After a few delays with the crane assembly, fortunately not crashing into the Carne Den, progress had started in earnest on the upper floor. The bathrooms, both upper and lower, were already done, complete with interior decoration. It didn’t make any sense to me, but at least we had functional bathrooms. The back area was also done, missing only the grill I would stand at. We still needed that.

Shortly after the upper bathroom was done, I’d began commandeering it as a temporary office space. Today, I had a bunch of paper and pencils, and I had to come up with the menu. I could send it out to the presses for printing tomorrow. I decided to have the menus printed on wood instead of paper. It was different.

I’d just closed the door and set my materials down on the countertop when I heard a ringing sound coming from the door. I looked at it and saw that the mirror was rippling, as if it was made of water. “That’s weird.” I cautiously approached the mirror. As I got closer, I felt a resistable pull coming from its surface. I poked the mirror and found that it wouldn’t let go of my finger. “That’s really weird.” Against my better judgement, I continued into the mirror.

Inside the mirror was a dark tunnel, devoid of all light except for one flickering point up ahead of me. I looked back and saw that the way I’d come was dark. It had also sealed itself off, and I couldn’t do anything to get back. I looked forward and went towards the point of light.

The point of light eventually became an oval pane of glass. I put my hands on it and and pressed. It actually gave a bit, but I didn’t break through it. There had to be another way out of here, but the blackness around me had no give, making travel through it a non-option.

I realized that the glass was the only way out, but it looked like very nice glass, so I didn’t want to break it. I looked around the edge for a frame of some kind to pull out, but I wasn’t seeing any such thing.

Just as I realized my search was fruitless, something shoved me through the glass at high speed, shattering it in a way that could certainly not be described as quiet. Surprisingly, the glass didn’t hurt, nor did the fragments cut my clothes. I wasn’t prepared for the shove, and I wound up skipping on the damp ground a couple times before faceplanting. “Why?”

After taking a moment to mope at my face’s misfortune of being targeted by, well, just about everything, I stood up and wiped some mud and grass from my face. Once I was able to see again, I saw a huge armored guy in front of me. I couldn’t see his face, but he seemed a bit tense at my presence. Wait, if I’m seeing another human, then did I get summoned again? If he’s tense, then he probably didn’t summon me. I turned around and saw a less taller-than-me person wearing mirror-like armor and carrying a huge mirror shield.

Hold on, I came out through an oval pane of glass, and that mirror shield is the same shape. He was behind me when I came out, so he must be the one who summoned me here. “Hello, uh, mirror guy. What’s your name?” The mirror guy simply pointed his sword at the taller taller-than-me guy. “What about him? Is he a friend of yours?” He pointed his sword at the other guy again, repeating the motion a couple times. “What do you want me to do? I still haven’t gotten your name yet.” If he was going to play this quiet game, I could just keep asking him until he cracks and speaks.

I heard heavy footsteps behind me, and they were getting closer. I looked back and saw the taller guy charging, and I was in the way, his sword and shield raised and ready for battle. I decided then that he wasn’t friendly, and ran away, past the mirror guy. That was a fight, and I had no reason to be part of it.

A few seconds after escaping the fight, I heard what had to be the two shields hitting each other, then one of them falling to the ground. I didn’t think much of it until I heard what sounded like metal being broken through. I looked back and saw the taller guy stabbing the downed mirror guy. “Well, that doesn’t look comfortable.

Wait a minute. I came out of the mirror guy’s shield. If that guy gets killed, then I might die too. Summons often die with their summoner, and I don’t want to die!” I took a moment to get myself in the right mindset. Even if I only had the nail rounds today, I still had to do something.

I noticed that the tall guy was preoccupied with the mirror guy than me. I took the chance to run back to them, turning the Ember Celica to their gauntlet forms on the way. I jumped before I got there and managed to angle myself to land on the tall guy’s back. He paused in his assault when I landed on him. I grabbed onto his left shoulder and began punching his helmet with my right fist. I got one punch to connect before he started trying to shake me off. I was glad I was really strong, since I was able to hold on and land more punches. The nails didn’t seem to do anything though, and were just rolling off his armor.

After a few punches, I realized that that plan of attack wasn’t working. I caught a glimpse of a nail that was resting on his armor and I picked it up. An idea came to mind, along with the dark hope that some of the fallen nails went into the soles of his feet. “This is going to hurt us both.” After steeling my resolve with a deep breath, I stuck the tip of the nail on the helmet around where his ear should be, put a bit of force on it, and dragged the nail towards me, making a horrible screeching sound.

“Arrghh!” my victim shouted for the both of us. He probably had it worse with the echo inside his helmet. I kept the sonic torture up for a few seconds before he managed to shake me off with a surprising amount of force, sending me flying into a tree. I hit the rough bark face first, fell to the ground, and stumbled backwards a bit.

“Thank goodness I have my aura. And my semblance. I just got a bit stronger from that.” Before I could collect myself and face the tall guy, I got knocked up into the air through the trees. I think I heard my clothes get torn a bit. At least I think I heard the sound of ripping fabric.

While I was up in the air, I saw the tall guy jump up towards me. It was all I could do to watch him come up to meet me with his sword raised. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the weapon as the flat side came down on my head, slamming me down towards through more tree branches and onto the ground. I landed in a puddle, fortunately not on my face, and the cold mud got to places it shouldn’t have. “I’m going to have to ask Rarity to fix this if I see her again.” I looked at the tall guy and saw him brush something gold off his shoulder. That looked like . . . Oh no.

I felt the color change in my eyes as they went red and rage built up in me, forcing me to my feet. My hair ignited and I felt the mud on me begin to dry and crumble off as I began giving off heat waves. “YOU!” I shouted before charging at him. He turned around just in time for me to jump on his chest, clamp around it with my legs, and pulled his helmet off, along with the blue scarf, exposing his head. It looked like a good target. I launched punches left and right, each one leaving a nail sticking out of his head. I was going to turn his head into a carpenter’s dream. I’d have fulfilled it myself, but I didn’t have a hammer.

I felt a strong hit to my back stun me for a bit before I was grabbed and thrown off of him. I twisted myself around to score a three point landing along the ground before charging back and jumping back at him. He put his shield up to block me, but I vaulted over it. I would have started putting more nails in his head, but he hit me in the chest with the pommel of his sword, knocking me back onto the ground on my back. That really hurt, but it also made me stronger. I saw him lift his sword with the blade aimed at me. I didn’t want to be cleaved in half, so I rolled out of the way, using my boosted strength to roll a bit faster. I looked back at him and saw him start to swing the blade my way along the ground. I rolled backwards away from him and the blade, putting some distance between us.

I charged once again, but he seemed to be prepared for that and charged at me. He probably planned the charge because his first step was with his left foot, then he kicked me with his right leg, knocking the wind and anger out of me. I landed on something hard and metallic, knocking it down with a hollow clang of metal before landing back on the ground. Now that I was calmed down, I was able to take stock of myself. Looking down, I saw that my sports bra was only holding together along the middle by a scant few threads, and my shorts, while not as damaged, were still torn up. My socks and shoes, somehow, weren’t damaged.

If I made it back, I was going to wait until the dead of night to make my way back to Rarity’s. Even if ponies usually wore nothing, they at least had their fur and quadrupedal forms to hide their bits. At least the whole town seemed to go to sleep at night. That would probably change once the Carne Den was finished, but it wasn’t done yet.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the tall guy tossing something at me. It landed between my breasts, tearing the few threads that were left in the process. Fortunately, my sports bra was wet enough to not fall to my sides. As I put a hand across my chest, my vision turned to black and the words “YOU FAILED” appeared in my vision. I blinked and saw black. I blinked again and found myself laying down in my bathtub, dirty and with my clothes still damaged. I took the stone out from its resting place and put it on the counter.

After having a few moments to catch my breath, I heard some knocking coming from the cupboard under the sink. Still with a hand over my chest, I opened the nearest door and Pinkie appeared. “Are you a casual?” she asked. “No matter. Here’s some clean clothes for you.” She set the white and purple outfit on the counter before going out of sight in the cupboard.

I checked under there for her and saw that she was gone. “I’ll never understand her.” I didn’t dwell on that much longer since I was dirty and tired. I needed to take a shower. I took my clothes off, set them down on the floor, and set the water to maximum heat. I was using my new shower for the first time and the place wasn’t even close to done yet.

Huh. My own shower. I was moving up in life.

After a good night’s sleep, not even caring I wasn’t in my robe, and even skipping the morning shower, I grabbed the cloth wrapped rock I got before and went out to a barren, rocky area outside of town. The stone seemed rather soft, and left marks easily. I could write with this, but what to write? After too much thinking about it, I just wrote “SUMMON” on the ground with English characters. Nothing happened, so I wrote “REALLY TALL GUY” after it.

I would have watched what happened after the letters began to glow, but the sound of a bunch of rocks moving in the distance behind me caught my attention. I looked over there and saw what looked like a little rock slide on a mountainside coming to an end.

I remembered the glowing letters and looked back at my writing. There, I saw the really tall guy from my trip yesterday. I scrambled back and ran behind a large boulder, his size and my memories of the fight spurring me to hide.

“Really?” I heard him ask. “This is the welcome I get after you summon me? You do realize what I had given you was a tool for summoning me when you need help, right?” I peeked out over the boulder at him as he rested on his sword and looked upwards. “Huh, pretty.” I looked in the direction he was and just saw the empty sky.

“What is?” I asked him. I wasn’t going to come out of hiding yet.

“So you’re asking the questions now.” Huh? “Simple really, you.”

It took me a few long seconds to think over what he said. “What?” I still didn’t get what he was getting at.

“You… The trees, the sky, everything really. Was really hoping to get a reaction out of you though. Shame I didn’t…” He sighed before continuing. “So, your name is Ying, right?”

I snickered for a second at the odd mistake. “Yang, actually. And you?” I climbed up on the boulder and sat down on it. He seemed friendly.

“I am Knight Artorias. My titles include The Abysswalker, The Wolf Knight, and the Companion to the Great Gray Wolf Sif.” He accompanied the titles with a wave, as if displaying them.

“So, what exactly happened? I’m still a bit confused about what led up to our fight.”

“Ha ha!” he laughed as he jumped up. “You see, it’s quite the tale, but I’ll give you a synopsis. I ended up fighting several ponies, two shot magic from their horns, another was flying around trying to hit me, and the last was using a lasso.” He gestured a bit as he told his tale. “I ended up beating them unconscious, so along with my partner, we brought them back. To be more specific, the two unicorns. That’s when the Looking Glass Knight appeared, after beating him up a bit, he summoned you.” He pointed a finger at me. “And hopefully you remember what happened, after all it happened maybe five minutes ago for me.”

“Oh, yesterday’s events. Yeah, I remember most of it, but after you damaged my hair, things are a bit hazy. I don’t like it when I get angry. Speaking of yesterday, I still need to write up the Carne Den menu.”

“So that happened yesterday for you? Interesting.” He put a hand on his chin. “I won’t ask about the hair thing, but a menu? Now you’ve caught my attention.”

“So, I’ve been here in Equestria for about, oh, a little over two months, I think? I haven’t been keeping track all that much. Anyways, for about a month and a half, I ate what the ponies did. I got sick after eating some Chineighse food and learned that they use a grass based oil in their cooking process and I got sick the next day.” I felt a little bit of controllable unease in my stomach at that memory. “I’m more cautious about pony food now, and I avoid eating grass as I always have before. Then one of Rainbow introduced me to a griffon, Gilda, and I went a bit crazy after rediscovering meat. Then Gilda and I decided to make a bar and grill, the Carne Den. It’s still under construction, but should be done soon. It’s going to have meat options and will be the start of Ponyville’s nightlife. Probably.”

“Two months. . . That’s how long you’ve been stuck here? Never thought I’d meet anyone else who was human. Back in my world, I’ve been stuck there for millenniums with two of my friends.” He was quiet for a bit. “Did you just say ‘Equestria’ and ‘Chi-neigh-se’ food?”

“Yes. That’s what this land is called, and that’s what that food, which I am not getting again, is called. I am aware of the puns, and even though I’m surrounded by neigh sayers, nobody seems to make a fuss or object to it.”

“I see what you did there, and I mildly disapprove.” He shook his head. I win! “Anyway, you said this place is called Equestria. Is it a city, a country, a continent, the world?”

“Country. We’re currently outside Ponyville. The ponies there are a friendly bunch, if a bit skittish. We’re actually in Diamond Dog area, but considering what I did here a couple weeks after I showed up, we should be okay.”

Artorias looked at the area around us for a bit. “Well, if it’s a country, then it must have a government, correct? I’d like to see what’s become of the lands of my former kingdom.”

“I don’t think this is your world. I’d have to send you back to yours so you can find out.”

“Of course I know that. I’m just wondering if you knew anything about the government.”

“Well, the princesses that rule this country are Celestia and Luna, both alicorns. There’s also Twilight, another alicorn, she lives in Ponyville. In Canterlot is a group of thirty unicorns that meet with a princess eight times per year to make laws and legislative decisions. Twenty-eight of them are, and pardon moi francois, power hungry idiots. The other two are awesome. Those two actually had smart bills that put restrictions on the government and freed up farmers a bit.”

“Did you say Twilight? That pony wouldn’t happen to be a purple unicorn? Because if she is, I may have beaten her up before our little skirmish.”

“Purple unicorn? Ha! Don’t be silly. She’s a lavender alicorn. Besides, that’s your Twilight, not the one here.”

“I’m just asking. . . I may need to make a profuse apology letter if she’s involved in the government in my world. Anyway, thanks for the information. I’m sure my compatriots and I will put it to good use.” He picked up his sword and shield. “Now, if you could, I must head off.”

“Alright. Go on back to your world. We’re done here.”

He didn’t disappear. “Uh. . . Try having the stone in your hand?”

“Hm? Oh, right.” I picked up the soapstone and and idea came to mind. “Hey, could you hold still for a moment?”

“Uh. . . Sure?”

“Thanks.” I walked up to him, jumped, held onto his shoulder with one hand, and with the soapstone in the other, I wrote “DISPELL” on his chest.

“What are you doing?” He looked away from me for some reason.

“Now, go back to your world.” At that, the word on his chest glowed and he faded away. For some reason, I didn’t let go, and when he became intangible, I fell to the ground.

Well, today’s been interesting. I brushed myself off and started the run to the Carne Den. I still had a menu to craft, after all.

Everything was right where I’d left it in my bathroom yesterday. I grabbed a pencil, paper, and clipboard, sat down on the floor, and started on the meat menu. As I worked on the items, I wondered if there were different fonts available for printing.

Author's Notes:

SPANISH INQUISITION CROSSOVER!

Crossover with Legends of the Triumvirate. I had fun writing it with Chlouide. Hooray for Discord, Google Drive, and a second monitor!

In other news, character submissions for the Carne Den are CLOSED. If you gave me a character for the Carne Den, and you all (presumably) know who you are, thank you very much. I just have two interviews left to write out and then I'll have the next chapter done and up. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the opening day chapter done by and posted on July 4th.