Captain Shining Armor groaned as he stretched his back as he straightened up from his labor and surveyed the area he and the human had worked to repair.

It had been three days since their volatile sparring had torn up the small field and the visible portion of the Canterlot Castle’s walls. Within those three days and into late afternoon, both human and stallion were able to fix up the walls quickly thanks due to Shining’s magic matched with the human’s instruction and both of them had just begun working on the grassy terrain.

Despite how Shining still kept a small glare at the human for tricking him into using lethal magic and getting him into trouble and then pulling his flank out of the fire and acted like Mr. Nice Colt to him by not blackmailing him.

Shining didn’t want to be blackmailed anyway, but really, who throws somepony onto the train tracks then pull them away just as the train nearly runs over him?

Regardless of how much Shining Armor held the incident against the human, the task of repairing the damage done to the practice field and castle wall made them bond in a way. Not so much as to call each other ‘friends’ but their interactions exhibited the social behaviorisms more in line with each other being ‘tolerable acquaintances.’

The unicorn blinked as he returned to reality as he heard the human call out, “Captain, the dirt and sod are here.” He turned from his given water canteen to see several pegasus fly up and over the field walls carrying square patches of grass seedlings along with a small amount of dirt. He heard the doors from the Canterlot Castle open up, which revealed several Earth Ponies pulling carts filled with enough dirt to fill in the trenches and craters marring the practice ground’s terrain.

Shining Armor took one last gulp of water before setting it aside and getting up to finish the job.

As they labored away and began shoveling, or in Shining Armor’s case levitating the dirt into the newly dug trenches, Shining slowly began to recall his sparring match with the human and noticed several unusual details, some of which didn’t make sense to him.

“Hey, human.” The human moved his eyes to look at the Captain, but didn’t pause in working, “Back when you pestered me into using magic. How did you dodge them? Usually, it takes a Still Way grandmaster to recognize a magical blast at point blank range, even the impulsive and lethal kinds. Even then they don’t usually get away cleanly because magic moves faster than what ponies can react to. And that last blast, you blocked it with a tower shield. As far as I’ve heard and gathered, you and your kind have no knowledge or experience with magic, yet that shield of yours came out of complete nowhere and was able to shield you from a lethal level of magic.”

The human gave a low, amused hum, “Hmm, you’re more perceptive than we realized.” He straightened his back and was silent for a moment.

“We can easily answer why our shield endured such a hit, which we might add, does fit the meaning of lethal. We, who have been called upon to serve our Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven, are given certain privileges. For one, our weaponry and armor are simply not allowed to shatter or break. You could send our weapons or armor into volcanos or smash them between the plates of the Earth, or even let them be left in the rain for two days and then start hitting them with all the magic you could possess and they would come out with not even a scratch. They’d probably get tossed and thrown about on the last example, but the result would remain the same.”

Shining stared at the human with confused shock, armor that’s not allowed to be damaged? He was struggling to understand and make sense of it as the human continued, “As for coming from nowhere, that’s one certain ability we’re not allowed to completely explain. All we can say is, they simply come to our hands whenever we need them.”

Twilight Sparkle paused from finishing the last bits of her work, as well as coming back from calming everypony in Ponyville down with Zecora’s visit and after being cured of the Poison Joke ... .

She also finally got the ashes and the smell of ashes out of her mane.

She stayed stock still for a few seconds before she gave a sneeze loud enough to startle her adopted little brother, Spike, from his dozing. Twilight sniffed and levitated a tissue to her nose as the little dragon asked, “Catching hay fever already?”

“Must be, it’s almost time for the winter wrap-up everypony’s talking about.” Twilight replied before giving another sneeze, prompting Spike to retrieve Twilight’s nasal congestion medicine before he felt his stomach burn and he proceeded to belch a scroll out. He grabbed the scroll absentmindedly while fetching the medicine for his sister.

The unicorn captain continued to stare at the human, when he realized that the human was done talking, he sputtered and waved some dirt on himself in his exasperation, “Th-That doesn’t make any sense at all! You can’t just tell armor or weapons to just defy the natural laws and not take any damage!”

The human simply looked at Shining Armor and replied, “When your King is responsible for creating everything you see around you, does it really need to make sense? Would you question and ask Princess Celestia or her sister, if she created something that didn’t follow the same expectations you’ve seen in your life, since they are both considered deities by Equestria?”

Shining was quick to answer that with a grumble, “Yes, and my little sis would demand the same thing. I may not be as knowledgeable about the land I’m living in, but what you’re saying is just ridiculous nonsense.”

The human chuckled mirthlessly and shrugged, “Some of us thought the same thing.” He returned to his task as he left his response in ambiguity, leaving Shining to watch him in silent confusion.

The two worked silently after that, focusing on the task and trying to finish it as quickly as they could, but without making the result look sloppy. Even then, it took until evening for the Princesses to arrive and inspect their work and give their acceptance.

Once they gave their approval regarding the work the two had been assigned and left, Shining Armor immediately used what was left of his energy to cast a teleportation spell and lost consciousness as he landed on top of his bed within the Royal Guard barracks.

The human gave a silent smile as he watched the Captain disappear before he moved on and, with an escort to guide him through the still winding maze of Canterlot Castle, arrived to his assigned bedroom.

He gave thanks to the Guard before entering and was quickly met with Reginald Glass and two maidens.

“Here you are, sir.” The Royal Butler stated as the maidens beside him offered a pile of neatly folded clothing to the human.

“Another set, Reginald?” The human commented as he began to prepare himself for a shower since he was utterly covered in dirt, beginning with his shirt.

“Indeed, sir. As it is, it is most improper and most unsanitary for one to remain with only one set of clothing. The seamstress had taken a look at your clothing while they were being washed and tried to replicate the style. Raised quite a storm regarding the monochromaticity of your garmenture, as well as being exceedingly vocal regarding the ensuing scandal that a visitor should wear such plebeian and chromatically simple clothing within the Canterlot Castle halls.”

The human gave a small scoff at Reginald’s insistence at wearing such ornate and gothic formal wear, which made one of his bushy eyebrows twitch, “Human propriety and courtly sensibilities had fallen out of favor with the majority of humans ever since we entered into the latter half of our twentieth century, Reginald.”

The human moved off into the bathroom, continuing as he did so and raised his voice while he moved, “Gone were the days of ornate flamboyants with ruffled dress shirts and cloaks, along with the ballroom dresses for women that made them seem a different species at the hip. Comfort and practicality became the favored style of clothing amongst the majority of humans during the latter days, and bright colors had lost their cheer unless the formal event was cheerful. Besides, the “improper two-tone” clothing fitted well within those standards.”

The Royal Butler didn’t respond negatively, but steadily replied, “Regardless, sir, times have changed since the culture of your era. Propriety is still present and required within Canterlot, and it would reflect poorly for your specie’s fashion of the era of which you speak to be seen in our kingdom’s capital.”

“Ah, but you forget,” The human interjected as he finished undressing, unashamed and unfazed that he had just stripped himself to the bare skin in front of two mares and a stallion, “We are not supposed to be announced unto your populace as of just yet. Within two or three days, that may change. But until then, we recommend not outfitting us with an entire wardrobe’s worth of clothing, as they may become useless should we decide to take on your species’ form.”

Reginald wasn’t troubled in the least as he followed the human into the bathroom, though he kept his distance and did not get within eyesight of the human entering the shower, “Perhaps not, and your suggestion is appreciated. However, sir, it seems that you also forget that magic can address your concern regarding such a problem. Most unicorns who dabble in the textile industry are well-versed in transforming clothing for other species should there be an error.”

The man didn’t answer immediately, as he had turned on the showerhead and had began to lather his body and hair. After he rinsed once and prepared to repeat, he replied, “Fair enough.”

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

A situation of the most unique and interesting nature hath has arisen and we I request thy your presence at Canterlot Castle immediately. We art I am sending our my personal chariot to the Golden Oaks Library so that thou you may arrive posthaste. Please come, if at all possible.

Thy Your friend and Keeper of the Dream World,
~Princess Luna~

P.S. Yes, Spike may come too.

Twilight read over the scroll at least twice just to make sure she hadn't missed anything important. It was without a doubt from Princess Luna, the crossed out words of words which had fallen out of favor in this modern era’s tongue was obvious, but it was incredibly vague to explain what this "situation" was. How was she supposed to know how to respond when she was lacking any information regarding the “situation” Princess Luna was referring to?

"This is ... weird," Twilight commented, moving the scroll in a few directions, as if a clue or another scroll explaining everything would appear.

"Yeah. I thought Princess Luna was asleep by now, and she's sending you letters asking for us to go to Canterlot just like that?" Spike asked in response. He was well accustomed to weird stuff happening by now, but this was a new one, even for him. "Whadda we do, Twi?"

"What do we do?" Twilight repeated in disbelief as she looked at Spike. He seriously asked that? "Princess Luna just requested an audience with us and went so far as to send her own personal chariot for us to take so we can meet with her. What do you think we're doing to do, Spike? Refuse the summon of one of the highest authorities in the kingdom!? Of course we're going to meet with her! This has gotta be a matter of great importance!" she stated, turned around and tried to stand taller.

"I know Twi, it's just ...well this is really weird. Like, a whole new kinda weird, and you and I've both seen plenty of weird stuff happen. Princess Luna didn't say anything other than to show up," Spike explained.

"I know, Spike, isn't it absolutely fascinating?" Twilight lifted the scroll up as if it were a trophy as she continued, "Out of everypony to ask for us, it's Princess Luna, the Princess who controls the moon and watches over the night. And what's more she's asked for us during the daytime meaning she's passing up on her rest to talk with us! I can't imagine how important this must be! I'm absolutely giddy with excitement!" Twilight gave a small "squee" and made a small dance.

Spike however, felt nervous. An excited Twilight was rather dangerous at times. And right now, she was bordering on Pinkie Pie levels and if this wasn't resolved soon she'd be crossing that border; then he'd have to deal with the equivalent of Pinkie Pie, but one capable of wielding powerful unicorn magic and that was a terrifying thought already. His concerns and trail of thoughts were soon displaced as the sight and sounds outside the window greeted him.

"Looks like our ride's here," Spike commented.

"Well let's not keep anypony waiting. C'mon, Spike, we've got a princess to go and see!" Twilight stated and galloped out the front door.

Luna's chariot was touching down just outside of the Golden Oaks Library, while two of Luna’s intimidating and fiercely loyal Night Guards pulling it slowed to a stop and gave two low snorts as they didn't wait long until they saw Twilight galloping towards them.

"Hey wait for me!" Spike called and chased after her, trying to keep pace the whole way with his short little legs. Whatever was happening, he didn't want to miss out on it.

During the trip to Canterlot Twilight couldn't help but keep thinking about everything going on today. First the message from Princess Luna, an escort in Princess Luna’s personal chariot traveling back to the castle at a hurried pace? Something was up, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. To make matters worse, no matter how hard she tried to figure it out she simply didn't know enough information to make a conclusion, and engaging in wild speculation wasn’t helping.

Turning her attention back to the two stallions -or whatever they were- her mind came back to her initial conclusions. Despite their rather scary appearance, they were really nice. They had a politeness about them that eased a lot of her tension about approaching them. One of them spoke with such a velvety voice it almost made even Twilight's incredibly bookish, and rather virgin-like sheltered nature, to actually melt and go giddy like Rarity's often romantically-inclined dramatic acting.

In fact, this was enough to make Twilight think about asking for a name before she shook her head to return to business. Sadly, she realized too late that her body had betrayed her by blurting out the question before she could stop herself.

Incredibly lucky for her, said stallion gave her his name, which was Bright Moonlight.

Unfortunately for her, he grinned and even looked back to add his address and availabilities, causing Spike to laugh and tease her mercilessly. Despite her denials and attempts of trying to change the subject, she ended up memorizing the details Moonlight gave. He lived within a thestral colony not far from Ponyville, which confused her to no end as she never seen or heard of the colony, and was mostly available at around evenings.

Spike replied, cutting her off from asking about it, "You're still a teen, sis, I'd say it's pretty normal for everypony to get all lovey-dovey at some point."

"Like you do with Rarity?" Twilight tried to tease.

"Yup! And still got my heart and soul set on her and I’m not afraid to proclaim it from the rooftops using the Canterlot Voice!" Spike boasted shamelessly before he scratched behind his head with one claw in a sheepish afterthought, "... . Well, I might stutter a lil’ once I’m there ... . And I might fall apart if Rarity was in sight. But I'm can go that far." Sadly, this did not help Twilight at all.

She stewed in her revealed embarrassment and was desperate to try and change her mind, but ended up observing the two thestrals fly, the manner in which their bat-like wings flapped as she analyzed and compared how they flew with how she'd seen Rainbow Dash fly.

The movements were similar, the strokes were similar, the way they flexed their muscles were definitely similar. But there were key minute differences that put them worlds apart. It was enough to re-distance her mind from silly romance, as watching the thestral’s bodies move was fascinating and would make for an interesting study later on when she had more time.

That and the sunset was amazing from her perspective high in the sky.

"So ... Princess Luna didn't tell you anything about why we were needed?" Spike asked one of them, having to speak up to be heard over the rushing of the wind and the wing beats.

"No sir. Her Majesty simply instructed us to head to Ponyville and to bring you back to Canterlot as swiftly as we are able." The second stallion replied, his voice similarly uncharacteristic for his intimidating form like Bright Moonlight's voice was and managed to leave Spike feeling rather uneasy. If they were rough and gravelly sounding at least he'd expect that.

The rest of the trip back to Canterlot passed in relative silence except for the occasional rattle of the chains, or the leather-like flaps of the bat wings.

"We're approaching the landing strip now," Bright Moonlight silky announced as their trajectory adjusted, bringing into view another angle of the castle that neither Twilight nor Spike were accustomed to seeing as it faced away from the direction of the setting sun most of the time.

The descent was quick, sharp and more than a little scary their first time out and sent Spike cowering on the chariot's floor, fearing that he might be sent flying out of the chariot, whereas Twilight squealed in a panic as she tried to keep herself on the chariot’s bench, even though they were never at risk of falling out. The approach had been even and their landing smooth as the wheels touched down on the firm stone, squealing as they came to a full stop.

"Is it over?" Spike asked as he looked up from the chariot floor.

"Y-y-yes ..." Twilight squeaked as she tried to calm down from the sudden drop before dismounting the chariot, Spike close behind, "I wonder where Princess Luna is."

"Wonder no more, cherished friends, for we art here!"

Both looked upward to see Luna flying over to them and touching down with far more grace than her chariot had, "Put the chariot in the hanger, then you may go," she told her guards before turning to face Twilight and Spike, her wings tucking themselves in at her sides. Twilight risked one last look at Moonlight, which caused him to notice and give a knowing smile and a lazy wink, causing Twilight to shake her head to try and disguise her blush as Luna continued, "We are quite happy to see thee again. 'Tis wonderful to be among our dear friends."

"A-always happy to help out, Princess," Twilight and gave a polite bow before raising to face her again, "I'm afraid your note didn't explain much. What's this interesting event you spoke of?"

Luna blinked before taking note of Twilight's fading blush and began putting two and two together, making Twilight widen her eyes as Luna teased, "Thou hath swooned for a Night Guard, hath we?" Twilight groaned in embarrassment and Spike began laughing, "Tis not so unusual, Twilight. We even remember a time when love once made the call to us." Luna smiled, "Who hath she swooned to, friend Spike?"

Spike gulped air to try and settle his laughter down enough to say, "Bright Moonlight." And with that he returned to giggling.

Luna gave a small giggle, covering her mouth with a wing, "Ooh, him! Such a good choice, Twilight Sparkle, as Bright Moonlight hath reached of age and seeks a worthy mate. He is of noble birth, sired from the Lorcan lines, and most certainly one of the finest of stallions as part of our Night Guards." Twilight's blush returned, full force. Luna winked at Twilight, "Though, we doth warn thee. Those of the Thestral Bloodlines are oft insatiable, dominant, and most adventurous. Mares who dare to accept their offers are oft left drained, muscle sore and requiring buckets of water, and sporting the most dazed and silly grins we hath seen."

Twilight's blush caused her to change her coat's color completely to red and leaving her stock still at being told this. Never had she known that Princess Luna held such a perverted mind. It was utterly mind boggling and almost unimaginable to her. She may as well be told that Celestia would go out on a daily basis and teach at a local foal's school!

Though now her emotions took a confusing crash when Princess Luna next said, "We shall plan and schedule a playdate for thee and young Moonlight, friend Twilight! Perhaps that should help thee with thy in capabilities in reaching him."

The unicorn mare was struck dumb by her suggestion and idea, and she began to protest. However, whatever arguments she had was lost to her sputtering and stuttering. Spike, either intentionally or unintentionally, decided to further soil Twilight's virgin mind by asking, "Did Princess Cele- . Y'know, maybe I shouldn-"

However, Princess Luna caught what Spike was thinking and replied, "Oh no, she was much in preference of many limbed appendages as a youthful filly. She hath ne'r looked at a forest nor a certain cephalopod the same way," She gave a giggle and winked at the two shocked young mare and dragon, "She still hath such fantastical dalliances within her dreams." Spike's jaw dropped before he joined Luna in laughter.

The poor unicorn sputtered as her scientific mind made the unfortunate connection and realization of her own mentor's sexual preferences and stammered, desperate to change the subject, "P-P-Princ-ess Luna ... Th-The "si-situation" y-you were talking about ... P-please?"
To her poor and now no longer innocent mind, it was like accidentally discovering her own parents during their "loud rough housing."

Luna gave another chuckle before she turned around and began to walk back, causing Spike to quickly follow, and quicker to subdue his laughing, but Twilight was slow to move.

"T'would take hours to truly explain by ourselves when thou canst observe our reason for thy hasty summons directly. Follow us to our Night Guard barracks and all shalt be explained there," Luna stated.

"The Night barracks? Really?" Twilight asked, her excitement returning but she cautiously tried to turn said excitement to what the "surprise" would be.

That and she never got to see what Princess Luna imagined for her own barracks looked like ever since she had gotten word of Princess Luna reinstating the Night Guard.

So being summoned by the Lunar Princess she helped save, and being told that there was something in the Night Barracks, waiting for her gave her a feeling of giddiness in her. Spike merely rolled his eyes and said nothing, choosing to follow in silence as Twilight was making enough commotion for the both of them.

Sword met wooden shaft as the human and a smiling thestral Night Guard battled away and battered at each other, trying to establish a dominant foothold or hoofhold whichever was the correct term. The human twirled his poleaxe, a much more preferred and more favored weapon for him, and moved the metal multi-head behind his shoulder while keeping the metal spike at the end of the wooden shaft at the thestral, who shifted the sword in her mouth.

The human waited and watched his opponent, who also took the opportunity to watch him before she juked to the right and tried to strike him on the inside of his right leg. He was quick to step back, and move the iron spiked end to nudge the sword away then pivoted the poleaxe to punish the Thestral with a descending hammer head onto her right shoulder.

The Thestral took the blow and rolled away to soften it before turning around and bucking both hind legs out in a powerful bucking motion in the direction of the human. Only to discover that her attack had been avoided as the human back stepped once again before moving forward just as the Night Guard was recovering from her failed buck, hammering the thicker part of her armor on his right side.

The Thestral was sent back a few meters, losing her sword and causing a subtle dent into her armor before rolling to a stop and seeing the human hold the spearhead of the poleaxe resting on her neck, causing her to freeze.

A few moments passed before the human lifted his weapon away from the Thestral before offering a hand to the downed pony. The panting pony looked at it in silence before putting her hoof in the human’s hand, then staggered as she was pulled upright quickly.

The human looked around and asked the gathered Night Guards as he twirled his polearm, “Anyone next?”

The group of thestrals and nocturnally adapted ponies muttered and shook their heads, having become savvy to how skilled the human was and decided to not try their own luck, even though they were told that he needed help returning to physical peak and the practice would help them.

When the human first visited the Night Barracks and was given a quick but polite tour by Princess Luna, he and the European warriors within the Tower of Eternity thought they had returned to the past during the days of the Late Renaissance Gothic architectural era as well as the spread of their architectural design.

In fact, it just occurred how similar Luna’s choice of architecture was to the ruins they had discovered back in the forest.

Though none of the European kingdoms and countries would ever paint their castles black and purple, or decorated in star constellations. The stars might have been respected and revered, but not to the extent that Princess Luna went.

That said, it was odd how Princess Celestia followed a Roman-Russian mixture of architecture, even more so when it came to her Royal Guards decorated as the Roman Imperial soldiers. Princess Luna however, took a different opinion and opted for the Gothic designs, which was an inspiration from the Romanic culture.

The human had been introduced to the Night Guards by Princess Luna, and he had expected full suits of plate armor, scale or mail armors or even lamellar, as was the preference from the Goths’. But instead, they saw the Night Guards wear the mixture of steel and leather two piece, their helmets sporting a dorsal fin at the top and the chestpiece a purple butterfly design with a cat’s iris in the center.

This all but supported his suspicion that Equestria was utterly unprepared to defend their borders should war be declared.

The human discovered that the Night Guard used leaf blades and spears, much similar to the Royal Guards. Though the swords were more impractically designed and the spears were of standard make and pattern.

The human chuckled at the reluctance of the gathered Night Guards and leaned against the poleaxe, “Come now, surely this is a good chance to see how you fare against the Ancient Warrior.”

He waited and watched them look at each other or exchange glimpses until he heard a familiar voice resound from the barracks interior echoing, "This way," The human turned from the gathered group of Guards to see Princess Luna come into view, followed by an unfamiliar unicorn.

This pony was smaller in stature and in an unnatural coloring, what with a mix of dark blues, lavender, dark purple and hot pink, and a strange symbol adorning its hindquarters. To the side was another strange being of even smaller stature, reptilian in appearance, its scales made up of light purple and green.

"We hath a guest." Princess Luna announced and used her foreleg to gesture over to the human, the Night Guard behind him bowing to their Princess.

Twilight nearly gasped at what she saw. She'd never seen anything like this before and the scientific part of her mind instantly took over, pushing her into examination mode. Who or whatever she was looking at it was safe to conclude this was no pony.

Standing considerably taller than Princess Luna in a bipedal fashion but possessing no tail to serve as a counterbalance indicating an entirely different biological makeup to maintain such an unnatural balance. Dressed neck to hoof in weirdly yet fanciful black and grey clothing with a similar black colored hoofwear that looked as if he were dressed for a funeral.

The skin was an almost a hairless pale pink, while its mane had a light brown hue with a small brown mane coming down its chin, around it and rejoining its mane at the bottom of its jaws, a flat calculating face, and pale green eyes that on occasion, or so she could swear, would change into a spiral miasma of thousands of other colors that flashed and vanished.

While the unicorn remained silent and staring at the human with an open mouth, the human and the many minds that resided along side him made a few observations of their own.

Clearly, this "unicorn" was female, even if this new world followed the lines of "Long eyelashes means female" there were other quirks that showed the pony's gender, most of which could be compared and seen with a certain Princess not five feet away from her.

"This human, doth persistently claim that they hath no name, hails from an ancient time beyond even before the time of Equestria." Princess Luna announced to entire field rather loudly, snapping the unicorn out of her dazed appearance.

""Doesn't have a name"?" The small lizard questioned, identifying itself as male as he scratched one side of his head and gave a confused look at the human, "What kinda excuse is that?"

"Spike!" The unicorn almost yelled, acting as if the lizard had blatantly insulted the human, who merely responded with an amused smile, "Be polite!"

"Spike" shrugged his shoulders as if there wasn't anything wrong, "What? Who goes and says that they have no name? It's impossible to not have a name."

The unicorn rolled her eyes before asking Princess Luna, "Does ... He understand us?"

The human merely blinked, his eye colors flashing and swirled at a faster pace before the smile became a small grin, as if he just discovered something incredibly amusing. Then he said, "Mente introduciendo usted mismo?"

Princess Luna’s head snapped to the human in surprise and confusion. The unicorn mare's eyes immediately sparkled as she seemed to recognize what he said, as she quickly bowed and said, "Saludos y Bienvenidos a la ciudad de Canterlot! Mi nombre es Twilight Sparkle, estudiante personal a Princesa Celestia!"

However, the human did not respond kindly. He immediately clenched one of his hands while he grabbed his poleaxe and made a loud and audible inhale, his chest puffing up and outwards. Twilight immediately looked up and quailed at seeing the human take a seemingly hostile stance.

Twilight squeaked and started backing up, her mind in sheer panic as she realized she deeply offended the creature in front of her and her first instinct was to keep backing up until her back hit the stone walls meant to prevent the weather of Canterlot from entering the Lunar guard’s sleeping quarters.

She immediately grabbed herself and held her front hooves tightly to her head while curling her hind legs in to her barrel as she waited for the verbal barrage from the human, who finished inhaling and was about to speak.

"Well then, Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia, it's very nice to meet you."

Twilight's mind instantly shut down as she dared to open one eye to find the being hadn't moved and was now standing comfortably with both front hooves going into the two-sided pocket that was at its stomach, one rear leg resting slightly ahead of the other and him leaning on the back rear leg.

This time he held a full blown grin.

Twilight could see its top teeth and saw that while some of it seemed similar to a herbivore, she could distinctly see two pairs of canine-like teeth on either side of his face. She shivered as she started realizing that he was capable of eating meat.

Princess Luna sighed, "Ugh, thou art worse than Celestia's prank to the Gryphon King of eld. He at least saw past her attempt and held amusement."

The being simply blinked and defied Twilight's expectations of shrugging, instead he replied, "Sometimes a scare is just as entertaining as a prank."

The human's grin faded back into his previous smile and turned his gaze towards Spike, who had stayed stock still during the bipedal’s prank, "The reason why we haven't selected a name for ourselves is because we, individually, hold too many names and do bear a great many titles and we've not a clue which name to use, and often we didn't have any reason nor consensus to simply create one."

Spike blinked as his mind returned to reality. This being's voice almost sounded similar to Nightmare Moon's voice, except more masculine and held a much more entertained, but world-worn rather than the mare's egotistical, honeyed and gloating voice.

It was then that Twilight's mind finally calmed down and realized that the being had pulled a prank on her, as she got up and said, "W-why did you do that?!"

The being grinned again and chuckled, "Why not?"

Twilight groaned before glaring at the human, "You had me scared! I thought I was about to spark a war! O-or maybe I still did an-"

The human had crossed the distance towards Twilight in two steps and quickly placed a hand over her mouth, causing her rant to stop pre-maturely, "Up-pup-pup. We’ve seen that kind of rant, and we'll cut that line of thought off there before you work yourself into one." He stared at Twilight in the eyes until some unknown signal between both pony and human passed, making the human remove his hand from her mouth.

Twilight felt stunned enough that her mind looped back to the same question before, "Why did you do that?"

The human blinked in surprise, "That’s a first." He stood up before saying, "It amused us, if that's what you wanted to ask about, unless you liked that hand?"

The unicorn shook her head and after giving a heated glare, "W-well, anyways. Um, welcome to Canterlot, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike." She said, gesturing over to her assistant before extending her foreleg towards him.

Now that introductions were fully given, the human took note that this was indeed the one whom Celestia and Luna had been talking about. Giving a quick glance to the Princess, he noticed that she held an expectant stare. He then wrapped his hand around Twilight's hoof and gave a small shake to return the gesture.

"That's ... not a hoof," Twilight stated as her mind snapped back into analytical mode at the strange appendage. It looked a lot like a dragon's claws but lacked the roughness they characteristically displayed.

"Indeed it isn't," The human replied and released his grip.

"Fascinating ... Could ... Could you flex it? So that I can observe its range of motion and the movement of the bones and muscles underlying the dermal layer ... Please?" she asked, launching deep into her scientific habit. She observed with an intensity matched by few others as the human complied, flexing his hand in a number of different ways and into different shapes and showing just how far each individual point could bend, leaving her in stunned silence ... for a moment anyway, "That's so incredible!"

"I don't get the fascination, Twi', you've seen me do stuff like that everyday," Spike pointed out. He was confused at Twilight's sudden amazement. It didn't look like anything spectacular to him. He looked down at his own hand and flexed it in a similar manner, not seeing the differences.

"I know Spike, but ... But this is an entirely new level of physical dexterity that likely exceeds that of a dragon. The potential for fine motor skills is practically unlimited with how he can bend and flex his ... his ... manual muscles contained within his hand. Entire books could be filled detailing their physical structure alone. This is an unprecedented discovery and we've been privileged to be able to observe a species which predates anything in our world’s history!" Twilight stated.

The human being gave a nearly silent breathing chuckle but said nothing as he tried to tuck his hand back into his pocket but found it restrained by a lavender aura as Twilight stepped closer.
'She's rather wrong on that note, one made a book about the human body and it only lasted about a hundred or so pages.' He commented to the many within, 'Though I must admit, for a small little horse acting as a scientist, it's rather adorkable watching her act like that.'

"Sorry," Spike apologized, knowing there was very little he could do, "Twilight's a really pass ... passi ... enths... eager scientist ... . Anything new and unfamiliar comes along she gets like this. She means well though."

"Clearly." The taller bipedal remarked. He looked over to Twilight again and his eyes stayed on her flank, most notably her "Cutie Mark."

"Hm, so that's what the Princesses called a Cutie Mark?" He commented idly as he waited for the purple unicorn to finish observing his hand.

Spike blinked before following his gaze and once he found Twilight's Mark, he replied, "Oh that? Yeah, they're pretty much symbols of what a pony's talent is."

Twilight snapped out of her reverie and looked back at her Cutie Mark, releasing her magical hold on his wrist, "Well, it's a little more than just talent, Spike. A cutie mark is a special symbol all ponies get when they discover what their special abilities in life are. Mine symbolizes that my special ability is magic itself, just like how Princess Luna's cutie mark symbolizes her control over the moon and the night sky. However, cutie marks are sometimes open to interpretation, and serve as a complimentary talent to what a pony already knows. My friend, Rarity, is very talented in fashion but her cutie mark symbolizes her skill with gemstones which she incorporates into her works," she explained.

"As the Princesses has told us once. So these "Cutie Marks" can hold one main ability while you're able to do something else entirely?" The human blinked, his curiosity regarding these strange flank-markings, piqued.

Twilight thought about it for a second before lightly scratching the back of her head, "Well, not entirely something different, most of the time ponies would find either a job or hobby that they can do alongside their abilities, much like I said with my friend, Rarity."

The human's eyes glazed away, his expression pensive while the swirling colors came back in full force, sometimes staying for as long a two whole seconds before reverting back to pale green.

Twilight spoke up, bringing his attention back to the present. However as soon as she had his attention she began to falter in confidence, her posture suggesting she was now nervous, "Um ... C-could I, uh ... Study you?" she asked.

'Ooh my.' One voice stated. Outwards, he raised an eyebrow, 'She’s that type of a science girl, hm?'

'George Takei, take your business elsewhere. If we need to embarrass her, we'll let you know.' The human mentally replied in a joking tone.

"I ... I know it's a little blunt, but you're incredibly fascinating. Outside of myths and legends, there's nothing about anyp- anything like you in Equestria's history that I can recall reading about. There are just so many questions that I'm coming up with just standing here and talking to you. Who you are, what you are, where exactly you're from, what kind of organic mechanisms you must have to maintain that strange posture ... the sky's the limit," Twilight explained, sitting back in her haunches as she finished.

Princess Luna couldn't help but shake her head in amusement. She knew to expect this, but she now realized she'd been foolish to think that she knew the fullest extent of her sister's faithful student and her reactions from the level of curiosity she was seeing. Luna had learned of Twilight's "Lessons of Friendship" and she hoped that what Twilight had or would learn about friendship would have been enough to reduce some, if not a good deal in her personal opinion, of her natural curiosity and would discuss about various details at a smaller level. But, her sister's prized student had gone past what she expected of her and shifted back into her previous self and it was rather concerning.

"Friend Twilight, we art glad to see thou hath a most inquisitive mind. But we didst not calleth thee here for such academic purposes. This is the Ancient Warrior from the Tomb of the Ancient Warrior, from a foregone era that is older than even the three pony tribes. He even claims he hath been near the beginning of our very land! He hath recovered from his unique state of petrification only to find that he hath become a stranger in a strange land and unfamiliar with all of the wonders which Equestria holds and the state of things outside of her borders. We hath brought you here hoping that thou wouldst be able to help him in this matter," Luna explained, bringing Twilight's attention back to the present by hearing the words "Ancient Warrior."

The human chuckled again as he reminded the Princess, “Princess Luna, you know you’re supposed to practice more with the modern language.”

Princess Luna gave a playful glare at the human while Twilight began stuttering, "Y-you mean that th- he? Th-this being h-here is ... ?" She shakily pointed a hoof while her expression became a confused mixture of giddiness and shock.

"Our sister wishes to handle this matter discretely and gradually due to his sudden appearance and because of his species. We do agree to some of her views, but we mostly see such course unneeded. And as our sister's pupil, we believe thou art the one who can best aid this human, as thou knowest better than anypony that the world cannot be fully experienced in a library or on a sparring field. Besides, thou couldst do with company of another outside of the castle within which ye sequesters thine self within for so long." She beamed at the young mare, who currently still held a hoof pointing at the human and her expression still stuck between deciding to be shocked, awed, or happy.

"You broke her, Princess." The human quipped, squatting down to wave a hand in front of the unicorn, who did not respond to the sudden appearance of his hand.

Twilight finally responded by slapping both her hooves to her cheeks and gave a loud squeal of delight, "This is so fascinating! Oh, I can't help myself!" She gave a small squee again and danced on her hooves, spinning in place and continuing, "A new being here in Equestria, and he's from an ancient time, The legendary warrior renowned for being more mysterious than the Everfree that nopony, not even the Princesses could solve anything regarding it, except from a dream, and now I’m being hoof selected by Princess Luna to help him learn about Equestria?!" She gave a happy scream, "This is so overwhelming, my head is almost spinning with thoughts of all the information that can be gathered and shared. There's so much to ask and so much to explain I don't even know where to begin!" Twilight sat on her haunches, squealing again before falling on her back and giving an excited giggle.

"Thou hast sayth?" Luna asked the human smugly as they watched Twilight roll on the ground.

"We still say you broke her." The human retorted, not budging to Luna's rise, "Didn't Celestia also say she would rather not bring her student into this?" Luna gave a small jolt, however she did not show him her expression at remembering what Celestia had said.

She turned and said in with a smirk, "Indeed, but she merely feared her student would 'suffocate' thee with her habits and antics. Thou art still here and well, art thou not?"

The human returned her smiled and asked, "You do know she's still going to be upset about it?"

"We shalt deal with our sister's peculiar moods."

The little dragon had wandered up closer and was studying the polearm the human had returned to using, as he leaned against the polearm and waited for Twilight to return from her excessive enthusiasm. The human blinked and looked down to Spike as he was inspecting the woodwork and tried to inspect the multi-head of the weapon.

“Found something interesting, little lizard?” The human quipped.

Spike gave a low glare but changed his expression into one of curiosity and asked, “Well, since Twilight doesn’t know where to start, I guess I could make a start. So ... is this a halberd?”

The human raised an eyebrow while the question was able to bring Twilight back into reality. She took a moment to recall what her adopted little brother said before sighing and nearly facehoofed. Ever since he met Rarity and listening to her preferences of a “shining knight in armor” he had taken interest in weaponry and armor and anything else that was related to knights and daydreamed about being one.

The man replied, “You’re relatively close, however this is a poleaxe,” He twisted the weapon around so as to let the little dragon see the multi-head of the weapon as he continued, “Halberds are typically one piece of forged metal while this is made of interlocked pieces. Also, both weapons serve different purposes.”

His explanation only confused Spike, “Wait, so pole weapons have different purposes? I thought they were all jus’ meant to keep enemies from a distance.”

The human chuckled, “They all can do that, though they’re actually close quarters combat weaponry. Halberds are meant for countering cavalry and cannon-fodder infantry armed with spears or pikes. Poleaxes were meant for countering armor as well as being a universally cheap yet versatile polearm during our species Middle Ages.”

Twilight tilted her head in slight confusion, “The ‘Middle Ages’? What kind of era was that?”

“It was a particularly violent period over a thousand years during mankind’s history. It’s also called the Medieval Ages or the Middle Ages. Nobles and the churches at the time had the full run of one particular continent named Europe, owning most of the land there. Then the ones in power during that time instituted the feudal system and employed a manorialistic system so that both the nobles and the church could protect their lands. A noble would give land to a lesser noble, called a vassal. And said vassal would, in exchange for the privilege and prestige of being a landed noble, would then protect the more powerful noble with knights, soldiers, and weapons. From these systems would arise an infrastructure designed to protect the nobility and their interests; castles, guilds, and trading guilds were built and scattered around the continent.” The human summarized as much as he could.

Twilight’s eyes brightened as she recognized what he was talking about, “Oh! You mean the Maredieval Era, which just recently passed a few weeks ago. Princess Celestia had to establish nobles and puppet governments in certain cities so she could efficiently run Equestria after ... Princess Luna wasn’t available to rule the kingdom alongside her sister.” She looked back at the aforementioned Princess and was given an appreciated smile.

The human raised an eyebrow, “Perhaps you could tell us what happened during those thousand years, since we seem to have a common similarity between human history and equine history.”

Twilight gave a sideways look and began reciting, “Well, after Princess Luna temporarily took leave, it’s said that Princess Celestia promoted Starswirl the Bearded and the majordomo of the time, Clarion Call to temporarily act on her behalf for two years while she recovered from her fight with Nightmare Moon. It was mostly a time when the nobles and higher class ponies had a more noble intention for Equestria and had sworn to better the kingdom rather than care about the lining of their banks.

“Like I said, Princess Celestia established and reworked the noble caste, though I suppose feudalism and manorialism would be the best suited term, now that you mention that word. Afterwards, there was a significant event involving religions about either Princess Celestia, or Nightmare Moon. The latter was more of a cult and the former tried to start crusades against them. There were about ... eight attempts, each of them with partial success in suppressing and forcing the cult underground. However, Princess Celestia personally told the Churches of the Sun to cease their crusades as they were also imposing and attacking other sub races of the ponies in Equestria, most notably the Thestrals.

“They obeyed mostly, however they began again around a century later, resulting in Princess Celestia arriving with an army of Royal Guards to both protect the Thestrals and to force the Synagogues to both stop and to close their doors permanently, essentially telling them to stop worshiping her. The very few and fervent churches attacked, under the belief that their ‘goddess’ was had either been hypnotized or brainwashed and being manipulated into being sympathetic to their enemies while the majority of the churches didn’t follow the fervent radicalism of the few churches which attempted attacking Princess Celestia. It was then that they realized that Princess Celestia was serious about her decision as several of the attackers were either ... .” Twilight seemed to hesitate from saying the word, as if she were a daring filly that was trying to utter a foul word, “S-slain, or imprisoned.”

The human half-expected the unicorn to immediately look left and right as if she did or said something wrong. With how nervous she uttered the word ‘slain’ he almost believed that saying anything involving killing was considered taboo. After a small period of silence he asked, “We suppose this religion didn’t go away as the Princess asked?”

Twilight shook her head, “No. They’re more subdued and careful about their actions, but they are still spread out and still around. I’ve even seen one pony representing them come to Ponyville and went door to door trying to see who else might be interested in joining them.”

The human blinked and his eyes flickered about as he digested on the history lesson as he put a hand over his chin. He admitted, “There are a lot of differences between our history and yours. However it seems there’s still some similarities, some of them are between the Catholics and this ‘Church of the Sun.’ Though in human history, there were a great deal of other events in and out of Europe, these crusades you mentioned are indeed what happened, though there was far more blood spilled.”

Twilight’s eyes sparkled until her mind registered the last few words, “I would love to hear more ab-- ... . Wait, did you say ‘more blood spilled’?”

Spike meanwhile, had tuned out Twilight’s talking. He normally did whenever his adopted sister was given or started to give long talks about anything. Instead, he went back to thinking about what the human stated about polearms, more specifically how they were considered cheap weaponry.

The small dragon poked at the human’s leg to get his attention before asking, “Hey, um. So if polearms are so cheap, then what about swords?”

His question was only answered with another question, “What about swords?”

Spike was quick to answer, “Well, y’know. All that ‘knight in shining armor’ stuff! Gleaming sword, shining shield, slaying monsters, saving the princess. What about all that?”

He was met with a snicker that sharply turned into a boisterous, almost mocking laughter as Spike continued to try and explain the easily seen stereotype he seemed to thoroughly believed in. Finally, he had enough and demanded, “What’s so funny about this!?”

“It's that naïve idealism of yours! Knights are supposedly “paragons of chivalry and honor,” correct?” The human was met with an eager nod, “Well, this will certainly change your mind. Yes, there has been some regulation that those who are appointed to knighthood were to act honorably and with some level of chivalry, that was only with those who were on their side of the land and in the same religion. Everyone else wasn’t given the same courtesy, often labeled as ‘heretics’ and were slain en masse as such.”

He watched as Spike’s eagerness started dying as he started considering what the human was saying, “Oh yes, that included the civilians. In truth, the knights were looked upon as cowardly. They rarely, if ever, risked attacking an enemy knight as it ran too high a risk of them being killed. This dispensation didn’t extend to the peasantry, who were often within sight and deemed ‘in the way’ regardless if they were or were not. Hah, many of them were even guilty of committing a lot of horrible atrocities. Most, if not every knight, followed a tacit understanding that pragmatism could overrule ceremony wherever necessary, they were almost no better than mercenaries, brigands, and raiders.”

Spike’s enthusiasm nearly flickered out before it returned with full force. He gave a determined glare and retorted, “Well then, I’ll just make an example of what a knight is supposed to be!”

The human laughed again, this time encouraging, “Good! That’s what being honorable is, making an example as a person and giving others someone to resemble, not by what their titles were and what their titles are supposed to be.”

The little dragon gave a victorious snort, satisfied that he made his point come across, even though the human had let him have his fantasy. Spike’s thoughts went back to the weaponry he talked about and asked, “S’what about the swords? What happen’d to them?”

He was answered with a small shrug, “The swords were indeed something most knights had. They were used as a symbol of status and power more than a fighting weapon, though they still saw some use on a battlefield. However, swords were incredibly expensive. They were more expensive than a spear or a mace due to the amount of steel or iron used to forge one. One knight fitted with a sword and armor for their horses had the same price as ten common foot soldiers armed with spears and leather armor.”

The human found himself being stared at with various expressions when he mentioned the word ‘horse.’ Twilight gave an hurt stare while Princess Luna gave him a level glare, alongside the few Night Guards that had stuck around giving small surprised gasps.

He looked around and remarked, “We suppose the word ‘horse’ is a racial term, then?”

Twilight winced at hearing the word again but replied with a hurt voice, “Y-yes. T-though that word is based off of our evolutionary cousins. But ... please don’t repeat it?”

Princess Luna nodded and gave her own opinion, “E’en before our banishment, we hath heard of such profane word used by ignorant, foreign dignitaries. Thou art fortunate times hath changed, for thou wouldst be chased out of the castle for uttering such a word in our presence.”

The human nodded, “We’ll keep that in mind, then. However, it is and was the term for what was used as our cavalry. As we said before this, one knight in full plate or chainmail armor with a sword and armor for his mount was about the same as having ten infantrymen. It was only until the last two hundred years of the Middle Age that swords were cheap enough for the peasantry to be able to afford and in some cases, required to have one.”

Spike’s eyes widened at the man’s words. He immediately got animate and eagerly replied, “S’that means swords were used a lot in battle, right!”

“Nope.”

That response cut the little dragon’s enthusiasm as his arms fell in a comical fashion and flatly stated, “What?”

The human gave a shrug and a sad smile, “They were considered secondary or backups, and in towns they were considered simple defense. Once chainmail and plate armor started to become more common, everyone started looking more at maces, axes, bows, crossbows, spears and other polearms. Swords started losing their utility both due to their ineffectiveness against these two newly invented armor, as well as how long it took to train a soldier to wield one without swinging it around like an idiot.”

The man gave a small chuckle, “Even the archers and pikemen usually preferred daggers as secondary weaponry. From there, swords only found themselves used as ceremony and as symbols of status or used in fantasy or fictional writing.”

He then turned his attention to Twilight Sparkle, “One of the most tragic things about human history is the amount of blood spilled, there was rarely a time that things were accomplished without someone dying. We are still willing to tell you some of it, but do be aware that most of it is not pretty, and there is no happy ending for any of them.”

Twilight shifted uncomfortably, but her curiosity and interest didn’t allow her to change her mind. She gave a nervous nod, “I’ll ... keep that in mind.”

Luna simply stood back and watched in silence and contemplation. So far, things seemed to go well. What with Twilight Sparkle's friendly nature and her rather singular focused dedication to knowledge but with a desire to help others, appeared to be in full swing right now. Perhaps this would address the problem of what to do with the human while her sister hesitated and tended to other matters and having to drag him along or have him elsewhere, twiddling his ho-- thumbs.

She snapped her attention back to the two as she heard Twilight ask, “So ... can you do magic?”

The human didn’t answer immediately, but answered with his own question, “How do you mean?”

“You know, much like how Luna and I can cast all sorts of spells and even levitate objects through our horns as the focal point, or how Pegasi actively utilize the magic through their wings in flight and touch clouds as physical objects, or how Earth Ponies passively used theirs in all related matters to nature on the ground and nurture plants and crops. So I’m wondering if you’re capable of anything in relation or similarities to this?”

The human blinked and considered the question for a moment before answering readily, “In terms of the definition of “magic” we’ve seen a great deal of variation. The most constant that’s been seen is the “smoke and mirror” type. In the terms that you spoke of, no. Humanity wasn’t and isn’t designed to utilize any magic, if it at all existed during our species’ run of the Earth. Some of what we were designed to use and were able to use isn’t similar to magic at all, as what we were able to do would defy a scientist’s explanation, just as we can assume that gramarye couldn’t explain it nor replicate it.”

Twilight twitched and immediately blurted, “That is absolutely ridiculous! Everything can be explained with science, even with magical studies!”

The human merely chuckled and counted, “Four hundred thousand, sixty two and three.” He was given a questioning look from both ponies and dragon, as well as the few remaining Night Guards that bothered to stay awhile and listen. The human shrugged and explained, “That’s how many other people said either the exact same thing or something in close relation to us, whether directly or not. You have no idea how many people believed that science could explain everything, and “if something isn’t explainable by science, then it doesn’t exist.””

The unicorn gave a rather adorable pout with a matching glare, still stubborn to believe that not everything could be explained by science. As she continued to mope silently, Spike asked, “S’wait. If you humans couldn’t do magic an’ all that, then what did you use? Ponyville’s the only town I’ve seen that was built without magic and compared to what I’ve seen fr’m Baltimare and Manehatten, did you guys live in straw and mortar houses?”

He was answered with a small nod to the side as well as one hand coming up and shook a little, “We used to make houses with those, however humanity learned to use other material to make housing and other buildings, simply with our hands. While we didn’t have magic, we had technology and science.”

The mentioning of science brightened Twilight a little as she started to ask more questions, some of which the human answered either in long explanation or in short sentences. Both Princess Luna and Spike stood by and listened to the two different species talk back and forth about what humanity had, what they didn’t have, and what they made due with.

However, the conversation began to bore both the alicorn and young drake, as well as the other guards, who had long since moved on to either train or perform what duty was available. So as Twilight and the human continued, the Princess and drake began their own conversation and catching up on what was happening on their own fronts of their lives, most notably about the appearance of an Ursa Minor in Ponyville.

Princess Celestia gave a low sigh as she trotted away from the throne and from the Day Court procedures, shaking off what was left of the feeling of pins and needles in her legs and body as she was flanked by her guards. It had been a long and agonizingly slow day, and the demands of the nobles were still as intolerable as ever before.

She had at one point wondered what would have happened if she decided to force the Day Court to proceed without any clothing whatsoever, see how much the nobles were attached to their expensive clothing once they’re told to deliver their silly proposals au natural.

The more she thought about it, the more appealing it seemed. She might have to pass it through with her majordomo and her sister, but the response should be enough to make it worthwhile, maybe even compensation for trying to outlast her or Luna with numerous attempts at greed or misdirection.

But for now, she still had Royal Duties to perform. Namely, the human.

She had still yet to hear his answer to her offer. At first, she thought that the human would refuse, maybe even vehemently.

Celestia prayed that he wouldn’t refuse in a violent manner.

The feeling in her legs returned one last time with a barrage of sharp pain that it made her stumble, the guards beside her reacting quickly and helping to keep her steady until she gave a nod that she was okay.

There was too much that she didn’t truly know about him, which felt ironic. She had been with the human while he had been in hibernation for a great deal of her foalhood and considered his statue-esque form as her “friend.” And yet the moment that “statue” started moving and showed what lie underneath that skin of stone, he acted, reacted and moved in ways she didn’t expect of him.

It was both a dream come true, with her wish that they could talk and be with each other in this façade friendship granted and giving the human movement and life, and an unknown danger as he both pushed her away from connecting with him and what his life was like and hid his intent, as well as admonishing her when she spoke candidly with him in attempt to show that they could be friends.

Maybe she should simply ask if he would be her friend? He seemed to be the one who appreciated somepony to come up and ask, rather than dance about and then make the question.

As she walked down the hallways and the maze of Canterlot Castle and to the Night Guard’s barracks, she saw several guards were still present at the entrance, meaning both her sister and the human were there. She nodded as she entered their line of sight and they silently nodded back, returning the greeting. However as she got closer she became curious as she heard something like a conversation going on, echoing across the tunnel that led out and into the field.

Stepping outside and listening, she found the human in Luna's company and joined by, to her shock and surprise, Twilight and Spike. Twilight and the human carrying most of the conversation, asking a whole variety of questions about him, while getting answers in return.

Luna was still watching the two converse, with a somewhat bored but listening expression Celestia was familiar with while Spike sat on the ground with his eyes closed next to her, occasionally looking back and listening in whenever something interested him before going back to “napping.”

She didn’t expect her student and her adopted brother to come and visit, let alone wander far enough to find the human doing physical ‘exercise’ with the Night Guards. It’d only make sense that her younger sister was the one who introduced the human to the unicorn, ‘Honestly, Lulu. Couldn’t you have tried to keep Twilight away from the human?’ She rolled her eyes while shaking her head, a small smile on her muzzle.

Once she was closer, Celestia cleared her throat loudly enough to gain the attention of the four, her sister’s back noticeably straightening as she seemed to realize what was coming for her.

But before Celestia could gently berate her sister, she was greeted by her student. Twilight's face beamed with incredible levels of excitement at seeing her and bounded toward her, "Princess Celestia!" she greeted and quickly bowed before raising her head back up again and nuzzling her teacher adoringly, "It's good to see you again, Princess!"

"It's good to see you too, Twilight.” Celestia replied, returning the friendly nuzzle, “I see you've met our guest."

"Princess Celestia, this is so incredible!” Twilight blurted, “We've been talking for hours and we've found out so much amazing information in that time. Do you know how many of Equestria’s theories about our land before ponies and the mythos of humans are being confirmed just by this human's presence?!"

Twilight stated excitedly. "And his hands! Princess, you have no idea how much dexterity he has in his hands and how incredibly fascinating they are. And his fingers! Thumbs, pointer fingers, middle, ring and pinky fingers! They're all capable of nimble and precise movements and his writing style shows such a fine level of control! He can do everyday tasks with the same level of skill only an experienced unicorn would be capable of!"

Celestia gave a more neutral smile, fooling Twilight into thinking all was well, “My dear student, while it is nice to see that you two have become well acquainted, though I must say I’m surprised, I truly didn’t expect to see you today ...” She gave a small glimpse around and returned to her student, an expression of gentle confusion on her face, “or over in the Night Guards’ barracks, for that matter.”

Twilight gave a sideways glance before replying, “To be honest, I didn’t plan on coming. But Princess Luna sent a letter to us, asking us to come and visit, and well ... here we are.” She gave a small smile as she finished.

However she wasn’t rewarded with the warm smile she was used to seeing. Instead, Celestia’s expression became a very serious frown as she turned her eyes straight towards her sister, who flinched at the piercing gaze.

The temperature outside almost felt as if it dropped below freezing.

Princess Celestia asked rather flatly, “Is this true, Luna?”

“S-sister I—” Luna tried to explain but was immediately cut off.

“We need to talk.” Celestia spoke in a short and clipped manner, which implied how upset she was, silenced her sister and stepped aside as a mute way of telling Luna to come.

Like a filly who was about to be scolded firmly and punished by angry parents, Princess Luna lowered her head and walked off the field, followed closely by a stern Princess Celestia.

Whatever was going to be said, wasn’t going to be pretty.

Twilight shivered as she watched the Royal Sisters leave while the human gave a sympathetic gaze, getting an idea of what would happen between the two, but he knew better than try and say anything as they left.

Sibling arguments, regardless how small, were never a fun thing. Some of them can even end up with both sides hurt in the aftermath of words spoken in anger and the heat of the moment.

Spike stared for a moment, then awkwardly asked, trying to change the subject, “So ... any weapon suggestions?”

It took a great deal for the human to not burst into laughter, the question was far too much similar to the role-playing gamers.

Thankfully, the Legion and the human were able to keep it together as he began to ask what the little dragon was looking for in his ‘knight in shining armor’ fantasy, with Twilight sitting behind her brother rolling her eyes and sighing half-heartedly at Spike’s reignited eagerness.

“In.” Celestia ordered as she held the door open with her magic. Luna reluctantly and hesitantly stepped into the room, Celestia soon following behind her. The younger alicorn gave a quick glance around the room and found that Celestia had chosen her personal quarters to talk to her.

The door was pulled shut and clicked into a locked position before a wave of magic poured out of Celestia’s horn and spread across and over the room. Judging from its texture and intensity, Luna knew it was a high level soundproofing spell.

Knowing that didn’t inspire any confidence or hope out of her.

"I'm not going to yell, Lulu.” Celestia told her, the tone of voice causing shivers to run up and down Luna's spine, “Not until I hear the full story. And I truly hope you have a good reason for this ... . Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"We do.” Luna began, stuttering slightly, “B-but we have a question first, and if we do not ask now we fear we may never have the opportunity to," Luna stated and breathed to steady herself. "Dost ... dost thou still love us?"

It was a cheap blow.

An absolutely cheap and shameless ploy, and even Celestia could see right through that.

Her sister was attempting to appeal to her emotions in hopes of saving her own flank. It was no different than a foal in trouble asking their parents if they were still loved despite what they'd done.

Albeit, it was a varied sort of thing when it came to foals. But it was an absolutely foalish maneuver that her sister was using it on her, as a mare who was older than all the mares in Equestria, with those big worried eyes of hers.

And unfortunately, it still worked. Despite her own anger with her sister's actions, she couldn't remain angry with her sister herself. Celestia found herself needing to vent herself with a sigh as she hung her head and shut her eyes.

"Luna. I never stopped loving you. I can’t even bear to bring myself to do so. Not even when you were Nightmare Moon, I couldn’t." Celestia told her before opening her eyes and looking at her once again. "That being said, I'm still upset over your course of action. Writing to Twilight Sparkle directly doesn’t upset me. In fact, I'm glad that you have done so, and encouraging her to interact more with our subjects and our friends. But this is another matter entirely."

"We ... I, am aware," Luna stated, correcting herself as an attempt of stopping a force of habit.

"Are you? You are aware of how delicate the matter with the human is? Do you understand how much danger the kingdom could be put in through your actions? You're aware of what you put in jeopardy by bringing Twilight into the equation? You know as well as I do how important she is, what do you think would occur if something happened to her?" Celestia asked as she trotted back and forth, the vented frustration coming back as she spoke.

"We would not let anything like that happen to Twilight Sparkle, she is our friend as well as yours!" Luna stated, her wings flaring open.

“That may be, Lulu. But we have yet to get anything out of what the human wants to do, we don’t even know what he intends to do or plan to do. Luna, I’ve heard him specifically state that he “needed to be here” and for what reason, I still have yet to figure that out!”

"Do not presume we didst not weigh the situation carefully before we acted simply because we are the younger sibling, dear sister, for we did indeed consider with much thought and care regarding our course of action. We believed that Twilight Sparkle's involvement was completely warranted, after much contemplation regarding these unique circumstances and responded accordingly. You may not believe that we were careful in our actions but we most certainly were. Thy student and our friend was never in any danger." Luna said as she tucked her wings in at her sides.

Celestia found herself taking a hesitant step back at her little sister's outburst. Long had she forgotten how frightening Luna could be when she successfully caught somepony off guard just as she'd done with her, going from quiet and reclusive to authoritative and thoughtfully discursive in less than a second.

But now that Luna's outburst seemed to have passed it was Celestia's turn to talk. And unlike her younger sister she didn't need to catch somepony off guard to be intimidating.

"Necessary? And how can you say that with such certainty? Twilight’s involvement doesn’t even seem necessary in the first place." she asked as she looked down at Luna.

"Thou hadst no interaction with the human outside of your role as Princess Celestia, ye have made no attempt of talking to him for the purpose of learning about himself! Ye have made no attempt at establishing friendship with him. Ye have treated him as ye would a refugee! He hath neither seen nor heard of the outside world beyond the palace walls and windows and only by the books we share between each other during our tutoring, e’en then, he hath had to keep any attention away from himself other than our Royal Butler or the maredens, maids, and guards.

“We did not believe thy course of action was the correct path and so chose to intervene on his behalf. If this being chooses to remain in Equestria, then he hath also chosen to be one of our subjects, thus 'tis our responsibility to see to the matter properly. Especially as he is so alien to this current era and the species inhabiting this world. His case is extremely unique and therefore cannot be handled as ye might a fleeing refugee from another country," Luna replied, doing her best to present herself in a manner equal to her sister in terms of intimidating presence; an effort she, sadly was failing. Her sister looked like she had just been slapped and just before Luna finished, Celestia had her head lowered.

"How I was dealing with the matter was my decision and mine alone!” Celestia retorted, her eyes closed tightly as her anger reignited. She lifted her head up quickly, her eyes blazing in barely controlled anger, “Also, that is not fair for you to accuse me of not trying to talk to him! You know full well what my responsibilities were, and how little time I’ve had in between them and tending to my own wellbeing! I’ve had to take upon myself the responsibility of running this kingdom for the thousand years you were gone by myself!”

The sudden outburst made Luna go silent this time, nearly frightened enough to take a step back as she began to see the signs of an impassioned tirade beginning to spill forth from her sister.

“I rarely had any time to enjoy a minute of peace and quiet as I’ve ran myself into the ground between keeping Equestria intact and trying to get you back!” Celestia stomped the ground with a hoof with emphasis, her tone revealing stress from her near constant duties and that her sister’s jab made it snap, “Even during the times I was teaching Twilight and Sunset, I had to cast refreshing and illusion magic just to hide my exhaustion, the thought of getting you back was the only thing that kept me from collapsing! Do you not remember the long hours of passing judgement regarding petitions in our royal courts? Or all the parties, balls, and fetes, where we had to either interact with domestic and foreign subjects or be forced to sit almost till midnight until they finally decided to leave!? I had to go through all of them alone! In light of all of this, you accuse me of neglecting my attempts at friendship with the human?”

Luna mentally regretted jabbing at her sister about her thought on Celestia’s purported neglect of her friendship with the human, before taking time to sit down with her sister and voice her concerns and hear her sister’s view on the issue. Her passion had ran away with her, as she empathized with the human, seeing him in a similar light as her millennial exile, and she hadn’t thought to talk to her sister about what her sister thought about what Luna had seen as willful neglect.

Celestia continued her tirade, “Enlighten me, dear sister, in light of everything which I have spoken, when would I have had the time to nurture my friendship with the human? I have far too little time to even spend it with you, my precious, beloved little sister,” She gave a hiccup, tears of distress, stress, and frustration pouring from the corner of her eyes. “I want to be friends with him too, Lulu, I really do, but where am I to find the time? If you know of a way, then please tell me!”

Celestia took a few minutes to calm herself before she would continue. During her heavily breathing to reign in her emotions, Luna remained silent and waited for her sister to be done, still regretting what she said without proper forethought.

At last, Celestia gulped down both air and saliva to relax her tightened throat and said in a choked voice, “And you don't seem to understand the severity of the situation, Luna; This is not a pony, or a dragon, gryphon or any other species we have had diplomatic relations with. This is a being that had been formerly deemed to be nonexistent. There has been enough rumors and given mythos to cause an entire species that made most of those myths and legends to declare his kind as their most hated enemy, and a threat to the world around them.

“And until now he’s been nothing but seen as non-existent. And from his own words, he's the only one of his kind in this world and he presents a unique situation as well as a unique threat to those around him. He's-" Celestia lectured, but again was interrupted by her younger sister.

“He is a bygone being of a bygone era and a stranger in a strange land, ‘Tia. E’en he hath told us. And he is not alone in this, sister!” Luna had gathered a second wind and unfurled her wings suddenly, getting Celestia to give a small flinch back, “We hath been banished for the fullest millennia from Equestria! Nothing we hath seen around us is familiar anymore, not e’en this castle!”

Her emotions started to run rampant, some of her fear of the unknown started to show in her eyes, “Thou doth not see it, for ye experienced thine own demons of thine mind, but we know nothing of the world which we once knew, anymore! Our friends, former friends, and e’en loved ones are but dust and ash! Thou art the only one we trust in fullest anymore! The human is of the same, and he hath no pony to trust!”

Luna continued bitterly, tears started to show in her eyes, “Thou gave me thine friendship and trust when we returned and were bathed clean by the Elements of Harmony from the accursed spirit. Why then art we accused, when we desired to extend the hoof of friendship and felicity to another e’en more alien than we!? When hast kindness and compassion become an act most criminal!?”

She was left sitting on the floor of her sister's chambers, panting to catch her breath again after that last outburst. Her entire posture more or less silently stated that she wasn't done yet and her sister at least seemed willing to wait for her to get the last of her second wind before saying again.

"Twilight Sparkle doth know about the human, and she hath learned from his mouth that his species were not a happy nor peaceful lot, and yet she doth not fear the Warrior e’en knowing this, but rather exhibits a fascination with him and his species and intrigue and a desire for further intelligence regarding him and his culture. And we hath seen nothing to suggest the human hath intentions to cause her or young Spike any harm, just as he hath not done the same with us. We art willing to risk our continued rule on it.”

Luna then stood tall and proud at her sister, with a voice of determined resignation, "If thou doth insist on punishing us for our “thoughtlessness and lack of due consideration,” then there is nothing we can do to stop thee. But we doth not believe the human deserves veils, shadows, and ignorance and should not be treated as we might a refugee to our fair kingdom, for we know just what that is like; 'tis a most horrible experience to be sure."

Celestia remained silent for a minute, her mind digesting what her younger sister had told her and tried to understand from her point of view on this subject.

“Luna, you know that it hurt me just as much as it did for you when you were sent to the moon for a thousand years,” She began, trying to take control of the situation, “And it still hurts me that you’re still struggling in returning to Equestria as her diarch, the human’s assistance or not.”

The two continued to argue back and forth, despite arriving at points that would have ended them returning to their companions they left behind at the Night Guard barracks. Either Luna or Celestia would start the whole discussion again, leading to yelling, screaming, shouting above and beyond their Royal Canterlot Voices. Not to mention the crying. Oh Faust, the most unprincess-like crying gone unseen by their subjects, and the ensuing hugs which followed them. The two alicorn siblings were both grateful that the silencing and the soundproofing spells had been invented.

What felt like hours passed by before the two settled their differences, or rather what would have been best described as settled, and all that remained was the healing and soothing reconciliation from the aftermath of their verbal battle. Thankfully due to their long lives, disregarding Luna’s banishment, they held enough experience to know how to handle damage control between each other.

As for the human and his revelation to Twilight and her adopted brother, all the two could agree with how to handle it now was to simply wait for the remaining few days and see what would come after the decision arrived at by the human.

Before they returned to their quarry, however ... .

“Lulu?”

Luna turned to look at Celestia, who despite still holding anger and not being happy looked unusually nervous, “Yes, ‘Tia?”

“Could you perhaps tell me about the human? Since ... I couldn’t?”

Luna gave a her sister a disappointed look as she replied, “Sister, thou didst not ask friendship of me through another pony to speak thine words. We art not and shalt not be thy mediator unto him. If you wishest to learn about him, then go and speak with him yourself.” With that, Luna trotted away leaving Celestia to watch while her ears drooped down in moderate sadness.

After a few moments of silence, Celestia muttered, “That’s not fair.” But she didn’t say anymore before catching up to her sister.

The two trotted side by side as they returned to the Night Guard barracks. While they did settle down from their irritation and unhappiness, Celestia was still disappointed and angry with her sister for going behind her back and acting instinctively. Luna, while resigned to whatever fate would become of her for her actions, had her own anger with her elder sister for handling the human slowly and without taking chance, as well as keeping him almost in the dark about what Equestria was outside of books and the Day Court.

When they returned to Twilight, Spike, and the human, they found the three talking. Whatever it was, Celestia couldn’t hear it over the echoing sounds of her and her sister’s boots against the flooring as well as one of the three voices from their quarry.

The human was the first to notice them returning, after looking up upon hearing their hoofsteps and gait and fell silent. Twilight and Spike listened and realized that he had stopped speaking and turned to face the approaching Royal Sisters.

Celestia was the first to talk, her many years of experience with running Equestria alone in both politics and government guiding her as she masked her emotions about what had been discussed, “We apologize for making you wait, however we had to go into a lengthy discussion about you, human.”

The human didn’t reply, but merely returned a content nod.

Princess Celestia took his nod as consent to continued, “As it stands now, very little about how this current situation is to be handled has changed. Twilight and Spike,” The young unicorn gave a surprised blink before stiffening as her teacher and Princess addressed her, the drake simply looked up when his name was stated, “With the interests of the Kingdom of Equestria in mind, I adjure that the both of you are to keep silent regarding the human. There is still preparations to be made before he can journey forth from the safety of our home see Equestria and the other nations inhabiting this great world of ours. How long do you plan to stay?”

Twilight gave a small gulp at being issued a royal command to silence and secrecy. But when she was asked, Twilight thought about it for several seconds before replying, her eyes drifting off to the side in sheepish embarrassment, “Well. You did kinda, sorta made a plan to visit Ponyville tomorrow, Princess Celestia.”

Her response made Celestia’s train of thought grind to a complete halt.

She had completely forgotten about that she said so.

Celestia moved quickly to recover from her lapse, “I-indeed, my faithful student. It was what I had meant to ask before you returned.”

Celestia could swear she was sweating from trying to fool her student, as her sister and the human looked at her with amusement at her mistake. She gave a mental sigh of relief when both Twilight and Spike bought the excuse as the unicorn mare replied, “Well, the next train leaves in an hour, so I’m afraid we’d have to leave quickly, Princess Celestia.”

Her teacher nodded and said, “Very well, I will have the guards escort you to the train station, if for some reason you should miss the train, then the guards will fly you back. In the meantime, my sister—”

Luna’s expression immediately changed again as she remembered what she had done as her eldest sister continued, “As for you. You went behind my back, without consulting me for my counsel upon the matter in question and involved my dear student before both she and the human were ready to meet each other. It seems I am delivering punishment left and right this week. No sweets for a week, that includes Doughnut Joe.”

Luna looked as if she had just been abusively attacked by her sister, no sugar? Not even Doughnut Joe’s!?

She was quick to protest, “Sister!”

“I will make it two if needed, Lulu,” Celestia stared firmly, but not enough to be harsh, “and both the castle staff and Joe shall be informed of this.” She added before turning to Twilight and said, “It is best if you go now, my dear student. The train will not wait, not even for a Princess.”

Twilight snapped to and declared, “Yes, Princess Celestia!” and after bounding forward to give a friendly nuzzle goodbye to her teacher, she gave her respectful goodbyes to both the human and Princess Luna, after which she levitated Spike onto her back and galloped away. One guard turned and hurried to follow after her so as to both ensure she arrived to the station as well as prepare a chariot should they arrive late.

The Sun Princess watched her go with a smile before she asked idly, “What time is it?”

Her second Royal Guard was quick to reply, “It should be approaching evening, Your Highness.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “Then it’s time to move our celestial bodies, sister. But before we do so, let us go and eat. You, dearest sister, have another dinner date with mashed alfalfa.”

This caused Luna to become irate. She could survive and endure no sweets for one to two weeks, such a thing was not even a problem in her way of thinking due to her prepared caches of hidden sweets that were placed in magical stasis to retain their freshness.

But mashed alfalfa? Again?!

“Celestial G—” Luna tried to protest, indignant to such harsh punishment and gathered wind for a tirade. However the heated glare from her sister promised an even worse punishment from her sister stopped her from even finishing her sister’s full name.

Princess Celestia held the glare before stating, “Dining room. Now, Luna.”

Princess Luna’s anger wilted, but did not surrender as she gave an irritated huff and turned to trot to her destination, who was quickly followed by one of her Night Guards, as he noticed Luna’s rapid departure and galloped to escort her. Celestia gave an equally irritated huff and gave a simple glance to the human before trotting away with her own guard.

The human was thus left alone, now given new light and information from the young mare and drake.

And was left with even greater curiosity and intrigue. What did Princess Celestia mean by “move our celestial bodies”? He and the Legion pondered and wondered about that question while they walked after the two recently departed Princesses and leaving the Night Guard Barracks.

And what was both Celestia’s and Luna’s full names?

Author's Notes:

And there we have another chapter rolled out for you all!
And it was a bumpy ride!

Even tho it came a little late, but circumstances are circumstances.

So I decided to go at a slower pace as to both explore the world more, show more relationships being established between the human and the ponies around him. As well as showing the few sides that leaves a lot to show in between characters, most specifically Lulu and Celly as you've read. Sometimes not all wounds heal as well as they should.

Anyway, I'll take a small break before starting again, getting all that out and down and getting editing done isn't as hard as people in fanfiction make it seem. Sure it takes time and whatnot, but once you find your pace it's all good.

See you in the next chapter!

damn missed formatting errors.