After Meeting the Princesses, I made my way back to what I assumed would be my room for the time being. They had removed all of the medical stuff, the heart rate monitor, and such. They put new sheets on the bed, which, come to find out, wasn't a hospital bed like I first thought. Or they swapped the bed out while I talked to the princesses. Either way, That thing was comfy. Fresh blankets and pillows, a cool breeze from the open balcony door, and a fruit bowl. It felt, weird. I still felt like any second. I would hear the distant roars of missiles and artillery. Or an eruption of gunfire around me that would force me to my feet and take arms against the armies of Farogon. But it never came, just peace. I felt a wave of sadness hit me out of nowhere. I reached into my shirt and pulled out a necklace I had enchanted a long time ago. It could never to be taken off and only able to be seen by me. It held three dog tags and my family's royal zeal. I stared at them for a while as I sat on the bed.

"You all deserved this peace way more than I do," I whispered. Rubbing my thumb across the names carved into the metal.

I heard the rapid clopping of hooves on stone growing louder and louder. Something inside me sensed that it was someone coming to see me. I quickly shoved my necklace back into my shirt as the door to my room swung open. And Twilight Sparkle ran in, breathing heavily with a set of rolled-up papers enveloped in her magic floated in behind her.

"I... I got... I got the maps... ah... I forgot how many stairs there were... between here... and the library... ah." She was taking gulps of air between breaths. I was surprised she was so winded. Horses back home could run whole marathons before being anywhere close to this winded, Even without proper training. Then again, I was in a different dimension, and these weren't horses, they were ponies.

"Whoa, take it easy! One breath at a time, here sit down." I urged her to sit on the small stool at the desk. Which she did with a loud thump, the papers she was floating with her magic setting themselves down on the table.

"You didn't need to run back. I can wait, ya know. I'm not a top priority." I added. Handing her a bottle of water that was next to the food bowl. Which she took hold of her magic and gulped down thirstily.

"But... Princess Celestia said... you wanted to get started right away?" She questioned in between gulps. "She said... to bring the maps... up to your room... as soon as possible."

"Yeah, But I figured you would take your time, and I'd have a little bit of time on my hands," I responded. Looking over at the five rolled-up parchments. "Still, I guess now that they're here. I may as well get some work done."

I reached over, picked up a random map from the pile, and unrolled it. The map was very clearly a general reference map. I saw several major cities along major travel routes throughout a massive singular continent. Every major landmark, city, or road. Along with a highly expansive rail system that spread throughout the continent. All major landmarks and railways were labeled exceptionally well. I searched the edges of the map to find something that could help me distance the distance between all of these locations, such as a key or edge marking grid. But with no luck. I could gauge this map with the same klick system we used in the war for precise mapping. But these maps weren't made for that use, not to mention pony measurements of distance and mapping. If I was going to get this done, I needed some help.

"Twilight, I may require your assistance," I said, lowering the map and looking back at the young unicorn, who had finally caught her breath.

"Oh. Yes, of course! Celestia asked me to help you in any way I could!" She said, jumping to her hooves. Enthusiastic, hm, just like me before the war. I couldn't help but smirk.

"So, what did you need help with exactly?" She asked, hopping onto her hind legs and resting the front ones on the table.

"Im unsure about how to gauge the distance on these locations, along with the size of the continent Equestria resides on. Back home, we had our own ways of calculating these things, along with an abundance of machines to track and calculate them. Now without all that fancy gear. I have to rely on old-school methods, but I don't know if they could be accurately applied here. In short, I need clarification on how the ponies of equestria calculate the longitude and latitude on their maps."

"Oh, that's easy! Here, let me show you." She responded, levitating a quill out of its ink container on the desk.

Twilight's knowledge was invaluable. It only took a rough hour for me to understand the basics of Equestrian mapping. After that came the hard part, which I was still looking forward to. I wanted to combine all the different types of maps into one and then upload it into my wristpad. This sounds impossible initially, considering a topography map interferes with almost all other map types. But with how a 3D model map looks on the wristpad. It's incredibly helpful. That's why I knew I had to do topography last.

Twilight thought I was crazy at first, Until I showed her one of the 3D maps from my wristpad. I used its holoprojector to project it onto the table and explained the ins and outs of what I wanted exactly. She was absolutely fascinated by how all map types could converge together in a 3D space. Afterward, she was a hundred percent on board. Of course, she did the majority of the calculations, which cut the time in half. Her grasp of math was supernatural and greatly surpassed my own. She was spitting out numbers faster than I could think of the equations. The only person I knew that could do math that fast was the very same person I was trying to get out of Everfree. After some time, the table became too small for our work, and we started pinning the maps to the wall, which helped, when we put them in order after an hour of confusion.

"Okay, just so im sure before I start uploading. The base is going to be the general reference map." I asked, double-checking our work.

"Correct," Twilight responded, checking down a mark on her clipboard.

"Then we add the extra detail map, which adds pretty much all the small stuff, not on the General map. Small towns, less traveled roads, etc."

"Right,"

"Then comes the nature map, doing the hyper details of natural landmarks in the wild, exact ranges of forests and mountain ranges and such."

"Yup."

"and finally comes the topography. This should be the cherry on top that gives us a correctly 3D-modeled map, with most likely some fine-tuning and tinkering."

"Yup, all set!" Twilight stated, setting her clipboard down on the table with her magic.

"Alrighty then, Let's try this..." I said, bringing my wrist around and opening my wristpad. I aimed it at the first map and after pressing a few buttons. A light blue wave shot outward, starting at the top of the map and swiping left to right as it slowly worked its way downward. The top screen projected the scanner while the bottom screen closest to my wrist recorded it. I kept track of the progress on the bottom screen to make sure no errors or glitches occurred. I could see Twilight in awe out of the corner of my eye. I never thought something I used to use regularly could be so astonishing.

The scan finished with an audible beep. I quickly swiped around the bottom screen to double-check that everything scanned correctly. "Okay, looks good. Now let's do the rest." I repeated the process on the following maps and compiled them all using Twilight's math.

"So, to check if it all went together smoothly. I need to project it and make sure it loads correctly. The only issue is that the room has too much light to see it properly. Could you float some sheets in front of the balcony door and windows?" I asked, gesturing to the glass door and windows pouring in light.

She nodded, and her horn began to glow. The sheets and blankets lifted off the bed and into the air, surrounded by a light pink glow. Blocking the door and windows as I requested. The room dimmed heavily. Now it was time to see if the last few hours were worth the trouble. I turned and faced the most open part of the room, pressed a button on the side of the upper screen of the wrist pad, and swiped the small file of the map upward. The same light that once projected the scanner now projected a large image onto the floor. Turning a knob on the side of the upper screen, the crude image focused in and out with more and more details than before until, finally, It rendered a full 3D map that took up most of the free space in the room. A small light pinged in Canterlot's position on the side mountain as tall as myself. Words hovered above every major location with a small line connecting them. Every detail was in place. Twilight's jaw was hanging open, unable to speak.

"Now, let's check the Everfree forest and see if that side works," I said, pinching my fingers on the lower screen and zooming in on the Everfree location. There was another small ping deep within the forest, much farther in than a location called 'The Castle of the two sisters.' Close to a small mountain. Even though by my people's standards, it would be considered a large hill if not for its pointed peak.

"There it is," I said, pointing to the small light.

"Weird," Twilight started, moving around the projection. "I never knew there was a mountain there. Are you sure everything worked right on your device?"

"Im looking right now at the data. The topography says there's a mountain there. And I remember seeing a large mound of earth like that when hunting around that area. I would've climbed it if I could, but then there's that organic ceiling that covers the place." I explained. Shutting off the projector. The map disappeared with a sudden flicker, and Twilight returned the blankets and sheets to the bed.

"In any case," I started again. "I should be able to work with this and plan an appropriate path through the Everfree. If anything, I can use my ship's tracker as an anchor and reference when navigating the forest. Like I had been doing for the last eight or so months."

"Wait, you've been living in the Everfree forest for eight months?" Twilight asked, somewhat shocked.

"Well, eight months my time. Considering this world's day/night cycle, it would probably be closer to six months, give or take." I added.

"Gosh, I never thought anyone other than Zecora could survive in the Everfree forest," Twilight stated, catching my attention.

"Ze-who now?" I asked, curious about who this Zecora was.

"Oh, she's a friend of mine and the girls who lives in the Everfree forest's outer edge. She is a Zebra who's really good with Potions and medicine. Always speaks in rhymes weirdly enough." She explained.

"Other than the speaking in Rhymes part, she sounds like a shaman from my homeland. Never ran into her while I was in the Everfree, though." Probably for the best, Most of the people I was fighting in the war were shaman'esk warriors hyped on super drugs that made them superhuman.

"She's not exactly a pony person. Mostly keeps to herself unless someone asks for help." Twilight added.

"Not a bad way to live," I whispered.

There was a sudden knock at the door before it swung open and Shining armor walked in. His eyes see Twilight first, causing them both to exchange a hug. Making me miss my own sister.

"Hey Twily, Princess Celestia told me you'd be up here helping our new friend. I figured I'd check on you for old times' sake." Shining said.

"Im alright. We just finished up, actually. And I can take care of myself, im not a little filly anymore, you know." She responded, ending with a slight smirk.

"I know, I know. We don't really get to talk that often since the Nightmare Moon incident." He laughed, looking a little down.

"Yeah..." Twilight said, mimicking his expression.

I felt bad for them, even though I had no idea what the nightmare moon incident was. But these two had grown quite separate after said incident. That much is obvious.

"Why don't you guys go hang out together? It seems like this doesn't happen often enough from your guy's expressions." I stated.

"Well, I did just finish my shift. And that library in ponyville isn't going anywhere." Shining's blatant suggestiveness was so obvious I swear I could feel it rubbing against my ears.

"Alright, I suppose I could stay in canterlot another day and hang out with my B.B.B.F.F." She said with a smile. Nudging Shining with her elbow. They were about to leave when Shining ran back in.

"I forgot! I came to drop off your armor as well. The guards and I did our best to patch up the dents and holes." Shining said, levitating my armor through the door and onto the table. "It was the least we could do after you saved our flanks from those timberwolves."

I took hold of one of the bracers as he set it down. The metal that they had used to patch the gashes in the armor was of that same golden variety they normally wore. Not only that, it was extremely crude and sloppy.

"I do appreciate the gesture. Really I do, but if you guys had a forge of some sort on hand, I could just mend the pieces together. This metal isn't easy to make, and there isn't anything like it. So it's not easily replaceable." I said, scratching the gold metal with my finger as tiny bits flaked off.

"Yeah, I could tell that metal was different when it resisted my mending spell. And yes, we do have a forge, but it's kinda in a state of disrepair." Shing replied, waving a hoof.

"I guarantee I've worked with worse," I said, packing the armor into my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. "Point me the way, and I'll have at it."

"Oh, I can take you there, no issue," Shining replied.

"No no, you should spend time with your sister, don't let me interfere. Just point me towards it, and I'll manage." I insisted. But Shining was not taking no for an answer.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I was planning to take to Twily to grab lunch over that way anyway. To catch up and such. It's no problem if I stop and show you the forge." He said, waving a hoof for me to follow.

"Alright, if you insist," I said as I followed behind them. They joked and talked with each other the majority of the time. Occasionally asking me a few questions here and there about home and such. It was refreshing. Once we walked out the main doors of Canterlot castle and were in the main city. I could tell the locals weren't exactly used to seeing one such as myself, especially when most of them looked rather high-class. However, I did try to come off as friendly and pleasant as possible. Waving and saying high as we walked past individuals. The first impression is the one that matters the most. That's what my dad always said at least. For some reason, though, I found myself constantly on guard. Checking behind me and constantly looking around. It was like a subconscious thing I just did. If anything, it helped me check out the place. And I will say that this city was rather beautiful compared to the ones back home. More medieval and decorated rather than the usual bustling industrialized society that I was used to.

We turned towards the large mountain. Moving away from the majority of the populace and following a small road of what I guessed was the Upper-high class. Shops and housing for the richest of the rich were built right into the side of the mountain in the royal plaza. The majority of the ponies walking the roads were a part of the guard. Mainly in sets of two several minutes apart from each other. We stopped near one edge of the plaza, where the mountain dipped into itself like a natural forming right angle next to the wall that separated the plaza from the rest of the city. In this nook of the mountain was a decently sized forge, and a large circular chimney rose from the roof of the exterior from a circular room. The service wind that stretched around this circular room was separated into three sets and had wooden shutters closing it off from the elements. This same room protruded from the stone brick house that jutted from the mountain and connected to the main wall, with a few windows looking outwards towards us. It honestly looked fairly cozy.

"Well, here it is. The royal forge, although not in the best state, mind you." Shining presented the building in a rather unceremonious fashion.

"I disagree. The exterior structure looks fairly intact, and the building's shape looks rather inviting." I said, disagreeing with Shining's statement.

"You say that now. Wait until you see the inside." Shining added, walking around to a side door he pushed open with a hoof. Twilight followed close behind him, along with myself.

Once inside, I could barely see a thing. It was so dark. I took a few steps forward and found myself tripping on objects I couldn't see. Shining used his magic to open the shutters, flipping them upwards where they hooked onto little hooks that held them open. Light flooded in from the outside as the utter mess that was tools and ruined materials were just littered all over the floor. You could see heavy amounts of dust in the air through sunlight pouring in. The very same chimney I saw outside was actually the forge, dark coals and ash sitting inside the stone oven-like structure. There were two separate anvils within this room, which was much larger than it looked on the outside as It was carved into the mountain. One sat next to a workbench with a small hammer lying across it. The other anvil sat in the middle with a large two-handed hammer propped up next to it. There was plenty of storage and an entire metal ingot/ore rack that filled an entire wall. Of course, it was near full stockage, but it had enough to get started.

"I have no idea what in the world you were talking about disrepair Shining. This place Literally just needs to be cleaned and organized." I said, already beginning to pick up things off the floor. "Whatever happened to your guy's last blacksmith anyway?" I asked.

"Nothing bad. He got offered a job up in Manehattan with an industrial corporation. He up and quit on us as soon as he got the letter about a month ago. We're still trying to find a replacement smith, but most people with those skills are getting similar job offers." He replied.

"Well, I know im a guest here in canterlot, but Im more than happy to do some smithing for you guys. It was one of my favorite hobbies back home." I added, noticing the leftover slag and metal within a crucible that sat within the main forge. "Oh, by the elements, he left metal in the forge when he left. Ugh, you know how much of a pain the ass it is to work with unfinished slag?"

Shining gave me a look of 'I have no idea what he's talking about' before speaking. "No, I wouldn't. Look, im glad that you are awake and active and all of that. But you came out of the forest pretty banged up, not to mention the things you said in your sleep when I was carrying you back to canterlot. Red lighting and the black cloud? Sounds like you've been through a lot. Even Princess luna said that your dreams were too volatile for her even to enter. Maybe you should relax, take it easy for a while?"

I sighed, seeing his point. "I see your point, but I was never someone to sit back and relax. At least not in the way your thinking of it. My mind has always just been running and running at a hundred miles an hour to the point I had to always be doing something to be able to keep my mind busy. Due to that, I've always been somewhat of a work-a-holic, not intentionally, anyways. I was a heavy scholar in my younger years, reading every book in a library out of boredom. I had a heavy video gaming phase during my late teens for a few years and then took up blacksmithing as a hobby on top of it all. Slowly I got into engineering on top of blacksmithing and eventually the military. I've never liked school, and the school didn't like me. I couldn't sit still in ha my class lectures, and my dad saw that. Pulled me out of school and taught me himself within the castle alongside mom. But eventually, I just started teaching myself whenever I went to the library."

"Sounds like somebody I know," Shining said, looking at Twilight with a smirk. Her face told me he was right.

"And so," I started again. '"Now that I find myself in a new position. I need something to occupy myself, so I can think properly. This is a new world for me and an even newer situation to be in with you ponies. I just want to wrap my head around it all, but it's hard to do when with my head going as fast as it is."

"I can understand that. If that's what you need, don't let us stop you. C'mon, Twilight, let's go grab some lunch." Shining said, turning around to face the door. They both departed, leaving the forge to myself. I went and closed the three sets of windows as I didn't want to be bothered while I worked. I simply used the fire of the forge to light my way.

It still took time to clean everything, even more so to learn where everything was and move things around. I was in another person's forge, so nothing was where I would have preferred it to be. Not to mention the style of the forge itself was alien to me, but nonetheless, I made do. Once I had everything situated in a fashion that I could work with. I lit the forge with a flick of a fire ruin, and I took My bracer out to examine the damage. The gash within the metal resembled that of a dire wolf bite mark back home. The metal was too far damaged to just patch it up. Using a box of sand left over for mold making. I used my opposite arms bracer and made a mold as I melted down the ruined bracer in the forge. Which took hours, considering it was pure element steel and not any raw ore.

Once that was done, I used a pair of smithing tongs to pick up the crucible of element steel and poured it into the mold. I could smell the burning sand and saw the small plume of smoke arise from the hole I poured the liquid metal into. I waited around twenty-five minutes to let the metal take its shape before removing it from the mold. Using the tongs once more, as the metal was still very hot. I placed it back in the forge and heated it up in preparation for a quench. The only oil I could find, though, was a large barrel of vegetable oil.

"It's not the best, but it'll do."

I prepped a small container full of the oil and removed the metal as it turned red hot. I dunked it into the oil and held it there for a few moments before removing it and raising it into the air for inspection. Steam rose from the still-hot metal as I looked it over for flaws.

"Looks good." I nodded, setting the piece down on the table to let it cool down fully. "Once you're all cooled down, I can throw all the leather straps back one. Which reminds me, I need to treat that leather for a bit."

I heard a knock at the entrance door to the forge. I quickly walked over and opened it and was greeted by a guard. The other thing I noticed was that the sun was down, and the moon was out.

"Hello, mister Rileus, I was told to fetch you for dinner with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." The guard said, reading off a small note on his hoof.

"Oh crap, I forgot about that. Gimme one second to change shirts, and ill be right back." I turned and ran back inside and fumbled through my bag. "Thank the elements, I always pack a spare shirt. This one is filthy." I said quickly, changing shirts. "I wish I had time to shower or something, But I never plan that far ahead, do I?"

"Are you talking to me?" I heard the guard question from the doorway.

"No, im just batshit crazy and talk to myself." I turned and saw a look of genuine concern on the guard's face. "That was a joke, by the way. I just self-dialogue sometimes."

"Okay... Are you ready to go now?" He said, still keeping the same expression.

I felt the embarrassment slowly creep in as I realized that joking about your mental state might not look with strangers from another dimension. "Yeah, let's just go." The guard turned and began walking, and I followed behind him. He led me back into the castle through a few long hallways and down a flight of stairs before stopping before a large double door.

"The princesses await you inside." He said before walking away. Leaving me alone in the hallway. It felt odd for some reason. Maybe it was because, normally, when I went to dinner with another royal family. I had my whole family with me. My dad, with his fashionable Plated tuxedo suit of armor and draped fur cape. My mother and her beautiful velvet dress always caught the other families' eyes. It even caused one king when he was intoxicated to hit on my mom in front of my dad. That was a fun night. Then my sister, well, she didn't take those dinners very seriously as she was the primary diplomate. She knew everyone in the other royal families and traveled far more than the rest of us and dressed in more casual dresses than my father would have liked. But he was always secretly impressed with her skills to get close with the other kingdoms. Im surprised to this day that he chose me to groom into the next king instead of her.

Or maybe it was the lack of a grand entrance that made this whole thing weird. Normally there would be a small parade to celebrate the other families' arrival, some extra festivities, then the actual dinner. But here I was simply fetched by a guard and was brought in with no extra announcement or anything o the sort. I was secretly relieved on that front as I prefer not to have a grand entrance if possible. I was always rather opposed to the "Popularity" of being a royal. Hence my restraint of telling to two princesses about my royal heritage. That and im not much a prince of anything, not anymore. By the elements, that thought alone makes my stomach ache and my head tense up. Im not a royal anymore by logical stance. My kingdom is gone, reduced to a crater, along with the other kingdoms. So any proof of my lineage rests within me and me alone. And Romulus of course but given the lack of technology around here. I doubt they would trust the word of a machine. Even though that isn't all he is. And to be honest, I've never really wanted the royal life to begin with. Well, that may be a stretch to say, but I'm not sure.

It's not that I didn't want the responsibility or couldn't do the work. That was the opposite, actually. I did a lot of work, not for my royalty, but for my passions, my dreams, if you will. I am a self-taught blacksmith turned engineer, and one of the best, according to the others I've met. I studied magic on my own with countless sleepless nights in the royal library but never atunned to an elemental. I was quick with my reflexes and was naturally gifted with intelligence. The only thing I was taught heavily was in self-defense by Romulus at my father's wish. I learned how to use a blade and that took some practice, but I got it in the end. But I was often isolated. I distanced myself from people as, most of the time. It just got in the way. Wasted time, in my opinion. If I was to catch my dreams, I needed to learn. And being in the kingdom with the most expansive collection of knowledge of the twelve kingdoms. So I abused my library privileges. If I was to be a dragon rider, there were things I needed to do. People just got in the way.

I found myself and brought myself back down to earth from my deep memory dive and pressed my hands on the doors with a deep breath and pushed it open.

My eyes fell upon the most gorgeous and long dining table I had ever. Decorated silverware, fancy napkins, candle holders, along with the largest chandelier known to man. The room was dimly lit except for the table itself, which was booming with light. At the far end of the table, I saw Celestia sitting and gazing at me with a smile as she waved me in. Her sister Luna sat midway on the right side, looking at me blankly.

"Ah, there you are! We were beginning to think you wouldn't show! Come, have a seat. There's a chair right in front of you. Then we can get started on the food. I am famished." she said joyfully as she looked at her sister.

"You're telling me. My stomach has been grumbling for a hot minute." I said, sitting down at the chair in front of me on the opposite end of the table from Celestia, closest to the door. It was very comfortable, and the armrests were padded nicely.

"Now this is FANCY fancy," I whisper so no one can hear.

"Now then, let's get the food started first," Celestia said, levitating a bell from under the table and ringing it. Suddenly three ponies in suits came from different doors around the room. Two went to each of the princesses, respectively, and one to me. Handing me a menu.

"My sister and I know the menus by heart, But please feel free to order whatever you wish," Celestia said, turning her attention to her waiter.

I thanked the waiter and opened the menu and after just briefly skimming through the options. One of my hidden fears with the ponies was realized. They weren't much meat eaters, which made sense, but I still had a little hope- wait a second! They eat fish! Ah-hah! I stopped on a few items. Generally tuna and such, but I was thankful as I was never a big veggie guy.

"Can I have a foot-long Tuna sandwich?" I asked.

The waiter looked at me with confusion. "Foot long?" He questioned. Figures, they have hooves, not feet.

"Sorry, a measurement from home." I started trying to find a good way to describe it. "You have baguettes, right? Long things of bread about this long?" I asked, holding up my hands a foot apart to show the size.

"Yes, of course. Do you want your sandwich that big?" He asked, just making sure.

"Yeah, and could you cut it in two, so it's not awkward to hold? Please." I asked.

"Of course. Anything extra?" he asked, writing in a little notepad. I looked back quickly at the menu before responding.

"Can you put some swiss cheese on it with a dab of ranch along the whole thing?" The waiter gave me an odd look when I said ranch.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, man. I know im weird." I joked, nudging him I the shoulder. Getting a chuckle from both of us.

"And to drink?" He asked.

"Um, if it's not too much trouble. I've been CRAVING a tall glass of chocolate milk all day." I said with a chuckle.

As he wrote in the notepad, I saw a smirk on the waiter's face. "Got it. Your food will be out shortly." He said before going back through one of the side doors.

"Chocolate milk, huh?" Celestia giggled from the other side of the room. Luna with a smile on her face as they both looked at me.

"Hey! Chocolate milk is awesome! What would have brought me to the dinner table growing up if it weren't for chocolate milk?" I joked. Getting laughs from both the princesses.

"No argument here." Celestia started. "Luna is incredibly guilty of being rather fond of chocolate milk growing up." She said, looking to her sister, who blushed at the remark.

"Tia, come on! I grew out of it!" She said defensively.

"Now, come on, it was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact," Celestia turned to her waiter. "Bring me a glass of chocolate milk as well." I couldn't help but smile. Luna whispered something to her waiter before they both trotted off.

"So, Prince Rileus, I must ask. What brings you to Equestria?" Celestia asked.

I cringed slightly at the prince remark. "Please, just Riley or Rileus. And to be honest. Ending up here in, Equestria, was it? Was a complete accident."

"How so?" She asked.

I thought about the events that caused me and Romulus to flee our home in an untested aircraft and quickly altered it to not bring up the war. "Well, me and my father's royal advisor Romulus were Test flying an experimental craft to test its capabilities in sustained flight over a long distance. Our goal was to attempt to fly around the world."

"My word! Such a courageous endeavor! I had no idea your kind had unraveled the secret of flight, given your lack of wings. It must have taken much trial and error to figure that out." Celestia said, Believing the story so far.

"Yup, of course, the invention of flight was granted to us long before my time, so we've had plenty of experience. Of course, this craft's purpose was far beyond just long-distance flight. It was to be the first of its kind to take us beyond the stars. Recent events in my homeland caused us to want to expand beyond our world to those beyond. This craft was to be tested in sustained flight and then tested if it could break orbit. After that, it was a matter of time before we had a colony on the moon or beyond." I explained.

"Fascinating!" Celestia was eating this up. Her sister was interested, yes, but not to her extent.

"A most adventurous endeavor indeed, but I must say the moon isn't all it's cracked up to be," Luna remarked, looking away and towards the table.

That caught me off, guard. Maybe I underestimated the technological capabilities of the ponies after all. "You've been to the moon?! I must know the details of how you achieved such a feat!" I looked around the table, and I felt a heavy tension in the air. The two sisters' expressions dropped into nervousness, and they couldn't look at each other. I didn't have to be a star intellectual to read that this was a touchy subject. "My apologies. You don't have to say if you don't want to."

They both nodded, and Celestia spoke swiftly. "But anyhow, you are here now. So something must have gone wrong?"

"Yes, indeed." I started. "I do not have the full details on how or why such an event occurred. But I will share what I know. We had run into an incredibly violent storm during our flight, and one of the thrusters in the craft's wings was struck by a wicked red lightning bolt. At precisely the same time, the craft was also struck by a shockwave from an... unknown origin. I know this from a recording from the crash log. The following events were unclear as the footage glitched and was heavily corrupted for a few moments. But then, when the recording became clear again. The craft was coming down and crashed into what you all called the Everfree forest, where I have been living for roughly the last eight months. Six and a half or so for you guys, as im not yet used to the new day/night cycle."

"A rather interesting situation." Celestia pondered. "Do you have any way of getting back?"

"At the moment, no. Not without my craft repaired and flying again. Only then can I begin testing as to what caused my dimensional shift." I ended. At that moment, the waiters came back with drinks, setting down a glass of Chocolate milk in front of the three of us, including Luna. Which caused me and Celestia to smirk at her. I took a drink and enjoyed the chocolaty taste before Luna spoke to me rather suddenly.

"If I may ask. I did try and more than a few separate occasions to reach out to you in your dreams, but I was forcibly removed in a rather painful manner. I would like to know as to why?" She asked, setting a hoof on the table.

"Considering all the things I was going through at the time, Princess. I thought such a thing was an apparition of the mind trying to drive me to insanity. I was simply removing what I thought was a threat to my sanity. I do apologize for whatever pain I caused you. Up until now, my kind was thought to be one of three sentient races to exist. The others being The dragons and the elementals." I said, taking another drink.

"You have dragons in your world too?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, indeed! They are the most respected and honored creatures of the land. They were the ones who granted us the first communion with the elementals and, in turn, granted us our access to magic. Together alongside the kings of dragons and Humanity, we had peace for over Five thousand years." I said, admiring an image of the great beasts within my head.

"We must have very different dragons, then," Luna commented.

"Excuse me?" I said, almost offended.

"What my sister means to say is that the dragons here in equestria are not like that. They are rather hostile and bloodthirsty brutes that eat ponies for fun. They fight and wrestle constantly and are rather hot-headed. And the Dragon king secretly wants the destruction of Equestria. But he dare not try anything in fear of the elements of Harmony." Celestia explained.

Now I was offended, pissed off even. "Just to let you know that just saying that back home would have put you in a mental corrections facility. Because that's not fucking possible. According to the elementals, the dragon race as a whole are like the angels of gods will. They are noble, pure, honest, and have fought for justice for as long as I can remember. You clearly just pissed them off so bad they see you as something that need not exist anymore. So whatever happened to cause this hate between the two of your kinds is solely on you and your people. Not them."

The two sisters were baffled at my sudden rudeness. Luna looked furious, But Celestia waved a hoof for her to calm down and cleared her throat. "Im sorry to disappoint your claims Mister Rileus. But my people have been nothing but kind and respectful to the dragons since our first meeting. It was only until my last meeting with the dragon lord that we made a truce. And he tried to eat me!" I could feel the truth in her words, even using my magic to double-check. Something was amiss here, and I needed to figure it out.

"Well, although that is yet to be seen. I do sense something is odd about this particular issue through my magic and just natural senses. Perhaps with my knowledge of dragon culture and such. I could reason with them and try to understand what the problem is. I also would like to see if they had any insight on Inter-dimensional travel for me. As they were the first users of magic in my world." I said, watching looks of concern sprout on the Princess's faces.

"No, I don't think that's-" I raised my hand to protest.

"Nope, I've made up my mind. Once I get my craft and Romulus safe and sound. I will repair my craft and travel to the dragon lands and see what in the fresh hell happened between you two races because this is downright wrong. In all the manners that are known about dragons, it's just wrong." I ended. The waiters came forth once more with our food and sat down in front of each of us respectively.

I wasted no time digging into my sandwich. And it was good too. We sat and ate in silence. I looked around the room and noticed an empty chair across from Luna. Which naturally made me curious.

"Who's chair is that?" I asked after swallowing my food and pointing to the empty chair.

"Oh, that's for my niece Cadence. She would have been here, but she's out on a trip for me in Manhattan. She's such a delight. You would love her." Celestia said, smiling.

I saw a chance for a joke and shot her a suspicious glance. "What are you trying to say?"

She shot me a confused look as she ate her food. "Hmm?"

"You trying to hook me up with your niece? That's kinda weird, not gonna lie."

She choked on her food and raised a hoof to her mouth in response. Luna had a hardy laugh as she quickly caught on to my joke. Celestia had to take a second and recompose herself before responding.

"Oh, heavens no! I'd never! Cadence is her own lady with her own tastes. I'd never arrange a date or anything like that!" She said, catching her breath from the small choking fit.

"Relax. I was just having some fun and cracking a joke. My dad said that if you can make royals laugh at a first impression, You'll be well on your way to being a diplomatic king one day." I said, Finishing one half of my sandwich and moving on to the other.

"Well, it sounds like your dad was very wise," Celestia responded.

"Hmf, yeah. As both a king and a father." I said, my tone lowering as I thought of my dad.

"So, I know you told us you were in the military earlier today, but you didn't exactly say what you did," Celestia asked, not trying to probe but rather making small talk.

I stop drinking and set the glass of chocolate milk on the table, still holding it. "What did I do?" I asked, feeling a slight tightness in my head.

"Yes, I assumed it was something like coordinating the royal guard or something along those lines, as you and Shining armor seemed to get along so well." Celestia continued.

The tightness in my head grew as I thought of my days in the war. The vivid flashbacks of battles and death. Deafening explosions and gunfire swirled in my head. The screaming of my comrades filled my ears, and I could feel the dirt and blood staining my face. I felt short of breath. I felt heavy in my chest and breathed rapidly and heavily. My grip on the glass tightened and began to shake. Even in my chair, I felt like I was going to drop onto the ground. I stared blankly at the unfinished half of my sandwich as my vision refused to focus and became rapidly blurry.

"Mister Rileus, are you alright?" Celestia asked, clearly sounding worried through all the noise.

The glass I was holding shattered under my immense grip, sending glass and Chocolate milk in all directions. I felt a tinge of pain as a piece of glass cut through the flesh of my palm. I planted both hands on the table to try and steady myself as I felt like I was going to fall. I looked in the corners of my blurred vision to see both princesses stand up in worry. Saying distorted words that I couldn't grasp through everything.

Author's Note

HELLOING! SO, I just wanted to say that I'm glad I'm back into the writing groove, I'm already at work on the next chapter and I'm sprinkling a little bit more german in there. it's brief but its a little bit more. Im also gonna try and neat little thing with Rileus and his own villain, but shush, you didn't hear that from me.

otherwise, stay tuned, cuz later on this story is gunna KICK OFF!