The Mad King of Adventure

(Perspective of view: Ryan Steele)

“We could only afford to renovate and implement two rooms besides the main entrance. This is one of them, the quarters.” Marax led the way through the room that had a few trees crowded around a large pillar that’s structurally supporting the entire room. Several lengths of ropes are interconnected through the supports ingrained into the ceiling. Small floral lights fill the room with illumination.

There’s two bed bunks that are on opposite sides of the room. They don’t look too uncomfortable but I guess this is all they could afford. Those same shelves that were in the main room are here too, only they’re curved and filled with more fictional looking books than non-fiction and or charismatic related ones. Along with three golden medallions on top of the bookshelf but I’m more interested in the books themselves.

One in particular manages to catch my eye. I lean down and pick it up, wiping the dust that's formed on it. ‘Legends of The Four World’s by The Ferryman.

“This book is out of place compared to the rest of them. Why did this stick out compared to the rest of them?” William and Vanishing entered the room soon after we did.

I take the book out of the shelf and hold it up toward William. “Dude, can I borrow this book right here? I promise I’ll return it.”

He raises an eyebrow. “What book is that? Hm… Legends of The Four Worlds? I can not recall ever purchasing that. In that same reasoning I shall allow you to have it.”

“Sweet, I’ll probably end up never reading it though.” I put the book behind me, placing it within my inventory for later usage.

‘Alert! Item “The Legends of The Four Worlds” has been collected. Specific conditions have been met to start a specialized event! Initiating sequence immediately.’

The message spontaneously appears in my vision and scares me half to death in the process. “Oh. My. Goodness. This really is like the starts of those adventure novels! Finally I’m on the right track and all it took was seven years.” I take a deep breath and pace my breathing. “It says hidden so I probably shouldn’t force it, so maybe just maybe I’ll spot it somewhere in plain sight.” I can do this, I only need to get back at the task at hand.

Marax has chilled out. I still don’t know what his or anyone’s problem is for that matter. It’s like being given a small crumb in order to solve a huge mystery. Overall he’s a lot more timid than I originally gave him credit for. I break the piercing silence, starting up the conversation. “It looks like it works as intended. A living quarters. I could probably think of some other compliments. I’m not really cut out for shallow stuff though.” I dryly commented.

Vanishing Flow grunted, not in an aggressive way but instead in an annoyed manner. “That’s it? You had a lot more witty comments when I was touring you through Ponyville. I’m sure you could’ve said something else to Marax.”

I raise a finger to try and defend myself. That’s when I realized my assholishness could be toned down a little for these people I’m not very acquainted with.

“Sorry, you’re right, Vanishing. I’m kinda used to acting like this by default.” Back when I was on Earth I didn’t really do anything besides practice hobbies and attend college. No siblings and no real reason to keep on fighting in life. Sure I had a small part time job but that was working at a walmart. You could’ve called me a dead man walking and I’d laugh.

“Snap outta it!” I feel a hand smack the back of my neck as I instinctively yelp and rub the injured part with my hand, otherwise known as the one I used to make love to. Vanishing is in the corner of my eye, rubbing her hand.

“Sorry, I- wait, was that you who hit me?” I’m surprised she did that, surprised she cared enough to get some sense into me when I was wandering in my head. And if Vanishing rubbing her hand wasn’t enough proof of her being guilty, William and Marax had both got in between us without a sweat.

William looks at me and does his best to calm me down. Not knowing how I’d actually react. “Woah lets not escalate this any further, alright? There’s no need to actually fight.”

“Vanishing Flow, what’d we say about putting your hands on others without them clearly trying to be an aggressor.” Marax did his best to lecture his companion but all he got was an eye roll in return. What’s that, six for six?

She turns her attention from Marax and stares at me instead, giving me a weird stare, hearing my tone change. “Yeah it was me, what do you wanna do about it?” Oh she must be trying to instigate with me. I’d know since I’ve done this a lot with my friends.

“Nothing, thank you Vanishing. And Marax I’m sorry for my lackluster response. This place is actually quite nice. Most of all it’s homey. A nice change from Canterlot I can tell you all that much.” I involuntarily let out a hearty laugh thinking of all the times me and Blueblood would argue over something petty like whether or not an xylophone was a keyboard. (It totally is.)

Marax immediately bore his eyes through my head when I mentioned Canterlot and moved away from Vanishing.

“...You’re from Canterlot?” He asked, no small amount of malice spared from me.

“Well, yeah. How else do you think I could afford this sick ass outfit?” I flex my body and gently place a peck on its bicep, still staring up at the trio as I grin to make a goof outta myself. Even if I didn’t really buy this casual ass outfit and sorta got it from Celestia. That sentence still felt like it needed flexing, both figuratively and literally.

Marax only glared at me in response. For a few seconds it looked like he was ready to charge at me, yet he only shook his head and let up that fiery intensity.

“Gotta figure out what his deal is with Canterlot. I know it’s filled with prissy asshats who can’t take a hint on how to be a normal person in society. The kind of reaction he gave me felt like a lot more than that though.”

William steps aside from me and starts acting like more of a weirdo than I was originally taking him for. He started putting his arms behind his back, trying to act like one of those evil villains you’d find in any type of generic movie or for some strict general for an army. “Ryan these are mixed signals that are being sent here. You are a Castellan yet you do not speak like one. And now you’re saying you come from Canterlot? Something isn’t adding up here.”

“You’re telling me you only realize that now? I thought you were supposed to be our leader.” Vanishing navigated around Marax who didn’t even bother to stop her. And stood beside William where she let out a small ‘hmph’.

I lean back a bit and do my best to calm myself down. “Shit, I knew I should’ve upped my intelligence stat but that’s overrated innit? I can’t possibly be this much of a dunce.” A strange calm flows over me as my brain slows down.

I raise a hand up to back everyone away. “Okay, okay, you all got me. I’m not really what I seem like. And because of that you’d want answers, or so I’d like to think. And I want to be comfortable for the next seven and a half hours. In spirits like those, and people like us, lets make a friendly deal.”

My right hand materializes a wooden spear. “One of you spar with me. If you guys win then I’ll tell you anything you wanna know and how I just did that. If I win, then you all will lay off with this intensity.”

“Um, an idea such as that does not seem to be a good one-”

Marax cut in before William could finish. “Okay, fine then. It’ll give us some answers and me a reason to get you back from earlier.”

“Then I guess that’s a done deal.” I twirl the wooden spear in my hand and snap it in the grasp of my second hand.

Vanishing Flow shakes her head in a disappointing way. “Not in here. You both aren’t going to fight in here, take it outside.”

“Wait, you guys don’t have a training hall here? I could’ve sworn that was the standard.” I let up from my combat position and scratched the top of my head.

Vanishing slowly stares at William. “I told you that would’ve been a good idea William. But noooo we had to get that library and fishing pond installed.”

“Knowledge is plenty more valuable than a simple training hall. Although I will admit the Fishing Room was born from personal desires.” William sheepishly admitted.

“Whatever it doesn’t matter, we’re gonna settle this dispute.” My body becomes adorned with a familiar red clothed shirt, metal pauldron that's tightly fitted on my right shoulder, black leather armor around my upper body, a small pyramid of metal covering around my chest area, and another differently styled pauldron on my left which had several sheets of metal overlapping one another. A surge of mana rushes through my legs as I dash towards the door, appearing as though it were a seamless transition. A trail of sea blue particles are left to briefly dance where I once traveled from. I opened the door and like the gentleman I am, allowed everyone else to pass by me. Earning a singular thank you from William Cobert.

Everyone had gathered around in a single area. One that was left alone by the trees that only surrounded this scheduled place. A regular soft area that has an abundance of grass and flowers around us. Marax and I circle each other. Apparently his choice of weapon was a wooden spear which he picked up by the door when he was leaving, weird.

All of a sudden he pointed his spear in my direction, his free hand was balling up into a fist. “Are you seriously going to fight me with that poor stance? Where’s your spell book at? Actually now that I think about it how did you just make a damn spear poof out of nowher-”

“Oh someone must be getting fierce.” I slyly commented under my breath. “Ah-ah-ah!” I interrupted. “I told you that questions come later. We fight now, simply me and you and I must admit I will be a terrible match up for you. That being said, allow me to teach you the gentle art of folding clothes whilst a person is still wearing them.”

Marax let out an audible ‘huh’ while I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and ran at him. Using fancy footwork I learned from those varying royal guard information, I began to twirl my spear at the same time. It’s supposed to work as a ploy to disorient the opponent. I maneuvered the polearm to strike with the bottom of it as an overhead slam, a blue flash surrounds the weapon as it activates the (Pommel Strike) skill. No matter where someone hits you with the Pommel Strike ability, your vision will get blurry for a few seconds before returning back to normal..

Barely being given enough time to respond Marax quickly raised his own spear while holding both ends of the pole to block the strike. A small flash glint of yellow light flashes where our weapons clashed, which Marax could not see. He twists his waist to move his leg to kick me but I end up letting go of my spear and dash backwards in a second.

“You almost got me right there, almost.” I taunted aloud, turning my spear to be pointed at Marax once again. Charging straight towards him, my spear jabs towards his gut, only for him to offset the thrust, making the same yellow light I previously had seen appear. Indicating that I had been parried once more.

Marax’s spear suddenly stabs me thrice in quick succession. So fast I couldn’t have reacted at that moment when the wooden spear point stabbed at my gut and knocked me back. It takes quite a bit of willpower to not cough up some of the mucus that threatened to escape my throat.

I quickly get back up and check my health and posture bar for good measure.

(Immediate current player’s status)

(Health: 92%)
(Posture: 21%)
(Armor: 66%)
(Ether: 100%)
(Reservoir: 100%)

Okay that didn’t seem to take a lot outta me, only eight percent. “I’ve gotta figure out how this guy fights. I can’t run in there with that same game mentality that I can run it back as many times as needed to win one fight, it’d fuck up my outfit too. Well actually… Nah that’d ruin my trump card.” Mana running and Mana dashing doesn’t take Ether since it’s an extremely basic application like breathing oxygen so it’s noticeable as long as I supply the miniscule amount of magic it needs to function in order to keep it going.

“What are you standing there for? You’re looking at the ground like something’s there.” Marax says as he inches closer, still ready to strike me.

“This guy really must be a Pitfighter class then, that keen eye of his to differentiate from whether or not I was staring at my arm or just in thought. So that must be he used (Triple Strike) on me instead of (Action Surge) from the Warrior class.”

“Eh, I mean I’m not really worried about you- think fast!” I dig behind my pocket as if I were reaching for something and throw a dagger at Marax. I didn’t actually have a second dagger on me, that was the skill (Dagger Throw). Self explanatory except it produces a dagger for you to throw but it disappears as soon as you toss it. Simultaneously I use (Stealth) and turn semi transparent.

“I’m so glad I didn’t yell out “Dagger Throw” as I did it, is because that’s stupid as fuck. I mean, what type of guy just yells out every single attack they’re about to throw at someone and has some stupidly convoluted name in some other language like, I don’t know, japanese.” I take a deep breath to clear my mind, man that really clouded my emotions.

The bronze dagger travels through the air, soaring directly towards Marax’s face. His eyes widen before he dashes back and slashes at the dagger in the air. His eyes immediately pick up on my translucent body and he locks his eyes on me.

“I should’ve known that wasn’t gonna work. Okay, you caught me.” I deactivate (Stealth) on my body and smile. “You’re gonna be one tough cookie I’ll tell you that much.”

“Are we going to act as though that was normal? You know the basic Arts of a thief and of a Pitfighter. How is it possible- oh right, you’re a prick who likes to be a mystery.” I sweat as soon as Marax said that, Vanishing sneaked a glare at him, if only for a second, the self-awareness is killing me here.

“Right on, now you’re getting it pipsqueak.” A small blue aura surrounds my feet. Feeling the (Agility) skill finally activate, I can put my plan into motion, oh yeah! Now I’m really feeling like speed.

Becoming a bit more athletic, I start mana running backwards into the trees, passing back into the forest and reactivating (Stealth). I let go of the spear with one of my hands and use the (Dagger Throw) skill while I’m hopping from tree to tree top. Making my general location difficult to trace.

“You fucking cheater! You can’t go into the trees while throwing out lethal daggers made of real bronze!” Marax shouts as he stands in place, repeatedly deflecting the deadly projectiles I’m throwing out while trying to spot me; he actually fires off a few streams of electricity but they’re uncontrolled. Seeing this he stopped before it could get too out of hand.

“Actually Marax, we never did say he could not enter into the forest. We only say that the rules were the first to admit forfeit, land a ‘killing blow.’ or become immobile would win.” William pointed out, great because I wasn’t going to answer and give away my position.

“Just get down from here!” Marax shouted, noticing the lack of dagger throwing he suddenly shuts up and crouches down further. A soft breeze flows that whispers in the air. I silently jump to the ground, my feet not making a single noise. I creep up behind my opponent, thanking WIlliam for being stupid enough to distract this Dinkerai from our battle.

I hold onto my wooden spear, pointing it directly at Marax’s back. “Peekaboo…” I whisper from behind Marax.

“What the fuck?!” Marax whips his head around. His stand is wide open, his lance isn’t guarding his body, the perfect opportunity for me to score some points!

It's something I had been practicing in Canterlot for a long long while. It's possible to use base Class skills together since they aren’t overly complicated but it’s still difficult to do in actual combat. My spear gets coated in a green energy and a strange green smoke as well. Utilizing the Warrior Class and Pitfighter Class at the same moment, (Action Surge) and (Triple Strike) both activate. This simple wooden spear strikes three times in quick succession at an incomprehensible speed, even I didn’t see what the fuck happened.

A large crack is heard through the forest. The spear I was holding had completely shattered on impact when it struck Marax. He was sent flying back so far he impacted the trees on the other side.

“Shit! Marax are you okay?” Vanishing got up from where she was idly sitting and sprinted towards Marax.

“M-Marax?” William’s face had drained of color. “Ryan, what did you do to him?” As he looked at me from across the field.

I shakily dropped the remains of the spear I was holding. Sweat is rolling down my face. “I-I didn’t mean to. I was in the heat of the moment and- and I thought he could take it well enough. Marax you’re alright, right? C’mon get up, we were just roughhousing with each other.”

William glared into my eyes until he sharply turned around to look at the damages I caused. “Hold on Vanishing, I am coming.” The Adret rushed over to aid his friends in need.

“Why was he that weak? He had no business being that fast and yet so fragile. I took a (Triple Strike) head on and I’m perfectly fine. Against any other player I’d have to combo them to no end so that the bastard would get knocked. I swear I didn’t hit him that hard.”

“But… He’s not, he’s not a ‘player,’ Marax is a real person who doesn’t have a set value that he can work towards, to repeatedly come back after dying over and over again without consequence. Right, I forgot powers come with responsibilities. I bet he was doing his best to hold back against me. Even if I thought of him as someone who was equally as rude as I am, that doesn’t change that Marax’s got standards.”

I grip the splinters in between the palms of my hand, causing them to bleed and cause chip damage to myself.

(Immediate current player’s health)

(Health: 91↓% -Bleed)

“You all need to step aside and get out of my way.” Blood trickles down my fingers. I reach out in front of me and take out a lute from thin air.

Marax starts coughing while both of his friends try nursing his blunt force trauma.

Vanishing raises her head as soon as she hears my words, William tries to calm her down while silently questioning where I got the lute from, putting a hand on her shoulder which she slapped away with something fierce. “Who are you to tell us to step aside right after you used so much force on Marax. Ryan, you had virtually no self restraint while you were sparring.”

Vanishing obviously doesn’t know me because my dad didn’t raise a quitter, I will fix this. “I. Do. Not. Care. I unfuck up my mistakes and this won’t be any different. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. If you don’t trust me then I’m fine with that, it doesn’t change the actions I’m about to commit.”

William raised his hand to try and stop me. “I know you most likely have everyone’s best interests at heart however I cannot simply allow you to do something without our permission. The injury itself is nothing a few days of rest will not fix, therefore it is fine.”

I ignored what William had said, through one ear and out the other. My fingers plucked a few strings as a few circles filled with white appeared in my mind as I closed my eyes, only three appeared, all having a numerical order.

“Time to play Osu for someone, both mentally and physically. Let's hope all those on and off years of actually having to practice for this subclass was worth it.”

One of the most basic and yet most dangerous songs Celestia had a tutor teach me was named “Harmony.” The most basic application of The Song which is extremely difficult to access with musical instruments so you have to cheat it in a counterfeit manner in order to dull the effects.

Using musical instruments that can even play a singular note of The Song can have catastrophic abilities that reflect the soul. With my Lute it’s as if I had a bunch of tiny fingers rapidly tapping on a single piano key in order to play a single sound. In layman’s terms, I’m hitting the world to get it to do a desired effect. This is one of the only classes I can’t bullshit my way through with video game logic. I have to at least hear the song and the conditions for learning is playing a makeshift Osu game inside my mind as I play it.

The SongA small symphony of white circles appears in my mind as I “press” them, my fingers stringing the appropriate cords in response. Focusing on the instrumental part instead of singing it. And then the magicfinally happened.

A small stream of rainbow weaved in Marax’s way, a small chorus built up behind me of voices made from nothingness. The small lump that was forming on Marax’s head began to unswell, healing itself gradually until nothing was left. I kept going, sweat building from my forehead as I started sweating from the amount of exertion I was putting into this.

I was extremely tempted to say screw it right before I finished, wiping the sweat on my brows. I don’t know what god made this song the basis of this world but it’s served me well with this. It’s soft but I hate playing it because of how hard the starting few chords are to play. I might never play this song ever again because of that. Feels like I lose dignity whenever I mess up or lose my musical footing, the melody itself is fine.

“What the fuck!”

Oh right, I managed to open my eyes quick enough to see Vanishing put her hands on my collar and twist it up.

“Vanishing you need to hold on-”

“I’m done with trying to be patient William!” Vanishing snapped her gaze on me, I guess she was trying to give me a good spook. “You’re not a damn Castellan and I’m tired of these mind games you’re playing. Nobody can take the time to practice the Bardic Arts, Pitfighter Arts, Warrior Arts, and Thief Arts while being a normal person unless they had nothing else to do because it was their job. The only Art you haven’t shown the capabilities of, is a Scholar.”

“Between being such a jackass and talented I don’t know what to call you. So I’ll ask one last time.” Vanishing whips out a dagger from her side and points it at my throat. “Who are you and what do you want?” I stiffen up at the prospect of a dagger being pointed so close to my throat.

False charisma, show me how to not get my jugular cut open like a cake. “I… Am Ryan Steele, older brother of three. Spike, Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armor, an avid gamer of my time unprecedented by any. Always chasing after my next goal to pick up and have fun with!”

Vanishing’s ears furiously flicker back and forth, the dagger that was previously in the air is now against my throat. “Don’t fuck with me.”

She truly does want something with a little more substance; okay I can come up with something if I-

“Vanishing, that’s enough!” Both Vanishing, William, and I all turn to the unexpected voice. Marax apparently recovered way faster than anyone was expecting. “I wanted to kick this guy’s ass more than anything, more so than a bully inside a think tank full of scientists. What we’re not going to do is threaten this kid’s life though.” He got up shortly afterwards, rapidly blinking over and over again.

“Again, I’m twenty eight, counting the years I’ve spent here. I’m pretty old.” Marax has got me repeating that more than Holden does in The Catcher in the Rye. If you don’t know what that is then read it. A classic piece of literature.

“Y-you should not be up Marax, I swear I saw bruising on your chest.” William’s shock has yet to wear off as he reaches out for his friend.

Marax shook his head. This is one tough motherfucker in front of my face, they weren’t kidding when they claimed he was holding back. “I wasn’t that hurt, I didn’t even get knocked out. You probably were mistaking my skin color for bruising instead of a basic lump. Ryan only managed to hit my chest which knocked the wind out of me. Luckily I decided to keep my leather padding underneath my chest before I was about to go to sleep otherwise I wouldn’t only be left with lightheadedness.”

I could see the grip Vanishing had on her dagger begin to loosen but she still held onto it. “But you see what he did to you though. It was a simple sparring match and he attacked you like this would be his last!”

“Hey if it’s all the same to you guys I’m gonna need this dagger off of my throat so I’ll just…” I gently back away from Vanishing’s range who made no attempts to stop me.

Marax coughed and pointed at me. “Stop right there, you’re not off the hook.”

I put my hands up defensively. “Aye I wasn’t going anywhere. I just wanted to back away from craziness over here.” Vanishing Flow didn’t like how I worded myself. She even emitted a small groan of anger.

A myriad of angry staring and glaring comes my way “Hm… Fine, I don’t ever like ending things on a bad note unless I’m pranking someone. Instead, I’ll let y’all ask me one question that you want and I’ll answer the best I can.”

They all huddled up around each other, instantly like it was game time or something like that. They were all whispering but not loud enough for me to hear what until they all unanimously nodded their heads.

William steps forward and glances back at his mates. Oh they’re gonna ask for something wild, I can already tell. “We want to know why you haven’t used magic.”

And I already got sent a heavy hitter. Just when I was starting to get comfortable. “Sigh, alright what I’m about to say is going to sound extremely wild so don’t do anything too rash.” I search my brain for any plausible explanation on why a Castellan can’t use The Song properly, even then I don’t know what they discussed in that little huddle up of theirs. “Amassed Mutation, that’s pretty close to how I can describe it.”

“Amassed… What now?” Marax asked with a hoarse voice.

Vanishing grips her face with disbelief. “See, I told you he’d feed us some bullshit!”

“No, no, it’s a made up term that I’ve used for it. Think of my situation as a birth defect that has a give and take. I actually am a Castellan however I was born with zero magic, zilch, none, notta, nothing, whatever way you wanna say it. The only thing I can do is that little displacement trick with swords and other objects. And the give for this freak happenstance? I put all my time and effort into physical talents like a real one. My parents never really bothered with me after they figured this out though.”

I put my hands in my pockets, feigning annoyance for these fake parents I’m making up. It pays to put a ton of points into Charisma rather than something like Willpower. “Mhm, said something about how they ‘couldn’t do anything for me.’ The nerve of some parents, am I right? Instead, they shoved knowledge on magic so I could still defend myself against Mages. I couldn’t take it so I just left. I still hang out with my siblings though.”

“Is that satisfactory for you all?” I give them a sly wink, making them unsure whether or not they should trust me.

The half Tiran and half Pegasus uncrosses her arms much to my relief, her glare even softens on me which I wasn’t expecting from her. Is there something wrong with her? Marax’s green eyes had a spark of reverence in ‘em. See and I thought I was an ornery person. Marax is putting on a mature act, yet I ain’t so sure about whether or not it’s legit.

“We should all head back inside. This is a lot to take in all at once.” William directed the group back down the trail to their guild base which was fine by me.

“And after that, the Etrean noble was practically begging Celestia for some of the funds in the royal treasury, I had said. ‘You want funds from the treasury? I want to summon whoever did your mane and get them in jail for that horrendous job!’ because I was tired of hearing them whine all day.” And as that sentence left my mouth I laughed along with Marax and Vanishing. I guess William isn’t a fan of real humor.

I think about how stuff had been when we all entered the guild base. They all started doing their own thing which was peaceful at first. Silence can be deafening though and this time was no different. After nearly two hours I went up to Vanishing, pulled out a chair, and started telling her some half-truths about my life. Of course I replaced real life humans with other races and changed the scenarios a bit so they’d match but it was still fun. After a bit of laughter here and there we both eventually attracted William and Marax over as well who pulled up some chairs, also started sharing some of their stories. This has been going on for hours on end now.

“You didn’t say that to him. Nobody could ever say that to a noble and not have any repercussions afterwards.” Marax claims in disbelief.

William vigorously nods his head, like he couldn’t comprehend what I just said. “I must concur. Such a story does not exactly elicit any inkling of being factual.”

They’re doubting me? Oh ho ho, I’m not the one to doubt, I’m the one to believe. “I could get Celestial herself to prove that it happened.”

Everyone pauses. William slowly raised an eyebrow. “Ryan, we have already forgiven you for today’s previous events. There is no need to further fabricate a tale in order to pretend to have something in your power when you do not.”

“What, you don’t believe me?” I asked in a hurt tone. I thought we were friends now.

“No.” Vanishing cracked her knuckles and looked around. She had been cracking them every hour or so which I find a little off but I used to do some weird things too.

I took a quick second to open up my menu to check the time. Noticing that, yes the majority of my stats are still glitched out.

(Player: Ryan Steele)

Power: E̠̜̟̩͑̿̎̇r̦̩͚͛́̈r̭͒̐͜o͚̾r̡̹̙̼̉͆̎̚͢͠ ̨͊4̠͙̘͔̊̊͆̚0̮̎4̬̱̦̐̇̔̕͢
Born: E̠̜̟̩͑̿̎̇r̦̩͚͛́̈r̭͒̐͜o͚̾r̡̹̙̼̉͆̎̚͢͠ ̨͊4̠͙̘͔̊̊͆̚0̮̎4̬̱̦̐̇̔̕͢
Race:E̠̜̟̩͑̿̎̇r̦̩͚͛́̈r̭͒̐͜o͚̾r̡̹̙̼̉͆̎̚͢͠ ̨͊4̠͙̘͔̊̊͆̚0̮̎4̬̱̦̐̇̔̕͢
Age:E̠̜̟̩͑̿̎̇r̦̩͚͛́̈r̭͒̐͜o͚̾r̡̹̙̼̉͆̎̚͢͠ ̨͊4̠͙̘͔̊̊͆̚0̮̎4̬̱̦̐̇̔̕͢
Time: 6:21 AM

Strength:I̙̱̭͂̎̓ṋ̍ţ̛̝̥́͠e̛̜̦͓̞͒̕͠r̦͂f̯̖̖̮̟̉̓̔̔͡e̖̮̣͊͑͟͡͝ṟ̨̻̜̬́̌́́̚e̠̲̬̎̀͞n̨̬̞̋̂͆c̠͙͐͝è͖
Fortitude: I̟̰̪͗̋̄̕͜r̡̬͒́r͖͔͂͂ȩ̤͎̎͌͂̿ͅĺ̡̧̰̲͚͑̋̾̍ȅ̩̭͈͂̅v̹̾á̯͍̖̇͗ṅ̜̜̆ṯ̏
Agility: N̞̝̜̯̒͛̄̈́ọ̯̌̃t̨̛̛̤ ̜̚f̡̱̠͆͘͞ȁ̘̱̀st ̡̠̽̋͐ͅȇ͖̲̀n͉̳͚̭̣̉̐̂̌̆o͕̯͗͒ǘ͖̲̖̪̌́͝g͚̝̥̹̀̌̔͒h̡̳̜͖̀̓̓̄
Intelligence: M͕̘͙̮͑̒͘̕ạ̢̚͞n̤͆ŭ̗ḟ̹̼̣͇̞̎͂̅̾a̻͐c̩͍̀͛t̖̝̔̂ư̙̜̝̂̕ṙ͕̱̕͟͠ȅ̳͕̞͓͌̋͂d̮̹͛̉ ̨̹̄̄
Willpower: H͈̠͆̽o̧̱̦̿̔͞ŕ̻ȑ͇̖̬̗̓̂̾î̯̦̠͆̓̃ͅf̛͇̥̑i̺̠̝̿̏́ed̨̪̩̀̀͊
Charisma: N̩͕̬͋̍͠ò̤̳̄t̛͈̲̝̃͑̅͟h̡̨̛̤͖̃̊͘i͐͟ǹ̖͕͔͗̆́͟g̙̯̭͂͗͝ǹ̦̦̼͔͂̂́͢͠ě̞͚̱̀͞ss̘͕̩̅̋͝
Attunement(s):I̫̱͛̑ņ̟̹̗͐̋͒͘co̢̹̹̥̍̎́͞m̡̛̺̭̈́͂̐͜p̋ͅa̯̠͓̼͗̏̓̈͟͠ẗ̨͎̪͗̿ȋ̺̞͗ḃ̗̘̕l̦̆ḛ̦͕̯̗̄̈́̓̂͘ ̺̦͖͗̓͠

Investment Points: N̛̮̘̩͒̚u̻̣̰͉̪̿̔̈̈́̄ĺ̰̙̳̍́̐̕͟͟l̜̑

Heavy Weapon: Er͎̞̻̞͑͂̃̈r̫͡o̰̊ṙ̨͚̻̜̮̐̎͘͞ ̤͉̦̊̓̈́̓͜4̛̮̫̦͞͠0̖͎̈́̉4̆͜
Medium Weapon: Er͎̞̻̞͑͂̃̈r̫͡o̰̊ṙ̨͚̻̜̮̐̎͘͞ ̤͉̦̊̓̈́̓͜4̛̮̫̦͞͠0̖͎̈́̉4̆͜
Light Weapon: Er͎̞̻̞͑͂̃̈r̫͡o̰̊ṙ̨͚̻̜̮̐̎͘͞ ̤͉̦̊̓̈́̓͜4̛̮̫̦͞͠0̖͎̈́̉4̆͜

“This is actually beginning to get concerning, maybe I should- Oh shit, isn’t the Summer Sun Celebration about to take place?” My thoughts are thrown at the window as I see how close it is to dawn. Too much time passed and yet none of us realized. I can chalk it up to my charm in keeping conversations going.
I start snickering uncontrollably, causing some concern from everyone around me.

“What’s so funny?” Vanishing Flow bemusedly questioned.

I wiped away some tears that were forming in my eyes in response. “Nothing, nothing, you guys are gonna be looking like a bunch of dumbasses and I found it hilarious.”

Marax leans in, mockingly acting offended. Marax leans in, holding a playful look of irritation. “Who are you calling a dumbass? What are you even going on about in that messed up brain of yours?” William sorta made silent eye contact as if saying ‘please do not say anything stupid.’ For that I’m offended because I only say things with the utmost intelligence!

I get up from the chair I was sitting in and take a step back while committing to a dramatic pose. “I’m the son of Celestia! There I said it, I’m her illegitimate child that she had and heir to the throne. Get down and bow to your newest prince and a sexy one I might add.”

William visibly face palmed as Marax laughed his ass off, rude.

I got a weirded out stare from Vanishing Flow who shook her head disappointedly. “That has got to be the worst lie someone has ever told me in history.”

I shrugged my shoulders as Marax continued giggling. “You’re partially right, I wanted a rise out of you all and I got exactly that. Enough messing around though. Because I have something that’ll prove my earlier statement. Right now it’s 6:21 AM, about to hit eight. And wouldn’t you know it, Princess Celestia is making an appearance right here in Ponyville. So get this, we go attend it, enjoy ourselves a bit, I introduce you all to my siblings, and then I’ll go to Celestia and ask her to confirm what I said.”

Marax finally stops laughing and finally calms himself down before saying. “Okay you’ve been saying that for a while. And while we were originally planning to miss the Summer Sun Festival we’ll go solely to prove you wrong.” He rolls his eyes and gets out of his wooden chair.

I grin from ear to ear “Bingo, that’s exactly what I needed to hear.”

I pump a fist in the air. “Bet! Let’s effin’ do it then.” Ah it’s been way too long since I’ve gotten to prove any new people around me wrong.

“There goes my plans to practice for the big wars coming up.” Vanishing Flow sighed as she got up and walked out through the door as William patted Vanishing’s shoulder and walked out along with her, the two of us following suit.

The entire time we left the guild base we were chatting about nothing. Just random stuff in the past and favorite things to do, the usual.

“After that I decided I would never do another suspicious request in Griffon territory.” After Vanishing had wrapped up her story. Which was wild as fuck by the way. She got set up as an easy mark when she was on a vacation. Luckily she didn’t get any scars or nothing since she only got ruffed up a bit but damn.

“Why did you even think that going anywhere near Griffonstone would do you any good? Let alone thinking about going to Solidarity for an out of town request?” From what I’ve read that place is almost completely filled with widowed Griffons and other people who’ll bag you for even being there.

The half-Tiran half-Pegasus sighed and stared at the starry sky. “I wasn’t too keen on thinking with my head back then. I saw bits and thought I had to go for it. It’s never happening to me again though.”

Their leader shook his head. “That is why we desired to come with you. Somehow you convinced us to do otherwise which is what led to the problem in the first place.” William shamefully admitted.

Vanishing Flow yawned and simultaneously sighed “I apologized afterwards. No need to continue bashing me, you forget that I was new to being a guild member back then.”

“And I’ll endlessly tease you for it. Forever and always Vanishing.” Marax poetically did that sentence justice.

And speaking of doing justice. “What were you talking about when you said that you were practicing for the upcoming wars? Is there some type of secretive underground battle going on?” What she said prior had peaked my interest so I asked.

Marax stares at me like he found out I never passed high school (I barely did). “You don’t know? Guild wars and Conquest are starting in the next few months. We’ll be competing to reign in as Ponyville’s best guild.”

“I ain’t never heard of guild wars.” Why hasn’t Celestia ever told me about this? Or even my little sis. I’d expect her of all people to know about this.

I tilted my head to the side. “Okay, I’ll bite. What even is that?”

William turned around and started walking backwards. “It is only the best possible way to have your guild name become known to an amassed audience.”

We finally made our way to the town hall where we saw some folks hanging around inside until went in. Actually it was almost all ponies though, Pegasi, Earth ponies, a few unicorns, actually that’s all there was. Except for two Felinors that seemed like a couple who were holding hands.

“This is going to look stupid since we’re not ponies who praise some benevolent sun goddess.” Vanishing huffed.

Celestia’s a little mean, I’d know, I’ve been living in her castle for eight years straight. Though I’d never go as far as to be that sarcastic about her. In front of others.“Celestia isn’t even that bad, besides, she should be making an appearance in the next few minutes.”

I popped a wide grin. “If all these ponies are here then I bet that means Twi did a good job. She always manages to apply her big brain to these things. Wait, isn’t that her hanging out with five other ponies? Finally she made some friends-… Shit she’s bore her eyes into the depths of my soul.” I do my best to appear as scarce as possible to not draw any more attention to myself, although I already know I’m royally fucked.

And that grin just as quickly left after I heard somebody say my name. “Ryan… Steele, get your flank over here.” Speak of the devil and she shall cometh.

I carefully steered my head up, thankful the aforementioned head wasn’t lobbed to the ground already. Coming face to face with Twilight Sparkle, the currently furious sibling. And Spike was sheepishly standing beside her, mouthing ‘I’m sorry’ at me and my friends.

“Whatever god is out there. If I die, make sure to tell people my story.”