I awoke to the alarm going off, ‘urgh, 7:00? fucking mornings’ I thought as I turned the alarm on the laptop off before slamming the screen down for the added satisfaction, I sat up in bed, with my feet on the floor, I muttered cursing’s as I stood up and got dressed into my under armour before walking out of the rucksack and starting to look for the bathroom; and the shower located inside, I eventually found it and stepped inside.

---

I stepped out of the bathroom about five minutes later and made my way back to my rucksack to pick up my laptop (I usually work quicker when listening to music), before walking into the kitchen and placing the laptop on a worktop away from any cooking equipment or sinks, I then went into the music player and selected the Beatles: SGT Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, as I was in the mood for something a little more easy on the ears, I then put on the cooker and started cooking with the sound of the 60’s pouring out of the laptops speakers, bobbing my head along to the tune, Autumn walked into the kitchen as ‘Getting Better’ started playing.

“Good morning” I said, she seemed slightly amused by my upbeat demeanour.

“Well, somepony sure is cheerful this morning” she said, smirking slightly.

“I felt in the mood for something a little more… happy” I said, turning over the sausages “this is the sort of music my dad listened to, so I grew up listening to them as kid”

“How exactly did that develop into what you listen to nowadays?” she asked.

“You mean heavy Metal?” I asked, she nodded “my dad also listened to all of the classic rock bands in the seventies and eighties; Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath you name it, he probably listened to it, he had an impressive collection of vinyl L.P.s”

“How many?” Autumn asked.

“About 1’600” I said, shrugging my shoulders, Autumn did a double take.

“1600‽” she asked in surprise

“Give or take a few hundred” I said, nodding “anyway, my taste in music developed from my Dad’s, just like heavy metal developed from rock, oh, and speaking of heavy metal, when you listen to Sabaton later, take my advice, start with the earliest album: Primo Victoria, and work from there, each album is better than the last, if you start with the most recent one; Heroes, then you just be disappointed with the earlier albums” I placed the sausages on a separate pan to keep them heated and started cooking the bacon

“I’ll keep that in mind” she said “does each album have a particular theme to them?”

“Some of them I’m not so sure about, but I know for a fact that ‘the art of war’ roughly follows a book of the same name, and has quotes from said book, ‘Carolus Rex’ is about war in Sweden, the 30 year war, and the arsehole of a king that they had at the time…” I was about to continue but Autumn interrupted me.

“What do you mean?”

“King Charles of Sweden, now more popularly known as ‘Carolus Rex’, was the person that stared the 30 year war, he was crowned at the young age of 15, long story short, he went mad with power and tried to take over Europe; one of the 6 continental landmasses, he was one of those ‘divine right’ types” I said, noticing Autumns look I continued “he believed that: because he was king, he had the will of god on his side and therefore he had the right to own everything he saw, anyway, moving back to the albums, the ‘Heroes’ album is about heroes in war; those that did good deeds, sometimes at the loss of their own life, but as I said before, listen to the over albums first, save the best till last"

“Sure thing” she said “what exactly do you plan to do today?” She said

“Well once I’ve done what I need to do, I’ll probably just have a walk around, explore the town, maybe have a couple of drinks at a pub and tell anyone who wants to know of my world, to sum it all up, I’ll just be relaxing and taking it easy” I said, cracking some eggs into the pan.

“Are you sure you don’t want me with you?” she said, I could detect some apprehension in her voice, I deadpanned.

“I can take care of myself just fine, I’m not going to be leaving the town so I’ll be fine, plus I’m in the mood to be left to my thoughts today, I have a few things to think over” I said.

“Is it about your father?” she asked, sounding worried.

“A little bit” I admitted “don’t worry, I’ll be fine, trust me, I won’t be drowning my sorrows in drink if that’s what you’re worried about, I generally have trouble finishing my drinks after the 3rd or 4th pint, I just feel ill at that point, but I also need to plan a rough route around the world, I generally think better when I have a little alcohol in my system, otherwise I just dismiss any and all ideas as stupid, oh, would you mind telling Spike and Twilight that breakfast will be ready in about 5 or 10 minutes” I said, Autumn nodded before getting up from the table walking off, she returned a few moments later to confirm that she had relayed the information before walking off once again, I finished cooking everything soon after so I dished everything up on to 4 plates, plus a small amount into a bowl for Scar, and onto a dish for Boris (did you honestly think I would let them go hungry), I was about to take the plates to the table when I noticed an owl sitting at the window, looking at me.

“Oh, I didn’t see you sitting there” I said.

“Who?” the owl responded.

“You, I didn’t see you” I said, pointing at the owl

“Who?” came the owl’s answer, my eye twitched.

“I already said, I…” I trailed off when I realized what was happening.

“God-fucking-dammit!” I shouted, Twilight ran into the kitchen.

“What’s wrong!?” she asked.

“I’ve just been trolled by a fucking owl” I said, pointing at the offending nocturnal avian.

“Who?” came the owl’s response, I threw my hands up in exasperation before face-palming.

“Fuck my life” I muttered, I heard giggling and saw Twilight trying not to burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry, that’s just Owlowiscious, he doesn’t actually talk” she said, rolling her eyes.

“As I said, I’ve been trolled by an owl” I said, picking up the plates and walking towards the table, I saw Autumn look towards

us.

“What happened?” she asked, I put the plates down on the table before pinching the bridge of my nose.

“An owl trolled me, A… Fucking… Owl!” I said, before going back into the kitchen, I could hear giggles coming from the table, I turned to the owl, squinting my eyes “I don’t like you” I said, pointing at the owl.

“Who?” the owl replied, I groaned in exasperation before picking up the other two plates and placing them on the table before getting the food for Scar and Boris, Spike saw the look on my face.

“Dude, don’t worry about it, I totally understand” he said.

“But he’s an owl, do you know how degrading it is to get trolled by an owl?” I said.

“Actually yes, I thought he was going to replace me when he first arrived” I gave him a look “what, it’s true”

“I’m listening” I said, taking a bite of eggs.

“Twilight needed him for when she was up late studying, I took it the wrong way and assumed he was going to replace me as

her number one assistant” he said, sheepishly.

“You know what, what happened to you is so much worse, I feel a lot better now” I said, smirking slightly, he frowned at that, Autumn hummed in appreciation.

“This is really good” she said, pointing at the food with her fork “how did you learn to cook like this?”

“I basically taught myself, although a year’s course of hospitality didn’t go amiss”

“Hospitality?” Twilight asked, tilting her head, I took a bite of the hay-bacon before answering.

“It covers things like being a cook, waiter, receptionist, bar tender, that sort of thing, I was originally planning to be a

photographer, but I also took up a hospitality course in case that didn’t work out, so I know how to cook a fair number of meals” I said.

“Why would you learn two totally different skill sets?” Spike asked.

“Where I come from we don’t have cutie marks, we get our jobs through qualifications, although sometimes I think they rely too heavily upon then, for instance, what good is qualifications maths and English, if you’re going to work in a steelworks” they seemed taken aback by that.

“You’re joking, right?” Autumn asked, I shook my head, as I was unable to speak due to my mouth being full, from that point on we just made small talk, eventually we all finished, I had offered to wash up, but Twilight wouldn’t let me, I then set up the laptop for Autumn, and borrowed the book on maps of the world before putting my armour and rucksack on, donning my summer cloak, and heading outside, with Scar by my side and Boris on my shoulder, ponies would often call their greetings to me as I walked past, as we got to the shopping district I looked at Scar.

“First things, first, I’m getting you a collar, a muzzle, and a lead” his ears dropped at that “don’t give me that look, I’m not having you chase after anything that takes your interest” as I said those words I walked into a pet shop, and returned about 10 minutes later, with a slightly downcast Scar, who was now wearing a muzzle and collar, with a lead attached to said collar, I had also managed to get a rather nice engraved dog tag with his name on one side and a scar mark on the other, in addition to that I had also managed to get one of those ring type things that you often see on birds that are owned by someone, as well as various other bits and pieces, such as dog food, as we walked towards Rarity’s place I noticed Scar’s downcast demeanour.

“Don’t be like that, I would rather you didn’t get taken away from me because you attacked someone” I said, he just huffed and grumbled, I rolled my eyes, before we walked inside I stopped and knelt down, so I was level with Scars face.

“Right, I’m going to trust you to stay put, ok” I said, putting him on the neck and giving him a dog chew, he immediately perked up and laid down, balancing one end of the treat in his front paws and chewing on the other end, I rolled my eyes before walking inside, the doorbell jingled as I opened the door.

“Just a moment” I heard Rarity call, before she waked in to the main room “Oh, it’s you, keep this up and you’ll be my most frequent customer”

“Except I’m technically not a customer, you made me this…” I said, gesturing to the cloak “for free”

“Oh pish-posh, darling” she said, waving a hoof dismissively “now, your clothes are this way” she led me into one of the other rooms where my old clothes were folded up, sporting new scales throughout, as well as what I assumed to be the ‘vest’ for Boris, Rarity levitated the small vest towards me, it was white on one side and black on the other, with red-tinted scale-tips, with some persuasion we managed to fit the vest onto Boris, I packed my old clothes into my rucksack and thanked Rarity before walking outside, where I found Scar still lying down, only his chew was nowhere to be found, ‘figures, he would finish it in one go’ I thought.

“Come on, Scar” I said, picking up his lead, he begrudgingly stood up and we walked back to the shopping district, where I bought various bits and pieces that I was in need of, including several packs of blank C.D.s and a disk reader, whilst I was at it I also got several different music C.D.s, just to see what took my interest, by the time I had bought everything I needed it was getting towards lunchtime, whilst I wasn’t terribly hungry, I did feel in the mood to grab something to eat, I spotted a large building that resembled a gingerbread house, I looked at Scar and shrugged my shoulders before walking towards it and sitting at a table located outside, noting the sign that said ‘Sugar-cube Corner’ as I sat down, Scar lay down beside the chair, I looked at the menu, noting that it was mostly sweet confectionery and drinks that was listed on the menu, no-sooner had I decided what I wanted, than Pinkie Pie hopped over.

“Hiya V.K.” she said, bouncing on the spot, I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Pinkie Pie!? What are you doing here?” I asked, gesturing to the general location.

“I work here silly” she said, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world “now, what can I get for you?” I

looked at the menu just to confirm my choice.

“I think I’ll have a large mocha and the small triple chocolate ice cream sundae” I said, pointing it out on the menu to clarify, Pinkie Pie nodded.

“Okey-Dokey-Lokey” she said, before bouncing away, once she was out of sight I got out a dog treat and got Scars attention, who stood up, wagging his tail.

“uh-uh-uh” I said, lifting it out of his reach before he had a chance to bite onto it, I pointed to the floor “sit” it took a couple of times repeating the command, but he eventually sat down.

“Good boy” I said, giving him the treat and patting him on the head, it was at that point that Pinkie Pie hopped over with a tray holding my order balanced on her back, which by some miracle didn’t fall off.

“Here you go” she said, bouncing by order onto the table, I paid the money for the sundae and drink and thanked her before she hopped off to serve someone else, I mostly just sat there, taking the occasional sip of the mocha, or mouthful of ice cream sundae (both of which were absolutely glorious), watching the ponies of the town going about their daily business whilst I let my mind wonder, I have a habit of doing that, when I don’t have anyone/anypony to talk to, I tend to go into a trance of sorts, so I kind of freaked out when I looked down at my sundae and saw Discords face looking back at me.

“HOLY JESUS ON A BIKE!” I exclaimed, earning a few stares from passing ponies.

“You called” I heard discord say from behind, I looked in his direction to find him with a brown beard, wearing robes and sandals, and sitting on a bike, I couldn’t help giggling slightly at that.

“What do you want?” I asked, he snapped his fingers and the clothes, sandals, beard and bike disappeared in a flash before he walked over towards me, Scar started growling at Discord, who rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, turning the Timberwolf into a puppy.

“Not so threatening now are you” he said, patting the puppy on the head, who just growled, I picked Scar up to try and calm him down “my, hardly been here a week and you already have two pets I see, at this rate you’ll need an zoo to hold all of them, as for why I’m here, can I not see my favourite human every now and then?”

“Seriously, why are you here?” I said, taking a bite of the sundae.

“I like checking on my agents of chaos, am I not allowed to do so?” he asked, folding his arms and feigning a hurt expression.

“Well seeing as you’re here, I have a question, does me seeing my dad class as your ‘prophesy’?” I asked, making quotation marks with my hands.

“No, they only apply to anyone who is alive, although I wish it was your dad who’s getting catapulted to this world, he wouldn’t be a spoilsport like you are” he said.

“Can’t argue with you on that point” I conceded, taking a sip of my mocha, I then went for my camera bag, I set up my camera and promptly took a picture of Scar who was still a puppy, he gave me ‘the look’ and whined slightly

“You look adorable” I said to the Timberwolf as I put my camera away, he just grumble slightly, I looked back at discord “now, if you don’t mind, please revert my wolf back to the correct age” Discord huffed and snapped his fingers, to late did I realize what was going to happen and before I knew it I was sprawled on the ground on top of Scar.

“God dammit, Discord” I said as I got back up, I looked around, only to find that discord had disappeared “Fucking chimeras” I muttered before getting up and putting the muzzle and collar back of Scar, I soon finished my lunch and started walking towards the park that I had seen on my way to Sugar-cube Corner, as I walked along one of the designated paths I beckoned for Boris to take off, which he did with pleasure, I found a bench to sit down at and watch him fly gracefully through the sky, several children who were playing saw him flying and stopped to look at the falcon in awe, he seemed to notice this as he started doing all manner of aerobatics, before climbing up high and diving at the children, sending them running in different directions, laughing and giggling as they went, I couldn’t help laughing slightly at that, I heard the flapping of a pegasus’ wings nearby and saw Rainbow Dash land near me.

“Hey, V.K., I see what you meant when you said he was quick” she said, sitting on the bench and looking at the falcon, who was playfully chasing after the kids.

“I told you” I said, smirking slightly.

“He’s still not fast enough to beat me” she said.

“Well duh, he can’t break the sound barrier, but he can get up to 200mph in a dive, which is an accomplishment in its own right” I said, she scoffed at that.

“I’d like to see him try” she said, standing up, I clapped my hands and Boris started banking towards me, the fillies and colts ran behind him, trying to keep up, they stopped when they saw me and Rainbow Dash and looked at us in awe

“You’re the one who saved the school from Timberwolves!” exclaimed a pinto coloured colt in a cockney accent.

“Yep, and this, is Boris” I said, kneeling down so they could get a better look at the Falcon, they all started walking closer to get as good a view as they could of the falcon “now, who want to see Boris give Rainbow Dash a run for her money?” they all cheered at that, I then knelt down and whispered into Rainbow Dashes ear.

“Don’t win by too much, I’ve got to impress the kids, haven’t I?” she just rolled her eyes before walking into the middle of the path, I followed suit and stood next to her, my arm outstretched to one side

“From here to town hall and back, perhaps?” I asked, she nodded ever so slightly, and Boris squawked in acknowledgment

“On three: One. Two. THREE!” Rainbow Dash shot off and I swung my arm forward to give Boris that extra boost, they both sped off, leaving a strong gust of wind in their wake which fluttered my cloak rigorously, we all watched them as they disappeared from view…

---

…The two rivals sped through the skies, dodging clouds and birds, and even the occasional pegasus, Rainbow dash was clearly holding back, not even breaking a sweat, but the same could be said for Boris, who was literally dancing around Rainbow dash, running circles around her whilst still keeping pace, Rainbow Dash took note of this and snorted.

“Alright buzzard, let’s see what you can really do” she said, before increasing her wing beats 2-fold, she felt herself start to accelerate rapidly ‘let’s see you keep up with me now’ she thought, only for that train of thought to come to a grinding halt when she looked behind her to find Boris right on her tail, ‘What‽ how did he catch up so quickly?’ she thought as she saw the town hall come into view, she pulled her wings into the vertical position to slow herself down to get as tight a turn as possible, only to be over taken by Boris on the turn, who was banking practically vertically as he shot round the town hall and started to climb.

“What’s that bird brain doing, he hasn’t given up has he?” she thought out loud with a smirk, never the less, she flapped her wings as fast as possible, not wanting to take the risk of Boris appearing at the last moment, ‘no way am I getting beaten by a bird’ she thought as she raced towards the finish line at top speed, she could see the colts and fillies cheering and waving, as well as Vuur Koning, who was standing there with his arm crossed, she was just crossing the finish line when she saw a black and white blur shoot past her, causing her to angle her wings vertically out of surprise…

---

…I saw Rainbow Dash speeding towards the finish line, but Boris was nowhere in sight, I was about to question here he was when I saw him shoot down past the cloud cover in full stoop, he pulled up just before he hit the ground, his forward momentum pushing him towards Rainbow dash at an astounding rate, the two of them crossing the finish line at the exact same time, Rainbow Dash musn’t have been expecting him to pull that stunt, as the shock was clear on her face and she angled her wings steeply to create as much drag as possible, as well as digging her hooves into the ground, leaving deep grooves as she slid past, she finally stopped and turned around.

“How did he do that?” she asked, pointing to Boris, who was now perched on my shoulder, looking about a smug as possible for a falcon.

“what you just saw was what’s known as a stoop” I said, addressing the children as much as Rainbow Dash “as I have said countless times, they can reach speeds of up to 200mph, or possibly more in the case of Boris here” the children all started to crowd round, their eyes full of wonder, I sent Boris of into the sky to play with the children and walked towards rainbow dash, who looked downcast.

“You know, for a moment there I thought you were going to win” I said, she looked up at me in surprise

“Really?” she asked, perking up slightly.

“I swear on my father’s grave” I said, putting my hand on my chest “for a moment I thought he’d fucked off, all I saw was you, speeding towards the finish line, with Boris nowhere to be found, besides, technically you didn’t lose, you both tied, you would have won for sure if he hadn't of dived like he did” she smirked slightly at that.

“Yeah, I’m still the best” she said, rubbing a hoof against her chest before taking off into the sky, I rolled my eyes before sitting down on the bench, watching Boris play with the children, I patted Scar in the side, getting his attention, before patting my thigh, as a sign for him to rest his head there, he did so and I started stroking him as we sat there, I started singing, I didn’t really have a reason for singing, I just felt in the mood to sing.

“Aerials, in the sky, when you lose small mind, you free your life, Aerials, so up high, when you free your eyes, eternal prize” I hummed the rest of the song, Scar seemed to visibly relax, his shoulders slumping slightly, I’ll admit, my singing wasn’t perfect, but it could be a lot worse, I generally sing better if I’m actually listening to the song, as I tend to instinctively tune my voice to the music, for the rest of the day, not much of interest happened, I ended up going to a pub and looking over the atlas whilst drinking a tankard of cider, after a few hours I had a basic route plan written out on a piece of paper, ready to be refined at a later date, I walked into the library to find Autumn laying on a sofa, singing Primo Victoria whilst playing the song through the laptops speakers, I had an idea, so I quietly shut the door and waited for the first chorus to finish, I then snuck up behind her and started singing when the chorus finished, causing Autumn to jump out her fur.

“we’ve been here before, used to this kind of war, crossfire grinds through the sand, the orders were easy; it’s kill or be

killed, blood on both sides will be spilled, in the dawn they will pay, with their lives as the price, history’s written today, now

that we are at war with the Axis again, this time we know what will come” I sang.

“You’re back!” Autumn said, once I had finished singing, she paused the song

“Aww, you were supposed to sing the second chorus with me” I said, crossing my arms, Autumn just rolled her eyes

“anyway, I have a rough journey plan written out, it just needs finalizing” I passed her the notes I had, she looked at them for a few moments before passing them back.

“Why Trottingham first?” she asked.

“People say I ‘ave a Tro’ing’am accen’” I said, slipping in to my northern accent “I wouldn’ mind visiting there, jus’ t’ see what people are talkin’ abou’”.

“You’ve changed your accent” Autumn said.

“nah, I’m talkin’ in my proper accen’, I’ve learn’ t’ speak in a neutral accen’ when I talk with people that speak in a vastly

different accent” I said, slipping back to my neutral accent to prove the point.

“You have a coastal accent” she said “its spoken in the coastal towns and the far north, it’s not the same as a Trottingham accent, there is a difference, I’ll admit, when you speak in your ‘neutral’ accent, you sound like a typical Trottingham accent”

“Yeah" I agreed "expect me to be speaking in my true accent when we are in the north of Equestria, and whenever I actually speak to you, anyway, I’m thinking of heading back to the capital tomorrow to begin my training, you don’t have a problem with that do you?” I asked, she shook her head, for the rest of the night we sat there, listening to Sabaton, drinking cider that I had bought earlier, swapping stories, generally just relaxing whilst I copied songs onto the blank C.D.s, when I finished we eventually went to bed, at about 1:00 am.

---

“Y’all take care of yourselves, ya hear?” Applejack said, we were all standing at the station, the train had just pulled in, and me and Autumn were about to step on board.

“I’ll try, and if I can’t, I’ve always got Autumn to protect me” I said, chuckling slightly.

“I heard that” Autumn called from the luggage compartment of the brake coach, she walked out of the coach and towards us.

“Anyway, group photo” I said, getting my camera out and turning it on, I walked over to a table to rest it on whilst I set it up, I then set the timer on the shutter before quickly walking back over to the group, after a few moments I heard the shutter click

“I’ll send you all copies of the photo” I said, walking over to the camera and packing it away into my camera bag.

“ALL ABOARD” the guard shouted, we all said our goodbyes, before me, Autumn, Boris (who was perched on my shoulder) and Scar climbed onto the train and walked into a compartment facing the platform and sat down just as the train pulled out of the station, they waved to us until I lost sight of them, the train speeding towards Canterlot, and my future as a reserve guard.

END OF ARK 1

Next Chapter: Chapter 10 Estimated time remaining: 18 Hours, 55 Minutes