An Otherworldly Adventure

The castle was a buzz with excitement, as in just two more short days the wedding between Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amora Cadenza will finally take place, and everypony in the castle was fulfilling their assigned duties. But it wasn’t just the normal castle staff that was hard at work. The maids and butlers handling the interior decorating with Pinkie & Rarities help, then there were the musicians practicing for their performance with Fluttershy’s bird choir, which were sounding incredibly sublime. Applejack and the kitchen staff were checking in all the ingredients, food stalls, pretty much everything in the kitchen to make sure they were stocked up, and testing out what food items that will be going on the full menu. Rainbow Dash for her part was living out a dream of hers, as she was practicing with the Wonderbolts in putting on a performance to climax the whole celebration. Twilight was given the duty in assuring that everyone, and everything ran smoothly by checking in with everyone, and marking their progress.

Then there were the guards, who were working on increasing on not just their patrols to ensure everything is secure, but also their duties as well to make sure that everything will run smoothly. Shining Armor was even having the guard increase their training in-between shifts to ensure that they will be ready for anything.

While all of the ponies were busy getting the final preparations done, Adam was up in his room sitting in a chair next to his room’s small fireplace, with the Scroll of the Shen Gong Wu open in his hands. But as the young man looked through the old scroll it had no images, writing, or anything! It was all blank, aside from a few entries, those entries being of the shen gong wu that he had, and the ones that the ponies have found up to this point. Other than that the scroll was basically a blank rolled up sheet of paper.

“Guess this scroll is not going to be of any use, aside from being a check list of what wu we have.”

Adam grumbled as he started to roll up the scroll and stuffed it back into his backpack. After the scroll was put away, a resounding booming sound caused him to look outside a window and when he went to see what it was, Adam watched as a group of pegasi soared over the castle trailing smoke clouds with sparks of electricity, and a rainbow streak, before they split off and made something akin to a flower in the sky.

“Looks like the flight squad is ready for the wedding to start.” Adam said as he walked away from the window.

“Then again it is a royal wedding, so that should be expected.”

A knock then sounded from Adam’s door causing the young man to flinch, as he wasn’t expecting anyone to come and visit him since everyone was too busy. But since someone was knocking at his door Adam made his way over and see who was stopping by, and when he opened the door he was surprised to find Celestia standing there.

“Celestia, what are you doing here?” Adam asked while stepping to the side to let the princess into his room.

“I actually came to see how you were doing Adam, especially being secluded in this room.” the mare turned to Adam as he closed door behind the two of them. “So how are you doing Adam?” the young man then leaned against the door before letting out a small sigh.

“Honestly…I’m just really bored.”

“Bored?” Celestia echoed.

“Yeah.” Adam said as he hauled himself off the door, and made his way over to his backpack by the chair he was just sitting in. “Back home I’d either be hanging out with my friends, studding for my mid-terms, or just driving around the city till something caught my attention. or I’d just play games, or watch TV.”

“Oh. I see.” Celestia replied. “I forgot that your probably from a time period that’s a bit more advance than Equestria, especially when it comes to entertainment.”

“I’m not saying that your world is primitive or anything, I think I’m just having some common withdrawals from back home.”

“I understand dear, the other humans had similar feelings during their time here.” Celestia said as she trotted over to Adam and gave him a pat on the back with one of her wings.

“But enough about me and my boredom, how is everything going with the wedding?”

“Everything seems to be going well, although…” Adam gave the princess a curious look as she trots a few feet away from him.

“Is something wrong princess?”

“Well, it’s more like two things have been bothering me.” Celestia turned to face Adam showing that she had a slightly troubled look on her face. “The first is concerning Twilight.”

“What’s wrong with Twilight?” Adam asked.

“You see Adam I’ve passed by Twilight and Cadence as they were checking everything being prepped, and I couldn’t be certain, but I believe Twilight and Cadence are, not getting along.”

“But aren’t they supposed to be old friends?” the princess nodded her head, but she still held that troubled expression.

“They were, but the few times that I’ve passed by the two of them, Twilight just kept giving Cadence this suspicious look. Like she was expecting Cadence to attack somepony.” Adam thought back to the only interaction he had with Cadence; she did give the aura of being an entitled brat, so it wasn’t hard for him to imagine Twilight not being pleased with her attitude, especially if she had to witness the pink alicorns attitude towards others.

“From my own experience interacting with her, even if it was by accident, she did come off as a real snobbish brat.”

“That is strange, Cadence is usually such a sweet and dotting mare.” Celestia retorted as her tail gave a small flick.

‘Guess this whole wedding thing is messing with her personality then if she is not normally like this.’ Adam thought before he spoke up. “What’s this other issue that’s bothering you.”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that there’s been more guards patrolling the castle grounds, as well as inside the castle as well.”

“Yeah, but what’s so strange about that?” Adam asked confusedly. “This is a wedding with a princess, and a soon-to-be-prince, having extra security is a given.”

“Actually the reason why there’s more guards active is because I had this, premonition—”

“You mean like some kind of clairvoyance?” Celestia nodded her head before she started talking.

“From time to time I get these dreams that give me vague images that show me future events, or at least images that have some kind of significant point in time. But it’s something that rarely happens.”

“And I take it that the increase of guards is related to this premonition of yours?” Adam questioned as he sat down in one of the two chairs, while Celestia takes the other one as she continued.

“Correct. In it I see the wedding being attacked, and this black figure standing in the wedding hall with green fire surrounding it, along with a wall of countless glowing eyes.” Celestia raised a hoof to her forehead and started to gently rub the spot just below her horn. “I’m not sure how to interpret this dream, I know it means some kind of danger, but I have no idea what it is or when it will happen so I can prepare for it.”

“Well whatever happens I’m sure you can handle it.” Adam says in a upbeat manner as he tries to lift the slight dower mood of the princess.

“I mean from what I’ve read about you, and from what you told of yourself, your one thee most powerful beings in the world. So whatever this threat is shouldn’t cause you to much trouble.” a weary sigh catches Adam’s attention and that’s when he noticed that the princess looked even more troubled. The mare then got up from her chair and started to trot over to the center of the room.

“Celestia?”

“Adam…what I’m about to tell you is a secret that I have only told to those very close to me.” the princess then turned to face the young man, who was getting an uneasy feeling as the mare calmed herself before continuing.

“Over the centuries my magic has grown weaker, and weaker, and I’m not as physically strong as I used to be. I’m still able to defend myself and move the sun…however moving the sun and the moon for the past thousand years, as well as my aging has made me weaker.”

“It’s still impressive that your still able to move the sun that orbits your world.”

“It’s not as difficult for me since it is my special talent, it takes less magic than most believe for me to move.” Celestia retorted as she glances outside a nearby window. “But because of my decline in power, I fear that I won’t be able to safeguard the kingdom for much longer.”

“Least you still have your military to look after the country in case something happens.” Adam said as he watched Celestia trot over to the nearby window.

“Perhaps. But because I’ve safeguarded the country for the past thousand years, the military has had very little opportunity to really test themselves or even gain experience in actual combat. Shining Armor does what he can to make the military as best as they could be, but I fear that because of the lax nature of our society for the past seven hundred years, I believe that the military will be more of a token task force than anything else.”

“Well if this threat does come it will give your guards the experience they’ll need to better themselves.” Adam said as he looked at the alicorn as she just stares out the window.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” As Adam watched the princess from his seated position, he then saw her troubled expression quickly switched to a more perplexed one. As if she was now starting to think of something. “Adam can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Adam simply said as the princess trotted over to him.

“First of, do you have any combat experience yourself?”

“Well I have taken martial arts classes since I was a kid, but I haven’t been practicing since in my last few years of high school and college. So I’m a bit rusty.”

“And how well are you in using those shen gong wu, the ones that you had before meeting me.”

“Just enough to use them, though not in an actual fight.” Adam then slumped in his chair as he remembered the arduous journey that led him to Ponyville.

“Honestly, I was just using them while running away from all the wild animals that have been trying to eat me, I rarely used any of them to directly hurt anything.” Adam said as he explained his stance of using the shen gong wu he had, but he didn’t mention that during his trek from where he woke up to reaching Ponyville, he did practice using the shen gong wu. He then watched as the princess started to mutter under her breath before looking at him with a serious expression.

“This maybe a sudden request Adam but could you take part in the security of the wedding.”

“Wait you want me to be a security guard for the wedding?!” Adam blurted out as he sat up straight in his chair. “I thought you were still keeping me as a need to know basis.”

“True. But for the past few days of talking and getting to know you, I can say for certain that you are indeed a good person.” Celestia said as she sat down before Adam with a pleading look in her eyes.

“So Adam will you help me in ensuring the wedding will go well?”

Adam was unsure if he should even help in this particular matter, after all he wasn’t a fighter, and even if he did study martial arts he’s to rusty to even be a contender. Or even a threat to anyone. But seeing the princess give him that pleading look, and the somewhat worried tone in her voice, Adam did want to help her if he could. And the fact that she was asking him must means she has a good amount of trust in him. Though it would probably be for his best interest if he accepted, since Celestia is willing to allow other ponies to actually know of his existence, he would finally be able to go out and explore not just the city, but the world itself if he wanted to. Not only that, but Adam could actually go out and search for any other shen gong wu that are in the world, but if he does so it would be a taxing journey and undertaking especially if others find a shen gong wu and not give them up. So getting asked to be a security guard would help Adam get back into shape, if he was able to get some training time in with the guards.

“Alright Celestia, If you think I can help in anyway, then I’ll do what I can.” The princess’s expression instantly lighten up as she darted forward and started to nuzzle Adam’s cheek, which caused Adam to flinch slightly but ultimately resigned into letting the mare do as she pleased, as this is a natural way for a pony to show gratitude.

“Thank you Adam this has taken a great deal of pressure off my shoulders.” The princess then scooted away from Adam before she ignited her horn with magic, and in a flash of light Adam saw his own shen gong wu, and even his harness that he found alongside them.

“You’ll probably going to need these.” Adam stood up and took the harness and started to wrap it around his waist along his belt.

“Still not sure how useful I’ll be, but hopefully I live up to your trust.”

“I’m sure you will Adam. And thank you for going along with my sudden, and mostly selfish request. I’ll inform captain Shining Armor that you will be helping with the security detail.” Celestia then started to make her way towards the door but before she got to far Adam stopped her when he spoke up.

“Actually since you’re going to talk to Shining Armor, could you do me a favor?”

“What kind of favor?”

~~~~~

Celestia was looking down at Adam who was standing in the midst of the royal guards training area, and was standing off against two members of the royal guards, a pegasus mare and a unicorn stallion, while Celestia stood off to the side with her captain of the guard Shining Armor by her side. Celestia was still surprised that Adam has asked her to arrange a small practice fight with the guard, mostly so that he could get back into fighting shape and see just how his level of skill was. As well as see how well he uses his shen gong wu in an actual combative scenario. At the moment Celestia was fairly confident in Adam’s combative abilities, even if he himself wasn’t so sure, as the humans that she has known to be quite exceptional fighters. Even the ones that said they had no prior fighting experience. If there was one thing that Celestia greatly learned about humans, is that they can quickly become great fighters if given time.

“Now remember everyone, this is a friendly sparring match. So if your opponent concedes to their defeat the fight will cease on the spot, understood.” Celestia said aloud to the three contenders in the arena.

“Got it.” Adam responded.

“Yes your majesty!” the two guards said as they saluted.

“Then please prepare yourselves for battle.” The two guards crouched low as they stared down Adam, who was getting into a battle ready stance with his hands hovering over two of his four shen gong wu. Celestia looked between the two sides before raising a wing and then bringing it down as she exclaims:

“BEGIN!”

Almost immediately both pegasi and unicorn charged Adam, who just kept his stance as he waited for the ponies to reach him. Celestia watched as the pegasus was the first to reach Adam, using her wings to give herself a burst of speed and looked ready to tackle the human. But as she was a foot from Adam, the young man was able to grab the mare’s forelegs, and with a surprisingly speedy twist and spin of his body, flung the mare off to the side! However this left Adam exposed to the stallion, who leapt the last distance towards Adam. Yet Celestia was surprised to see Adam vanish as his body turned into a bolt of lightning, as a rumbling sound echoed through the training hall, and then seeing Adam appear behind the stallion in the same flash and boom of lightning. The princess then watched the young man tackle the stallion to the ground, and putting him into what looked to be a head lock.

Celestia was pleasantly surprised to see Adam be able to counter, and pin his attackers with nice efficiency even though he said he was rusty with his hand-to-hand combat skills. But the princess saw that this wasn’t going to be an easy victory for Adam. The pegasus mare quickly recovered from her throw, and has actually shoved Adam off her partner and immediately went into hoof-to-hand combat with Adam, who was doing not to badly in dodging the attacks. The princess then watched as the stallion got up the moment the other two started fighting, and was readying to cast a spell and when he was ready he called out for his partner to get out of the way, and once the pegasus did he fired a beam of magic at Adam. But the human was quick to dodge the initial beam of magic, yet the stallion was ready to fire another one. This time though instead of trying to dodge it, Celestia watched Adam pull one of his shen gong wu and fired a beam of golden electric rings at the incoming magical beam, canceling it out.

“He’s not doing too bad.” Shining Armor commented as the two ponies tried to gang up on Adam, yet Adam vanished in another flash of lightning and reappearing behind the two guards, and using another shen gong wu to turn into a current of electricity and flown past the two, shocking both of them which seemed to have dealt quite a bit of damage.

“Indeed.” Celestia agreed as she watched the pegasus mare actually recover from the electrocution faster, and charged to where Adam had reconstituted himself, and actually land a few good kicks to his sides.

‘Though I can tell he’s not as skilled as Takanashi, Clair, Erika, David, or Piero. But he’s certainly no slouch.’ Celestia mentally remarked as Adam countered the pegasus mare’s next attack with an over shoulder throw when she went for a punch. But then she saw the unicorn guard ready to launch another spell, and fired it at Adam when he wasn’t looking, but then she saw the beam grow in power halfway towards the young man.

“Adam look out!”

Celestia cried out as she watched the beam rocket itself towards the human, who only just now noticed the attack when it was a good few feet from him. But that’s when Celestia got quite the shock when she watched a current of air whip around Adam, and then launched himself a good twenty feet into the air when he attempted to jump out of the way! As Celestia watched Adam soaring over the arena she noticed that he was heading towards the other side the arena, and it looked like he was going to slam himself right into the wall! But before Celestia or any pony could try and save him from hurting himself, Adam used the shen gong wu that turned him into a current of electricity and flew back towards the arena. And once Adam was back in the arena he looked absolutely baffled, and just as surprised as Celestia was, as if he didn’t even know he was able to do…whatever it was he did.

“It looks like there’s more to Adam than even he realizes.” Celestia muttered to herself as she watched Adam shake off his stunned expression, and went back to his sparring match with the guards.