At some point, I'd begun to stir awake, feeling like I had slept on a cold, hard floor with nothing but a pillow under me and a blanket over me. In truth, that was pretty damn accurate.

Taking a look around as I opened up my eyes, I could see a number of ponies around me, narrowly beyond my personal space but sleeping close, making it very clear they were unwilling to wake me to move, or leave me alone.

Ugh, my mouth felt like it was filled with cotton, my eyes hurt, my throat hurt. Turning a bit and starting to sit up, I spotted a glass of water hovering right in front of me, held in a minty-green kind of glow. Somehow, I managed to not scream like a little girl in surprise.

Reaching out and taking it, I looked over at the day guard, whose horn’s glow just started to fade out as I took the glass, offering what I suspected was Sergeant Cortland a nod of thanks as I took a refreshing swig. Lowering the now empty glass, I reached over and set it on the low table nearby.

The night's events played out in my head. While I did find some of the weight I carried a tiny bit lighter, for the most part, I still felt like crap. Having broken down in front of a bunch of pastel-colored ponies, and yet not one of them had judged me for it, much to my surprise. Looking around, I did note the only alicorn in the room was Twilight who, I must say, had the most adorable look on her face as she slept, her head resting across Pinkie Pie’s back.

A voice to my left, kept almost a whisper so as not to wake the others, made me turn my head. I found myself looking into green eyes.

“How y’all feeling this morning, Shane?”

I glanced away, just kind of taking in my bearings. Perhaps part of me not wanting to look her in the eyes right now.

“Hurt, angry, upset, perhaps a bit ashamed of myself, to boot.”

I heard her snort softly. “Yeah, well, y’all will get over it. Some things need ta come out in the light.”

While a logical side of me knew she was right, it didn’t make the thought any easier.

“Applejack, just, well thank ya for not—”

A hoof on my arm stopped the words, I turned to look at her directly. “Ah get it, sugarcube. Most the girls here they don’t, but ah do, and so does Luna, ah suspect.”

Giving a nod of my head again, I looked around some. “Don’t suppose breakfast is available?”

“Yep, Princess Celestia arranged for it to be ready when you got up. Ah am sure it is on its way already.”

---

No more questions for the morning. In fact, most of the ponies left me to my own thoughts. I went and took a shower, changed clothing, put my dirty clothing in a small hamper that Dusty had set in my room for me. I spent some time alone, just looking out from the balcony at the city and the view of this new world.

A knock on the door brought my out of my thoughts and I walked over, opening it up to find myself looking down at Pinkie Pie. The hyper menace was bouncing up and down in place with what I would refer to as a scary grin on her face.

“Hey there, Shane-a-roony, we are all going into the shopping district, and we figured, hey! I bet Shane would like to look around, so then Fluttershy said perhaps you want time alone. I was like, no way! I bet he just wants to stretch his legs some and this a great time to do that. Then Applejack got all weird and…”

I cut her off by lifting my hand up and lightly placing it over her muzzle, closing it with my fingers. Somehow, she managed to keep bouncing in place.

“Pinkie, if I agree to go, will you stop explaining things and be quiet for a bit?”

She tugged her face back and gave a rather enthusiastic nod. “You got it!” she responded, bouncing off down the hall.

A voice to the left of the door came, I turned to note one of the guards quietly saying. “Thank you.”

I chuckled some. No, I didn’t have any sort of grudge on Pinkie, but, she can be a bit much to take in except in small doses.

---

I agreed to leave my holster under guard. I suppose I was in no real danger walking around the streets of Canterlot. I mean, hell, I had two guards, and all six Elements along with me, including one that was a princess and had four guards of her own shadowing the group.

There were a lot of looks, a few haughty-looking unicorns gave me looks of disgust but that didn’t really bother me much. I never did cotton to what uppity people thought of me, so the same went for pony in my mind.

I found myself looking in the window of a shop that had all kinds of knickknacks on display. A few caught my eye as I realized they were blown-glass cutie marks mirroring the six mares I was with. The voice to my left, Fluttershy, spoke softly.

“Oh, I know ponies look up to us, call us heroes, but I do wish they wouldn’t do stuff like this. Not that they are bad, but the extra attention and all.”

I glanced down at the pink-maned pegasus. “I can see where that would get tiresome.”

She nodded gently and looked up, offering me a genuine smile. It was hard not to smile back, and again I found myself reflecting on happier memories of watching the show and my daughter's joy of it. For now, the darker memories set themselves aside.

Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Just as I turned, as a mare let out a shriek and shouted. “Stop him, he took my bag!”

One of the advantages of being a predator species, we pick up on motion quickly. I spotted the white-coated unicorn racing away from the mare who was sprawled on the ground. Instincts kicked in, years of training. I was already two strides into a sprint as I knocked my hat off, yelling.

“AJ, catch!”

By the fourth stride, my old oil coat was flying off my left arm to flutter to the ground. The pony was fast, but I had leg length and a lifetime of cardio backing me up. By now, we were both at a full sprint down the cobblestone road. Cowboy boots ain’t really made for running, but they would do for now.

I saw the unicorn glance back over his shoulder, a bag in his mouth. His eyes went wide as he came to the realization that I was after him at a sprint, and he doubled his effort. I am no track star, but this ain’t the first perpetrator I have had to run down before. I was gaining on him by din of my stride, being nearly twice the height of the average ponies.

Closing on him, I settled into a stride, arms pumping, boots banging off the street, breath huffing. I saw him make a move of desperation, magic grabbing a couple and yanking them down, right in front of me.

Time to go big or go home, so I took one last step, and launched myself over the falling ponies. Arms out, I hit the white unicorn hard. I found out something in the meantime. Fuck, they are bulky! The shoulder check hurt, but I didn’t have time for that. One arm around his barrel, the other around his neck, we tumbled two times on the hard stone road.

The bag he had went flying off, as he spun and tried to stab at me with his horn tip and got me, too, as a gash in my shirt opened up, that was going to hurt. He was far stronger than I was, and had me by a good fifty pounds from what I could make out.

“Get off me, freak!” the stallion as I learned later bellowed.

In return for his attack, I rolled and hooked a leg around his neck as we grappled on the ground. My left fist thrust forward and I caught him a glancing blow to the side of the head, near his temple, skipping off and grazing his horn. Suddenly, all the fight left him, and he let out a pained whinny and collapsed, his front hooves gripping the side of his head.
I took the chance to pivot around him, locking my legs tighter around him and getting both arms around his neck, tugging back to hold him in the best submission hold I could considering our differences in limbs and body shape.

“Not today, asshole,” I snarled, wrenching a bit harder to ensure I had him good.

Not a few moments later, the guards caught up, as did the girls. Two of the guards grabbed him in magical holds, the other two pushed me off him. I rolled away and got up into a squat, ready to launch back into the fight if he struggled, keeping an eye on him as the four guards brought him up on his hooves, he looked quite woozy still.

“You didn’t need to hit him in the horn, did you?”

I blinked and looked over at Twilight who looked quite upset.

“What?” I noted a ring of metal slide out of one of the guard's bags, and slide down over the crook's horn.

“A unicorn's horn is full of nerves and blood vessels. When you punched him, it was like... well, from what I am told, it feels worse than a stallion getting kicked... um, er... there.”

That caused me to blink. I turned, looking at the the scene again and chuckled. “I will keep that in mind. Thank you, Twilight.”

Catching sight of the bag where it had landed I got up, I strode over and crouching down to pick it up. I looked back over at the guards, a few more along with what looked to be some kind of LEO had started to show up.

“All right, mind if I return this?”

Before they could answer, another voice spoke up. Turning, I noted just how many ponies were staring at me, and then at the mare, another mare next to her, and two of the blue-uniformed LEO with her.

“You can,” one of the officers said.

Walking over, I held out the bag to the mare. “Here you go,, ma’am, and I hope you will consider pressing charges on the perp.”

Her magic, kind of an off-yellowish shade, reached out and took hold of the bag, levitating it down to her.

“T-thank you,” was all she said, but that was enough for me. Turning I had a face full of rainbow and blue colored mare.

“That was totally awesome! The way you took off like a bullet, you flew over the top of that couple and hit him, it was like watching hoofball and a cop movie all in one!”

I had to chuckle as she did a few shadow boxing punches and kicks in the air, and then did a loop. Feeling a tug on my side, I looked down to find Applejack holding my hat up to me. Rarity had my old oil coat laying across her back. “Right nice thing ya did there, partner.”

I took my hat back and slid it in place atop my head, briefly pausing to dust myself off before reaching out for the oil coat. “I did what was right, that is all.”

“Nonsense, darling, that was bold and reckless. But, just the kind of chivalry you have shown from the start,” Rarity, color me not surprised.

“Um, I hope you are okay, and I hope he is okay, too. Um, that is not hurt too badly,” Fluttershy, I said it before, I will say it again. She really is the physical avatar of kindness. How my own species could benefit from even one percent of her outlook.

“I am fine. Thank you, Fluttershy, for your concern” Earning a smile from her.

“Ohmygosh! You know what this calls for—”

My arm shot out and I placed my hand once more on the pink mare's muzzle. Not hard, just lightly gripping, holding it shut.

“No parties for everything I do, let's just keep it to one, when I am ready. I will let you throw me a Welcome-to-Equestria party, okay?”

She grew an even wider smile as she pulled away from my hand. “You got it!” then she had a shrewd look in her eyes. “I get to throw you a birthday party every year, too.”

I lifted my eyebrow, negotiation with a pink hyper pony? I gave a thought on her words then nodded my head. “But that is all, nothing else, agreed?” I paused. “Barring some kind of special event.”

That she perked at, then I saw her move her hoof across her chest, and then lift it to put it over her eye. “Done!”

Had I just made an accord with the Element of Laughter? Why did I feel uneasy all of the sudden? Another voice came to my left, I turned as I started to slide my arm into the coat sleeves. I found one of the royal guards that had been escorting us there.

“Sir, the Canterlot Police will need you to give a statement.”

I smiled a bit. “Of course they will. Sixty seconds of excitement, six hours of paperwork.”

---

Three hours later, I trudged my way back into the castle. Applejack, Fluttershy, and two guards had remained with me at the police station while the rest had returned. A lunar guard gestured as he emerged from the shadows. “Sir, the princesses would like a word with you.”

I muttered. “Of course,” turning and walking behind him, he lead the five of us to a larger room. I found food served on a long table, all four alicorns were there, a number of guards, the Elements all now gathered in the same place.

“Shane, I understand you had a bit of excitement,” Celestia said flatly.

I looked up. “Yeah, sorry if I caused a problem.”

She shook her head. “Not at all, I have already seen the report, as well as first-hoof reports from ponies who saw the whole thing,” pausing, she dipped her head so her eyes were looking right into my own.

“I know you had a trying night, and a long afternoon. However, I have a few questions and I think it is time I get some answers for them, yes?”

I set my jaw then gave a nod of my head. “Yeah, let me get a bite to eat and I will answer what I think you are going to ask of me.”

This week was quickly turning into one of the longest of my life. At least the food was delicious, and the company was enjoyable.