-Mike’s Meeting-

Mike was walking away from his friends and thought back to the care package that he got from his mysterious parents before their passing. He still wasn’t sure why they sent him the package in the first place, let alone why they had to gain by giving this to him.

“What I don’t understand is why they sent me this,” He thought to himself as he continued to ponder his new situation that he and his friends were put in. He didn’t pay attention though when he made contact with a sigh in front of him. He hit his head against it and he let out an ‘oof’ as he stumbled backwards onto the floor.

“Damn that hurt, huh?” He said as he looked up after rubbing his forehead, only to see that the sign read Training grounds. “Training grounds huh? Guess I can start there.” He walked over towards a large gate and saw that there were a few names on it. Looking down he could see two names that got his attention.

“Twilight Sparkle and Applejack?” He said to himself as he walked though. He didn’t pay attention to the other names underneath them as he walked into the gate. The gate suddenly flashed and his card flashed before it died down after a few seconds. Soon as he could see what was in front of him, he gasped at the sight of it.

The massive courtyard was easily the size of a football field, with different arenas sectioned off in rings about the size of a tennis court. The walls around the place were stacked high enough to reach the top floor of the Guild, all made of thick bricks. Next to the rings were different ranges of wooden training weapons, each ring its own terrain with one being grassy, one being sand, another being a literal pit of fire and one covered in mist, possibly to help trainees learn how to fight in different terrain.

“Geez, is this just a training guild or do they have a fort or something?” He said in shock, still mesmerized by how vast the place was.

“Watch out!” A mares voice shouted, snapping him out of his shock. Mike turned to where the voice came from but what he saw made him freeze up like a deer watching headlights from a car before it hits them. What was heading his direction was a massive hammer that was spinning in his direction very fast and looked like it was going to hit him.

“Sweet merciful Jesus,” He shouted as he snapped out of it and ducked. The hammer missed and he heard a loud crash behind him. He looked up to see one of the columns that he stood near was pretty muched caved in. “Christ...I thought I was gonna die.”

“Mighty sorry about that,” a southern female voice said, getting his attention once again. He looked up to see an armored hand being offered to him. He looked up to see that it was the same blonde mare that he ran into before in the entrance earlier. “Y’all alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” He said as he took her hand and she helped him up. “Sorry about that, I was working on mah control for the new hammer I got enchanted.”

“You mean the hammer that almost killed me?” He joked, pointing towards the destroyed column. “Yeah, how’s that workin out for ya?”

“Hey, are you okay?” Mike heard another mare’s voice getting his attention as well as the orange mares attention. He turned to her and was pretty shocked seeing her.

The mare approaching was massive, easily a few inches over the orange one. Her fur was lavender and her mane and tail were long, straight curtains of dark purple with two streaks of shades of pink. She wore a golden necklace, an intricate thing of many different arcane sigils engraved in each one, totalling up to 17 plates that wrapped around her collarbone. Her breasts were held in large, rounded golden plates suspended by gold wires, with gold wrist protectors on her arms. Above her hips was another armor piece of gold, a belt with a large purple gem in the center that suspended a see-through skirt, through which Mike could see her white panties and the star pattern prints on her bare ass. What really stood out about her, however, was the tall horn on her head and the massive wings on her back.

“Um, yeah I’m fine,” He said, trying to compose himself.

“Yeah sorry about that,” She told him, while looking towards the destroyed column. “I was trying to help Applejack, and well... you saw the result.”

“It’s fine, I wasn’t paying attention,” He told her. “I was actually looking for someone named Twilight Sparkle.”

“Wait, you’re looking for me?” She asked in confusion.

“Wait, you're Twilight Sparkle?” He said in shock. “I thought you were someone else
“No, I was training with my friend Applejack,” She said looking at him dully. “Anyways, why were you looking for me?”

“Right, I was wondering if you knew anything about a set of special medallions me and my friends came across,” He said as he explained everything to both mares.

\\\/////

“So that’s what happened?” Twilight said in shock.

“Must’ve been pretty hard having to be beamed in a world ya know nothing about,” Applejack followed up with a somber look. “That’s gotta be scary.”

“At least we were able to meet some people who could help us out,” Mike replied.

“I’m afraid that we can’t help you with this though,” Twilight admitted with a sigh. “We’ve never even heard of these medallions and the fact that they grafted themselves onto you is rather disturbing.”

“Dang, so I’m out of luck here?” He said with a sigh. “Well that’s a pain.”

“We’re sorry sugarcube,” Applejack added with a somber tone in her voice. “We wish we could help you and yer friends, but we don’t know what planet yer from.”

“Yeah,” Twilight added. “Trying to find a planet where you're from is like trying to find a needle in a crystal mine.”

“Damn, well thanks anyways,” Mike said with a sigh. “Anyways, that hammer you threw, what were you trying to do earlier?”

“Oh ah was just working on magic deflection training with Twilight here,” Applejack said with a smile. “I got a rare stone that ah fitted onto mah hammer here and Twilight got a little too trigger happy with her spells.”

“I said I was sorry,” Twilight said, puffing her cheeks in annoyance. “How was I supposed to anticipate that he was going to show up at that moment?”

“I feel like I’m at fault since I got in the way of your training,” Mike said with a somber tone. “But I gotta say, it must be pretty hard with this kinda training as well as being an adventurer.”

“Hey, it’s what we gotta do, plus the reward of helping someone in need is well worth it,” Twilight added with a smile.

“What’s that in your hand btw?” He asked pointing towards the book she was holding.

The book in question was connected to her belt by a golden chain that ran through its spine. The cover was coated in a pitch black substance that looked almost like rock, with a shining crimson eye in the center of the cover, staring through Mike as though he were merely another target.

“Oh, Princess Celestia just sent this to me this morning,” Twilight said with a smile. “She said that it was a tome of advanced spells to help me on my journey as well as my friends.”

“Whose Princess Celestia?” He asked. Both girls just looked at him funny. “What?”

“Do you seriously not know who Princess Celestia is?” Twilight asked in shock, and Mike had his turn to give him a dull stare.

“Did you not follow when I said that me and my friends are from another world?” He added.

“Oh, right,” Twilight blushed. “Anyways, she and her sister Princess Luna are the rulers of Equestria in Canterlot City. Long ago she and a few other rulers from different countries teamed up to face a common threat that was a real danger back then.”

“Threat?”

“Someone who was mighty dangerous long ago,” Applejack added, turning to her friend. “Twilight.”

“Well,” Twilight said, levitating the book before her, the pages glowing and flipping on an invisible wind. “Long ago, the world was ruled by two absolute beings, Eris and Cosmos. They were Chaos Goddesses who sought to make mortal kind and our world their playthings. With every breath they took, every step they made and every snap of their clawed hands, the world around them trembled and shook, reshaping to be whatever they wanted. After spending centuries wreaking havoc on the creatures of the land, they fell in love and decided that they needed to share their love in a devious way. They corrupted the minds and hearts of all kinds of beings, tricking them into laying day and night with the Goddesses. When they did their deeds, the mortals would perish within minutes. Eventually, however, they started to eradicate dozens by week’s end, and hundreds in only a month. When the other Gods learned of the possible extinction, they blessed several warriors with great magic and medals of unrivalled powers, who were led by the avatars of Sol and Noctis. The Avatars were changed by the magic, becoming the most powerful mages and warriors of all the land, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Once the Goddesses were banished from the realm, the Princesses took the mantle of leading the ruined world back from the brink of disaster. They vowed to lead all kinds back to prosperity, and have been in power ever since. However, due to the ravenous lovemaking of the Goddesses, many generations went through severe shortages of stallions, and we seem to be approaching a similar age if the recent census is anything to go by. At the time, the Princesses are convening with the rulers of other nations to figure out how to get the population’s numbers corrected.”

“You’re saying that there are mostly females that populate the entire world?” Mike asked, shocked hearing the entire story. “That’s just insane.”

“Yeah, but we’ve managed so far, but we fear that our race and others may be in trouble if something isn’t done about it,” Applejack added.

“Is there any chance that this mysterious threat might show up again?” Mike asked in response. Just as the girls were about to say something, a burly voice interrupts them.

“Excuse me ladies?” The male voice called out towards Applejack and Twilight. The voice sounded annoying to Mike as he and the girls looked in the direction to find two burly stallions looking at them. They way they were eyeing the girls though was downright creepy.

One stallion was icy blue with a white mane and tail, with cold navy eyes. He wore polished white armor for a chest piece, with white metal strapped to his legs and arms, his loincloth matching his armor’s color.

The second stallion was rust colored with a brown mane and tail, his eyes green. The armor he boasted was chainmail, with actual chains wrapped around his forearms and shins, a curtain of chains and chainmail making a battle kilt that reached his knees.

“Um, can I help you both?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Oh, we were wondering if we could spar with you lovely ladies?” The rusted colored brown stallion asked, holding out a hand. “My name is Brass Knuckle, and this is my friend Cold Shoulder.”

“I was actually trying to listen to a story that they were telling me about the history of this place and you guys simply butt in,” Mike said as he got up. “Plus I don’t think they wanted to be bothered right now since they were training just fine on their own.”

“Listen here scrappy,” Cold Shoulder said, placing his hand on Mike’s shoulder, “just walk away, alright? This is business between actual adventurers, not some weird newbie who wants to look impressive because he’s talking to a high rank Raid Party.”

“Says the guys who are more focused on rank,” Mike said, slapping the stallion’s hand off. “Maybe learn to read the room. We were talking about something and you’re the ones coming in here boasting about rank. From what I see, you’re just Bronzes anyway. To me it looks like you’re the losers trying to aim higher than you can reach.”

“You bastard!” Brass shouted as he shoved Mike onto the floor. “This is between us and the two mares here, not some wannabe rookie.”

“Learn your place, scraphead, at the bottom!” Cold said, pushing Mike by the shoulder while Brass swept Mike’s legs out from under him.

He rolled onto the floor before picking himself up, wiping his face before nodding.

“Okay, zero to pissed in a moment,” Mike said as he stood up and both stallions chuckled thinking they had an easy fight on their hands. “You guys just made a big mistake.”

“Get real, newbie, the only mistake here is-” CRACK

Cold Shoulder didn’t have time to finish the sentence before Mike’s reformed arm shot out like a viper, slamming straight into his muzzle. Blood shot out in a mist from the hit, sending Cold onto his back while he screamed in pain, clutching his face. Mike blinked as he examined his hand. He could barely feel the punch land, as if he were hitting a cloud. The scary part was that he wasn’t even aware he had punched the mouthy bastard, he only got as far as imagining it before it happened.

“Huh, didn’t think that would happen,” He said to himself and the other stallion now looked pissed.

“The fuck did you do, you bastard?”

“Even back home,” He said cracking his knuckles. “I don’t let jackasses like you push me around. Plus it’s what your friend gets for earlier. Now you’re next.”

“You’re fucking dead,” Brass said as he pulls out a spear.

“Those creeps,” Applejack said as she was about to step in, but felt Twilight grab her by the shoulder. “Why’re you stopping me?”

“Why don’t we just watch for a bit and see what happens with this fight?” She said with a smile. “That arm of his is intriguing. I want to know why he hid it, and what he can do with it.”

“Hope you know what yer sayin Twi,” Applejack said as she backed off to watch the fight.

“If I see more blood I’ll put them in Stasis and break it up.”

“Fine.”

Brass grabbed a second spear and tossed it to Cold. It landed beside the stallion, prompting him to get up. Despite the clearly broken muzzle, he snarled and grabbed the shaft of the spear, using it to prop himself up.

“You...you’re fucking screwed for that asshole,” Cold said as he used some ice magic with his training spear to give it a sharper edge. “Let’s see how you like it when we send you into Intensive Care.”

“You mean where you’re going?” He said with a glare. “I’ll be sure to send you some nice flowers and a card. Would you prefer daisies or daffodils?”

Both stallions got even more pissed and just charged at him with death glares and their spears pointed at them. They made a simple mistake when it came to Mike, they greatly underestimated him. Growing up with four friends back home, he learned how to fight on his own as well as pick up a few martial arts along the way. The ones that he was most fluent at were Tae Kwon Do, and Jeet Kune Do.

Cold and Brass charged at him with their spears, and he simply jumped over them with a smile on his face, landing a flying roundhouse kick towards the both of their heads. The force of the kick caused both males to get staggered for a bit. Mike landed behind them and sweeped the spear out from Brass to bash their heads. It smacked against them, knocking them into each other.

“First hits mine on both of you,” Mike said, twirling the spear. “Still feel like hot shit? Because if you do, it’s only because one of those two words applies to your skills.”

“I’ll Kill you,” Brass Shouted as he pulled out his signature weapon, a pair of gauntlets that allowed him to focus his strength into them for devastating hits. “You’re gonna be sorry you picked a fight with us you piece of shit.”

“Not as sorry as you’re gonna be,” Mike said as he took a defensive stance with the spear he swiped from Brass. With Cold out for the count Brass lunged at Mike ready to deliver a strong uppercut. The look on his face showed that he was serious about killing him. Applejack wanted to step in, but Twilight continued to hold her back with a smile on her face.

Brass kept lunging and throwing punch after punch to hit Mike who had kept dodging and keeping his distance with the spear in his hand. Brass would then try to punch the ground that he was under so he could trip Mike onto his back to where he would punch him in the gut, only for Mike to jump when he sees his fist collide in the ground.

“Now you’re just predictable,” Mike followed up. “If you think with anger you’ll only lose sight of what’s in front of you.”

“Okay, that’s it!” Brass shouted. “Cold! Double Team!”

“Right!”

Cold Shoulder took in a deep breath before blowing a cloud at Brass. Brass twirled his arms through the cloud before the magic condensed over his fists and forearms, encasing them in solid ice. He slammed the ice-clad fists together, an act that caused them to flash brass before they formed into giant spiked fists.

“Game over, Newbie,” Brass said before charging.

Mike backed away, poking with the spear to keep a distance while Brass kept his guard up, deflecting each strike with ease as the spear’s tip scraped by over the icy surface. On one thrust, Brass reached out and grabbed the spear, snapping its tip off while pulling Mike in. Mike let go, but only after the pull had knocked him off balance. He tumbled towards Brass but ducked into a roll to go beneath the swing. While he did, he felt the air passing him drop nearly fifty degrees, a glaze of frost crusting over his back while he dodged the strike.

“Gah! Oh that’s freaking cold!” Mike said, shaking the frost off of him.

He turned just in time to dodge another few swings that Brass kept coming, causing Mike to back off every attack. He was losing ground fast, and Mike could tell that they were almost at the ring’s edge. Every swipe or swing that missed still froze the air around him, leaving Mike with his upper half nearly frozen over, barring his strange arm.

“Just give up, punk!” Brass said, missing another overhead. “Even if I can’t hit you, you’ll pass out from hypothermia thanks to our little duo move! Either way, you’re going down to the bottom where scum like you belong! So just make like a good little shit, and just give up!”

Brass swept his right hoof behind Mike’s left foot, tripping him up. Mike lost his balance and flailed his arms to recover, leaving himself wide open for Brass’ incoming strike. Before he could think to react, Mike’s strange arm intercepted the gauntlet.

There was a loud crack when Brass’ icy gauntlets burst into steam on contact, sending the stallion flying back, tumbling over himself. Those watching the fight were stunned at seeing Mike’s arm glowing blue.

“Woah, what the?” Mike said in shock, seeing his arm glowing. “Must be something new I got,” He said with a smile as he regained his balance and got up, dusting off his hands. He looked up to see a pissed off Brass as one of his gauntlets was broken thanks to Mike’s new arm gaining some power.

“You’re just asking us to put you in the hospital,” He said with a rage as he and Cold lunged at him.

“I wonder,” Mike said to himself as he rushed forward with his arms and before he knew it, a large blue hand outstretched and grabbed both stallions, much to their shock. They now had fear on their faces as they didn’t know what this was as they haven’t seen any special gear that was able to do that.

“H-hey, put us down,” Cold said with fear plastered on his face.

“Oh, I’ll put you guys down alright,” He said as he raised his fist in the air, the arm followed suit and lifted the stallions in the air. He brings his fist down and the stallions get slammed onto the floor. They both grunted when they fell to the floor and the impact knocked the wind out of them. He keeped at it with a few more slams as the stallions were now covered in bruises and they suddenly felt themselves pulled towards Mike and both males felt their faces get punched in by Mike's fists as he sent them into the floor. With the victory in his favor, he gets off of both males as they groaned from the slams and the punches they took from Mike as he dusted off his hands.

“Now, do you fellas want to apologize to me and the girls now, or do I gotta beat another lesson into you?” He said with a growl, cracking his knuckles.

“We’re sorry!” they cried in unison, getting to their knees and bowing. “Just don’t hurt us!”

“Yeah, we were just in it for the money and fame, honest!” Cold said.

“Yeah, we heard there were high-ranked Raid groups here so we wanted to try and impress them so we could form a Clan and make a living selling their winnings!” Brass cried.

“Oh really?” Twilight said with a glare as she stood up and walked towards them with Applejack following close behind. “So you were planning on having us do most of the work and try to mooch off of our success?”

Both males turned pale seeing their angry faces.

Speakin’ of ranks,'' Applejack said with a cold glare of her own. “Ah think you may need yer ranks reset since you lost to a scrapling adventurer as well,” Applejack added pointing to Mike.

The two looked at each other and hung their heads before getting up and leaving.

“Can’t believe we spent our life savings on these armors for nothing.” Brass grumbled to himself.

“No kidding,” Cold added. “This sucks.”

“Damned posers,” Mike said to himself as he was about to leave, but is suddenly stopped by Twilight, who had a serious and cheerful gleam in her eyes.

“That’s quite an interesting form of Magic,” Twilight said, her book floating with a quill scribbling itself into the pages. “I’ve seen Familiar summons and Duplicates that act similar, but I’ve never seen a magical power like this. Is it part of a faded Familiar or is it a manifestation of your own will? Is the arm mutated as a price after bargaining with a Daemon or is it a side effect from the strain of summoning?”

“Uh, personal space please?” Mike asked as he was now nervous with how she was looking. It would’ve been creepy, but her rather large chest was in his face.

“Twilight, give him some room,” Applejack said as she pulled the anxious alicorn away from him. “Anyways, you’re not really an adventurer yet, but ya seemed to know how to fight pretty well.”

“I took martial arts classes with the guys back home,” Mike added. “I’m no pushover, but I’ve never pulled anything off like that before. I don’t even know how I did that, but I tested a theory mid battle and got lucky.”

“Better hope that luck of yers can help you in the long run, with better training, you might become a strong adventurer later down the road.”

“Yeah, maybe,” He added.

“Anyways, what martial arts do you use?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, I mastered Tae Kwon do and Jeet Kune Do, my friend Sam mastered Karate and KickBoxing, Mathias knows Krav Maga and Judo, and my friend Zander has Tang Su Do and Sistema,” Mike added. “I can fill you in on what all these martial arts do later.”

“Fascinating,” Twilight said with a smile as she made separate pages for her notes. Applejack and Mike just look at her strangely and Mike turns to Applejack.

“Does she always do this?” He asked.

“Ya get used to it,” Applejack said with a sigh. “If it’s something she hasn’t seen or heard about, she has to record it.”

“So long as she understands personal space, I’ll be okay with it,” Mike added.

“Twilight! Applejack!” A female voice shouted and the sounds of footsteps rushing over to them.

The owner of the voice running up was a stunningly beautiful dragoness, as voluptuous and curvy as the mares, and wearing as revealing attire as the others. The Dragoness was mostly purple, with green fins and scales along her chest, arms and head. She wore a snow-white robe that ended in gold trims all along the edges. The sleeves were wide and hung quite loosely, but the robe only ended above her hips and tail, leaving her lower half completely exposed, save for her white thong and sandals. The back of the robe was also cut quite low to make room for her wings, though it did end up showing off more of her body.

“I just got a letter from Princess celestia and-” The dragoness stopped for a moment when she saw the new face in strange clothes. “who’s this guy?”

“Oh he’s someone who actually pretty strong despite his size,”

“That would explain the two bronze adventurers that I saw limping away,” She said with a sigh.

“Wait, are there other lizards like her here?” Mike asked. Twilight and Applejack immediately flinched at what he said. He was about to ask what he didn, but he heard a growling coming from Barb and he looked to see that she was pretty pissed off as she breathed out a puff of flames.

“What did you just say to me asshole?” She growled.

“We knew this was coming,” Twilight and Applejack said in unison.

“What did I do-” He couldn’t finish his sentence when he felt himself get tackled to the floor. He grunted when he made contact and he looked up to see a very pissed off dragoness who looked like she was going to tear his throat out. It also didn’t help that her claws were now around his neck as she began to strangle him.

“I dare you to call me that again you asshole,” she growled as she continued to squeeze onto his windpipe. Mike was struggling to breath but he felt his breath returning as he no longer felt her on top of him.He looked up wondering what happened and saw that Twilight had put her in a magical bubble. She was banging on it trying to get out so she could pummel Mike for what he said to her earlier.

“Crazy bitch, what was that for?” Mike asked, a little annoyed at what she tried to do.

“Oh, so you’re calling me a bitch now,” she growled in anger. “Let me out Twilight, I want to claw his eyes out.”

“Can you please let us explain before you try to kill him?” Twilight asked her.

“What is there to explain?” She growled with arms crossed.

“It’s a long story, and he didn’t mean to call you that earlier,” Twilight added with a reassuring smile. “Dragons don’t really exist in his world so It’s why he got you confused for one earlier.”

“Wait what?” She asked, no longer angry, but looking at him in confusion. “How do we not exist? What country is he from?”

“Not country sugarcube, from another universe entirely,” Applejack added, shocking Barb.

“I’m gonna let you out of the bubble now Barb, can you keep your cool and he can explain the whole misunderstanding?” Twilight told her with a stern tone. Barb simply nodded and Twilight undid the bubble and Barb was set down onto the ground.

“Sorry about earlier,” Mike said to her trying to forget about what she tried to do. “But yeah, dragons don’t exist in my world so that’s why I got confused. I should’ve asked about the wings behind you first before opening my mouth.

“Don’t worry about it, just don’t let it happen again,” She said with a smile. “I over reacted badly since you were new here, and my name is Barb. It’s pretty rare for a guy like you to beat a pair of bronze adventurers like those two back there.”

“Those assholes had it coming anyway,” Mike followed up. “Also the girls weren’t happy when they found out what they were trying to do.”

“Yeah speaking of that,” Barb said as she turned to Twilight and Applejack. “How did he beat those guys anyway?”

“He had a power we saw that even he didn’t know about,” Applejack explained pointing towards his right arm. “Wipe the floor with them with it and everything.”

“Woah, that’s crazy,” she said looking at his arm. “What kind of power do you have in that thing anyway?”

“Don’t know,” Mike added. “I was hoping that Twilight would know something, but even she doesn’t know, so I'll have to look elsewhere.”

“He didn’t use that right away,” Twilight explained. “From what he told us, he and his friends know martial arts so they already know forms of combat before they got here.”

“That’s cool,” Barb added with a smile. “Anyways, I wanted to talk with Twilight and Applejack alone about something.

“It’s fine, I need to get back to my friends anyway,” Mike said as he walked away from the girls.

“If you need to look for something, try the adventurers school, they might know something about what you’re talking about,” Twilight told Mike before he left.

“No problem,” He added, giving the mare a friendly wave before leaving. “Take care of yourselves.”

-Sam’s Meeting-

Sam couldn’t help but feel up his arms now that he was alone. The scales that now replaced his skin were impressive, sturdy and dug in hard enough to not be plucked. They were alien to what he once was, yet they felt natural. He could still feel through them, as if he still had his normal body somewhere underneath his hide.

Since their arrival he’d been curious why his change was so drastically different. Sure Mathias and Zander could turn into complete animals, literally in this case, but they could turn back. Mike couldn’t either, but he only had the one arm. Sam’s body refused to turn, and thus the small man was stuck in this mostly dragon state.

“I wonder if I can breathe fire,” he said aloud. “Probably shouldn’t since I still have a human head. It’ll probably burn straight through my skull. That’d be a really embarrassing way to go.”

He tried to flex his tail every so often, but all it did was manage to get a few twitches here and there followed by stomach cramps. What was strange was that the tail didn’t limply drag across the floor, it kept itself upright at times and turned when he’d need to squeeze past some ponies. It followed some natural instinct that managed to seed its way into him, but the thought didn’t frighten him. He almost welcomed it.

The pondering was cut as his stomach growled.

“Uh, what’s a dragonman gotta do to get some good eats around here?”

“Follow the music, little guy.”

Sam looked up to see a pair of mares walking down the hall, both Pegasi with white manes and indigo fur, both wearing what amounted to bikinis for armor.

“Yeah, the Feasting Hall’s full of spirits today,” the one with a bow said.

“Great time to get eating,” the one with dual swords said.

“Or maybe, good time to get eaten,” the first one whispered, running her hand along his shoulder.

“Maybe we can help each other get satisfied, here?” the second said, her hands on his other shoulder.

“So there’s a mess hall? Is there beef or chicken?” Sam asked.

They blinked and exchanged a look.

“Uh, neither for now, but there are a lot of cakes and-”

“Cake!” Sam said, startling the pegasi. “Holy shit we haven’t been able to afford a cake for months! God, I hope they have Strawberry!”

With that, he slipped between the two, their tails trying to catch his small body but failing to grasp his scales. They watched as he ran down the hall, looked at each other and sighed.

Sam heard the sound of music and stopped, focusing on finding the path to delectable flakey goodness. Once he found the source, he made his way to the large doors and burst through them, and was overwhelmed with the sight.

Mares and stallions were cheering, singing and drinking together in great joy while music filled the air. Whatever they were celebrating was clearly significant, because the whole hall was into it. Some were dancing on tables, some were having friendly brawls, there were even a few making out while others watched. More than that, some of those partying weren’t even ponies. Some were extremely large and furry creatures with massive horns jutting out the sides of their heads, bug-like ponies colored brightly with gems in their collarbones, a few griffons here and there and a dragon.

Also, nearly half of the hall was naked.

“Well, at least I won’t stand out,” Sam whispered to himself.

A mare turned to him and stared before shouting.

“NEEEEWWWBIIIIEEEEE!”

The music, banter, dancing, singing and kissing stopped as everyone turned to Sam.

“Oh… no.”

All eyes laid on him while the crowd parted ways for two massive mares.

One of the mares was yellow, with a long flowing mane of yellow and red. She wore large plated armor that properly covered her massive chest, sloped like a mountain turned sideways, with boots and gauntlets of polished silver, intricate runes carved into the plates with the emblem of a blazing yellow and red sun etched into the chest piece. Though her torso was properly covered, her thighs were barren of any covering or protection, leaving her impressive assets on display while a thin piece of cloth covered her crotch. She had a horn that stood at an impressive length, two massive feathered wings and stood easily close to eight or nine feet.

The other mare was very pink, her fur a light pink while her mane and tail were darker, though they were infinitely more fluffy than most creatures Sam had seen in his life. She wore a small little half-shirt that was barely a bra containing her titanic titties, large blue panties that were covered by a pink transparent sarong clinging to her lower half. Her thick thighs were tightly gripped by the baby blue silk stockings she wore beneath cork-leather shin guards. She stood only a few inches shorter than the other mare, leaving them both more than twice his height.

They had to crane their bodies over him slightly to be able to look at him over their own chests, Sam having to look nearly straight up to meet both sets of blue eyes.

‘If I don’t move they can’t see me,’ Sam thought to himself. ‘Since I’m purple, I’m invisible.’

“You’re pretty small, huh new guy?” the tall yellow one said.

‘Shit! I’m only purple with the small scales!’

“I think I know how to fix that,” the pink one said.

She turned around and grabbed something before presenting him with two options. In one hand she held a mug of ale, filled to the brim and ready to spill. The other was holding a plate with a slice of three-layered cake, stacked strawberry to vanilla to chocolate from bottom to top, with icing holding them together.

“Choose carefully, for this could decide your fate.”

Sam looked between the two options and pondered the meaning behind it. On one hand, ale, a good drink that shows one’s open to camaraderie, but it was also something that could lead to ruin if taken too liberally, eventually snowballing into arguments and fighting. On the other hand, cake, the symbol of delicious food that’s bad for your health, it could mean that he’d choose to eat alongside them, but at what cost? To choose it might show that he’d prefer the life of a glutton, to simply devour the hard work others put in which represented the ale, while he-

“Ah, fuck it!”

He grabbed the cake and slammed it down his throat before rinsing it down with the entire mug of ale before letting out a sigh of content. Everyone stared at him before he let out a loud belch.

When the sound went off, everyone cheered for him before returning to their original happenings, fighting and kissing alike.

“Good choice, stranger,” the yellow one said. “Too many get intimidated and only choose one of them.”

“Life’s too short to stop and think all the time, so best to enjoy it while it lasts.”

“A fine choice of words as well. Sunset Shimmer, Maiden of Sunlight,” she said, extending a hand.

“Samuel Ampill, but friends call me Sam,” Sam said, taking her hand.

“I can appreciate somepony open to embrace an offering like that so casually,” the pink one said. “There’s been a lot of darker days when some ponies and other creatures give me weird eyes and think I’m trying to do something bad when all I wanted to do was- anyway! On topic! I’m Pinkie Pie, the Laughing Lunatic!” she said, grabbing his other hand and shaking it vigorously.

“Don’t take her name seriously, she’s not as crazy as she seems sometimes,” Sunset added. “So, what brings a dragon like yourself to our Guild? Considering your lack of attire and scrap-rank card I can only assume you’re not really an adventurer.”

“Got that right, Miss Shimmer,” Sam said. “My friends and I arrived in town today and we’re a bit lost, so we came looking for some wizards or mages who can help. I’m guessing from how awesome you are that you probably know a couple.”

Sunset smiled and waved him off.

“Oh, such a flatterer. They say it gets you nowhere, but that’s a lie. I do know a few powerful magic users, yes, but I’m afraid they’re either on important business at the moment or are about to be. But when we’ve got free time, I’m sure they’d be delighted to help a nice little thing like you,” she said, patting his head.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got time to… indulge yourself~?” Pinkie said, offering another slice and mug.

“I shouldn’t,” he said, accepting the offering. “But I will. I mean, who would turn down such a cutie ‘Pie’ like yourself?”

Pinkie giggled and nudged him on the arm.

“Oh, I already like you a lot.”

“I’m also starting to grow fond of this company, little stallion,” Sunset said. “If you ever need guidance on anything related to the Guild of fighting, we’ll be here to-”

“Mistress Sunset!”

The three turned to see a short red and orange dragoness approaching. She stood about a full head taller than Sam, though she was still much thicker than most of the mares thus far. Her hips and ass were easily wide enough to nearly touch the frame of most doors, and her breasts were slightly bigger than Sam’s head. Her body was covered in red scales for most of her body, though her chin, chest, belly and fringes were all orange. She wore a dark grey robe, similar to Lyra’s, except it had a patch of Sunset’s mark on the shoulders, with red shimmering fabric trimming all of its edges. It hung somewhat open, stopping right over her hips, revealing that she wore light blue panties that matched her slit eyes.

“Mistress, I heard the commotion stop and thought something bad happened, what-” she stopped when she almost bowled over Sam, stepping back to examine the pseudo dragon. “Oh, I apologize, I didn’t know there was a new dragon here.”

“Sam, this is my sister and aide, Ashe. Ashe, this is a new adventurer, Samuel Ampill or Sam for short.

“Sam Short? I’ve never heard of a ‘Sam’ before, but it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Short,” she said, extending a hand.

He looked between the hand and her before shaking.

“I’ll let that one slide because you’re adorable,” he said.

“What? I’m not adorable, I’m a dragon!” she said, stomping. “I’m fearsome and brutal!”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t be cute, like you are now.”

Though her scales were already red, one could think that she turned a darker shade upon hearing that. Sunset and Pinkie chuckled at the display while Ashe’s tail wiggled behind her.

“As much as I’d love to continue the embarrassment of my sister, I must ask you something Samuel,” Sunset said, leaning down to him. “Your face is peculiar.”

“Well, I did have a couple of matches where I broke my jaw. And my nose. My face is basically a punching bag at my old ring,” Sam said. “But what part interests you the most?”

“The fact that you seem to have no scales. I’ve never seen a dragonling with no scales on their face. Ashe, do you know if this is common for males?”

“Um,” Ashe said before twirling her claws.

In her palm came a rune of cyan magic, a small book that looked burned appearing in her hand. She grabbed it as it fell from the dispersing light and flipped through the pages.

“I… I don’t… no, there’s nothing I can find about scaleless males,” Ashe said, dismissing the book.

“I mean, I just turned into a dragon recently,” Sam said through a mouthful of cake.

“Wait, what?” Ashe said.

She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close, examining his body while his grip faltered.

“Stars and sunlight, he’s telling the truth!” Ashe said.

“My cake,” Sam said solemnly, lamenting the loss that stained the floor.

“I can see faint traces of transmorphic energies wafting off of his body, along this line,” she said, tracing a claw along the dividing line between his skin and scales. “It’s barely there, but the magic is… ancient. It’s almost like looking into an old, fading spell cast in the Dark Age.”

“Truly?” Sunset said before kneeling to examine Sam’s chest. She also ran a finger over the line, her eyes widening as she looked into the magic. “It… it’s there, but like you said, only barely. This could have something to do with his disfigured face.”

“Uh… yeah, definitely,” Sam said.

“Oh! Oh! I wanna see!” Pinkie said, also putting her hand on Sam’s chest.

“Pinkie, the divide is by his neck, not his abs,” Ashe said.

“I know.”

“Hehehe! S-stop it, that tickles!” Sam said, trying to stay still.

Ashe backed away blushing as she realized what she was doing, though Sunset still kept her hand on him. Pinkie continued to tickle him, smiling as he trembled in place before the Maiden stood up.

“Well then, I suppose you’ve plenty of reason to seek a wizard,” Sunset said. “If you ever need somepony to vouch for your audience with a Wizard, you have my permission to use my name for assurance.”

“And mine too,” Pinkie said.

“Thanks. Oh, by the way, I just remembered that I was supposed to be looking for some people from a Raid Party associated with a, ‘Twilight’? You ladies wouldn’t happen to know someone like that, would you?”

Pinkie smiled as she dug her hand between her tits and pulled out a card.

“Juuuuuuust so happens we’re the mares you’re looking for!” she said, flashing her Emerald Guild Card.

Sunset smirked as she pulled out her Topaz card while Ashe showed her Emerald card.

“Huh. Well, guess that’s that, then. Welp, I’ve got to go back to see if my friends found any leads. It was nice meeting you all, hope you stay safe.”

Before he could walk away, Pinkie pulled him, Ashe and Sunset into a hug, squishing his face between her own and Ashe, causing the Dragoness to blush furiously.

“If you ever need backup, know that you’ve got friends in the three of us too!” Pinkie said.

The curl at the front of her mane bent around into the rest before digging out a flute and playing the Final Fantasy 7 victory theme.

“Haha! Nice!” Sam said, returning the hug. “Thanks again!”

With that, she let the party and Sam go, the short dragonling running off to meet up with his friends again.

Author's Note

Well that's the first meeting with Sam, Mike and six of the ten adventurers that the guys run into. Let's see how the next meeting plays out with the others.