Author's Notes:

Bold - Character Narrating (Either Perspective or Narrator)
Italics - Character's Thoughts
Color - Character Who's Narrating or Thinking: Starswirl the Bearded
Mathree
Luna
Celestia

(The brackets return, but this time they have a purpose; they're my version of me commenting on my own story. It's basically the author's intake on something, like a short snippet of information, but don't worry this won't happen often. Think of it like a 4th-Wall Breaking moment.)

Earlier this morning, Starswirl and the soldiers try their best to subdue the Timberwolves and save the strange creatures. Without anyway of attracting or neutralizing the Timberwolves, leaving them with only one option. Each of the soldiers held a torch with their magic or in their mouth, slowing surrounding the Timberwolves in a circle of flames.

“Keep them surrounded, don’t leave a single gap for them to leave through!” shouted Coin, levitating a torch for himself.

The soldiers continued their march, the space became smaller and smaller for the Timberwolves. With the strange creature, smashing the Timberwolves to pieces and the wall of fire slowly engulfing them, there was nowhere for them to go… unless they had backup. Coming out of the bushes was another pack of Timberwolves, charging toward some of the soldiers and Starswirl. In an instant, Starswirl placed a magical barrier to protect himself and the other soldiers nearest to him, “We need help here Captain!” shouted Starswirl.

The captain stared at a few of his fellow soldiers and nodded toward them. “You three, with me; the rest, tighten that formation!” shouted Coin.

The captain threw his torch at one Timberwolf, the torch bouncing off its sturdy bark skin. He and the other soldiers pulled out their swords, while not sharp enough to cut, but heavy enough to bash and smash their wooden forms.

A small skirmish between the second Timberwolf pact and some of Coin’s soldiers began to happen, with Starswirl supporting them with spell after spell. Up in the sky, watching the whole situation was Celestia and Luna. Originally, Celestia planned to move the sun to blind the Timberwolves… except with them having no actual eyes, it was impossible to blind them. Changing plans, Celestia twirled the knife with her magic, swishing it back and forth while Lune watched with the binoculars.

“Now what Tia? We can’t use the sun, we can’t use any magic, and we can’t fly down their and help!” said Luna, letting go of the binoculars as it dangled on her neck.

“Let me think… Maybe if we-”

“NO! No more of your impossible ideas! The only reason I came here was to find out about these aliens. I am not going down there so I can become Timberwolf chowder; especially if Starswirl finds out I’m out here! I’m leaving, and you can’t stop me,” said Luna, readying to fly away.

“Luna! Wait!” shouted Celestia.

Celestia tackled her sister, holding her down on the cloud they were standing together… until Celestia lost focus and dropped the knife she was holding with her magic. The knife began to fall down toward the strange creature, making a quiet but slowly increasing whizzing noise. The two sisters stared at the dropped knife, then began to stare at one another.

“Uh oh.”

Meanwhile on the ground, the strange creature smashed the muzzle of a Timberwolf that tried to flank behind him, causing some of its teeth to fly off. It stood with both fists raised, and watching from every angle, focusing on his own battle. As one of the Timberwolves were ready to pounce, the audible noise of something falling from the sky was heard. The Timberwolves looked up to notice a knife falling, the glint it’s giving off from the sun. The smaller figure that was unconscious began to stir, suddenly it stood upright, jumped on the big figure and using its own momentum to flung itself up. Reaching high in the air, it grasped the knife and landed with a loud thud.

The small figure twirled the knife with it’s small digits, examining the aged weapon with an insane smile. With a new fire within its eyes, it charged one of the Timberwolves; the Timberwolf charged forward but didn’t expect what would happen next. In mere moments, the small but nimble figure curled itself around the Timberwolf, ending up behind it with its knife pointed upwards. Before the Timberwolf could react, its wooden body began to crumble and began to split up into tiny wooden pieces, leaving behind a pile of timber and sticks. The Timberwolves began to slowly walk away from the small figure, until it screamed – loudly – with unbridled ferocity.

The scream was so sudden, all the soldiers and other pact noticed what was happening. Instantly all the Timberwolves began to run; the small figure began chasing them, slicing apart those that weren’t quick enough. It laughed sadistically, cutting them apart with such ease, it frightened the soldiers.

“I’LL CUT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WOODEN FUCKERS! COME HERE SO I CAN TURN YOU INTO TOOTHPICKS!”

The threat was so effective that all the Timberwolves whimpered and ran with their tails between their legs – literally. The soldiers and Captain Coin Flip stood ramrod stil with such shock, that they didn’t dare move until the small figure turned to look at them. All the soldiers flinched back, but after it took two steps forward… it fainted.

Before the small figure could fall face first to the ground, its larger companion grabbed and heaved it up and slung it over its shoulder. The large tall figure stared at all the soldiers, tilting its head to the side as it stared at everypony.

Fascinating, seems they can speak… the question is if they can understand us or not. Starswirl stepped forward as he told the soldiers to stand down and let him speak with the massive giant creature. “Excuse me, we mean you no harm. My name is Starswirl the Bearded; we wish to help you and your… spontaneous companion… Do you understand me?” asked Starswirl.

The creature tilted it’s head the other way… until it uttered one word.

“Boho,” said Tim, responding.

Everypony – even the two sisters who watched above – stared dumbfounded at the short response, that one pony coughed awkwardly about the situation. It was until Starswirl sighed, rubbing his forehead. “This is going to be more difficult than I thought. Do-you-under-stand-us?”

“Sir, I’m not sure it can communicate with us. I have never heard of a creature making that sound before, or even communicating that way either.”

“Nonsense Captain Coin Flip! Every being that walks this world has a different way of communication; if this is this creature’s way of talking, then I’ll translate it until I create a potion for immortality so I can continue translating!”

Tim realized that the colorful ponies can’t understand him (yes, he can understand them; his not stupid). Instead of saying his signature line, he instead uses body language, like shaking his head up and down or side to side, another method is using his hand to show gestures that they may understand. Doing this intrigues Starswirl and he nods in return.

“It seems our friend can indeed understand us, seems that was his way of talking. Well everypony isn’t born the same I suppose; well Captain, let’s help our new guests back to the castle. Also make your soldiers to search the area for anything ‘interesting’, if it relates to these two, it may help us to better understand them,” said Starswirl.

“Of course sir… but what about his other friend? He seemed… violent,” said Coin, staring at the unconscious small figure.

“Indeed, we can’t let him roam free after that fiasco; let me ask our new friend if it’s alright for him that we put his ally in the dungeons until he calms down,” said Starswirl, turning to face Tim. “Excuse me… I don’t know your name, but is it alright we place your friend in our dungeons. He didn’t do anything wrong but, I believe it is best he stays there until his calmed down from… his episode.”

Tim glanced at Mathree, rubbing his mustache in thought, until nodding in agreement. Everypony sighed, happy that the giant figure was complying with them. Tim lifted Mathree up, his unconscious body dangling above a pair of earth ponies. After laying him down on a stretcher, they carry Mathree ahead toward the castle within the Everfree Forest. All the soldiers return back to the castle but Starswirl turns to Tim and asks him one final question.

“Sorry for stopping, but may I ask your name… if you can say it of course.”

Tim rubbed his mustache, but began to write it on the ground; written in large letters – considering Tim’s fingers are big – is his name.

“T-I-M… Tim… interesting name, haven’t heard anypony or anybody called Tim before. Well, it’s a pleasure meeting you Tim, I hope you can stay with us until we’re ready to show you to the other pony tribes’ leaders,” said Starswirl, grinning.

Tim grinned back – well his mustache curled up, and his mouth was still straight, only curling up the tiniest bit. Back in the sky, Celestia and Luna already went ahead after hearing Mathree being placed in the castle’s dungeons.

“Tia! Where are we going now!?” shouted Luna, catching up with her sister.

“Where else, we’ll head back to the castle and see this alien-thing in the dungeons!” shouted Celestia, beaming with curiosity.

“WHAT!” Luna was gawking, her mouth agape as she stared at her sister impossibly, afraid of what the smaller alien was capable of doing, considering what it did to the Timberwolves.

Some hours later, Mathree awakens; the air smells of something foul – something rotting? Everything is cold as if he were laying on stone, wait, scratch that, it feels like he’s on something itchy.

Is that… wheat? Mathree’s eyes opened instantly; he stood tall and began to examine his surroundings. Yep, I’m in a jail cell… fuck.

Elsewhere, within the castle, Celestia and Luna entered the castle through Celestia’s room, nopony noticing them being gone. Once both sisters are inside, they hear a knocking on the door; Celestia and Luna look at one another, until Celestia shouts.

“Who’s there!?”

“It’s me, Starswirl! I’m back from our little alien searching, and you’ll never guess what I found my student!” shouted Starswirl, excited.

Since Celestia and Luna saw Tim already, their looks of shock weren’t there – well they were but for a different reason – if Starswirl found out they were outside the castle… they wished they were locked in the dungeons.

Both sisters looked at one another, putting their thoughts through their expressions. Now what Tia?

Let me handle this.

Celestia then opened the door to see Starswirl, and standing beside him was the tall giant creature known as Tim. “Oh Luna, you’re here too. Well I guess this makes things easier. Girls I like to introduce to you our guest, Tim,” said Starswirl, pointing his hoof at the giant being.

Tim waved his massive hand toward the two young alicorns, giving a pleasant expression toward the two. Both sisters while not shocked were disturbed by Tim’s friendly look while his appearance was the complete opposite. Luckily this was enough to convince Starswirl that the sisters felt unnerved by Tim.

“Now now, I know he looks… ‘odd’, but he and his companion are both good…” said Starswirl, looking at Tim. “…I’m sorry but what are you again, I believe you never told me?”

Tim rubbed his chin in thought when he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen – which wasn’t invented in Equestria yet which raised some brows – and wrote down a single word. As he showed the piece of paper, it had the word “HUMAN” written on it in capital letters.

Starswirl turned to the two sisters and spoke the word that Tim wrote. “He is a human… Whatever that is.”

Both Celestia and Luna looked again at Tim until Celestia went to look at Starswirl. “So… is there something you want Luna and I to do, Starswirl?”

“Oh not Luna, but I do want you Celestia to show Tim here around the castle. Just make sure he isn’t brought outside beyond the castle’s limits and tell any of the solders or others that didn’t see him yet that his a guest here and any harm to him means they have to talk straight to me. Maybe you can take him to the gardens; I need to prepare to talk to Tim’s other companion and his… strange but effective fighting tactics.”

Starswirl whispered something as he stared at the ground, but only Luna was able to hear it since she had better hearing than her sister. “I have never seen anypony or anybody alive to fight that… viciously before.”

“You said something Starswirl,” asked Celestia.

“Nothing nothing. Well I must take my leave; Celestia please take Tim around a tour, and Luna you can go with your sister if you wish but if not then you can continue your studies.”

“WHAT!?” shouted Luna, upset by the suggestion.

“Now don’t give me that attitude young lady. I’m not allowing you to wander the castle, especially when we’re in a middle of one of this continent’s greatest discoveries since I found you two!” said Starswirl. “Now I must go, but don’t cause any trouble… and I mean it this time.”

Starswirl left the two sisters with their new arrival as he took and turn. Once he left out of sight and hopefully hearing range, Celestia turned to Luna but looked back at Tim. “Um excuse us Sir Tim, I just need to talk to my baby sister here for a second,” said Celestia as the two returned to Celestia’s room.

As Celestia closed the door behind her, she turned to Luna and spoke out her thoughts. “He’s way more intimidating up close than down below,” said Celestia, letting out a breath she must have been holding in.

“Well lucky you...” said Luna, grumbling.

Celestia noticed this and sighed and placed a hoof on her sister. “Now Lulu, I don’t know why you’re being upset about this. You are the lucky one here,” said Celestia.

Luna looked up at her sister and frowned. “And how am I lucky here, Tia? You get to do nothing but show that ‘homin’ around the castle,” said Luna, trying her best to say human. “While I’m stuck either watching or doing my studies.”

Celestia thought of this and began tapping the ground. “True, true… but that means Starswirl will be too busy to keep an eye on either of us… Especially you,” said Celestia, grinning mischievously.

Luna tilted her head and confused but instantly caught up to her sister’s idea. “Which means I can go to the dungeons to see that Tim fellow’s companion, while you spend time with him!”

“And with each of us both seeing these strange human creatures, we can tell of our experiences once the day is over; it’s a win-win scenario,” said Celestia, finishing the rest of Luna’s thought.

“BRILLIANT SISTER!” shouted Luna, but closed her muzzle.

Celestia turned back to the door but heard no noise from the other side; both sisters sighed but looked at one another and giggled.

“Well I hope you find a way to sneak to the dungeons.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a master of the shadows,” said Luna, raising her wing as if it were a cloak, blocking her lower half of her head, showing her eyes only. “It’s never impossible for me to enter any room; besides, I been to the dungeons before and know a few hidden holes I can crawl through.”

“Well try, not to get stuck,” said Celestia, teasingly.

“Says the mare who eats five cakes everyday.”

“I eat four everyday, not five!”

“And how’s that suppose to help your argument,” said Luna, grinning.

Celestia rolled her eyes and followed her sister as they left the room; once outside they saw Tim haven’t moved an inch, busily looking around – except his eyes weren’t visible and only his bushy mustache and thin but somewhat bushy eyebrows were only seen. Celestia coughed catching Tim’s attention as he lowered his body until his head was before the white mare’s eyesight; this caught Celestia off-guard as she backed up a little but shook her sudden anxiety away. Calm down Celestia, his just some tall, furless, looking-minotaur. You saw minotaurs before… well… in books… but his nothing different from the many creatures within this forest; you seen worse. Celestia looked up again, but gulped when she was unable to see Tim’s eyes, even when they were this close. By the ancients, his more terrifying than I thought.

Celestia was shaken out of her thoughts when Luna literally shook her a little. “Well you better get to showing Sir Tim around, I’ll go and do my ‘studies’,” sad Luna, winking when she said studies.

Celestia got the gesture and took Tim by the hand, placing her hoof in his palm but let go when she felt him. “My Sir Tim, you’re warmer than I thought, right Luna?” When Celestia turned to face her sister, she was gone, already heading to the dungeons.

“Seems she’s off already.”

When Celestia went to look up, she saw Tim having the same simple but creepy expression. His mustache and eyebrows were straight with only his mustache slightly curling by the ends. His body was slackened and relaxed but it was hard to tell by the numerous bulging muscles surrounding his bare-naked chest. He wore brown pants with straps over and around his shoulders, and wore a belt with a particular symbol. It showed a silver gear with jaded skull; the skull was dirty and showed tiny scratches showing how old and possibly ancient it was. He wore boots but were shoes for his size that were enough to crush a small rock. Something was bulging out of his pockets but Celestia saw something glinting from the little sunlight inside the hall.

“Well Sir Tim, I believe we should begin our tour; please follow me and I’ll lead you to the main hall,” said Celestia.

Instead of talking Tim nodded, which was a bit interesting but Celestia continued to walk forward. I guess his the silent-type, maybe his shy or he might have trouble speaking. It doesn’t seem his badly injured…

As the two left, Luna popped her head at the end of the hall’s corner. “Good luck Tia,” said Luna, whispering. “Now, let’s see about this other companion that Starswirl mentioned.”

Luna ran off, heading to the dungeons but first needing to take a quick detour to one of the hidden spots she mentioned to get in the dungeon.

Elsewhere, Mathree lazily splayed his body on the ground, staring at the ceiling until he heard the sound of hooves hitting the cold stone ground. The sound was multiplied by the empty long hallways, and sounded that there were more than just one set of hooves. Two… three… five… no, seven; yep seven set of hooves. Seven hooved creatures, which either means they’re a bunch of idiotic warrior beasts, or those are this world’s version of guard-dogs. Either way, without my bitching knife I can’t do nothin in this stupid cell of a shitting dungeon. Also…

“WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A TRAY OF HAY!” screamed Mathree, kicking said tray. The first thing that Mathree saw that was supposedly his food was a tray, but instead of bread or even a glass of water was hay… hay as in for horses, bloody horses.

The sudden outburst caused the set of hooves to stop, confirming Mathree’s suspicions. Their not idiots and if they were guard-dogs they should be growling… so their intelligent then.

Coming into view of his cell were five armored pony-like creatures, there was a sixth armored pony but it didn’t wear a helmet and seemed to have a sense of authority. He must be in charge of these buggers. The final and seventh pony was wearing a wizard’s get-up and had bells strung on it’s hat, which was odd, even for Mathree. And they can use magic… grrreeeaaat.

The first of the pony-creatures to speak was the authoritative-looking soldier, looking at the wizard pony. “How come this one can speak Starswirl?”

Mathree looked at the bearded wizard pony called Starswirl; Starswirl caught this and instead of answering the other pony’s question, moved forward but far enough to not be grabbed by their occupant. “So you can speak, but not your companion,” said Starswirl.

The second Starswirl mentioned his companion, Mathree lunged forward slamming his whole body to the cell bars, gripping them violently. “WHERE’S FUCKING TIM!? IF YOU DID ANYTHING TO HIM, I’LL GUT THE LOT OF YOU INTO THIN NEAT PIECES OF MEAT!” shouted Mathree, glaring viciously.

All the soldiers stepped back except for the lead soldier, and Starswirl. “Very talkative, isn’t he Captain Coin,” said Starswirl, still looking at Mathree.

“OY! ANSWER MY QUESTION AND QUIT IGNORING ME YOU BLOODY GOAT!”

Starswirl sighed and decided to answer the caged human’s questions. “If you’re wondering about your friend, his fine. We found the two of you being attacked by wooden wolf-like creatures that we call Timberwolves. You woke up when a knife fell from the sky; you tore apart all of the Timberwolves while we watched your carnage. While both you and your companion can handle yourselves in a tight situation, it seems you’re the wild-card out of the two. Your friend, Tim I believe is his name isn’t harmed other than some few scratches from the Timberwolves, we welcomed him with open hooves… actually his being led through a tour by one of my students. She’s fair and trustworthy for her age, though she’s considered a child by our standards, she’ll lead your friend around and show him around the castle grounds. Now with that done, I like you to answer my questions… Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

Mathree didn’t interrupt Starswirl not once, but when he started asking questions is when Mathree smirked, which caused everypony to give a confused look. “So that’s how its going to be, huh. You show my friend Tim how friendly you horses are, while you torture and beat the stuffing out of me in secrecy… is that it.”

“Ponies.”

“What?” asked Mathree, staring at Captain Coin who spoke.

“We’re called ponies, not horses; a lot of the many different nations confuse us for our distant cousins.”

Mathree glared at the captain before shrugging. “Ponies, shmonies; don’t matter to me...”

The captain gritted his teeth but was stopped by Starswirl, who shook his head, dismissing the idea and whispering. “Don’t do anything you may regret. He may have had a weapon when taking out those Timberwolves, but he may still have a few cards up his sleeve,” said Starswirl, giving a firm look at Coin Flip.

Coin looked at Mathree, before nodding as he steped back to continue watching the questioning to continue. Starswirl sighed and looked at Mathree to state a few things before continuing. “We’re not doing any of what you said; we’re simply curious and being cautious considering after you annihilated the Timberwolves, you looked at us as if we were your next target before collapsing from exhaustion.”

Mathree was about to retort but stopped and scratched his head. “Huh… you got a good point; I was ready to shank the living daylights out of anything in my sights,” said Mathree, agreeing. “K then; I’ll answer your questions… but make it snappy!”

Starswirl smiled and began to question Mathree, sitting down as he was not bothered by the cold stone floor. “As I asked before, who are you and what are you doing here?”

Mathree spoke, leaning against the far wall facing Starswirl and his group; he looked up to search through his thoughts before coming with a response. “Maxwell Arvion III is my full name, but just call me Mathree. Also I don’t know why I’m here, all I remember was that my mates and I were engulfed in a white explosion before finding myself falling down like a bunch of flightless birdies; trust me it sounds unbelievable but it’s the honest truth,” said Mathree, waving his hands in defense.

Starswirl looked at Mathree and his somewhat dirtied and roughed up appearance. If he was in a middle of a fight then that would explain his appearance. He also mentioned that it wasn’t just him and Tim, which means there are others like him; I should ask how many next. “I see, and from how we found you you were definitely in a middle of some sort of fight before you met the Timberwolves. By the way, you mentioned others were with you… Do you have other allies than just Tim?”

Mathree thought of the idea whether to tell the full truth or not. I could just lie to these buggers… Mathree looked up at the group of ponies and remembered they treated Tim properly with respect and not putting him in a cage. But they did give Tim the red carpet… I guess since I gone this far, telling them about our little gang wouldn’t be trouble; just need to not mention the unpleasant parts though.

“Well there are a couple of us; you see we’re what you call… ‘helpers’ back from where we came from. At least nine of us including myself and Tim were falling when we all scattered apart. I don’t know where they are now, but their probably still live and kickin! I knew them maniacs since day one, and we’ve been working together ever since,” said Mathree, reminiscing the memories he had with his group.

“Helpers? What you mean by that?” asked Starswirl.

“Well we did some odd-jobs, favors you could say; sometimes we did our own missions that would benefit our group,” said Mathree, responding nonchalantly.

Starswirl thought of this, thinking through what Mathree told him so far. So their mercenaries or something close to that. That would explain their hardened forms, especially the strange fighting tactics we seen. They may have come from somewhere far away; maybe somewhere around the minotaur lands or beyond. That leaves one final question…

“This… ‘white explosion’ you mentioned… What caused it?”

That was when Mathree stood still, staring at Starswirl but turned to face away from him, not daring to look back. “Can’t say,” said Mathree.

“Why can’t you?”

“I just can’t.”

“Are you hiding something, because if we want to continue to work together we-”

“Who said we were working together? I don’t remember making no contract with your sorry arse.”

“NOW YOU LISTEN HERE!” shouted Coin, trotting past Starswirl. “We’ve been patient with you and your attitude, but if you’re hiding something, especially something that may be a threat to this nation! I won’t stand by and let this stupidity to continue!”

Coin Flip breathed in deep and snorted out a stream of steam from his nostrils. Mathree continued to stare while everypony gawked at their captain’s sudden outburst. Mathree stood up and walked toward the cage’s bars and while he was smaller, that all changed when they saw it. It lasted for a few minutes but it was intense from seeing it and feeling it; surrounding Mathree was a sort of energy or cloak of some sort that looked ethereal. The color was what got everypony to be shocked, it was sick-looking green bringing nothing put pain and suffering to those who dare to cross Mathree.

“If I were to tell you just what caused the explosion… I’d had to kill, no… Wipe out your whole bloodline until your very existence is nothing… Now then; do you have a question or do I need to break these bars and come for your smug ass,” said Mathree. The strange ethereal surrounding him began to wildly lash out around the cell, causing small markings to spread out with Mathree being in the center.

Before anypony could say anything Starswirl stood on all fours and glared at Coin Flip. “COIN FLIP! I THOUGHT WE SAID YOU’D CONTROL THAT TEMPER OF YOURS! DO I NEED TO CALL THE HEAD-MAID TO REMIND YOU ABOUT USING YOUR INSIDE VOICE INSIDE THIS CASTLE!?” shouted Starswirl, staring at Coin threateningly.

Suddenly, Coin’s glaring stopped and he gulped, not wanting to be told and reprimanded by the old mare, who’s bite is worse than her bark. “N-n-no, Sir… I’ll remember to keep my calm,” said Coin, staring downwards.

At the same time Mathree’s sudden change ended as he stared at Coin… and began to laugh. Everypony was spooked by the sudden change, but stared at the giggling mess that was Mathree. “Mate! I was just pulling your leg!” said Mathree, slamming his face on the ground, repeatedly.

Coin Flip stared baffled, but sighed and chuckled to his own actions. “I see… I guess you Sir Mathree and I are going to be alright after all. I’m sorry for any foul tidings between us,” said Coin.

“Nay it’s all good; by the way, just call me Mathree. Sir sounds too… serious,” said Mathree, smiling. “Also can I eat something else then hay? I’m not going to eat something that doesn’t look edible.”

“Again, sorry about that. Before you woke up, we placed that there but forgot you weren’t a pony,” said Starswirl. “What exactly do you and Tim eat?”

“Meat.”

Everypony was taken back the sudden response, that a few of the soldiers began checking their ears while Starswirl coughed and asked again. “Pardon… did you say-”

“Meat, I said meat. Me and Tim eat meat; the rest of my gang eat meat...”

With this new information, all the ponies stared bug-eyed at Mathree, considering whether to run screaming or puke here and there… until Mathree spoke again.

“Though we do eat something called pizza,” said Mathree, tapping his chin.

All the ponies sighed knowing they didn’t let two carnivores into their home… but raised their heads and gave Mathree an inquisitive look. “Um, question… What’s pizza?” said one of the soldiers.

Everypony looked at Mathree while the small figure thought of this and spoke about the food called “pizza”. “Well it can have many different toppings on it like fish, vegetables like pineapples, mushrooms, and more; you can also add meat,” said Mathree, causing everypony to flinch. “But the main three ingredients that are important for pizza are bread, cheese, and tomatoes.”

“This pizza sounds edible and considering the other ingredients aren’t required, I guess we ponies can eat it too. Though we need to know how to make such a delicacy; do you know how to make pizza?” asked Starswirl.

“Naw sadly…” said Mathree. The sound of disappointed whinnies from hearing the delicious sounding food never being made was heard, but Mathree scratched his head and completely forgot of who can make pizza… almost forgot. “Actually… there is one… You said Tim’s here right?”

Meanwhile at the castle’s gardens, some soldiers and maids who were busy wandering or doing their tasks within the castle saw the strangest duo ever. Moving down a pathway through the garden was Celestia, and Tim; well Tim was walking but Celestia had to speed-trot in order to keep pace with the giant human.

“So this is the castle’s gardens; we grow some herbs here to make potions and make some ingredients for the chefs to make food. Speaking of food, it’s almost dinner,” said Celestia. Celestia had to look up, her neck craned upward to look at Tim. While this caused her neck to hurt, it was the only way to properly speak to him.

Tim – who was still quiet – nodded and followed Celestia. The two made it through the gardens heading to the castle’s cafeteria until they were stopped by a pair of soldiers; the two soldiers was a mare pegasus and an earth-pony stallion. Both soldiers glared at Tim – the mare giving a curious look while the stallion giving a suspicious one – Celestia spoke to catch both soldiers attention.

“Excuse me, my companion and I are heading to the cafeteria to eat. He and I haven’t eaten yet so would you mind we continue to our destination, please,” said Celestia, smiling.

“I don’t think so princess,” said the stallion. While Celestia and Luna gave off vibes of being royalty, they were just two special mares, and that was it. The two sisters were sometimes bullied by some of the staff for their strangeness, but Celestia was the one to always take the brunt of it. Luna was ignorant of such things either because most of her daily activities were during the night and most of the staff are asleep leaving only the night-time shift soldiers and sometimes Starswirl and Celestia herself.

“What my fellow and rude friend here means is, who’s this and why is he here?” said the mare, returning to the same look every soldier had.

“He’s a guest of Starswirl’s and he said that if anypony were to harm him and his companion, they had to speak directly to Starswirl about it,” said Celestia, speaking with utmost authority.

“Yeah right girly,” said the stallion. “I don’t know what kind of freak you brought with you, but he better go back to whatever dark cave he came from. He looks like some kind of hairless minotaur!” The stallion began to laugh, Celestia glaring angrily at the attitude this pony was giving to her guest and herself too.

The mare who was with him began to shush him, but he shrugged and spoke again. “Oh come on; the bloody thing isn’t reacting one bit, it’s probably as dumb as a minotaur too!”

“THAT’S NO WAY TO SPEAK TO HIM!” shouted Celestia, stepping forward.

The stallion glared down at Celestia, the sudden glare making her shrink down. The stallion began to talk in quiet tone but showed all the fury he was holding back.

“You listen you little brat. The only reason we soldiers and the other staff are being tolerant of you is because of Starswirl. Everypony here knows him and he trusts us, and the we’re doing this because of him… not some pair of freaks with horns and wings. To be honest, beside this thing here, you and your sister are the real freaks. You piece of-”

Before the guard could continue his rant, he felt something grab him from the scruff of his neck. What happened next was that he found himself kissing the muzzle of a statue, before said statue shattered into dust, leaving a frazzled and dizzy stallion splayed on the podium. Everypony who watching the rant happened stared bug-eyed at the sudden motion of one of their own being tossed like a pebble. The one who tossed the stallion was Tim, who while his expression was still the same had steam coming out of his body, showing how angry he really was. It was so fast and quick, no sound came from the giant human until he stared down at the other mare. The mare was sweating bullets and slowly trotted to her fallen ally.

“I’ll g-g-go and c-c-ch-check if he’s o-ok-okay,” said the mare, dashing off.

Tim watched the mare go to the stallion until he returned to his original pose and looked down. Staring back up at him was a teary-eyed Celestia; her face was stained with her own tears making her fur slightly darker. She tried to wipe the tears way, but suddenly froze when Tim pulled something from one of his pockets. It was a handkerchief and he began to wipe her face and gave it to her to sneeze into.

Celestia looked at the handkerchief and used her magic and blew on it. She returned to Tim as he pocketed back to the pocket he got it from. “T-T-Thank you… but you didn’t need to do that,” said Celestia, kicking the ground.

Tim was still silent; Celestia wasn’t bothered by his silence and it sort of calmed her down. Since she and her sister were the only young ponies in the castle, hearing the voice of somepony older then them wasn’t helping anymore, but the silence was calming her in a way that she liked.

Suddenly Tim took a few steps forward but stopped to swivel his head and point with his thumb to where he assumed where the cafeteria was. Celestia sighed and followed, showing him where to go. “It’s this way… Oh… and, while you aren’t talking to me, you can call me Tia,” said Celestia, smiling.

The two headed inside the cafeteria which was somewhat empty with a few soldiers and maids eating together. Celestia and Tim sat in one corner at the almost empty cafeteria which was where her and Luna eat. They were about to head to the kitchen when another soldier stopped them, but this soldier was sweating apparently running, and seemed not to be the kind to insult Celestia or Tim.

“You’re… Tim… Vlion… correct?” asked the soldier.

Celestia recognized the soldier saying Tim’s name, but when she heard the third word she looked up at Tim with a curious look. “Your full name is Tim Vlion? Sounds like Tiny Violin,” said Celestia. Celestia realize her unexpected joke and began to giggle but stopped and looked back at Tim with a sorry look.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your name; especially what you done for me! It was funny and-”

Celestia was stopped mid-sentence as she felt Tim’s large – and warm – hand scratching her head. The strange feeling was so comfortable Celestia started making quiet pleased whinnies but stopped and removed her head from his touch. She looked at the nearby soldier who stared by the strange sounds coming from Celestia but blushed and looked away.

She looked up at Tim and while as always his expression hasn’t changed, he seemed very pleased with the joke. “Oh! So you like jokes too! I guess I’m not the only one then; heard of the pony who crossed the trail?”

“Sorry to interrupt you, but I need to tell Sir Vlion about some news from his companion.” This stopped Celestia and she looked at the soldier with new curiosity. “He told me to tell you, ‘It’s baking time.’”

This raised a brow as Celestia was confused by the strange line, but heard Tim making some sounds. Tim was rubbing his hands together – also it seems his mustache may have curled upward slightly. It was then that Tim finally spoke and Celestia found what he said somewhat silly but befitting the giant.

“Bo-ho.”

Tim looked at Celestia and make some gestures of a pot and throwing items into said pot. Celestia understood that Tim needed to cook something for him and his friend to eat. “I understand; I’ll ask the chefs if they can let you use some of their ingredients and utensils to make some food for you two. They’ll anypony use the kitchens if they have acceptable cooking skills or some new recipe to make,” said Celestia.

Tim nodded, and pointed one muscled finger toward the kitchen and spoke out loudly. “BOHO!” shouted Tim, charging forward.

“Huh! Wait for me!” shouted Celestia, following behind.

The soldier and everypony else who was in the cafeteria stared at the strange duo before going back to their previous activities. The soldier returned to dungeons to relay that Tim received the message.

Back at the dungeons, Starswirl and his entourage had left, leaving Mathree to rest. Sneaking inside the dungeon through a hole in one of the nearby cells close to Mathree’s was Luna. She tucked her wings in and made an audible pop as she got out of the hole, letting the trapped air moving through the hole once more. The sound woke up Mathree as he scanned where the sound came from… until he saw eye to eye with Luna who was sitting inside the other cell. Both Mathree and Luna began staring at one another, until they both tilted their heads and uttered a single sentence.

“What the heck are you?” said both Luna and Mathree.

“That’s my line!” said Mathree.

“No its mine!” said Luna, retorting back.

“No mine!”

“Mine!”

“MINE!”

“MINE!”

The two began to argue until Luna’s horn began to glow and she teleported inside Mathree’s cell without thinking. “ITS MY LINE!”

This spooked Mathree, but he grinned viciously. Luna was confused but when she looked around her, she realized her mistake; with an audible gulp, she began to crawl backwards until she was leaning against the cell’s bars. “Opps.”

“Opps indeed,” said Mathree, smiling.

Luna was freaked out by Mathree’s creepy look and vicious smile, she began to cower and cover both her ears and close her eyes shut. Tia, please… Help me. Luna was expecting anything and when she felt something touching her, she screamed but was shut instantly as Mathree shoved his hand inside her mouth.

“Quit your screaming,” said Mathree, through gritted teeth. Mathree began to move his fingers through Luna’s surprisingly silky-like mane and touching her cheeks. They were soft and squishy… Mathree had an idea; he began to pinch and rub her cheeks when a grandmother would do to their grandchildren. This caused Luna to fuzz over the sudden contact as she began slapping her hooves around until they made contact with Mathree’s face.

The loud audible sound of good buck-slap by a pony with a horn and wings was not the first thing he expected to happen to Mathree when he arrived to this strange world. Luna gasped covering her mouth with her hooves, staring at the red mark on Mathree’s face. Mathree looked at Luna, glaring at her with strong intent… until he responded with a good quick slap back.

The hit was powerful… but for Luna it felt like a filly hit her. She stared back with the same intent on Mathree… and slapped back.

Mathree in returned slapped again, and so did Luna.

The two looked at the other, challenging them… afterwords a full on slap battle was waged. Both alicorn and human began slapping each other to see who would win the sudden competition. The sounds of cheeks being hit with hoof and palm were heard; it would be remembered for all centuries… that was unless somebody from another world had a camera, and was recording said event right now.

Back above ground, Starswirl walked down with Captain Coin Flip when the two heard some commotion coming from the castle kitchen; there was laughter and talking, which was louder then the usual banter that happens at the cafeteria. When the two went to investigate, they found everypony who was off duty enjoying some strange triangular delicacies with cheese and tomato sauce oozing off.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” said Coin, getting everypony’s attention.

All the soldiers under Coin’s command stopped their foolery and saluted while all the maids bowed down to Starswirl and the captain. It was when one of the soldiers approached the two, levitating two slices of the strange food toward the two.

“Captain, Sir Starswirl; these are the so called ‘pizzas’ that Sir Mathree had mentioned his comrade, Sir Vlion could make. Please, you must try these delicacies!” The soldier levitated the two slices until both stallions took them in their own magical grip.

Looking at one another, they took a bite synchronously. Their eyes bulged out and they began to stuff the pieces in their mouths so quickly, nothing remained but breadcrumbs on their muzzles.

“THIS IS DELICIOUS!” shouted Starswirl.

“I been to places far and wide for my kind of service, visiting different villages and their different culinary arts… but this… is HEAVENLY!” said Coin, licking his muzzle clean. “Are there more of these, pizzas?”

“Sadly no sir; the pizzas were so delicious we asked for seconds, then thirds, then fourths, and then we ran out of wheat and cheese. We may need to order more from the nearby settlement being handled by Miss Puddinghead. However, Sir Vlion is helping to cook some food with the chefs, and wants to hand down his skills to make pizzas and the many toppings to add on top.”

“Well I’ll send a message through one of the trained hawks and sent one to her secretary, Smart Cookie. She’ll bring more ingredients… speaking of which, are Tim and Celestia still in the kitchen, I like to speak to them,” said Starswirl.

“Let me go check sir,” said the soldier. As the soldier left to check the kitchen, Coin spoke to Starswirl alone.

“Sir… while Sir Vlion and Mathree are indeed strange beings… They been helpful so far, and haven’t cause much trouble to us… However...”

“However what captain?” asked Starswirl.

“Well… it’s about what the other pony leaders will think. Princess Platinum while is known to be a rude, prissy young girl is wiser than she looks. I known for a long time and she may react negatively to these new… ‘guests’.”

Starswirl looked at Coin before taking a sip of tea that was given to him by one of the maids. “You think she’ll see them as not as future allies… but invaders… don’t you.”

Coin sighed and rubbed his brow, sweat dripping from his already drenched mane. “It’s not the first time she’s gone and overreacted; her father is busy making sure the rest of her tribe back at our homeland makes the journey here to make this new land our home. While she’s given the responsibility to prepare for all the remaining members from all three of the tribes to make the journey here, we need to keep control of what territory that we can gain… She’ll do anything for her ponies.”

Starswirl agreed; young Princess Platinum was still new to ruling a nation but she will sacrifice her own connection to royalty so she can give the home her ponies deserve from the countless harsh winters and harassment from other nations. “While the three tribes have never been in good terms, they’ll agree upon to defend one another if threatened by a common foe,” said Starswirl. “While the incident with the Windigos was the only event where the three tribes current leaders were close to be turned to icicles… Luckily their assistants thought otherwise, I may have never thought my student about the idea of teamwork, but sometimes everyone needs to learn their own lessons.”

“Speaking of your student, where is Celestia? Didn’t that private mention she and Sir Vlion were in the kitchen?” asked Coin.

At the same time, the same soldier from before entered back from the kitchen and showed a worried look on his face. “Private! Where’s Sir Vlion and her tour guide, Celestia!?” shouted Coin, catching the private’s attention.

“Oh… Well captain… She’s um, well… They’re not there anymore sir,” said the soldier, sweating.

Starswirl spat out his tea while the captain stared angrily but with controlled fury, smiling creepily. “What… do you mean… their gone?”

Back at the dungeons, Tim and Celestia were given permission by the soldiers stationed their to see Mathree’s companion, bringing with them two slices of extra pizza from the left over ingredients. One slice for Mathree and one for Luna, and since Celestia knows Luna’s already in the dungeons – and probably without the other guards knowing – the four can hang out at the dungeons… that was until they saw what was inside Mathree’s cell.

“Thank you Tim for making this slice for my sister. These pizzas are delicious, I’m sure she’ll love them!”

“Boooho,” said Tim, rubbing the back of his head.

While Tim could only say that one line, she can understand how he feels from the way he speaks and his expressions. It was actually easier to understand him this way then listening how they felt; Celestia could understand somepony better by their physical expressions then what they said. It gave her a better judgment on ponies, which was why Starswirl and few other ponies were the only ones she could trust with her and her sister.

As they turned and arrived in front of the cell… they saw Mathree and with her was Luna, except…

“LUNA! What happened to you!?” Luna’s face was swollen and beat red, same was Mathree; it seemed both were stung by a swarm of bees but Celestia noticed they were tired and kept slowly swinging their arms at each but only to drop them to their sides. The two turned to stare at Celestia, until Luna spoke.

“Owh… Whello Teia,” said Luna, through her swollen face. “Sweems vyou bwough Swir Tem.”

“Uey Tem… sworry, wbut di geot en anotethar wfight,” said Mathree, spotting Tim.

Celestia gawked at the two realizing they fought one another; she knows Luna will get in a random tussle whether because her quick temper or the fact she was to challenge herself. She was afraid that Tim would find this insulting that his ally was attacked, but… then she heard snickering. Turning she saw Tim was trying to hold in his snickering, it was when Celestia spoke he lost it.

“Uh Sir Vlion… is something funny?”

“BOHO HO HO HO HO BOHO HO HO HO!”

Tim fell on his back and began repeating the same word, slamming his fits on the nearby wall; slowly Celestia joined his laughter and the two laughed at the two inside the cell. “Har de har har,” said Mathree. “Bou mend elping eus haer?”

Celestia used a quick healing spell to quicken but not fully heal their wounds form their earlier fight. While Celestia and Luna could defeat a trained pony soldier instantly, it was surprisingly that Mathree had the stamina and dexterity to outlast Luna, which explained why the two were still standing and not falling from exhaustion.

“So the reason my sister fought you was because you started… touching her?” said Celestia, skeptical. “Now I find it alright you’re both sorry and friends now… But if you were trying to do anything with her-”

“WHOA WHOA WHOA! I was only trying to check her aura power,” said Mathree.

“Aura… power?” asked both sisters.

“Its complicating… If my buddy A.I. were here he’d give a better explanation but it’s similar to your magical levels. The higher the aura you have the stronger you are, and the easier visible it is showed how skilled you can use it. If an average joe say… one of these earth-ponies saw your residual magical energy means you know how to control your abilities like a pro… You can of course conceal your power, but again that takes years of concentration and only a true genius would be able to do it on their first try.”

“Interesting… So, aura and magic share similar characteristics; I suppose we’re not so different after all… Other than you having no fur and us having fur… and that you walk on twos and we on fours,” said Luna, stating what she learned.

“Well not really; aura is actually a being’s life-force, from what I can understand, magic is only available to you ponies or creatures similar to you. These minotaurs and griffins can’t use these magical abilities… meaning aura is more of a natural thing while magic is limited,” said Mathree.

“Oh...” said Luna, frowning.

“Don’t worry sister, I was confused when Mathree was explaining, but maybe his friend… A.I. was it?” said Celestia.

“Boho,” said Tim, nodding fro confirmation.

“Right, your friend A.I. knows a lot about aura and can give us a wider explanation… Maybe I can ask Starswirl if he can send a letter to the other tribe leaders to search for your friends.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I bet they’ll be fine; we didn’t survive our world by being nice,” said Mathree, laughing. “Ghahaahahhahahaha!”

The four ate the pizzas together in the dungeons, enjoying one another being together. Mathree took a bite when he thought he heard something. “Boho?” asked Tim, worried.

“Nothin big guy… Just thought I heard something,” said Tim, taking another bite.

Faraway from the castle in the Everfree; near a military camp, are two girls imprisoned by one of the pony tribes’ commanders… but watching the sun slowly set and the moon rise, a figure wielding dual guns stares with purple, empty eyes. There’s no life in these eyes, but the rage the figure imposes is strong enough to kill. The figure glared at a passing sentry, making his rounds, loading his weapons with a loud clack.

“The hunt… begins,” said Vallan.

Pulling the slider back, he loads a special round with the initial “EX” written on the bullet, it’s tip colored darkly. The figure points the gun at the watchtower he’s been eying since he followed their group; he places his finger on the trigger… The first shot is fired.