I opened my eyes, feeling as though I had simply blinked rather than slept, despite the light that was filtering through the window in the room I was residing in.

Sitting up and swinging my legs off the bed, my feet hit the ground with a metallic thud, bringing my attention to the fact I had slept in the clothes I wore before my arrival at the castle, which, while the actual clothes were nothing to mention, having done this i the past, I was mildly surprised I had slept in the armoured gauntlets and boots.

Quickly moving on from the thought, my attention was drawn to the mask on the drawers beside me.
Picking it up, I contemplated leaving it off for the day.

No! You'll need it. The power. You'll need the power.

I had no idea how those thoughts had come up, but I put the mask on again, regardless and was immediately besieged with the same droning I heard yesterday, only it seemed quieter and... quicker.

Dismissing it as nothing, I opened my door to step out, but stopped as a hornless and wingless mare stumbled forward, almost bumping me with her nose.

Looking up into the confused look in my eyes, she quickly bowed and stammered an apology. "P-p-please f-forgive me. I-I did not intend to d-disturb thee."

Chuckling, I put a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze, say, "There is no need to apologise. Simply tell me why you were at my door."

Calming slightly, she shakily replied, "I was requested to bring thee to the princess, so thou might break thy fast with them."

Giving her my affirmative, I fell into step behind her as she led me through the castle and into the grand dining hall, Where both princesses sat at opposite ends of the table with a sizable crowd of ponies between them.

As I entered, Luna noticed and silenced the current conversations by raising her hoof slightly.
Pushing herself off of the chair she was on, which I still haven't found a reason for why these quadrupeds need them, she said, "T'would seem our last guest hath arrived. Please, come sit and dine with us, Jack of Blades," at an absurd volume, that visibly distorted the air, which I soon came to understand to be the 'Royal Canterlot Voice'.

For the third time since appearing in this land, I suddenly gained an understand of how to use some of my Will.

Using this new knowledge, I made my voice seem to come from everywhere in the room at once, and said, "Thank you for the invitation, princess," and took a seat immediately to the left of a very familiar stallion who had his gaudy clothes open at the front, revealing bandages around barrel.

'Pathetic,' I thought as I noticed his behaviour become tense and a scowl cross his features.

After a few seconds, conversation returned to those gathered, but most of it was hushed and included glances in my general direction

"Jack, was it?" a motherly voice asked in a normal tone, bringing my attention to the white pony princess. "Forgive us, but pray tell, what, precisely, art thou? We have never before seen a being such as thee."

Interlacing my fingers, I kept my eyes with hers and rested my elbows on the table, stating, "I'm afraid that is a question for another time, princess."

An indignant huff from my right snapped my attention to the pony beside me for a brief moment, before I returned my attention to the princess, continuing, "Suffice to say, I doubt you will encounter another of my kind any time soon."

"Woulds't thou be willing to share how earned thy title?"

Calling on my knowledge, I answered, "It is the title I held as a member of The Court when we ruled over the denizens of Albion."

Before she could ask another question, I interjected, "My apologies, but I seem to have missed your name, Princess...?"

"Celestia."

"Thank you."

No sooner had I said that, several door opened and ponies dressed in simpler clothes than the 'nobles' came out carrying trays of food, which they quickly placed in the centre of the table.

I hadn't expected to see foods such as pancakes and waffles, yet they were all there.
But what shocked me the most was when Celestia had taken a large plate of pancakes, a pony with a cloth tied around its muzzle came appeared, carrying a small jug of sorts that smelled sweet beyond description, and Celestia poured it onto her breakfast.

Despite being surrounded by ponies who were all eating what would normally be considered irresistible food, I found myself surprisingly uninterested in any of it and didn't feel even the slightest bit hungry.

Pouring myself a cup of tea, from one of the many elegant pots provided, I left it steep a bit after adding a slice of lemon.

This did not go unnoticed, however, because Celestia soon noticed. "Why dost thou not partake in the foods provided? Thou art welcome to."

I lifted he bottom of my mask away just far enough to take a sip of my tea before answering. "I do not find myself hungry, princess."

This was the last straw, apparently, for the stallion beside me, because he slammed his fore-hooves on the table and started. "Thou art an ungrateful-!"

He was cut off as my right elbow caught him between the eyes with enough force to topple his seat backwards, sending him sprawling.

Quickly getting his legs under him, he magically grabbed the sword of one of the present guards and swung it at me.
twisting out of my chair, I stopped the blade with the armoured part of my left forearm and grabbed it's hilt with my right hand.

When I held the blade in front of me, a red aura quickly covered the blade.
I looked at it in shock as the aura grew larger and less transparent until it appeared as though I was holding a piece of thick, red smoke.

As the aura vanished the room was filled with gasps as what was once a steel shortsword, by my standards, became a longsword with two separate sections, one black and the other gold.
As I held it, I knew straight away that this was an Old Kingdom weapon.

Looking back at the noble, I said, "Count yourself lucky I dare not taint this blade with blood as pathetic as yours," and reached over my shoulder, letting it hang alongside the Sword of Aeons.

As I let go of the hilt, I was once again graced with the Royal Canterlot Voice, this time from Celestia. "Jack of Blades, wouldst thou kindly refrain from assaulting our subjects?"

Turning to face her, I noted the only slightly irritated expression she wore and said, "I am sorry. I meant no disrespect. The same cannot be said for him," and gestured the stallion who was glaring at me for all he was worth.

"We are aware of the challenge thou received. We apologise for-"

"No," I interrupted, "You should not apologise for the actions of another."

She was about to make a rebuttal, but closed her mouth with the tiniest of smiles, before her horn lit for the briefest moment and the simply-dressed ponies returned and took away the many plates and tray on the table.

When it was cleared the nobles left, except for a single mare who approached and said, "I thank thee for teaching him a lesson," gesturing to the noble I had struck, before. "Mine brother is most unpleasant," she added before turning and leaving.

As I watched the mare leave, princess Celestia made her way beside me.
"We understand thou came here with a request?" she asked as the doors closed with a resounding boom.

"I did," I answered, keeping my eyes on the door.

"We must prepare for the day court. If thou wishes, we would be willing to hear thine plea and see if we can help."

"Your assistance would be most appreciated," I said, turning to face her.

"Excellent! Our day court is not for yet another hour, so, wouldst thou like to see the royal gardens?"

"I have no reason not to."

"Then we shall escort thee ourselves and send somepony to inform thee when we are prepared."

"Very well then."

As she led me though the castle, she made numerous attempts at small talk, but was constantly blocked when I gave her one word answers.

When we arrived at the gardens, she said her goodbyes for the moment and re-entered the castle.

As I left Jack in the gardens, I started thinking about his presence.

It was unlike anything I had ever known. Dark and ambitious.
And his casual attitude towards violence was startling, to say the least.

Then there was his magic.
'How can he even use it? He doesn't have a horn.'

The raw power that had transformed the blade was something very ponderous indeed.

'Mayhaps, I shall go to the library after day court and see what I can find out.'

With the princess gone, I took to wandering around the grounds until I came face to face with the nuisance of a noble that apparently had something against me and I did not like the smug smile he had.

"Thou hast irked me for the last time, beast!" he said. "Thou shalt not walk away from this."

When he finished speaking, around a dozen rough looking ponies stepped out of the bushes, armed with blades ranging from daggers to claymores, all sized to a pony's requirements.

Reaching up, I grabbed the hilt of the Sword of Aeons and held it with one hand, saying, "This is hardly a fair fight. You should stand down while you can."

The mercenaries all laughed when I said it. One of them stepped forward and said, "WE should stand down? HA! Thou art outnumbered! When we have slain thee, I shall keep thy head as a trophy!"

Knowing that money had clearly dulled their common sense, I held my weapon ready. A thin blue aura appeared long the forward edge as power flowed through it and I waited for them to make the first move.

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger!!!

I am truly sorry about leaving you all on it, but I measure out my chapters on how much data they take up, and the maximum I allow is 10KB, with a 1KB leeway for if I get caught up in it or get overly tired.

Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter, but after the next, I'm going to have to ask whether or not I should switch to the 'mature' tag, for gore.

Also, any major conflicts and their build ups will be named 'Past conflict: ???' or 'Present Conflict: ???'

Finally, I have five of the names for my upcoming(but not for a while) alicorn antagonist.
Please comment the one you prefer, and I'll tally them before the next chapter and let you know the winner.
Here's the names:
1) Cernunnos
2) Sucellus
3) Malpighiales
4) Gaia (I was hoping to avoid this one and its obviousness)
5) Terrace