He still had a smile on his face as I raise an eyebrow. "So we are now recruits in some super secret organization that deals with the spiritual plane?"

He nodded his head "Yea, but we are more of a society, we take care of our own and treat them like family"

"Like leaving without a word for about eight years?" Hammer frowned at him, who is this guy to him?

Bonzu sighed and turned his attention to Hammer "Look I'm sorry about not telling you anything, but I had to leave to take over this position when dad died."

"He died in a carriage accident, how is this related to that?"

"He died doing this, he sacrificed himself to stop a powerful demon from entering earth." He says flatly.

"But.."

He was stopped short as Bonzu interrupted him. "We had to lie to you to protect you from a lot of things out there that would love to devour your soul."

"Why would I need protection, I can barely tell if a spirit is nearby."

"I'll explain it more, but in private, it's a bit of a family matter." I stared at Hammer, wanting to say something but I just don't know what to tell him. What could I say, the look of sadness and betrayal on his face made my heart sink. I have known Hammer since we were young foals, and here he was having his world flipped upside down and I don't know how to help him. "Damian," Bonzu was now staring at me "Why don't you leave me and Hammer alone for awhile, the guards will escort you to the mess hall where you can eat and get acquainted with some of the ponies who will be overseeing your training."

I nodded then turned to Hammer "I'll be saving a seat for you"

He nodded while in a slight daze "Yeah." He sat down on a cushion that fell out of his backpack.

I turned around and walked out of Bonzu's office, through the hall of doors, and into the room of guards. There was a guard wearing sunglasses waiting for me. He nodded to me then guided me through the corridors of the building. We continued to walk for a few more minutes until we came across somepony almost completely covered in dark clothes. He looked about my height and size, he just had on a black coat that went past his flank with a hood, long boots that covered his legs, and some kind of mask that covered most of his face. The small part that wasn't covered was shining bright blue, similar to the weapons I saw the two ponies make earlier. Why is he shiny? Given, with what I have seen thus far I guess it's not that weird. I shrugged and continued to follow the guard around a few more corners.

BOOM

It sounded like something nearby exploded so I stopped and began to turn around until the guard stopped me"What the hell was that?" I asked completely confused.

"Don't worry about it, we need to get you to the mess hall so I can hand you off"

"Thanks for making me feel so special, but what do you mean don't worry about it, something EXPLODED!"

"It's normal, he's actually having a good day today."

I stared at him with my mouth hung open and completely confused, how the hell are explosions normal, "Ok..." Satisfied, he turned around and continued to lead the way. Apparently, this place is way weirder then I thought, this is going to take a lot of getting used to. We finally came to a pair of double doors with Mess Hall etched into the stone above them. The guard left as fast as he could, Ok.... are the doors going to explode or does he just hate showing somepony around. I opened the door and walked inside, the cafeteria was very large and looked very similar to the kind at my school. There was an area to get trays and line up for food, and tables and chairs covered pretty much everywhere else. The tables were filled with different kinds of creatures, from zebras to ogres, to griffins and so much more, some I can't even recognize. I wandered around aimlessly for a bit just starring at all the different creatures in here. I mean, I've only heard about ogres, but even then they were supposed to be mean and generally dislike ponies, but some were sitting at the same table as them. "Woah......." I continued to stare as ponies talked, laughed, and ate. I lost myself in the large crowd until someone called my name out.

"DAMIAN!" I turned towards the voice to see CC waving and calling me. "OVER HERE!" She had to yell so her voice was above the rest of rooms. I trotted up to her with a slight smile on my face. If I get to see her this often I think I can get used to all this stuff pretty quick. She handed me a tray and had me get in line in front of her. "So how do you find everything here?"

"Well since all I've really done is apparently piss off that old pony and meet Bonzu, kinda weird. I mean the strangest thing that happened until about a few days ago was Hammer's back pack, but now I'm surrounded by races I've only heard about and some I don't even recognize."

She giggled a bit "That's usually the biggest thing to affect the newbies, you'll get used to it all in time. How is Hammer doing, I know Bonzu is his brother and hasn't seen him in a long time, plus the whole thing about how his dad died."

I sighed while looking down at the ground "He seemed pretty shook up about it, I know Hammer though and he'll be back to his old self in no time."

"Are you sure?" She asks with a concerned look on her face "All of that is a lot to take in, plus everything else he's about to see"

"He's always been able to make the best of a bad situation, you can kinda depend on him to be the strong one during hard times." I smiled a bit remembering some of the things me and him had to go through. This in turn made a small smile appear on CC's face. We continued to follow the line until I got up to the lunch mare.

"Vegetarian or carnivore?"

I slightly raised an eyebrow. "Uhhh vegetarian ?"

"Good, glad I didn't have to call the guards over, hate it when we get the looney ones." She tossed some tube shaped thing onto my tray then shooed me away with her hoof. I waited for CC who got one to then went over to an empty table with her. I took my seat and set the tray down then leaned over and sniffed the tube. CC gave me an odd look.

"Have you never had a burrito before?"

"A what?" I kept staring it down then poked it with my hoof.

"A burrito it's Pomexican food."

"We don't have that in Detrot."

"Boy you don't know what your missing out on, they are delicious." She picked it up with her hoofs then slide about one fourth of it into her mouth. What I would give to be that burrito. I stared at her in awe until she bit it off and began chewing. Oww.... note to self, don't imagine self as food for a mare again... just ow. I look at my burrito and pick it up then shrug. I put it up to my mouth then took a bite out of it and start to chew. OH MY GOD! It is delicious, it's got rice, beans, cheese, some kind of pepper and hot sauce. I devour the rest of my burrito, accidentally biting my hoof when its gone.

"Ow!" I shake my hoof a bit and look down in embarrassment as CC starts to laugh. She smiles at me and wipes her face with a napkin.

"Why don't you go get another, you were out cold for two days." I nod as my stomach growls slightly, still feeling empty. I take my tray and get in line. I tap my hoof then entire time, getting very impatient. Once I got to the front I threw my tray down in front of the lunch mare.

"Vegetarian, food tube, now"

"Kaaaaayyyy....." As soon as she put the burrito on my tray I ran off to sit next to CC and took it in my hooves and held it up.

"BURRRIIITTTTOOO! Your beans and rice make my tummy feel so nice." She laughed as I ate it with speed and vigor.

She laughed with a hoof up to her mouth, cause its so damn cute. "I hope your this enthusiastic about training."

I licked some remnants off my plate then looked up at her "By training do you mean like the kind of stuff I did with Max? Fighting techniques, spiritual focus, that kind of stuff?"

"Mmm, sort of, you will be learning some fighting styles, mainly those of a weapon you seem most comfortable with. Like me, I use a bow."

"Cool, how good are you with it?"

"Good enough to be the instructor".

"Awesome."

"Yeah, we will also teach you how to make your weapons like how Knife Edge and Swift Blade did when they had to knock the two of you out."

"About that, why did they make their weapons when they just knocked us out?"

"To intimidate the two of you."

"Oh... yeah that didn't really work"

"I know."

I frowned a bit and turned to look at the entrance as it opened. Hammer walked in and started looking around and seeing all the ponies, he had the same look of amazement on his face I assume I had. I got up and ran over to hammer "DUDE! You got to get a burrito, they are awesome"

"A what?"

"Burrito, its a food tube of tastyness"He opened his mouth to say something but his backpack spat out a plate with a burrito on it that he caught with his hoof.

"That?"

"Yea that." I lead him over to the table CC was at and we took our seats. He took a bite out of a burrito and a big smile crossed his face as he devoured the rest of it. His backpack spat out another one that he ate just as fast.

He smiled and turned towards his backpack "Thank you Backpack, I love you."

"Hope you stay that way, apparently we have to do a lot of training."

"So I finally get to learn how to fight."

"Yea, and by the sound of it they'll hook you up with a specialized tutor once you've found your weapon type."

"I wonder what I'll end up specializing in." Me and CC looked at each other then began to laugh and fall over "What? Seriously whats so funny?" I got up and wiped a tear from my eye as CC did the same.

"We will also run you guys through a few courses to see if there are any non combat roles you would be able to fill as well. You will also be put through classes that teach you the language of the old."

"Language of the old? The hell is that?"

"Well, Damian, it's as it sounds. It is the language used by ancient spirits and is also the language spoken and written in heaven and hell."

"Oh, guess we will need that then."

"Yea, so are you guys all set?" Hammer and I look to each other then nod. She got up and lead us out of the cafeteria then down a few halls. She lead us to a door that had the picture of a book and pen above it. "Your first two months will be spent learning the language, that way you guys aren't too tired from training to stay awake in class."

"Wait, so you guys saved us from a demon to take us out of school, to put us in school? This sucks." She glared at me then smacked me upside the head. "Owww, the hell?"

"This is just as important as the physical training, plus its a dead language. So be happy that your getting to learn something most ponies don't even know exists."

"Yes CC."

"Good. Now get in there and be nice, we will have some guards escort you two around until you get used to our buildings."

"Alright, but when did you become our moms?" She raised her hoof at me while staring me down. "Sorry, sorry." She put her hoof down and had a small smile on her face then smacked me again and pointed at me. "Ow" She turned around and left. Hammer and I looked at each other then sighed. We turned and headed through the doors, inside the room was just a large classroom with a very large chalkboard and a ton of desks. In front of the chalkboard was a purple mare with light green mane and tail. She wrote some weird looking things on the board then turned around to speak to everypony in the class.

"Welcome to Latin one O one, I will be your teacher for the next two months and my name is Senex Verba."Hammer and I took our seats then I raised my hoof. She looked at me with a small smile on her face "You have a question?"

"Yes, whats with the unpronounceable name?"

"It is my name in Latin" she replied flatly now losing her smile.

"Whats Latin?"

"What your about to learn" I raised my hoof again "Yes?"

"Do I have to learn Latin?"

"Do you want to live?"

"Yes...."

"Then there's your answer." I sunk in my seat frowning a bit as Hammer started to raise his hand. Before she had the chance to call on him his backpack spat out some book. He looked at the title then lowered his hoof and had a content smile on his face.

I glared at him and whispered "You cheater"

"Hey it's Backpack's fault not mine." The smile on his face got bigger.

"Now class I'm going to pass out some books and supplies. From here on In you all are going to be speaking as little English as possible. Tuum mentes aperire et nobis incipiunt"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 Months Later

I have got to hand it to Senex Verba, she was able to teach me a language almost as old as time in the span of two months. Hammer had backpack helping him almost the whole time so he is still a bucking cheater, but I am grateful of CC forcing us to take those classes early, especially since some nights I was up till about two in the morning studying. Given it was only the clock in my room saying two in the morning, it's really easy to lose your track of time when there are no real windows in this place. They said they had to keep everything sealed just for the rare times when we get guests who aren't a part of the society. I smiled at Hammer as we walked down the hall "It's pretty late and I hear we have training tomorrow so I'm gonna hit the sack."

He nodded to me "Sounds like a plan."

We parted ways and I waved a hoof back at him "Nox."

"Nox." He waved back and headed off to his room.

I trotted off to my room and fell on my bed as soon as I entered. With a grateful sigh I got comfortable and fell asleep quickly.