The beast charges at me as I stand still, sword up and behind my head ready to strike, its about five meters away and closing fast.

As soon as it gets three meters close, I swing my sword down, it flaps its wings and stops short of the blade. Its tail then lunges at me which I lean away from, it was just an inch or two from hitting me.

I leap back as it swipes with a claw while growling at me, I roar in its face trying to intimidate it. The beast flaps its wings leaping back about six metres, seems I only just surprised the beast. It starts circling me as I hold my sword vertically by my chest.

As I circle it, I notice Twilight and the fillies are gone. I focus back on the beast as it snarls and growls, a few seconds later, it pounces at me.

I roll to my right and swing my sword at it as I stand. The blade barely scratches the beast with the tip. It snarls again and swipes at me with its large paw.

I feel pain as it hits the left side of my abdomen, as its pulling its paw back I thrust the sole of my boot into its face.

It recoils and whines in pain as it rubs its face, I feel the stinging pain as I look down at the wound, fortunately it's not that deep but I'm going to need a new shirt.

It leans its head down and its backside up, the tail starts whipping around and then thrusts repeatedly at me. I manage to dodge and parry as I remind myself that I don't have my armour anymore to help block.

On the last thrust, I grasp the stinger with my left hand and pull while swinging my sword down, slicing off about a quarter of its tail.

I stumble back as the the resistance of it pulling back was gone, the beast then roars in pain and anger. Throwing the tail near the house, I set back into a combat stance. After about four seconds, four guard ponies arrive, two pegasi, one earth pony, and one unicorn.

They stand behind me, waiting for any movement from the beast. It looks at us all for a few seconds, snarls, and then bolts for the forest leaving a bloody trail from its tail.

I put my sword away and sit down, placing both hands on my abdomen, I start healing the wound and reduce the pain. There's faint scars, but that's not a problem.

The other guards keep an eye on it as it vanishes from sight, the earth pony walks up to me and laughs.

"Once again I'm jealous of your abilities, do you know how hard it is to fight a manticore one on one? Even for a unicorn," he says patting me on the back.

I look over my shoulder and notice who it is. "Hey, Honour. How’s your leg doing?" I ask him. He chuckles and taps his hind leg.

"Much better, the pains gone and I have a scar now!" I look and see a patch of missing fur with burn scarred skin.

I chuckle and pat his shoulder. "Good for you, but you'll need a few more to keep up with mine," I tell him and remove my shirt as it is torn and bloodied, Honour stops chuckling as he see all my scars with wide eyes as well as the other guards.

Twilight shows up with Sargent Nightwing, "Where's the manticore?" he asks the unicorn.

"Fled to the forest sir, this... civilian chased it off," he replies with hesitation, not sure what to refer to me as.

Twilight was right in my face with questions. "Farengar are you alright? Are you hurt? Why's your shirt torn up?" I place a finger on her lips and she stops ranting.

"One, yes I am. Two, no I'm not. Three, the manticore clawed it," I tell her in order. She looks at the shirt then to the area that it used to cover, she sees the three faint scar lines.

She grimaces at the thought of what it would of looked like before I healed it. "Well, no one was hurt or killed, so I'd call that the best case scenario," says Nightwing.

I stand up and head over to the stinger and pick it up, Twilight looks at it and gasps. "Is that the manticore's stinger?" she asks.

"Yeah, cut it off after it tried to stab me with it," I reply.

She looks up at me. "Would you let me take it to the hospital? They’re running low on manticore anti-venom and could use this to make more." I want to keep it as a trophy, but I guess it would be of more use to them. Besides, Blueblood's horn tip will take the centre spot on my fireplace.

I hold it out to her and she takes it with her magic. "Thank you, we get a few manticore victims now and then. This will help make sure nopony dies from its poison."

"Well then, while you do that, me and Moonbeam will head back to the market. By the way are those three fillies okay?" I ask her.

Twilight nodded and smiles. "Thanks to you they are, but they're in a lot of trouble, they should not of even been in there in the first place!" she replies. I chuckle, glad to know they're fine.

Twilight says goodbye and heads off into town with the stinger floating beside her.

Nightwing then turns to me. "I must say, when you told me what you've done before, I thought you were just boasting. Seems like you can back the claims up as well." He says. I smile and nodded to him. "I'll be expecting a good performance at your test tomorrow." He and the guards then walk off.

"See ya later, Farengar!" Honour calls back. I just wave as they leave, I look to the house and spot Moonbeam by the door. I head to the house while smiling.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Yes, I'm fine. Not gonna let an over sized cat beat me," I reply while ruffling her mane. "Well then, shall we check out the rest of the house?" I ask her. She smiles and nodded.

We both explored the house for the next thirty minutes. There are two bedrooms, one bathroom, a closet with some cleaning supplies in it, a nice kitchen, and a store room. What confuses me though was a cabinet in the kitchen, it was cold inside as if it was winter, Moonbeam explained it was a fridge for preserving food.

I stash my bit case under my bed, I'll have to get a new one as it's to small for me and then put on a white shirt.

After everything was put away, I fill a pouch with some bits and head downstairs.

"Moonbeam! Were going back to the market!" I call out to her, I hear an okay and footsteps from upstairs. A few seconds later, Moonbeam's coming down the stairs, once she made it down we both leave the house and lock it up.

I still have my sword on, I'm not going to take any chances after that manticore showed up.

After ten minutes of walking and directions later, we arrive at the market. I look over at all the stalls and tents around, mostly foods and trinkets.

The ponies seem to be getting used to me now, but they still stare for a few seconds before they go back to their business.

I notice a stand with jewellery and a dagger on it.

I'm not sure why, but I'm getting a strange feeling from the blade. I approach the stand and pick up the dagger.

A deep green unicorn stallion with a light brown mane and tail looks up at me. "Hello there, does that item interest you?" he asks.

I now recognise the blade from a book about daedra I once read, it's the daedric artefact called Mehrunes' Razor.

"Where did you find this?" I ask him.

"Hmmm? Oh, a few days ago while I was making some new rings, a bright light flashed and there was this dagger on my desk," he answers.

"How much for it?" I ask him. I know I can't leave it there, if the rumours of this blade's abilities are true, then I have to keep it safe.

He hums for a second. "Well, I'm not sure what it's made of or by whom, so I guess a hundred bits would do." I agree and hand him the bits.

I take the blade and its scabbard and attach it to my left hip. "Would you like anything else sir?" he asks. I look over the collection of large rings and necklaces. I spot a silver necklace with a small sapphire crescent moon on it, I look down at Moonbeam who's just looking at the stuff.

"How much for the moon necklace?" I ask, he levitates it in front of me.

"No one showed any interest in that dagger for days, so I'll give you a discount, fifty bits for it," he replies with a smile at me.

I agree and thank him as I pay for it. I turn to Moonbeam as she looks up at me. Kneeling down, I clip the necklace around her neck, a smile creeps onto her face as she holds the moon on it in a hoof.

She looks up at me. "Thank you," she says, I just ruffle her mane.

"You're welcome," I reply and smile back. I say goodbye to the stallion and move on, we meet a few more ponies while buying food and cleaning supplies. We head to one final stand with a white griffon standing behind it, she spots me as we approach her.

"Well, what do we have here?" she says in a curious manner. "Never seen anything like you before," she comments as she looks me over. "Well whatever you are, welcome! Anything here take your fancy?" She waves an arm at the items on display.

I place my bags on the floor and look around, there's a multitude of knives and bows, one bow catches my eye.

A simple shortbow that fits into its quiver along with the arrows.

She notices me looking at it. "That's a hunting bow used for small game," she informs me.

"How much?" I ask.

"Thirty bits, plus one bit per arrow." I pull out sixty bits and hand them to her.

"I'll take it with thirty arrows," I tell her. She nodded and takes the bits, then fills the quiver with the arrows and bow.

She hands them to me and smiles, which was surprising seeing as she has a beak.

"Thank you, if you need more arrows you'll have to get them elsewhere, I'll be heading back to Gryphus tomorrow," she tells me. I strap the quiver to my lower back with it pointing to my right.

"Alright, thanks." I say goodbye, pick up my bags and head off. A gurgle from Moonbeam makes me chuckle. I look up at the sun, it's about mid day and I'm starting to feel a bit hungry as well.

"Want to grab a bite to eat?" I ask Moonbeam, she replies by nodding repeatedly.

I stop a grey mare with a blonde mane and tail, she has a mark of seven bubbles and golden eyes... that seem to look in two different directions.

"Excuse me, where can I find an Inn?" I ask her, she tilts her head and replies.

"Why? You need a place to stay?" she replies and looks up at me, at least I think she is.

"Not exactly, we're looking for a place to eat," I tell her.

"Oh, wouldn't a Café or Sugarcube Corner be better?" she asks with a raised brow. The only place that I've seen a café was in the Imperial City, but they were expensive.

"Okay then, where is this sugarcube corner?" I ask her.

She points to my left at a large building that looks like it's made of sweets and pastries, how I missed that I'll never know.

"Thank you," I say to her. She smiles and trots off.

We both walk up to the door. As I open it, the scent of baked goods fills my nose.

I duck under the door frame as I walk inside, I notice a few tables to my right, a counter with a glass front displaying different sweets and cakes in front of me with a door and staircase behind it. To my left was another staircase, the place was very colourful as well.

"Hi!" I yelp and bang my head on the door frame, I step in and rub my sure to be bruised head.

Pinkie is standing right in front of me, I'm sure she was not there a few seconds ago.

"Oh sorry about that, what brings you to Sugarcube Corner? Oh, are you here for your welcome to Ponyville party? Or are you here for some tasterrific treats?" she ask as she starts to bounce on the spot.

A loud rumble from my gut gives her my answer for me.

She giggles with a snort and hops behind the counter. "Well then you came to the right place! What can I getcha?" I look down at Moonbeam, who looks like she's trying not to drool. Looking back I see many treats I've never seen before.

"What's that?" I ask, pointing to a round circle with a hole in it with sugar on top.

Pinkie looks at what I'm pointing at and giggles. "That's a doughnut silly." She then gasps. "You've never seen doughnut a before?" I shake my head.

"Well then try one!" she says. I open my mouth to say something, only to have one of those doughnuts shoved in instead.

My eyes go wide as I chew on it, it's sweet, delicious, and even a bit warm. "They're fresh from the oven!" she exclaims. "So what'cha think? Tasty huh!" I swallow and lick my lips.

"Very, the only sweet I've had was a sweetroll back home." Moonbeam looks up at me with a pouty face, I chuckle and turn to Pinkie.

"Can, Moonbeam have one as well?" I ask. Pinkie nodded and gives her one as well.

"Yay!" Moonbeam says and starts eating the treat.

"So, anything else? We have strawberry tarts, lollipops, caramel apples, taffy, cookies, muffins, cupcakes and many other super tasty pastries!" she finishes saying by throwing her hooves above her head.

"Hmmm, what's a cupcake?" The moment I say that Pinkie looks horrified.

"You've never had a cupcake before?" she asks with her eyes wide and on the verge of tears.

Unsure on what to say due to her sudden mood change I shake my head. The moment I stop shaking, a pink dust cloud is in her place. I hear some noises coming from the back room and Pinkie re-enters with a tray of small looking cakes in paper cups.

Placing the tray on the top she pushes a white one with brown swirly lines on it towards me. "Go on try it!" she tells me.

I shrug and pick it up and take a bite, my tongue was met with a burst flavour, vanilla and chocolate with a moist sponge cake. My eyes close and I groan as I chew on it, this tastes even better than that doughnut!

I open my eyes to see Pinkie has a large grin on her face. "So I take it from your smile that it was good?" she asks as she swallows one whole, I don't think she even chewed it first.

"Yes it was, better than that doughnut," I tell her. She smiles even wider, if that's even possible and puts the tray under the counter.

"So anything else?" she asks, I look down to Moonbeam who's already finished her snack.

"What would you like?" I ask her.

She looks at Pinkie. "Can I have a vanilla milkshake with a strawberry tart please?" Pinkie nodded and looks at me.

"Err, I'll have the same but with another one of those cupcakes please." She nodded again.

"That'll be fourteen bits!" Pinkie says. I hand over the bits and she places them in some retracting box. "Go take a seat at one of the tables and I'll be back in a jiffy!" she tells us, and with that she hops back through the door.

We both take a seat and wait for our orders. I place my bags on the floor and look around some more, poking one of the balloons tied to the back of my seat as I finish off the cupcake. Moonbeam is just looking at her necklace again.

A few minutes later Pinkie returns with a tray on her back. On it are two tall glass cups with a frothy top and straws, two plates with a small pastry with a red filling on them and a single cupcake. She bends her neck and takes the tray with her teeth and places it on the table.

"Enjoy!" she exclaims and hops back to the counter. I look at the drink and grip the glass, it's very cold, I pull out the straw and take a swig of it. I instantly regret it as a massive numbing cold rushes over my head. I place the glass down and put my hands on the sides of my head as I groan from the freezing sensation.

I can hear Pinkie laughing and Moonbeam giggle, after a few seconds it fades. I let go and look at the drink, despite that, it was nice. I put the straw back in and try again.

"Wow, that must have been one doozy of a brain freeze! Let me try!" Pinkie says as she giggles and gets one for herself. She chugs the whole thing at once and puts the glass on the counter, after two seconds she collapses on the floor gripping her head while saying 'ow' over and over again.

I chuckle at her antics as I pick up my tart and take a bite, it was delicious and sweet. After I finish it, Pinkie's back on her hooves. "Remind me not to do that again," she groans.

I pocket the cupcake for later and stand up. I pick up my bags as Moonbeam finishes her tart and lets off a small burp.

"Excuse me," she says with slightly red cheeks.

I then turn to Pinkie. "Thanks for the food Pinkie, I'll be sure to come back again!" I tell her. She waves at us as Moonbeam and I leave.

I step outside and take a deep breath as I look up with my eyes closed. I was about to start walking when a voice called out.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" I open my eyes to see a blue blur with a rainbow trail spiralling straight for me.