Vol woke up the same way he had during the night, pistol raised as he swept the room for threats. Between the sleeping Night Guard and the frozen Fluttershy, there was nothing else in the room. The critters had yet to make a group presence to either Vol or K9, which was fine to the human.

"Sorry," he muttered to Fluttershy as he holstered his pistol and stood up to stretch. K9 mimicked his master before plopping back onto his rear quarters with his tongue hanging from his maw.

"I-It's alright," Fluttershy whispered, an eye hidden by her mane, "Would you like some breakfast?"

Vol was about to decline but his stomach decided to loudly make the decision for him. The yellow pegasus lifted a hoof to hide her soft chuckle.

"I guess that's a yes. If you don't mind," Vol replied.

"Oh," she smiled, "Not at all. What would you like?"

Sugar Bombs. "Anything will be fine," he replied, not falling victim to one of his guilty pleasures. Sugar Bombs was a very tasting cereal but it wasn't one that should be eaten very often as it, as the name implied, was a very sugary confection.

"Alright," was her response as she moved into the kitchen area. Vol smiled at her retreating form. She was a very nice pony. She had taken him in, offered to heal him, was about to feed him, and still hadn't asked for compensation. The smile faltered; what would the compensation be? Would he have enough caps to cover not only his fees but the fees of the batpony he had dragged into her home?

Cross that bridge when it comes, I guess.

With time to himself, he found himself thinking about where he was. He was far from home, that much was for sure. His guess was that he had somehow been transported to a different planet but even that was hard to truly believe. A part of him still thought that it was all a dream and that he'd wake up in his bed ready to hunt. The other part, the rational part, knew that this was his new reality. It knew that he was currently existing on a live, bountiful world full of colorful, talking ponies.

The craziest thing is that he didn't mind the change in scenery. Sure, he'd miss his friends but, here, he felt at peace for once in his life. There were no junk metal walls. No guard towers and their occupants. The air was crisp and the sunlight wasn't harmful.

It was what many of the "Christians" back home would've called heaven and here he was, living in it.

Vol's gaze fell on the batpony on the coffee table. Hs mind reeled itself back in at the sight of her wounds. This wasn't a perfect world. These beings still had to defend themselves from threats that wished for their death. While not as ever present as it was in Vol's home, it was still present.

As if feeling his gaze, the batpony stirred. She coughed and started trying to rise to an upright laying position. In an instant, Vol was there to help her. Though she crunched her face in discomfort, she was soon settled in her new position, sighing in content.

"Thanks," she muttered before giving a single cough and shaking her head as if the act would cease the coughing, "what time is it?"

The human looked out at the window at the sun rising steadily into the sky, "Morning. Maybe seven, eight?"

The batpony's response was lost as she got a face full of dog tongue. The batpony giggled as she weakly tried to push the brown and back dog away while trying to pull her face the other way. Having dealt with the kids back home, K9 knew not to press on the attack. The dog opted, instead, to sit down in front of Moonlit with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

Showing a dexterity that surprised Vol, Moonlit reached out with one wing and used the tip to scratch the dog's head. As the dog enjoyed the attention and the batpony made soft cooing noises, Vol found himself entranced by the membrane wings of the batpony. The leading edge looked to be solid bone and muscle but, due to how it was bending, Vol thought it safe to assume that it was more muscle than bone. Three veins of muscle went from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The rest of the wing was a very thin skin. The metal blades that used to cap the leading edge of the wing sat against the wall next to the couch. Her midnight blue armor sat next to the blades.

With Moonlit busy with K9, Vol decided to see if Fluttershy needed help with the food situation. Walking into the kitchen, he spotted the yellow pegasus in front of an oven, humming a soft tune to herself. The smell of cooking food wafted through the air, entering his nostrils with a vengeance.

"Smells good."

"EEP!"

The yellow pegasus jumped about a foot in the air. She then landed with a flanging clop of four hooves hitting at once. It would've been a cute reaction...

If the food hadn't gone flying with her. A brown saucer and the pan it had been residing on was launched into the air. Despite popular opinion, both objects came down at about the same speed. They were both also arcing for a certain human. In a natural reaction, Vol put his hands up to catch the object going for his face. Luckily, this was the brown saucer that Vol guessed was the food. Grabbing it, he tried not to squeeze it too hard. Sadly, this left the pan to collide with his chest with an audible clang before falling to the floor with a thud.

----------

Oh no! Fluttershy screamed inwardly as she saw the human get hit by the pan. He had caught the pancake and was currently holding it in one hand as he looked down at the pan. The pegasus couldn't tell what he was thinking but she doubted it was anything good.

"I'm sorry!" she yelled in a whisper as she sunk closer to the floor, her hair flowing over one eye as she looked to the floor.

She was confused when she started hearing laughter. Looking up, she saw Vol barking out laughter with one hand held to his gut. The laughter was harsh and deep but she still recognized it as laughter. Needless to say, she was confused.

"It's alright Fluttershy," he said between laughs.

"What's going on in here?" questioned the Night Guard as she limped into the kitchen, followed closely by K9, his head tilted in confusion. Fluttershy cowered a little lower to the ground as the batpony came into the room. Those fangs frightened Fluttershy, reminding her of the stories she was told as a foal of vamponies.

"I was making-"

"Can you speak up?" asked the Night Guard. Fluttershy noticed that Vol quieted in his boisterous laughter.

Fluttershy sighed before trying again, louder this time, "I was making breakfast when Vol scared me and I jumped, causing the food and pan to go flying."

"And Vol caught the pancake while getting hit by the pan," the Night Guard finished, giving a little chuckle.

"I'm really sorry," Fluttershy whispered as she sunk closer to the floor, her gaze aimed at the wooden grains. She about took off again when she felt appendages softly grasp her chin. She could feel the softness of the gloves he wore, briefly wondering what they were made of. A little bit of force was applied to her chin, causing her to look up at Vol's eyes as he was crouched in front of her. She could only see one of his green eyes as the other was covered with his mane. The one she could see, though, was empty of any anger that she expected. Instead, it held care and... hurt. Behind that, there was even more. A hardness that Fluttershy imagined came from his life. There was fear, love, hurt, but most of all there was determination. It fed the small fire in his eye. Instantly, she knew that Vol would never be one to give up at the slightest provocation.

She found herself entranced.

--------

Vol scanned the visible eye of the pony. Her blue eyes held nothing but love and care behind the fear she held for him at the moment. As she looked at him, he could see the fear slowly dissolve, revealing a layer behind the love and care. It was a fear of a different kind, he could see that. If he was to guess, he'd say that it was a fear of expectations; of disappointing people.

He smiled softly, "It's alright Fluttershy. I would be lying if I said that was the first time I've been hit by a pan and, trust me, the other times hurt a lot worse. I should've realized that I'd startle you. For that, I am sorry."

With that said, he let go of her chin and duck walked backward a few steps before standing. He watched silently as the yellow pegasus got stood straight. Vol glanced back at Moonlit to see something in her eyes but it was gone as soon as she saw him looking her way. K9 was just sitting off to the side, scratching at his ear.

"Want to help get breakfast ready Moonlit?" Vol asked as he plucked the pan from the floor.

She shrugged, "Sure, as long as you call me Moon from now on."

"Oh, um," Fluttershy stammered, "It's alright, I don't need-"

"It's alright Fluttershy, we want to help. It's our breakfast too. Just tell us what to do."

"O-okay, um, well I need a new pan. A-and the syrup needs to get pulled out and heated," she explained.

"Syrup duty! Called it!" Moon stated with enthusiasm as she eagerly limped to the fridge. Vol chuckled as he looked at the pan in his hands. It didn't look too dirty from the flying trip it took but he wasn't going to question the pegasus's need for a new one. He was in a different world, after all.

"New pan on it's way."

--------

Unicorn magic was the main thing that made the lives of the Equestrians as easy and efficient as it was. One such application of unicorn magic was the web of teleportation channels used by mail offices to get mail around the nation. It was with the use of this system that caused a knock to sound on Princess Twilight's door.

"Enter," she called out, not looking up from her desk as the door creaked open. She was currently reading a thesis called 'How Magic Effects the World'. It was about how an overuse in the magical properties could lead to a negative impact on the world. So far, the scholarly alicorn found no noteworthy arguments.

"A letter from Ponyville, Your Highness. I brought it straight to you, as requested."

This caused the alicorn to look up at her guest. Her guest was a tan furred mare with a fiery red mane and tail, the tips of which were dyed purple as a tribute to her employer. Wings, capped with blades, poked out from the lavender robes she wore. Her rose colored eyes had flakes of orange in them, giving the appearance of flickering fire if the light caught them at the right angle. Tucked under her right wing was the scroll in question.

"Thank you Flicker. Do you know who it is from?" Twilight asked, setting her book aside as her aide/bodyguard walked up to her desk.

"The band says it's from a 'Fluttershy', Your Highness," Flicker replied before reaching back, grasping it softly in her mouth, and then setting it on the desk.

Twilight rolled her eyes with a smile, "What have I told you about the 'Highness' thing?"

"And I have stated my discomfort in calling a Princess, and my employer, anything but," Flicker replied respectfully with a stoic face that Twilight had grown used to.

"So, you're not going to stop?" Twilight asked with a sigh. She sighed again when Flickering Flame shook her head.

"Not until I repay you for saving my life," she stated.

Twilight looked at the letter in thought of her bodyguard's words. Twilight had been taking a flight over the poorer sections of Canterlot per Celestia's assignment. The assignment had been to examine the citizens of Canterlot and have ideas on how to improve the city. While on the flight, she had spotted Flickering Flame in an alley surrounded by a handful of stallions and mares. All of them looked worse for wear, whatever clothes they did of were in tatters.

Needless to say, Twilight stepped in and ended the fight before it began. Later did she learn that Flicker was the victim of an attempted rape. Attempted because Flicker had 'incapacitated' the stallion. Next thing anypony knew, Twilight had been standing in front of Celestia with a bewildered Flicker at her side, asking about the employing process.

It was later on did Flicker get her training in wing blades. She took to it like Spike to ice cream. Now, while serving as Twilight's aide, she also served as her closest Guard.

"You are dismissed, Flicker," Twilight stated. Flicker nodded before turning and walking out of the room, her robe making a soft swishing noise as she moved. Taking the letter in her aura, Twilight popped off the band and unrolled it. Her eyes scanned it, widening as she read.

"Oh dear," she whispered. Taking a blank scroll, she set it on the desk while she levitated a quill into ink before moving it to the paper.

"Princess Luna, I have discovered the location of your missing Night Guard. She is with my friend Fluttershy in Ponyville. I will take Flicker with me and head to Ponyville as Fluttershy has requested my aide with the discovery of a new creature.

Princess Twilight"

She then took another scroll and wrote a similar letter to Celestia. She roll them both up and banded them with two purple bands and a seal that held her star. She then teleported the scrolls to the rooms of the two Princesses.

"Flicker!" she called out. The door was instantly swung open, said mare stepping into the room with eyes scanning for danger. Finding none, she looked at her employer expectantly.

"Have a chariot prepared for me."

"At once Your Highness," Flicker replied before trotting out of the room, closing the door. Even with the door closed, Twilight could still hear her barking orders at the 'regular' members of Twilight's newly formed Dusk Guard.

The alicorn's eyes flickered back to the letter that spurred this quick motion. She re-read the first sentence with a frown and a sigh. Rubbing her temples, the frown was replaced with a look of worry.

"Please be okay Fluttershy." Next Chapter: Merely Cautious Estimated time remaining: 13 Minutes