"So um. That certainly... Happened."

Livy nodded.

"Yes it er... Did."

The two of us stood in awkward silence in Livy's room where we both had woken up.

"Hey Livy?"

She looked at me.

"You wanna grab a drink sometime?"

Her expression went blank, and she fell on her back on the floor, laughing uncontrollably. Somewhere during this I cracked a grin and started laughing alongside her. Eventually she looked over at me.

"Yeah. I think that'd be alright."

From there the two of us went our separate ways for a while, her wanting to retrieve Akira from the sleepover that Orchid had hosted for the kids of everyone that went to the party, and made a mental note to thank Orchid. Even though she had to leave guard duty while she was pregnant she still did so much for everyone. I walked slowly through the castle, staving off my headache with some basic healing magic I had learned. Livy managed to remember that I had left my armor in my room, but I still could summon the four gauntlets I had received from the Cairn to cast magic. I found my way to the throneroom and I could see Luna sitting on the throne with a pair of sunglasses on. She turned to me.

"I did it."

I blinked once.

"Did what?"

"Until now the nobles and mages of the college have been struggling along to use the Heart for the purpose of raising the sun, but this morning I woke and did it myself."

She gave me a sad smile.

"For the first time, I have managed to perform my sister's duty, and in doing so relieved Equestria of the weight of the sun."

I nodded and patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry.  We have a thousand  years to find some way to save her. Until then we can do all we can, you with finding a way to free her from the Marker and me working with the Guard."

She took off the glasses and gained an expression of having recalled something.

"Oh I almost forgot Jack. Here."

She levitated something over to me. It was a badge crafted of an orange metal, made to be a crescent moon that was curving around a sun.

"The Guards of Night and Day lost a good deal of lives, and so for your role in the fighting against the church the Guards all petitioned me to promote you. As the Crystal Guard, Day Guard, and Night Guard are all made into one force, the Equestrian Guard, you are promoted to the rank of Commander. As it stands you are one of the highest ranking Guardstallions of the kingdom. Bear the title well, and may you have the strength to shoulder the responsibilities that you will soon possess."

"I... Wow... I don't know what to say. I don't know if I can handle all this but..."

I looked at Luna with a resolute expression, and saluted her with both of my right arms.

"I will do my best! For you, for the Guard, and for Equestria!"

---

"So. I already opened up to you with me and Akira's life story, so how about you? What's the grand origin of Jack the Dragonslayer?"

It had been a few days since my promotion and the party, and now I was finally freed up to take Livy out. The two of us were sitting on a hill outside the city, a basket of gems and fish sitting between us, along with a small keg of ale that I'd gotten from Shield. Something I had found out early on about the Empire was the fact that they were open to omnivores. Since there was limited space for farming then someone a while back had turned to fishing and hunting out in the wastes to get food. Ponies here seemed to have some trouble digesting meat, but they could still eat it. I looked away from Livy and at the setting sun. I sighed.

"Well I guess you can tell that I'm not exactly a common creature, y'know with the black inky skin and yellow demon eyes and four arms and all."

She giggled.

"Well I suppose that's true."

I smiled, still looking at the sunset. I reached into my knapsack and withdrew my original plasma cutter. I had gotten it back after a while more of the college studying it, and so I had been carrying it around but refraining from using it in combat. I continued speaking.

"Well once upon a time I lived in a different world entirely from this one."

I used some of the magic I had been learning, namely illusion magic, to summon up a little lightshow above us to illustrate my story.

"I was born on a world called Earth, a planet of technology and science, somewhere far away from here. I lived in a country called the United States of America. I was raised in a family of three kids, namely my older brother and little sister, along with my two parents. I was a bit of a nerdy guy back then, and along with that I was in study to become an engineer..."

At times I would have to stop and explain things to Livy, such as what video games were and such things. She of course had a few laughs about my nerdy tendencies. I went through the important moments of my life, and by the end she was seemingly invested in the outcome. I went through all of what happened since I arrived to Equestria, and then to the moment I met her.

"And then you know the rest."

We looked at each other.

"Well that's quite the story, Jack of Earth. Normally I would call you crazy, but after seeing you in action I actually believe your story."

I smiled at her.

"Well thanks for that. Still, let's move on to more cheerful things."

She nodded with a smile.

"Sure. So how's being the Commander of the Guard going?"

"Fairly well, no major screwups in moving all of the contents of the Castle of the Two Sisters and the group sent to construct an outpost at Tartarus has done well. Along with that we've gotten the full support of the ponies of Equestria in the forming of the Equestrian Empire, and the Hearts of Harmony are all in place to clear the frost from the land. After the hearts are activated we should be able to use the efforts of pegasi from across Equestria to clear out the remaining storm clouds and the land will once again be livable."

She nodded.

"Yeah and all of the gem hunters that followed me here have started spreading out and finding their places across Equestria as full citizens and the mages that have been maintaining all of the remaining dragon eggs from Tharn's horde are doing a good job, and so the eggs will be able to incubate properly until we find families to adopt and care for them properly. All of the eggs can be hatched by any magic wielding creature, all it takes after they've spent enough time developing is a god enough burst of magic. Usually that would be done by the mother dragon of the egg, but any female with enough magic can hatch and bond to them, regardless of species."

I shrugged.

"Well as long as they can care for the hatchlings properly."

We sat for a moment, twiddling our thumbs. I looked over at Livy.

"Wanna go catch a timberwolf?"

She smiled.

"Hell yeah."

---

"And that's how, after one romantic meal and a keg of ale, I came to possess a small ebony timberwolf puppy."

Luna gave me a look that showed she was not amused.

"Jack you must return it to its parents."

"I can't do that Luna he has my smell now, they'll never accept him!"

"Jack. If you keep this timberwolf then you need to take care of it. That means feeding and watering it, trimming its extra branches, and training it to not urinate on the floor. It will be your responsibility, but if you can handle all of this then you will have a near immortal pet that will be loyal onto you until death."

I nodded, and she sighed.

"Very well then. What shall be it's name?"

I thought for a moment.

"Fenrir. Imma call you Fenrir!"

I said, smiling and lifting the yipping puppy to my face.

"Okay, let's get you housebroken!"

---

"Alright everyone, we're all gathered here to unveil one of the latest innovations of The University. This... is a train!"

We were all gathered up for one of the many Earth inventions being implemented. After a long while of collaboration and arguing between the mages of Equestria and the Crystal College (the two had ended up fusing into one group known as The University) they had finally begun to understand the data retrieved from me and my Earth-tech. One of the first they had actually begun to place into usage across the country was a basic railway between  and the six towns that had been constructed around the Hearts of Harmony. Each of the Hearts, as planned, had a settlement forming around them. The two towns were currently named were Alderic and Cantervale, and there were four more cities planned. If I had my say then at least one of them would be named Camelot and another would be named Sheoth. Anyway, the first set of rails were built in the areas thawed by the hearts, allowing for easy movement between the settlements both with people wanting to settle but also for moving supplies for construction. Currently we were all gathered to see the maiden voyage of the Crystal Express, heading on the full circuit from the Empire capital to the other cities. As it was my knowledge that they made this from, Livy, Akira and I were both riding along in the back car with Luna, Shield, Razor, and Orchid.

"So they got stuff like this all over the place back where you came from?"

Shield still had trouble believing me about some of the stuff from Earth.

"Yeah. A lot more than this."

Shield grinned.

"Well here's hoping that the University can keep the cool stuff coming!"

We all laughed at this. I decided to tell them about one of the plans I had for the Guard.

"Well the University already has finalized the plans for the new wave of plasma-cutter rifles for the Guard, so with that then we can have some better ranged munitions. Rather than drawing off ambient magic they do have to be loaded with these little rune covered gem clips. They use gems charged with magic, and with that their blasts can be given different properties based off of the gems used. With that they can be used even in environments that are lacking in ambient magic."

Razor perked up.

"So if a rifle has a sapphire clip then it'll be enchanted with ice magic, fire for ruby and so forth?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, and there's even talk about trying to create some specialized rounds that can release bursts of healing and strength boosting magic onto wounded Guards."

Orchid smiled at this.

We all looked up when we heard the the conductor yelling.

"We're coming up on Alderic! Gather your belongings everybody!"

I grinned a bit at this. Ever since I had become commander then people had been emulating some of what I said, namely saying 'everybody' instead of 'everypony' and such...

It won't last.

I froze in place as I heard this. A voice that wasn't mine spoke in my mind.

Mercer's voice. My vision slowly blurred as Mercer's voice continued.

We are not yet slain. You will not stop the convergence, and it is only a matter of time...

I collapsed to the ground, hearing the shouts of my friends in the distance.

---

I was floating in the air, unsure of where I was. Below me, a large desert was consumed in a large battle. Waves of ponies, gem hunters, and dragons dressed in what looked like a level 5 Advanced RIG from Dead Space, but made of the Lunar Bronze of the Night Guard's armor charging into war. On the other side, pouring from a pitch black pit were waves of pony/necromorph hybrids along with massive necromorphs of the same build as the monster that Sol Daemonius had made from Sombra and Tyrath. Scatter about the side from the pit were ponies and what looked like minotaurs and griffons wearing unitologist robes and various other necromorphs of other types charging in. My vision faded and  found myself alone in a pitch black cavern. I stood up and turned around to find the Tartarus Marker behind me. In front of it was Mercer, eyes blazing and a sword made of the same crimson metal as the amulet that had corrupted Celestia. The sword carried a faint red glow, and seemed to be drawing power from the Marker. It was crafted to have the appearance of the Marker as well, two blades curving around each other. I was adorned in my dragonscale armor, but something was... Different. My head seemed to screech in pain when I tried to figure out what was changed. I drew Tharn's Fang, Finis, and... Two other swords from their sheathes. The other two swords seemed to be in the same category as my armor in figuring them out, it seemed. I looked up and locked eyes with Mercer. I was speaking, but I couldn't tell what I was saying. I saw a wave of light pour from the Marker, all of it flowing into Mercer. His whole body was covered in white cracks, and the last thing I could see was his outline, burning somewhere inside the ball of light before me...

"-ack? Jack! Guys he's waking up!"

I was laying on the ground in the infirmary, Livy holding my head and calling out. I looked up and saw Shield, Razor, Orchid, and Luna standing around the room and then walking over to me.

"Uuuuugggghhh... What just happened? I just had the craziest dream..."

---

A premonition. That was the second one I would have, and this time I would not be caught off guard. The last one I had almost forgotten, but still it came true. This one I would be ready for.

I made use of every second of the next few years, planning, building, training. I made the Guard below me into a strong fighting force, and I made myself as great a warrior as I could be. Along the way of this, it came to my attention that we had enemies. The unitologists that had escaped from the Equestrian Empire had spread to other countries, and brought the influence of the Marker with them. As it was, the Griffon King had begun to sink into the same pitfalls that had claimed Celestia, and rumor had it that the same was planned for the Emperor of the Minotaurs. So far they made no movements on us, but we were still wary. I myself had been involved in some of the dealing with other countries, and a few occasions that could have been war-starting disputes I had solved with simple combat. Something I took advantage of was that both the Griffons and Minotaurs had traditions rooted in combat, and so I had been involved in one to one duels over matters of state, of which I had lost none. This gained me a fierce reputation amongst other countries, and with good reasons. After a hundred years of madness and a little over half that as myself I began to make the Guard into a fighting force that was strong enough to hold its own in combat, and I made myself into an adept of student of combat, both in my transformations, my swordsman skill, and in my magical prowess.