Chapter 6: Sharing Memories part 2

"You don't need to tell me this, I respect your privacy and I don't need you opening up more than you have to."

"I have to let it all out sooner or later. I can't let it eat me up inside."

Sighing, Snow moved closer to me as she sat on her tail-less haunches.

"Very well then. Proceed."

"Woah, woah, woah. You're going to do what now?" I asked at the two alicorns in front of me. Celestia moved closer to me as she donned her battle armour, though some part of me thinks that she didn't even have to wear that armour to beat that dragon.

"We are going to seal the Elder dragon inside of you, of course." She beamed a smile nonchalantly.

"And for what reason? Why can't you just do it yourselves? Wouldn't you get more powerful anyway? Putting it on me seems like the worst decision, in everypony's point of view." I snarled at the last part, making my speech clear.

"Whilst it may seem like thee perfect idea, my sister and I have doubts about that matter." Moon butt replied.

"Doubts about what? You have fucking magic! You can practically fix anything if there is a problem!" I rebutted.

Moon butt spoke once more, but was immediately cut off by Celestia's gold-clad hoof on her mouth.

"We are merely asking for you to be the vessel for this creature. After all, it is the most that you can do after us welcoming you to our lands." She said calmly.

"I don't know if you've been living in a rock or if you've had your head up your flank this entire time, or both, but these ponies have given me anything but a warm welcome." I glared at the guards who were still alive from the battle.

"Well, think of it as this: You have a powerful being inside you, whom you may be able to control over time. Does that not please you? Since you will be able to use magic, you will be able to fit into our society."

"And what if I can't control it? What if it takes over me? All I'm hearing right now is for you to use me as a guinea pig for this experiment."

I don't care if she is a 'motherly' figure to everypony.

Everyone, and I mean everyONE, be it pony or human, has their own dark side, no matter how good they are.

"It is your decision if you choose to control it or not, for you are the one who WILL carry this creature."

"You're making it sound like I have no choice in this matter."

Luna removed Celestia's bling hoof away from her mouth as she backed up her sister.

"Thou doth have a choice. Either thou must successfully control thy Elder Dragon, or thou shall lose it's life in the process." Luna's eyes bore a metaphorical hole inside me as she spoke.

I know what would happen if I couldn't control what was inside me, I'm pretty much living the life of Naruto at this point, ironically.

"And that's how I got you." I spoke whilst I absent-mindedly ruffled the tufts of icy fur on her head.

"And now for the fun part." I deadpanned at the dawning sky.

"Thou shall be serving under the Royal barracks, so that thou may train for when the time comes and for thy presence to be observed, for we are unsure if thy sealing worked effectively."

"Well, atleast I get to be a guard." I shrugged as the chariot descended down into the city in the cliffs.

Canterlot, the place where posh pricks and the like live in 'harmony'. I can only imagine what insults that they could throw at me this time. I'd better get cracking with controlling this dragon inside me, once I do that, then I can defend myself when provoked.

I guess that it's not bad being a Jinchuriki,

Even if I'm forced to be one.

A loud thud is heard outside the chariot, which was immediately followed by said chariot rocking quite a bit. I peek out my head to observe the barracks- or rather, my temporary home.

And holy shit, it looks fucking awesome.

The closest definition to it was for me to call it a miniature castle. It's walls were painted with grey, with the roofs of the watchtowers being painted yellow for obvious reasons. A large keep could be seen in the far left, where specks of gold armour can be seen flying near it. Cloudy ramparts surrounded the pseudo castle/barracks, it felt belittled compared to the overall structure of the build it tried to defend.

The small ridges that jutted out of the watch towers were completely filled to the brim with the princesses' royal guards, all posing like statues as they saluted.

"We must rest now, for we have stayed up in the day for too long." Moon butt exited the chariot, after briefly teleporting away.

...

If she can teleport, what was the fucking point for her bringing me here in this chariot?!

"This memory of yours is quite lengthy, don't you think?"

"Are you going to listen, or not?"

"I'm not losing interest, mind you. If you can pay attention to me whilst I talk, then I shall return the action for you."

Awkwardly, I sat on the floor. The cold surface was more than enough to send chills down my entire being as I meet the Brigadier who was commanding this entire army. I can already tell the attitude coming from the other Royal guards that they seem to hate my guts already.

"What is this...'thing' you brought over to me? Is this another creature for the researchers to dissect? Or perhaps a new training dummy for the recruits?" She spoke. Snickers and chuckles littered the spacious hall as I remained stoic and silent, not opting to show a single weakness for these damned horses to exploit.

The Brigadier stared at me with a stern face, her chrome eyes gleamed like polished steel and strips of her auburn hair could be seen under that ruby helmet. Her armor was more intimidating than the standard golden ones the royal guards wore, for it felt as though it was actual blood on the shiny gem-like armor, rather than it's ruby-ness truly showing.

Her light tan coat blended well with her overall being, what with it seemingly matching her armor and whatnot. Her wings even had their own dress up! Her fucking wings! Her armor even covered the bony bases of her wings, but not the actual wing itself. Two sheathed swords were placed on her sides, with each one having a differently colored hilt.

"The Lunar and Solar Diarchs supposedly 'trapped' an Elder dragon inside this meatbag." The gruff voice of the Guard who spoke was heard behind me. I could feel him poking my back rather brashly as he talked. He didn't stop too, he kept nudging me harshly with his hooves through my entire conversation in that hall.

"Do you have a name?" The Brigadier spoke

"Of course I do. It won't be worth much telling you anyway." My sights tried to find respite in the mirror-like qualities of the marble floor, though they failed in vain as she approached me.

In a flash, I see her helmet on my stomach as she lunges within a second. A brief moment of uneasiness washed over my body before my nerves began to take action and release a torrent of pain inside me, to the point where I felt like vomiting from the acid she pushed straight to my throat.

I slide across the floor, skidding with humility as the hall is surrounded with laughter. I refused to give support towards the whole 'stoic' persona, because all I wanted right now as to let out my pain through my mouth. My God that fucking hurt. I even cried a little bit at some point, but I didn't really care, I probably needed surgery to fix the ribs that she broke, so that gave me permission to whine if I wanted.

Don't even get me started on whether I was internally bleeding or not, I would probably be a blood bag with chunks of meat inside in a few hours if some pony doctor doesn't use his pony magic on me.

"When I ask a question to a degenerate like you, I expect a straightforward answer. Now let me ask you again, what is your damn name?!" Her spittle and her words reached me as I writhed in agony.

"R-raij-rai-raijin Ma'am." I stuttered. It was hard to speak when you had to tolerate the pain to actually use your muscles. That, and the fact that my throat had partly corroded from the stomach acid reaching the voicebox.

"Ma'am?, at least you have some manners." She spoke dismissively. "Take him to the hospital wing, full recovery or else."

"Yes Brigadier Scarlett."

My eyes close peacefully as the nape of my clothes gets bitten and my body dragged on the marble floor, squeaking along the way. My mind felt at peace whilst my body was shrieking for repairs. I tried to think of ways to dull the pain, but none of them really worked. Just closing my eyes and hoping that I get fixed soon was the only thing keeping me alive at this point.

You know, now that I think about it. This isn't really the way I wanted to live my life like I had expected it to be. True, I have a rampaging ice dragon inside me now, ready to become my super partner where we will wreck shit in the future, but none of that really seems plausible to me, even though most of what I said just now was all true. I expected to ostracized, that's what I already knew, but I didn't expect getting my ribs crushed and stabbing my lungs and other organs for reasons that don't even relate to the monster inside me.

All of this really sucks, you know that. But I know it'll get better soon after, I just hope it will, otherwise I'm fucked with a dragon that could freeze me inside out.

"Is it alive?"

"Of course it is, even though it's bipedal, we can still treat it the same like Mr. Will would be treated if he were hurt. Thankfully we siphoned his lungs before it filled up with blood, it's even better that the blood didn't clot quick enough, otherwise he'd be dead right now!"

Two feminine voices bounced around my ears as my consciousness comes to reality. The pain is still there, but it has dulled down enough for me to actually not cry or whimper in pain now, my ears rang a lot though for some reason.

I flickered my eyes to adjust to the blinding lights, which were actually hovering candles which were dangerously close to my face. It also felt hotter than usual, as if the candle's heat was magnified to the point that I found it hot even though it was mere centimeters from my face.

"I'm guessing that this is the infirmary, yes?" I croaked.

"Mhm." The Pony nurse nodded. A short glimpse of her told me that she had cerulean mane, a sapphire coat and emerald eyes. Bags were proudly displayed under her eyes and her her smile looked weary, as though it was just forced on and unable to take off. Her horn was short and curly, which looked like it had been blunted.

A younger pony was beside her, wearing a nurse's cap with a small, red 'L' off to the top-leftmost side.

"It's alive!" The younger pony screamed in mock terror.

I'm already starting to dislike that one.

"How long have I been out?" I said.

"Strangely, only a few hours. Most patients don't wake up from serious injuries like this for more than a day or so. You've probably got a stronger regenerative ability that us ponies do, judging from how quick you've recovered." Emerald-eyes replied." Have you been in a fight with the Royal guard? recruits often litter this place because of that. If not, you must have been punished, most likely."

"This gray-haired bitch head butted me for not saying me name."

"Gray hair?"

"Yeah, brigadier Scarlett or something." The nurse shot up, ears eerily upright.

"Y-you picked a fight with Brigadier Scarlett?" She said. "Are you asking for a death wish?"

"Ask me that when she nearly killed me, and I would have been begging to be euthanized." I said.

"Well, if you're going to be picking fights, I guess you'll be a regular over here." She replied.

"I already know I am, judging from the looks I got from the doctors here while we talked, I'm not even safe even in this infirmary."

The younger pony nurse, who was seemingly controlling the candlelight, eventually lost interest as I talked to the more mature one. She left halfway into our conversation to check up on other ponies. I could sense her sickeningly upbeat personality whilst I talked.

I got to know the name of the emerald-eyed nurse, which was Jade to be exact. She was friendly, and so was I. Jade had been working overtime to keep up her rent on the Canterlot apartments, and often had to sleep on the free beds that the patients weren't using. It's only now that I realize that ponies, like humans, actually experience things like crippling debt. Things aren't actually free and happy like I've usually expected.

If anything, this 'Equestria' is just a smaller version of Earth.

I really do pity for this pers-pony. Most likely because she was probably living worse than I was before I knew her. I took advantage of being cared for and being fed daily through the unending support of my 'friends', to the point where my manners and gratitude were lost in the dark recesses of my own mind.

Wow. Staring at the ceiling at night really does help you think.

"Y'know Jade, if I had been richer off, I'd help y-"

Oh. She's asleep on my lap.

I chuckle lightly, hoping to not wake her up. My hand instinctively goes out to pet her and close that open mouth (which is slowly drooling out saliva, mind you), but I stop. I don't want to pity her, I have my own problems.

Then suddenly her muzzle gets hit with a small liquid. My eyes go blurry. The reality of my situation sinks in. The shame and resentment hit me in all at once.

And I cry. For the second time, if I can recall.

I pick her up from the stool she sat by and position her beside my bed. She curls up into a ball, facing me with that adorable look she has when she sleeps. I'm sorry, but I need something to hold while this depression washes over me.

I'll apologize in the morning, when I'm back to my old self.

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