I must apologize because I don’t know how long I was unconscious for. All I can really remember was that a mysterious angel of yellow and pink was by my side throughout the entire process. When I passed out, I could hear faint horse noises then a pair of arms around me, followed by the beeping of hospital equipment. Throughout the process I could sense the presence of an angel.

The angel of yellow and pink...

“Jessica?” I mumble and hear more horse noises. I go to open my eyes, but close them tight due to the light being too bright. “The light... Could you turn it out?”

Nothing.

"Can you please turn out the lights?" I groan, only to be met with more horse noises. I then point at the lights with my right arm and cover my eyes with my left.

I hear a sort of gasp, then trotting as the light suddenly shuts off, so I lower my arms and open my eyes slowly, seeing a plethora of flowers of all varieties around me.

"Gee, save some flowers for the ozone and the bees, Jess... ica..." I say, realizing that she wasn't here.

Instead, there were 6 ponies of multiple colors looking at me. The first one I noticed was the one coming by my bedside, a beautiful mare of yellow skin and pink hair... my angel...

The second was an orange pony with straw blonde hair with a red hair tie keeping it kept and straight. Next was a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. this one was hunched forwards, snarling and ready to attack, standing in front of 3 other ponies. the first was pink... everything. Skin, hair. The second was a snow white unicorn of sensed regality with beautiful purple curls. third was a purple unicorn with midnight blue hair. Her hair also had 2 stripes in it. one magenta, the other pink.

The yellow one whinnies at the orange one who goes out of the room urgently, then looks at me. I then take a painful realization that they're all naked which I blush hard and avert my eyes.

"You all know that you're naked, right?" I ask.

They all just stare at me, blinking on occasion. So I do the universal sign of writing and the purple one produces a quill and a piece of parchment. I then hand it to the angel and sign for her to write something which she does. only it was complete gibberish.

"Xy, xem qhu oek?"

I get a puzzled look on my face and begin to say "how are you" when a thought occurs to me.

What if it's a simple cypher and I just need to find the key?

I look at the purple pony and ask for 2 more pieces of parchment to which she obliges, coming over to watch as I write every possible key from a single off put to 26 off puts. I then scan through and discover that the key is 10, so i use the cypher to write out: "Can you read this?"

The pony looks at it and goes slack jawed for a second before writing back "Yes. How'd you translate it so quickly? Asking for Twilight."

"I'd rather say it, not write. Is there anyway for us to speak so you can understand me?" I reply and she looks before nodding, pointing at the door.

I look and see a regal looking unicorn walk in the door and look at me warmly, nodding in a knowing expression. I then see the ponies all bow to her and that tells me that she’s royalty of some sort.

I look at Fluttershy and tap her on the shoulder, showing her the picture and then point to the new pony.

She nods and explains to the princess that she’s needed in understanding my language to which she nods in agreement. All the while, I'm hearing horse noises.

Her horn lights up and I feel my ears and throat begin to warm up as I hear her say “Hello. My name is Princess Celestia Solaris. What is your name?”

"My name is DC. Thank you for helping me be able to understand and speak your language." I say, bowing my head to her. She looks at me in surprise.

"Why do you bow to me? Have you known of myself before now?" she asks, questioning my actions.

"I'm merely observing and adjusting to my new life. If you are to be my new ruler, I must show you the proper respect." I say in a calm tone.

"Your new ruler... new life? I'm afraid I don't understand. Can you please explain this to me?" she furrows her brow, trying to understand.

"Is there anyway to show you? I don't know how this world works just yet, but Discord told me that because I died in such a noble way, unafraid and sparing the love of my life, I would be granted a new life here." I say, hoping to make sense.

"I know of a spell that will allow me to see one's memories. If you'll allow me to, we can see what truly happened. This way I can see if what you say is true or not. I do need to assess if you're a threat to my subjects or not as well. Doing such will allow me to do both." She explains. "If what you say is true, I will grant you citizenship among my ponies."

"If it is not, then what happens?" I say, getting a tear in my eye. " Will you send me away or have me killed? I was promised by Discord that I'd be free to live." I say through teared eyes.

"I shall see. I do not believe in killing ponies or any creature for your case for no apparent reason. Now, let us begin." she says, lighting her horn up once more. A decent sized orb of yellow light appears and the first image I see is Jessica's face. I reach out to touch it but my fingers slip through the image.

"That's Jessica Parkerson. She was my true love." I say, tears running down my face. Fluttershy sees my tears falling and holds me in her arms. "We were expecting a baby boy about 4 months after I passed. I'm so sorry for leaving you alone like this, Jess."

The image changes to Jake and Amanda, Jake holding his .357. "That's Jake and Amanda Mitchell. They were serial killers who harvested their victim's eyes after death. They were feared because no one knew they were there until it was too late. I was their most recent victim. I'm just gonna let the movie play now." I say, staying quiet, letting the events of my death unfold before them.

The ponies in my room all watch as I sacrifice my life to save Jessica and my son's.

"No!!! Please no!!!" Jessica starts crying. "What am I supposed to tell our son when he's born?"

"Tell him daddy saved mommy and him like the super hero he was." I say, tears forming and falling down my face. "Tell him daddy loved him so much that he gave his own life to make the scary people go away." I say with the recording. My heart is torn to shreds hearing Jessica tell me that I would have made the best father.

The last words we hear between me and Jess are "I love you, my angel of yellow and pink." "I love you too, my guardian of green and blue." before the gunshot. Then the events of my dialogue with discord play out just as it had happened.

"What if I fail? Let's say I can't distort the chronological order of events? Will you snuff out my life for not doing as needed?" I ask, a defeated look falling on me.

"No. I told you that i was going to give you a second chance at life. You earned it." Discord says and the deal is done.

I then explode and fall at the feet of the mane 6.

"So you see, Princess... I have nothing to hide from you."

"I see that, Daniel. I'm so sorry for your loss." Celestia says and her ears fall to the sides of her head.

"Thank you, Princess. But if I may... Call me DC. I believe it will be more fitting for me to use that name instead. also, can you all do me a favor?"

"What is it? How can I help?" she asks, concerned.

"It's just two small little things. The first is a new body. I'd like to transform into a pony and back at will. The second is that I hope it's not too big a deal, but could you all please put on some clothes? It's very hard to look at you right now." I say, my face turning even redder. I then bury my face in my pillow.

"Put clothes on? But I'm already dressed. can't you see... them..." she says before looking at the projection and seeing everyone standing there naked.

"Very funny, Discord." she says in a not-so-funny tone. I feel my eyes warm up before fading and I look at Celestia in a puzzling manner before realizing she's wearing a beautiful white dress with a sun emblem as her broach. "It would seem Discord was playing a trick on you."

"Wow... that's better. So what exactly are you all? Is there a name I can use?" I ask.

"Well, I presume you know of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies?" Celestia asks. I nod. "I am what you call an Alicorn. The Alicorns are strong, fast and powerful in their own rights. Pegasi are fast and their magic to control the weather. Earth ponies are strong as their magic is used for the earth to grow crops so that we may eat. Unicorns are powerful as they are the scholars in all sciences and fashions. Not all one tribe is responsible for a sole field of responsibility, however. There are researchers in every tribe, as are there ground workers, scholars and the such."

"Very well said, Princess. Duly noted." I say, then ask "Now about my body. How will that work, exactly?"

"Just relax. this will feel funny to you." she says, and points her hand at me while her other rests on her heart. My body begins to levitate and transform into a stallion. I fell the warmth from my throat and ears disappear as I float back down to the bed.

"What color would you like your fur to be?" she asks.

"Hmm... can I see the bright greens?" I ask and the white unicorn walks forward and produces a roll of green scraps. "Thank you... um... what's your name?" I ask, not trying to be impolite.

"My name is Rarity Belle. This to my left is Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and last but not least, Twilight Sparkle." and as she spoke with an elegant voice, her friends waving in their turn.

"Call me DC. As long as I breathe, you'll never need to use the Elements of Harmony again." I say in a serious manner. I then look through the colors and find a shade of green that I like and show it to Celestia. "Chlorophyll Green, please."

"Of course. How do you know about the Elements of Harmony is I might ask?" she says, making my slate gray body a brilliant green.

"Before I exploded, he told me that he was being turned to stone by them. He wasn't wrong about that so I can only imagine what else he was right about." I respond, then look at the browns, finding 2 that I like. "For my hair, I'd like a dual color if possible. In direct sunlight, I'd like burnt orange and in the shade, mocha brown."

Celestia freezes as she hears me say my hair color options, but makes the change then says "Rarity, do you have a camera on you?" and Rarity produces a camera from her saddlebag. She takes 2 pictures of me then says "I need this one. Here's your own." she hands me a picture and I see a handsome green stallion with long brown hair, but with blue streaks in it. I look at my hair to see where the blue streaks are but there aren't any. "Hmm... odd. There are streaks of blue in my hair in this picture."

"I have to go. I'll be in touch. Twilight, do you know of the Slayer?" Celestia says, urgently. Twilight says no, then asks her teacher what the Slayer is. "All in good time, but if it's true what I think this means, we're all in big trouble... but at the same time we're not..." she says before teleporting out of the room.

"Well that's ominous. I wonder what this Slayer character and I have to do with each other." I say.

"It must mean something big if it has her worried." Twilight says. "Slayer... slayer, slayer, slayer... Wait, THAT SLAYER?!" she teleports out of the room and returns a few minutes later with a book labeled "Old Legends and Prophecies of Starswirl the Bearded. She turns to a picture of a warrior etched in stone with text written next to it.

********

Celestia arrives at the oldest wall in Canterlot, a gigantic slab of obsidian with a warrior etched into it. The text written next to it reads as follows:

"Risen from the Ashes of Chaos,

Ensnared by the Love of Kindness,

The truest soul and Honourbound Guardian

Protects those Unable

Until the day he Sacrifices

His life in battle with his Demon.

Only then will Light shine Pure.

He will be the Slayer"

-Starswirl the Bearded

********

Holding the book up to me then looking between me and the picture, Twilight says "You're a spitting image of him."

"I'm just a guy who defends those who... can't. Yeah that makes sense. Okay, so what, do I need to get stronger? I'll do what needs to be done so this so called demon doesn't win." I then look at Fluttershy. "I'll do whatever it takes to protect you. You, my angel of pink and yellow. You saved my life and I can only think of one thing and that's to protect you."

She blushes and starts twirling her fingers through her hair.

"It's funny you say that, DC, because Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness." Twilight says, smiling warmly.

"You don't say... " I say, my skin giving off a blue glow.

"What's going on?" Rainbow Dash says in shock.

"What? Is something wrong?" I say, worried. The blue fades as I look at her.

"Twilight, what does it say about glowing?" Applejack asks, coming over.

"Once the Slayer expresses his five most powerful emotions, sadness, happiness, hate, love and rage will he have truly awakened." she reads.

"So once I exhibit either love, hate, happiness, sadness, or rage... then the Slayer will be awakened?" I ask, obvious to the answer.

"In essence, yes." Twilight answers.

Oh boy, was I in for a long, wild ride.

Author's Note

For the Caesar cypher, I used Fluttershy's name as the key word.