The next day I was woken up pretty early by Twilight, wanted me and Diamond to come with her to pick up Spike from the train station, why he was returning so fucking early in the morning I don’t know but as before, I didn’t care enough to ask why he was even in Canterlot, let alone why he was home early. Diamond looked pretty pissed as well but seemed to be much calmer when I got up, again we ate and got ready for the day. I decided to wear Spiritus that morning and looked about as kitted out for war as I ever wanted to be.

“Do you want to go see Toyar about your grenades?” Diamond asked. I smiled as I gulped down some juice.

“You really want to see those things get used don’t you?” I asked, he looked away for a second and nodded. “A’right, we can go once we’ve picked up Spike I guess.” He nodded.

“I’d like to see these weapons.” Twilight declared. I leaned back in my chair.

“We’re only picking ‘em up, if they are finished anyway. I won’t be setting off explosives in the middle of Canterlot, and I still need you to test them with magic. So yes Twilight you’ll get to see these things in action.” I said, she beamed and nodded. Then gulped down the rest of her drink.

“Well Spike should be here soon, you two ready?” Twilight then asked, I looked to Diamond and we both nodded then stood up. We left the table a bombsite. “Let Spike deal with it.” Twilight said.

“Nice.” I muttered and we left. There weren’t many ponies out, but I just shrugged that off due to being early still. We walked through the town with no real interruptions and reached the train station after about five minutes of walking. It was right on the outskirts and even had a small dirt track leading to it, turning around you could see into the whole town, the grassland surrounding Ponyville and even the Everfree Forest from here. I hadn’t really heard a train before nor saw any evidence of track around Ponyville so just guess no one wanted a steam train turning up every hour or whatever making a shit load of noise around the miniature horses. There were a couple tunnels and turns in the track so I didn’t catch sight of the train until it was fairly close, which was about twenty minutes of waiting. I knew how organised Twilight liked to be so didn’t hold our earliness against her. Still pissing annoying though. It was only Spike who exited the train.

“Sup Spike?” I asked as he walked over to us. He said hello to Twilight first then looked up at me.

“Hey Aron, nice to see you here.” He said.

“Meh, Twilight woke us both up to meet ya but you’re a good kid so I’m alright with it.” Kinda, not really though.

“I’m a dragon, not a goat.” Spike muttered.

“Fuck you.” Twilight gasped and ran over to cover his ears.

“If you swear once more in front of Spike I’ll wash your mouth out with soap.” She muttered.

“Whatevs, wouldn’t be the first time done to me, or the worst. Anyway, where do we get train tickets from?” I asked. She looked confused and scared for a second before pointing to her left. I just stared at her with a blank face, she just dropped her hoof after a second, unfazed by my natural face.

“To the left and round the corner.” Diamond said, I turned to him. “I made sure to check.” He added.

“Alright kickin’. We’ll see you later you two.” I said, Twilight smiled and nodded and lead Spike off. Me and Diamond just went around the corner to see a very bored looking light orange pony sitting in a small box.

“Hello welcome to Ponyville station, what ticket do you want?” The guy said, it sounded like he wanted to put effort into what he was saying but just couldn’t. I liked this guy.

“Going to Canterlot. I guess two adults return?” I asked, unsure. There wasn’t a board from what I could see saying times or destinations so was just trying to remember the rules when ordering shit from home. The few times I used a bus or train anyway.

“Five bits please.” The guy said, Diamond pulled out a bag of bits from a pouch on his chest piece and pulled out five bits with his hoof. Then paid the fucker. “Thank you and have a nice day, next train will be in an hour. It is currently being cleaned and supplies restocked so you may do whatever you wish until a conductor tells you to board.” The guys said, I just smiled slightly and nodded, then we walked off.

“The fuck do we do for an hour?” I asked, Diamond looked lost for a second and just trotted over to a bench and sat down.

“How can you hide your pain so easily?” He asked me, I rolled my eyes and sat down next to him.

“The fuck is this about?” I asked.

“Last night, the scars. How can you just, ignore those?”

“The same way you repress emotion.” I replied, I made to sound as dead as possible. I really didn’t want to talk about this with him sober. But I figured he wouldn’t drop it until I do. Probably not push but he’ll want some of the story. Plus we had nothing else to talk about.

“I had training for that.”

“So did I, well, eventually. I found a way to hide my feelings, otherwise it would get worse. Though eventually it didn’t work from personal training and ended up getting real help about hiding my feelings and keeping people away. I am, terrified of fucking things up with Dash. But I promised to try and damn it I will. I am not a good person and it’s not all from what happened to me.”

“I don’t understand why anyone would hurt a child.” Diamond muttered.

“Neither did I, until I was older, the power that some people get when given something weaker than them can be too much. Some can’t help themselves.”

“You defend those who did you wrong? Who, abused you?” He sounded disgusted.

“Oh gods no, I’d kill the fucker myself if I knew where he was, my mum too if I cared enough to find her. But I just wanted to find a reason, any reason that people would scar a child like they did to me. May be bullshit and may not have been the reason, but it’s the only thing that keeps me going. That and knowing that at least one of them got his justice.”

“Justice? How can you do justice to someone like that?”

“It’s no enough in my mind, but it was enough to keep me satisfied. My mum and dad were never married, I was a mistake, they tried for a while but broke up when I was one, my mum had me during the week and my dad at the weekends. My mum was a complete bitch, but how do you know that as a child? I couldn’t do anything about it. My mum had many boyfriends when she had me and all but about two were complete cunts. But this one guy, he was a piece of work. He abused my mum a lot. Hitting her, screaming, shouting, all that fun stuff. Until he noticed I was around, I went days without food, would be cut, burned and.” I paused, I had to count to ten and tried to hold back the emotion before continuing. “And, all sorts. This went on for months before he finally broke my mum enough that she did it, I know each and every scar she gave me and know how painful each was. Obviously I didn’t tell anyone out of pure fear and blessed every weekend with my dad. Until he found out I was being tortured. Then organised a trip out of the country and when we got back, the guy doing this to me was in hospital in a coma with nearly every bone either fractured or broken. My mum was single until she met a guy from across the world and ran off with him, leaving me with my dad.” There was a long pause before Diamond cleared his throat, I had to dry my eyes a little.

“Should have killed him.” Diamond muttered. I smiled at that and put an arm around his shoulder.

“I couldn’t agree more, but what’s worse. Living as a cripple, not ever working again and having the fact that not only do people know about you, but also how to find you and get at you. Or being dead, you may panic during your death, but after? You died knowing you had power over someone.”

“That is a good point.”

“There are always worse things than death. My life being one.”

“Will you tell Rainbow Dash any of this?”

“I dunno. I was going to come out and tell everyone my backstory, but you keep pushing and already know half. But I’m not sure if I could live after telling her how broken I am and then seeing rejection in her eyes. Or fear.” There was another pause.

“I am sorry I pushed you.” Diamond muttered.

“I know dude, don’t worry about it.” Another pause.

“Do you want me to tell her, so you give me a shout and we can gather together and explain things?” I thought about that for a very long time, I leaned back in the bench and just stared at the blue sky for a minute or so.

“No.” I finally decided. “I’d like you to be there if I do it, but I should be the one to tell her.” Diamond nodded and we sat in silence for a very long time. Until Twilight Sparkle and all her friends came running from the town towards the train station. They all had worried looks on their faces and I was up and standing before they reached us, both Diamond and I ran towards them.

“What’s going on?” I asked, panicked.

“Zecora is in town!” Rarity cried. I looked to Twilight.

“She’s like us, but different, she’s a zebra.” Twilight explained, I lost a lot of my panic then and nodded.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“She’s an evil enchantress!” Pinkie declared.

“Uh huh, you guys have evidence?” I asked, they looked at each other.

“You can’t seriously be thinking about defending her are you?” Rarity asked.

“Hey I’ve seen examples of shit like this before, she looks different to you guys yes?” They nodded. “You’ve made your own stereotypes of her and decided she ain’t allowed in town?” More nods. “Tell me you didn’t just run her out of town with little to no evidence before you talked to her?” The looks they gave were not the answer I was looking for. “Come on guys I didn’t see ponies as racist considering how different I am!” I declared, throwing my arms out so they looked at me, a couple looked away, looking ashamed. Fluttershy, Dash and Twilight. The others looked unfazed.

“But she could curse us!” Rarity shouted. I folded my arms.

“I could have cursed you when we met for all you knew! Fucking. Whatever, where is this zebra living? I’ll go say sorry and ask if she wants to return to town tomorrow or something. Diamond on me.”

“She lives.” Rarity started.

“In the Everfree!” Fluttershy shouted and then flopped down to a weird position, I guess trying to hide.

“Fuck. Whatever, who knows where?” I asked. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both raised their hooves.

“Huh, Dash with us, the rest of you. Go the fuck home or whatever, but just think on how racist y’all are being.” I muttered, there were a couple grumbles but they did eventually leave. Twilight looked the most ashamed. I turned to Diamond. “What do you know about zebras?”

“They live in Zafrica and are basically the same as ponies, except their race doesn’t have any Pegasi or unicorn variants, instead they use magic through potions and sometimes Voodoo magic.”

“Zafrica?” I asked, he nodded. “Fucking kill me now. Alright, is one zebra a threat?”

“If all it takes is six civilians running it out of town, no. I doubt it will be any kind of mage, may know potions but I couldn’t say. I say she is most likely just another civilian, possibly a hermit of some kind if she is living in the Everfree close enough to walk into Ponyville. How often does she come in?” Diamond replied, then looked at Dash.

“Every few months, she came in about a week before you arrived.” Dash replied.

“Alright, so getting supplies that she couldn’t get in the Everfree right?” I asked, Diamond nodded. “Awesome. Now, Dash. The fuck was that about?”

“Hey I wasn’t scared of her, I could take her on if I needed to!” She declared.

“Yeah that’s like, the opposite of my point. You shouldn’t have to fight her, you shouldn’t have that image in your head. How is racism even a thing here with all the races you guys have?” Diamond shrugged.

“Small towns like this don’t often see travellers, and as I said a while back. Equestria is generally very isolated.”

“True I suppose. But Dashie is from Cloudsdale, a capital city!”

“I er, wasn’t the best student.” She said, looking a bit shamed.

“Ah whatever, I doubt much will come from this anyway, let’s just go find this zebra and say sorry.”

“I’m sorry I joined the bandwagon on this one Aron.” Dash muttered, walking next to me rather than her usual hover. I laughed a little.

“It’s okay Dashie, I still love ya.” I replied, she looked up very quickly with a huge blush, I just smiled and continued.

We spotted the zebra pretty quickly, she had only just entered the forest so we caught up fairly quickly. We were pretty far from the station now and I hoped we didn’t miss it. I also hoped Diamond had the tickets still. We ran into the forest to catch up and ended up stopped in the middle of a small field of blue flowers.

“Hey!” I called, the zebra turned to face me and stopped moving once she saw me. “I just wanted to say sorry about earlier, the ponies are a bit racist, but you may return tomorrow for whatever supplies you need. Just wait here and I’ll meet you at eleven or so.” I added. The zebra was about to step closer and stopped.

“Be aware strange one, I suggest that you run.” The zebra said, with a very stereotypical accent.

“I ain’t a threat to you, I just want peace.” The zebra looked fearfully.

“I shall meet you, I believe you’ll have a flu.” The zebra replied. I just shrugged and began to step back.

“See you tomorrow then, I’m Aron.”

“I am named Zecora.” First sentence that didn’t have a shitty rhyme in it. I just turned and walked out, Diamond and Rainbow quickly followed.

“That was awkward.” Diamond said as we left the forest and started to head to the train again.

“Yep, I don’t want to talk to her for long, but I’ll go around with her tomorrow just to show ponies she is friendly.”

“What if she isn’t?” Diamond asked.

“I’ll bring my sword.”

“But won’t that make her look like a threat?” Rainbow Dash asked. I paused at that.

“Er, yes and no. I’ve been carrying my sword every now and again whatever, I guess it might but I will only be with her for about ten minutes I guess, just say hello, all that bullocks. I’ll just wear my sword for the rest of the day.”

“If you say so.” Dash muttered. Then lit up. “Oh, me and Applejack are going to have a sports contest, wanna watch?” She asked smiling.

“When?” I asked.

“Couple weeks, harvest isn’t ready and she wanted to hang out, so I suggested a contest of sorts. Pinkie is sorting out the events and stuff, just figured you might wanna go.”

“Yeah I’d love to watch you Dash. I don’t really like sports but I know you do and I know you’re good at them so sure, I’ll be in the library, come by when it’s gonna start.” She beamed at that and jumped up to hug me. I took it like the slut I was and smiled.

“Anyway Dash, we gotta catch a train, I’ll catch you tomorrow or something?” She nodded and began to fly off. We started walking towards the train and got told to board as soon as we arrived, there were a couple ponies on board but none really talked to us. We had some minor conversations on the way there about Dash and Zecora but nothing major.

Our only stop was to Toyar, but Diamond suggested we say hello to Celestia again. We moved through the city fairly quickly and came across the blacksmith’s place. We just walked in like before.

“Sup Toyar!” I called as we walked in, I heard something fall and hit something followed by a loud.

“Ouch!” From the other room, shit was gathered up and the blacksmith ran in pulling a small wooden crate on wheels behind me.

“Aron, Diamond! Friends!” Toyar shouted when he saw us, he flipped a piece of wood up and came closer to us, then pulled the crate off what I noticed as a dolly and placed it on the table.

“Just came to stop by, check up on things.” I muttered, the blacksmith smiled and nodded.

“Aye figured you might, was actually working on something else, trying to get a trigger to work for a, gun wasn’t it?” He asked, I nodded. “Aye, it’s a bastard thing, I see why you don’t know it lad. First batch of grenades are finished.”

“Awesome, how many.” Toyar winked and opened the crate, the whole thing was just full of circular balls with a small pin on them

“Fifty are done, I made sixty and tested a few. Outside of the city of course.” He paused far too long to add the outside bit.

“Fucking hell, fifty?” He nodded, holding the smile. “I figured it would take a while for you to figure it out, expected like six or seven at the most. I see why people call you the best.” I muttered, then picked up a grenade from the crate, it was stupidly light and cold to the touch but fit my hand pretty well. “What’s the timer on these?” I asked. “And radius?”

“Timer is just under three seconds, perfect for quick use I figure. Radius is pretty big, I reckon you could take out five or six ponies with one of these. If thrown right.” I nodded.

“Well Toyar you just made me a very happy man, how much do you want for them?” He shook his head.

“For first batch, nothing, the materials are fairly cheap and I had just been asked to scrap some armour and reforge it for Princess Luna so had more than enough metal. Though I will have to ask for bits if you want anymore made.”

“That’s fair enough, I figured making gunpowder would be pretty cheap, since I doubt there is much of a chemical industry.”

“Aye there isn’t. Would probably be 2 bits a grenade, I can buy the chemicals in bulk and the metal is just iron, which is everywhere.”

“That’s fine, I doubt I’ll need many, and if I do I’ll most likely have become a mercenary of some kind and will be ranking up far more bits than two a grenade.”

“Of course, is there anything else you need help with?” Toyar asked.

“Nah I don’t, if you’re pissing about with the trigger keep me updated, I’ll drop by whenever I come to Canterlot. I might need some armour one day but for now I’m not rich enough nor really need it. I’ve just been pissing about in Ponyville.”

“Ack, they sent you to Ponyville, waste of potential.”

“What potential? I ain’t a warrior and I ain’t a hero.”

“You could be with training and the want.”

“Yeah if I wanted to be, but I have people like Diamond to be heroes instead. Equestria doesn’t seem to be threatened by anything.”

“And the only threat Equestria has is halfway across the world.” Toyar muttered, I nodded. “But still, if you ever want to take the stand then you make sure you come to me.”

“Of course Toyar, I wouldn’t dream on asking any other.” As I said that I unclipped my golden bag and began dropping grenades in it.

“I doubt you could hold much in that lad.” Toyar said, unsure and watching me. I’d already put four in and the bag looked to be able to hold one at best.

“I’m pretty sure it’s enchanted, can hold almost all of my sword. I doubt it’ll hold all the grenades but it’ll be easier than moving the whole crate.” Toyar just shrugged and looked over to Diamond.

“How are you old friend?” Toyar asked, they started having a catch up conversation, Diamond mentioned Lyra a lot and what he’d been up to when he wasn’t with me. Not much apparently, he seemed to really miss active guard duty but did enjoy the peace time as well. Toyar had a pretty good reply with that.

“You are just conflicted Diamond, think of it this way, you have ponies to talk to and things to do other than pretend to be a statue.” I smiled at that.

In the end I managed to get forty something into the bag before it began to expand and weigh more. I just grabbed the last four and pocketed them. That done I tied the bag of holding to me and stood by the door whilst Diamond and Toyar talked. It was interesting to listen to and they had a lot of history together. I began to suspect it was Diamond’s doing that Toyar was the official blacksmith over the fact he was the best. Though making fifty grenades with shit instructions and little time might just prove he was the best. They finished pretty quickly and we moved on to the castle. Again we got straight there without my chat and went straight into the throne room.

“Ah Aron, welcome back to Canterlot.” Celestia said when we walked in, Diamond bowed a little and I smiled and nodded to her.

“Good to see you Princess.” I replied, she smiled and put a hoof up.

“Could we have the room please, you too Diamond.” She declared, he looked confused for a bit before walking off and joining the rest of the guard, the doors were shut behind him and after about ten seconds it was just me and Celestia, she stood and walked towards me.

“What’s up?” I asked after an awkward pause.

“I have some free time, would you like to get to know each other a bit more?” Celestia asked. I smiled slightly.

“Of course, I have no other plans today. What would you like to talk about?”

“This and that, be still.” I was going to question what she meant and suddenly found myself in the middle of what looked like a desert. The ground was crackling and dry and the entire land looked flat, there wasn’t a single cloud to be seen. “Give it a second.” She muttered, again I wanted to question it but instead felt a huge dizziness shot through me, I felt like I was going to be sick but managed to hold it in. I moved and lunged around like I was drunk, before just sitting down and watching Celestia spin for a second. “Usually ponies throw up the first time they teleport such a long distance.” She muttered, I shrugged.

“Why did you teleport us?” I asked. “Where even are we?” I added.

“Privacy.” Oh sweet hell above, she says privacy wrong. Like Priv-ah-see. Not Pri-vacy. “And north of Canterlot, this is what a lot of the world looks like Aron.”

“Why? It looks like an apocalypse, how is there any life?” I asked.

“Magic is the main reason, though it is a magic that was around far before I was born.”

“I guessed so. What do you want to talk about?”

“Oh a couple things really, I’ve had reports from Twilight and she has mentioned a couple things. The dragon for one, I heard there was a huge party, you are dating somepony.” I smiled at that.

“Heh, I’d do it chronologically then. The party started off as a suggestion really. I was hanging around with two ponies, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash and I ended up trapped in a hole during a prank of theirs, Pinkie requested that she throw me a party for rescue, I suggested having alcohol there and later that night the entire town showed up, including what I presume are well known pony musicians, Pentatonix, Vinyl Scratch and a couple others. Although I remember the whole day I don’t know what bands were playing. The next day Ponyville was pretty much abandoned, the party ending at three. I was completely out of it, as was most of the town. After that it was agreed that there would be a party like that every year.”

“You seem to have had fun?”

“Celestia you don’t even know the half of it, you should totally go next year, sometime in July I believe, I’ll get someone to send invites out.” She smiled.

“I don’t think it will be my setting, Luna might like to go, might do her image some good.”

“Whatever you two want I guess. I got incredibly drunk and that party actually broke my anxiety, so I am much more talkative than when I first got here.”

“That is good then. You’ll have to tell me about that night.”

“Depends if Diamond’ll get in trouble or not.”

“He knows when to act like a guard and when to let his mane down, I’ve heard rumours he is with a mare, though I’ve also heard so are you.”

“Later. But first, party. Diamond, a pony named Rainbow Dash and myself had a drinking contest, I won. I didn’t want Rainbow Dash to pass out because we were apparently gonna sing shortly after, Diamond passed out just before I was about to give up.”

“You outdrank a royal guard?”

“Hey don’t sound so offended, if the royal guards are trained to hold their booze I’d be disappointed and want to talk about the training policy.”

“As would I.”

“Anyway, after that me and Dash sang together.”

“What did you sing?”

“Pony Waifu or some bullocks.”

“You know that’s a love song right?”

“Yes people have made me very much aware of this. After that even with remembering everything the party became a bit of a blur, I danced with all the ponies and at one point kissed Vinyl, a lot, on stage for about ten minutes or something. It was hot.”

“Dash might have been upset.” Celestia started giggling at that.

“Fuck off. The party officially ended at three, the next day, or that day I suppose. I just wanted to die, the hangover and effects from Twilight’s spell made me very ill. That was the party in a nutshell.” She nodded.

“Okay now you and Diamond with mares!” She declared.

“Fine whatever, that’s actually kinda chronological anyway so I’ll give you that. A mare named Lyra Heartstrings seems to have taken a liking to Diamond, I told him to go for it, I reckon she will break him out of his guard training and let him live a little.”

“Be careful with that Aron, Diamond will have to become a guard again one day. He is just to keep you company and give me some more eyes in Ponyville.”

“Yeah I know, he knows that, everyone knows that. But making people bottle themselves up like Diamond does is wrong.”

“Speaking from experience? Thought you were a civilian?”

“Yes, and I am. Which is why I had to promise to let Rainbow Dash closer to me, see where things go.”

“Why would you promise? Do you not like her?” Celestia actually sounded kinda sad.

“Yes, very much so. I see you lot as humans rather than horses, keeps me saner. I honestly want a relationship with her to work but I have enough baggage to make to wonder what she will think of me when I tell her.”

“Baggage?” I paused.

“Yeah. I didn’t have a good life.”

“What do you mean?”

“Christ I had to explain this to Diamond today, it’s not been fun.”

“I don’t want to push, just want to make sure you are okay.”

“Ha. I’m far from okay Celestia.” I stood up and began to take my top off, once it was she gasped, much like Diamond has.

“Alright, let me tell you about my past.” And so I did, a bit more detail than I had with Diamond and with far more pauses. Eventually she sat down herself and pulled me into a hug. I just took it without pausing. She squeezed me tighter when I had finished.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you, nopony should do that to another.” She muttered, I was silent and put my top back on, then went to the floor to hug her again. The dead ground wasn’t really that comfortable but Celestia sure as shit was.

“It happened, life sucks, and you move on, the guy got a level of justice.” I grunted.

“I will not let anything like that happen to you in Equestria Aron.”

“Heh, thanks Sunbutt.” There was a pause for a couple minutes and I shut my eyes, before she started to say something anyway.

“I don’t think Rainbow Dash will abandon you if you tell her.”

“I hope not. I’ve been very open about it recently. I told you and barely know you, I told Diamond because he kept pushing for answers, and I should have told him to stop more. I haven’t said anything obviously, but that part I want to keep, until I know Dash is with me.” I felt Celestia nod.

“Do you want to talk about the dragon now?” She asked.

“As long as I can stay laying on you, you’re comfy.” She paused for a second in mock thought.

“Deal.”

“Alright. It could have been dealt with far better and I shouldn’t have really spoke to the dragon, we should have convinced Fluttershy, but I knew we were on a time limit, I very much fucked up and was close to sprinting out of the cave to call you down. Should have brought Diamond in as well, but it was Twilight’s op.”

“Indeed, I would very much have liked to talk to this dragon, threatening to steal you like it did. Do you remember what colour it was?”

“Celestia. No offence but that dragon was fucking terrifying, I doubt I’ll ever forget it. It was huge, and red.” She stood up stupidly quickly, making me bang my head on the dusted floor. “Motherfucker.” I muttered, rubbing my head.

“Aron, that was a blood dragon. You’re lucky to be alive!” She declared.

“Yeah no shit. Whatever dragon it was I figured that much out.” She just rolled her eyes.

“If that is all, are you ready to return?” Celestia asked.

“Will I feel sick?” She nodded.

“Nopony really gets used to it, but it gets better.” I just closed my eyes and nodded. When I opened them a wave of nausea took over and I actually threw up, all over the marble floors.”

“Yes, throw up now.” Celestia muttered, trotting over to her throne.

“Fuck.” I said and spat the last of the bile out. “Never again.” I muttered. She laughed slightly and her horn lit up, a mare ran in after a few seconds, looked at me kneeling over, and then to Celestia. She ran back out and came back in with a mop and bucket. As she cleaned it the guards started coming back in, I stood next to Celestia’s throne, in front of Luna’s as a guard walked up to me and stood next to me. I presumed it was Diamond. They still all looked the same.

“If a diplomat walked in now they might think you were an advisor, or my escort.” Celestia casually muttered.

“Not with a mouthful of sick I ain’t. Though politics was never my thing and I ain’t that smart so fuck that.” She laughed slightly.

“I have a feeling if you ever got into it you would destroy the balance and end up with the world at pure peace.”

“Yeah I’m so lawfully good it’s un-fucking-real.”

“You have such a wonderful way to speaking.” She said.

“If there isn’t anything else?” She shook her head. “Chariots?”

“Of course, you could just send word to me whenever you came to Canterlot and you could get a pickup. Save you spending on the train.”

“That’s a great idea, thanks. I have money and Diamond got the tickets today, but it seems I’m gonna be coming backwards and forwards to Canterlot a lot. I need a way to earn money.”

“You could always become a solider.” Celestia said. “Training will be hard and long, especially since you’re a bipedal, but I’d be willing to hire a Minotaur or Naga.”

“I’ve said before Celestia I’m not a fighter, though if I am ever called to war then I’ll be happy to accept, if you have any sword masters I’d be happy for the training but I don’t want or need a military life yet, especially if I am getting into a relationship soon.”

“And yet you told Toyar you might become a mercenary?” She muttered.

“I did.”

“But you won’t become a solider?”

“Nope, nor a mercenary.”

“So why tell him? Would be my obvious question.”

“People like Toyar respect power and skill. I got the grenades of him for free because it is an untested, new weapon, he treated me, a stranger, better than he did Diamond, an old friend, for a time because I’m young and can be taught how to fight. I would buy weapons and armour from him. People like Toyar thrive off power.” I replied. “That’s not really a bad thing, it means he will be a valuable ally if he is called to a real war, I suggest you keep him paid, and close.”

“What if I were to respect power and skill?”

“Different principle. With Toyar nothing can come from it whether he respects me or doesn’t. I will give him reason to respect me as it suits me. So for example, the grenades. I told him I wouldn’t need more from him unless I became a merc, he will probably tinker with the grenades and make them explode bigger or better. With you, I don’t particularly gain much from lying and you seem to be someone who can spot it quickly. So if I told you I was becoming a merc, you would most likely know it was bullshit. Yes if you respected those with power and skill I would attempt to impress you just because you can make my life good or bad depending on how you feel about me. But for the foreseeable future there isn’t anything I can do.”

“Makes sense, sort of.”

“Again I’m not incredibly intelligent so my grammar is horrible, as is my explanations are nearly worthless.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. You could be a good Politian or a good solider if you learned.”

“That’s the same with most things Celestia. I could be a good horse if I became one and learned how to be one.”

“Would you be willing to become a pony?” She asked.

“That’s possible?”

“It may take some research and tests, but I believe so.”

“That’s awesome, but no I prefer my human body and ponies seem to have gotten used to me already. Could you do it the other way around?”

“Yes but I would need to look at a human mare to change pony mares.”

“Ah alright hold that off, I suspect the best way is to look at my memories.”

“Exactly, you’ve told me of your past and I trust you so don’t see the need to, if you wanted to show me a memory of a human mare though?”

“How detailed would you need the memory?”

“As detailed as possible, so naked. If you wanted decent looks.” I shook my head.

“Yeah figured, only girl I have known naked was Danielle and I don’t want to think back on that.”

“I understand, I won’t force it, you just seemed interested.”

“Oh I am, humans don’t have magic so now I am around actual magic it’s interesting to me. I’d love to learn more but figured I’d need a horn or would need to be a Siren. If humans can become Sirens, however Sirens are made.”

“How do you know of Sirens?” She actually sounded somewhat put off.

“Diamond. State secret again?”

“No, just very rare history.” I shrugged.

“Apparently they are all dead so I guess I won’t ever become a mage or whatever. No big loss.”

“There hasn’t been a sighting of one in many years no.” I wasn’t sure what to say about that.

“Alright, well we can talk about this later if you want Celestia, we still need that meeting.” She smiled slightly and nodded.

“It was good seeing you again Aron. And Diamond, if you are bored or feel out of place you can return to active guard duty if you wish.” He looked at me and Celestia and looked between the two of us for a second.

“Why wasn’t I informed about the Lunar Guard?” He asked.

“You have been in Ponyville, you can join them if you wish, though you would have to re-join the guard, considering they stay up at night.” Celestia replied.

“And you wouldn’t see Lyra all that much, unless you convinced her to come to Canterlot I guess.” I added.

“Indeed, it is your choice.”

“Exactly, I’m still an alien here so it’s not my place to say, but if you want to return to duty I won’t judge, would just have to come to Canterlot more to bully you. I know you’ve been bored in Ponyville.” He was silent for a moment and just nodded for a second.

“All due respect Princess, but I would like to stay in Ponyville with Aron, as he has said, Lyra has helped me out a lot, and Aron has been helping me, chill out, a lot more.” She nodded.

“It is your choice of course. And you may return to Canterlot whenever you wish. You are a sergeant are you not?”

“Yes Princess.”

“Then you shall be paid as one still, Ponyville may be peaceful but you are more likely going to deal with monsters and threats so close to an Everfree than you are here.”

“Of course Princess.”

“If there is nothing else?” She asked, we both shook our heads. “Then I shall see you when you next visit, don’t leave it too long, and I will sort out some time soon for us Aron. Though my sister would still very much like to meet you.”

“Of course, I haven’t found a reason to stay in Canterlot overnight, but if you organise our meeting late in the afternoon I can just hang around in Canterlot, and if Dash asks me out or anything I can just bring her and we can do something together.”

“That would be nice, I’d like to meet this Rainbow Dash.”

“I think you’ve met her, she was one of the ponies with Twilight when we kicked Nightmare Moon’s ass. She’s an Element of Harmony.”

“Oh I see, I think I remember her. Which Element is she?”

“Fuck knows, what ones are there?”

“Magic, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness.”

“Alright, if I had to guess she’s Loyalty or Honesty. I don’t think one person can be purely one trait like that but this is magical horse land so who knows.”

“Indeed, anyway, you’ll have to bring her next time.”

“Of course, everyone is acting like we’re together already, already been told me and her are a cute couple.”

“From Twilight’s reports you are.” I didn’t ask what she was implying there.

“Does she do anything but send reports?” Celestia’s smile didn’t fill me with confidence. I shrugged. “Fucking Twilight, I’ll see you later Celestia.” I muttered and walked out of the throne room, Diamond standing next to me.

“Thanks for sticking with me Diamond.” I muttered once we were aboard the chariot and heading back to Ponyville. There was a long pause and Diamond nodded slightly.

“Me and you are far too similar to be far apart Aron.” He replied. “And I was thinking on your past and you definitely need friends.” I smiled.

“If we’re similar you need them as much as me.”

“Which is why I’m staying with you, I never really had many friends in Canterlot and do not talk to my family all that much. You and Lyra are the closest people I have gotten to in a long time.”

“Well again Diamond, I appreciate you staying with me. You’re a good man.” He paused again.

“Was that actual praise?” I laughed slightly.

“Don’t get used to it, shitty jokes are what keep me going.” He smiled. We were silent again for a while until we landed, wherein I was tackled by a cyan Pegasus. I didn’t notice that to begin with, just suddenly noticed I was on the ground with Rainbow Dash on top of me smiling.

“Hey gorgeous.” I muttered, her smile grew and she kissed my nose.

“Hey Aron. You’re back!” She declared. The chariot immediately took off again and fucked off back to Canterlot.

“I am. Miss me?” She blushed slightly and hugged me.

“A little, Twilight said you were picking something up.”

“Heh, yeah you remember those grenades I mentioned? Well Toyar finished a load of them, where is Twilight, gonna go test them. You coming?”

“Yeah I’d love to see these things in use.” I smiled and pulled Dash down for a hug.

“I need to get up to get Twilight.” I muttered when she held the hug.

“I don’t want to see them that badly. We could hug for a while.”

“Come on Dashie.” I said, she smiled, leaned up again and bopped my nose with her own. She then got up and I stood, a couple ponies were watching but none said anything. I saw Lyra was next to Diamond but hadn’t seen her turn up.

“Sup Lyra.”

“You two are adorable.” She muttered. I smiled but said nothing. Then began to walk to the library, I found Twilight before I got there and she smiled when she noticed me.

“We’re back, with explosives. Wanna go blow something up?” She dropped the smile a little bit but still looked fairly happy.

“See when you say it like that…” She replied.

“Do you want to test some human tech Twilight?”

“Obviously, where do you want to try them?”

“Where is there a lot of open land?”

“There is some close to the Everfree, but-”

“Yeah no, I’m not setting off a grenade near a dangerous forest, try again.” She thought for a second.

“Think I know a spot, follow me. Also, hi Lyra, hi Dash, hi Diamond.” Twilight replied, the trio behind me gave their replies and we walked after Twilight. She continued out of town for about five minutes and we ended up in a pretty big flat area, Lyra and Diamond stood close to each other, I set the bag of holding down and pulled out the four grenades that had been placed around me. Twilight was staring at one with awe and Rainbow Dash was hovering next to me.

“Alright, timer is apparently three seconds, so float this over as far as you think needed, then a bit further, pull the pin and drop it.” I said, handing Twilight the first grenade. She floated it out of my hand and kept it in front of her.

“You are very paranoid about this. Do you really think it is worth it?” Twilight said.

“Yes, this could be awesome, I just don’t want us to get blown up. Once the first is tested I have three more to try out myself. I’ll keep the rest in case.” She nodded.

“Alright, if you say so.”

“Oh shit, this might be pretty loud. So prepare yourselves.” I added as Twilight started floating it away, eventually it stopped about ten meters away and suddenly dropped, the pin still floating in the air, the pin dropped and nothing happened. “Huh.” I muttered, before hearing, seeing and feeling a hug explosion fly up from where the grenade had fallen, I flinched a bit but didn’t jump back. Twilight did though and I felt a hoof holding on my arm to where Dash had been. The explosion finished and a huge scorch on the ground was there the grenade had been and I could see some shrapnel around the burn.

“That was awesome!” Dash said to my left. I smiled.

“The fuck it was, damn they fucking work.” I replied.

“And humans just, use those?” Twilight asked, her ears were flopping a little bit and there was still a ringing in mine.

“Nah, grenades like this aren’t really used, those other weapons like this are around, stun grenades are used a lot, which just explode but send out light rather than explosions, I dunno how to make them though.”

“Stun grenades could have been so much better.” Twilight muttered.

“Yeah but you would have to look away and close your eyes every time you threw one, with these you know what they do.” I said, she just nodded. I grabbed another grenade and gripped it a little. Then raised my arm, pulled the pin and threw it, the rush I felt holding a live grenade was something I will never forget, fear and power, excitement and strength. It was a strange and thrilling feeling. The thing didn’t go as far as Twilight’s magic but it was still far away enough for it to be safe, the thing exploded whilst still rolling and I started cheering. It looked fucking amazing. Once the aftershock was over I looked around.

“Do you guys think you could pull the pin without magic?” I asked, Rainbow Dash looked beyond excited for a second but Diamond spoke up first.

“I would not want to risk it.”

“Yeah good shout, I’ll have to talk to Toyar about how he set them off next time we see him, or see if can make the trigger a button rather than pin.”

“Aww but I want to try one!” Dash shouted.

“Yeah but if Diamond doesn’t think he could pull the pin I don’t want any of you to risk it, Lyra and Twilight could use them but I don’t want anyone else besides a trusted unicorn to use these.” She looked kinda pissed but didn’t say anything. I heard a shout somewhere and turned to see Applejack, Rarity and the Ponyville Mayor running towards us.

“Shit the fuzz, we’ve been found out.” I muttered. The trio ran towards us and the mayor gave a small scream when she looked at the burns on the ground.

“What happened? We heard explosions, are y’all okay?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah AJ, I was just testing some human weapons, nobody was harmed and the testing is over.” I replied, she looked calmed straight away but Rarity still looked terrified.

“You’re testing weaponry?” She asked. “Twilight were you involved?” She added.

“Yes Rarity, I threw the first one, as Aron said it was just a test and nopony was hurt.” Twilight replied.

“I noticed.” Rarity muttered.

“Well as long as you are all okay, no harm done, but please do this further away so you don’t send ponies into a panic.” The Mayor muttered.

“It’s why we came so far out, I didn’t expect them to be as loud as they were though, sorry Miss Mayor.” I replied shrugging, I never bothered to learn her name, hadn’t seen her round much. She nodded and walked off, Applejack followed. Rarity gave me a glare and just ‘huffed’ and wondered off herself. Twilight started giggling, as did Rainbow Dash, after a moment Lyra and I joined it. Diamond was there.

That moment lasted a few minutes before we calmed down, Twilight began to walk off towards Ponyville.

“Anyway, that was interesting but I left Spike alone to meet you up so will have to head back.” She said looking at me. I nodded.

“See ya in a bit Twi.” She smiled and continued.

“I was in the middle of something as well, would you like to accompany me back into the town Diamond?” Lyra muttered.

“Of course Lyra. See you later Aron.” Diamond said, and they two walked off. Leaving me and Rainbow Dash, and I had the perfect plan ready.

“Yo Dash?” I asked, she was staring into space and she jumped a little when I spoke to her. She flew down next to me and looked up at me.

“What’s up Aron?” She asked back. I smiled and knelt down to look her in the eye.

“Do you er. Wanna maybe…” I did have the perfect plan ready, but turns out I had some level of anxiety. “Fuck. What I’m tryin’ to say…” I lost the words again and felt like crying.

“Yes.” She muttered.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Do you want to be in a relationship with me?” She asked. I smiled.

“That’s what I’m trying to ask you.”

“You suck at this Aron.”

“I know, I blame Spike.” She giggled slight and flew up and hugged me. She then kissed me again, it was still kind of awkward and weird but I returned the kiss after a short pause.

“Yes, I’ll be your marefriend Aron.” I smiled and pulled her into a kiss again, she looked confused for a second but moaned and returned it.

“Awesome.” I muttered after taking a breath once the kiss was over. She laughed again. And that was the day I got to try out grenades and stopped being single.

It was a great day.

Author's Notes:

this chapter was kinda hard to write, sorry bout that

though aron's now a xenophile so theres that