All I did was shrug. “You’d find me somehow even if I did leave.”

Christmas rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She adjusted her glasses and entered the library.

I sat down next to the tree while yawning. I thought about leaving, but I couldn’t really go anywhere. I wasn’t able to go back to Rainbow’s place because she has to bring me up on a cloud, and apparently, she has a job dealing with clouds in Ponyville.

I sighed as I took off my glasses and began cleaning them using the sleeve of my hoodie. After I spent a few minutes cleaning, I slid them back on and began cracking my knuckles. Once I was done with that, I stood up and began stretching.

While I was stretching, Christmas must’ve exited the library, because currently, she was watching me stretch like a creepy old person. “What?” I asked after I finished stretching.

“Just wondering why you’re bending down next to Twilight’s house.” She replied while trotting over to me. “I have good news and bad news.”

I frowned as I scratched the back of my head. “Bad news first.”

“No, letter yet.” I instantly became annoyed that Celestia still hasn’t sent anything. Before I could start complaining, Christmas continued. “The good news is, Twilight hates you less.”

I had a confused expression on my face. “What do you mean?” I asked sceptically.

“Princess Luna spoke to Twilight last night and explained how apparently what you did was in self defense.” I was surprised at what I was hearing. I didn’t think that the second princess would help me.

I crossed both my arms and spoke smugly. “See, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m not finished.” Christmas jabbed a hoof at my chest. “You’re still a murderer. You’re the leader of an assassin group and I believe she deserves to know the truth.”

I rolled my eye as I dropped my arms. “You and I both know we shouldn’t do that.” I stepped forward and crouched down. “Imagine the panic it would cause it everyone here found out what’s coming.” I whispered.

Christmas growled as she shook her head. “Twilight is only upset with the fact you lied to her.”

“About my real name?” Christmas nodded while looking at me sternly. “I don’t get why she’s upset with that.”

“It’s because she trusts you.” Christmas began speaking angrily. “She said you were going to trust her, yet you lied and told her a fake name. Meaning that there are probably many other things you’ve lied about.”

I stood back up to my full height and rubbed the stubbles on my chin. I didn’t even know if I can tell Twilight the truth about me. Even if she uses the lie detection spell, she’ll probably have a hard time accepting the truth.

I shrugged as I started walking away from the library. I didn’t want to think about this now. Instead, I still needed to think of a plan to deal with Scootaloo’s problem. “Where are you going!” Christmas angrily shouted from behind me.

“I’m hungry, go pick me up a pizza.” I spun around and emphasized my hunger by patting my stomach.

Christmas eyes began twitching as she stomped a hoof on the ground. “I’m not your maid!”

I rolled my eye as I turned back around and began heading towards my favorite pizza place. “And I’m not paying for it either!” Christmas continued shouting.

I groaned loudly and obnoxiously as I continued to walk off. Christmas quickly caught up to me and cleared her throat. “Whatcha tryna do?” I asked before she had the chance of speaking.

Christmas cleared her throat once again. “I think we should wait for Rainbow Dash to finish her duties.”

“I guess we can wait for her.” I muttered.

Christmas and I headed over to the laundromat first. Apparently, she dumped all my clothing into a random basket there. After picking that up, we headed back towards Rainbow’s house.

Christmas and I waited at the bottom of her house. Currently, I was lying on the grassy ground with my hood on to avoid grass getting in my hair. And to top it off, I was using Rainbow’s house to block the sun.

“You’re going to get your brand new hoodie dirty.” Christmas complained.

I sat up and adjusted my glasses before looking over at Christmas. “Why do you care?”

Christmas frowned. “Because I’m going to have to do your laundry!” She complained loudly. “How can a grown stallion not be capable of doing laundry!”

I rolled my eye and laid back down. “It’s because everything was done for me when I lived in the facility.”

“The what?” Christmas asked.

I yawned loudly while rolling over onto my side that was looking away from Christmas. “Never mind.” I muttered. Christmas began muttering under her breath, and like always, I ignored it.

Unfortunately, Christmas stopped muttering and began speaking normally. “I truly detest you.”

I ignored her as I got comfortable on the ground. A half an hour must’ve passed by the time Christmas began speaking again. “Here she comes.”

I quickly sat up and looked towards the sky. I squinted my eye and spotted Rainbow flying towards us. I quickly got to my feet and began dusting myself off.

Rainbow landed right in front of me and instantly noticed my hoodie. “Whoa! When did you get that made!” She excitedly shouted.

“Well it just got finished today.” I spun around quickly, showing her the back of it. “Pretty neat, huh?”

“Neat?” Rainbow continued to shout. “That things awesome!”

I nodded while taking off my hood. “I’m planning on wearing it a lot when you become a star Wonderbolt.”

Apparently, Rainbow’s dream was to become a member of a group called the Wonderbolts. They’re basically a group of pegasi who do stunts and stuff in the sky. Rainbow has a bunch of posters and pictures of them in her room. And since I’m a good person, I supported her as much as I could.

“You’ll be like my number one fan!” Rainbow beamed.

I thought about telling her I’m no one’s fan, but instead, I decided to let her have it. “Yeah, now can you bring us up? I’m bored, and I’d like to be bored up there.”

“Uhh, sure.” Rainbow calmed down. “Let me just grab a cloud.”

I nodded and watched as she started flying towards her sky fortress. I looked back towards Christmas, and she had already started casting the spell that allowed us to be on clouds.

Once Rainbow came back with a cloud, I instantly got on it. Christmas took her time, but eventually got on it. Finally, Rainbow began pushing us up towards her house.

Once we were close enough to the house, I jumped off the cloud and landed next to the door with a soft thud. I quickly opened it and entered the house.

Immediately, I headed over towards my couch and sat on it. I let out a pleasant sigh as I kicked off my boots. “Finally, I can relax.”

“You did nothing all day.” Christmas complained while trotting over to me.

I rolled my eye while sighing. “You wonder why I’m rude.” I muttered.

For the rest of the day, nothing special happened. I thought up a plan for tomorrow, I took a nap, ate pizza while arguing with Christmas, and ended my day by taking a long hot shower.

After my shower, I excitedly changed into my new clothing. Of course I threw my hoodie at Christmas, which prompted another argument. But like always, I didn’t care.

Then I went to sleep on the couch. The couch was a lot softer that anything I’d ever slept on, so every time I slept on it, I slept like a newborn child.

The next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed and relaxed. I sat up and began stretching while yawning loudly. “Do you have to yawn so loudly?”

I stopped stretching and looked over towards the stairway. Christmas was trotting towards me with a cup in her magical grasp. “The louder you yawn, the more satisfying the stretch is.” Once Christmas was close enough to me, I reached out and grabbed the cup. “Thanks.” I replied while taking a sip of the ice cold water.

“You’re welcome.” Christmas paused while adjusting her glasses. “Do you have any plans for today?”

“Pass me my glasses.” I used my freehand to point at a desk with my glasses on top. Christmas obeyed as she levitated my glasses over to me. I quickly slid them on, turned them on, and called out ‘time’. The time was displayed, and it was currently. 7:23. “Good, I still have time.” I finished by turning my glasses off.

“For?” Christmas asked while raising a brow.

“Some fillies I know asked me for a favor at their school. And I’d hate to be late.” I finished by taking another sip of water.

“I’m pretty sure school starts at 7.” I instantly spat out the water in my mouth and began coughing.

After a few seconds of coughing I looked at Christmas with a shocked expression. “What kind of monster makes kids go to school so early?!” I shouted.

“That’s a normal time.” Christmas sounded annoyed by my sudden shouting. “Looks like you’re late.”

“No shit.” I spat while standing up. I sat my cup onto the desk and ran over to the door.

“What’s with the yelling?” Rainbow groggily spoke while trotting down the stairs.

I ignored her as I began putting my socks and boots on. Once that was done, I opened the door and looked at Rainbow. “I need a ride down.”

“Right now?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes,” I looked back at Christmas and began shouting. “Come on!”

“Don’t rush me because you’re late.” Christmas began complaining.

I thought about strangling Christmas right then and there, but then I remembered she’s a unicorn and I wouldn’t be able to do anything against that.

After five minutes of me complaining, and Christmas taking her sweet time, we were finally able to head down.

Once I was on the ground, I instantly began sprinting towards the schoolhouse. I felt awful about being late, especially since Scootaloo begged me to come.

Unfortunately, I didn’t remember the exact location of the building, so it took me a few minutes extra to find it.

But once I spotted it, I put on an extra burst of speed, and jumped over the fence surrounding the building. I skidded to a stop as a thought popped into my head. I spun around and watched as Christmas galloped over to me.

“Yo, think you can let me go in alone?” I forced out after taking a couple of deep breaths.

“You know I can’t leave you alone. You’re prone to-“ I cut Christmas off by putting a finger over her lips.

I gave myself a few extra seconds to catch my breath. And after that was done, I removed my finger. “You make it sound like I’ma blow up the school.”

Christmas frowned while adjusting her glasses. “That might be a possibility with you.”

I shook my head repeatedly. “Jesus Christ I’m not that fucked up.” I took a more serious tone as I began speaking. “For real though. Let me handle this please.”

Christmas let out a sigh as she turned around. “I’ll go see if Twilight Sparkle acquired the letter. I’ll be back soon.” She finished by trotting off.

I silently thanked Christmas before I looked at the entrance of the school house. After mentally preparing myself, I decided to enter with my head held high. “I’m here!” I regretted walking in with my head held high because my head almost hit a part of the door.

“Saint, you made it!” I looked over and saw Scootaloo beaming in her desk. I also noticed Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, both looking excited as well. The classroom looked like an average classroom from my world. A difference I noticed was that there were a lot fewer students than I was anticipating.

Fillies and colts sat in small desks while the teacher sat at a larger desk. The teacher had a magenta coat with green eyes. Her mane and tail were both pink along with a lighter shade of pink going through them. “We were just about to carry on with class without you. But welcome, Mr. Saint.” She said in a friendly tone.

“Hi, just call me Saint.” I awkwardly waved to her. “Sorry about being late. Didn’t think school started at 7.”

“Schools always started at 7.” She got out of her desk and began trotting over to me with a smile.

“When I was in school it started at 8.” I began rubbing my chin while humming. “Maybe it just depends on the planet.” I muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Just like I planned, the majority of the classroom gasped. “Another planet!” A student shouted excitedly.

“It’s an alien!” More students began shouting various things I couldn’t comprehend. I’m pretty sure Sweetie Belle actually called me a human during the shouting, but I digress.

“Calm down now everypony.” The teacher tried to get everybody’s attention. Once all the fillies and colts were calmed down, she smiled brightly. “Now please introduce yourself.”

I nodded while clearing my throat. “Hi, I’m a human, my names Saint, and I’m Scootaloo’s godfather.” That’s the plan I decided to come up with. It’s a lot more believable than me adopting her.

A majority of the kids seemed shocked, while others looked confused.

A single colt raised his hoof. “What’s a ‘godfather’?” He asked in a stereotypical British accent.

Before I had the chance to respond, Scootaloo responded for me. “He’s like a second father!”

I rolled my eye at Scootaloo’s explanation.“It means that if something happens to her parents, I take over.” I explained.

The British colt looked satisfied by my explanation and lowered his hoof. “Saint, I assume you’ve prepared a presentation for the class.” I looked back at the teacher and she was looking at me with a warm smile.

“Of course I did.” I adjusted my glasses while smiling at her.

“Then let’s hear it.” A filly said angrily.

I looked at the filly with a frown. She had a pale magenta coat with a violet mane and tail, both having a white streak going through them. She had blue eyes, and on top of her head was a tiara. I recognized this filly as Diamond Tiara.

My eye shifted between each child in the room. I spotted some familiar faces, like Twist, and some unfamiliar ones. My eyes stopped on Scootaloo’s, she was looking at me with a nervous expression.

I grinned at her I began adjusting my glasses once more. I cleared my throat and focused my attention back to the kids. “Keep this a secret, but where I’m from, I’m a spy for my government.” I finished with a bright smile.

And that’s the story I ran with, I mean, an assassin isn’t that different from a spy. Before I could tell them a little story, everybody in the class began enthusiastically shouting out questions. All ranging from different topics.

But one question stood out. “What do spy’s eat?” A colt asked.

I tried not to be sarcastic as I responded. “Same things you do of course!” He opened his mouth again, but I began speaking before he got the chance to ask another stupid question. “Any other questions?”

“There’s no way you’re actually a spy!” A filly angrily began shouting.

I frowned as I looked down at Diamond Tiara, she got out of her desk and angrily stomped up towards me. “Ms. Cheerilee!” She looked at the teacher with an upset expression. “He can’t be a spy”

“Yes, he is!” Scootaloo came to my defense.

“Please don’t argue you two.” Cheerilee asked nicely.

I clapped my hands to get everybody’s attention. “I can prove it, but I need two volunteers.”

Everybody besides the teacher raised their hooves. Both colt and fillies began shouting, asking to be a volunteer. I scanned through them and spotted Applebloom wildly shaking her hoof.

As much as I wanted to pick her, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to seem biased. “I’ll pick you.” I pointed a finger at Twist. “And you.” I pointed at a filly who didn’t really looked interested.

“What? Why me?” The silver filly began complaining. This filly had violet eyes with a grayish silver mane and tail. Her coat was gray, and around her neck looked like a pearl necklace.

“Because you looked interested.” I shrugged. The rest of the class all groaned at not being picked. Twist quickly got out of her desk and trotted over to me. While the silver filly took her sweet time.

Once, both fillies were in front of me, I quickly turned on my glasses and watched as my vision brightened. “Before I came here, an important friend of mine made these. “I quickly shuffled to the heartbeat scanner and took the glasses off my face. “Come here.” I turned and looked at Diamond Tiara.

She rolled her eyes at me but eventually approached me. I slipped my glasses off and crouched down. “If you break these, I’ll eat you.” I jokingly threatened.

I quickly slid them on Diamond Tiara, before she had the chance to react to my statement. They fit her pretty well to my surprise. I then stood back up and pointed at Twist, the silver filly, and myself. “Heartbeat scanner, you’re currently able to see the heartbeat of any living thing.”

Everybody in the class gasped. We all watched as Diamond Tiara craned her head between Twist, the silver filly, and I. She finished by looking back up towards me. “These are just magical glasses!” She stammered.

“I can also prove they aren’t.” I pointed at the doorway while looking at the teacher. “But first I want to show the main reason I use them. Mind if we go outside for a second?”

The teacher looked surprised for a second before responding. “Sure, but may I ask why?” She asked skeptically.

I moved along to the door and opened it. The two fillies I picked to volunteer followed me outside. “Because the scanner works through walls.” Right after I finished speaking I closed the door.

The excited shouts from inside the schoolhouse were barley comprehensive. I began stretching while letting out a yawn. “Alpha, is it true you’re an alien?!”

I looked down at Twist with a smile. “Something like that. I’m definitely the only human here, so...” I began walking around the schoolhouse. Trying to avoid being spotted through the many windows.

“How are you going to prove that your glasses aren’t magical?” I stopped walking, spun around, and looked at the silver filly with a frown.

“You’ll find out soon. I’ll be showing the entire class anyways.” I spun back around and continued walking around the schoolhouse.

Once I did a complete circle around the building, I entered it again with the two fillies following me. “Ima assume you followed us while we walked around.”

All the students in the class awaited for Diamond Tiara’s response, while she had an unreadable expression on her face.

Diamond Tiara frowned as she looked up to me. “This doesn’t prove they’re not magical!”

I frowned as I scratched the back of my head. “I didn’t wanna do this, but whatever. Map.” I called out. I assumed the globe popped up on my glasses and began spinning for Diamond Tiara. “Currently, you should see a 3D image of my planet.”

Everybody including the teacher gasped. “You’re the first filly to see where I’m from. I’d show you exactly where but currently my map doesn’t work.”

I tried to time my words with the error that follows when I try to use the map. “If they were magical, they wouldn’t be able to show you a perfect image of my planet, especially since only a handful of ponies have seen it.” I continued with a smug smile.

I quickly snatched my glasses off Diamond Tiara’s face and slid them back onto mine. Just like I expected, the word ‘Error’ was displayed.

I quickly shuffled the glasses back to its original setting and slid them off my face. “So, who wants to try them?” I asked with a smile.

I don’t know how much time passed while I was messing with the students. I tried to make sure everybody got to try my glasses, including the teacher.

I showed everybody the three vision settings and the map of Earth. Apparently, everybody’s favorite setting was the X-ray one, even though I still think it’s useless.

A lot of time must’ve passed, because the school bell began ringing. “What does that bell mean?” I asked while taking my glasses off a chubby colt.

Ms. Cheerilee, looked at a clock I didn’t even notice. “Looks like it’s time for lunch. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun!” She looked back at me with a smile. “Saint, you’re welcome to stay if you’d like.”

I began rubbing my chin while humming. “I’ll see if I can.” I finished by sliding my glasses on my face. I was wondering what happened to Christmas, since she’d left me alone for more than an hour.

Cheerilee nodded before directing her attention towards her students. “Lunch time everypony!”

After everybody left the schoolhouse, I ended up sitting with Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle at a small picnic table next to the schoolhouse, which was extremely uncomfortable.

I sat facing away from them because my legs wouldn’t fit underneath the table. “So you’re really ah alien Saint?” Applebloom questioned from besides me.

“I guess.” I looked up towards the sky and let out a yawn. “Damn I’m tired.” I muttered.

“Is there anything else your glasses can do?” Sweetie Belle questioned next.

“No, I showed you everything they can do.” I stopped looking at the sky and looked towards Scootaloo, who was sitting across from me. “Hopefully Diamond Tiara will leave you alone.”

Scootaloo nodded repeatedly with a big smile on her face. “She definitely will now! I definitely brought the coolest pony ever to family appreciation day!”

I frowned while turning away from her. “I’m not a pony though.”

“Oh right, sorry about that.” I shrugged my shoulders while letting out another yawn.

I was extremely bored. I didn’t know what to do. I did have fun for a while showing off, but now it’s just boring.

I started running my hands through my hair, pulling my hair down slightly so I could see the purple color. I let out a sigh as I started fixing my hair. “You okay Saint?”

After my hair was fixed, I looked over to Sweetie Belle with a frown. “Just thinking about a friend is all.” I just miss my team. Charlie, Delta, and Beta were always there for me. I wish I could’ve saved them sooner.

“SAINT!” The depressing moment was cut off as a familiar voice screamed my name.

I looked over and saw Christmas galloping over towards me. I stood up from the picnic table and ran over to meet her.

We both skidded to a halt right before we ran into each other. “Jesus, why are you screaming?” I angrily whispered to her.

Christmas, began panting heavily. After a minute, she looked up to me with worry in her eyes. “There’s a problem at the castle, and Princess Celestia needs your help!” She shouted up at me.

“What kind of problem?” I continued to whisper.

“Celestia is on her way now. When she gets here, she’ll teleport us to the castle.” Christmas began whispering as well.

“That doesn’t answer my question. What happened?” I was starting to get angry because she was avoiding my question.

Christmas frowned while adjusting her glasses. “I don’t know either. All she said was that it’s a problem only you could fix.”

I let out a groan while rubbing my temples. “Look, go get Rainbow and tell her to get my clothes. When we get to the castle, I’ima stay there till I have to leave for that mission.”

Christmas’s frown deepened. “Why?” She questioned.

I frowned as well. “Because I’m tryna live the rich life I was never able to as a kid.” I changed my frown into a grin and pointed in the direction of Rainbow’s house. “Now get to it!”

Christmas began angrily mumbling under her breath, but eventually she obeyed, and began galloping towards Rainbow’s house.

I watched her gallop away for a few seconds, after that, I turned and focused on the sky. If Celestia is really coming, then something bad must’ve happened.

The sound of trotting could be heard from behind me. I turned around and watched as my three filly acquaintances approached me. “What’s happening, Saint?” Scootaloo questioned once she got closer to me.

I shrugged before responding. “Problem that only I could fix I guess.” I then pointed at the sky. “Let me know if you see Celestia.”

The three fillies looked completely baffled. “What do ya mean if we see Celestia!?” Applebloom shouted.

“You’ll see.” I looked back at the sky and waited.

Five minutes passed by the time I spotted Celestia riding in a golden carriage being pulled by multiple pegasi. I quickly waved, trying to get her attention. “That's really Princess Celestia!” Sweetie Belle excitedly shouted.

“Yup, and when does the bell ring?” I looked down at the three filles with a frown. Celestia must’ve spotted us because she descended her fancy carriage our way.

“Soon, but why is Princess Celestia coming?” Scootaloo questioned.

I watched as Celestia’s starting getting closer and closer. “She needs me for something. Tell your teacher I had to do something. And make sure you’re not late when the bell rings.”

“Celestia... needs you for something!” Scootaloo shouted, completely ignoring the second part of my statement.

“Yep.” The carriage landed, and out stepped Princess Celestia herself. I heard some shuffling from my side. So I looked over and saw the three fillies bowing. I rolled my eye and looked back at Celestia.

“Hi?” I awkwardly waved once she got closer.

Celestia looked at the three fillies and smiled. “You three don’t need to bow.” Celestia’s expression didn’t falter as she began to speak calmly towards me. “Saint, I’m going to assume Christmas already informed you. But we need your assistance at the castle immediately. I’ll teleport us back. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”

“No hello or anything like that?” I joked. Celestia didn’t find my joke amusing because her unreadable expression became one of anger. “Chill, all seriousness Christmas went to go do something.”

“That’s fine, she can meet up with us later, but are you ready?”

“Yeah, rea-“ I was cut off as Celestia’s horn began glowing brightly. A bright flash filled my vision as I realized I wasn’t standing in Ponyville, instead, I was standing in what I believe was a part of the Canterlot castle I’ve never been in before. “Ready whenever you are.” I muttered under my breath.

“P-Princess Celestia!” A nervous voice shouted. I looked behind Celestia and seen a stallion who I could only describe as a scientist. He was wearing a stereotypical lab coat along with a pair of glasses to match.

Celestia turned to face the scientist and began speaking calmly. “Don’t worry my little pony. I’ve brought somepony who could assist.”

“Why am I here exactly?” I asked as nicely as I could.

Celestia turned to look at me with a worried expression. “One of your metal objects started spewing smoke and one of my scientists inhaled the smoke.”

I frowned as I realized where this was going. “Then what happened?”

“She’s become sick and hasn’t woken up since!” The stallion zipped in front of me and began shouting frantically. “We think it’s a poisonous substance from where you come from! Our magic can’t detect what type of poison it is!”

My frown deepened as I started rubbing my temples. I looked between Celestia and the scientist, both of them had worried and concerned looks. I let out a sigh as I dropped my arms. “First off it’s not poisonous gas.”

Both the scientist and Celestia looked surprised. Celestia tried to hide her shock but I could still see it. “The why is she sick!” The scientist continued to shout.

“What is she unconscious or something?” I tried to hide the anger in my voice. I honestly didn’t care about some random mare, I was upset cause they used one of my favorite grenades.

“Yes, she’s been unconscious for some time now.” Celestia responded before the loud stallion did.

“She’ll be fine. You aren’t detecting any poisonous substances because the smoke doesn’t have any in it. The worst it could do it put you in a coughing fit.” I explained as best as I could. “She probably fainted or something. And stop touching my stuff!” I shouted at them.

Celestia frowned while the stallion hid behind her. “You’re positive she’ll be fine?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, I’m positive. Trust me, and since I’m here, I’ll explain what my stuff can and can’t do.” I finished with a smile. “After I do something of course.”

Celestia's frown deepened. “And what’s that something?” She asked skeptically.

“I'm bored and tired. And I’ve always wanted to chill in massive hot tub. And I know you definitely have some here.” Both Celestia and the scientist had unreadable expressions.

The seconds that passed felt like minutes. But eventually Celestia let out a quiet chuckle. “Sorry, for disturbing you Saint, but I believe the castle has many hot tubs for you. But we will trust you and wait for her to awaken.” She then looked at the scientist with a smile. “We will wait for her to awaken, but please inform a maid about Saint’s hot tub request.”

The stallion looked at Celestia like she was dumb for a few seconds before shaking his head repeatedly. “Yes, princess.” He bowed his head and began trotting off down the hallway.

After he was out of ear shot, I looked at Celestia with a frown. “For real though, be careful if you’re gonna touch my stuff. I honestly don’t mind if you do, but the last thing I need is for the entire castle to be blown up like the Eiffel Tower.”

Celestia let out a sigh while looking away from me. “I apologize for messing with your equipment, Saint, I just wanted to see what the other members of Apex were carrying.”

I shrugged my shoulders while yawning. “Yeah, I understand. But when can I do that mission?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

Celestia smiled brightly as she began speaking calmly. “Actually, if everything works out, I should be able to inform you the day after tomorrow.”

“Good.” I nodded while turning to walk down the hallway. “Ima be staying here till then, so set up a room for me. Also don’t forget to get Christmas, cause she got my clothes.” I waved without turning around.

Hours passed by, but I didn’t care, because I was living the dream. It took a couple of minutes for a guard to find me and redirect me to the room I originally had when I first stayed here.

Then it took about a half an hour for Christmas to arrive with all of my clothing. She definitely was upset that I left her in Ponyville, but she’ll get over it, eventually.

Then it took an hour for my hot tub experience to be ready. But it was worth the wait.

The hot tub was a lot bigger than I expected. It reminded me of a hot springs episode of a harem anime.

The tub itself only went two feet deep, so I had to sit awkwardly for the water to reach my chest.

I closed my eyes and let out a pleasant sigh. This moment was almost perfect, besides one aspect. I stared idly, watching Christmas hum a sweet tune as she enjoyed sitting in the hot tub. Luckily, she was sitting on the opposite side.

Christmas must’ve noticed me staring cause she frowned at me. “I’d appreciate you not staring.”

I rolled my eyes as I looked away from her. “Nothing to look at anyways.” I muttered to myself.

“What!?” She shouted from across the room.

I groaned as I ignored her. Honestly I felt pretty happy in that moment. I’m anxious to find out what kind of mission a princess would want me to do. In the end, I bet it’ll be easy.

For now, I plan on relaxing and enjoying my time while I can.

Chapter 4: Doing Favors and Claiming Favors

I awoke the next day to someone banging on my room’s door. “Fuck off!” I shouted as I put a pillow over my head in an attempt to block out the noise.

“The princess wishes to speak to you!” An unfamiliar voice shouted back.

“I don’t care,” I muttered to myself. I began fake snoring loudly, hoping that whoever was at the door would get the hint. After a few fake snores, I stopped, and swiftly crept back to my slumber.

Sadly, my slumber didn’t last long. The next thing I felt was a large amount of extremely cold water cascading onto me. After screaming for a second, I rolled off the bed and hit the ground with a thud.

I quickly jumped to my feet and glared at the only pony in the room. Turns out that the pony who wanted to wake me entered the room, and had proceeded to dump an entire bucket of water on me.

The stallion was holding the bucket by his teeth. “The fuck is your problem!” I began shouting at him.

After setting the bucket down, he looked up at me with a frown. “The princess wishes to speak to you. She said it was urgent.”

“I wish I could just strangle you right now,” I growled. I looked down at myself and felt my shirt stick to my skin. I sighed and slipped my wet shirt off and began to ring it out over the bed. “You’re a butler right?” I looked over the stallion. He was a grey earth pony with a darker grey mane and tail and brown eyes. He was wearing a butler's suit, so I just assumed he was one.

He nodded once at me. After ringing my shirt out, I threw it on the floor behind me. “Does she need me now?” I asked while examining the rest of my attire. Luckily, my pants, for the most part, were dry, besides a couple of wet spots from the water dripping off my shirt.

The butler nodded again. I sighed and began stomping my way over to the mysterious door from last night. I swung it open, stepped into the room, and slammed it behind me.

Just like I predicted last night, it was indeed a bathroom. I went over and swung open the first cabinet I noticed. Inside were a couple of towels. I grabbed one and began to dry off my torso and hair.

After a few minutes of drying, I walked back into the main room with the towel around my shoulders. My hair was still damp, but I didn’t care. “Who’s gonna clean that up?” I pointed towards the soaked bed and my wet shirt.

He looked over to where I was pointing. “A maid will. Now let’s hurry.” He then trotted over to the door and opened it.

I let out a sigh as I walked over to the bed. I sat the damp blanket onto the bed and grabbed my glasses. After slipping them on, I stepped next to the stallion and gestured for him to lead the way. He stepped out of my room and began to trot down the hallway.

I stepped into line with the stallion while we turned down hallways. During our walk, we passed by a window that overlooked the city. I paused and looked out, noticing that the sky was still dark.

I turned on my glasses and called out ‘time’. Like always the time was displayed, it was currently 5:48.

I let out a groan and turned to continue the walk. But before I could actually begin walking, a cold breeze smacked my bare skin. “Jesus, why is it so cold?” I hugged myself in an attempt to warm up.

“Summer just ended. It’s fall currently.” The stallion spoke. Turns out, he paused only a few feet in front of me. I was wishing he wouldn’t notice I was there, and just continue on.

“Yeah, I know. It’s fucking stupid. It was the middle of summer where I’m from.” I turned off my glasses as I walked by the stallion.

The stallion decided not to respond to that, instead, he quickened his pace and walked at my side. We kept turning down hallways that I somewhat recognized.

It didn’t take us long as we eventually found ourselves standing in front of the door I recognized as the one to the dining area. The stallion stepped in front of me and opened the door. After it was opened, he gestured for me to enter.

Obeying him, I entered the room. I instantly noticed Celestia sitting in the same seat from last night. “Good morning, Saint,” She said in a motherly tone.

“Hi.” I walked over and plopped down next to her. I realized that she seemed to already have breakfast ready. On the table were some pancakes, omelets, pastries, and a single cup of tea. All the food was sitting on their own plates.

“Everything alright?” Celestia asked, concern evident in her voice.

I looked up at her with a poker face. “Well, my species wear clothing to stay warm. And I’m freezing my nips off.” I leaned back in my chair as I finished.

She gave me a confused look before responding. “If it’s cold why didn’t you wear the shirt you had from yesterday?”

I dropped the poker face and replaced it with an annoyed glare. “Maybe if your jackass butler didn’t dump water on me I’d be fine.” I grabbed a pancake and angrily bit into it. Turns out it had chocolate chips, so it was delicious.

Celestia covered her mouth with a hoof and chuckled behind it. “If you like, I could assign you a maid.”

After finishing my pancake I shook my head. “No, I’m going back to Ponyville.”

Celestia dropped her hoof and had a serious expression on her face. “If you plan on going back to Ponyville, I’d like you to have a guard that will stay with you. And they will report back to me every day.”

“Doubt you’ll find someone who would do that.” I chuckled lightly.

“I actually already have a pony for the job.” Celestia levitated over a teacup and sipped from it.

I rolled my eyes at hearing that. “So, what's so important that I was woken up at 6 in the morning?”

Celestia had an unreadable expression on her face. She sat her teacup down and gave me an extremely serious look. “Two things; one, I have a favor to ask of you, and two, I have a question to ask that has been concerning me.”

I was perplexed to hear that royalty wanted a favor from me. “What’s the question first?” I raised at an eyebrow and awaited her response.

“Why were you sent to Equestria, instead of your other team members?”

It took me a couple of seconds to think of a response. “Huh, I actually never thought about that. There’s only four of us, so I guess it was just by chance.” Thinking back to the mission, it made sense that it was by chance. If I went with Beta or Delta instead, I wouldn’t even be here.

Celestia had a dumbfounded expression on her face. “There’s only four members in your group?” I nodded once. “The way you explained it made it sound like there was a lot more.”

I just shrugged. “We don’t need more. The four of us are dangerous as it is.” Celestia had a frown on her face, but I didn’t care. “Any other questions?”

“None from me at the moment.”

“Good.” I leaned back further in my chair and continued speaking. “So, what’s this favor?”

Celestia cleared her throat before speaking. “I assigned Shining Armor a special task yesterday, and I believe he will need the help.”

I had a confused expression on my face. “So you want me to help him?” She nodded once. “Don’t you have other guards?”

Celestia let out a sigh. “I do. But if you’re really the leader of a legendary assassin group, I believe you will be better for the task.”

I nodded while smiling. “Appreciate the flattery. I’ll do it.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask bu... wait, you’ll do it?” Celestia looked extremely confused.

I shrugged before responding. “I mean yeah, fuck it. What kind of assignment though?”

Celestia smiled brightly. “Thank you, Saint, you will be rewarded greatly. Also, Shining Armor will explain everything.”

I nodded once and leaned forward in my chair. “I’ll need my things before I go,” I muttered.

“I’d like you to leave your bombs and bring the non-lethal ones.” Celestia sounded stern.

“Sure,”

“Thank you.” She replied. “Another thing. Can you tell Shining Armor, everything about your team? I want Equestria to prepared.”

“Sure. Where Shi-“ I was cut off as a freezing shiver ran throughout my body.

“Saint, are you okay?” Celestial sounded concerned.

I shook my head and began breathing heavily. “I felt fine ten minutes ago, but it’s like the cold from yesterday came back.” I began looking throughout the room. “There a window or something?”

Celestia looked baffled at that. “Don’t be alarmed.” She spoke softly. I was about to question what she meant, but before I could, I watched as her horn began glowing.

She tilted her horn towards me as it began to glow brighter. Seconds went by, and during that time, I felt the coldness leave me as if it was never there. After a while, her horn died down, and she looked at me with a frown. “Someone cast an eavesdropping spell on you.”

I had a perplexed expression on my face. “A what?”

“Once cast, the user is able to hear everything you say, or what others say to you.”

I was confused at first, but then I became angry that someone had eavesdropped on me without my knowledge. “The fuck!” I stood up from my seat and looked around the room once more. “How? No one is here.”

“You said you felt like this yesterday?” I looked back at Celestia and nodded. “When did it start?”

I sat back down in my chair. “When I entered the city.”

Celestia let out a sigh as her horn began to glow again. “I can’t tell who cast it, but I’ll be able to put up a defense for it.” She finished as her horns glow died down.

“So they can’t cast it anymore?”

Celestia shook her head and sipped on more of her tea. “It’ll only last for a few hours. My guess is that someone took it upon themselves to investigate the mysterious creature that entered the city.”

I began to rub my temples. “How did they cast it now? There’s no one here for fuck sake!”

“If they cast it on you once they can cast it on you again from anywhere. It’s an advanced spell that takes months to learn.” Celestia reassured.

I just sighed and rested my elbows on the table. “It’s whatever, at least they got the warning too.”

Celestia let out a sigh as well. “It’s not whatever. Somepony out there knows about you and who you are.”

I honestly didn’t care if ponies out there knew who I was. I was angry that I was being spied on. My guess was that either Shining or Blue cast it. “Relax, it’s not like you told me any state secrets.” I stood up from my seat and began heading towards the exit. “Ima go meet up with Shining.”

“He should still be in the castle,” Celestia called out from behind me.

“Ok. Also, tell that guard that I’ll be in Ponyville.” I waved behind me.

Before I could make my exit, the door I was supposed to use flew open. And in walked in another pony that also had a horn and a pair of wings. She had a dark blue coat and her mane and tail where just like Celestia’s, they were flowing as if there was wind. Both were a sapphire blue with a purplish outline. It even looked like she had stars in her tail.

“Good morning sister!” Celestia called from behind me.

“Morning sister.” The dark princess finished with a loud yawn. She had her head down blocking me from seeing her eyes. She began trotting into the room, so I quietly stepped to the side.

Once she was far enough into the room, I shrugged my shoulders and left before the dark princess could notice me.

After my exit, I tried my hardest to remember the path to my room. After backtracking my steps, I eventually made it back to my room. I opened the door and immediately noticed a mare inside of it.

“Uhh.” I entered and shut the door behind me, startling the mare. She was wearing a maid uniform, so I assumed she was the maid that the butler was talking about.

The mare turned around and faced me. “Sorry sir, I was just tending to your bed and clothing.” She bowed her head slightly and turned back around. I then noticed that my bed was perfectly fine, as if a bucket of water hadn’t been dumped on it.

“That was fast.” I then realized that she was using magic, she had a dark red aura and inside that aura was my shirt.

My shirt seemed dry, so I reached out to grab it. After touching it, the aura surrounding it disappeared, making my shirt go limp in my hand. “Thanks.” I slipped my shirt back on and instantly felt warmer.

“You’re welcome, sir.” The mare bowed her head again and left me alone in my room. I let out a sigh and sat down on my bed. I really wanted to go back to sleep, but then I remembered that I needed to speak to Shining Armor. So I stood up and exited my room.

I didn’t really know where to look, so I was forced to ask for directions from a nearby guard. Creepily enough, he looked the same as the others.

Luckily, he was nice enough to show me the way. The walk felt like an hour, but in reality, it was probably only half of that. And for the first time during my stay in the castle, I was forced to climb up a flight of stairs. Maybe I should invent the escalator while I’m here. At the end of our journey, we were standing in front of what I assumed was Shining Armor’s suite. “Thanks.” I waved off the guard.

He nodded and began to trot away. I decided to let myself into Shining’s room without knocking, because I wanted to bother him. “What up!” I shouted while closing the door behind me.

Shining Armor was currently making his bed using his magic. His room was a lot bigger than mine, his even had a window in it. “What do you want?” He spat at me.

“Whoa, calm down now buddy.” I walked over and threw myself onto his bed. “I heard that you need help with a task.”

Shining gave me a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

I rolled around on his bed a couple of times before responding. “Celestia was talking about how she assigned you a task. And she wants me to help you.”

He used his magic to lift me up and set me down away from his bed. “No.” He growled at me. “And why would she even ask you?”

I watched as Shining began to fix his bed again. “Wait, she hasn’t told you?” I asked.

“You’re just a messenger.” He turned to face me after fixing his bed. “Why would she ask you to help?”

Celestia must’ve never told him how I’m the leader of Apex. “Uhh... I don’t know you ask her.”

Shining let out a sigh. “I’ll talk to her before I head back to the Crystal Empire.” He began to trot towards the door.

I quickly jumped in front of him and leaned back against the door. “Before you leave, Celestia wanted me to tell you everything I know about Apex.”

He gave me a confused look. “Why, What else do you know about them?”

I just smiled as I began to explain what he needed to know. I told him that there’s only three of them, how they can heal themselves with the nanotechnology, the weapons they carry and use, and finally a basic description of them.

“THEY HAVE WHAT!” He screamed. I just finished telling him about the cluster grenades and how much damage they could cause.

“Relax, they rarely use them.” I walked over and sat down on his bed.

“You said they were being controlled. You don’t know how they will act!”

“Oh, you’re right, they might use them then.” I chuckled while scratching the back of my head.

He began to glare at me. “Is this a joke to you?” He spat.

I just rolled my eyes behind my glasses and shook my head. “No,”

Shining just sighed and shook his head as well. “How do you even know all of this?” But before I could respond, he began speaking skeptically. “Wait, don’t you have exactly what they have? I mean, you have the thing that exploded on impact as well.”

I winced and stood up. “Long story, just ask Celestia.” Shining opened his mouth to respond, but I kept speaking. “Anyways, last bit of advice. Tell your guards that if they see any of them that they must run away and report it back to me or you”.

Shining just rolled his eyes. “Why? From what I know your species can’t use magic. All we do is detain them with magic.”

I shook my head before responding. “They don’t need magic. They’ll find a way to counter it.”

“Nothing can counter magic. And why would we report anything to you?” Shining demanded.

“Because I can deal with them of course.”

Shining squinted his eyes slightly. “You’re gonna take on an assassin group? Alone?”

I stood up and spoke with false confidence. “Ask Celestia and you’ll find out why I can deal with them.” In actuality, those three could kill me if they fought me together.

Shining mumbled something under his breath. But before I could ask what was said, he spoke louder. “Do you at least know when they will be arriving?”

That’s a question I hadn’t really figured out. “If I had to guess, probably a couple of weeks, or months for all I know. I don’t know what they're planning.” I was basing my theory on the device I used to get here. Considering I probably used a prototype that worked. All they had to do was make it so they could at least get back to Earth.

“That’s enough time to prepare,” Shining mumbled. He then trotted out the door, leaving me behind.

I groaned, but eventually caught up to him. “Well enough about me. What’s this mission you’re doing?”

Shining turned to glare at me. “I’ll tell you after I talk to Celestia.”

I just paused and let Shining go on ahead of me. All he did was trot a couple of feet before turning down a hallway. “This bitch,” I muttered.

I began stretching while walking through the castles upper part. I was pretty confused as to where I was. I’d never been to this part of the castle before.

Luckily for me, I spotted a maid who was watering a plant. “Yo!” I called while walking over to the mare.

She looked at me and shifted her eyes away instantly, she continued watering the plant with the water pale in her mouth.

I frowned but decided to speak. “Anyway, can you lead me to my room?”

She sat the pale down and looked at me with a worried expression. “S...sure.” She muttered quietly. She instantly turned around and slowly trotted ahead of me.

It didn’t take long for her to lead me back to my room. The second I got into it, I threw myself onto my bed and closed my eyes. Now that I didn’t have anything to do, I could finally relax.

I fell asleep after five minutes of relaxing, and I was awoken by the sound of knocking at my door. After letting out a loud and obnoxious groan, I stood up and headed over to the door.

I swung it open and was greeted by a surprised looking Celestia. “Don’t you have a bunch of responsibilities?” I asked while yawning.

Celestia gave me a frown, but responded after a couple of seconds. “I do, but you should as well. I advised Shining about your relationship with Apex.”

“And?” I was waiting for her to continue.

Celestia sighed, but ultimately continued. “He wasn’t happy to hear about how you’re the leader. He believes your the reason their coming.”

I just rolled my eyes. “They’d come regardless. I’m on your side, Celestia, I want them back as much as you don’t want them here.”

Celestia had an unreadable expression on her face. Then, after a couple of awkward seconds, she nodded. “Ok, I believe you, Saint, I’ll keep you updated if we find them.”

“Thank you.” I turned to walk around, but then realized something. “Wait,” I spun back around and faced Celestia. “Do you still want me to help Shining?”

Celestia had a soft smile on her face. “If possible, yes. He doesn’t want you to but I’d like it if you did.”

I nodded and grinned. “Just send a letter to Twilight whenever you need me. I’ll hear the details then.”

Celestia frowned and squinted her eyes. “You’ll just accept a task without hearing the details?” Celestia sounded skeptical.

I rolled my eyes before responding. “Yes, I’ll be able to do whatever you need me to do.”

Now Celestia rolled her eyes. “If you say so. You’ll be getting a letter as soon as I can send one. I’ll see you later, Saint.”

She turned around and began to trot off, but before she got far, I remembered something. “Yo, quick question. There’re teleportation spells right?”

Celestia turned around and raised a brow. “Yes, there are. Why?”

“Is it possible for you to teleport me to Ponyville? It’s a lot faster than getting a train.” I was broke and I figured it would be rude to ask a princess for money.

“I can, but it takes a couple of seconds.” She tilted her horn towards me and it began to glow brightly. “The guard who will be with you will arrive later... and thanks for helping us, Saint.”

“Shit, I completely forgot about that pa-“ I was cut off as a loud pop sounded off. Celestia was replaced by a bunch of stalls selling various items. I spun around quickly and realized I was in what looked like a market place. But I was definitely in Ponyville, because I recognized some of the ponies from the town. “Magic is broken.” I muttered to myself.

The first thing I did was take an uneventful walk to the library. The ponies of Ponyville still gave me odd looks, and like always I just ignored them.

I spotted the library and quickly hustled over. I didn’t bother knocking since I lived there, so I opened the door and let myself inside. I quickly spotted Spike, who was dusting down some bookshelves with his pink duster. “What up, Spike.”

Spike spun around and looked up at me with a smile. “Hey man! Where have you been?” He quickly ran over to me.

“Had to stay overnight.”

Spike and I both stared at each other awkwardly for a couple of seconds. He had a strange expression as he began to speak. “What happened while you were in Canterlot?” He asked.

I was definitely confused as to what he was talking about. “What?”

He then began to scratch the back of his head, a habit he picked up from me. “It’s just that Twilight said I shouldn’t talk to you if you stopped by. Apparently, you did something bad in Canterlot.”

I took a step back as I felt my heart drop. “Is that all she said?” I nervously asked.

Spike shook his head once. “No, she also kinda kicked you out... I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen!”

I clenched my first and plastered a fake smile on my face as I spoke. “I guess I deserve that.” I finished with a quiet laugh. “Anyways, know where she is?”

Spike had a frown on his face as he set his duster down onto the ground. “She just left not to long ago. And are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied. “Know where my stuff is?”

“Yeah, about that.” He again began scratching the back of his head again. “Twilight had me send everything you had to Celestia.”

I definitely was annoyed to hear that, but I tried my hardest to not show it. “When did that happen?”

“I think a couple of minutes ago.”

“Oh, well cya around.” I turned around and headed for the door.

Just before I could exit, Spike called out to me. “Where are you going!?”

“I guess to find her,” I mumbled. “I just missed her so it shouldn’t be that hard.” I opened the door, stepped outside, and shut the door behind me.

I let out a sigh and walked away from the library. I was enraged and annoyed. Shining must have twisted the truth and made me sound like a monster who tried to kill Blue for the fun of it. Maybe she would understand that it was in self-defense, all I gotta do is find her and explain my side of the story.

I didn’t know the layout for Ponyville, so I didn’t know where to look first. She couldn’t have gotten far, so it shouldn’t be hard to find her.

The first place I headed was to Rarity’s shop. I was hoping to find Rarity, and ask her if she knows where Twilight was.

I got there after roughly five minutes, and like usual, I let myself inside without knocking. “Yo, Rarity!” I called inside the shop.

“She’s not here.” My eyes flicked down to a familiar filly wearing a saddle bag.

“Oh, know where I could find her?” I asked the unicorn filly.

“She just left not to long ago.” I let out a loud groan at hearing that. I instantly turned around and exited the shop.

I stomped my feet as I angrily continued through Ponyville. I was getting annoyed at how unlucky I was for just missing Twilight and Rarity.

My train of thought was ruined as I noticed the sound of trotting. I looked down and noticed the filly trotting at my side. “Why are you following me?” I asked.

She looked up at me with a confused expression. “You’re going the same way I am.”

Now I had a confused expression. “Where are you going?” I asked.

“To school of course!” I instantly turned on my glasses and called out ‘time’. I watched as it displayed 7:52. “Who are you talking to?” The filly asked.

“My glasses.” I honestly answered while adjusting them.

“Why?” The filly kept questioning.

“Reasons.” I quickly shut off my glasses and attempted to change the subject. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Sweetie Belle! What’s yours?”

“Saint.” Awkwardly enough, I didn’t continue the conversation. Instead, we just walked in silence for a few minutes. “Wait, is that the school?” I pointed ahead of us and watched as a red building that resembled an older styled schoolhouse came into view.

“Yep! And that’s Applebloom,” I watched as Belle pointed a hoof at the southern filly who wore a red ribbon in her mane. “And that’s Scootaloo.” Belle moved her hoof to the right and there was the orange pegasus filly. They both were trotting towards us with smiles on their face.

“Aww, the trio who jumped me.” I looked down at Sweetie Belle as I recalled the day the three fillies jumped me and tried to ‘save’ Twilight.

She looked away with a blush forming on her face. “Sorry about that.” She muttered.

Before I could reassure her, the fillies approaching us both spoke in unison.

“Hi, Sweetie Belle!”

“Hey, Sweetie Belle. Hey, Saint.” My eyes snapped onto Scootaloo.

“You know my name?” I questioned.

She nodded once. “Yeah, Rainbow Dash talks about you a lot.”

“Good stuff right?” I kept questioning.

She shifted her eyes away from and had a fake smile. “Yeah.... good stuff.”

I just rolled my eyes and frowned. “Ya names Saint?” Applebloom asked with her signature southern accent. I nodded once. “Why are ‘ya walking Sweetie Belle ta school?”

“It was an accident,” I answered while scratching the back of my head.

“You walked her to school on accident?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah, I asked her something and left after she answered. Apparently, I was walking towards the school so she followed me.” I finished with an awkward smile.

Scootaloo and Applebloom both just stared at me with confused expressions. “Yeah, it was an accident!” Sweetie Belle supported me from my side.

Applebloom opened her mouth to speak but was cut off as a loud bell began ringing. After a few seconds, the ringing stopped and Applebloom began speaking. “Come on girls, don’t wanna be late.” Sweetie Belle left my side and followed Scootaloo and Applebloom towards the schoolhouse.

“Wait!” I called. All three of them turned and gave me awaiting expressions. “Have you two seen Twilight or her friends?” I asked pointing at Applebloom and Scootaloo.

They both looked at each other before turning to look at me. “We saw Pinkie Pie not too long ago,” Scootaloo answered.

“Where? Like, just point in the direction and I’ll leave.” I was getting impatient at this point. Sure the three fillies were adorable and cute, but I’d rather just find Twilight and sort this out.

Both Scootaloo and Applebloom pointed at me, so I assumed they meant behind me. I turned around and spotted Pinkie Pie in the distance. “Huh, well that’s lucky. Thanks, I guess.” I began walking over to Pinkie.

“Thanks, Saint!” I heard Sweetie Belle call from behind me.

I didn’t turn around as I began shouting. “No problem I guess!”

I made a beeline for Pinkie and made it towards her in no time. “Pinkie!” I called.

She stopped bouncing and turned to look at me. The second she saw me she smiled brightly. “Hiya Saint!”

Pinkie began bouncing over to me. “You know where Twilight is?” I asked.

She began nodding rapidly. “Twilight and Fluttershy are looking around next to Fluttershy’s cottage!”

I had a confused expression on my face as I crossed my arms. “What are they looking for?”

Pinkie stopped bouncing and began giggling instead. “They’re looking for Tank, duhhh!”

“Who?” I kept questioning.

“Rainbow Dash’s pet!”

I uncrossed my arms and began rubbing my temple. “Just tell me the story, from the beginning.” I was starting to get a headache from her giggling.

“Well, one day Rainbow Dash wanted a pet! So we decided to-“ I cut Pinkie off by placing a finger over her lips.

“I take that back. Tell me from today please.” I asked as nicely as I could. Pinkie crossed her eyes and looked at my finger, then she looked at me and nodded her head repeatedly.

I regretted asking Pinkie to tell me the story. I would’ve been better off guessing it. She told me EVERYTHING that happened to her today. What time she woke up, what she had for breakfast, and how she was working at a place called Sugar Cube Corner when Twilight needed help.

The main point to her story was how Twilight and everyone else asked her to help them find Rainbow’s pet tortoise. “Thanks, Pinkie.” I tried to hide the annoyance in my voice. It took her roughly fifteen minutes to tell me everything.

“No problem!” She finished with a bright smile.

I let out a sigh and began cracking my knuckles. “So, let’s go meet up with them.”

“But I’m not finished with looking around here!” She protested.

I let out a loud and obnoxious groan. “Fuck it. I’ll help you.”

“Yay!” She began bouncing in place. “Follow me!”

Pinkie lead me around Ponyville, looking in places a turtle couldn’t possibly fit into. I got annoyed by that so I told her it might be a good idea to question the ponies of Ponyville. She agreed and thought it was a good idea for us to have a good cop bad cop routine. And you can guess who was playing the bad cop.

“WHERES TANK!” Pinkie screamed at a frightened looking mare.

The mare was currently laying on the ground with her hooves over her head. “I don’t know!” She cried out.

“Then explain!” Pinkie pointed at a pot with a plant I couldn’t identify in it. “THIS!”

“It’s a plant.” I whispered next to Pinkie.

“YES! And turtles eat plants!” Pinkie looked up at me with a grin.

“And?” I kept whispering.

“That means she lured Tank in with this plant and stole him!” Pinkie then looked back at the mare. “GIVE TANK BACK!”

“I said I don’t know where he is!” The mare sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

I frowned and shook my head. “This was the stupidest idea.” I grabbed Pinkie by the tail and began dragging her in the opposite direction. “Sorry about her!” I called from behind me.

After I was a few yards away, I let go of Pinkie’s tail and turned to face her. “You’re not allowed to question anyone ever again.”

“I almost had her!” Pinkie protested while spinning around to face me.

“No, not even close.” I let out a sigh and a couple of deep breaths. “Can we just find Twilight and the others?” Pinkie was starting to get on my nerves.

“Fineeeee.” After speaking, she muttered something under her breath.

“What?” I asked.

“Let’s go!” She shouted and began bouncing away from me. I just sighed again and followed after her.

Pinkie and I hustled to Ponyville's marketplace. Apparently, everybody was supposed to meet up there if they couldn’t find Tank.

After entering the marketplace, I instantly spotted everybody talking in a circle. “Finally,” I muttered to myself.

Pinkie and I approached the circle, and once we had gotten close enough, everybody turned to look at us, and among that everybody was Twilight. She gave me a look that made me feel like Delta had shot one of her arrows through my gut again. She looked angry. She was giving me the look you give people you despise, people you absolutely detest.

Before I could even think of something to say, Rainbow began shouting at Pinkie. “Did you find him!”

Pinkie began shaking her head repeatedly. “Nope!” After stopping the shaking, she gestured a hoof to me. “But I found Saint instead.”

“Hi.” I awkwardly stated while waving a hand. Everyone besides Twilight and Rainbow gave me a warm smile.

Applejack was the first to speak. “Haven’t seen ‘ya in a while,” she admitted while tilting her hat towards me.

“Been busy I guess. You know how life goes.” I started scratching the back of my head awkwardly before turning to Rainbow. “Anyways, how's the search for your pet going?”

“Why did you bring him!?” She spat at Pinkie, completely ignoring me.

“Because I’m actually a nice person.” I cut in before Pinkie could respond. “I assume you need the help since you clearly haven’t found him yet.”

“We don’t need your help!”

“Rainbow,” Fluttershy muttered. Everybody looked at her, including me. She blushed while looking away from us. “We could use the help. The more the merrier, right?” She practically whispered.

“Yes, she's right darling.” Rarity had decided to come to my defense. “The more the merrier indeed.”

“That’s why I fuck with you two.” I lied as I stepped next to them. I didn’t exactly consider them friends, but I couldn’t just say that out loud. It was better to let them think they were though “Where have you looked so far?”

“So far we’ve looked everywhere in Ponyville.” Twilight’s voice was significantly more forced than it usually was, in addition to now also having an undercurrent of hostility. She stepped forward and continued. “Pinkie, has anyone seen him?” I was shocked that Twilight didn’t call me out about what had happened in Canterlot, instead, she seemed to be ignoring me.

“Yep! Bon Bon was being suspicious so Saint and I questioned her.” Pinkie shouted.

I just shook my head as I sighed. “That’s wasn’t a questioning.” As I finished speaking, an idea popped into my head. “Wait, what about the massive forest next to this place?”

Everybody in the group changed their expressions to ones I couldn’t identify. “He wouldn’t go in there!” Rainbow started shouting.

I nodded a couple of times before responding. “I’ll check there then. There’s always the off chance.”

Before I could actually leave to go look, Rainbow declared something that shocked me. “If you’re going in there, I’m coming too.” I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Why?” I asked, “You don’t even like me?”

Rainbow frowned. “I’m going because you might bring back some random tortoise.”

I turned to face the others. “You five double check everything while we head into the forest.”

Twilight stepped forward with a worried look, and the tone she had pained me when I heard it. “We can’t let you two go in there alone!” She protested.

I let out a sigh as I stepped in front of her. “It’s just a forest.”

Twilight glared at me. “It’s not the Everfree I’m worried about.” She spat.

I clenched my fists as I tried my hardest to not shout. “Rainbow, I’ll meet you at the forest.”

“Don’t keep me waiting.” I watched out of the corner of my eye as Rainbow took to the skies.

“You girls go on ahead, I wanna have a word with Saint.” Twilight squinted her eyes at me and had an expression that I knew all too well, as it was the same one I had used on Bruce after he had brainwashed my team.

The others must’ve noticed Twilights expression, because they all seemed to become very worried. “Oh dear,” Fluttershy muttered as her ears flopped down.

“Don’t take long now.” Rarity awkwardly said as she lead everyone else away from us.

Now it was just Twilight and I. I wanted to shout, but I did everything in my power to hold it back. “Your brother lied to you, Twilight, it was in self-defense.”

“Don’t lie to me. Blue wouldn’t try to harm you.” I had barely even finished talking when she yelled back in protest.

“I never once lied to you.” My fists were clenched so tight I could feel my nails starting to dig into my palms.

“Yes, you have!” Twilight stomped a hoof on the ground as she continued. “Saint isn’t even your real name. Shining told me.”

“So what, for fuck sake. Why does that matter?” It was getting harder to hold back my anger.

“It does matter. How can I trust you if you lie about your name!?” Twilight shouted back.

“It is my real name though, your brother is a lair! He set me up!” I was on the verge of shouting at this point.

“Don’t call my brother a liar!” She growled. “Maybe if you were honest I’d think you were innocent and it was all a misunderstanding.”

“For fuck sake, Twilight, I never lied to you.” I gritted my teeth in an attempt at holding my anger back as much as I could.

“Then what’s your real name then? If you’re so honest, then what’s your real name?”

“WHY DOES MY NAME MATTER?!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Regrettably, I had lost my temper.

I began breathing deeply. I stopped clenching my fists and let them sag at my side. I looked around and saw that everybody in the market place was looking at me. Some ponies looked shocked, while others looked frightened. I simply looked back at Twilight. She was looking at the ground, whispering something I couldn’t make out.

“What?” I asked nervously.

She looked up at me with a sad expression, tears at the corner of her eyes. “Leave Ponyville.” Twilight sounded like she was about to start crying.

“What, why? I didn’t even do anything.” I protested.

“You’re a monster. Just leave and never come back!” She finished by shouting. She then turned around and began galloping off.

It took me a couple of seconds to register what I just done, but once I did I began rubbing my temples while quietly muttering every offensive word I knew. My real name had always been a sensitive subject for me. I hated it being brought up in conversation.

After a minute of cursing, I frowned and dropped my arms. I turned around and slowly headed towards the forest to meet up with Rainbow. I couldn’t think straight, I was furious and upset. I trusted Twilight and she didn’t believe me when I was actually telling the truth, she practically betrayed me.

I know I lie a lot, but I had never lied to her. I trusted her enough to tell her the less important things about me.

I don’t know how long I’d been walking for, I just let my feet carry me as I blocked out my surroundings. But someone began shouting, ruining my attempt to block out my surroundings. “What are you doing?!” I looked over and saw Rainbow hovering in the air. “There’s a pathway over here!”

I looked back in front of me and realized I had almost entered the forest. “Oh,” I muttered. I walked over to the pathway and signaled Rainbow to descend.

She gave me a weird look but eventually landed next to me. “Stay next to me. The last thing I need is to get lost.”

“Sure... but are you okay?” I looked at her with a confused expression on my face. “You look upset.”

“Why do you care?” I spat.

Rainbow gave me an angry stare before it changed to a frown. “Last time I ask if you’re okay.” She grumbled while angrily stomping into the forest.

I sighed and quickly caught up to her. “My bad, just not in the best mood.”

Rainbow let out a sigh as well. “It’s fine. I’m upset too, I just want to find Ta-“

I cut off Rainbow as I noticed something odd about the forest. “Why the fuck is it so dark!” I shouted.

The last time I was here the forest wasn’t as dark, in fact, it was pretty bright. I looked around and confirmed that it was definitely darker. It looked like we entered the forest during the night. I looked down at Rainbow. She was looking at me with a frown and confused expression. “What?” She asked.

“I was expecting you to explain why it’s so dark.” I stopped walking and crossed both of my arms.

“Why do you think I would know!” Rainbow spun around to face me. “Come on we have to hurry.”

“Hold up,” I called before she turned around. I quickly turned on my glasses and shuffled it to the heartbeat scanner. “Come here.”

“What are you doing?” She asked while approaching me. I slide the glasses off my face and crouched down. I gently put the glasses on Rainbow and adjusted them so they wouldn’t fall off. Surprisingly my glasses fit her pretty well. They were small for her eyes, but they fit nonetheless. “You’re glasses are broken.” She frowned at me.

I stood back up and pointed at my heart. “My glasses aren’t normal. Right now I set it to heartbeat scanner, meaning that you’re going to see the heartbeat of creatures hiding in bushes and trees.”

Rainbow spun around and looked around the forest. After a couple of seconds of spinning around, she began shouting.“This is awesome!” I watched as she trotted over to a bush and stuck her head in it. Moments later she popped her head out.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I saw a red blinking light so I went to go check and it was just a rabbit.”

“Well that’s how they work, you’ll see the red blip when you’re scanning a creature’s heart.” I walked up to her and gestured for us to continue. “Lead the way.”

“Wait!” She protested. “What else can these do!?” She sounded excited.

“I’ll show you after. Now come on, we gotta hurry.”

“Oh, right.” She spun around and began trotting deeper down the path. I caught up to her quickly and walked alongside her. “So why am I wearing them exactly?”

“To find Tank faster?” I was confused as to why she was asking a question with such an obvious answer.

“Yeah, but why are you trusting me with them? Wouldn’t it make sense for you to wear them instead?” I looked down and Rainbow, she was looking up at me with her head cocked to the side.

I let out a sigh as I looked away from her. “I don’t trust you with them. I think it’ll just be more efficient with you having them.” I then pointed above us. “Just fly up and look around, you at least gotta be next to the trees to see the heartbeats of animals in bushes.”

“Don’t get lost.” She sounded annoyed, but then again, I didn’t care. I watched as Rainbow began to spread her wings. Then seconds later, she took to the skies with a single flap of them.

I let out a yawn as I walked the path of the forest. I wasn’t really looking for Tank. I was listening for him. I could barely see the trees to my side, I was much better off listening.

Of course, I heard the sounds of leaves rustling, birds chirping, and occasionally Rainbow flapping her wings from above me. I watched as she dived down into some bushes in front of me. Seconds later, she poked her head out with a frown. “This is going to take forever!” She complained.

I sighed as I agreed with her mentally. Even with the heartbeat scanner, it would still take forever. That’s when I remembered a much better setting. “Actually, there is a better way I guess.” I gestured for Rainbow to come to me. After a few seconds, she obeyed and approached me. I took the glasses off her face and put them on. “I just remembered a much better sett-“ I was cut off as I heard what sounded like a helicopter’s propeller coming from the bushes of the forest.

I looked to my right and watched as a creature came flying out of the bushes. Luckily, I was quick enough to duck, allowing the creature to fly over my head. “The fuck was that!” I shouted. I stood back up and looked over to see a turtle wearing a helmet with a crooked propeller on its back.

Before I could ask questions Rainbow dived at the turtle and took it into a hug. “Tank! You’re okay!”

“Uhh,” I muttered to myself.

Rainbow seemed oblivious of me standing only a few feet away. “I thought I told you not to enter the creepy forest!” She scolded. The turtle slowly turned his head to face her. He was wearing a frown which made me frown as well.

I let out a sigh and turned my glasses to the default setting. I cleared my throat and watched as Rainbow quickly dropped the hug and stood next to Tank with a sheepish smile. “Glad you found him, but let’s celebrate outside the forest.”

“You’re right.” She somehow picked up Tank with her hooves and sat him on her back. “Okay let's lea-“ Rainbow was cut off by the sound of growling.

I looked in the general direction of the growling and realized that it was coming from the direction where Tank had come from. “Guess he was running away,” I muttered. I quickly set my glasses to heartbeat scanner. A single red blip popped up and began blinking.

I backed up slowly and stood next to Rainbow “How fast can you run?” I whispered to her.

“Run?” She whispered back. “I’m the fastest flier in Equestria, why would I run?”

I looked down at Rainbow with a frown. “If you could carry me I would say fly. But I doubt you could. And if you fly away and leave me here, I’m haunting you if I die.” I angrily whispered.

All she did was roll her eyes. “I wasn’t planning on leaving you.” Right after she finished speaking, a long scorpion tail came out from the bushes. I quickly jumped back, letting the tail slam down into the ground in front of me.

“BOOK IT!” I shouted. I quickly turned towards Rainbow and grabbed Tank off her back, fortunately, he wasn’t heavy. The last thing I needed was for him to fall off of Rainbow while we were running.

Right after I did that, I began running in the general direction that we had come from. Adrenaline pumped through my body as I decided to get off of the pathway.

I quickly moved side to side, avoiding trees as I kept moving forward as fast as I could manage, jumping over roots and other things that could trip me. We weren’t that deep into the forest, so it shouldn’t be long before we got out. “DUCK!” I heard Rainbow shout from my side.

I instantly obeyed as I ducked as low as I could while sprinting. I felt a gust of wind against my hair, followed by the sound of wood splitting in half. I looked up and noticed the scorpion tail sticking out of a tree not too far in front of me.

I quickly sidestepped the tree and kept sprinting. A loud roar could be heard from behind me, followed by the sound of thunderous stomping.

Even with the creature behind me, I still wasn’t scared. The exit to the forest was only a couple yards ahead of me. I put on an extra burst of speed and exited the forest swiftly.

I kept on sprinting for a couple of seconds before slowing down to a jog. After stopping, I turned around and watched as Rainbow ran up and stopped in front of me. “What was that thing!?” She asked.

“I think it was a manticore.” I wheezed out,after trying to catch my breath. “I just wanna know why it was focusing on me and not you.” I sat Tank down on the ground and began stretching. I was breathing heavily and drenched in sweat.

“Maybe it wanted something different from a pony.” She finished by laughing. I don’t understand why I found this funny. But I joined Rainbow in her laughing fit. After we both finished laughing she gave me a weird look. “I owe you one, Saint.”

“Good, cause I might have a favor coming up.” I rubbed the sweat off my forehead. “I need a shower,” I muttered to myself.

“Sure, just ask whenever.” She proceeded to pick up Tank and set him onto her back. “Let’s go tell everypony we found him.”

“Nah, ima chill here. You got it.” I sat down onto the grass and quickly laid down on it.

“If you say so.”

“Wait,” I called before she left. “Did I outrun you?” I quickly sat up to watch her reaction.

Rainbow looked dumbfounded. “No! I had to stay behind you to make sure you didn’t get your head taken off.” She began approaching me with her face contorted in anger. “I could beat you any day of the week!”

I stuck my tongue out at her as I laid back down. “Another time.” I already knew I was going to lose, but I can humor her.

“Yeah, I’ll cya around, Saint.” I listened to the sound of her trotting away. After a couple of seconds, the sound stopped.

I looked up at the sky and instantly regretted it. My glasses were still on, so it was extremely bright. I quickly turned them off and sighed as I watched the birds flying overhead.

I didn’t know what to do. It was probably nearing lunchtime and I was dirt poor, and now very much homeless. I was still angry, but I didn’t want to take my anger out on people who hadn’t done anything. I’ll be saving that for Shining Armor.

I was going to force Shining to tell Twilight the truth no matter what. I actually liked Twilight, she’s like a happier Sara. And I miss Sara. I decided to just close my eyes. I wasn’t like I wanted to sleep, it’s just that I had nothing better to do.

I don’t know how long I was laying down like that. My face felt hot from the sun. I was worried that I could’ve gotten sunburned, but something starting blocking the sun from my face. “Excuse me.” An unfamiliar voice spoke.

I opened my eyes and was greeted to a pair of green eyes. I quickly rolled over and stood to my full height. The mare who interrupted my peace had a dark green coat along with a red mane and tail. Her tail and mane were both straightened, and both had green highlights going through them. She was also wearing a pair of green glasses that went well with her green eyes. “Hello?” I waved awkwardly.

“Hello, my name is Christmas and I’m t-“ I cut her off as I chucked to myself. “Excuse me?” She sounded offended but I didn’t care

“Like the holiday?” I asked after I stopped chucking.

She gave me a confused look before frowning. “I’m unaware of any holiday called ‘Christmas’. But if you’ll allow to introduce myself I’d appreciate it.”

“Damn, my bad.” I gestured for her to continued and she nodded her head.

“As I was saying... my name is Christmas. And I’m the guard Celestia sent to look after you.”

“Oh, any proof?” I began looking over Christmas. She didn’t look like any guard I’d seen. She was a unicorn I noticed, but that doesn’t automatically make you a guard.

“Yes, she should’ve sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle about my arrival.” She sounded annoyed but I didn’t care. I let out a sigh as I began stretching. “Come along, let’s go talk to her.

“Can’t.” I didn’t hesitate in responding.

She frowned and squinted her eyes at me. “Why?” She asked.

“Cause she kicked me out and hates me.”

Christmas had an annoyed expression as she sighed. “Well, I’ll go get the letter and prove it to you. Just wait here and don’t do anything.”

“Sure,” I wasn’t planning on staying here. “I’ll be right here.”

“Good, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She nodded her head, turned around, and began trotting towards Ponyville.

After a few minutes passed, I decided to enter Ponyville as well. Hopefully, I wouldn’t run into Christmas or Twilight. I walked through Ponyville like I owned the place. All eyes on me like usual.

I turned on my glasses and called out ‘time’. 14:24 displayed for me. I quickly turned off my glasses and let out a yawn. I still had so much time to kill and I didn’t know what to do. I had a plan to fix my homeless problem, but first I needed food and to find Rainbow.

Thinking back to it, it was pretty stupid that I didn’t eat breakfast with Celestia. I was starving. Usually when I was hungry, I’d complain to Twilight, but sadly, I couldn’t do that.

I sighed as I walked through Ponyville. I know Twilight told me to leave, but I’m not going to. What’s she going to do, force me out?

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard someone shout. “Hey, Saint!” I looked up and watched as Rainbow landed in front of me. “Whatcha up to?”

“Oh?” I crossed my arms and frowned. “You just like me now?”

“I wouldn’t say that.” She frowned. “It’s just that I think you’re a lot cooler now.”

I adjusted my glasses and smiled. “You wanna try my glasses don’t you?”

She smiled sheepishly at me and nodded repeatedly. “Yeah, you said later, and it’s definitely later.”

“How long ago did we find Tank?” I asked while turning on my glasses.

“Couple of hours ago. I met up with everypony and told them what happened.”

“Cool,” I was about to take my glasses off but I realized something. “Wait, they probably smell. I should wash em.”

Rainbow frowned. “You don’t smell that bad.”

I nodded my head. “Yes, I do. Now, I need to ask you something important.” I quickly turned off my glasses and adjusted them.

“Yeah, ask anything.”

I took a serious expression as I frowned. “Can I trust you?” I asked.

“Course you can. I’m not the element of loyalty for nothing.” She finished by pumping out her chest

I didn’t want to ask what she meant by that. But I still wasn’t planning on trusting her. I just wanted to exploit the fact that she owes me a favor. “Good, think I could crash at your place?” I asked.

Rainbow had an unreadable expression on her face. Then all of a sudden, she began laughing. My frown deepened as I just watched her laugh. She seemed to notice I wasn’t laughing because she looked up at me with a shocked expression. “Wait you’re serious?!”

I began to scratch the back of my head. “Yes, Twilight kicked me out so I’m homeless now.”

“Why would she do that!?” Rainbow shouted.

I was about to respond but someone behind me did first. “Because he’s a murderer.” My heart dropped as I listened to the familiar voice. I turned around and saw Christmas approaching me. She had an angry expression on her face, along with a scroll engulfed in her green aura.

“What! I know I didn’t like him when he first got here but I wouldn’t go that far.” Rainbow protested from behind me.

Christmas looked at me. “Want me to explain or would you prefer to do it yourself?” She asked.

“How the fuck did you even get behind me?” I growled.

“That’s not important. Answer the question.” She demanded.

I sighed as I turned around to face Rainbow. She was wearing a puzzled expression on her face. “Rainbow ima be honest with you okay. But I need a place to stay for a while. Please, can you help me?”

Rainbow had a sympathetic look on her face. “I would but there’s a tiny problem.”

“What, you live with your parents or something?” I asked. I expected everybody to be adults, I mean I’m not gonna judge her if she did.

“It’s better if I show you.” She began to trot by me. I shrugged my shoulders and followed behind her. Christmas stood in line next to me, which definitely annoyed me but I’d get over it eventually. My only hope was that Rainbow didn’t live in some shack.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!” I shouted. My jaw dropping. Currently, we were on the outskirts of Ponyville, and in front of us was a massive spiral building in the clouds. “That’s not possible!”

“Course it is. I wouldn’t be able to live there if it was impossible.” I looked at Rainbow with a shocked expression. “What?”

“Fuck you mean what? Clouds are just water vapor or whatever. You can’t put something on a cloud.” I protested.

“Watch me,”Rainbow announced before she began flying towards the building in the sky.

I turned to look at Christmas. She had an unreadable expression. “I know we didn’t talk at all on the walk here. But just know, I’m not a murder.”

She looked up at me with a frown. “My captain says otherwise.” I just rolled my eyes and looked back up to the building.

“Did you talk to Celestia at all?” I asked.

“Yes, she informed me that you’re the leader of a group of assassins. And my captain told me you tried to kill Blue Bridge.” I was annoyed that Celestia didn’t explain the entire situation to her.

“Let me see the letter,” I demanded. Christmas levitated the letter over to me and I quickly grabbed it. I opened it and began skimming through the contents. “Dear Saint blah blah blah…. I've sent one of my most loyal guards to Ponyville, her name is Christmas….. I also received what I believe to be your equipment, along with a letter from Twilight. Don’t worry about your stuff I will keep it at the palace until you’re needed. Also, I believe you should talk to Twilight and explain everything to her from your perspective.” I frowned as I finished reading the last part. I sighed as I began ripping up the letter. “Too late for explaining.” I muttered.

Once the letter was just a bunch of tiny pieces of paper I tossed it into the air and let the wind carry it away. “That's littering!” Christmas shouted. I didn’t care at the time, so I didn’t respond. Christmas starting muttering something under her breath, but I still didn’t care.

After about a minute of waiting Rainbow flew out of the building. And to my surprise, she was pushing an entire cloud using her hooves. My jaw dropped as I watched her descend with it in front of her.

She stopped pushing the cloud when it was only a few feet in front of me. After stopping with it, she jumped on and sat down like it was a chair. “See.” She finished by laughing.

I rubbed my temples as I sighed. I slowly approached the cloud and poked it with a finger. Unsurprisingly my finger went right through it. I pulled back my finger and looked at it. Some water droplets were dripping from it. “Only a pegasus can touch clouds,” Christmas explained from behind me.

I wiped my finger on my shirt and sighed. “Whatever, I’ll be living in the forest if you need me.”

“Wait.” Before I could walk off, Christmas started speaking. “I could cast a spell that will give you wings for three days.”

“Really? I’ve always wanted to fly with wings.” I mused. I’ve been in planes before. But it’s boring when no one on my team enjoys watching the same things I do. We’d usually have a projector on the plane and take turns picking movies. But I digress.

“Yes, it’ll last for three days ” Christmas explained.

“Fuck it, just cast it.” I stood still and lifted both of my arms. I watched as Christmas nodded her head and horn her began glowing a dark green.

I clenched my eyes and tried my hardest to stand still. I felt like if I moved, the spell would malfunction.

I could hear the sound of sparks flying, but I still didn’t open my eyes. “Did it work?” I asked while opening my eyes and dropping my arms. I didn’t feel any different sadly.

Christmas was panting heavily, but she eventually responded. “Yes.”

I turned to look at my back and I was instantly disappointed. “The fuck are these?” I asked. On my back was a pair of transparent butterfly wings.

“Your wings!” Rainbow sounded excited as she pushed the cloud closer to me. “Come on let me show you my house.”

“Bro, I’m not fucking with these gay ass wings.” I took a step back and crossed my arms.

“There’s nothing wrong with them, come on, I’ll even teach you how to fly later.” Rainbow pushed the cloud closer to me

I let out a loud and obnoxious groan. “Fuck sake.” I approached the cloud and tapped it with a finger. To my surprise, it actually felt solid.

I put both of my hands on the cloud and started pushing down. “It feels like a soft bed,” I muttered. I quickly hopped on to the cloud and gripped the sides. “What about you?” I looked at Christmas with a confused expression

“I’m going to head back into Ponyville and pick up a few things.” She turned around and started trotting back to Ponyville.

“Wait, is she staying too?” Rainbow asked.

I sighed as I laid down on the cloud. “Probably, sorry about all this. It’s a long story.”

“I’m fine with it. My house is definitely big enough.” Rainbow began pushing the cloud I was on with ease. We were flying at a slow pace so I wasn’t that worried.

I loosened my grip on the cloud as Rainbow continued to push me up to her house. “You sure you’re fine with us staying?” I asked.

“Of course. I mean, you did help me find Tank, and I can’t just have you living in the Everfree forest.” I turned to look at Rainbow. She was flapping her wings repeatedly with a determined expression on her face. I just shrugged and let her push me.

We made it to the cloud fortress after about a minute. Rainbow ended up parking the cloud directly in front of her door. I slid off the cloud and landed on my feet with a thud.

“How did it feel being on a cloud for the first time?” Rainbow asked.

I looked at Rainbow with a frown. “I mean, it’s cool and all.” I then pointed at my back. “But these wings are wack.”

“Wings are wings.” Rainbow pushed past me and opened her door. She trotted inside and I followed behind her.

“What?” The exterior of the building looked like it was made using clouds, but the interior seemed to be made out of wood and marble. “How does this stuff stay on the clouds?”

“What do you mean?” I looked down at Rainbow and she was looking at me with a confused expression.

“Never mind.” I didn’t want to press the subject because magic was probably going to be the answer.

“Okay, well, this right here is the living room.” Rainbow gestured a hoof to the room. The room we were in had a couple of couches along with a coffee table. Finally, there was a staircase leading up was along the left side of the wall.

I started walking over to the bigger couch “Cool, well I got the couches.” I sat down on it and let out a yawn. I attempted to lean back but my new founded butterfly wings made it hard.

“Don’t you want to see the rest of the place?” Rainbow asked. I did indeed want to but not now.

“Rainbow, I’m at the point of my life where all I want to do is sleep. Even if I’m not tired.” I complained. I tried to lay down on the couch but my wings were making it impossible. “How do you sleep with wings?”

“I usually sleep on my stomach.” She took a stern look as she continued. “Can you at least explain everything?”

I frowned as I was successfully able to lay across the couch on my stomach. “Ask Christmas. Cause apparently everybody believes Shining and his bullshit.” I complained while sliding my glasses off and putting them on the coffee table.

“Saint, just explain it and I might believe you instead of her.” Rainbow protested. After groaning for a second, I sat back up and leaned forward.

“Well get comfortable, kinda a long story.” I watched as Rainbow trotted over and sat on the other couch. I cleared my throat and began explaining everything that happened while I was at Canterlot, but left out everything about Apex.

At the end of my tale, Rainbow was looking at me with a shocked expression. “So Shinning Armor set you up!” She shouted.

“I mean, I guess. I would’ve never did what I did if I wasn’t being tortured by magic.”

“So that guard is supposed to be looking after you?”

“Yes, her names Christmas.” I tried not to snicker after saying it out loud.

“Is that why you and Twilight are fighting?” Rainbow continued.

“Yep,” I nodded while stretching. “Not much I can do about it.”

“Yeah, but that’s not fair! You didn’t do anything wrong.” Rainbow jumped off the couch and began trotting to the door. “I’m going to go talk to her.”

Before I could say something Rainbow flung open the door and flew out of it. I let out a sigh as I laid back down onto the couch. I closed my eyes as I let out a loud yawn.

I’m surprised Rainbow believed me and was letting me stay here. I didn’t like her when I first got here, but she’s probably the most chill out of all the ponies I’d met here. Christmas, on the other hand, is going to make me want to strangle her. It didn’t make sense, I thought Celestia would explain the entire situation to her. But instead, she thinks I’m just a murderer.

I don’t know what I’m going to be doing now. I was lucky enough to not end up being homeless. But there wasn’t much I could do. I want to fix my friendship with Twilight because she’s the only pony I somewhat trust. But Shining’s an asshole who has a sister complex. Next time I see him it’s going to be really hard to not kill him.

Also, sleeping on my stomach is going to be a lot more uncomfortable than I thought it would be.

Chapter 6: Touching The Stars

A lot of things get on my nerves. Unfortunately, trying to explain how my gear works is one of those. And at the moment, I was stuck dealing with someone that wanted to know everything about my gear.

Fortunately, today was going to be a good day, at least after I was done with my current problem. Celestia would be explaining the assignment, and what I’d have to do.

“Listen, for the last time, I don’t fully understand how my suit works.” I was on the verge of shouting and was doing my best to hide my anger by speaking as calmly as I could.

“How could you possibly not know!?” The stallion scientist from yesterday complained to me. “Don’t you wear it all the time!?”

I groaned as I began taking deep breaths. “No, and like I said before, the suit reattaching itself is a new feature.”

Currently, I was in a lab of some sorts hidden in the Canterlot castle. The lab reminded me of Sara’s. Expect this one was a lot more clean than hers, but definitely not as advanced.

The lab was pretty average in size. Equipment and machinery sat in different corners, while tables littered with beakers and test tubs were pushed up against the walls.

My suit, grenades, daggers, helmet, and throwing knife pouches were currently sitting atop a metal table. The stallion has been examining my stuff for a couple of hours now, and I was there for every second.

Next to the stallion was the mare scientist who had fainted because of my smoke grenade. She had a shiny white coat that matched her mane and tail. Her mane also had a grey stripe running through it. Her eyes were a bright blue that matched her magical aura. She was currently noting down everything that I said about my gear. Even the smallest details.

The stallion on the other hand looked like an older guy. He had a dark brown coat with an all back mane and tail, both having noticeable white hairs.

“What’s the point if it can’t completely reattach it!” The stallion complained at me.

Since they didn’t believe my suit could reattach itself, I had to demonstrate by cutting it slightly. “It doesn’t regrow itself. And it’s not like I’ll ever lose a massive chunk of it.” I deadpanned.

I realized one thing about my suit. Like I stated, it doesn’t regrow itself. Meaning that if I lose too much of it it’ll stop reattaching itself due to insufficient material. But I digress.

“Yes, your suit is extremely durable. It certainly would take a lot for somepony to breakthrough it.” The mare muttered quietly.

I nodded while crossing my arms. “It is. Now can I leave?” I asked as nicely as I could.

“One last question if you don’t mind.” The stallion began speaking calmly, while at the same time being stern. “Do you mind if we study your glasses?”

“Yes, I do mind.” My answer was immediate. Both ponies clearly weren’t expecting me to answer so quickly.

They both had shocked and confused expressions on their faces. The mare opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off as a pony behind me began speaking. “What’s wrong with them studying them? It’s not like you need to have them on you all the time.”

I let out a sigh while turning around. I had completely forgotten Christmas was here. She was standing a few feet behind me. She hadn’t said a word till now.

“Because I have my personal reasons.”

“Is it cause you’re blind in one eye?” Christmas accused.

I put my arms up in defense as I panicked slightly. “Jesus Christ, don’t gotta let the whole fucking world know.

“Why does it matter? Someponies are blind in both eyes.” Christmas frowned as she began approaching me.

I sighed while scratching the back of my head. “It’s good to not let your enemies know your weaknesses. I can’t see to my right, and that’s a pretty big disadvantage.”

Christmas’s frown deepened as she sighed as well. “I’m not your enemy, Saint, and neither is anypony in the castle.”

I shrugged. “I don’t trust a single soul in this place, not even Celestia.” I turned to look at the scientists. “Ima keep them. For now, just keep what you got and do whatever.” I walked over and exited the room with my head held high.

Once, I was out of the room, I adjusted my glasses and began stretching. Christmas exited with me and stepped to the side, letting me finish.

After I was done stretching, I looked at Christmas. “Lead me to my room.” I demand.

Christmas tsked while turning in the direction of my room. “It would benefit the both of us if you would just remember the way to your room.”

Little did she know I did, I just enjoyed annoying her. “I’ll try my hardest.” I said sarcastically. Christmas began muttering under her breath, and as usual, I ignored her.

Christmas took the quickest path to my room. Passing by guards, castle staff, and sometimes fancily dressed ponies.

Once, I entered my room, I slipped off my boots and laid down in my bed. Christmas entered right after I had laid down and began her complaining immediately. “Shouldn’t you be preparing for when Celestia calls for you? Or better yet, shouldn’t you be going to talk to her yourself?”

I rolled my eye while sitting up. “This isn’t an adventure game where I go out and look for quests. If anything, you NPCs can come to me.”

“What did you call me?” Christmas asked angrily.

“An NPC.” I smiled while laying back in bed. “Don’t worry it’s not offensive.”

“Knowing you, it is.” Christmas trotted over and opened my door. “Make sure you tell me if you want to leave your room.” She finished by shutting my door as she exited.

I groaned while pulling my hair. I truly wanted to walk around without having Christmas up my ass 24/7, but last time I left without telling her, she carried me around in her magical grasp like I was an infant.

All I could do was stare at my ceiling. I wasn’t tired or hungry, so I didn’t need to eat or sleep. I wanted to do something to pass the time, but there wasn’t anything to do.

Roughly fifteen minutes passed in which I never moved. I just stared at the ceiling the entire time.

I was so zoned out that I barely heard the banging on my door. I was knocked out of my trance as I jumped out of bed and hustled over to the door.

I opened it, and to my surprise, Captain Sister Complex was looking back at me. “What you want?” I asked Shining as rudely as I could.

Shining Armor frowned as he cleared his throat. “I want you to be ready in five minutes. Princess Celestia will inform you of what we have to do.”

Hearing Shinning act like he was above me pissed me off. I frowned as I shook my head. “Fuck you talking about ‘I want you ready in five’. You ain’t my boss.”

Shining began growling. “I am if you’re going on this operation. You’ll listen to my orders, or you can stay here. And we both know what I’d prefer.”

Now I was getting angrier. I stepped out into the hallway and closed my door behind me. “You can blow me if you think I’m listing to your dumbass.” Shinning’s face twisted in anger as I continued. “Celestia asked me to help your incompetent ass. Not the other way around.”

Shining began grinding his teeth. But before he could respond, I went over and knocked on the door next to mine. “Christmas, ima be leaving in five.”

I went back over to my room and opened the door. I turned to face Shining and saw that he was glaring daggers at me. “It’ll be fun working with you.” I jokingly said while stepping inside and closing the door.

I instantly went over and began putting my boots on. After they were both on, I sat on the bed and sighed. “This place sucks.” I muttered while laying back down.

Once, five minutes had passed, I quickly sat up and exited my room. The first thing I noticed was Shining Armor talking to Christmas. “What up.” I spoke while approaching them both.

They both looked my way. Christmas looked annoyed while Shining looked angry. This awkward moment lasted a few seconds before Shining turned towards Christmas. “You don’t need to worry about Saint, for a while. Once him and I get back, you’ll be assigned to him once again.”

Christmas nodded while turning her head towards me. “Looks like you’ll be enjoying your time without me for a while.”

I rolled my eye while scoffing. “I’d much rather be with you than Shining.” I looked at Shining with a grin. “I hope that was offensive.”

Shining rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t.” He began trotting by me, heading down the hallway. “Let’s go.” He demanded. I groaned loudly and obnoxiously, but eventually followed him.

Shining lead me to the opposite side of the castle. He led me into a room that I believe was a sitting room. Inside were many couches of various colors. And on the biggest couch sat Celestia, who was casually sipping on a cup of tea.

“Hi.” I waved and sat down on a couch close to Celestia’s. Shining for some odd reason sat on the same couch as me, but luckily he sat on the opposite side.

Celestia smiled in my direction. “Good morning Saint.”

I smiled as well. “You know I actually never met your sister Luna.” I realized that I went off topic and never said good morning, but I didn’t care. “I’d like to thank her for telling Twilight the truth.”

Celestia nodded. “She’s currently asleep but I’ll let her know next time I speak with her.”

I nodded as well while looking over at Shining. He noticed my look and cleared his throat. “Princess Celestia I believe it’s time to tell Saint what we’ll be doing.”

“I agree.” I nodded with a small grin. “So, let’s hear it.”

“Very well.” Celestia cleared her throat before beginning her explanation after a few seconds. “There’s a group of ponies who banded together who call themselves The Sun Turners.”

“Sounds like a cult.” I muttered.

Celestia seemed to have heard my comment because she raised an eyebrow. But she continued explaining anyways. “I respect the ideas and beliefs of all my ponies. Even if their beliefs are incorrect.”

“What do you mean?” I cut in once more.

“She means they believe the sun turns on its own.” I looked at Shinning like he was retarded. He seemed to have noticed my look cause he gave me a confused stare. “What?”

I dropped my look and changed it into once of annoyance. “Fuck you mean ‘what?’ The sun doesn’t move. I don’t know what school you went to but you should’ve failed.”

Now Shinning was looking at with a look that said ‘are you retarded’. I looked over at Celestia and frowned. Before I could as for backup she let out a sigh. “Saint, the sun doesn’t move on its own. I move it.”

Now I was giving Celestia the retarded look. “Crackheads.” I muttered quietly. “The sun is a massive ball of gass. You can’t physically move it.” I spoke sternly to Celestia.

Celestia let out a sigh. I watched as the teacup she was sipping from suddenly disappeared. “Would you like me to prove it to you?” She asked.

“Yes, yes I would.” I demanded. I refused to believe that she was capable of moving the sun. I didn’t care if she was both a unicorn and a pegasus, it just wasn’t possible.

“Come closer. This spell takes a lot of energy, and the further you are the harder it is.” Celestia demanded.

I shrugged my shoulders and sat up. Once, I was seated closer to Celestia I gestured for her to continue.

She nodded and looked over towards Shining. “It’ll only be a few minutes.”

Shining got the message. He nodded while jumping down from the couch. He began trotting to the door and exited the room while muttering something under his breath.

I rolled my eye and looked at Celestia. “Let’s do this fast before he pops a blood vessel.”

Celestia nodded. I watched in awe as her horn began glowing extremely brightly, so bright that even with my glasses on I had to look away.

I loud whistling sound could be heard. I wanted to look but the light was blinding. I clenched my teeth together as I prayed nothing bad was going to happen.

Then all of a sudden it stopped.The whistling along with the bright light suddenly vanished. I mentally prepared myself for the worst, while slowly opening my eye. And I was so glad I prepared myself.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” I shouted. Instead of being in a sitting room with Celestia, I was in the middle of a place I never thought I’d journey to. Space.

I began hyperventilating as I started clinging to Celestia. “I can’t die here!” I shouted at her.

Celestia looked at me with a soft smile. “Relax Saint, look around you. And you’re not going to die.”

Now that I think about it she’s right. I would’ve popped like a balloon as soon as I got here. I think I would’ve anyways. I let go of Celestia slowly. The first thing I did was look down. I was still seated on the couch from the sitting room. I ignored the couch as I slowly craned my head around. I truly was in space. Stars twinkled brightly while small rocks floated around me.

My eye stopped as I stared at what I assumed was the planet I was on a few minutes ago. It looked absolutely nothing like earth.

The planet was still circular, but it was slightly smaller than earth. If I had to guess it was roughly the same size.

I could spot bodies of water, but they weren’t as big as I was expecting. The landmasses were confusing to me as well. They were awkwardly shaped along with the clouds looking a lot larger and darker in some areas. One area stood out the most. The land looked black, almost like it was completely burned.

“What happened there?” I pointed at the black area.

Celestia followed me finger and frowned. “That’s the land of dragons.”

“Oh.” I muttered quietly. That’s a place I’ll definitely be avoiding. I shook my head repeatedly as I leaned back on the couch. “Okay, I calmed down a bit. So how do you move the sun exactly?” I asked.

Celestia pointed into the distance and that's when I saw it. The sun looked like earth’s sun. But instead of fiery red and orange, it looked more yellow and orange.

“Shouldn’t I be burnt alive, or blinded by it or something?” I never was good at science so I fully didn’t understand how this works.

“No, I’m protecting us both with my magic.” Celestia reassured.

I nodded while crossing my arms. “So how do you move it?”

“Watch closely.” She spoke softly and quietly.

I didn’t respond as I did exactly as she said. Celestia’s horn began glowing, luckily not as brightly this time. I looked back towards the sun and watched closely.

Awkward seconds passed as nothing happened. I was about to comment about it, but before I could I noticed something strange about the sun.

Darker shades of yellow seemed to twist and turn inside the ball of gas. I watched in complete shock as the darker shades seemed to be twisting into shapes.

I was completely baffled as I watched the impossible. The shapes seemed to be resembling letters.

I read the letters to myself quietly. “S....a..i...n..and t.” I shivered as I began whispering to myself. “Saint.”

I was completely horrified. Celestia had the power to control the sun. If she ever wanted to she could just send me up to the sun.

I looked over at Celestia and she looking at me with a tired look, yet she still had a smile on her face. “Well, I believe you now.” I forced out.

“Good.” She looked away from me. “This spell is extremely tiring.” She muttered. Her horn began glowing a soft golden color.

I watched as my surroundings seemed to be blurring, till my vision was completely filled with black.

Seconds passed by the time I realized my eye was just closed. I quickly opened it and was greeted by the sitting room we were originally in.

I’ve never moved faster before in my life. I quickly jumped over and sat on the couch I was originally on. I looked back at Celestia, she was currently rubbing her head with a hoof.

The door opened, causing me to jump slightly. I looked over and watched as an annoyed looking Shining walked in. “So you believe the princess now?” He spat at me.

“Definitely.” I tried to speak how I usually do, but I was struggling. I’ve never been more afraid before in my life. My heart was beating fast, my hands were shaking, and my legs were trembling.

“Good, but let's hurry this explanation.” Shining sat at the end of the couch again and looked at Celestia. “You alright princess?” He asked gently.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just a little tired.” Celestia cleared her throat and looked at me. “Now where was I... oh right.”

Celestia explained everything to me. Apparently, the group was more of a cult. She wanted Shinning and I to infiltrate and investigate them. We would only act if they were doing any illegal activities, she was fine with them believing in whatever, but she wanted to make sure they didn’t do anything stupid.

And of course, I wasn’t allowed to kill them if they were doing illegal activities. And to make things worse, I couldn’t bring my lethal grenades.

I leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. “Wouldn’t they recognize Shinning though?” I pointed out.

“No, I’ll be going in disguise.” He instantly responded.

I looked over at Celestia and put on the best serious face I could muster. “Where is this happening?” I asked nicely.

“Las Pegasus that’s where the majority reside.” She answered.

I had a confused expression on my face as I looked at Shining. I opened my mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. I decided not to question it as I looked back at Celestia.

I was kinda wondering if Celestia meant Los instead of Las. If I had to guess, this place was going to be like Las Vegas, and I’ve been there before. Personally I’d rather go to Los Angeles. “How long will this take?”

Instead of Celestia responding Shining did. “As long as it takes.” I rolled my eye and kept my attention on Celestia.

“When we leaving?” I asked her.

“Now if possible.” I let out a low whistle. After a few seconds of contemplating I sat up and began stretching.

“I’ll be able to leave soon. Just gotta grab my stuff.” Right before I could exit the room, Shining spoke up from behind me.

“I’ll meet you in your room. If you’re not there in 30 minutes, I’m leaving without you.” He spoke sternly and angrily.

I decided not to respond as I exited the room. Once I was out into the hallway I began speed walking towards my room.

It didn’t take me long, but once I was inside, I shut the door softly. I threw myself onto the bed and let out a loud groan.

After watching Celestia move the fucking sun, I didn’t wanna stay here anymore. I was completely terrified of her. If she wanted me to, she could just kill me whenever she wanted to.

Now I wanted to be in Ponyville more than ever. I’d even prefer being back in America with Apex hunting me down. Celestia terrified me.

A sudden knock on my door made me jump. I looked at the door and a feeling of dread came over me.

“Who is it?” I casually asked. I wanted to pretend I wasn’t here, but I feel that would’ve been a bad idea.

“Christmas.” I recognized her voice instantly, even if it was slightly muffled. I stood up and quickly hustled over to the door.

I opened it and Christmas stood there looking up at me with a confused expression. “What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She continued to examine me for a few more seconds. “When do you leave?”

“In like 30 minutes.” I peeked out into the hallway and scanned the area. Once I realized it was clean, I looked at Christmas and gulped. “Hey can I ask a serious question?” I asked sheepishly.

Christmas looked even more confused. “If it’s not serious I’m not answering it.”

Christmas sounded sceptical, but I couldn’t blame her. I never had a serious conversation with her before. Till now that is. “Are you not afraid of Princess Celestia?” I whispered.

Christmas looked at me like I was stupid. “Why would I be afraid of the princess?”

I sighed while closing my door slightly. “Never mind it was a stupid question.”

Christmas kept my door from closing with a hoof. “Are you okay?” She asked softly.

I know for a fact Christmas doesn’t care about me. So why should I even tell her? “I’m fine.” I spoke angrily. Christmas looked me over before letting out a sigh. She removed her hoof and I quickly closed the door.

I let out a sigh as I started running my hand through my hair. After waiting a few minutes, I shook my head repeatedly and swiftly exited my room.

I closed my door softly and began walking towards the lab area. My footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. My eye kept shifting between every guard and maid I passed.

I was so focused on my surroundings that I almost walked past the lab entrance. After quickly preparing myself, I entered with my usual style. “What up!” I called once I was inside.

I made the mare scientist jump. She quickly spun around and let out a sigh. “Hello, Saint.” She bowed her head slightly.

“Hi.” I waved while approaching her. I looked over the table from earlier, and as I was expecting, all my stuff was there. “Ima take these.”

I attached the pouches with throwing knives in them to my suit before grabbing it and sliding it over my shoulder. Next I attached the belt to my pants and began slipping things on it. I slipped on my daggers, flash and smoke grenades, and finally my helmet. “You can keep the rest.” I turned around and began walking towards the exit.

Unfortunately, my utility belt wasn’t made for the clothing I had on. As a result, I had to waddle over to the door just to make sure my stuff didn’t fall off.

“What are you doing? I haven’t finished studying those.” The mare sounded sad as she questioned me.

“A mission. You can study the things I left you.” Before anymore depressing questions could be asked, I left.

After about 10 minutes of waddling, I made it back to my room. Once I entered, I instantly threw everything on my bed and began looking over it.

I still had three flash bangs, but two smoke grenades. Since some dumbasses used one. My suit and helmet looked the same as when I lived with Twilight.

I grabbed my daggers and lifted them up. I twisted the handle of one and began stretching out the wire. After making sure the wire still worked perfectly, I twisted the handle again, causing the wire to retract.

After making sure everything was in order, I began stretching. After, I was fully stretched and refreshed, I quickly moved all of my gear and sat it gently onto the ground.

I then climbed into my bed and snuggled up against the pillows. I intended to relax for a couple of minutes before meeting up with Shining.

I regretted laying in bed instantly. I accidentally fell asleep so I was awoken to the sound of banging against my door.

I rolled out of bed and lazily walked to the door. I opened it and was greeted by an irate looking Shining. “You aren’t even ready.” He began complaining before I could even say hi.

“I am? I’m not going to wear my gear.” I moved away from the door and gestured towards my stuff on the floor. “I assumed we were going undercover.”

Shining looked past me and at my stuff. “We are. I thought you didn’t have anything at all with you, but let’s go, the chariot is waiting.” He ordered.

“Yeah, hold up.” I called. I quickly hurried over to my dresser and grabbed an extra change of clothes for myself. I decided to leave the rest inside because it’s not like I’ll need it all. I threw the extra clothing over my shoulder, along with my suit. I attached everything else to my belt and wore it with pride. “Ready.”

Shining nodded. “Let’s go.” I followed Shining out of my room and down the hallway.

I’d been walking behind Shining for awhile now. It was extremely awkward because nothing was being said. Then again I hated him, so I’d rather not talk at all. Just watching him trot makes me want to strangle him.

We ended our walk outside behind the castle. Celestia was already outside, standing idle next to a chariot.

The chariot didn’t even look like it belonged in Canterlot. It was all brown with scratches and splinters on the outside. The wheels looked worn out. One wheel looked bigger, causing the chariot so slant slightly.

“Hi Princess.” I forced out once I was in front of her. Celestia gave me a confused expression.

“Everything alright, Saint?” She asked in a tone of a mother.

I panicked slightly, but was able to come up with a lie. “Just kinda nervous. I’ve been in the air many times, but not like this.” I pointed at the chariot and shrugged. “As long as Shining doesn’t push me out, I’ll be fine.”

Shining groaned from behind me. “I won’t as long as you don’t bother me.” He trotted past me and jumped into the chariot, sitting himself down.

Celestia let out a quiet chuckle. “Well, good luck you two. Remember to send notes about what you’ve discovered.” I walked past Celestia and dumped my things in the chariot. I decided to keep my belt on to save leg room. I sat in the chariot next to Shining. Unfortunately, my legs were cramped because of the size of the ride.

“Who’ll be flying us?” Shining asked. I hadn’t realized it until then but our chariot was missing a pair of pegasi.

Before I could even add my own comment, a sudden gust of wind caught me off guard, almost tossing me out of the chariot.

I looked up, and before I could even see what happened, another gust of wind caught me off guard. “Fuck off!” I shouted

After waiting a few seconds, I looked up and saw two pegasi standing next to Celestia. “Sorry we’re late.” The mare pegasus began speaking calmly. “SOMEPONY wanted to eat extra!” She suddenly began shouting.

The stallion looked shocked. “It’s not my fault. It was half off on hay fries!” He shouted back.

The mare had a yellowish coat while her mane and tail were orange with a lighter orange stripe going through them. Her eyes were a dark orange which looked weird to me for some odd reason. But I recognized this mare from Rainbow’s posters of her favorite flying group. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember their names.

The stallion on the other hand had a pale blue coat with a very dark blue mane and tail. His eyes were a bright emerald color. Just like the mare, I recognized him as well from the posters.

I let out a loud and obnoxious groan as I slouched down slightly in the chariot. I was annoyed because I wanted to leave already.

“Whoa, so that’s the infamous Saint?” The mare excitedly asked.

I snapped my head in the mares direction and my eye began twitching. “Infamous? The fuck you talking about.”

“Rumors running around about how you almost committed murder your first day in Canterlot.” The unknown mare deadpanned.

I let out a sigh as I looked away from her. “Word spreads fast around here.” I muttered to myself. “I won’t confirm nor deny that.” I said louder for everyone to hear.

The mare began chuckling. “Relax, I’m not going to judge you on some rumor.” I looked over and watched as the mare began approaching me. She extended a hoof once she was close enough. “Name’s Spitfire.”

I reached out and shook her hoof. “You already know my name.” I looked over and saw Celestia looking at me with an unreadable expression.

I dropped her hoof and slouched back down inside the chariot. I groaned as I was becoming bored of sitting inside the chariot. I decided to zone out and stare at the sky.

I counted over twenty birds by the time we were ready to leave. Spitfire and the stallion were in the process of hooking themselves up to the chariot. “Remember, Saint.” I looked over towards Celestia. “Be kind to my ponies, please don’t bring them harm.”

“I won’t.” I saluted towards her. She nodded and gave me a smile.

“Thank you. Good luck to the both of you.” She bowed her head slightly.

Celestia turned and began trotting back to the castle. I watched for a few seconds before redirecting my attention to Spitfire. “Yo, how long is this gonna take?”

“Couple hours.” She responded casually.

“Fuck sake.” I muttered to myself. “Fuck am I supposed to do for fun?!” I shouted.

“Make small talk obviously. I’m interested in what happened to you.” Spitfire reassured.

That was the last thing I wanted to do. But at least I would be talking to someone other than Shining.

After Spitfire and her friend were set up, I gripped the sides of the chariot. Both ponies started off trotting before shifting into a full gallop.

It only lasted a few seconds, but my grip tightened against the chariot. Tense seconds passed as they both started flapping their wings repeatedly. Then moments later, we were ascending into the sky.

I never was afraid of heights. But flying without some type of protection was kind of unnerving. I looked over the side of the chariot and watched as the Castle was becoming further and further away.

My attention was cut off as the unknown stallion began speaking. “Wait, which way is Las Pegasus again?” He asked sheepishly.

“It’s west you idiot!” Spitfire scolded. I groaned once more as I realized this was going to be a long ride.

The small talk Spitfire was talking about went a lot better than I thought. I told her about being betrayed and forcefully being sent here. I talked about what happened with Blue Bridge, along with my time in Ponyville.

One thing I respect about her was how she respected my privacy. She never once asked anything personal about me, even if the opportunity was there.

Of course, not everyone respects my privacy. “If you’re an assassin how many ponies have you ki-”

“Shut up.” I ordered Spitfire’s friend. He groaned but eventually followed my orders.

Since the conversation I was having with Spitfire was ruined, I decided to look over the edge. We weren’t flying as high as I was expecting, so that was boring.

We flew above forests and rivers, along with a small town. I kept thinking about spitting like a kid, but I know Shining would scold me if he caught me.

I looked back towards the front and began playing with my hair. The wind blowing through it felt nice, so that was a bonus.

“Are we there yet?” I asked while looking at Spitfire.

“No,” Shining butted in. “You’ll know when we are there so stop acting like a child.” He scolded.

“I am a child though.” I definitely was so there wasn’t a point in arguing. I act like I’m in high school.

“Are you really!?” The unknown stallion excitedly questioned.

“No, he means I act like it, and I completely agree with him.” I looked over at Shinning and started speaking harshly. “But that’s not going to change. Ever.”

Shinning’s head snapped at me as he wore an angry expression. “How can a child be the leader of an assassin group!” He shouted.

“That’s none of your business.” I tried to hold back my anger. I looked back over the edge and watched the scenery.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Shining stopped being a cunt, Spitfire dropped the small talk, and the annoying stallion stopped asking questions.

We must’ve been getting close to our destination because Shining began speaking in a serious tone. “I’ll be changing into my disguise in a second, but what’s going to be our story?”

I began humming softly as I quickly thought up a story. “You’ll be an adventure who discovered a great treasure. Me!” I finished by pointed a finger at myself.

Shining stared blankly at me. “That’s not a story.” He deadpanned.

I frowned as I looked away from him. “Just let me handle any questions. Just change into your disguise or whatever.”

“I’d rather have you handle nothing.” Shining spat. Before I could even think of a rebuttal, he continued. “But fine, I’ll let you deal with that.”

I decided not to respond as I looked ahead. I watched Spitfire for a few seconds before looking back at Shining.

Shining didn’t look like himself in the slightest. His colors were completely different. He currently had a grayish coat with a dark black mane and tail. Along with his eyes being a light gray. “What about your mark?” I asked, refusing to actually look at it.

“It’s different.” Shinning’s voice was completely different. He sounded younger, like a teenager. “My names going to be.......Black Shield.”

“No point in using a fake name if I’m the only human on this planet.” I let out a yawn as I finished.

“You’re already using a fake name.” Shining added.

I sighed as I adjusted my glasses. “You think whatcha wanna think.”

The conversation ended there. I didn’t wanna continue it because I’d end up getting angry and might strangle Shining. My real name is a massive insecurity, and you don’t hit people there.

I was pulled back into the conversation by Spitfire shouting. “We’ll be landing soon!” I looked over and saw something I wasn’t expecting.

“Of course.” I muttered to myself. “You know the cloud walking spell?” I turned to look at Shining while speaking louder.

Las Pegasus wasn’t a city on the ground. Instead it was a massive cloud city. From this distance I could barely make out buildings, but they were definitely sitting on clouds.

“I do.” Shining pointed his horn at me. It began glowing black as he touched me with the tip of it. “Done. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I looked down and looked over my suit and pair of clothing. “Yo, did you bring money? We need a hotel.”

“Already ahead of you.” I watched as Shining pulled out a small bag with his magic. He shook it and the sound of metal could be heard from inside. I decided not to question where he got the money from.

Once we were close enough to the massive cloud city, we landed inside a tight alleyway for cover. I quickly jumped out of the chariot. I adjusted my belt before I grabbed the rest of my stuff.

I looked back and watched as Shining did the same. “Good luck on the flight back.” I waved towards Spitfire.

She smiled softly at me. “Good luck on your mission kid.” I nodded while turning around.

I poked my head out of the alleyway and quickly scanned the area. It was the middle of the day so there were quite a few ponies going on about their business.

I was about to turn back around, but I felt something lightly tap my back. “There should be a cheap hotel on the other side of the city.” Shining whispered.

“Then let’s go.” I took my first step out into the streets of Las Pegasus.

I immediately regretted this discussion because I almost got trampled by a stallion galloping. I was successfully able to sidestep out of the way.

He never stopped galloping as he continued to head off into the distance. “Love this place already.” I muttered.

“It should be this way.” Shining came from behind me. He started trotting ahead of me and I followed a few feet behind him.

We stepped onto a golden road, and I quickly realized that I was practically in Las Vegas. Signs were sitting on clouds, saying something about deals or sales. Buildings with flashing lights were everywhere. The ponies were galloping in and out of them.

A ferris wheel caught my eye for a while, then I noticed what appeared to be a lake. Palm trees surrounding the lake, along with ponies jumping in and out of the water.

“So we’re in sin city.” I mused while passing by the lake.

“What?” Shining asked from my side.

“Nothing.” I instantly replied. I continued to look around myself, noticing something odd. A majority of the ponies here were either completely ignoring me or occasionally glancing over at me.

I shrugged it off as I continued down the golden road with Shining.

Shining and I continued walking for a few minutes. We eventually stopped at a cheap looking wooden hotel. “This the spot?” I asked looking the building over. It was honestly the cheapest and boringness looking place in Las Pegasus.

“Yup.” Shining announced while walking in. I shrugged and quickly followed after him.

The inside looked like an average hotel lobby. A staircase was off in the distance, some paintings hung on the walls, while a waiting room with chairs and couches sat in a corner. A mare talking to a stallion and another mare sat behind a receptionist desk.

Shining and I stood behind the pair, casually listening on. “Excuse me, but do you recommend any places we should visit?” The stallion asked sternly.

“You could always check out the various casinos!” The mare sounded cheerful, almost like Pinkie Pie. “Or you could check out Gladmane’s famous resort!”

I gasped while quickly looking at Shining. “We should go gambling!” I accidentally shouted.

“What? No!” He shouted back at me. I groaned while looking back towards the desk. All three ponies stared blankly at me.

“Carry on.” I ordered while gesturing for them to carry on. They stared for a few more seconds before continuing their conversation awkwardly.

Their conversation ended quickly and the pair of ponies quickly left. But something was weird about them. They both looked similar but I couldn’t remember where I’ve seen them.

The stallion had a brown coat with a purple mane and tail, while his eyes were a lighter shade of purple. And on top of his mane was an adventure hat, which I thought was pretty neat.

The mare pegasus had a peachy color coat with a blond mane and tail, including a white streak going through both of them. Her eyes were a very light shade of purple, which didn’t suit her.

I shrugged it off and stepped forward towards the receptionist. “N-no weapons please.” She meekly asked while looking away from me.

“They’re props for a show.” I tried to sound as serious as I could. “Completely harmless.”

It took a couple of seconds but she eventually looked back at me. She seemed to be scanning me, wondering if I was lying or not. “If you say so.” She whispered skeptically. She cleared her throat while looking at Shining. “What can I do for you sir?” Her cheerful tone returning slightly.

Shining decided we should stay for a week. We purchased our room, got the key, and quickly climbed the stairs. Our room was on the third floor, so it was not that bad of a climb.

Once we found our room, we quickly entered it. I instantly pocketed the key and examined the room. Our room wasn’t as big as I was expecting. Fortunately there were two beds, but they were barley separated. A mini fridge, bathroom, and a couple of desks and dressers were inside the room as well.

I decided to claim the bed closest to the door. I threw my clothing on it while unstrapping my belt. “What’s the game plan?” I asked before I threw my belt, along with everything attached to it, onto the desk.

“There’s still plenty of day left. We should see if we can find any leads in the city.”

“So let’s hit a casino!” I spun around and started walking towards the doorway. “It’ll be fun.”

Before I could open the door, the doorknob became engulfed in a black aura. “We aren’t here to have fun.” Shining scolded from behind me. “We’ll go, but remember we’re here for information.”

The doorknob lost its black aura and I instantly opened the door. “Yeah, sure. Let’s go!” I quickly exited the room, ran down the stairs, and left the hotel.

Shining and I walked around Las Pegasus for a while, before we eventually found what I assumed was casino. I assumed it was since the building had a giant playing card on it.

I entered the building nervously, but grinned when I realized the place didn’t have as many ponies as I thought there would be. I expected the place to be packed, but then again, it’s in the middle of the day. And who gambles in the middle of the day?

All sorts of games were being played at various tables. Poker, blackjack, roulette, and even some childish games like concentration and old maid. Practically every slot machine had a pony at it, some ponies excited, cheering with glee. While other ponies looked depressed and I’m sure some were crying.

Buckets of golden coins sat next to each pony at the slot machines, of course I thought about stealing one, but Shining wouldn’t allow that.

“Look over there.” Shining whispered while gesturing his head in the direction. I was kinda annoyed since he ruined my inspection of the place, but I digress.

I followed Shinning’s head tilt and noticed something odd. The stallion doing the dealing for the blackjack table was wearing a robe with the letters T.S.T stitched into it. “Wow....” I was at a complete loss of words. “This is going to be easier than I expected.” I muttered. “Well, let’s go play!”

Before I could even get the chance of move, Shining jumped in front of me. “We don’t need to play.” Shining angrily whispered.

“We do.” I pointed at the blackjack dealer. “We’re undercover and asking him suspicious questions ruins that.” I whispered back.

Shining groaned. “I don’t know how to play blackjack.” He admitted.

“I do. Well I don’t know how the rules work here but I’ll figure it out!” I shouted while walking past Shining, towards the blackjack table. “Go get me a bunch of chips!” I called before reaching the table.

I got the attention of everyone at the table when I got close enough. The dealer along with four other players looked at me. “Hi.” I awkwardly waved.

The dealer looked like an average Joe, he had brown eyes that matched his brown coat and mane. All together I’d say he’s the most simple colored ponies I’ve met. But I digress.

I was snapped back to attention as I realized all four players and the dealer stared blankly at me. I don’t know how much time passed but I felt like I was standing there awkwardly for hours. The dealer nor the playing ponies said anything.

I sighed as I decided to break the silence. “Where are the table rules?” I asked. The playing table was smaller than it normally would be. But I was expecting the rules to be laid out somewhere. I stopped looking for the rules when I realized no one answered my question. I looked at the dealer with a frown. “Can I play?” I asked nicely.

The dealer stared back at me for a few seconds before blinking slowly. “What are you?” He asked casually.

My frown deepened as I sighed. “Human. Now you tryna run some blackjack or not?” I tried to hide my annoyance.

The dealer stared blankly at me. “Do you even have bits?!” A player shouted before the dealer could respond.

I stared blankly at the angry mare player. I could tell she was rich. In front of her was a pile of different colored chips, they weren’t even sorted either. “I do in fact.” I answered bluntly. I looked up and noticed Shining trotting towards us with a bunch of chips on his head. “Here it comes now.”

Once Shining got closer I grabbed the chips from his head. “Sorry it took so long.” He finished with a sigh.

“No worries.” I sat down in a free seat at the table and sat my chips close to my chest. I looked over the chips and they were only 10 chips and total, all of them we red with the number 10 on them.

Doing the math in my head meant I had 100 bits to gamble with and try to get the dealers attention. Unfortunately, my attention was ruined as a shot glass with a clear liquid in it was slid in front of me.

I looked up at the dealer. “Drink up, you know the rules.” He ordered. I didn’t know the rules but I shrugged and downed the liquid. I mean, it’s not like it’s poison or anything.

It liquid tastes like cough syrup. I tried to not make any facial expressions so I didn’t look like a kid. “And are you playing?” The dealer directed his attention towards Shining.

“No.” Shining instantly replied.

“Remember, if I see any magic, you and your ape friend are instantly banned.” He spoke sternly and coldly.

Shining tapped me on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, no magic will be used.” He then leaned in and whispered into my ear. “Try to get the dealers attention.”

I nodded once and cleared my throat. “Let’s play!” I shouted excitedly.

Blackjack was a game played against the dealer, and not the other players at the table. Which I kinda hated because I wanted to take all the mean mares money.

The game started off as any normal blackjack game. Every player threw in a bet and got their cards. Since I didn’t care I decided to bet all 10 of my chips.

I completely ignored the other players and solely focused on the dealer. He didn’t seem to have a reaction at my bet unfortunately. He gave me my cards last. A 9 of hearts and an ace of spades.

I hid the excitement on my face as I looked at the dealers cards. An 8 of diamonds was his exposed card.

After every player was done saying hit or stand it was time for the dealer to turn over his other card. He turned it over slowly, almost making me turn it over for him. Once it was flipped over I silently pumped my fist. He had a king of clubs, meaning I won unless he wanted to risk busting.

Like I predicted, the dealer decided not to hit, and decided to keep his current cards. He collected the chips from two other players along with giving me my chips.

Now I had 20 chips. I looked over and watched as the two players who lost frustratedly stomped off. Now it was only me and the annoying mare. Unfortunately, she won last round. I wasn’t paying attention to how much she bet, but it was probably a lot considering her pile of chips.

We kept playing for a few rounds, and I kept earning profit. The only time I lost was when I decided to play it safe and only bet a few chips. I kept track of every card that was played, since the dealer was using a machine to deal and wasn’t reshuffling every round, I was able to keep track of cards.

I wanted to call him a moron for how he was dealing, but I decided against it. I was currently at 38 chips and I decided not to take this round seriously. “So how long have you been a dealer for?” I asked after setting down a couple of chips.

He sighed before looking at me. “Only for a few years. I’ll admit you are pretty good at this game, sorry for calling you an ape earlier.” He sounded sincere.

“No worries.” I received my cards and instantly regretted placing a couple of chips.

“Getting blackjack on a two chip bet is kinda unlucky.” The dealer muttered.

“Tell me about it.” I groaned after collecting my winnings. I looked over and watched as the mare seemed to be struggling. She had placed down a couple of green chips with the number 50 on them. I was hoping she’d lose the 100 bits and leave so I can talk to the dealer.

Fortunately, after a few tense seconds she ended up busting, instantly losing her 100 bit bet. She groaned loudly and scoffed. “As if an ape could profit off a complex game like this.” She angrily spat towards me.

I shrugged my shoulders and yawned. “It’s not that hard.”

The mare began grinding her teeth. For a moment I thought I had to fight someone. But instead she decided to storm off muttering angrily under her breath.

I sighed, leaning back into my chair. “May I ask what are you?” The dealer spoke up.

I sat up and looked at the dealer. “I’m a human, I come from a different planet.” I answered truthfully. I watched as the dealers expression changed from confusion to excitement. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he nodded a couple of times before extending a hoof over towards the card dealing machine. “Wait, I don’t wanna play anymore. Instead I wanna ask some questions.”

The dealers squinted his eyes while returning his hoof back to his original position. “Ask away.” He said sternly.

“You see.” I turned around and gestured towards Shining. “My friend and I were recently exiled from Canterlot, and we’re wondering if there’s any town nearby. This place is to hectic for me.” Shining gave me an odd look but I decided to ignore it.

I looked back towards the dealer and attempted to read his expression. He looked shocked and completely confused. “How did you get exiled from Canterlot?!” He loudly whispered.

I smiled while answering as bluntly as I could. “Called Celestia a fucking retard for thinking she could move the sun.”

Shining gasped from behind me while the dealer began laughing. “Honestly, it horrifies me to believe ponies out there actually believe her lies.” He spoke after calming himself down

“Literally everyone’s an idiot for believing her.” I kept adding to the fire. “Anyways.” I grabbed my collection of chips and was able to stuff them all in my pockets. “I’ll probably be here tomorrow. Bye!” I shouted while walking off.

Like I predicted, the dealer called out to me. “Wait just a second please!” I turned back around and put on a fake smile. “Come here for a second.”

I approached the dealer and crossed my arms. “What?” I asked.

“Take this.” The dealer reaches into a pocket in his robe and pulled out a card. He somehow was gripping it with his hoof and I really wanted to ask how, but I decided against it.

The dealer extended his hoof and gave me his card. I quickly grabbed it and read through it. It took me a few seconds but I quickly realized the card was in a language I couldn’t read. “Thanks?” I decided to hold the card since my pockets were full. I turned back around and walked away from the blackjack table.

Once I was out of sight from the table I quickly looked back at the card. “What does it say?” Shining whispered.

“I can’t understand it.” I muttered. It reminded me of Japanese letters, which is something I couldn’t understand either. “Here.”

I gave Shining the card and waited for him to read it. Instead of using magic he somehow gripped the card in his hoof. I sighed while looking away from the impossible feat.

Shining groaned, causing me to turn around and look at him. “I can’t understand it either. I’ll send a letter to Celestia, and see if she’ll be able to understand it.”

“You do you.” I shrugged while yawning again. “I’d say today was pretty successful.” I grinned while tapping the chips in my pockets.

“We aren’t done yet.” Shining said sternly. “We should see if we can learn anything else.”

“That’s all you.” I began rummaging through my pockets and pulled out every chip and dropped them on the floor in front of Shining. “Cash theses in or however you do it here. Ima go take a nap, I’m exhausted.” I stepped past a shocked and angry looking Shining.

I got to the exit of the casino and opened the doors. But before I could walk out, something tapped my back. I sighed but eventually turned around. “What?” I asked a annoyed looking Shining. Luckily he had all of my chips and the mysterious card atop his head somehow.

“You can’t leave even if you want to.” He spoke seriously.

“What do you mean?” I asked skeptically. I honestly thought he was threatening me.

Shining sighed. “The thing you drank disables all magic, including every spell that’s been cast on you.”

I groaned loudly and obnoxiously. Which attracted some minor attention from ponies in the casino. “How long does it last?” I asked, ignoring the stares from the ponies in the casino.

“Depends on how it’s made. Legal ones can last up to an hour.” He deadpanned.

“Fuck off.” I muttered under my breath. “Fuck it, let’s keep looking since there’s nothing else to do.” I said a bit louder.

Of course, Shining and I learned and found nothing suspicious. The dealer who gave us his card was nowhere to be found to make things even worse.

Since I gave zero fucks about Shining, I decided to go play old maid for a bit. Since no betting was involved in the game, I didn’t have to take the anti magic shot thing. But Shining saw that I wasn’t doing anything and decided to be an asshole.

He decided to try his hand in poker, then he remembered that his magic would’ve been disabled so instead he started betting on the players he thought would win. He even decided to be more of an asshole by using the money I earned.

I decided enough was enough. I left the casino before I ended up strangling Shining. Of course I didn’t have the cloud walking spell but I figured I’d be fine as long as I followed the golden road.

I slowly made my way over towards the direction of the hotel and made it there after a while. I was being careful, mainly because I was afraid one wrong mistake could throw me off the city. Once I was close enough to the hotel, I entered the lobby and made a dash to the stairs. “Hey!” The mare at the desk spoke up before I began climbing the stairs.

I sighed and turned to face her. “What?” I asked impatiently.

The mare flinched slightly. “I was wondering if your friend...” She began muttering under her breath.

“What? I didn’t catch that last part.” Now I was getting impatient. I was extremely tired and bored, and the best solution to those problems was to nap.

The mare began blushing deeply for some odd reason. She began drawing circles on the desk nervously. “I was wondering if your friend was seeing anypony.” She muttered quietly.

I groaned and began rubbing my temple. “He’s not he’s a single pringle.” I stomped off towards my room before the mare could respond.

I pulled out my key, unlocked my rooms door, and quickly entered. I thought about locking the door, but then again, Shining would wake me up by banging. I sat the key on the desk and let out a loud and long yawn. As soon as I finished, my stomach began growling.

Thinking back on it, I haven’t eaten all day. I shrugged my shoulders, took off my glasses and sat them on the desk, and climbed into bed. I’ll just take a quick nap and go buy something to eat when I wake up. That’s as long as Shining didn’t lose all our cash.

Chapter 7: There's A First Time For Everything

Instead of waking up in the middle of the night as I expected, I had managed to remain asleep until the morning. If I had to guess, based on the amount of light in the room, I’d say it was around 6.

I didn’t want to move, and even after sleeping for so long, I still felt drowsy. And to make matters worse, my stomach was hurting from how little food I had had in the last few hours.

After forcing myself out of bed, I began stretching. After I finished my usual motions, I looked over and saw Shining sleeping peacefully in his bed.

I decided to ignore him for the time being and go clean myself up. I stepped into the bathroom and threw some water on my face, along with spraying myself with what I believe was body spray. I figured that that was the case since it smelt like an air freshener.

After pronouncing myself as ‘clean’, I tiptoed over to Shining’s bed. I thought about waking him and going with him to eat breakfast, but I instantly reconsidered after I remembered who it was that I would be eating with.

I rummaged through his stuff and found the bag containing our cash. I picked it up and quietly slid a dozen of the gold coins into my pocket. Honestly, I don’t think Shining put the bits I won yesterday from gambling inside the bag. So if I had to guess, he lost it all.

I sighed but quietly grabbed my key from atop the desk and quietly walked over to grab my glasses. After setting them on my face, I hustled over to the door, opened it, and quietly left. I closed the door with a soft click before quickly heading downstairs.

Luckily for me, the weird receptionist from yesterday wasn’t there to bother me. I quietly cheered while walking out of the hotel.

Before I took my first step, a thought occurred to me. I still didn’t have the cloud walking spell cast on me. For a few seconds, I thought about just walking back up to my room and starving. But food is important, so I pushed on.

Just like yesterday, I walked on the yellow road with caution. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of ponies trotting around the city this early. The few ponies who were awake were all casually trotting around, gracefully going in and out of buildings, and not sprinting as they had been the other day.

I quickly scanned my surroundings, looking for any place where I could eat breakfast. I spotted a bowling alley, more casinos, bars, and fancy looking hotels. I was about to give up my search when I finally found it.

I saw a building with a sign that said ‘Buffet’, a sight that made me jump with glee. I quickly ran over to the building and read the small sign that was atop the windows.

I scanned through it and realized that the buffet was currently open and making breakfast. I silently pumped my fist and headed inside.

The second I walked through the doors I was hit with a cold breeze. I hugged myself to warm up as I walked forward. The amazing smell of pancakes hitting my nostrils after only a few feet.

The place didn’t have many ponies inside. A few sat in booths with multiple plates sitting in front of them while others were currently grabbing food.

The food was set up like a usual buffet. Salads on one side, grains and stuff on another. My main focus was on the pancakes and eggs. Since ponies don’t eat meat, there was no bacon, which had upsetting for a while when I first learned about it, but when I realized I could live without it seeing as I rarely eat, I was able to get over it.

My focus on the food was interrupted as someone cleared their throat. I looked over and noticed a familiar mare staring up at me. “Get out of my way!” She aggressively started shouting.

I was too tired to deal with this annoying mare. I stepped out of her way and watched as she walked over to a mare sitting off to the side with a cash register in front of her.

She paid for the buffet, received a glass for drinks, and trotted off.

Before I walked over to the mare at the register, a thought occurred to me. I realized that the aggressive mare had been the same mare from the blackjack table yesterday.

I shook my head repeatedly as I realized it didn’t really matter.. As I walked over to the mare at the register, I noticed that she had realized I was approaching her as her eyes seemed to fix on me in confusion. When I was finally in front of her, she simply stared at me with a blank expression. “How much for the buffet?” I asked.

The mare kept staring at me for a few seconds before she quickly shook her head and put on a smile. “It’ll be 7 bits sir.”

I quickly pulled out exactly 7 coins and plopped them down in front of the mare. She smiled brightly and grabbed a glass and gave it to me. “Enjoy your time!” She energetically said. I nodded once and hustled over towards the buffet.

Instead of diving into the buffet, I decided to tactically pick a table. I wanted to pick a clean table that would be big enough for me and was the furthest from the ponies currently dining.

I quickly found a table that fit my criteria and grinned. Before I sat down, I decided to fill my glass. I prompty found a chug of apple juice and orange juice on a far off table. I put my glass underneath the apple juice’s tap and quickly filled it.

Once it was filled, I returned to my table and placed my glass atop it. After that, I decided to dive into the buffet. I grabbed a plate and slapped some scrambled eggs, a stack of pancakes, and some chocolate chip muffins on it. I sat back down, moved my muffins onto a napkin, poured a bunch of syrup onto my pancakes, and dove into my meal.

I ate slowly, mainly because the last thing I needed was to get sick and not get my money's worth of food. Even though I didn’t know what a bit was worth in American dollars.

When I was on my third plate of pancakes, a surprise guest decided to stop by. An annoyed and tired looking Shining sat down in front of me. “How did you find me?” I tried saying, my voice muffled by a mouthful of pancakes.

Shining stared blankly at me for a few seconds before responding. “Don’t worry about it.” Yawning once, he stopped speaking.

I stared blankly for a few seconds before shrugging. “Whatever.” I sighed. “Anyways, did you learn what the note says?” I continued to mumble.

Shining sighed deeply. “Unfortunately, no. I sent the note but haven’t gotten back from Celestia yet.”

“That’s crazy,” I said sarcastically while swallowing and taking a sip from my glass. “Well we can either wait or do something else.” I continued.

“What do you mean?” Shining asked skeptically.

“We set them up of course,” I answered while taking another sip. “I’ll meet up and talk to the dealer and see if I can learn anything new.”

“How is that setting them up?” Shining still sounded totally skeptical of the idea.

“Well, that’s the thing. If they hate Celestia, then they might hate her captain of the guard as well.” I smiled as I spoke more excitedly. “We can use Shining Armor as bait instead of Black Shield.”

Shining finally caught on as his tired look seemed to vanish. “I see. You can walk into the casino and talk to him and I’ll walk in later.”

I nodded and decided to finish for him. “And I’ll just drop a hint about being an assassin and see if he takes the bait. If he does, BOOM, we arrest and interrogate him.”

Shining didn’t look annoyed anymore as he rubbed his chin. “How would you prove to him you’re an assassin? You don’t really seem to fit the description of one.”

I decided not to comment on the second part of his question. “It shouldn’t be that hard. I could bring my throwing knives maybe?” I honestly couldn’t think of a way to prove to a pony who doesn’t know me that I’m an assassin.

“Yes, because a throwing knife is going to prove you’re an assassin.” Shining sarcastically replied. I rolled my eye but continued eating anyways. “Maybe it could work, but you’d have to prove it to him in another way.”

“I’ll figure it out,” I muttered. “Go get something to eat, it looks awkward with only one of us eating.”

Shining obeyed my command and left to get his own food. Once he returned, we both ate in what passed as silence. The only sounds being that of my occasional drinking and obnoxious sighing.

After we finished eating, Shining and I left and began walking the streets of Las Pegasus. Since the casino wasn’t open, we decided to head back to the hotel and relax for a bit.

I sat down on my bed and began stretching. “Man I’m bored.” I was about to continue complaining when I remembered something. “Aye, cunt, where’s the bits I earned yesterday?” I turned to give Shining a glare.

He stared blankly at me before looking away. “What bits?” He asked suspiciously.

I groaned while laying down in bed. “You’re shit at gambling,” I muttered.

Unfortunately, Shining heard me and sighed. He decided not to respond to what I said and instead sat on his own bed.

I sunk deeper into the bed and tried to sneak in a nap. But unfortunately, I couldn’t. “Saint, why are you the leader of Apex?” Shining’s question was rather abrupt.

“That’s none of your business,” I angrily spoke, “if you wanna know so badly ask my members when they get here.”

“It was just a question, you don’t have to get so mad.” Shining protested. “I just wanted to know why an immature child is the leader of an assassin group.”

I chose not to directly respond and just sighed. “I have my secrets and you have yours. And it’s no secret that we hate each other.”

“What’s not to hate?” I sat up and looked at Shining annoyed. “You’re immature and childish. You’re a compulsive liar and unpredictable.” Shining paused as he closed his eyes, as if thinking about how to finish his sentence. “You do things normal ponies wouldn’t do; for instance, almost killing Blue Bridge.”

I let out a loud yawn. “If you think I’m childish, you should meet Alice.” I chuckled as I began thinking about moments I shared with her. Even if I didn’t know her for long, I still miss her.

“If your team is as childish as you, then it shouldn’t be hard to deal with them.” Shining sounded so serious that I couldn’t help myself. I burst into a laugh so hard I ended up tearing up.

After a few seconds I calmed myself down. “You think what you wanna think.” The conversation ended there, mostly because I refused to answer any more questions about myself.

We both sat in silence, just waiting for the morning to fly by. I was bored out of my mind. I thought about playing darts with my throwing knives, but I doubt Shining would’ve let me. So instead, I stayed in bed, staring at the ceiling.

I hate my life.

I don’t know how much time passed, but the sound of knocking interrupted my attention on the complex ceiling design.

I sat up and watched as Shining was already trotting over to the door. I watched as he opened it slowly and immediately frowned. I decided not to eavesdrop as I rolled onto my side.

Once I heard the door close, I looked back towards Shining. He had a letter in his hoof, along with a massive frown on his face. “You haven’t even read it and you’re already upset.” I joked.

Shining ignored me as he opened the letter with his magic. I watched as his eyes quickly scanned through the contents. “Celestia was able to figure out the card.” Shining’s tone was extremely serious. I raised a brow and gestured for him to continue. “It says to meet at a place called The Rainbow Bar tonight at 11.”

“The fuck?” I jumped out of bed and crossed my arms. “What was the point of all the cryptic bullshit?” I was annoyed that instead of physically telling me where to go, the dealer gave me a mysterious card.

Shining rolled his eyes and put the letter on the desk. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter since we have a lead.”

“Whatever. What you tryna do till 11?”

Shining frowned. “We should keep looking for clues and leads, incase this one leads to a dead end.”

Now it was my turn to frown. “Shut up. This lead isn’t going to be a dead end. Now what you tryna do?” I asked once more.

Shining stared at me blankly for a few minutes before sighing. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to Las Pegasus before.” Shining turned around and opened the door to exit. “We could always check out the resorts.”

I shrugged and stepped behind him. “Sure, but cast the cloud walking spell on me just in case.” Shining did as I said and cast the spell on me before we left.

Since it was almost noon, ponies everywhere were galloping in and out of buildings, many of them on the golden road.

We walked for a while until we found an interesting building with a giant golden double door. On the door was a stallion standing on his hind legs and with a serious look on his face. “How much you think this place cost?” I asked.

Shining took a few seconds before replying. “Probably a quarter of the Crystal Empire’s treasury.”

I forgot he was practically the king of an entire empire. I admit, I was jealous, but I wasn’t going to say it out loud. I stepped forward and pushed open the golden doors. And instantly my jaw dropped.

A roller coaster with twists and turns was currently being ridden inside the building. Ponies were actually riding, screaming, and enjoying a roller coaster while grounded ponies were running around, or listening to announcers going on about various shows and events.

I was completely baffled. The last thing I was expecting to see was a roller coaster inside a building. I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be able to ride it because of my height, which of course, made me upset. I shook my head repeatedly and tried just to ignore it.

I walked slowly inside the building. Multiple ponies stared at me while others stepped out of my path.

I then noticed that the announcers had stopped speaking. The building was a lot quieter than it had been a second ago. The only sound I noticed was the screaming from the roller coaster.

To make matters even worse, I was starting to become uncomfortable. I quickly glanced behind me and noticed there was a crowd of ponies behind me; following me, examining me.

My eye kept moving back and forth repeatedly between each pony, making sure none of them were planning on getting closer.

I decided enough was enough. I couldn’t bear to deal with the crowd of ponies. “I’m leaving,” I whispered to Shining. Before he got the chance to respond, I turned around and took a step.

I quickly realized I wouldn’t be able to leave because of the crowd of ponies, and for some odd reason, there seemed to be a leader. “Hello there! Welcome to my resort, my name’s Gladmane.” The pony in front spoke in a snobby accent.

Gladmane had a blueish coat with a grey mane. His eyes were a sparkling green, and unlike most ponies, he was dressed. He was wearing what I could only describe as a blue tuxedo and a large bow tie.

I squinted my eye and cleared my throat. “I’ll admit, this is a nice place you got,” I forced through my teeth. I tried to hide my annoyance from being surrounded.

Gladmane wasn’t expecting me to be able to speak because his eyes widened at this. The crowd of ponies gasped silently and began whispering.

I frowned as I sighed. Shining stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Well, if you don’t mind, we really should be leaving.” He spoke nicely, but I could tell he was faking it.

“Of course, sorry about the hold-up.” Gladmane bowed his head slightly. He trotted over to the side and the crowd followed. Once he stopped moving, a pathway to the exit was made.

I nodded my head once and began walking towards the exit. I locked eyes with Gladmane while walking out of his resort. The massive fake smile he had bothered me.

Once Shining and I were outside, and the golden doors were closed, I let out a massive groan. “That was awful.”

“Agreed. Why don’t we go back to the hotel and come up with a plan for tonight? We already wasted enough time.”

I hummed as a quickly thought up a response. “It’s still early, and I’d like to at least do something.” I turned to look at Shining. “Like there’s a beach, let’s go swimming.”

Shining looked at me like I was stupid. “You can go swimming if you want.” He trotted past me and headed towards the direction of the hotel. “I’m going to think of a plan!”

I shrugged and decided to follow him instead of going to the beach area. Mainly because I didn’t want to go by myself and look like a loner.

Once Shining and I were back at the hotel, we decided to discuss what we were going to do at the bar.

Our plan was that Shining would drop his disguise and walk in around 30 minutes after I was already inside.

During the time before Shining came in, I’d be trying to drop hints that I’m an assassin by showing my skills with my throwing knives, but I wasn’t allowed to say I was an assassin. Instead, when Shining came in, we would talk about our hatred for Canterlot and Celestia.

I was supposed to see if the dealer would drop hints or actually attempt to harm Shining. And if he does anything suspicious I either relay the information to Shining or drop him myself. So in short, it was an easy plan to follow.

“Finally, I can take a nap.” I yawned while collapsing on my bed. “We still have so much time left before we actually have to go.”

“No, you should get all of your stuff ready now so you don’t have to later.” Shining scolded.

I sighed loudly while sitting up. “Yes mother.” I groaned. I decided to just get ready instead of arguing with Shining.

I decided to wear my suit and my belt under my clothes, having my shirt and pants covering everything. I decided to leave my daggers and bring my throwing knife pouches and grenades instead. I knew I had to leave my daggers behind because they were a lot harder to hide than my other items.

I sat back down on my bed once I was ready. “I’m done. I hope you’re happy.” I complained.

“I am.” Shining paused for a second before continuing. “You can rest now if you want to.”

I didn’t respond to Shining as I laid back down and closed my eye. Honestly, I was hoping I would wake up tomorrow and not have to deal with this stupid mission and Shining.

Unfortunately, my wish didn’t come true as I was awoken by Shining nudging me with a hoof. I groaned loudly as I sat up. I took off my glasses while rubbing my eye, trying to get the sleep out of it.

Once I was finished with that, I slid my glasses back on and yawned. “What time is it?” I groaned.

“Time for us to leave.” Shining ordered. I groaned once more while standing up and stretching. “Hurry, we still have to find the place.” Shining quickly trotted over to the door and opened it.

Once Shining and I were outside, we struggled to find the bar. Mainly because I was distracted by Las Pegasus at night.

Everything was lit up, lights were shining, the Ferris wheel was glowing brightly in many different colors, even Gladmane’s resort was glowing a bright gold.

The ponies of night were a lot more calm then they were in the afternoon. They all calmly trotted along the road instead of galloping. But I noticed that more ponies seemed to be paying attention to me.

My shock was interrupted by Shining bringing me back to reality by tapping me with a hoof. I looked down and realized he was walking away in the opposite direction. I shrugged and followed him.

After following Shining for a short time, we stopped in front of what I assumed was the bar. The Rainbow Bar was unusually large and it’s logo was a mug being filled with a mysterious rainbow liquid. The place had no windows so I couldn’t even tell if there were a lot of people inside.

“I have a really bad feeling about this place.” I muttered to myself. I noticed that this seemed to be the only place in Las Pegasus that didn’t have a glowing sign, which set off a major red flag.

“Well, we gotta do what have to do.” Shining reassured. I let out a sigh and began stretching. Finally, after taking multiple breaths I gulped once and forced myself to move forward.

Once I walked into the bar, I immediately checked my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was the lack of ponies and the style of the bar.

The bar was styled as if it was placed in the middle of nowhere. The inside walls, tables, chairs, and the bar itself were all a dull brown with peeling paint. The walls had ugly paintings, and sketchy looking rewards.

The ponies that were inside looked like the common thug you’d find hidden in an alleyway. Some had scars covering their faces while others had cutie marks that depicted violence. For example, one of the cuties marks was a pony wearing a ski mask.

I shifted my focus from the thieving pony and onto the bartender. The mare behind the counter looked extremely bored. She had a light reddish coat with a darker red mane and tail. Her mane slightly covered her eyes, but I could still see that they were a bright pink.

The bartender shifted her eyes onto me. She didn’t look surprised to see me. She acted casual as she lifted up her hoof and gestured for me to approach.

I was skeptical at first, but I shrugged my shoulders and decided to approach. Once I was close enough, I sat on the stool and adjusted its height. “What?” I whispered.

She stared at me awkwardly for a few tense moments. After many awkward seconds, she looked away from me and cleared her throat. “He’s waiting for you in the back.” She pointed a hoof towards a door with a sign that said “employees only” in bold red lettering.

I rolled my eye and stood up while cracking my neck. I was on my guard as I slowly approached the door. Once I was close enough, I turned on my glasses and switched them to the heartbeat scanner.

A few red blips popped up, but they were deeper behind the door. I nodded once, turned off my glasses, and opened the door.

I softly closed it behind me while I tiptoed down the dark hallway. At the end of it was a room with a bright light coming from it. The sounds of mumbling could be heard from the room.

“So when’s this “new guy” supposed to get here?” An unfamiliar male voice spoke. I paused and decided to keep listening to the conversation.

“He will come, just be patient.” I recognize this voice as the dealer from the casino. “The bartender knows what he looks like, she’ll send him in.”

“Yes, you described him as not being a pony. Does that mean he’s a griffon?” A new voice spoke up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell if this one was a male or female.

After confirming they didn’t plan on attacking me I decided to step out. “Yo.” I said casually.

Before I could even say anything else, one of the unknown ponies inside, a unicorn, jumped up and a light purple began to surround their horn.

I reacted automatically as I jumped backwards into the hallway. I was fortunate, because as soon as I jumped back, a laser shot out of the unicorn’s horn and landed right where I had been standing.

The laser broke through the floorboards, causing some debris to fly around. I tsked as I reached towards my belt to grab a flashbang.

“WAIT!” I heard the dealer start shouting frantically. “THAT’S THE GUY!”

I paused and decided not to grab my flashbang. I stood to my full height as I decided to walk back into the room.

All three ponies were standing next to each other. The two I didn’t know looked dumbfounded, while the dealer had a frown. “You piece of shit.” I aggressively said towards the unicorn who shot at me.

Now that I was no longer being attacked, I was able to see that the unicorn was a mare. She had a dark purple coat with a black mane and tail. Her grey eyes bore into me with confusion and shock. I honestly would’ve ended up killing her if the dealer hadn’t have stopped her.

“Well how would you react if some ape thing walked into your house?!” The mare protested.

“Offer him a drink.” I bluntly lied. I couldn’t tell if the mare believed me because she tsked and looked away from me.

I looked at the dealer and crossed my arms. “Who are your buds?” I asked with an annoyed tone.

The dealer stared at me blankly before sighing. “This is Black Violet.” He finished by pointed a hoof at the mare who had tried to shoot me. I looked down at the mare and she still wasn’t looking at me. “And this is Dealer Aaron.”

I looked at Aaron with a confused look. “What do you deal exactly?” I asked suspiciously.

Aaron looked at me blankly. “Poker, blackjack. You name it.” He said casually.

I facepalmed and shook my head slowly. “I thought it was... I don’t even care anymore.” I muttered. “Anyways, why was the letter so cryptic?” I looked back at the dealer and frowned.

“So anypony who looks at it quickly won’t be able to read it.” He deadpanned. “What did you do with the note after reading it?” He asked suspiciously.

I felt like I was being interrogated so I rolled my eye. “I burned it.” I lied. “I’m not stupid.” I decided to walk by the three ponies and sit down at a little table they had in the center of the room. Unfortunately, like usual, sitting was uncomfortable as my legs always ended up underneath the table, almost touching the other end of it.

The room itself was fairly small. Pictures of Celestia hung across the room. Only thing wrong with them was the fact that the majority of them had inappropriate things drawn on them. I thought to myself that these people were childish and wouldn’t actually do anything to anybody.

I looked back at the three ponies. They were staring at me awkwardly, which annoyed me. “What?” I asked.

“You’re not going to ask questions?” Aaron asked suspiciously.

I looked at Aaron like he was retarded. “No. I’m waiting for you to tell me why you wanted me here.” I finished by pointed at the pony who gave me the note. “Also, what is your name?” I asked remembering I actually never knew it.

“Just call me Joe.” Joe got closer and sat down next to me. “I gave you that letter because I wanted to have a little chat.”

“About?” I asked. My eye kept shifting from Joe to his two companions. Both were watching me intently. I shifted slightly in my seat and awaited Joe’s response.

“Well, I was impressed by your courage to speak to Celestia in such a manner that I was curious if you’d like help me wit-“ Joe was cut off as a voice spoke up.

“Joe.” The voice was calm and soothing. I looked over and saw the bartender who led me into this room. When I first heard her speak she sounded rude and aggressive, but now it was a different story. “We have a.......guest.” I raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue. “Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor.”

Everyone in the room gasped beside me. I tsked and got angry. I was annoyed by how he came into the bar much earlier than he was supposed to.

“Was he with anypony?” Joe sounded serious. He had a tone that made me raise a brow. He’d completely changed his posture, his tone, and his attitude after learning that Shining was in the building.

“No, it was just him.” The bartender responded.

“How should we deal with this?” Joe turned and looked back towards Violet and Aaron. “I’d say cripple him but that’d cause too much attention.”

My eye widened as I looked at the faces in the room. No one besides me was shocked to hear what Joe said.

“Why don’t we just take him hostage and force Celestia to see the truth?” Aaron pitched in. I was completely baffled at what I was hearing. The ponies who I thought were childish were actually savages.

“Could always kill him,” Violet suggested in a way that sent shivers down my spine. It was starting to become hard to hide my shock. I didn’t want to believe that the ponies in this room were capable of harming Shining, let alone acting so violent.

I decided I’d heard enough. I thought about dealing with everyone in this room, but I wouldn’t be able to do much with Violet around. “I’ll deal with him,” I said calmly as I stood to my full height. “Go deal with him for a second.” I pointed towards the bartender.

She hesitated at first but eventually obeyed. Once she left the room, I let out a sigh. “What do you plan to do exactly?” Violet hissed.

“I have a history with him so let me deal with him.” I cracked my neck and began walking towards the exit of the room. “And if you want, you can watch.” Once, I was back into the main part of the bar, I saw Shining sitting alone and talking to the bartender.

I calmed my nerves quickly and decided to approach. Once I was closer, I slapped Shining on the back and laughed. “I’ll have whatever he’s having.” I finished by putting on a fake smile.

The bartender gave me a weird look but nodded slowly. I watched her turn around for a second before looking back at Shining. “How’s it been?” I asked like nothing was wrong.

Shining raised a brow but still responded. “Fine?” I nodded and looked over towards the employees door. And as I expected, they were watching. But Violet was watching with a great deal of intensity while Joe and Aaron just looked interested.

I sighed, I couldn’t think of a way to communicate with Shining without looking suspicious.

My thinking was interrupted as the bartender returned and sat down two glasses of water. I stared at the water as thoughts kept racing through my head. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t look weak in front of Joe, and I needed to find a way to inform Shining. After a few long seconds, I had an idea. Not a good one, but it was the best I could think of.

Shining’s horn began glowing its usual rose color before his glass of water became engulfed in the same aura. “Sorry for this,” I muttered quietly.

Before Shining could react to what I said, I grabbed his glass of water and threw all the water inside of it at him.

Shining became distorted as he shouted loudly. “What the bu-“ Before Shining could finish his sentence, I grabbed his head and repeatedly began slamming it into the bar. Of course, I held back as much as I could without it looking fake.

After doing it a few times I stopped and pushed him off his chair. Shining was on the ground coughing repeatedly. At this point, the ponies in the bar were either shouting for a fight or running out of the bar.

I stood to my full height and took off my shirt. Underneath it was my suit and my throwing knife pouches. I quickly took two knives out of the pouches and spun them in my hands. “How fast is your reaction time?” I asked menacingly.

Shining stopped coughing and groaned. He stood up and wobbled slightly. “Pretty fast I’d s-“ I didn’t let Shining finish his sentence as I threw a knife at him. Obviously my aim was off slightly.

Instead of dodging as I expected, Shining’s horn began glowing and a bubble formed around him. My knife bounced off the bubble and hit the ground with a metallic thud.

I groaned and decided to back up slightly. I wasn’t prepared for Shining to be able to make a shield with his magic. I didn’t know what to expect and it annoyed me.

Before I could even think of a counter to the shield, a purple beam of magic shot from behind me and connected with the shield. I turned around and saw the beam coming from Black Violet.

I tsked and looked back at Shining. He seemed to be dealing with the beam with ease. There was nothing I could think of that would counter Shining’s shield. All I could do was hope that he wouldn’t lose against Violet

The purple beam quickly died down and I heard Violet snarl. I turned and watched as Violet began lifting multiple chairs, stools, and tables with her magic. “Put all the damage on my tab!” Violet shouted before throwing the objects one by one at Shining.

Majority of the things thrown shattered on impact with the shield. And nothing seemed to be phasing Shining.

Before any more objects could be thrown at the shield, the door to the bar flew open. Multiple ponies who I could only call guards flooded inside the building. “We’re here sir!” One of them called.

An idea popped into my head as I saw the sheer amount of unicorns among the guards. I didn’t want word to get out that I was a rat but I figured it would be fine if the ponies I was going to betray would end up in jail.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned towards Violet. She still had multiple objects in her magical grasp and I didn’t want anyone in the guard to be harmed. I quickly threw the second knife I had at her.

The knife pierced her eye and she began screaming loudly. All the objects that were being levitated dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Violet dropped to the floor, still screaming in pain. Joe and Aaron both looked shocked as they watched Violet try to take out the knife in her eye. It didn’t take long for Joe to look at me irately . “You rat!” He shouted with pure hatred.

“You’ll get over it sooner or later.” I joked. I watched as the guards in the bar quickly charged towards the trio of evil ponies. It didn’t take long for them to pin Joe and Aaron. Violet, on the other hand, struggled at much as she could with only one eye.

Violet was screaming incoherently. I couldn’t make out any of the words she was saying. I didn’t care enough to keep listing to try and decipher exactly what she was going on about. All I could do was shake my head at the display of Violet’s insanity.

I turned and walked over to Shining. “You good?” I asked while bending down to grab my throwing knife I threw at him earlier.

“Are you an idiot? What was the point of fighting.” Shining was clearly pissed at me. I spun the knife in my hand and shrugged my shoulders.

“Trust me. You would’ve preferred that happening over what they had planned. You see that unicorn over there?” I pointed at Violet who was currently still struggling. “She’s insane. I’ve been killing for a long time and I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say the word ‘kill’ like that before.”

“What do you mean?” Shining asked while raising a brow.

I sighed and began explaining. “Kids say kill jokingly and killers say the word nonchalantly. But the way she said it sounded like it was her passion. As if she would’ve enjoyed doing it.” I shivered slightly. “Like, sure, Delta used to be a serial killer, but she’s different.” My thoughts went to when I first met Delta.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to think long because Shining began talking. “So you decided to bash my head into the bar ‘cause you didn’t want me to fight her?” He deadpanned.

I shook my head, I couldn’t be bothered with explaining any further. “Just know I think differently than you ponies.” I tapped him on his head lightly. “I held back just for you so don’t worry.”

Shining swatted my hand away. “Whatever. So what should we do with them?” I turned towards the crime scene and watched as Joe and Aaron were being escorted out of the building. Violet, on the other hand, was unconscious and being levitated out the building.

I rubbed my chin and quickly thought of an answer. “Arrest Violet for attempted murder immediately. And question the other two for information. We should assume everyone in this group is hostile.” I finished by clearing my throat.

“So The Sun Turners are hostile?” Shining questioned.

“Very. You should’ve heard the other two.” I joked while stretching. “This mission was easier than I expected.”

“I’m glad you thought it was easy,” Shining mumbled. “We can go back to Canterlot tonight and report back to Celestia.” He said louder.

I pumped a fist into the hair and grinned with glee. “Finally!” I enthusiastically shouted. “I can’t wait to go ho-“ I cut myself off as I realized I don’t really have a home to go to.

Twilight kicked me out and I feel like a freeloader when I’m with Rainbow. Then there’s still the fact that I’m most likely going to have to deal with Christmas still.

I let out a sigh as I shook my head. “I’m going to go take a nap at the hotel.” My enthusiasm left me as I started to feel depressed.

“Have fun with that,” Shining said without a care in the world. I watched as Shining left the bar quickly.

I looked around and noticed that no one else was in the bar. Well, no one besides the bartender. “Sorry for the damage.” I joked. Before I could leave, I remembered that I took off my shirt. I quickly retrieved it and slid it back on. After dusting it off of course.

Once I was outside, I quickly speed walked in the direction of the hotel. I still wasn’t 100% sure exactly where the hotel was, but I figured I’d find it eventually.

I found and entered the hotel as fast as I could. I didn’t even talk to the receptionist. I just threw open the door and slammed it behind me. I slipped my glasses off and set them on the dresser while I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling.

I was annoyed that I remembered that I’m technically homeless. I kept rolling around in my bed as I was starting to become angry.

“Fuck sake.” I groaned. I didn’t want to return to Canterlot homeless. And I wasn’t planning on staying in that stupid castle either.

I quickly sat up, annoyed that I couldn’t calm down so I could nap. I decided to mess around with my throwing knives. I didn’t know if there were even maids at this hotel, so I decided to throw them at the door a few times.

I didn’t even throw the knife at the door 10 times before the door flung open. Luckily, I didn’t let go of the knife when I was about to. Unfortunately, Shining was the one who came running into the room.

“Damn, learn to kno-“ Shining didn’t even let me finish my sentence before he started shouting.

“They escaped!” Shining forced out between heavy breaths. I let him breathe deeply a few times before I began speaking.

“What do you mean they escaped?” I asked calmly. Shining looked sick, like he was going to throw up at any second. “Jesus Christ what happened?” I was starting to expect the worse.

I knew it felt way too easy. Everything happened too quickly and smoothly. I completely underestimated this little group of psychopaths. I looked back at Shining and was waiting for him to calm down.

Shining caught me off guard as he started shouting. “She killed the guards!” It took me a few seconds to register what Shining actually said.

“Calm down and tell me what happened,” I demanded.

Shining was still panicked but he was able to tell a very quick and short version of what happened. Shining left the guards so he could send a letter to Celestia, and once that was done, he returned to find all the guards dead and the trio gone.

I tsked as I reached over to slide my glasses on. “Send a letter to Celestia,” I said seriously.

“How can you be so calm?” Shining asked. He seemed to have calmed down a bit, his breathing wasn’t as ragged as before.

“Because it’s important to stay calm.” The seriousness of my voice was slowly disappearing. “Shining, we need to send a letter to Celestia.”

“Yes, you’re right. We need her to send guards.” Shining finally sounded calm.

I raised a brow as I faced Shining. “That’s not what I want to happen.” Shining gave me a confused expression so I decided to explain. “I want you to get Celestia to send me the rest of my gear and send you home.”

Shining gave me a look I could only describe as complete confusion. “What? I’m not leaving, and why would you need the rest of your gear?” Shining sternly spoke.

I sighed and sat down on the edge of my bed. “I need my gear so I can deal with those three, and you shouldn’t have to deal with them.” Shining opened his mouth to speak but I quickly cut him off. “Shining, have you ever killed someone before?”

Shining kept his mouth opened as he responded. “No.”

“Then let me handle it. I’m going to try and detain one of them, but if I can't, I'm not going to hesitate.” Shining looked at me with an unreadable look. “They won’t hesitate to kill you, Shining. You and I both know that.”

I didn’t mean to sound cool, cold, or anything similar. I was being serious when I said I’d deal with those three. My goal was to kill Violet as quickly as possible and capture either Joe or Aaron.

And I know that sending Shining home sounded stupid, but I don’t want something to happen to him. It sounds out of character for me, and sure I dislike him, but he doesn’t deserve to die. Unlike me, he has a family and a home to return to.

“I don’t care. I’m asking Celestia to send backup and I’m not leaving.” Shining completely ignored my request as he turned around. “I’m going to send the letter now. For now, we are going to wait for backup.”

I groaned and crossed my arms. “Whatever,” I grumbled. Shining nodded once and left the room.

I was annoyed that Shining wasn’t going to leave Las Pegasus. I’m afraid that something is going to happen and he’s going to be forced to harm someone. Or that he’s going to hesitate and get himself killed.

I let out a sigh as I realized I forgot I was still holding my throwing knife from earlier. I shrugged as I began spinning it around in my hand.

It took Shining roughly 15 minutes to return back to the room. “Letters sent,” He said immediately after entering the room.

“What now?” I asked, trying to hide my annoyance.

“We wait and investigate silently. If we have a chance to detain them, we will.” Shining ordered.

I rolled my eye and sighed. “Whatever.” I slipped my throwing knife back into the appropriate pouch and began cracking my knuckles.

I was still determined to kill Violet on sight. I knew it would be hard to fight a unicorn, but then again, I’ve dealt with harder targets.

There’s nothing Shining and I could do at the moment besides wait, unfortunately. During my time of silence, I was trying to mentally prepare myself to take down a pony. I’ve never killed a pony before, but then again, there’s a first time for everything.

Author's Note

I'm back! Yay!