My Little Tactics

Chapter Eighteen: Training?

It was good to be back, Zecora seemed happy to have him around, Boko stuck right next to him as they walked through the snow and someone was yelling at people at the castle. Everything was normal…except for that last part. As Dustan, Zecora, and Boko got closer to the castle grounds they could hear somepony shouting and from the sounds of it, giving orders. It was no one that Dustan could recognize so he turned to his zebra friend with a questioning look.

“I see you have started to hear that noise, I thought you would have picked up on it before but now you get to see some of our joys.” Zecora told him as they padded through the snow. “This one here showed up just the other day. She has been giving orders much to everypony’s dismay. She won’t take a moment to understand what it is that we tell her-”

“Well, looks like I will have to teach her as it were.” Dustan finished the rhyme for Zecora only to see the zebra brush heavily at that. “Something wrong?”

“N-no for I do not think you understood the reason t-that would get me to blush up a storm. However in my home land that would have eyebrows raised as it’s out of the norm.” He still didn’t understand and for a moment didn’t think he would ever but the shaman finished up and helped him to understand. “For just like when a Pegasus gives another a primary feather, finishing another’s rhyme is a sign that they are together.”

Dustan could feel heat rise to his own face at his faux pa. “Sorry, didn’t mean to cause any embarrassment.”

“N-no, no, for it is okay.” She said suddenly though was looking straight ahead and not at him. “What I meant to say is that it doesn’t cause me any dismay.”

“Ahh ok, that is good.” Dustan hearing that the little bit of cultural misunderstanding was taken care of, he could now focus on the distant calls of the mare he was told of.

“You all need to work faster! No pony can be this slow!” The Mare’s voice was not at shrieking level but still loud enough that spoke volumes of her character. “Lord Warner has instructed me to whip this place into shape and to make sure that it is fit for his return. Were he not in a coma right now I am sure he would say the same things to you lazy ponies.”

‘Oh, time to have some fun.’ The human grinned as he pulled the hood up on his cloak obscuring his face and changing the gait of his walk to be a bit rougher.

As they got close Dustan was able to see there were plenty more ponies then he was lead to believe, supposedly he only had fifty workers on the project but there were more than a hundred people there of all species, though mostly pony. In front of them all though, was a mare who matched the voice that he was hearing. Someone with their nose too high in the air for his liking, wearing noble looking attire and was pointing from pony to pony trying to tell them to do their job better. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

Whispering to Zecora to play along he came up to the mare and tapped her on the shoulder. “Where me work, you truly speak for Lord Warner? How you know him?”

He had made his voice a bit gruffer then it normally was, which he knew would come to bite him in the ass later as it was hell on his throat, but the mare bought it and turning to look at him, he could tell that he never met her before. “Hmm a Diamond Dog huh? I suppose we can find some use for you. Though you want to know if I speak for Lord Warner? I resent that remark as it is by his seal that I am here.”

The pony pulled out a paper of some type with some kind of symbol that he had never seen before. “That no look like Lord Warner’s seal.” He told her in broken English.

A mare of nobility should be calm, intelligent, and most of all polite to others, this mare didn’t get that memo it seemed as her blue face turned red. “How DARE YOU! I came directly from Manehattan where Lord Warner deftly fought for everypony’s lives to keep that monstrous plague from spreading across Equestria and you dare to not only ignore my word, but refuse to believe in the mark I am clearly showing you?! Get out right now; you do not belong on Lord Warner’s property as you clearly do not know what he had to sacrifice to save yours and everypony’s life.”

Standing up fully Dustan decided to let the other boot drop. “I think you are the one who doesn’t belong here.” He told her pulling back his hood and causing the red faced pony to turn pale. “As for what was sacrificed, I would think I would know considering.”

“L-Lord Warner, I-I can explain-” Lord Warner was having none of it though.

Looking at her he would plainly ask her. “Tell me the truth, right here, right now, all of it. Do so and I might not have you arrested for fraud at the very least.”

The mare looked left and right and backed up slowly. “I-I-” Then her horn went off, a flashbang like effect went off causing Dustan and several others to cry out in pain. “I won’t be taken in! I was going to have a good life here, I was going to be a noble again with you in a coma, I was going to-OOMPH!”

The Squire could hear struggling but his eyes were watering and screaming at him in pain. By the time his eyes came back into focus the fight was over. Merlene was atop of the unicorn who was now unconscious and tied up. Flapping her wings she swooped over to where Dustan was still slightly recovering.

“My Lord, are you alright?” Normally he would reprimand her for using the term Lord, but seeing as how he used it not too long ago and she caught the unicorn, he was more than willing to let it slide this time.

“Good job Merlene. Thanks for your help.” He told her and even with his ever improving vision he could see her fluff up at the compliment. “See if you can get a couple of volunteers and take her to Ponyville to get booked for fraud. I personally don’t have a seal as I am not a Lord beyond Land lord, so that was an obvious fake. She must have used my coma to come here to take control. Not sure why, but maybe the guard can get it out of her.”

“Yes my Lord!” She gave a salute and before she even had to call she had volunteers from a couple of the ponies he didn’t recognize.

With that the problem of the bossy mare was quickly solved and overall it seemed that many were really happy about that. Or least it seemed that way till he heard the cheers of Lord Warner. He was obviously confused about that for sure and eventually had to call for the crowd to calm down.

“Ok, not going to lie, apparently you all know me, while nice in that it saves on the need to give out introductions, that doesn’t mean I know all the unfamiliar faces or why they are here. So as such, after I get done talking to Sturdy and the progress of the castle I want anyone that has never met me to personally start an orderly line to introduce themselves to me.” Apparently everyone found that agreeable, or he would like to think so as the cheers were loud and he sighed if they were heard at all.

Eventually he was able to find and pull aside Sturdy for the conversation he wanted and the update. “Well boss as you can see, we managed the castle grounds pretty well in that we have full cobblestone brickwork under our feet for the entire courtyard and the wall so the outside is done though we did leave some places where gardens would look nice. We have currently rebuilt the entire barracks, we also have a smithy rebuilt and funny enough Allure already has someone filling the role so the need for tool repair went down a good bit from the cost, though it has been replaced in the budget with material cost for the repairs.”

“I understand and thanks for telling me about that.” With the money he seen that he got from the Princess that was now collecting in his bank account, he could funnel in more money and truly finish off the estimated building cost for sure.

“Beyond that, we got a bakery up and running but the position hasn’t been filled yet, a woodcutters hut, cobbler, tailor, the mill is half way to being done, we also have the gathering hall, brewery, and bath house done, of which the latter is already being used daily.” Sturdy chuckled suddenly and looked to his crew. “Did you know this castle had a built in hot spring that just needed some unclogging? I sure didn’t till I found a group of my ponies milling around in a makeshift bathing area. They thought I was mad at first but then I told them that it was now their project to make it an actual nice bathhouse.” Pointing a wing Dustan could see the work they did and it was very nice reminding him of Japanese bathhouses he seen in anime where it was separated to males and females.

Nodding and giving a thumbs up, something he knew this crew would recognize considering all the time he helped out before. “Not going to lie, that is going to be wonderful to visit later especially with the cold around. Anything else?”

This was when the pegasus got a bit sheepish and quite. “Well there are two things, but one of them you don’t have to worry about too much…I think.” Ok his attention had been gotten. “Well the castle will need a carpenter and mason building and we already built it, and well, I technically can fill in for both, but-”

“You were wondering if you needed permission or something to be the castles official one for those titles?” Seeing him nod with apprehension Dustan recalled the praise he had given as well as permission in how it seemed to startle the pegasus before it made sense. “Sure go for it.” He watched as Sturdy’s head snapped up to him and went wide eyed. “Now now, don’t think this is something I am doing out of generosity, I want you to work hard around here and keep things nice alright?” Truth was it was out of generosity but also because he knew of all ponies or anyone really Sturdy would appreciate and respect the post more than anyone.

Sturdy wiped his eyes with one of his forelegs before saluting with his wing. “No problem Lord Warner, I will do my best to be the best Carpenter and Mason you have ever seen.”

“You already are, just keep it up. Make use of the building if you and your crew haven’t already.” Dustan smiled at the emotional pony as he was positively quivering with excitement.

However that stopped when he remembered something. “Oh right the other thing. Allure has donated some of her own funds from the guild; she is putting up a guild house in the castle grounds if that is alright. If not we can turn the building into something else.”

‘Hmm that is a good question, should I allow that?’ The Squire thought about it for a bit weighing both options but in the end it came down to a few thoughts. ‘With a guild stationed here, it means jobs will be available as well as bring in commerce. The fame I supposedly gave to the guild will help in that regard as well and possibly bring many to live here come time. Will mean the castle will get income for a small bit of payments for the building space and what not. I might have to run a clause that says if the guild does any damages they will have to pay for it themselves though.’ Nodding he gave another thumbs up. “It's fine. I don’t mind at all.”

With that settled Dustan settled in finding a stool he could use so that the castle ‘guests’ could introduce themselves. Zecora went off to check the potted herbs in winter to make sure the enchanted vases were keeping them safe from the winter cold. Boko cuddled up to his side and settled her head on his lap for scratches. He really should get to finding where she came from and where the Chocobos in the area went. The first few guests that the human encountered were mostly fans or those that approved of him going out of his way to help others and had come to help him continue on that. It was about the sixth or seventh guest where he started to see the start of a trend. It was about the twenty some odd person that he was sure of it.

“I don’t understand, can you tell me a bit clearer why you are here?” Dustan asked the latest pony to repeat themselves.

“Of course sir.” The pony was an earth pony that stood tall and was currently in armor that surely must be keeping her cold. “I came here to receive training from the world’s foremost monster hunter of unique creatures that are unknown to Equestria.”

Nodding for a moment Dustan had to say something. “Ok one: what makes you think I am the foremost of anything. Second: how did you come to that conclusion?”

The pony seemed baffled by this before answering him. “Sir, Princess Cadance mentioned that you had exclusive knowledge of the creature in Manehattan and was the only individual who could come up with a plan at all. Your knowledge was so extensive that not only did it radically change the outcome with just it alone, but you devised a strategy so masterful that there are currently some classes being taught on its brilliance.”

That was news to him, not the first part but the second. “There are classes being taught about it?”

She nodded and smiled. “Yes sir. Somepony looked at your work and realized how brilliant it was and brought it to the attention of scholars in the field of warfare. They said it was simple, effective, and allowed for many interchangeable variables that could be used in other fields not only for this but warfare, capture, and more. Some are even looking to adapt it to chariot usage for aerial combat.”

‘Why do I get the feeling I either fucked up way too badly on this or I kick started something that is wonderful.’ Looking to the pony he smiled and nodded. “Well it’s good to hear my efforts are appreciated though I never intended them to be seen like that. I personally thought it was a simple strategy that allowed the most flexibility in teams minus the barrier mages. Allowed for squads to move out and be self sufficient.”

The pony nodded and pointed her hoof at him. “That is it exactly, before squads weren’t divided up that way. You had assault teams, defenders, medics, and more all separate. Strategists thought that having medics, mages, or others all mixed together would not only cause a conflict of interest but put high valued targets in harm’s way.”

‘Really? Am I more surprised that they thought that or more surprised that a friendly cartoon show about talking mini horses don’t know about basic squad compositions. Maybe I play too many RPG’s with a tank, support, healer, attack, and magic roles for a balanced party.’ Sighing and while he hated the idea of having to teach anyone about these kinds of tactics since he felt like he wouldn’t be a good teacher, Dustan did think this needed to happen if pony tactics were so horrible. “You know what, go through everyone here and ask them if they are here for training. That can be your first job in helping me organize things. Gather them over there where construction isn’t going on.”

She saluted and smiled “Yes Sir!” As she was leaving he had to admit that there was something…off about the pony. Maybe it was her tail which wasn’t normal looking more like a deer’s tail and her hooves being a different shape. Overall she looked like a pony except for those things, super colorful with her hooves and fluffy underbelly being green, her mane a type of blue that he wouldn’t call aqua but close, with a white spot on the bridge of her muzzle black body that was a gradient into violet.

Because of that the line of ponies reduced drastically to mostly the new construction workers saying they came for the chance to work on The Hero of Manehattan’s home. While it was very flattering for sure, Dustan wasn’t sure how to take all of it. Was it a good or bad thing he got famous, was what the people heard accurate or an exaggeration and did any of them care to get to know the real him? That didn’t matter now, what mattered is taking care of this problem and decide what he wanted to do with it.

There were at least about half as many here as there were current constructors though if he had to make a guess maybe thirty to forty individuals. “Ok, so from what it seems like all of you came here for some kind of training. I have no clue what you have heard of me, from what source, or why it is you think that I would be a good teacher. Honestly I am not sure how good of a teacher I will be. I might be a lousy one and honestly that is where I would place my bet. However you all here think you can learn SOMETHING from me, what that is, I have no clue. So before I confirm or deny taking any of you on, I have to ask, do any of you have experience with combat before this or military training?”

A few ponies stepped forward along with the dragon that was with them and the weird gradient pony from before. “Sir!” The dragon addressed them with a masculine voice matching his rather buff exterior. “I am a contracted mercenary that often is called on to run physical training exercise for military squads or companies.”

That was surprising but that was something Dustan could definitely use. “Alright, I will keep that in mind. If I am to train people PT time will be scheduled as I want everyone, pony, dragon, griffon, what have you no matter the race, species, or subtype to be able to be called physically fit.”

The dragon took a relaxed at ease pose and smiled at that before the next pony came up: A unicorn. “Sir!” This one was female from the sound of her voice but he couldn’t tell anything else as she was wearing a heavy cloak. “I am a former ERG, Equestrian Royal Guard for those not familiar with the anagram, and I often taught fellow guards spells and found I was good enough to teach for a while. I was dismissed a while back for supposedly taking bribes for students to pass grades but I assure you that I did no such thing.”

“Thank you for your honesty but forgive me if I still keep an eye on you.” Weirdly he believed her innocence.

The next couple of ponies were royal guards that wanted training from the hero while last pony was the earth pony deer look alike. “Sir! I am a border guard, or at least I was. I was fired from my post on suspicion of fraternizing with an enemy.”

Dustan had to ask because he had seen it so much now that it was almost expected the answer to be standard. “Because you aren’t entirely a pony?”

“That is correct sir.” She sounded a bit down about that and hoped it wasn’t something that was common with who she was. Self hate could be so destructive and he would know. “My grandfather was of the reindeer and he is the one that has gifted me with my current look.” The way she said it left no doubt that she disliked her genetics for sure making Dustan inwardly sigh. “I have been used as a scout in the past and am very nimble on my feet.”

Ok he had all the info that he needed for now before he would address the small crowd. “Do you know the reason I called for experienced people to step forward?” The crowd mumbled a few things before he explained. “Because all these individuals are better trained then I am. That is right I have zero military experience.”

“But the Manehattan creature!” One pony called from the group.

“Is one creature that I know about, what it is weak against and a few other details that no one else there knew about.” Dustan honestly was trying to get them to doubt him as much as possible. Anyone with doubts shouldn’t follow someone they couldn’t trust.

However the next pony caused his confidence to falter. “But what about the unusual magics and techniques you wield?”

Scratching the back of his head he simply said. “Yeah I do wield some weird stuff for sure.”

“Well we want to learn those!” The pony called back out sparking interest in those that were doubting him before.

“I am not even sure other species can learn those abilities. As far as I know they were unique to my species.” While that is what he said what he thought was a tad different. ‘For the most part, depends on if Tactics Advanced rules are being applied.’

The next pony’s question threw him for a bigger loop however. “What about the Goblin Camp incident?”

“Excuse me?” Dustan had to hear that question again just to make sure he heard right.

“You know, the incident with the slave camp that happened here in the Everfree. Ponies from all over were kidnapped. You helped saved them but supposedly the pony who earned credit did something and had you removed from being mentioned.” Dustan was flabbergasted, he was sure that only himself, Logistics’ team, and the Princesses were even aware of that deal.

“Where did you hear that?” His curiosity was too much for this, he HAD to know.

The pony offering the information was all too happy to tell him though. “There are rumors going all around about it, interviews with prisoners of the incident, those that were there, royal guards that were on the scene, and more all describing similar things too much to be a coincidence. So is it true?”

Deny or support, break his oath for glory and fame, or keep his word as he said he would for his own personal honor and knowing he upheld a deal even if he didn’t like it. “I am sorry, but I am going to have to deny things here. As the books will tell you, I had no part in that event at all.” He hated his nature at time.

However the reaction was nearly the opposite of what he thought, mostly because others had to but in now. “He is lying you know.” Whipping his head around he caught Sturdy along with Merlene and Eden all standing there looking at him. “We were there; we were rescued by Dustan there. Logistics Trail was nowhere to be seen. The only ones we saw were Dustan and a small squad of ponies that come to rescue those of us in cages from our fate. He led us, he healed us, he protected us, and he killed for us.”

Merlene took it from there picking up where Sturdy left off. “He led us out of darkness to find the light in ourselves when we had given up hope not only on life but on all things good.”

“He bled for us and never once came to ask for anything from us, not even a thank you.” Eden, whom was normally as quiet as Fluttershy, was the one that spoke up loudly then. “From my own interactions here and from what others who have gotten to know him we all know that it’s not his nature to seek thanks, nor to be compensated for doing the right thing. Dustan just does it.”

The human was astonished, he honestly didn’t feel like he deserved the praise he was getting, nor did he feel like it was well placed. Problem was seeing the looks on the people he had come to know so well he knew that their feelings were genuine and that took his words from him completely.

“These individuals are not wrong.” The clear voice of his shaman housemate came up. “If one were to ask him, he would say he isn’t at all strong.” Shaking her head and smiling she continued. “However one only needs to get to know him to know this, his strength comes to the brim. Of this I have no doubt that his nature isn’t to flaunt or taunt. Just as he doesn’t do what he does for want.” Damn was he getting choked up? All those people saying such good things for him had his eyes tearing up. “For no better friend have I ever had. Dustan is there for all things, happy, mellow, or sad.”

Giving a sniff he had to wipe his eyes now as Sturdy took up the conversation again. “There you have it. He has his flaws for sure, cursing being one of them when he gets annoyed or upset.”

“Thinking he is lesser then his station.” The griffon bodyguard said next.

The soft spoken unicorn gardener finished. “Or thinking he isn’t useful at all and being too hard on himself.”

“Geez, sweet talk me anymore and you will get me in bed everyone.” That got a chuckle out of everyone present and a blush from Zecora at his joke as likely she was remembering his earlier faux pa. However because of what they said it drastically changed his plans but he was ok with it. “Well there you have it folks, I am hard on myself, curse a lot, I think bad of myself often, have no military training or formal training for that matter, and I may or may not be able to pass on what I know to others. Be that as it may, it is your choice now. If you want to continue and stay, to train and what not, live here and learn, then stay where you are. If you wish to leave and head home back to what is likely a sure thing from whatever station you had before, then go for it I won’t think any less of you.” When not a single individual moved he gave a surprised sound. “Huh, well will you look at that?”

The next week saw many challenges for him indeed not only at the castle but elsewhere. At the castle, because he insisted on helping his new trainees train he went to PT with everyone and found out that he wasn’t in as bad of a shape as he thought. He was keeping up rather proudly of himself and not getting as winded as he might have when he first came to Equestria. Whether that be to his unique abilities or because he had gotten into such good shape from the food and exercise he has gotten was up for debate in his head though.

One thing was clear though, the ones who needed the most physical training were the unicorns, whom he told would need a basic level of ability to run at the very least if they wanted to be trained. For the most part he left the training to the dragon, whom was named Tremor. Turns out Dragons have the ability to compress their size down so it looks like they are younger than they actually are. Tremor was a fully mature adult and changed his size one day to prove it. He was named Tremor because he showed early signs of his mass compression ability and as such always had a heavier footstep then other dragons his own age. How he looked now was twice as tall as a teenage dragon from the show looked with rather large wings that he said were for gliding rather than flying at his current size at best.

Violet glow was in charge of magical training and Dustan’s request was to get basics down to a good enough point all around. Levitation, magical light, and those types of things to make them versatile and so they would be comfortable holding a weapon in their levitation. Mostly though he wanted to know who was capable of what, offense, defense, support, healing, and so on. From what he could tell she would be able to bring out the traits of the others doing so.

Fading Dawn was the name of the deer pony hybrid and she was in charge of training those who would be scouts. He told them plainly that in this forest scouts would be invaluable on the ground as air scouting was nearly useless with the trees providing a thick canopy which couldn’t really be seen through. She proved to be just like her name in that she faded in and out of sight quickly and with little to no sound. While she may have hated her heritage there was no doubt it helped lend her a helping hand in her silence while moving through the brush. Turns out she would also start growing antlers in spring which he didn’t think does would. She said both male and female deer grew antlers here and that the larger they were allowed to be, it meant the more status a deer had. While weird he accepted that and moved on.

The other soldiers that joined were in charge of basic teachings like maintenance of equipment and what not. Suitable jobs for sure, mostly because Dustan himself had no clue what to do with them after his bigger plans were used up and had asked them what they could do to fill in the gaps. That is what they chose to do when given the choice. Overall Dustan was pleased, he saw where he stood on the scales of stamina and strength compared to some and he was getting others prepared for changing Equestria in a hopefully good direction.

However something unexpected happened in that even as they were training, more and more individuals wanting training arrived, from Manehattan, Canterlot, Los Pegasus, Griffonstone, The Dragonlands, and more. While ponies were still the main body of attendance at the castle, it was quickly becoming a normal sight to see other races, something he was honestly happy for. Well at least till a familiar sight caught him, literally.

“It’s you!” Then a pony body hitting him and knocking him down in a hug. “I can’t believe it’s true you are training anyone that comes by looking for it. I wanna train too!” When the stars stopped spinning around Dustan’s head he found he was looking at the familiar feathered pegasus that was at the hospital during his fight of flight response. “I am Summer Breeze, here to help Lord Warner.”

“Ok, first things first.” The eager look on her face said it all before he had to crush that eager look. “Get off me, you are heavy.”

For a moment she didn’t seem to understand then looked down and realized she was sitting on his chest and stomach. “Oh sorry.” She managed to blush as she said it getting off of him quickly with a flap of her wings.

Getting the air back in his lungs was a bit of a problem as he felt his body already bruising up, however a quick Cure spell fixed that right up impressing many who were around to see that as it was the first time he had shown off one of his spells to them while they had been there. “Ok first things first. Find Tremor, he is a dragon and he is our PT leader around here. He will run you through your paces the first chance he can get and see where you stand.”

She smiled and saluted “Sir yes Sir!” With that she took flight looking for the dragon which wasn’t that hard to do all things considered.

Beyond the whole mess of new people he found the mane six hanging around more, Twilight and Spike for the new experiences and cultures, with Spike being more interested in the couple of dragons that had showed up. Pinkie Pie as she kept an active count of people to throw a massive party for she said as well as she kept eyeing Dustan when she thought he wasn’t looking which kind of made him nervous to be honest. Applejack kept coming by to deliver apples and apple goods as apparently the guild was paying her to make them along with Sugarcube corner netting her a rather nice profit. She also was here to talk to Eden a lot as was Fluttershy whom had made friends with the gardening unicorn.

Rarity was a different matter, often coming here having been hired by Allure to start decorating the barracks and other places as that is where many people that had come to the castle was staying, save for his room that had been left untouched. Finally there was Rainbow Dash. He personally had not seen her all that much but it seemed she and Merlene were getting along quite nicely, the only reason he knew that at all was one he often saw her flying off and heard others talking about the budding friendship of those two. Honestly he had been meaning to talk to Rainbow Dash for a while now, as when he woke up from his coma the idea had been swirling around in his head.

The other thing he had come to learn was that the show’s season was coming to a close, as there were only four episodes not accounted for. Winter Wrap up was going to happen at the end of Winter for sure, but the Party of One and Best Night Ever from the looks of things was going to happen at the start of spring, though in what order he wasn’t sure, same for A Bird in the Hoof of which he was looking forward to for a variety of reasons. Looking back at things in that sense he was coming up to the one year anniversary of him arriving in Equestria and it was a somber thought for sure. Though he was thankful for all the things to keep him busy as he really only found those thoughts happening before bed.

In the week he had been back he had also discovered something else as well. He had finally went back to the classroom and had enough points to by something he had put off for too long: The Squire’s ability of JP Boost. He had the points for it he finally felt he was good enough to survive everything that could from the wild so he could afford the luxury that was this ability now. Except when he went to activate it, it glowed red and told him one simple thing.
“Da fuck you mean ability disabled?!” Dustan shouted at the screen in front of him. “Come on!” Over and over again he pressed it and growled. “If you are disabled will you ever been enabled? If not, why are you even there?” It was as if the screen heard him as the ability went gray then vanished from the list. “No…Oh COME ON!”

After that Dustan searched out other abilities that were like that but found none. Hell he already had some other abilities he thought would likely be banned like that one but nope, everything else seemed up for grabs. It was just the JP Boost. Whatever forces dictated the rules of his little adventure here seemed to want him to earn every single point he spent. However with JP Boost gone, he was that much closer to Mastering Squire. He only had a couple of abilities left to learn. Counter Tackle and Beast Master. Chemist was looking good as well and would likely be his next Mastered job if not for the fact there were more skills to learn. Luckily enough though because of his time with Zecora all of that was almost done as well, with only Elixir, Remedy, Auto-Potion, and Safeguard being left.

However this brought with it something…unique. “Oh yeah, Onion Knight is a thing.” He was staring at the plumed helmeted stand with a smile on his face. “Too bad you are so weak till other jobs are mastered. Squire, Chemist, Mime and Dark Knight not counting towards it is a shame for sure but neat that you are unlocked now.”

His other classes were coming along fine, though now he had run into a problem two stands had opened up again but they were gray unlike the other vibrant colors of the stands surrounding him: Orator and Summoner. The latter bothering him greatly as it was one of his favorite classes in any Final Fantasy. Did he need approval or something from them like the others to fully start receiving their power? There was also the feeling he kept getting every time he came to the Classroom. It was honestly starting to bug him and there were a time or two in the recent trips since he awoke from his coma that he wondered around looking for the source of the feeling. He never found it though.

Something else he noticed was that coming to the classroom was becoming easier and easier as he slept, though he was getting a lot better rest now. A good bed, warm home, sense of accomplishment, and drifting off to the Final Fantasy Prologue in music box form all went a long way to making him feel great about the day he had. Dustan put it on his list to try to figure out a way to come to the Classroom easier then at the end of the day. However that was for another time.

The next thing on Dustan’s list was preparing for Hearth’s Warming. He had gotten his shopping done before his trip to Manehattan but he had yet to wrap up the presents. Luckily no one had found where he hid them, that secret compartment that was under the bed in his barracks room where he hid his pack and Blood Sword before he was abducted that one time. As he was wrapping each and every present before storing them back to their hidey hole he smiled as it felt like a great gift for each of those he considered friends. Zecora, Spike, Sturdy, Eden, Mystic, Twilight, Merlene, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Scale Allure, Celestia, Luna, Cadance and by proxy, Shining Armor. He had gifts for them all.

True the gifts for Mystic and Twilight were identical and not something that was bought but rather made, he still felt it would make them happy. For Zecora it was something he had found and was trying to cultivate on his own but so far had only done so much with it. Spike’s gift was easy to find but not cheap but would be worth it. Similarly Sturdy’s gift wasn’t cheap but for different reasons and would be highly valued he was sure. Still Eden was simple to shop for and he was sure that she would love her gift. Merlene…he was still on the fence about giving this item but she had earned it through her constant devotion. For Applejack, well he was just glad there was a stasis seal on his gift or they would have died before the chance was even given to give them. Dash was simple to get a gift for but she would look at it like it was a treasure without value he was sure.

Rarity’s gift took him a long time to plan out for and even longer to make arrangements for but he had gotten it put together and had cost a good bit to actually get his hands on but Dustan knew that it was something she would feel strongly about. Fluttershy surprisingly was one of the hardest to shop for, she really had everything she wanted in her life but once he finally figured it out he smiled. Pinkie Pie’s gift was practical and suited her wants so he was sure that she would love it. Allure’s gift, because he didn’t know her as well as he liked, was sadly not as impressive as he would have liked it to have been but hopefully she would like it. The last four on his list were the most difficult to shop for as three of them were the mares with everything money could buy if they wanted it. In the end for Celestia it just took time to put her gift together. For Luna, that gift took time and some hush money from the one he asked to work on it. Cadance took time as well as wasn’t sure what to get her. In the end the gift ended up being just as much for her as it would for Shining Armor.

For the last four he had to mail those in packages with extra fragile on some, or heavy load on the other. However he figured that he would either get a thank you card in a few days, or he would be paying for the mistake in the idea of it. Only time would tell. Tomorrow was Hearth’s Warming eve and he was looking forward to spending time with his friends.

Author's Notes:

Not going to lie, this chapter almost wasn't done in time for the deadline this week. Luckily inspiration struck at the last moment and I powered through it. That being said, now I need a nap as I was up all last night finishing the chapter. Literally wrote half the chapter last night haha.
Haha
Ha
*Ded**Snores*