When the hour of dawn had arrived, the human moved himself from the mental realm and retook control over his body. He opened his eyes, ever ready to begin the day and face the new world.

Only to find himself enclosed in darkness, curled into a ball and surrounded in blankets.

He blinked, bewildered by the darkness and pressed against his fabric prison, testing where the blanket might loosen if enough force was applied, pushing a hand here and there before feeling the blankets push back to where they were.

The human then moved his hand to make it rest in front of him before letting it drop. After feeling the arm move relatively straight to his stomach, the man shifted and began to move his legs underneath himself. After a few struggles and slips, he was able to get his legs underneath and stood up.

Light immediately greeted him, showing a greatly illuminated room with the sun shining from the window on his left. He acknowledged the dawn before looking down and finding a most curious sight.

The bed he had slept in had “sucked” him in, directly into the center of the bed and the blankets and comforter had went with him, exposing the gentle blue color of the mattress while he found one pillow resting against the bed on the floor.

The human deeply sighed at the newfound task before him as he crawled forwards a little. He pulled his legs out from the hole and spread them wide, displacing his weight as if he were trying to escape quicksand.

He felt a small grin of satisfying victory before suddenly noticing that he was sinking into the bed. Immediately, he rolled until he fell off the bed and landed with a grunt.

A sudden, loud knock resounded from the door across from him, followed quickly by a born and raised British accent, “Sir? Are you awake?”

The human rolled again and got to his feet, quickly donning his pants before opening the door and peeked out owlishly.

He was greeted by the biggest, most glorious and most incredibly British moustache, everyone inhabiting the Tower of Eternity wondered how could such a thing exist and if it could have been considered racist amongst the English. Viewed from the front, it was a grey, double V and thick moustache that reached from his muzzle and was long enough to touch both his front shoulders and completely covered his mouth. The moustache was fit with equally grey and half as bushy eyebrows that just as completely covered the eyes.

The human stared with wide eyes for a full thirty seconds before the pony that was born with the glorious facial hair gave an annoyed cough, getting the human’s attention.

All that did was convince the man that he was being greeted by the horse form of Alfred from the Batman series, par the facial hair and that there was a grey mane cleanly curling around his right ear.

The dark-grey colored pony spoke up, his annoyance now growing, “Excuse me, sir?”

The man blinked before realizing the pony was talking to him, “Yes, mister ... ?”

“Reginald Glass, sir.” The now introduced pony bowed politely, his moustache moving with every word he pronounced in comically thick british accent, “I trust you have slept well for your first night in Canterlot, sir?”

The man gave a slow nod, constantly drawing his eyes away from the facial hair and tried to stare where Reginald’s eyes would be, “In a way, we did. Though waking up in a blanket cocoon and in the middle of the bed was an interesting wake up call.”

The stallion butler took a few steps inward and looked at the bed, which had slowly recovered from the man’s “sleeping hole.” His eyebrows flapped as he “blinked” before giving another polite bow, “I apologize, sir. I shall inform the maid mares immediately of this and replace the bed appropriately. For now, the Princesses have requested your presence within their dining chambers for breakfast.”

Once again, the human watched the facial hair dance away at every pronunciation Reginald said before replying, “Of course, one moment.” He closed the door and quickly dressed back into his clothes from yesterday, as he hadn’t been given any new clothing.

He opened the door again and after exiting, he turned and said in equal politeness, “If you will, Reginald.”

The stallion gave what seemed to be something akin to distasteful disappointment at the human, which made his eyebrows join into a sharp V and looked rather fierce, but he did not voice whatever had upset him. Instead he turned around and began escorting the man through the Canterlot Castle’s hallways.

It wasn’t until they passed by two mares in maid outfits did Reginald pause and mutter something to them. The human twitched his left ear and due to his better hearing, could catch what the butler said, “Our guest is in need of a replacement mattress for his room, as he awoke to find himself eaten by his bed. Also, inform Seamstress Golden Needle that our guest is in need of replacement clothing. He has no other set of clothing and that will not do at all.”

The human opened his mouth and nodded slightly with a silent “ahh.” Reginald wasn’t upset about having to escort him and replacing the bed, he was simply unhappy at the man reusing his clothes.

The mares nodded and began trotting down the hallway both human and stallion had left, following the butler’s instructions as Reginald began moving again and escorted the human into the castle’s dining hall.

He opened the doors and called, “Your Majesties, your guest has arrived.”

“Thank you, Reginald. Please show him in,” came the still familiar voice the human hadn’t gotten over yet. The butler opened the door a little wider and held a hoof out, allowing the human to walk in.

The human gave a nod of appreciation to the stallion as he was walked into dining hall. He found the two alicorn sisters already eating their breakfasts, which appeared to consist of pancakes and a wide assortment of fruits laden on both the main dining table and the banquet table. He politely greeted, “Good morning, Princesses.”

Celestia was the first to respond. She smiled and said brightly, “Good morning, human. I trust you slept well?”

The human gave a mysterious smirk as he walked over to the table and removed the sheathed hand-and-half sword from his waist and let it rest against the table so he could sit more comfortably, “We did indeed, though we had to struggle with clawing our way out of the bed. Are all the guest beds made to encase those who sleep in them?”

Both Princesses stared at the human for a few seconds before Celestia answered, “Most beds were made with the magical mixture of clouds, feathers, and wool. I have never heard of somepony sinking so deeply into their beds befo---”

She suddenly cut off before she recalled a memory from the night before and stated with both her hooves gently landing on the table, her alicorn strength still strong enough to make the contents on the table jump upwards an inch off, “It was because your species has no magic either passive or active, you told me this just last night! Most ponies and many royal guests are able to sleep upon such beds because of the magic within both the bed and the guests! You have never beheld magic before, thus you simply sank through much like how non-Pegasi would fall through a cloud!”

Her excitement was quickly dampened once her mind realized the implications and she immediately bowed her head in repentance, “I am so sorry, I apologize for not rec—”

The human raised a hand from his side and interrupted her, his smirk falling into a wry smile, “It’s alright. In fact, if we are being honest, it was on us to remind your castle staff, as we had that discussion well after several other subjects. This would’ve still come up sooner or later. Either way, it’s being attended to by Reginald. It certainly was an interesting night and wake up call, regardless.”

His eyes had briefly flashed to look at Luna, who immediately avoided his gaze and was quicker to turn her head so as to mask her expression from her sister. He returned his gaze back onto Celestia and remarked, “We didn’t notice anything wrong with the mattress until we woke up and found ourselves entangled in the blankets.”

Celestia didn’t notice Luna’s actions as he said, “Everyone makes mistakes, and we’re all no different, Princess Celestia. You haven’t messed anything up ...” He paused just as he grabbed his placed chalice as he gave an unserious, condescending grin, “Yet.”

He had to withdraw the chalice from his mouth as he laughed at the responding growls from the two alicorn mares. However, his jab at Celestia did raise the mares’ spirits up a little as he sat down and began eating the hearty meal.

In between his silent eating, he said, “Joking aside, we’ve yet to find any fault from your hospitality. Which we did forget to mention,” He dipped his head in appreciation to the two alicorns, “We do humbly thank you for extending such a warm welcome unto us, as well as introducing us to both your kingdom and castle.”

The two beamed at his words as Celestia replied, “You are most welcome, human. And we thank you for being a kind and gracious guest in our castle.”

He gave a small nod as a silent meaning of saying ‘You’re welcome’ as she replied to him just as he resumed eating. Once he had cleared his mouth of food, Celestia asked, “Have you thought about what you would be doing today?”

“Studying would have been our first answer, however the books can wait,” he replied before taking a drink, “No, today we plan on staying true to what we said before,” He tapped the sheathed sword’s pommel with one knuckle, “We want to visit your Royal Guard barracks and their attached sparring grounds.”

Luna was quick to speak up, “We can aid thee in thy search for the barracks, for the pathway to it is along the same path my sister and I both take to perform the Day Court. Mine sister can delay the court no longer, as our nobles ever fill the castle with their selfish and petty requests.”

Her sister made a soft jab at her side with a hoof, “Come, now Luna. Not all the nobles are voracious and petty. Fancy Pants is most certainly a noble stallion.”

The two mares glanced at the human, as he gave a sharp exhale through his nose and his head ducked down, his chin nearly touching the edge of the table. When their eyes landed on him, he was quick to return to his previous position with the most level expression the two had ever seen.

The mares stared at him for ten seconds before returning to their conversation, Luna starting, “Duke Fancy Pants is merely one pony, sister. One good fruit does not redeem a cask of decayed fruit.”

“Yet that seems to be enough for you to condemn him, Lulu.” Celestia admonished gently, “And there are more good hearts amongst the nobles than him.”

“Five. Name us five, sister.”

Celestia grinned and rose to the challenge, “Easily. Fancy Pants, his wife Fleur-de-lis, Radiance, Good Will, Nightingale, and the entire Sparkle house, both in this current age and in the eras of the past. Should I continue onto the Royal Thestral Bloodlines next?”

Luna sulked at her older sister and replied, “No ... . This still does not redeem the majority of our kingdom’s nobility.”

Despite how caring Celestia was for her kingdom and her loyal subjects, she sighed and agreed sadly, “I suppose it doesn’t ...”

The human gave a raised eyebrow at hearing the unfamiliar word. He wiped his mouth with his given napkin after finishing his food and asked after waiting, “Thestrals?”

The alicorns blinked before remembering that the human was still a stranger to Equestria and all her inhabitants. Luna was quick to answer before Celestia did, and the human noticed a hint of pride in her voice, “The Thestrals are a race of ponies who have similar characteristics of a bat. What is most notable of the Thestrals are the extra fluff at the end of their ears, their fangs, and their slitted eyes. Another notable thing regarding the Thestral tribe is they are as nocturnal as I am, and many Thestrals are under my employ as my Night Guards,”

Her prideful confidence faded a little as she recalled an unfortunate event, “Though ... the Night Guards have long since dwindled while I’ve been gone and I have yet to make contact with them, as my banishment caused a great deal of hate between Celestia’s ponies and my Thestrals.”

Celestia gave a concerned look to her sister and replied, “Sister, you know I have done as much as I could to stop the violence between our little ponies, and you forget that both they and the Thestrals are as much my subjects as they are yours. I would rather bring harm to myself than let anypony fall.”

Luna didn’t respond while the human tried to imagine a Thestral but because he didn’t have all the details, he only came up what could have been called an abomination and asked, “Perhaps a bit more specific detail of what they looked like would be helpful?”

Celestia didn’t respond as she stared at Luna with a sad disposition at how her words didn’t comfort her sister. Luna however, happy to change one part of the subject and replied, “Perhaps when my night arrives, we may visit the Night Guard barracks. Thestrals are indeed ponies, but they hold many traits and features which give them a strong semblance to bats. Their wings are the most notable difference. You have seen the Pegasus guards in Celestia’s employ, correct?”

After the human gave a confirming nod, Luna nodded in return, “Then imagine their wings leathery skin and bone instead of feathers. Their eyes are slitted-pupils, allowing them to interact with the night better and the tips of their ears hold more tuft.”

The details given made much more sense to the man as he reimagined a Thestral. Amongst the women numbered within the Legions, even the more battle-hardened were quick to gush over the adorableness that was resulted.

Outwardly, the human chuckled, “And these Thestrals were viewed in such bad light? ” Both princesses’ countenance fell, which caused the human’s mirth to cut short. He gave a sigh and said, “Well then, we’ve delayed our activities for today long enough. Shall we move on?”

It took a second for the two mares to remember what he meant but Celestia nodded, “I suppose it is time. The nobility can no longer be without our guiding hoof, lest they take advantage of our silence, little sister.” She nudged Luna in a loving push before the three beings moved from the dining table and departed from the room, allowing the maids which waited against the nearby walls of the dining room to move in quickly and clean up after their guests.

The human fell silent into mental deliberation as both Luna and Celestia led the way through the halls. When his eyes fell upon a window that overlooked the castle’s throne room and noticed a certain stained glass window which depicted six little ponies and an unknown alicorn and inquired about it, “That window up there, and the other few similar to it. Are they supposed to commemorate certain events in Equestria’s history?”

Celestia glimpsed up to where he was looking and replied, “They are. Though the fullest history of Equestria was placed in the Royal Chronicles of Equestria tomes within our Royal Library, the windows are placed there to commemorate the most important key events which happened during our kingdom’s history. What you see depicted in that window there was the return of my sister from her banishment. Through the efforts of my protegé and her five friends, they harnessed a power which aided in defeating a nightmare that possessed my sister.”

The human gave a confused glare and asked, “A spirit possessed your sister? Then how did this result in her banishment?”

Luna was the one to answer, but she did so in a depressed and ashamed whisper, the human had to step closer, “T’was our jealousy and loneliness that spawned the hateful spirit and ... through our unwise decisions, we attacked dearest sister in earnest ...”

The human had some understanding but then asked, “And the first response was to banish rather than exorcise this spirit?”

Celestia suddenly stopped as her expression turned into a deep depression and the human’s eyes widened, completely convinced that she was about to break down and sob on the spot. Her head bowed low enough that her mane covered her entire face as Luna recognized her sister’s plight and was quick to take to her side.

No words were said, but the meaning was quite clear all around to the human. Whatever happened was a deeply sensitive subject.

Luna was the one to answer in Celestia’s stead, “Celestia had used a power which holds a will of their own. Instead of taking your idea of merely purging the darkness within me, the powers contained within the magical artefact which my big sister employed decided it a far more fitting punishment to cast me and my darkness into banishment for a thousand years, sealing me within my beloved ward and enveloped within the night which I loved so much.”

The human gave an upwards nod with a silent “ahh” of realization before blinking in surprise once the words “thousand years” registered as Luna comforted her sister, pushing and nudging her to assure that the young alicorn was still there and with her.

The human, impatient to start the day, gave a frown and shelved what would have been his question about the Princesses’ ages as he walked over to the still bowed Solar Princess. Luna watched him approach and held a warily watched Equestria’s strangest alien as he moved around to the other side of her sister and spread his arms wide as if to grab Celestia.

Celestia’s head shot straight up, her eyes flung wide as she gave out the cry and immediately squirmed out of both Luna’s wing and from the human’s hands as her body shook and danced herself into the ground, as if she were electrified.

The reaction was so sudden and unexpected, Luna collapsed in laughter, holding her barrel with her forelegs. Never in her long life had she known that Celestia was incredibly ticklish in that specific area and made a deep, mental note where the human struck.

The human didn’t move as his eyes tracked Celestia’s impromptu jig with a smug and amused look as the mare tried to calm down.

Once that was accomplished, Celestia got up from the floor. Her face blushing heavily in embarrassment while her expression had taken an exhausted anger as she glared at the human.

The human’s smug smile only made her more angry as she confronted him and yelled, “That is not funny!”

The human’s smile didn’t fade but he turned to address the giggling Luna, “She’s right, Princess Luna. This isn’t funny.”

Luna was quick to reply, “Nay! It is most riotous! Oh, sister we hath made note of thine weakness!”

Celestia’s anger was replaced with horror as she realized what her younger sister implied and stuttered, “Y-you wouldn’t dare, Lulu!”

Luna had calmed down from her giggling fit and was about to respond when the Royal Guards stormed to them, with one mare yelling, “Princess Celestia! Are you alright?!”

Said alicorn panted from her sudden exhaustion and waved a hoof, “Stay your hooves, my little ponies. A mere joke at my expense was played, but I am well.” She glared at the human before addressing him flatly, “We ought to move on, we have duties to perform and you wished to know where the sparring grounds were. Sure Strike!”

The Earth Pony guardsmare that had approached them saluted when her name was called. Celestia turned and didn’t face him anymore, “Please escort this human to your barracks and show him where the sparring grounds are. He wishes to spend the day outside and would prefer to remain there until dinner.”

The human’s smile still did not fade as he took in Celestia’s attempt at repaying his trick as the guardsmare nodded and lowered her foreleg and addressed him, “This way, please.”

He nodded and began walking away without a word, but Celestia could still tell that he didn’t regret a single second for his actions.

Luna nudged her sister, “Oh, ‘Tia. Thy mood seemeth to us quite prickly!”

Celestia was quick to protest, “I am not! What he did was both inappropriate and—”

“Helpful, dearest sister,” Luna interrupted as she moved in front of Celestia and sat on her flanks, “Not fewest seconds ago, you had begun to languish in your memories of our absence. Humiliative as his action had been, your attention had been dragged from the laments of the past and returned to the present where you belong, big sister.”

Celestia mulled over what Luna said for a second before grudgingly admitted, “You are right, Lulu. Perhaps I should go and apologize.”

However Luna shook her head, her smile returning, “Ney, sister. Your anger was correct, he did find two most vulnerable spots without your permission. We would have done the same.” She then turned and let her nebulous tail touch her sister’s forelegs, “Now come, big sister. The court awaits our presence!”

Celestia blinked before smiling and following after her, her spirits uplifted and somewhat more confident to face the petty demands of her kingdom’s nobility.

As the Royal Sisters discussed before moving off to attend to their duties, the human had long since left earshot of them and followed Sure Strike closely, keeping in mind the route they were taking so as to navigate the maze Canterlot Castle quickly turned out to be for him.

As they continued down the hallway, the human recalled the name Sure Strike and asked, “That name seems a bit familiar, would you happen to have been the same mare we encountered back at our sanctuary?”

The guardsmare reacted with a stiff step but didn’t respond as she maintained her professional and stoic expression. However, it was quickly seen by the human despite her trying to hide it and took the ensuing silence as confirmation that she had been amongst the party he had encountered upon his return to his sanctuary.

“At least it is good you’ve returned to duty without much harm.” The human remarked and allowed silence to take over for the rest of the walk. Though he could tell that his words did affect Sure Strike in some way, she still maintained her stoicism.

As they exited the Canterlot Castle hallways and entered a large field with what seems to be the barracks for the Royal Guards. The field itself was about a quarter mile long, with the barracks situated in a corner.

The edges of the field was walled in stone about five feet tall evenly perforated by one foot squares to prevent any unfortunate pony from getting sent off the edge to fall to their deaths while allowing anyone to look out and see the world below Canterlot.

The grassy field itself had been segmented and divided into separate areas with a bright white line running through the middle. One half was left mostly untouched and as was being used by the Royal Guards which were on that side to physically train the guards and for drilling formations, while the other half was divided into even rectangles. A few pairs of Royal Guards were in some of the rectangles and was sparring with full armor alongside short swords and spears.

At the front of the fun-sized formation of Royal Guards was a familiarly purple armored unicorn who trotted up and down the ranks, yelling orders left and right. Occasionally he confronted one pony and after a few terse and inaudible words, and the pony he talked to either dropped down and began doing the equivalent of pushups or shifted their hooves into a proper position.

The human glanced over the barracks and was slightly surprised to find that the barracks was akin to the bracketed architecture of a Roman barracks found from an old RTS game, fit with two statues of the Royal Sisters on both sides of the main entrance of the double building. The barracks itself was about the size of a three story building. One side of the ‘bracket’ barracks was connected to a large door that led into the castle, easily allowing at least three ranks of the Royal Guards to march through efficiently.

Sure Strike continued to lead him directly to the captain as he continued to give orders and instructions before he noticed them approaching.

His expression became exasperated as he barked, “At ease, guards! Rest up and return in ten!”

The ponies saluted and gave a loud “Yes sir!” before dispersing and moving off towards the barracks for either food, their bunks or removing their helmets and trotting near the walls and talk with each other.

As Shining removed his helmet and shook his mane briefly before he gave a hard stare and asked Sure Strike while he gave an emphasised jab at the human with a hoof, “And why is he here? I thought he was being kept inside the castle?”

The mare blinked and recoiled from his expression but replied, “Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia informed me to escort our guest to the field, where he’s staying for the remainder of the day to spar.”

Shining’s eyes widened in shock before growling, “And did either of them say who was going to spar with him?”

The human replied before the guardsmare could, “We didn’t, Captain. As it is, our physique has deteriorated during our long sleep and we are hoping to fix that.”

The human’s response only made Shining angrier. He gritted his teeth and was about to say something most likely unkind before the man raised a hand and said, “Captain, as much as you’re still upset over our first encounter with each other, we are still ordered by the Princess for the rest of the day here. We can either take to both sides of the field glaring and angry at each other and end up explaining ourselves to the Princesses, or we can at least try to make the remainder of the day go by smoothly and peacefully.”

Shining Armor’s anger smoldered over the idea of being confronted and being admonished by the Royal Sisters. Though he still glared at the human, he reined in whatever he would have said and instead grumbled, “The sparring grounds are yours, then. Will you be staying to escort him afterwards, Strike?”

Sure Strike nodded and Shining returned the nod, “Alright. Today’s lunch was spicy potato patties, spaghetti squash and green beans.”

Sure Strike broke her composure with a lick of her lips before trotting off to the cafeteria while the human gave an amused “Mmm.”

However, Shining didn’t share in his amusement and after a quick glare, trotted off after her. The human merely shook his head in disappointed amusement before walking off towards one of the empty sparring grounds.

He stopped at the middle of the grassy rectangle and began stretching, focusing first on his limbs.

Shining had retreated into the building and after climbing the set of stairs that led to the second story, he leaned against the window sill, sulking as he watched the human begin his exercises and stretching.

After what Shining could guess was twenty minutes, he shifted to get more comfortable in his brooding. One guardspony came up from behind and once noticing his captain idling against the window he asked, “Captain? Is there a problem?”

The unicorn stallion looked back and recognized the Earth Pony. He gave a small nod, “Nothing, Sergeant Stout. It’s nothing you need to know or worry about.” Shining returned his attention to staring at the human, who had now switched to what seemed like something a pony could’ve expected from a ballerina dancer, with one of his rearlegs lifting clear up and juuuust touched his shoulder with his odd, flat hoof and balanced perfectly still as the hoof came ever so slowly closer.

The sergeant behind the unicorn didn’t look convinced, but he risked a look out the same window as saw what the captain was looking at. Despite how harsh Captain Shining was when taking to the role of Drill Sergeant, Stout Stance gave a risking question, “S-Sir, is there a reason why you watch that creature?”

The captain didn’t answer immediately as he stared for a while longer until the human was done stretching his entire body. When that point in time arrived, the human picked up the sheathed sword and grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands before going into very slow, cutting motions with the weapon, the scabbard still on it.

Something inside Shining Armor seemed to snap as he pushed himself off the window sill with the scowl still on his face and began to walk away. Stout Stance watched him go and returned his gaze out to the odd creature and watched the being slowly “dance” with the sword for a few minutes.

Before he got bored of watching the human and decided to get dressed in armor for his next few hours standing guard at the Canterlot Castle’s entrance, he paused and saw his captain march onto the grassy field and straight for the human, dressed in armor and his sword balanced on his back.

’Oh Celestia, Captain! What are you doing?!’ The Sergeant mentally yelled before he ran from the window and down the stairs to chase after his superior.

The human either didn’t notice or didn’t pay the marching unicorn coming towards him any attention as he continued to go through the meditative practice, his eyes closed and focusing on both balance and forcing his body to continuously move at a slow, dedicated pace, never letting one foot or hand stay idle for a split second.

It wasn’t until he heard the sound of grass being stepped on at an irregular pace compared to his did he open his eyes and see Captain Shining standing there, still holding a hard look while he was fully dressed in armor.

The human didn’t stop his meditative dance but now that he knew that the captain was there, he asked, “Is there a problem, Captain?”

The unicorn didn’t answer except levitating the sword he had on his back to the ground chape, or the tip of the scabbard, first before unbuttoning the small strap that kept the sword sheathed.

When Shining pulled the sword out with magic, the human immediately knew what the unicorn was up to and warmly smiled in anticipation. Shining adjusted his grip on the sword before readying his stance, his body lined diagonally perpendicular from the human.

The sword seemed to be of standard issue, if one had to really guess. It was a one handed leaf-blade, but the length of the blade itself was almost half as long as the captain, colored in gold, metal and red while the grip was dark leather. The guard was a two spiked, golden cross-guard with three smaller spikes encompassed with a half circle. A red V was clearly shown between the cross-guard and the blade itself.

The pommel was a circular disk of gold with the same mark the human had seen on some of the other guards as well as on the very flanks of Princess Celestia. Seeing the same mark again made the human pause and consider about the mark.

’It seems we have something to ask of the Princesses. As we’ve been seeing different marks on every pony we’ve met and in the exact same area.’ He mentally remarked.

’Indeed. Perhaps they are similar to ID cards. There’s no way they’re similar to livestock branding, there isn’t a sentient being alive who would accept something like that at one point of their lives very willingly. Not without revolts or protests if their young are involved with it.’

Satisfied on considering another inquiry for the Princesses, he returned to eyeballing Shining’s sword.

The blade itself was of fine work, and there was a slight thinning from the fuller of the blade before widening into a bigger central ridge, allowing itself to be better used for hacking and slashing. The sword was held at an upwards angle, ready to block any quick jabs or attacks towards Shining’s body.

The human unsheathed his own sword and stood in a middle guard stance, his left side was forward, his right back and the sword was below his waist and slanted upwards with the point of the sword was aimed at Shining’s head and from there he waited.

The two held and waited for the other to begin the first strike as the Royal Guards saw them and began crowding around, some of them throwing jeers or supportive cries while others looked on in concern and worry. One departed and began galloping towards the main entrance into the Castle.

They waited and Shining’s patience grew thin when the human blinked and gave a smile before lowering the sword’s point down and lined it in front and between his legs.

Shining saw it as an opportunity and reached out with a thrust. The human merely made a step back and shifted his grip on his sword’s handle, Shining’s sword falling short about a foot away. Though Shining could easily just altered his sword’s momentum and turn it into a stab toward the human, the being’s quick reaction to his strike told him he would have missed and would leave his body vulnerable to anything and everything the human could do.

With that in mind, Shining retracted his sword and returned to his previous stance, shortly after his attempted attack, he readied his sword in a defensive position, ready to parry the humans attack and respond with an attack of his own.

The human’s smile didn’t fade as he immediately levered the sword from pointing at the ground to suddenly lifted up and, with the point aimed straight for Shining’s face, jabbed at him faster than Shining watched.

The Captain of the Royal Guard realized his mistake and immediately tried to jump back and ducked right. His sword however, was held by magic and instead of following with him, came down at the human for a cut.

The human merely let one hand go before grabbing the blade itself and met the strike with the flat of the blade, letting it slide upwards and away to Shining’s horror at his now capitalized mistake as the sword was now in an extended strike position and therefore making him vulnerable to an incoming attack.

The human wasted no time in chasing the captain down and pinning the sword against his throat with the edge of the now makeshift spear. The two paused when the human arrived to the victorious position before withdrawing and after making a few steps back returned to his starting guard.

Shining panted lightly with his eyes wide open. He didn’t expect the sudden agility from a two-legger. Shining reviewed his spar with the human and how quickly he resolved that round within two moves and one thrust.

This animal knew how to fight and how to quickly end it.

The unicorn captain shook his head before resuming his own starting position. A few seconds later and after a few supportive cries from his fellow guard, Shining returned into an attack stance again and responded with a cutting swipe at the human’s left waist.

The human parried the strike with his own sword before answering Shining’s attempted strike with his own, his sword slashing in a cut towards Shining’s muzzle. In a panic, Shining pulled back a few steps and was able to push the strike up and away from him, affording him an opportunity to stab, that he did not see or take advantage of.

The human held his position and observed the unicorn as Shining recovered and tried to glare back. After the unicorn did so, the man asked, “How old were you when you applied to the Royal Guard?”

The question proverbially tripped Shining, as he expected the human to either berate his missed opportunity or his “cowardice.” He considered it for a few moments before answering, “I was eighteen when I joined. Why?”

“Eighteen?” The human cocked his head as he relaxed and gently pointed his sword into the ground, “So that’s why. You shied away from what could have been an easy parry and approached us in anger. And then we recall hearing from the Princess that you’re the Captain of the Guard, the youngest if we guess your current age.”

Shining looked at him in bewilderment, not understanding what the human was talking about before the man gave a “tch” and muttered, moving his head down, “Honestly, subtlety must be nonexistent.” He tapped his weapon and looked up and, rather lamely, declared, “You’re fighting us because we’ve wounded your pride when we first met. That tells us that not only are you young and naive, you’re letting your pride of being a captain affect your judgement. Clearly, you’re unprepared to handle a situation which doesn’t conform to whatever military scenario you ponies employ.”

The unicorn’s jaw dropped at the human’s evaluation of him as the Royal Guards around him fell silent at the jabs at their captain. In all honesty, Shining had dealt with the “young” insults from those who were older and had better experience, but it drove him to the same kind of dedication his sister had to prove his detractors wrong.

True enough, his pride had been hurt during their first encounter. He had thought that he had been prepared for a combative confrontation and yet this creature suddenly employed evasive tactics against him and his fellow guards and the human had “fought” in such a manner that that he responded to the situation poorly, sending him to command his guards to chase after the creature that had he been in better control of the situation, he would have not issued. Once he tried to come back for round two, the Princesses prevented him from seeking redress for his wounded pride and ended up explaining to him that he and his guards were in the wrong.

Though Princess Celestia had told the human to apologize, it didn’t help soothe Shining’s wounded pride at all. And upon being reminded of it, Shining’s shock at the human’s words turned into anger. With a wild yell he charged toward the human, with his sword raised up and ready to descend on the human’s shoulder.

The human snapped the sword up and stepped back, once again grabbing both grip and the blade and letting Shining’s sword land on his before pushing it back up and lashing out with his back foot and swept the angry unicorn’s forelegs out from under him.

The moment Shining hit the ground with his side, the human twisted around and landed the tip of his sword rest against Shining’s throat. The unicorn’s anger at getting shown up rose again and he growled at the human.

His expression didn’t change to Shining’s growl and instead turned around, walked four steps before turning again to face Shining. The man then barked, “Get up, captain!”

Shining Armor slowly got up but stayed laying on his stomach, his legs curled to his body as he recovered from getting sent into the ground.

It only made the human give a huff of impatience annoyance and said again, “Get. Up. Captain. You started this fight and since we’re stuck here for the rest of the day, we may as well iron a few things out. You wanted this fight and now we’re talking with our swords, Prove to us that you’re worthy of that title, Captain of the Royal Guard. Get up!” He gave emphasis to his last demand with a quick flourish with his sword, making the metal sing through the air.

Shining gave a groan as he got up and gulped down air before readying his sword in front of him, his expression still grimacing from the pain in his legs and side. The human observed Shining as he steadied himself and gave a small snort, “Honestly, we’ve seen tougher guards and soldiers handle worse than a bruise like that.”

The unicorn’s expression started getting hard, “Sh-shut up.”

“No, Shining Armor. We don’t think we will. You’re calling yourself guards and soldiers when we haven’t seen anything that proves you any higher than simple militia!” The human’s smile had fallen into a disappointed frown, “Just when was the last time you and the “Royal Guards” ever seen a fight that wasn’t between squabbling couples?”

Shining gave a cry of anger before charging forwards, his sword jabbed to make a stab. The human reacted and moved his own weapon to bat it away before Shining pulled back and made for a cut across the human’s right knee.

The unicorn gave a grin in victory at getting past his opponent’s guard, waiting to see a small cut appear from the human’s leg.

Only to be upset that the human jumped over the strike entirely and landed unharmed.

Shining hesitated in his shock that despite him getting through the human’s guard, he still missed landing the blow. The human was quick to take advantage of his long pause and dashed around to the opposite side of where the unicorn’s sword went before landing a solid slap on Shining’s flank with his hand, directly on his Cutie Mark.

The crowd of guards fell utterly silent at hearing the sound of flesh being smacked. Shining’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates when his brain registered the pain, and his flank briefly jiggling.

Nopony, except his beloved Cadance, would dare do such a thing. Let alone another stallion!

Shining’s face flushed red in both embarrassment as his fellow guards gave low collective gasps of shock. Shining’s mind had been shocked by the creature’s action badly enough he was slowly comprehending what the human had done. In Equestrian culture, a public slap on the Cutie-Mark, marked the pony as being the bottom of any type of relationship, and it was the most humiliating act a stallion could have associated with him, as it implied that not only did he see himself as unworthy to continue propagating his lineage or his species, but it also was seen as a stallion who was weak and submissive. That they needed a “real” stallion to protect him and make the decisions for him.

And this animal had the gall to call him weak!

Shock turned to anger, Shining roared and his sword raced around. With gained momentum, he brought the sword to try and smash past the human’s sword. After the human deftly blocked the smash, Shining brought his own magic into the fight and gave a blast of magic at the human’s stomach.

The human’s eyes widened at the sudden aggression, and unsure as to what the magic would have done knew better than to stand there and wait or take the attack twisted around and rocked back onto the balls of his heels and let the beam of magic fly underneath his stomach.

His head snapped around to watch the beam blast away the statue on the far side of the field. Now aware of Shining’s anger, he stepped around again towards Shining’s flank and gave an even harder slap before kicking him away in the side.

Unfortunately, Shining recovered faster than before and was now infuriated, his mane an absolute mess and matted against his head and his eyes widened in rage. He responded with an even bigger pillar of magic and it moved faster than the human expected.

During the last few seconds before the blast hit, the human brought up his empty right arm and held it out as if to block the magic as it collided against him.

The air and field shook from the explosive report as Shining stared at the dust cloud in rage. The guards around the two quickly discovered themselves as targets for collateral damage and had quickly dived out of the way or darted skyward to avoid being hit.

Part of Shining’s mind prayed that the dust would reveal the human unconscious, letting him have a long-since denied victory over the damn animal and recover some pride he lost from the beast.

“Feeling better?” the human’s voice rang out from the dust as it settled. Shining blinked before his jaw dropped when he saw what had happened to the human.

In the place of where the human had been, was a towering shield barely taller than Shining. It was a rounded and curved rectangular wooden bulwark decorated in painted wood with iron bolts around the edges of the shield and a brass semicircle in the center of it. The shield was painted with a red background while yellow wings and arrows were symmetrically placed.

The human emerged from behind the shield and picked it up from the ground, as it had been embedded into it from the force of the magical explosion. He placed it back on the ground and leaned on it. The grass around him had been completely burned away and left a sizable crater that spanned around him and all the way back to the mountainside and against the walls separating the field from the long drop below.

The walls of both the field fence and the castle had taken moderate damage in the form of scorch marks, as they had been enchanted to resist magic attacks for this exact instance, though the walls would need repairs and repaving.

However, the area behind the human and in tangent of the shield’s curved shape was left completely unharmed.

Before either human or unicorn could do anything more, another voice called out. This voice clearly angry, “What is going on here?”

The spectating guards quickly bowed low, heads lowered with muzzle mere millimeters from the ground as the human and Shining turned to see two narrow-eyed, frowning visages of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as both galloped from the direction of the Castle where the had been holding court. Shining blinked as he recognized Sargeant Stout Stance trailing behind the Princesses, giving a concerned glance between both the human and his captain.

Princess Celestia first confronted her captain, “I am waiting for an explanation, Captain Shining!”

Shining began sputtering incoherently, his anger dissipating against the shock and horror that the Princesses had arrived just in time to see the aftermath of his unprofessional behavior.

Now that they were here and with Princess Luna looking on at the destruction he had made because he allowed himself to be badgered and reacting in anger, Shining mentally sobbed and kissed his rank as captain goodbye.

“Our most humblest apologies, your highness,” the human apologised and looked contrite, startling Shining out of his sputtering spree, “We had desired to try ourselves against the best of your best once we had sufficiently warmed up. Unfortunately in the heat of our sparring, we allowed our eagerness to blind us to realize how much noise we must have been making. If you must punish someone, then we willingly accept what punishment you deem acceptable for having disturbed your Court and any anxiety our sparring session may have caused you.”

Princess Celestia looked at the devastation of the sparring grounds and turned to address Shining, “Is what the human says the truth, Captain Shining? Did he ask to spar with you and achieve such a result as a consequence of your sparring session?”

Shining was left speechless. He had attacked the human with anger and near lethal force and yet the same human was trying to save him!

However, despite that the human was helping him and taking the blame willingly. Princess Celestia was still his commander and he was duty-bound to her, that and he would not accept letting himself be considered a liar, and he would not allow the human to hold one over him!

But … .

Having the human take the blow and saving Shining from being sent home to two very upset parents was enough for him to impulsively reply, “Y-Yes, Your Highness.”

Princess Celestia looked around again and then asked, “And how did all this destruction around us happen when both you and the Warrior are here? The Warrior does not have magic, so he certainly couldn’t have caused this level of destruction. Also, the magic spells which are capable of causing this type of devastation are all lethal and would not be used in combat, as I am sure you are well aware of, Captain Shining Armor. Therefore I will ask again, why do I see this level of destruction in what is supposed to be a sparring area?”

Shining began to wither at her words and was convinced that he was bucked more ways than one, however the human stepped in and replied, “Once again that is our fault, Princess Celestia. We had asked your captain to use magic, and convinced him to use such lethal spells in our sparring match so that we might see the types of effects that your warriors and your subjects are capable of, and familiarize ourselves with the different spells which are used in the fields of combat.”

The alicorn princess stared hard at the human before asking, “If you gave such permission, then you or Captain Shining would have made sure that none of the guards would be too close to arena of combat and so run the risk of being harmed. Why have neither of you not done so?”

The human simply shrugged, “We underestimated Captain Shining’s magical prowess, since we had never encountered what you call magic. We confess no prior foreknowledge of Captain Shining’s spell, area of effect, or the skill he possessed. We must admit, we’re impressed with your Captain’s strength in both magic and physical prowess.”

Princess Celestia continued to stare at the human before giving a nod, “Fine. Since you admit to requesting Captain Shining to utilize his magic in your sparring match, and the result is the destruction around us, consider yourself banned from the libraries for five months and from the sparring grounds for three weeks, after you help clean up this mess.”

She then turned her attention unto her captain, whose jaws had dropped and was staring at the human, “Captain Shining, since you complied to the Warrior’s insistence when you should have denied such requests, you are to aid him in cleaning the fields and you are hereby assigned to be his personal guard until the end of his three weeks. You will aid him in avoiding the nobles when they are present until the end of the week, and you are to assist him in any other aid he requires of you. Understood?”

Shining gulped loudly but gave a meek, “Yes, Your Highness.” while the human blinked and gave a smiling nod to the Princess.

Princess Celestia looked between the two beings before giving a stern nod, “Good. Warrior, it would be best if you leave with us for now. You may clean this mess immediately after your lessons with Princess Luna and Luminous Scroll.”

With that, both Princesses huffed their annoyance and turned to return to the castle, Stout Stance gave a nervous shuffle with his hoof on the ground while Shining sat on his flanks in shocked relief at dodging the proverbial bolt.
When the human began to follow the alicorn sisters, Shining croaked at him, “Why?”

The human paused and look back. He stared at the unicorn before giving a sly wink and walked away from the devastated field and rejoined the awaiting Princesses.

Shining simply watched him go, his mind still recoiling from the near-destruction of his life’s career. He didn’t even register his Sergeant coming up and apologizing for informing the Princesses.

Princess Luna turned and faced the human the moment that he had arrived, “You lied,” she accused.

“We lied.” The human agreed, his smile not hurt by her accusation in the slightest.

“Why? The captain held nothing but contempt for you, yet you obviously egged him when we told you not to. His anger and the magic, which you had goaded him into using, could have casted him out of the Royal Guard and we would have lost a great captain and his life and family name would have fallen into most unfortunate times, yet you took the blow for him.”

The human blinked and his smile became more wily, “We were not completely lying about wanting to see what Captain Shining was capable of. And neither did we lie about being caught unprepared for just how proficient he was. We had long since known of his problems with us and we decided that because we are likely to be staying here for quite some time, we may as well make the castle more hospitable.”

Celestia frowned in confusion, “And you did not consider merely asking us? We could have—”

The human gave a slight frown in return and interrupted her, “You could have, but orders are orders and only give temporary solutions. No, what is between us and the captain is simply something the two of us had to solve ourselves. All you needed to do was give the setup.”

The Royal Sisters widened their eyes, with Celestia stating in realization, “You planned this the entire time.”

He smiled.

Luna quickly started looking between the human and her elder sister, then back again. She immediately blurted out, her expression turning to growing horror, “Praytell, doth ancient past truly instill a sense of manipulation within all who linger this long?!” She gave a jab with her hoof to Celestia, ”First it is thou, sister! And now it is with thy fillyhood friend!” Luna then opened her wings and flapped them once in annoyance, “When doth the time cometh when we too must twist and turn another pony?!”

Princess Celestia gave an amused sigh to her sister and nuzzled, who flinched once before accepting it, “I pray that time never comes, Lulu. It is a terrible feeling to use another pony.”

The human gave a small shrug, “Not entirely, but it’s not a habit you’d want to develop. Speaking of ancient age, we couldn’t help but recall you saying that this spirit possessed Princess Luna around a thousand years ago?”

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both knew what he was wanting to ask. They were now more hesitant on giving the whole truth, as last night’s discussion was still in the forefront of their minds.

Princess Luna whispered to her sister, “‘Tia, our age are already known by populace, as is what being an alicorn meant. This is no secret, excepting him.”

Celestia gave a warm smile in return, “There are times, my little sister, you show wisdom that is older than I am,” She turned to face the human and replied, “As for what you are asking, human. Indeed, what happened to my sister did occur a thousand years ago. However, we are both older than that. It is because of us being alicorns, that we are able to live very long lives.”

The human blinked and his expression fell neutral, “How long?” he asked slowly.

Princess Celestia pawed the tile idly before replying, “If we stay safe and do not throw our lives recklessly into the wind, forever.”

Her answer immediately rewarded her with the first sight of seeing the human dumbfounded, fit with his mouth gaping open slightly and his eyes not changing as he stared at her.

She would have admired the feat, and only on the second day of him being introduced to Canterlot! However, she still had other things to deal with alongside being angry that the human still egged her captain into blasting him with magic and questioning his social status as a stallion.

Thus, she gave a loud “ahem” to draw him out of it, to which he promptly asked, his expression still confounded, “You two are physically immortal?”

Princess Celestia nodded, “Within reason, yes. Why does this shock you, human?”

The human blinked and replied, “T-Technically ... so are we.”

Princess Luna was quick to retort with a level expression, “Ye liest.”

He shook his head in negation to Luna’s vocal disbelief, despite knowing that he’s incapable of showing any proof otherwise, “We’re not saying we have complete immunity to aging, we still physically grow. We’re ... simply time resistant.”

The younger alicorn didn’t blink and repeated in the same level tone, “Ye liest.”

The human could only shrug, “It’s all we can really say in terms of proof, Princess Luna. Do you yourselves have any proof that you’re physically immortal as well?” Luna blinked and thought about it for several seconds but shook her head, coming up with nothing, “Still, alicorns being ... it’s ... seemingly unbelievable to us. It’s ironic that we’re saying that, yet ... .”

Celestia didn’t admit it aloud, but it was an unbelievable surprise to herself as well. It was easy for anypony else to just claim that they were as eternal as she was, among many other arrogant boasts and whatever else ponies decided to declare. But, how the human had stated his own eternal status. If he was actually telling the truth … .

Luna meanwhile, still didn’t believe it. The human first claims to have no name whatsoever, and then he lets on that he is just as eternal as she and her sister are! What else was this being going to falsely claim?!

It didn’t help that the remnants of the Element of Honesty that still lingered in her said otherwise.

The three stood in awkward silence, incapable of finding a way in continuing the subject. Both sides declared themselves blessed with eternal life, but neither of them could find a way to prove their blessings existed nor could they truly believe in what the other said.

And the irony wasn’t lost to either of them.

Finally, the human changed the subject. Seeing as how they were both figuratively and literally going nowhere, the human asked, “What are those strange marks on the flanks of every pony we’ve seen? We assumed them to be some sort of identification so as to easily spot and call out to anyone you needed.”

The sisters relaxed at something being something by which to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled between them. Princess Luna was the one to answer, “The marks you see are called “Cutie-Marks.” They are both a symbol of what a pony’s talent is, as well as the insignia of the bearer becoming an adult. Ponies are born without a Cutie Mark, so they often search for their special talent. Though, frequently they are found by accident or coincidence rather than simply trying everything a pony can and they are open to interpretation.”

Celestia nodded and added, “Whenever a pony finds their Cutie Mark, it’s an occurrence which often called for a celebration. As no two ponies share the same Cutie Mark, it’s much akin to a pony finding their purpose and identity in life.”

The human gave an interested hum as the three began to walk again. Having a physical identity and a guaranteed natural way of discovering one’s talent, skill, or ability seemed like an incredible blessing, considering how humanity had to fumble and adapt their way from anywhere for several months to many years to accomplish the same thing.

However, there were still downsides to having these “Cutie Marks,” namely where ponies would simply “discover” their talents, it apparently limited them within that one talent. Whereas humans were capable of adapting to their environment much faster and more capable of performing a variety of different tasks, with the rare few who could handle performing fifty different tasks.

Simply put, regarding a matter between the quality of the task accomplished and quantity of tasks accomplished, there’s been times throughout history where men and women found various ways to balance between the two.

Celestia’s next question drew the human from his mental musing as she asked, “Do humans have something similar?”

He shook his head, “No. We usually relied on adaption, ambition, and practice to develop talent.” He paused as he took note regarding where they were heading and realized they were moving straight for the main hall, “Is there a reason why we are going to the throne room? We thought you said we weren’t ready to—”

Celestia’s tone became a bit curt, with her being upset over the events down by the barracks still present, “You aren’t ready yet, and you still have six days until we hear of your decision. As it is, the only place you can spend the day is by listening in on the Day Court and its proceedings with us.”

The human feigned hurt and placed a hand over his heart, “Punishment by politics! Such cruelty behind a gentle smile.”

His remark made the two mares giggle before he asked, “But how are we going to listen to the proceedings? We didn’t notice any entrances or overhangs for us to take shelter in, and the doorway you and Princess Luna had gone into didn’t seem to have any other passages into it.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “You haven’t noticed, but there is indeed an overhang for you to hide in. Have you noticed the golden decorations above our respective thrones?” The human’s eyes flashed briefly to the left for a moment before nodding, “It is in fact an architectural illusion that my old friend, Starswirl, had made during my sister’s banishment and when I returned to ruling Equestria as a Princess. He had this planned during the construction, holding in mind that due to the ... impact Luna’s exile had on me, he wanted to keep a close eye upon me. It was only until his disappearance and after reading his journal did I ever discover it, and there is a discreet way of entering it.”

She promptly stopped after turning a corner in front of a door, the human having to swerve a little on his feet to avoid running into her. The door seemed as innocent and unremarkable from every other door within the castle. Luna nearly didn’t notice her stopping and backtracked to her sister as Celestia said, “Go through this door, this will lead you your way into the overhang. It is tall enough to hide even me from anyone looking up, and there are cushions up there allowing for one to sit in comfort.” Celestia gave a wary glare at the human, “I would greatly appreciate it if you do not tell anypony else of this, human.”

The human knew better than to challenge her on that, as he had already done enough damage today as is. He gave a polite bow with a “Very well, Princess Celestia,” before he turned and entered through the door.

The door opened up and merely showed a rather sparse room in the shape of an oval about the size of a living room of a one story house. Though it was still decorated to match the theme and colors within the Canterlot Castle, there was little else except for the obvious circle in the middle of it.

The human blinked as he turned his attention to the circle. Considering how the world now ran on magic of all things, seeing the letters and runes etched into the flooring with the circle it didn’t take much to assume it was his pathway to his soon-to-be hideout for the next three weeks.

The rune circle was a deep golden color, two yards length long in diameter and was filled with multiple geometric shapes. Within the shapes were either some kind of letter or symbol or small words which was barely readable to the human, as he still hadn’t progressed much with his language lessons.

Despite how Luna would claim otherwise, he actually struggled with the primer. It was only due to the assistance of the Legions within him, did he catch up to her.

Both the human and the Legions within shook their heads, casting the stray thought away before taking a figurative leap of faith and stepped forward onto the middle of the rune circle.

The magic within the runes activated and fired the instant he stopped moving on the circle. With a bright flash of yellow and a sharp escalating whirring noise, the human blinked for thirty seconds before realizing he had been teleported and his ride was already over.

Outside of the rune circle, he was met with a quarter sphere shaped space three yards in diameter from one corner of the space to the other. In the farthermost front of the quarter sphere was a rectangular hole walled by golden colored sheer fabric held by the sides by a white bordered golden band with a sun symbol underneath it.

The enchanted sheer fabric allowed the human to peer down and see the throne room, which was sparsely crowded with nobles and other ponies of various status’ as they stood and chatted idly while they waited for their Princesses to return to them.

Seeing as he arrived sooner than the alicorn siblings had, the man looked away from the seeing spot for a moment and found what seemed to be similar to papasan couches with equally sized body pillows to allow anyone who entered there to lay there in comfort.

Satisfied that he wouldn’t be uncomfortable during his three week stay in the alcove, he settled down and turned his attention to the conversations below.

“Honestly, what on Equis demanded so much out of our Princesses that they had to leave us? There are a great deal of things I need to attend to after this!” The first coherent voice rang out, the stallion’s voice utterly poisoned with snob arrogance.

“I only hope that whoever or whatever made that magical explosion was swiftly dealt with and exiled. Disturbing the most important time of the day, hmph!” An equally poisonous voice came from a mare with an upward movement with her chin.

“Be patient and stay in line, Jet Set! Princess Celestia has better things to listen to than your attempts at rooking underneath her nose.” Another voice audibly replied to the first stallion’s comment. The din faded slightly at the third voice’s scathing remark, but did not completely die down as Jet Set turned to reproach his verbal attacker.

’I’ve heard better drama from the debate between Trump and Clinton ...’ The human flatly stated, convinced that what Luna held against the upper classmen of Equestria was well founded. He was met with agreeing laughter in the Tower of Eternity before the doors at the opposing side where the human hid flew open and revealed both Princesses Celestia and Luna, immediately silencing the nobles ... equine? Nobles-equine as they moved to the sides of the room and respectfully waited for their Princesses to travel across the red carpet leading to their respective thrones.

The man studied his hostess’ face and saw the reason why the other ponies would consider her a demiurge. The calm, patient, and near motherly expression fit with a gentle smile was something he would have seen from his Lord’s Son. Princess Luna had something similar, however there were cracks in her mask belied her inexperience at hiding her opinions of the nobles-equine around her.

Once the mares sat down, the Princess called out, “My sincere apologies for our sudden absence, my little ponies. The matter that drew us away has been resolved, and the Day Court may resume.”

The first dressed up unicorn separated herself from the crowd of ponies and addressed herself as the rest of the nobles-equine shuffled out the doors to await their turn, “Your Royal Majesties, my name is Jade Star and I am the leading mare of---”

The human immediately tuned the mare out, already knowing that her proposal was simply something that was meant to fish something from either her fellow nobles-equine or the lower classes for selfish benefit. Since he wasn’t the one in charge of saying yea or nay, it made the choice of ignoring the pony all the easier as he drifted back to the Tower of Eternity and joined in the idle debate over Celestia’s offer.

He returned his attention to the mass below when he heard Princess Celestia’s voice ring out, “My sincerest apologies, Ms. Jade Star. However I must respectfully decline your proposal, as it would only lead to an unpopular monopoly over the sites, forcing many other businesses and hard-working ponies to either lose their jobs or be coerced into joining your own. As it is, I cannot allow an unfair act to them.”

The nobles-equine mare gave an imperceptible huff in annoyance, but relented with a silent and polite bow. She turned around and trotted out of the throne room to return to wherever she came from.

The Royal Sister’s Majordomo, a unicorn named Forward Bastion called out, his voice booming against the walls, “Will the Nobles-stallion Life Style and Miss Tutor Rial please come forward?” As the doors opened and a stallion and a mare who was not as dressed as the stallion traded places with Jade Star, Forward Bastion turned and informed the Princesses calmly, levitating a small stack of papers to them to see, “This petition is regarding an insurance claims dispute and the laws pertaining to the Unlawful Trade Practices Act.”.”

The dressed unicorn introduced himself with an equally polite bow, “Your Royal Majesties,” The human’s eyes widened slightly as he recognized the same voice who had berated Jet Set, “My name is Life Style, and I am the stallion in charge over Manehattan’s life insurance company, Gecko.”

’Oh this will be good.’ The human had to fight off chuckling aloud while he shuffled closer to listen.

The mare bowed and said, “My name is Mrs. Tutor, Your Majesties. I am from Manehattan as well.”

“And it seems we have had to come here for a ...” The stallion gave a heated glare towards Mrs. Tutor before finishing his sentence, “legal problem with our insurance and the laws in Manehattan.” The stallion drew himself up and began his tale, “Within the Manehattan’s courts, and by your consent, lies a law named the ‘Unlawful Trade Practices Act’ which disallows anypony from using unequinable tactics in commercial bargains. This allows customers to be reimbursed from those who have taken advantage of them through unscrupulous and devious tactics.”

The mare was quick to put in, “However, the law does not extend to insurance companies, Your Majesties, and this stallion had—”

Princess Celestia’s wings unfurled slightly as she immediately cut both the stallion from defending himself and from the mare’s further accusations, “Enough! Mr. Life Style, I am familiar and was present during the law’s creation. I am fully aware what the law allows and disallows,” The stallion stiffened but relented at her words, before she turned her attention to Mrs. Tutor, “If you may, Mrs. Tutor. Please tell me of your side of the story.”

The mare gave a relieved smile and relayed her story. Apparently, she had blindsided a mare by accident with a wooden cart and informed both the injured mare and Gecko that she owed the injured mare twelve and a half thousand bits, and this fit well within Gecko’s own policy of the total amount as the maximum. However, Gecko did not pay the amount and did not inform Mrs. Tutor of their declination, leaving the mare to pay for the bits herself even though she could not afford the price due to her jobs payment. It was only later was she informed of what Gecko decided to do and was barely able to make a judging appeal to the Princesses because of the injured mare she had hit was a third party in Gecko’s decision.

Throughout the story, Life Style tried again and again to defend both himself and the company through both reciting either the same law he began with and other non sequiturs, however as the story progressed he started losing ground quickly.

In the end, both Princesses Celestia and Luna declared that not only is Gecko to pay the due amount to the injured mare, but also to pay two million bits to Mrs. Tutor. Despite Life’s protests, he was forced to concede to his ruler’s judgement and accept their terms in replanning his company's policies to not allow this to happen again.

Once the two ponies left, Princess Celestia addressed a guard by the door, “Sergeant Evergreen? Please send a letter to Manehattan of our ruling and to modify their Unlawful Trade Practices laws to include insurance companies.”

The guard nodded and followed after the two ponies, informing another guard on the way to replace his station while Forward Bastion’s voice rang once again.

The human merely watched on in amusement. He had already heard of a similar story, the only difference was the names. But it was always amusing and satisfying to watch or hear a company screw up and try to cover it up or try and shift the blame to regain whatever they lost, often to spectacular fails that damaged them to take an actual dent into their reputation and paycheck.

The rest of the day was filled with Nobles-equines coming and leaving in polite disappointment at their proposals and petitions being rejected left and right, the Princesses revealing holes in both their arguments or their petitions. Whenever something similar to Mrs. Tutor’s case would appear, the Royal Sister’s would act as judge and jury after hearing both sides.

Sometimes, they took to the side of the lower class pony that asked for the appeal, as it continued to prove to the human that the Nobles-Equines were quite determined at taking the word stereotype to heart. Snobbish, greedy, arrogant in their status’, determined to undermine those in equal or higher power, or kissing up those in power so as to get a share of it, the noble caste was incredibly eager to put themselves in bad light, as Princess Luna claimed earlier that day.

Eventually, boredom with how predictable the nobles continued to be and how they droned on and on about themselves and their shortsighted self-righteousness took its toll on the human and he decided to focus once more onto the debate of Celestia’s offered spell.

And once again, he and the Legion within was stuck on agreeing or disagreeing. The cultural attitude was unnecessarily harsh to remain in human form, though that wouldn’t completely stop them.

Their problem was the collateral damage.

As far as they’ve seen with the Princesses and what limited knowledge they had discovered, Equestria was utterly unequipped to deal with anything remotely close to a non-negotiable war. As much as the human was familiar with waging war, they were still physically recovering from their hibernation and, by guess and estimate, would not be completely recovered for the next few months.

And they would preferably not test the full strengths of magic-wielding beings yet, Captain Shining’s lethal outburst wasn’t unexpected on any account, but the amount of power behind it was enough to confirm that should he have taken that blast head-on, he would most certainly would’ve lost a torso and a limb.

And that was only Captain Shining, the young but promising stallion. What were the Princesses like, let alone everyone else?

This, combined with how they were in relation to Equestria, left them incapable of handling an army and not allowed to help train the national armies for an even longer period, as they were still a foreign to Equestria. No sane being during an era of peace and faced with the threat of an impending war would willingly let a foreign and unknown being lead their nation’s armies.

Albeit all that could be mitigated by them leaving Equestria, but considering what had been inscribed back at their sanctuary and which they weren’t willing to discuss it yet, that option was neither available, nor favorable.

Even if the human somehow, by some miraculous feat, defeated the minotaurs who were invading Equestria and even if he chased them back to their own borders and exterminated them, it would draw far too many political complications, public scorn from a millennia-old peaceful kingdom and possibly forceful exile. Once again, that was an option that would not be taken.

They could just not care. It’s not the first time they’ve done so.

’... Are we seriously considering disobeying Him?’ The human pointedly asked, which immediately changed the opinions of those who had entertained such a thought as it crossed their minds. They fully knew better than to dance with disobedience for a second time. They were given a new world to live in as the consolation prize after the Second Coming, they were not going to throw everything out the window and do whatever they want. Not yet.

The more the Legions dwelled on the downsides of disagreeing, the more it seemed like an unnecessary and nonsensible course of action and was counterproductive to His last order. And the more the Legions came to the same conclusion, the more they began to agree.

The offer to transform into one of the ponies wasn’t a favorable idea by any means, but considering political and cultural attitudes regarding his species within Equestria and her surrounding neighbors, they would simply have to accept and make due.

’Besides,’ the human thought, his tone upbeat to try and ease the unhappy few that still did not agree, ’It’s not often you get the offer to be transformed into something.’

’This is still unnatural, humanity was created like this in His ideals, if He wanted us to shed our human appearance, would He have not done this Himself before we awoke?’ One stubborn voice thought.

’To say that means that the second stage of His plan is already enacted, which means we would’ve been given a warmer welcome than this because everyone would’ve known about us. Besides, He’s long since locked the gates and withdrew from Earth, which means cutting off all knowledge of what’s happening or what will happen.’
This statement caused a wave of disturbed shock through the Legions. Saying that He no longer was aware of what was happening on Earth anymore? It was damn near unthinkable.

’Yet ... . That’s what seems to have happened ... We’ve not been recognized, nor hailed by anyone we’d know.’

The human returned his attention to the Day Court below, putting the disturbing fact out of the way and decided to enjoy the last five days in human form. They had already decided on agreeing to the Princess’ offer and it was far too late to argue otherwise.

And the first thing they enjoyed was seeing who Prince Blueblood was, as he was the last to show up and take a figurative stab and grubbing power or money from his aunts.

Forward Bastion called out, “May Prince Vladimir Blueblood the Fourth approach!” and the human watched as a light grey unicorn with light amber mane color came through the door and towards the thrones in a typical strut similar to how many other nobles-equine trotted.

When he was closer to the Princesses, Forward Bastion turned to them and stated, “Prince Blueblood is the last visitor for today, Your Highnesses.”

Princess Luna nodded gratefully to her majordomo and said, “We greatly thank thee for thy service today, Forward Bastion. Thou hast our permission to cease thy labors for the remainder of this day.”

Her sister gave a nudge with her wing to silently tease Princess Luna for returning to her archaic speaking habit before turning her attention to Blueblood as Bastion trotted towards the large doors and politely asked, “Whatever brings you today, nephew?”

The unicorn gave a “harumph” and in an unexpected gentle tone groused, “Indeed what does, Auntie Celestia. I’ve been besieged by the other nobles and hounded by the raving mad griffons disguised as Equestrian pony journalists for two whole days ever since you’ve returned from your Everfree Expedition. They constantly demand and ask me about your excursions to Faust knows where within the Everfree Forest. I have heard about your order to keep it a secret amongst the maids and guards and yet they continue to ask and pester me about some ... ‘Being’ you found and brought back! I’ve asked again and again to ask of you about this, for I can only hope this does not continue Auntie, I cannot stand being in the middle of the filthy barbarous commoners and not being privy regarding to what whatever your secret is!”

’What a long-winded pony.’ The human commented.

’Indeed, but now we’re learning just how well secrets stay secret within the confines of this castle, as well as hearing how the rest of Canterlot is handling our arrival.’ The human gave a quiet hum in response while Princess Celestia gave an answer, “My little nephew, I am sorry that you had to be in such a difficult place. However the circumstances in what both Luna and I had discovered needed to be kept away from the public, else it would have caused unnecessary hysteria off of what the journalists would say.” Blueblood stiffened at the word ‘hysteria’ but relaxed when ‘journalist’ came with it, “You may inform those who ask about this secrecy of ours, that by the end of this week, we will be able to properly answer regarding our commands regarding the matter which is currently being kept secret .”

The unicorn prince gave a sigh through his nose but only replied, “Thank you, Auntie Celestia. Quite frankly, I wish it were done sooner but if it is something that can become greatly exaggerated by the press, then I suppose it should be handled carefully. Though I must ask, does what you have ... discovered correlate to the recent explosion of magic which I felt this afternoon?”

The alabaster alicorn blinked in subtle hesitation but was quick to hide it, “It involves the occurrence, but does not directly correlate to it.”

Blueblood seemed to mentally sulk at her cryptic answer, but did not press further. He knew when his aunt was trying to hide something and did not want to discuss it so openly. In the end, he gave a nod and replied, “Very well, Auntie Celestia. I shall see you later this eve.” With that, he turned and walked out the same door he came in, the door booming shut behind him.

Princess Celestia sighed tiredly as she leaned back to rest against the throne’s back, relaxing after sitting for hours in one spot.

Princess Luna looked up and ask, “Art thou still awake up there? Or shalt we send Reginald to awaken thee?”

The human was quick to answer from behind the enchanted cloth, “Oh, we’re still awake, Princess Luna. Though it seems your castle isn’t very capable of hiding recently discovered secrets.”

Celestia was the first to defend, looking up and replying, “This has always been a problem, regardless of how well our guards are trained to not let anypony in, a pony will always find a way around them and into the castle. In fact, I’ve had to establish twice the numbers than before due to one pony being brave enough to not only sneak in and past the guards, but was able to find his way into my sleeping chambers.” Her sister immediately turned her head to stare at her incredulously, clearly showing that this was the first she heard about it, “Though the pony did not get away when I awoke, it still showed that regardless how much I have tried, somepony finds an overlooked answer in.”

“Perhaps a harsh punishment would make them think twice.” The human mused, “A day as target practice would certainly do it.”

Princess Celestia shook her head, “As much as I would want to, it could send the wrong message to the other ponies.”

“How so? It’s better than a prolonged sentence to the dungeons for months to years at a time. It demonstrates that if someone’s going to sneak around in the castle without permission, they may as well serve a purpose and help the guards while they’re there. In fact,” He moved closer to where his head was rubbing against the cloth as he leaned forwards through the hole, “Why not let them be target practice for you two? Certainly you both practice your magic at some point to stay powerful, seeing as you have more direct access to magic than the other pony races besides the unicorns.”

Celestia blinked in surprise and looked up at the noticeable bulge, “Where and when did you learn about magic and its relation to the ponies?”

“Luminous Scrolls, who else?”

She grumbled in a low voice, “Oh, of course. You buttered her up, then asked whatever you wanted, didn’t you?” A small chuckle above confirmed her suspicion. Celestia blinked before looking up and asking, “You did not answer me when you asked her though, human. As far as I was aware of your movements, you did not have the time to ask her.”

“We asked her before helping Princess Luna. We tried talking to your sister, but she was a little ... deep in thought.” The human replied, hesitating at how to describe Princess Luna’s internal meltdown, “Before you protest, Princess Luna, it may have seemed that only moments passed, but you were oblivious within your musings for several minutes.”

Celestia looked down to her younger sister and saw her startled expression before she asked, “Luna?”

The midnight blue mare’s expression became crestfallen and lowered her head, letting her mane cover her face. When Celestia moved a wing over and gave a subtle hug for support, she shook her head and muttered in a hushed voice, “L-later.”

Princess Celestia gave a sympathetic look to Luna before getting up and after stretching her legs and waiting for the numbness and pins-and-needles sensation to end, and went over to her sister. She wrapped her front hooves around her and gave a loving hug, with Luna leaning against her to return some of it.

After a few moments the two parted and, after Luna stumbled from her own numb limbs, whereupon they left their thrones to go to feast on supper. Before they left the throne room, Celestia looked back and called, “If you’re still up there, you may come down and join us. Reginald is likely waiting for you, as we have told him where you were.”

She did not get an answer, making her presume that the human had already left and discovered her royal butler waiting for him.

As it turned out, it wasn’t just Reginald there to meet him.

“Captain Shining, what brings you indoors?” The human asked the startled unicorn, as Shining Armor had been trotting down the hallway that went straight to where the human and the butler Reginald were.

Shining stuttered from the shock, whatever had been on his mind and what he would have said to the man was forgotten.

It took Reginald to give a loud “ahem” to bring the unicorn out of his stuttering spree and said, “Captain Shining Armor, if you have something to say to our guest, then please do so in a coherent fashion and not as a colt still struggling to speak.”

This was enough to get Shining Armor to begin slowly, “I, wanted to thank the ... human for earlier.”

The human nodded his head and was about to respond, but Shining continued and stated, “However, I am not going to allow you to blackmail me into anything and I will not let you use the aftermath of the sparring event against me. I may be young, but I’m still loyal enough to know better than bend down to you just to save my career!” he finished the last sentence with a hostile stance and a heated glare at the human.

His glare deepened when the human chuckled in response, but instead of him admonishing Shining and placing threats as he expected, the human instead replied, “Then it should gladden you that we have no intentions of using it against you. What we did, we did of our own free will and without any hope for reward other than sparring with you, the magical rage included.”

Shining almost stuttered again but caught himself with a simple, “What? But-”

The human gave a flat stare at the captain, “Captain Shining, are you asking us to blackmail you?” When Shining Armor blinked and shook his head, the man waved his hand and continued, “Then why are you pressing the issue when we already solved it for you?”

This left Shining Armor speechless until he saw both the human and Reginald depart, the human looking back and saying, “If you want, you could follow us to dine with the Princesses, since you already found your way to us.”

It was until the royal butler and the human turned a corner did Shining canter after them, though when he caught up to them he kept silent and his head down instead of starting any conversation with the human. The three continued to weave their way through the Canterlot Castle halls until a familiar door was found, Reginald trotting ahead to open the door and usher in Shining Armor and the human.

Just as they entered, Reginald Glass announced, “Your guests have arrived, Your Highnesses.”

After thanking and dismissing him, Princess Celestia looked at her Captain in confusion and asked, “Captain Shining, is there a reason why you join us this evening? You usually prefer to dine with your fellow guards instead.”

The human was quick to answer, “He wandered into us and decided to follow us here. We hope you don’t mind having a fourth join us for dinner?”

The two Princesses shared a look between each other before Celestia gave a small huff and replied, “I suppose we can make due. Captain Shining is trustworthy enough to keep your human form a secret until the rest of the five days are over,” She cocked her head to the side as she remembered and asked, “Since I have mentioned said secret, have you come to a decision yet, human?”

Shining blinked in confusion as he turned his eyes to the human. Said human didn’t move his eyes from the Solar Princess as he said, “It is still early, and we are still taking things into consideration.”

Princess Luna gave a small frown, as the lingering instinct instilled by the Element of Honesty told her he was lying. But because it was only able to tell the difference of a lie and the truth and not the reasons why, she simply gave a small nudge with her shoulders against her sister’s side to let her know.

With an answering nudge to her younger sister, Celestia then said, “Very well, but be sure to inform of either of us your answer. The sooner your answer is given, the sooner we can give you a proper introduction to Equestria.”

The human gave an understanding nod, “We will be sure to do so.”

Seemingly satisfied, both of the Princesses turned and sat at their respective seats to wait for their food, the human and Shining Armor following their example. As misfortune would have it in Shining’s case, he had to sit next to the human.
As they waited, Princess Celestia decided to break the silence by asking her captain, “Captain Shining, how is Princess Cadance? I’ve heard you two have been meeting each other quite often these days.”

The mention of the pink alicorn’s name caused Shining’s face to redden in embarrassment and started to stutter, “S-s-she’s a-alright, Y-Your High-hness. C- Princess Cadance has been happy a-about my uh ... um.” his voice drifted off as he lost his composure.

The human laughed at the discovery of the Captain’s adorkableness and teased, “We imagine he’s trying to imply they’ve already gotten past their night together and moved to second stage.” His remark caused the unicorn to immediately sit up straight with wide eyes once his mind understood what the human said.

Shining was too slow to object as the Princesses both giggled at his reaction and Celestia replying, “You are quite the ambitious colt aren’t you, Captain Shining? Well, as long as my niece is happy about you and your body, I suppose I can allow your little escapades until the wedding.”

The captain ducked his head down in embarrassment as the human and the Princesses laughed at his expense. He fell silent as he simply prayed to Faust that the food would arrive so the others would stop focusing on him.

As luck would have it dinner did arrive to divert their attention, arriving on the backs or in the magical grip of the servants as they were dispensed on the dining table. The night’s food contained once more a vast assortment of fruit and vegetables and other variety, even two types of cake. Though it was once again devoid of meat.

“Sugar? As the first part of the meal, Princesses?” The human asked in a teasing tone.

Before Celestia could answer that the cake was desert and the chefs preferred to deliver their food in one trip, her sister intercepted and answered for her, “Tis’ our sister’s obsession, we’re sadly admit. Our dearest sister hath always held a tooth of sweets e’er since we were fillies. We hath always bothered her to dine sensibly and in a manner befitting a proper princess of Equestria, alas, she oft defies our familial wisdoms. We wonder if all her sweet eatings hath allowed her to grow as large as she is, since all her food must go somewhere as her stature hath grown exceeding gross.”

Shining immediately looked at Princess Luna, scandalized by her words, while Princess Celestia’s composure immediately broke as she gave a foalish pout at her younger sister’s words. The human burst into laughter until Celestia flatly explained what she was going to say before she had been interrupted.

They were served their meals, starting with salads with hay croutons and cranberries. While Shining Armor dug in eagerly, as cranberries were his favorite, the human used his given utensil to scootch and move the croutons away before eating.
Princess Luna saw what he had done and asked, “Human, why doth ... do ... do you move your croutons from thine meal? Are you allergic to hay?”

The man shook his head, “No, Princess. It’s not because I am allergic, it’s because my body isn’t as capable of digesting hay as much as you ponies can.”

It only made her head tilt in confusion, “Do you mean to say that you cannot eat hay?”

Celestia couldn’t help but suddenly notice that the human had said “I” and “my.” Ever since she had began listening to him, he had only referred to himself in plural. So why the sudden change?

She abandoned her food for a moment to pay attention to the human’s way of speaking, “No, what we mean to say is that though I am capable of eating hay, it is simply not a natural part of our kind’s diet. Though We can certainly eat hay, it just won’t digest as easily as the rest of the food would.”

His answer confused Shining as he paused from his meal and asked, “So wait, if you can’t eat hay as much as we can, then what do you humans eat?”

“Simply put? Anything, though that doesn’t mean the majority of anything isn’t going to harm us, much like we could eat these plates, but if we did they would tear our innards apart.” The human replied with an innocent smile, only to chuckle at the stallion’s flat stare. He changed his answer to placate the Captain, “Humanity can digest a great variety of food, though usually we eat fruit, vegetables, grains, and meat.”

The mention of meat made the ponies pause and stare at the human in silent shock.

Princess Celestia was the first to ask, “Y-you’re ... the humans are carnivorous?”

Princess Luna and Captain Shining stirred from their shock and glared at the human in suspicion as the human rolled his eyes as if he expected such a conclusion, “Yes and no,” He answered lamely, “The proper term is ‘omnivorous,’ though in truth, we humans are semi-omnivorous as we’ve said to Captain Shining a few sentences ago. The human body was designed to adapt and digest whatever was most available or most doable, even if we had to hunt or farm. And just because we are capable of eating meat does not mean we solely rely on it, it’s like saying you ponies solely rely on eating hay because you are capable of eating it. Even then, we’re used to cooking and baking our food, as we do not eat meat raw as you’ve likely seen.”

The ponies relaxed slightly, however both Princess Luna and Captain Shining still held their respective suspicions but did not persist on them as they tried to return to their given meals.

Celestia couldn’t help but watch as the human ate in observation as the conversation had drifted off into awkward silence.
The human noticed and asked, “Something on your mind, Princess?”

The mare blinked in surprise before asking, “Do you know how long you have been in this ... “hibernation?””

The human gave a thoughtful hum but replied quite quickly before taking another bite, “Haven’t the foggiest. We haven’t had any mental clock during the deep sleep and neither of us was awake or aware to keep track. We’re still making some theories, the most reasonable would be ... perhaps four to six billion years. Why do you ask?”

She blinked again, taking note of his words while being shocked at what the human was considering his best guess before she pointed with her hoof to the human and the food around them, “While I was involved with arguing with Luna, I noticed when you began eating, you treated it as if it were nothing special. I do not mean to say this as a way of thinking you have either eaten better or mean to insult the castle’s chefs, but when my sister had her first meal for the first time in a millennia, she nearly broke down in tears at even having celery soup.” Princess Luna nodded at remembering her meals as Celestia continued, “So I must ask, how are your first meals after so long?”

The human chuckled and replied, his eyes swirling and on occasion his voice wavered until the end, “While we had gone through hibernation, we were placed into numerous dreams. These dreams were ... quite close to lucid dreams, if that’s a familiar term to you two,” When the Royal Sisters nodded in understanding what he meant, he nodded in return and continued, “We could taste, eat, drink, sleep while sleeping, and could feel the world around us, but we weren’t aware of our dream-like state. Because we slept for so long, it all felt real enough to make us believe what we dreamt was us awake and living alongside everything and everyone in them,” the man wiped his mouth politely with his napkin before continuing, “We will say that your chefs are most certainly talented, and the food is incredible. But because of these pseudo-lucid dreams, all the surprise and joy of having an actual meal was long gone.”

Princess Celestia blinked before muttering, “I see ...”

The four couldn’t find anything else to follow up with the human’s explanation, leading to them finish their given dinners before moving onto the deserts. As Celestia bit into her cake happily, she found one question to ask, somewhat desperate to not let the dinner fall into uncomfortable silence, “Human, how do you like Canterlot as of now?”

The man smiled as he gulped down a bite, “We find it incredibly interesting, the existence of magic being the most fascinating subject and how it’s used in both civil and military matters. Albeit we didn’t know what to expect what would come after our kind, let alone that such fantastical and mythical races such as minotaurs, talking ponies and griffins. It only makes us more interested what else lives on this planet in this current era.”

It was there that the four was able to continue a discussion well past the deserts as they discussed anything else that lived on the planet, surprising the human by mentioning the hippogriffs, the dragons and Diamond Dogs.

Before they could discuss about the Diamond Dogs, one of the doors in the dining room opened and a Royal Guard stepped forward and stated, “Your Highnesses, Scholar Luminous Scrolls is waiting for Princess Luna and our guest.”

Princess Luna immediately sulked at the mention of Luminous Scrolls waiting for her, already dreading the lessons she would have to crawl through until she remembered that the human was going to be with her and helping her understand better than what Luminous could explain.

She still sulked regardless when her sister nodded, “Well then, I suppose we’ll have to talk another time,” Celestia’s expression immediately darkened as she glared at the human and her captain, “I do hope you two remember what you’re to do afterwards. The tools and equipment for helping you fix the Royal Barracks will be waiting for you. Captain Shining, since you have little else to do tonight, you may begin now.”

Shining Armor withered at his superior’s glare and gave an obedient, “Yes, Your Highness.” While the human merely smiled and gave an understood nod before getting up from his chair and lightly jogged to catch up to Princess Luna’s side and followed the Guardsmare while Shining left the dining room, hurrying to get a head start with the repairs.

Celestia was left alone in the room, watching as the human and her sister departed in silence before they were concealed behind the closing doors. Once she knew she was alone, the alicorn mare deeply sighed and relaxed her tensed body.

Today ... had been an quite stressful.

Celestia was just about to wonder about how else the day would be complete when purple smoke appeared in front of her, announcing itself with a small pouf before depositing a scroll with her student’s Cutie-Mark emblazoned on it.

Seeing it brought a small smile to her face as she unrolled it and read what her student wrote.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I have learned a very valuable lesson about friendship: I was so afraid of being thought of as a show-off that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realize that it's okay to be proud of your talents, and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off... Especially when you're standing up for your friends.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia blinked and re-read the letter, both being confused from what her student said, as well as wondering if there was anything else. During her years of training and mentoring Twilight, she had never seen her humble enough to be afraid to use her magic, nor as braggart as she had seen in other ponies she spent time with, both noble or civilian. It was apparent that something had happened, but she couldn’t figure out what it was through the letter.

In the end, Celestia sighed and lit her horn to cast a teleportation spell to her chambers. Once there, she trotted over to her desk sitting above her sleeping alcove and wrote a letter of askance to the mayor of Ponyville, Mayor Mare, what had happened before she had received the letter.

She then made a second letter that would tell her assistant dragon, Spike, to deliver it directly to Twilight without reading it aloud to her. Celestia wanted her point made as clear as it could be,

My Dearest, Faithful Student,

Have you ever seen a Pegasus go through their lives with a rope binding their wings to their sides, because they were afraid to fly? Have you ever seen another Unicorn live their lives with a magical suppression ring because they were afraid of using their own magic?

Dearest Twilight, you shouldn’t be afraid to use your birthright that is magic, even for the most trivial of things. Going against or even suppressing your own talents that is symbolized on your very flanks is a terrible way to live through life. I myself have seen the few unfortunate ponies who thought that way and even until their dying days, I have never seen a happy or satisfied smile on their muzzles.

Bragging is indeed a terrible habit, but there lies a line between showing what you can do and what you are capable of, and biting more than you can chew. Knowing your limits is all well and good to know, but that does not mean to not push past or using what is within your limits to help your friends. Do not be ashamed of being a unicorn, or that you utilize a magic which pegasi and earth ponies cannot. If any shame or satisfaction be felt, let it be through the actions you take or abstain from, that determines how others perceive you, not because your appearance is different from the expectations of others.

Your Loving Mentor,
Princess Celestia

She sealed both letters to Mayor Mare and to Spike and send them on their way before hearing her chambers doorway opening to reveal her sister.

“Good evening, Lulu,” Celestia said with a welcoming tone as she left her desk and trotted down the stairs to meet her sister at its base, “Is there something you need?”

“Doth we truly need a reason to see our beloved sister?” Luna asked with a smile as she deposited her royal regalia and boots before levitating them to lay next to Celestia’s dresser. She shivered in relief as the frogs of her hooves felt the cold tile.

Celestia chided with amusement, “Lulu, we both know you don’t wander around without some reason, even if you couldn’t explain it well enough.” She giggled at Luna’s pouting as she removed her own regalia and placed it besides Luna’s.

“Ugh! Must thou remind us of such memory?” Luna muttered loudly enough for her eldest sister to hear, causing Celestia to giggle again. She gave a small glare before Celestia gave a hug with one wing. Luna rubbed against her sister’s side to return the hug.

“Still,” Luna remarked, “I ... came here to discuss with you about the words from today.”

It took Celestia a few moments to recall what ‘words’ Luna was talking about before she asked, “Do you mean about what the human mentioned of you in ‘deep musing’?”

“It ... it is ... in a way ... . One of a small number.” Luna paused before she was about to explain what what wrong. But before she got a single sound out, her sister turned her one wing hug into a full grasp, her forelegs wrapping around Luna while balancing on her rear legs.

“Lulu,” Celestia whispered in her sister’s ear, “Just know that I’m here and I am always willing to listen and help you.” She tightened her hug as she continued, “I lost you once because I didn’t give you the attention you had needed so much, my negligence forced you to bottle your feelings up. I care about you too much to let that happen again. If there is something in you that is hurting, know that I am always here for you and will support you through your sorrows and hardships.”

The younger alicorn gave a heartfelt sniff and rubbed her cheek against her big sister’s neck in a pony hug and nodded her understanding, letting Celestia let go of her sister and sat beside her as Luna began.

“It ...” Luna gave a deep sigh before looking down for a few silent moments. Celestia waited patiently for her sister before Luna continued, “During our time in Scholar Luminous Scrolls’ tutorship, We hath struggled and fought our way to learn this modern tongue and everything which has changed since we hath been imprisoned. Yet, I find myself frustrated frequently at our slow progression to learn all of the requisite knowledge that is necessary for us to restore the Nocturne Court. Sister, we both know that we alicorns possess the ability to learn faster than the other pony races. We still expect our lessons to last for two weeks, despite our progress being frequently frustrated and agonizingly slow. Yet, the moment thy ‘friend’ arrives and shares the same tutor with us, he is immediately beyond and further than we hath progressed in those few days of starting!”

It never did cross Celestia’s mind but now that she thought of it, it was indeed odd. Normally, learning or relearning took time or a talent to quickly adapt to lessons of any kind. With the three pony races, they took to learning at an average pace of a usual few months, at most a year or two.

With alicorns, it was much shorter, as since time meant nothing to the magically immortal beings they could focus more upon their studies as well as staying up longer. The only limits that stopped them from doing something similar to what her student Twilight Sparkle would attempt during her time being tutored in Canterlot Castle was food, water, and sleep.

Yet it seemed strange how this human accomplished such a thing in mere hours. Perhaps it was because of experience? He was used to being in unfamiliar territory that when he wanted to learn something, he knew what to skim and how to efficiently study what he had learned, and then teach another in a way that was understandable.

It would also explain how he had awkwardly interjected regarding his immortal status with her and her sister.

Celestia’s mind got back on track as she nodded and listened to her sister’s fuming, something she had recommended for Luna as a cathartic therapy for any built up tempers.

It was most certainly a method she was familiar with during the age when the nobles of Canterlot became greedy and pathetically petty while her sister still remained banished.

Luna was still fuming, being alone with her sister and pouring her heart to somepony she trusted the most changed her emotions as she talked about even her most foalish complaints. She started to ramble away from her frustrations at being shown up by a foreigner, and began talking about what else was frustrating her, words flying, and slipping from her mouth faster than Luna could process what she was saying.

Celestia listened to her sister pouring herself out for a solid thirty minutes before her younger sister sat down and fell silent. When she did, Celestia nuzzled her and said, “Lulu, it troubles me that so much of the knowledge that you’re still trying to learn, frustrates you to such an extent.”

Luna gave a small huff as she muttered, “And We are grateful thou aids Us in this. We simply do not understand how the alien human can learn our tongue so swiftly.” She moved her head to rest more comfortably against her sister’s chest, though as with all of the mono-horned ponies, she was ever mindful not to stab her big sister with her horn.

The two held their hug for a minute before Luna asked, “What of thee, sister? How art thee with all that has occurred?”

Celestia gave a deep sigh and admitted, “Confused and anxious. Everything we learn about the Warrior continues to thwart my understanding. Humans being our forerunners, said human is in allegiance to a higher power, who is also responsible for destroying an entire species and allowing us all to live where they lived? The nobles somehow learning about our meeting with the human and asking for more as usual. Somehow I miss the days before we had to ascend to the throne.”

It was Luna who gave the first condescending shove, making her sister move about a foot away before Luna remarked, “Thou knoweth better than to ask for such a day. Doth thou not remember how those days were the days we wouldst fall and become the resentful spirit that was Nightmare Moon?”

Before Celestia could apologize, Luna returned her own nuzzle, silencing her, “Thou hath worried too much.”

She held the nuzzling until she added, “Before then, thou still soiled thine bed.”

Celestia gave a disgusted and betrayed sound, making Luna laugh. Celestia quickly lit her horn and casted a vengeful spell at her laughing sister.

Luna’s laughter suddenly increased in volume and lost control as her sister’s magical aura covered her body and began poking prodding her. Celestia grinned as she watched her little sister squirm, “I wonder if you still have those ticklish spots, Lulu! Maybe that should teach you to stop making fun of your older sister like that!” She then made herself comfortable, reclining on the floor and closing her eyes in amusement as she awaited the conclusion of her sister’s forced merriment as Luna began to roll and squirm around.

It wasn’t long until Luna’s horn lit with her own magic and broke her eldest sister’s spell as she panted exhaustively. She glared at Celestia with an air of mischievous vengeance, causing Celestia’s neck to suddenly prickle and opened her eyes to see her sister.

Celestia’s heart skipped a beat when she realized what her young sister was thinking and recalled what Luna was likely going to aim for.

She immediately begged, “Lulu. I-I am you-your sister and I beg you not to do it!”

“The laughter shall reign tonight, dearest sister!” and before Celestia could say anything, Luna dived at Celestia and tried to replicate what the human had done.

Celestia dodged and ran, but Luna’s magic was faster and held her prisoner just as she reached the door. She couldn’t turn her head but looked back with her eyes in horror as she watched Luna’s mane come closer behind her.

“Oh, it will most certainly reign, dearest ‘Tia.” Luna whispered to her sister’s ear as her magic slowly closed the doors like a fading light of hope abandoning Celestia to her doom, Celestia herself pleading and praying for mercy as the room fell into darkness. The moon’s light reflected off of the opposite side of the windows and preventing anybody from seeing what Luna was doing.

Author's Notes:

Whew.

And that's another chapter down! And we have had our first fight!
And now I'm opening up a little, since that's a bit encouraged by many other authors that made more well known fics.

Alright so first off, before I forget to mention this again and a few more times, but thank you all and everyone who've read this, a bigger thank you for everyone who liked my story, and an even bigger thank you and a cookie for everyone who commented and/or done all the above!

Now, for opening up and about the fight, I decided to follow along the lines of how a fight truly goes down. None of the fancy-foo you'd expect from other HiE stories where there's some "Oh no, hidden talent revealed!" No, that is something to expect out of the typical.

Really, fighting with weapons takes practice and time, just because you suddenly have the strength or agility to fight doesn't always automatically give you "beginner's luck" on the more experienced and thoroughly trained soldiers.

Hopefully, this is still enough to give you some excitement.

I do plan on making more fights, politics are nice when you're world building, and the same thing for "Stranger in a stranger lands" but fights are still a fun thing to watch.

I've gained a Proofreader!
*You got a JetFlame the Proofreader!*

Also just to clarify, no I am not dead, nor am I dying, and neither is this story going to die. Not even if events made it problematic to post this story on FimFic.
I don't truly expect this site to go down, but hey, it always pays to be prepared.

If problems do happen and I can't get anything into FimFic, then go and look for me in Fanfiction.net, I've my account on there and repost this story. I've got backups, they ain't gettin lost that easily.