Chapters The first thing I remember was the screaming alarm, the sound was high pitched, loud and frankly the sound of it pissed me off really badly, like that one guy who has a really annoying voice that won’t stop making bad jokes all the time. The second thing I remember is the horrible cold feeling that shot through me, like I’d been pushed out of a warm shower and into snow. So it’s excusable that I may have yelled slightly, you can’t really blame me for it. I pushed myself to my hooves and shook my head, my wet mane splattering water everywhere. I opened my eyes and looked around the large room to get a good look at where I was. The room was just over ten metres in all directions with a roof that must’ve been twenty foot tall with large white lights glaring down on me. My breath frosted in front of my face and I began to shiver, nearly freezing my cock off just from standing on the cold metal floor.
“Where… where am I?” I asked myself, my brow knitting from confusion. As I tried to search my mind I couldn’t form a clear image of where I was. Then it hit me like a slap in the face, it wasn’t that I didn’t remember where I was it was the fact I couldn’t remember where I was and in fact I didn’t remember anything at all. I had no idea who I was or where I was, how old I was or what I even looked like. I looked up at my mane which, thankfully, was quite long making me able to easily see the crimson red colour of my do. I looked at my legs and noticed I had crisp and clean white hair. There was no mirror nearby that I could examine myself in and gain a better look of my face but I noticed a door at the end of the room. I shook myself down again before taking off over to it, my hooves feeling lighter than I felt they should have and they seemed to move faster than they should have normally. Maybe it was because I just couldn’t remember how fast I run normally that it seemed weird to me so I pushed it to the back of my mind as a useless worry. I slid to a stop in front of the door and examined it, the surface was smooth and blemish free with no visible handles, knobs or ways to open it. I began searching for several minutes to try and find a way to open it before feeling my temper beginning to build rapidly, meaning I was an impatient person, a quality I didn’t fancy having to be honest. It gave up with an angry yell, cocking back my hoof and slamming it into the door. The sound of metal creasing filled my ears and made me jump before I looked around for what made the sound. It was only a few seconds later I realized that the sound had come from the door as my punch had made a large dent in the metal from what seemed like minimal effort to me. I raised an eyebrow, at least I think I did but I might’ve made some stupid face instead, before pressing my hoof against the door and with a sudden push another dent was knocked into the metal. A grin spread over my face as I got an idea: knock it down. I pulled back my hoof again and punched the door as hard as I could which created a huge dent in the door. I attacked it two more times, denting it again, before twirling around and bucking it with my back legs. The metal shrieked horrible as it was blasted out of its position, almost folding half as I hit it, before crashing loudly to the ground and producing sparks as it scraped over the metal floor.
“Awesome” I grinned. I realized that my voice sounded young but I had obviously finished puberty and was fully grown but I had no idea how tall I was as I had no one to compare myself to at the moment. A sudden wave of cold flooded the room which made me feel even colder than I already was. My teeth began to chatter and I growled angrily as cold fog filled the room. I scratched my head; the cold had made goose-bumps appear on my head under my mane, and my hand came in contact with a long and sharp horn. I was a unicorn which meant I could use magic. I shrugged and decided to try and cast a fire spell to try and warm myself up. I was about to perform said spell when I realized: I can’t remember how to cast magic. It slapped a hoof to my face and groaned at my own stupidity. I could’ve been the most powerful deity on the face of the earth with unlimited magical strength at my disposal and here I was unable how to remember to make friggin sparks. Unbeknownst to me at the time I wasn’t exaggerating too much on that little joke I just made, seriously it’ll blow your mind.
I continued on through the maze of corridors that looked exactly the same for nearly ten minutes before getting angry.
“Ok fuck this!” I yelled, slamming my fist into the nearest wall and punching my way through all of them until I found a door. This process took me another ten minutes to find what looked like an elevator, by this point I was certain I’d caught hypothermia from the cold, and I pressed the button to call it. There was the sound of ancient gears grinding and a lot of dust fell elevator shaft, clattering surprisingly loudly on the solid concrete below. As the waiting dragged on I began to try and whistle which was an easy thing to do to pass the time. At first I was just making spitting noises as I’d forgotten how to whistle but I soon got the hang of it and was just making high pitched noises with no tune. I soon got annoyed with the music-less noise and stopped, tapping my hoof impatiently for the elevator to get here.
“Is it stopping for coffee or something?” I asked irritably “Why is it taking so long?” There was a loud crashing noise before the elevator lowered itself into my field of vision and I sighed loudly.
“It better go up faster” I growled “Or I’m calling customer support” I realized I was one of the guys who made jokes at just about everything so I decided to try and get better with the one liners if I was going to make them as that one was stupid. The gate opened and I stepped inside, jabbing the button for what looked like the ground floor or the lobby and the gates grated shut again, the gears rumbling as the elevator began to rise slowly.
“I’m going to be in here a while” I said, making a disappointed face as I dropped onto my haunches and began the wait.
When the elevator reached the floor I wanted it to I had nearly grown a beard in the time it took to get there. I had lost count of how many times my teeth had been chattering and several other mini-games I had played while waiting for the elevator to get its ancient ass to this floor. I stepped out and looked around half expecting to be in a swanky hotel lobby with beautiful mares at every door and a nice bar with a glass of scotch waiting for me. I learned that I had a taste for alcohol right then as the thought of scotch made my mouth water. It was much warmed where I was but the place looked like shit. It was in ruins, I was unable to tell what it was supposed to be when it didn’t look like someone had nuked the place. The walls were falling in on themselves; there was no roof which made the warm sky visible to me, several fluffy clouds floating around the blue expanse which made me hungry for sandwiches. I’m weird I know, you don’t have to remind me. There was a counter across the ancient room and I went to go look at it, hoping that I’d find something of interest. What I did find however wasn’t useful but it looked cool so I decided to keep it. It was a black trilby with a red band around the middle of it. I placed it on my head, tilting it back to make it look more stylish before searching around the room for anything else. I found an old mirror lying in pieces on the floor so I put the pieces back into place and looked at myself for the first time. Now I’m not being flattering to myself or anything but I think I was a very handsome young man, bold red eyes with a muscled frame, a strong jawline and sparkling white teeth that felt as if they had just been cleaned. They tasted minty now that I thought about it, very fresh. I walked around for a while longer to try and find anything useful but once I declared that nothing was indeed useful I ventured out into the summery area outside, eager to find something cool and interesting. My hooves landed on lush grass as I had to drop several feet from the floor I was on. I rolled over my shoulder and onto the soft grass, taking in the smells of fresh air for the first time in god knows how long. I pressed my nose to the fresh grass and smelled it, getting used to the scents of the outside again. It was at this point I realized how stupid I must’ve looked, a grown ass man sticking his face in the dirt, so I pushed myself back to my hooves and straightened my hat. I set off at a soft trot through the grass, having no idea where it was I was going, and began to hope I’d get somewhere quickly before it got dark. The wind carried the scent of food and it when I realized how hungry I really was, my stomach roaring loudly.
“Alright, alright I’ll find us something to eat” I sighed, trying to strike a deal with my stomach that if it was quiet I’d get something to eat from wherever I smelled the food. I took a deep breath before following my nose and sprinting off, hoping that my nose wasn’t playing tricks on me. The grass shot by as I gained speed for several minutes, almost seeming to go faster than possible with the wind almost blowing my hat off but it somehow stayed on. It was strange that I could run for so long but not even feel a slight strain on my lungs or muscles. I must be something different I guess which was what I thought at the time and I wasn’t wrong in thinking that. But I’ll save the spoilers for later from now on. I had been sprinting for five minutes as I wondered how strong my sense of smell really was for me to smell food from that far away. I was too wrapped up in my thoughts to realize I had sprinted into an apple orchard and was heading straight for one of the trees. I tried to stop running but I hadn’t enough time to stop myself so I did the smart thing. I tried to put the part that would hurt less when I got hit in front of me. It turns out that getting hit in the flank hurts a hell of a lot more than I thought it did but the fact that instead of slamming into the tree I went straight through it made me forget about the pain. The metre thick tree was snapped in half and we both tumbled through several more trees before grinding to a halt. My head was pounding and I thought I might’ve broken a few of my ribs in the crash but I was alive at the most part. And then someone grabbed me by the back of the neck and yanked me up into the air. And at that point I knew I wasn’t going to live much longer.
I was sat down outside of a large barn with my back against a wall with three very angry looking ponies glaring daggers at me.
“Now wadda ya’ll think you’re playing at?” the female with an orange coat and a brown cowboy hat demanded “That’s our livin’ ya’ll are destroying right thar!”
“We need to harvest the apples from those trees to survive, that’s a lot of money we just lost right there!” the old green pony snapped “What do you have to say for yourself?!” I looked at all three of them, my tongue tied in a knot from nervousness before I took a deep breath and spoke.
“There’s no point in what I have to say because me apologizing isn’t going to bring those trees back now is it?” I asked.
“Don’t get smart partner” the orange pony growled, getting in my face “We’re asking the questions here, now the question is what are ya’ll going to do to fix this mess?”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked, trying my best to not grin. I’m going to put this out here right now, I found this pony very attractive and I wasn’t really regretting her being that close to me. I wish we’d been introduced on better terms but that was it really, I wasn’t going to gripe anymore.
“We know we’re gonna lose money because of them apples you killed so you’re gonna help us out with extra jobs to earn extra money” the green pony said. I nodded curtly and accepted the terms.
“When am I starting?” I asked. I was roughly grabbed and dragged into the barn where I had a large harness strapped around my neck and having a metal pair with a pair of reigns attached shoved in my mouth.
“Right now” she chuckled, climbing onto a large cart “And this will be humiliating for ya’ll” I growled angrily, biting down hard on the metal bar, crushing it in my bite before spitting it out.
“No reigns” I said “I’m not into fetishes” My comment obviously embarrassed the orange pony as her cheeks flushed pink but her angry expression stayed on her face.
“Off to Ponyville now” she said.
“Where?” I asked, genuinely clueless.
“Just walk where I tell ya’ll and we’ll be fine” she sighed “Mac, load up the cart”
I was stood there for ten minutes while they loaded up several hundred sacks of apples and other fruits onto the back of the cart before I had a small pebble bounced off my head.
“Mush pony” she chuckled “And don’t worry, we’ll take regular breaks so your little legs don’t get sore”
“How long does it normally take to get there?” I asked, an idea forming in the back of my mind.
“About twenty minutes” she estimated.
“We’ll be there in fifteen” I chuckled, flexing my legs before bounding off, using my superior strength to haul the cart at a steady speed. The pony was obviously surprised at how fast I could go but I knew she was thinking I couldn’t keep it up for long. I was going to enjoy proving her wrong.
Proving her wrong was a lot more fun tha I’d anticipated. We made it to the small town within fifteen minutes and I was still buzzing with energy despite the effort I had put into it. I looked around as I pulled to a stop and saw many different ponies staring at me in shock.
“What?” I asked “I’m not that good looking am I?” The joke gained a few chuckles and everyone carried on walking past. The orange pony jumped down and untied me from the cart, examining me from head to hoof.
“Ya’ll have got a lot of strength for your size” she commented “I think ya’ll are as strong as mah big brother”
“I take it he’s strong?” I asked, bending my legs slightly to release some built up tension in my knees.
“The strongest” she nodded.
“Not anymore I guess” I chuckled, stepping backwards. I felt a strange vibe in the back of my mind and I froze in place which was good because if I had taken another step I would’ve stuffed my rear into the face of a pink alicorn. I turned around and apologized before stepping to the side. Admitting again, she was really hot and I wasn’t lying to myself but she was probably in a relationship. I shrugged my shoulders and was about to walk off when the orange pony bit down on my tail and yanked me back over to her.
“Where do ya think ya’ll are goin’?” she asked with a smirk “Ya ain’t finished workin’ yet” I mumbled several dirty words under my breath and folded my arms over as I sat down, my eyes locking down on the ground.
“I’ll just wait until you finish talking then” I sighed, tapping my hoof on the ground.
“What did he do?” the alicorn asked the orange pony, looking at me with a sorry expression.
“He destroyed some of ah apples” she said.
“Hardly” I sighed “I was running too fast to stop and I went through a few of the trees and I’m very sorry for it”
“How could you go through trees?” the alicorn asked “You would’ve just face-planted into one”
“Nah Cadance, he went through six of our thickest trees like they were paper” the orange pony said, dusting her hat off “Now get of ya butt and help me unload these apples” I couldn’t believe she hadn’t brought the big red pony along with us to help out with this and I didn’t know how this was going to earn back the money I’d made them lose. I decided to hold my tongue and climbed into the cart, unloading the heavy bags of apples onto the ground softly. The process took a good ten minutes to do before we were done and I was allowed to rest for a while.
“So Applejack, have you seen Twilight anywhere?” the alicorn asked “Shining needs to talk to her about their parents coming to visit”
“Sorry Cadance, ah only just got here a few seconds before ya’ll came over to me” she said with a shake of her head “But ah think she said she might be with Princess Luna today”
“Would you like to come with me?” she offered.
“Sure” the orange pony nodded “But we’ll have to bring him with us” The alicorn looked at me with a polite smile; my response was to give her a cocky half-smile. What the hell was wrong with me? I must’ve been some kind of womanizer before I lost my memory or I was just an asshole. At this point I was stuck between those options.
“Ok fine” the alicorn nodded, turning to face me “What’s your name?” I opened my mouth to answer when I realized once more that I didn’t remember. To give myself more of an air of mystery I looked over my shoulder and shrugged casually. The alicorn looked at me with a confused gaze and shook her head.
“What do you mean?” she asked “You don’t know your name?”
“I knew it I think I just… forgot it” I said.
“Do you remember where you come from?” she asked. I figured she was going through the different strands of simple questions to see if I remembered anything but like I’ve told you several times I couldn’t remember anything that had happened before waking up in that underground room.
“No, all I remember is waking up in some metal chamber underground soaking wet and freezing cold” I answered. I’m just repeating myself right now aren’t I?
“Maybe we should go and see my aunt to see if she can use some of her magic to help you get your memories back” she said “I’m Cadance by the way” I shook her hoof before using my other hoof to sort out my hat. I took it off and checked the inside of it and noticing a brand name inside it.
“Drake’s Boutique?” I read aloud, pondering something in my head for several seconds. I set the hat back down on my head at its angle before grinning happily.
“Just call me Drake from now on” I said, liking the sound of the name “Now let’s go see your aunt”
I whistled in surprise when I saw the size of the enormous castle Cadance had led us to in a place called Canterlot. The walls looked to be made out of ancient stone that despite its age stood strong with no signs of wearing away anytime soon. The huge stained glass windows were amazingly detailed with several images of six different ponies with magical looking items floating around them. The guards around the doors gave warm smiles to the two women but looked at me with frosty eyes. It was a good job that I could make imposing faces when I wanted to; make several of them quickly move out of my stride with caution in their eyes. Something about the marble hallways of the castle made the back of my head twinge as if something locked away was trying to get out and reveal itself to me. I shook my head and almost knocked my hat off while trying to get the feeling to disappear; it was making me feel twitchy and was kind of pissing me off at the time. Thankfully it went away after a few minutes and we were soon making tracks towards wherever it was we were going, I hadn’t been told where exactly it was we were heading but I wasn’t really that bothered to be honest.
“Alright here we are” Cadance said, stopping us outside two huge oak doors “Now remember to be on your best behaviour while talking to my aunts” I nodded and Cadance pushed the doors open which revealed an enormous hall with tapestries, drapes and fine furniture. I walked in and looked around the room, trying to guess the cost of all of the fineries contained in the space.
“This place looks great” I said. I heard a female chuckle behind me and I turned around to see two women sitting on thrones at the end of the hall.
“Why thank you” the large white alicorn said. It was at this point my mouth and tongue moved without me even willing them to.
“Salutationes Principem Celestia” I said, my mind completely spacing out.
“Super vos tam iuvenes visitator” she responded with a nod “It has been a long time since I have met someone with a grasp of that particular language” It was at this moment something unlocked in my head and I suddenly remembered I spoke fluent Latin. Who would’ve guessed it?
“Tell me” she said, gesturing for me to approach her “How did you learn of this language?” I walked over to her and began to structure my sentence when I was interrupted by a feminine purr.
“Well, well, well” a voice said from off to the side “What have we got here?” With a soft landing sound a red mare appeared from seemingly nowhere. She walked over to me and I managed to get a better look at her. Her hair was a dark red colour with her Cutie Mark being a white dagger with a silver hilt. Her mane was long and combed being styled to cover half of her beautiful face. Her body was sleek and curvy but also toned from what seemed like years of training. She was a few inches taller than I was so she had to lower her head down slightly to look at me in the face. She flashed me a cute smile before tilting her head and biting her lip.
“You’ve shrunk my friend” she stated “And what happened to your wings?”
“I think you must be confusing me with someone else” I said, my face covered in confusion. It was at this point that she suddenly moved her head forward and kissed me passionately. My instincts kicked in and I kissed back using my tongue to great effect. She tasted like ripe cherries in the summertime, a great taste in my opinion. She broke away from me and giggled.
“No, I’m certain it’s you” she said “You’re not the kind of person I’d want to forget… but why have you forgotten me?”
“I’ve forgotten a lot of stuff recently” I shrugged “I guess you’re one of them” Realization dawned on her face and she nodded knowingly, obviously enlightened to something I wasn’t.
“So you actually went through with it?” she asked “I never thought you would give up so much”
“Give up what?” I asked “What did I do?”
“You even forget about that?” she asked with a whistle “That must’ve been painful”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded, starting to lose my temper.
“Have you even finished puberty yet?” she mocked “You seem a little more irritable than usual” I growled angrily and grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air using my arm.
“What do you know about me?” I demanded.
“I promised not to tell anyone” she said with a grin.
“Who did you promise?” I growled, tightening my grip and glowering at her.
“Who do you think?” she asked “You made me promise” With that she winked before disappearing in a flash of red light, making everyone gathered flinch. I was extremely annoyed at this point, having someone who apparently knew everything about who I used to be but was jinxed not to tell me. An angry snarl still plastered my face until I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to wash a calming hoof over the disturbed pool of emotions inside me. As the pool stilled I could feel my anger extinguishing and my calmness regaining a hold over my mind. I opened my eyes once more to see my nose almost rubbing against the chest of the white alicorn. I held my breath to try and not look like a weirdo by sniffing her chest so instead I stepped back quickly.
“Who was that?” she asked, locking eyes with me.
“I have no idea” I shrugged. She suddenly whipped her hoof towards my head but I caught her arm quickly, giving her a questioning look.
“I’m going to examine your mind to see if there’s something you can’t remember” she said “Don’t worry, I won’t pry into something I’m not supposed to”
“Not like I’ve got any secrets to hide anyway” I shrugged letting go of her arm and allowing her to touch me head. She wasn’t lying about not prying into anything secret. But what she conveniently forgot to tell me was that the process was going to hurt. A lot. The mind search was like a sword being rammed into my ear and having it be twisted several times so it was only natural that some kind of defence magic came into effect. The alicorn was blasted back several metres by a red energy field that seemed to be protecting me.
“What…” I panted, my skin still tingling from the after effects of the pain “The fuck was that!?”
“You’ve got some kind of barrier placed around you” she said, getting back to her hooves “That prevents anyone from getting into your mind without causing you and the intruder unimaginable agony, but for the few seconds I was in your mind I could tell that your memories haven’t been blocked off, they’ve been completely erased”
“Erased?” the dark alicorn asked walking over to the white alicorn “Only the most powerful of ponies can wipe someone’s mind like you’re suggesting”
“And if I’m following the correct magical pattern then the one who erased your memory and placed that barrier on you” she said taking a deep breath “Was yourself” At this point my jaw dropped low and confusion spread over my face, my mind whirring around in circles.
“I did this to myself?” I asked in shock “What the hell did I want to forget so bad”
“I can answer that for you” a voice spoke inside my head. This was the point where I was wondering if I was losing my mind… again. I was hearing voices in my head just after I’d learned that I’d wiped my own memory and out up a barrier that could drive me insane with agony if I wanted an answer to the question. Was I some kind of murdering rapist before I wiped my mind?
“Don’t give any hints that I’m talking to you” the voice said quickly “I don’t want that white cow prying through your little head anymore” I looked at my brow and pulled a strange expression that didn’t seem to go unnoticed by the dark alicorn.
“I think one of them knows I’m here” the voice said “Just meet me behind Sugarcube Corner tonight and we can talk” At that point I was probably expecting for this telepath to try and rape me or something but I was a strong guy so I wasn’t really that worried about it. With that the voice disappeared from my mind and I started to feel a little bit better, like that contact had somehow revitalized me. I realized I was still getting still getting dirty looks from the dark alicorn so I decided to confront her about it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, trying to keep a casual tone “Do you have a crush on me or something?”
“You wish” she scoffed.
“Not really” I chuckled “But seriously why are you staring at me?”
“You were just having a telepathic conversation with someone just a minute ago weren’t you?” she asked.
“Uh, no” I said, shaking my head “I don’t know how to use magic much less be a telepath”
“Wait, you can’t use magic?” the white alicorn asked “Why not?”
“No memories remember?” I asked “I can’t remember how to channel the magical energy”
“That’s pretty pathetic” the dark alicorn chuckled.
“How about I wipe your mind of everything you know how to do except walk, talk and breathe and see how well you get on afterwards?” I asked. Christ this was getting annoying, sitting here arguing with a woman I’ve never even met before and I was getting quite sick of it.
“Go ahead and try” she said, rolling her eyes “I’d destroy you in seconds”
“But there wouldn’t be a contest” I said “I don’t hit women” She shook her head before turning away from me and walking back to the throne she had been sat on earlier.
“If ya’ll don’t mind, ah’d to know where Twilight’s gotten to today” the orange pony said “Wasn’t she s’possed to be with Princess Luna?”
“She went to visit her brother about something several minutes before you arrived” the white alicorn answered “I think she said her parents were coming to visit or something similar”
“Alrighty then, thanks” she nodded before grabbing me by the tail “C’mon then Casanova, we’ve got work to do” I sighed loudly as I was dragged out of the hall backwards by the orange pony and down a flight of stairs.
We arrived at a large house that was built into a tree and from what I’d been told it was also a library. These ponies were weird sometimes you know? Applejack knocked on the door and waited for several seconds before it swung open to reveal a large white unicorn, the same size as me, with a shaggy blue mane. He smiled at Applejack but cast a strange glance. I decided to fuck with him for several minutes so I pointed my hoof out and cried.
“Onward my steed!” to Applejack. The mare rolled her eyes and dragged me inside the house which made the unicorn give me and even weirder look. Applejack spun once and threw me into the air. I flipped over backwards and landed on my hooves before settling down into a sitting position.
“Nice” she nodded.
“All you AJ” I smirked, wiping a hoof on my chest and straightening my hat once more.
“Applejack is that you?” a female voice called from another room.
“Yup!” Applejack answered “C’mere a minute!” After a few seconds a lavender pony walked out of the room wearing a strange looking crown with a purple gem set into it. She placed the crown down on a table and walked over to Applejack smiling happily at her friend. It only just occurred to me that I was getting really thirsty from all the walking I had been doing, so I decided to voice my problem.
“Do you mind if I get a drink?” I asked.
“Sure, I’ll fix us all something” the lavender pony said. She went to walk past me when she seemed to sense something while in proximity to me. She turned to face me and tapped a hoof on her chin.
“Are you wearing some kind of magical artefact?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously before grabbing my hat off my head. My head suddenly felt cold despite my ruffled mane keeping my head warm normally and I missed my hat now. She examined it with a critical eye before she deemed it to be unimportant and placed it awkwardly back on my head. I went cross-eyed as I attempted to look at my hat and she giggled at my stupid face.
“You’ve got a strange aura around you from some kind of ancient magic, something that doesn’t exist anymore” she said “But I can’t tell where it’s coming from”
“Maybe it’s coming from me?” I suggested, taking a wild guess.
“That’s impossible though” she said “The kind of magic I’m detecting died with the Guild Master over three thousand years ago” The mention of the words guild master made me space out slightly, my pupils dilating and my mouth hanging open slightly.
“Are… you Ok?” she asked. I straightened my hat and shook my head before growling angrily.
“I need to go” I said, excusing myself and bolting out of the house, leaving the others far behind. I ran for several minutes, looking at sign posts that would direct me to Sugarcube Corner to find the woman who wanted to meet me there.
The summer’s day may have been lovely and warm but the night was cold and unforgiving, almost dropping to the same temperature as the place I woke up in. I had been sat there for several hours waiting for the sun to go down so I could meet up with this lovely young woman I’d been talking to. I was pretty sure that it was the same chick that had ninja poofed away from me in Canterlot earlier that day and I was expecting to see her. She seemed to already know everything about me and I wasn’t going to let her get away this time until she answered some of my questions. The cold eventually began to get to me and I lay down with myself propped up against a wall, crossing my arms against my body to try and seal in some warmth.
“Are we getting cold?” a female voice asked from my right side. I turned my head to look at her as she walked over to me, my guess about it being the same woman on target but she appeared slightly different. Her hairstyle mirrored Cadance’s almost exactly except the fringe came lower over her face and stopped just over her muzzle. She wore a dark red choker studded with that looked like polished and cut sapphires, something that looked extremely expensive.
“I’m sorry I left you here so long” she said, walking over to me and standing next to me “Do you need some help warming up?”
“No, I’ll be fine thanks” I refused, smiling politely. Despite my turning down of her offer she climbed on top of me and lay down, resting her head under my neck and wrapping her arms around me.
“Are you sure about that?” she asked, giving me bedroom eyes.
“I’m… not really sure about many things right now” I said dumbly “Wow” She giggled and pushed herself up, trailing her right hoof up and down my chest slowly.
“I need to ask you a few questions” I said, hating to break up the fun mood.
“About?” she asked me, our red eyes locking as a smile spread across her face.
“I heard a name today that reminded me of something” I said “The Guild Master” Her eyes seemed to light up briefly and a grin spread across her face as if she knew something about the name.
“Ah yes, that was a name you held highly in your life” she nodded, tracing my jawline with the tip of her hoof with a glint in her eye.
“Who was the Guild Master?” I asked, staring into her burning red eyes “And what was it that made me admire them so much?”
“Well that’s an easy one, but it’s a long story so we might want to go somewhere more comfortable” she said, a quick wink followed by her getting up off me “Follow me please”
She unlocked the door to her large house in one of Canterlot’s best looking areas and allowed me to step inside first before entering herself. The entrance hall was grand and expensive looking. I knew the ponies around here must’ve had something for tapestries but something about these caught my eye. Instead of tapestries that glorified the royal princesses and their many accomplishments these tapestries were adorned with strange runes I didn’t recognize… I didn’t know if I remembered how to read at this point so it wasn’t anything too bad if I didn’t recognize them but on with the story! The tapestries depicted battles against dark, mutilated foes with two centre figures battling them with what looked like powerful white magic. The largest of the two of them was covered in shining white armour but was obviously an alicorn judging by the, this will be a no-shit moment right here, wings that were extended with armour coating them and the large pointed horn on their head. They wore a long, flowing white and gold cape with a crown resting on their head with a large red gem set into the head of it. The crown was less flamboyant and gem-filled as it went for a more plain appearance that led me to believe the wearer was a male and another no-shit moment was the definition and armour he wore, another gesture that he was indeed male. The second figure was less armoured than the male and it was a female garbed in dark red armour, wearing a headdress that seemed to be made of finely crafted gold wires, giving it an ivy-looking pattern with a similar crest in the centre to the ones on the tapestries. The bottom was made up of a golden wreath with a blank ivory medal in the middle that reached around two lions standing with their front paws pressed against a triangular shaped piece of ivory with a dragon’s head carved into it. The symbol seemed familiar to me and the sight of it made me feel like I was safe, that as long as the crest was near me nothing would dare to try and attack me.
“I see you’ve noticed the tapestries” she said, standing alongside me, lightly pressing her flank against mine “What do you think of them?”
“They’re amazing, what are they depicting?” I asked, turning my head to find hers a little closer to mine than I’d realized.
“The battle that founded modern-day Equestria when Commander Hurricane passed into the void after she was brutally murdered by denizens of the dark that wanted control over Equestria to bring on an eternal night” she said “These creatures are what was believed to have inspired Nightmare Moon to take on the form she did, very reminiscent over the Daemon Lord Dracvulskar, a master vampire that controlled the forces of the Daemons”
“Nightmare Moon?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
“A lesson for another time” she said, waving off the question quickly “But this shows the Guild Master and his most trusted ally fending off hundreds of thousands of the Daemons on their own to protect their homestead of Canterlot Castle while their reinforcements arrived, they were hard pressed to defend themselves from the onslaught”
“And did they?” I asked, looking back up at the figure in armour.
“Of course, they eventually managed to push the Daemon forces back far enough that by the time their reinforcements arrived the Daemons were weakened to the point they fled the battle and refused to step near Canterlot as long as the Guild Master took refuge in its walls” she said, a look of nostalgia settling over her face as she explained.
“They were scared of him?” I asked.
“Terrified” she nodded “The Guild Master was ranked among the top ten most powerful ponies to have ever existed in Equestria”
“What ranking is he now?” I asked. She allowed herself a little chuckle before looking at me in the eyes.
“Number one” she said “He was so powerful that he could overpower both of the royal sisters in combat if he wanted to”
“Wow” I said, the stories of this guy already showed me why I looked up to him so much.
“And between me and you there is a battle between the three of them that was stricken from the history books in which Celestia and her sister lashed out in anger at the Guild Master and challenged him in secret” she said.
“What happened?” I asked, this had peaked my interest.
“He met with them and they unleashed every skill and power they had on them for a full minute, tearing holes in the ground around him and the universe itself” she recounted “The two sisters were so exhausted from their flurry off attacks that they almost fainted when they found their attacks had done nothing to even slow the Guild Master down”
“What did he do to them?” I asked.
“He didn’t do anything to them” she chuckled “He merely walked past them and refused to speak to them, withdrawing all the help and support his order was giving the sisters and leaving Equestria altogether”
“Wow” I nodded “I bet they weren’t happy”
“They were stricken with guilt for years afterwards as the young Equestria didn’t have the strength to defend itself at that point and the two girls lacked the power to fight off anything larger than a small army for more than a few months” she said “I guess it was luck that nothing challenged them after the Guild Master left them, they were able to build up their army and country little by little until we reach the present day” she said, stretching with a yawn before walking towards the stairs.
“I’m tired” she announced “Are you ready for sleep yet?”
“I guess I am” I nodded.
“Care to join me?” she offered, locking eyes with me once more “Don’t worry, I don’t bite” The thought process going through my head at this point was something similar to this: huminah, huminah, huminah, huminah! I knew I was going to make a fool of myself before I mentally slapped myself across the face and allowed my cool side to kick in.
“Well” I said, my voice sounding deeper than usual “If you’re offering I’m not really in a position to refuse” I gave her a suave smile before following her up the large stairs and through the hallways and into the master bedroom. Everything in the room appeared expertly made from the window panes to the large wardrobes she had in the room. Her eyes fell on me as she lay down on her side on the bed, patting it lazily with her hoof.
“C’mon” she winked “Don’t keep me waiting any longer than you already have” I believed I had hit the jackpot on this one!
We both lay panting underneath the covers, our eyes glowing visibly as we looked at each other. I gave her a kiss on the neck before collapsing next to her with a sigh, sweat coating both of us.
“I’ve missed you” she said, her chest expanding and collapsing rapidly as she tried to steady her breath.
“You still haven’t told me who you are you know?” I asked, rubbing her side with my hoof.
“And I’m not going to” she giggled “But I’ll tell you my name for now”
“And?” I asked.
“Cheryl” she said “What have you taken to calling yourself now?”
“Drake” I answered with a nod.
“Mmm, I quite like that name” she said, snuggling closer to my body. I wrapped my arm over her body and held her close, resting my head above hers.
“Goodnight” she said with a loud yawn.
“Night Cheryl” I nodded, rubbing her back with my hoof slowly as I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning to the sun in my face, shining in from a gap in the large drapes. My eyes cracked open slowly, a horrible taste in my mouth, and I looked around to remember where I was. I remembered last night’s antics and a smile spread onto my face as I looked down at Cheryl who hadn’t seemed to have moved at all during the night. I knew I needed to brush my teeth really badly as the taste in my mouth was disgusting and made me want to spit all over the place.
“Good morning” Cheryl said, pushing herself up and stretching with a yawn.
“Morning” I nodded “How did you sleep?”
“Like I was supposed to” she said “Right next to you” She pressed a hoof to her mane and tutted loudly, noticing that it was frazzled and out of place.
“I hate mornings” she growled.
“Me too” I said, turning onto my back and resting my hooves on the back of my head “I’m finding it difficult to motivate myself to get up right now”
“Typical” she tutted, rolling her eyes “You always were lazy during the mornings” She kicked the bed covers off herself and climbed out, trotting over to the bathroom and locking the door behind her. I had been beaten in a race to the bathroom I didn’t know I was in and I still needed to brush my teeth. I got out of the bed and looked at myself in the mirror, my eyes still glowing faintly as they did last night, and my mane was a complete mess though not as bad as Cheryl’s. As I was looking I realized I wasn’t wearing my hat anymore and after a quick survey of the room I discovered that it was nowhere to be seen. I really liked that hat and didn’t want to stop wearing it; it suited me in my opinion, so I walked around to look for it.
“Well I figured I might as well give myself a tour of the house anyway” I shrugged, putting on a grin as I got ready for a little adventure.