My Little Tactics

Chapter Twenty: Weighted Secrets.

The cheek of the earth pony bounced off his fist as sweat was pouring down his body. Dustan had little time to actually take a break though as a Pegasus was coming in hot, the only reason he knew that they were even there is a strange humming sound from above. Whatever the reason for the humming it worked to his advantage as he quickly rushed the staggering earth pony he had just decked in the face and used them as a springboard flipping around and delivering a move that looked like it belonged in street fighter to the Pegasus swooping in as the Monk flipped around and used his centripetal force to give some oomph to his kick. This caused the flying feather pony to give out a yell as they dropped to the ground squirming hard.

With those two down Dustan stood up from his landing looking around at those watching the fight. “As you can see, I beat them kinda easily. Anyone want to tell me why?”

Mystic was the first to pipe up today as he was watching the demonstration, no doubt to research the human some more. “Was it something to do with your magic?” Shaking his head to the pony Mystic gave a quick tap to the ground with his hoof creating a click that sounded like a finger snap. “Darn.”

The next hand, or rather wing, to be raised came from the large winged pony that had joined before the holidays. “You seemed to be everywhere so you were faster than them.”

Shakes his head to that and smiles wondering who would get it. “You were more experienced than them.”

Turning his head he found himself staring at the deep voiced dragon in their midst’s. “Correct Tremor, I have more experience than those two who kept rushing at me, though the dive was a good idea for sure. It almost caught me off guard if not for the buzzing sound you made for some reason.”

The pegasus he kicked got up and shook herself off. “Darn, I knew I shouldn’t have put off my preening.” Lifting up her wing he saw a bent feather and realized that is what was causing the buzzing: A stray feather catching the wind incorrectly as it rushed by.

“Try to always keep yourself fit, which means proper sleep, food, and body care. Be it horn, wing, hoof, hand, or what have you, try to keep it all taken care of.” He gave a smile off before taking a towel and starting to wipe off. “Most of you don’t understand this but ponies in general are stronger and faster than humans. We, humans I mean, tend to rely on endurance more than anything. So once you are all properly trained, get some experience under your belts you all should be making me work for wins not the other way around.” Putting the towel around his neck he looked at them all. “Now, anyone else want to complain about the regiment that I have you all on?” Whereas before there had been plenty which sparked the little match, now there were none. “Good, I expect you all to work harder than you all had done before. Dismissed.”

The trainees had all scattered to the four winds as it were, some literally in fact, as Dustan heard a deep throated chuckled approach him from behind. “Leaving out one other bit are we not?”

Looking back at Tremor Dustan started to roll his shoulders helping the building lactic acid he could feel to loosen up. “Not that I can think of.”

The dragon continued to chuckle as he looked down at the human. “Come on, even an experienced fighter like myself could see it.” Dustan looked at him with confusion making the dragon slowly stop his throaty noises of amusement. “You honestly don’t know do you?”

“Honestly if you see something I don’t then feel free to tell me.” The human started to use the towel to wipe off more sweat from various places that he could reach while waiting for an answer from the dragon.

“Hmm maybe you haven’t noticed because it is normal to you.” The monk watched as the dragon reached down to pick up a twig before turning around. The none reptilian ears of the male picked up a serious of breaks in rapid succession before the dragon turned around. “Do me a favor and watch.”

“Ok.” Curious to see where this was going Dustan watched as Tremor tossed the broken pieces of the stick up then quickly snatched them with his other clawed hand. “Ok what was I supposed to see?”

“How many pieces of the branch did I just toss into the air?” The question confused him more than a tad bit.

“I don’t get it. Is this supposed to be a trick question?” Seeing the dragon shake his head the human sighed and rubbed his head. “Ok five why?”

“Follow me.” Doing as the trainer of his guard instructed he followed only to watch as the dragon administered the test to various others. One by one what Dustan slowly realized was something strange.

“None of them can follow that?” He spoke it out loud as the dragon was testing Merlene now who managed the closest answer of four, well the closest honest answer as guesses were not allowed.

“Nope.” Was the simple answer of the brown dragon as he looked between the griffon and the human.

Speaking of griffon she seemed to sense something up and had to ask. “Are you saying you can follow that My Lord?” When he nodded he saw her eyes grow wide. “How?”

“Your Lord has a keen sense of reaction, not just in how fast he can adjust to things but how fast he can process them in his brain.” The dragon poked a talon to his head making him wince as it was a bit hard and sharp to be poked with. “Eyesight wise, dragons possess the greatest of all the species with this ability as we are apex hunters. We need keen eyes for gems to see both their quality and prey from high up. We also make steep dives to snatch up our prey so we need to be able to make split second decisions on when to pull up.” Poking him again causing Dustan to mutter an ‘ouch’ Tremor went on. “For the most part pony, griffon, minotaur, you name it, would hunt our kind for our threat. It never went well for them, all except a few. Those few have reactionary capabilities similar to our own that is what allows them to fight on our level. Dustan here seems to be among that level of reactions. It does explain a few things.”

“My Lord, is that normal among your species?” Merlene’s question should have been easy to answer. It should have been a straight up yes.

However Dustan started to think back, was his eyesight always so keen? Was it so clear and precise? He would like to think so, but if so then that would mean there were so many humans whose reaction time was way better then himself at this moment. The thing was, Dustan remembered the first time he could remember thinking dodging something was easy, fighting against the palace ponies in Canterlot. It had been so easy...too easy. It was a matter of his speed being upped thanks to him leveling up. Was this also such a thing that it could be attributed to?

“Honestly I am not sure. I would like to say yes, but the more I think about things the more I want to say no as well.” Dustan’s answer seemed to satisfy the dragon but not Merlene.

For her part she looked upset, but for what reason Dustan wasn’t sure, while Tremor seemed to smile and pat him on the back. “Learning more about oneself helps one to be a greater warrior. Hopefully this will lead you to becoming even stronger. I hope to one day see you as talented enough to challenge as an equal without lowering myself.”

Tremor’s statement wasn’t anything new. Since after the first week he had arrived and started helping with training regiments and to learn things himself, he stated his real reason was to grow as a warrior learning new techniques and strategies from others as well as to challenge stronger opponents. He had also stated while Dustan was unique he wasn’t special in his eyes as he was still far below him but not without potential. It was for that reason he had stayed to help bring him up and bring about a satisfying challenge.

With that being said Merlene went off as did Tremor as Dustan went to the bathhouse to wash up. Soaking up the warm water was nice though he was likely only in the weakest part of the spring since spring was around now. The last few months had been a trying challenge for sure. Winter Wrap-Up had been rather boring for him since his job had been as a guard and bouncer pretty much in that any animal that got too aggressive from being woken up suddenly would have him to deal with. Needless to say it sucked wearing armor in the cold and one he didn’t want to do again anytime soon.

A Bird in the Hoof had been an episode he had wanted to happen a lot. Philomena’s presence and molting as she was about go through her next life cycle provided Dustan ample opportunity to go around helping the girl’s, especially Fluttershy, as they tried to care for the bird. It was also hard in that he had to keep his mouth shut more than a few times as he almost blabbed about the phoenix and their lifestyles. However in the end it was worth it as there was now three examples of a deus ex machina that he could interject into MLP if worse came to worse.

The other episodes went by quickly as well, Owlowiscious was now part of the treebary, the girls had recounted their cutie mark stories, the buffalo made peace with the ponies, and overall every episode was accounted for, all except one. It was the one he had to get ready for this night. During the Philomena debacle when Celestia was about to leave she had hoofed him a proper invitation to the gala, something he was not looking forward to. That didn’t mean he didn’t have a plan for the ball though. Regardless he wasn’t looking forward to the ball at all. He was given an extra ticket in case anyone wished to come with him, however the only ones he wanted to invite were either all busy or didn’t care to come, and by only ones he wanted to invite, he meant Zecora and Merlene.

Zecora had no desire to mingle with the snobby unicorns of Canterlot, not that he could blame her, and Merlene had the day off and had no desire to go to a stuffy ball, again not that he could blame her. Mystic didn’t like the nobles either, Eden and Steady would be on a date that night, and it just seemed overall like everyone he knew had some reason not to go.

‘Lucky sonsa-’ Dunking himself under the water quickly for the last bit of his soak he proceeded to get out. Having washed before soaking it was left now just to dry off and head to his room to get his suit out. He didn’t dress himself right away as he did some maintenance from combing his hair, shaving his stubble off so that he was nice and smooth, which was something that sucked to learn initially as a straight razor was hell to learn when one had never touched one before. His hair being done up nice, face clean, B.O. in check with a quick spritz of cologne and Dustan was fit for polite company.

Meeting the girls out in front of the boutique he smiled at seeing them in their Gala dresses in person. “Well, don’t you girls look lovely tonight.”

“Oh my darling, a mare must look her best for the Gala.” Rarity called out with her tiara staying pristinely on her head as her glass slippers, as they were in the shape of such that Dustan refused to think of them as horseshoes, looked as delicate as glass.

Applejack trotted up with her boots and saddle, something of which he could have sworn he heard was a promiscuous thing or at least risqué to wear. “Well Ah reckon that ya clean up nicely yourself big guy.”

Shrugging and looking at his tux, Dustan moved up to take his seat in the apple carriage, the one he knew that Twilight changed earlier today from the show, with the girls climbing inside and Spike climbing up beside him and taking the reins for the volunteers that would be pulling the carriage. Along the way he could hear the girls talking about their plans and what they wanted to do only to have Spike get disappointed.

“I planned out my insider’s tour of Canterlot.” The little dragon spoke excitedly. “I gotta show Rarity the Crown jewels, and Applejack the Princess’s golden apple tree.” The dragon turned towards the window of the carriage and spoke. “And Pinkie I gotta go to my favorite donut shop.” Turning back around Spike reared up in his seat. “Then let's get moving! He-YA!”

With that he snapped the reins causing the beige pony that was pulling then to turn around. “Excuse me!”

The gray pony that was helping to pull the carriage turned around and started to shake his hoof. “If you weren’t friends with our neighbor Rarity-” The clinking of Dustan’s double swords, something he refused to leave without, pulled the attention of both stallions, as well as Spike, as Dustan merely let his eyebrow raise curiously. “-hmph.” Both stallions turned and started to pull once more with the dragon wiping off the sweat that was coming from his head.

“Don’t worry. Once I greet Celestia no matter what I will stick with you ok?” The human told the smaller biped as he faced forward and closed his eyes not seeing the dragon look at him with a smile.

Truthfully it had been almost a year since he saw any trace of the show and his memory was not infallible. He was starting to run into more and more instances he couldn’t remember or instances he swore were not in the source material. More and more when the moments for the episodes happened, he was finding himself going ‘Oh yeah that did happen didn’t it?’ or ‘Oh I remember now, that is about to happen!’ inside his mind.

When they arrived Spike dismounted in a rather acrobatic fashion as Dustan’s own shoes landed with a thud. Adjusting his swords on either side of his hips, his Blood Sword and the Coral Sword, he straightened out his attire. Dustan honestly couldn’t wait till he learned how to dual wield from the Ninja class then he could use both weapons at the same time.

“Wow you guys look great!” The call of the dragon made the human sigh and lock part of his emotions up. He could warn Spike or the girls on how this night was going to go, but it was a good lesson for them so much so that it would not have been right for him to take that from them. Especially since them not learning it might have future consequences, something he was always on the lookout to avoid where he could.

The music started and then the singing. The ponies all pranced in unison and the human got to see something that was slightly funny. When they were in their imaginations thinking on what will be the best night ever, their bodies mimicked what was going on, so it was rather funny to see Fluttershy nuzzling imaginary animals, Rarity being Rarity for no one in particular, or even Applejack on an invisible pile of bits.

The musical was winding down as he could hear the fireworks outside exploding in culmination to the music of harmony all ending with. “-At the Gala!”

Spike then came sliding in on his knees like something from a movie or a soccer player. “YEAH! This is going to be the best night ever. You know why? Cause we are all going to spend time at the Gala to-” Just like that the girls were gone, so fast that they left Spike spinning in place, though Dustan did stop him rather quickly so he wouldn’t be super dizzy. “-gether. Or not.” Looking up from his shoulder the dragon sighed a bit. “Well at least you didn’t abandon me Dustan.”

“Right I promised I wouldn’t after all. Now walk with me, I got to greet Celestia really quick then we can go do the stuff you mentioned. I honestly want to what you had planned.” ‘That and get away from all the snooty up nosed ponies here.’ Thought Dustan as when the song and dance had stopped the ponies all went back to normal and he was catching more and more looks and whispers being thrown his way.

“I just wish the others would as well.” The tux wearing purple pony raised dragon said causing the human to pat his head.

“Don’t worry, good or bad time I bet they will all realize that parties like this aren’t for everyone. We have to accept that and hope that nothing bad happens.” Walking up the steps he could see that Twilight had already made it up to the Princess and kept trying to speak only for another pony to show up and greet the object of her attention.

When it came time for his turn Dustan smiled. “Ahh, greetings human, how fares your time at the Gala?”

“Hopefully short and sweet.” He told her honestly. “No offense, the Gala sucks.” There were a couple of gasps behind as those in line heard what he said. “It’s not for everyone and honestly I will have more fun elsewhere. I just came to greet you since you were polite enough to send the invite. I didn’t have anyone else to come with as they were all busy.”

“I mean who would want to go with such a creature?” The snooty laughter behind him was ignored for now.

“Anyways, enjoy yourself Celestia, I am sure you have figured out something to entertain you tonight.” With that he turned to Spike who was looking at him with a mouth open in a gasp of shock at how bluntly he spoke to the Princess. “Alright let’s go buddy. Show me the sights.”

As Dustan was leaving he could hear Purple Smart herself speak up. “That seemed a bit rude and how could he call the Gala something like that. It obviously isn’t true.”

Looking down and sighing Dustan couldn’t help but mumble to himself. “Give it about an hour, hour and a half and you will see Sparkle.”

Dustan failed to see the look that his guide gave him and soon they out of the main party area. A quick change back at the carriage put Dustan back in his normal clothing and Spike in his au natural state.

“Alright where to first pal?” The dragon spoke as he pulled a map from...somewhere that Dustan didn’t wish to question at all. “We have the crown jewels that I had planned for Rarity, the golden apple tree for Applejack, Pony Joe’s Donuts. I also had planned to go to the gardens to show Fluttershy but she went there herself and I was going to show Rainbow Dash the paintings of some of Equestria’s fiercest leaders.”

“You are in charge buddy, take me where you want to go.” He gave the dragon a smile and thumbs up, one of the only creatures in Equestria and the only in Ponyville to know what that sign meant.

“You got it, one grand tour coming up!” The first stop was indeed the crown jewels, something that Dustan had thought Celestia and Luna always wore. Turned out the crown jewels were a part of Princess Platinum’s rule, a left over from The Pre-Unification Era. When seeing how gaudy the jewelry was, the Squire couldn’t help but comment that with how bad those jewels were and that it was obviously from the P-U Era, which got the dragon cracking up.

Next came the golden apple tree. Spike mentioned that this also was a relic from long ago, that an evil enchantress put a spell on the tree to produce the golden apples. The tale went that only the most fair of mares could partake of its fruit which caused untold fighting in the surrounding area till The princesses took control of the tree after exposing the ploy of the enchantress for all to see then they moved it to the gardens of the Everfree before it came here.

“You should be a tour guide Spike, a lot of this I have never heard before.” The grin the dragon gave him was a good trade for what he knew was supposed to be on the young one’s face tonight.

“Hehe.” Spike chuckled and rubbed his nose gently. “I know right. I even offered to write some of the notes for Ms’ Cheerilee’s field trip next month.”

That comment made Dustan’s blood freeze as he stopped mid stride. ‘Shit, a month away, I thought I had more time.’

“Next up is the hall of historical-” The dragon stopped what he was saying as he turned to look at Dustan. “Hey are you ok? You are really pale looking.”

Breaking out of his stupor Dustan looked at the tiny dragon and grinned as best as he could though his heart wasn’t in it. “Yeah sorry, just had a moment where I remembered one of my own field trips as a kid. Didn’t turn out so well and was hoping the fillies and colts would have fun on theirs.”

Silently Dustan hoped that the gullible dragon would buy it. “OoooKay.” Seems he had.

To be honest Dustan’s heart was no longer in the tour at all but he did his best to make sure that his little friend never knew. When at last they arrived at the famous, even in the human world in certain circles, Donut shop Dustan found himself replacing Spike in the original in how many donuts he was consuming. Though to be fair instead of sprinkles the human was getting raspberry jelly filled.

Eventually though the human had to ask where the restroom was and disappeared inside it. Having to kneel to wash up after his business was annoying yes, but it allowed him to take a look at himself in the mirror.

“One Month. That is all the time I have to prepare the guard around the castle.” He spoke softly to himself. “When it all goes down and chaos sets in I am sure the Everfree will be spooked more than normal and thus all manner of beasts will be displaced and they will need to know how to handle themselves. After all I might be needed in town in case something is stupid enough to try for ponies during that time in case they see it as an easy opportunity.”

Feeling himself steel up his determination he went to open the door but heard some familiar voices outside. “You mean doing exactly what I wanted to do the WHOLE time?”

“Yes Spike, you were right.” The voice of Twilight told the drake as he gave the told you so speech to them.

Smiling to himself he leaned his forehead against the door and smiled. “Least that went alright and Spike wasn’t miserable. That is all that matters as this is one thing I can change for the better.”

Moving back into the bathroom to gather himself and to give the girls their time together he would miss some lines that were not in the original.

The laughter from his friends felt good as the princess and Twilight were on either side of him now and everyone having an order of donuts. Spike was happy, this was how his night was supposed to go, this was how all their nights were supposed to go. Well better late than never he supposed.

“I am glad you don’t seem too miserable Spike. Did you enjoy yourself while we were out making dreadful fools of ourselves?” His heart raced a bit at hearing his crush speak to him.

That is why given the opportunity he knew that what he was about to say was going to sound cool and suave. “Absolutely, though I know I would have enjoyed it better with you around Rarity.” Or at least that is what he thought he said, in actuality what he said was. “Mhm, sure did Rarity.”

“Did you and Dustan enjoy yourselves?” Celestia’s question snapped the dragon out of his fantasy as he turned back towards the princess.

“I’m...not sure.” That got the tables attention as the looks they gave him all told him to explain. “I mean he seemed to at first but then at some point he changed.”

“Oh my, did he see something that upset him?” The quiet but concerned voice was clearly heard as the nature caretaker spoke.

Shaking his head Spike looked down at one of his pink frosted, sprinkled donuts. “I think it was something I said. I mentioned the field trip next month that Ms. Cheerilee was taking her students on. He froze and went pale as it reminded him of something bad that happened to him and though he told me he was fine after that I could tell it was still bothering him.”

“Well we can’t really blame him can you?” It was Fluttershy who said it. “I mean Dustan seems to care about others more than himself. Maybe he didn’t want you to worry. I know that when Philomena was ill before the rebirth cycle Dustan seemed to follow the poor thing all over.”

“Hmm now that ya mention it Ah remember Apple Bloom mentioning something as well.” The southern twing called everyone’s attention to Applejack now as she rubbed her hoof against her chin. “She said that while she was out helpin’ durin’ Winter Wrap up that she spotted old bundles of them herbs that they are growin’ to keep the Everfree creatures away.”

“So, they have been doing that for a while.” Dash had brought up good point, though it wasn’t lost on the others.

Shaking her head Applejack continued. “That is what Ah thought as well, but Ah know about compost and how long something takes to get like it was. That thing had been there for a while.”

“Oh, is that the bundle you brought to me for study? Hmm I thought that it looked familiar.” Twilight’s question was given a nod from the farm mare.

With that Applejack continued. “If Apple Bloom hadn’t gone and told me what it was. Ah wouldn’t have known either. So Twi, do ya remember how old you said it was?”

Twilight got a weird look on her face all before she answered. “Yeah, they date back to around the time of Nightmare Moon, though I would lean on before it by a bit of time. Maybe a day or two.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her friends and started flapping to get some altitude. “Whoa whoa whoa, are you saying that Dustan set those up BEFORE Nightmare Moon came?” Twilight and Applejack both gave a simple nod but said nothing, thus leaving Dash to fill the silence. “That's crazy. So what you think that he knew she was coming back?”

“It is possible Rainbow Dash.” The Princess said as she sipped the tea that Pony Joe had managed to serve her just a moment ago. “I myself knew and Twilight figured it out. I wouldn’t have been surprised if other ponies figured it out as well.”

“Princess Ah don’t mean to throw suspicion on anypony but-” Applejack rubbed her hoof on the table for a moment as if collecting herself or looking like she was about to change her mind. Instead she took a deep breath and looked at one half of the rulers of the country. “After Apple Bloom done told me about them and Twilight told me how long they had been there. Well Ah went into the Everfree on a hunch.”

Gasps rang out from various members of the group as they heard that with Rarity being the one to speak up first. “My word Darling you could have gotten yourself hurt.”

“Ah know but Ah had to check out my hunch.” Looking down at her donut she took a bite and swallowed before finishing up her thought. “It was right too. Ah found those bundles at various places leading all the way up to the castle. Dustan had done and gone placed them on the trail ahead of time. It was like he knew we would be going there.”

All was quiet for a good minute or two till the bathroom door closed and they all saw the human in question walking up to them. “Sorry about that everyone.” The only sounds coming from the paper towels he used to dry off his hands, however he noticed that none were talking as he arrived. “Hope, I didn’t interrupt anything.”

Spike was looking back and forth from one side to the other as Twilight and her friends looked slightly ashamed of what they were thinking and the human, sensing something wrong and was no longer smiling, spoke up. “They want to know if you planted some of those herb things in a ball and laid them out for them during the night Nightmare Moon came.”

Spike watched the human, his eyesight was that of a dragon so the ponies couldn’t see all the minute details of his friends face but he could: The shocked look, a slight look of shame, one of acceptance, then strangely one that didn’t make sense to the dragon, one of determination that all turned to a mask of seriousness where he couldn’t read anything more.

“Yeah I did.” Sitting down Dustan ordered a couple more jelly filled donuts before turning to the group. “I saw the signs ahead of time of the return of Nightmare Moon. I knew of the castle by that point and knew that if I was Nightmare Moon, I would want to do all that I could to return to a home of mine and prove from there that I was the true ruler of Equestria. So I figured that if she was going to go there, then someone associated with the crown would be coming to do something about it.”

For a while no one said anything till at last Rainbow Dash flew up and over to the side where Dustan was sitting. “See, the way you all made it sound he was doing some kind of conspiracy plan or something.”

A round of apologizes went out from all sides as Dash said that even from Dustan. “I didn’t mean to keep that from you girls, just thought it wasn’t important after the fact you know?”

After that was said the donuts for the human came and he dug in. After all was said and done it was a good evening and one Spike wouldn’t forget for a while.

Dustan barely slept that night at all instead getting up and writing out a draft of personal training for himself. ‘Whether the guards get enough training or not is not up to me but to Tremor. I trust him to deal with them and to be their best. However no one but me knows how my abilities work. Well even then I don’t know how they work completely. I need to get stronger, faster, I need more skills and more options for when things come to worse.’

It took him till breakfast to write out his plans which he quickly put into his bags. Armoring up and grabbing his axe which he couldn’t take to the Gala, he quickly ate up his breakfast. There he told tremor that he was in charge for the day and right away left.

Was it extreme to seclude himself for his training? Absolutely, however when the god of chaos was right around the corner, he needed to be prepared for anything. His training regiment consisted of moving in his heavy armor as a type of weight training as well as focusing on expanding his ease of use with the spells he knew. When he did visit the Classroom he made sure to buy what he could, even if it wasn’t what he wanted as variety might make the difference at the end of the day.

There was also the fact he started to train and spar with the guards a bit more than normal knowing that combat would help to raise his level a bit more than just training on his own. Seems the guards caught on quickly as well as more often than not after the first few spars they pretty much steered clear of him if they could.

It all came to a head one night when Merlene met with him, in less than ideal circumstances. “My Lord?”

“Holy shit!” Dustan called out as he quickly ducked into the water but soon realized he couldn’t breathe underwater. “What the hell Merlene, I am bathing!”

The falcon patterned griffon ignored his words and soon came to sit at the water and dipped her talon inside testing the water. “The last three weeks you have been...different. You are worried about something and seem to be rushing headlong towards something that none of us can see.”

Grabbing a towel the human quickly wrapped up his indecency before moving to sit on a bench that they had placed inside the spring in case someone needed to rest after getting to hot in the spring. “Sorry, it’s just...you are a warrior, you must know how it feels when you can feel something coming right?”

“My Lord? Do you feel something ominous approaching?” Merlene was clearly worried, ever single race he has met so far seemed to leave their facial expressions out in the open without regard for what might happen.

As much as he hated it the Squire often abused that fact without abandon. “Yes, I do.”

Dustan expected questions on how, why, and more, but he didn’t expect the question that Merlene asked of him. “Ok. What do you need of me?”

“What?” She couldn’t have asked that of him right he must have heard wrong. “Did you ask what do I need of you?”

Giving a nod and standing tall Dustan was in shock. “You are My Lord. My trust in you is absolute. If you feel something is coming I will help to prepare for it if you need it of me. So what can I do to help?”

An hour later had Dustan healing himself and looking at Merlene with a newfound respect. “Damn you are fast.”

“My particular variant of griffon are known for their speed. We can keep up with dragons.” Tremor gave a snort at that though Merlene ignored it. “Though you got a good hit or two on me with that wood sword of yours.”

Standing up and rolling his shoulders Dustan found himself grinning and telling her. “Again.”

The next five days saw Dustan working himself to the bone sparing against Merlene. It also drew quite a crowd when it happened as well, and when the castle goers had free time. Dustan tried to cast Haste on himself once again but found the results the same as last time so had to rely on his own natural speed to try to combat the quick moving Griffoness. The battles were rather brutal on him and on his armor, so much so that by day three it had to go in for repairs leaving Dustan without any armor as if his Bronze Armor wasn’t up for the talons and gauntlets of the bodyguard then his leather armor would have been shredded.

There was a point when one of the newer additions to the castle, one who arrived a day or two earlier, tried to stop the two from sparing as Dustan was bleeding all over. “You are going to kill him!” The mare yelled moving over to Dustan and gazing all over his wounds. “We got to get him to the hospital to suture his wounds as my magic might not be enough for this.” When the guard started laughing at the unicorn she glared at them all. “I am a certified healer, not of a very high order but enough that I thought I could come here and do good not get laughed at for-”

“It’s fine, they weren’t laughing at you, just that you are so new and didn’t know. It’s honestly good to know that there is another healer besides me here now.” The mare started to ask what he meant but his words cut her off. “Life’s refreshing breeze, heal from the sky! Cura!”

Whereas his regular cure spell created a single spire of blue energy that rose around him this one was more vibrant in green and it was a dual spiral that rose up to surround him. The mare in front of him was shocked at the display as she could visibly see the wounds close up on him.

She stared with a gapping mouth like that of a fish out of water as Dustan got up and helped her over to the crowd. “See nothing bad happening here. I honestly think it even helps bring my blood count up too, not sure though, not really wishing to let out a lot of my blood on purpose just to test.” Looking back to Merlene he brought up his wooden sword as he went to the sparing area. “Hope you aren’t too winded.”

“I think I see what you mean by humans having endurance.” Rising up in the air the Wren grinned. “But if you are the one constantly being beaten on then that stamina of yours will run out long before mine does.”

The human shared her grin even if his vision was blurring. “Bring it on, I can take-” His sentence was never completed as Dustan found out there was a limit to his stamina even with curative magic.

“I see.” Tremor muttered in the meeting hall. It was one of the latest things that were rebuilt and there were various members there, all having been called by Merlene after Dustan had passed out.

Zecora had a frown on her face as she heard the news. “That is indeed upsetting. Seems our local Lord was more worried about the state of things then he was letting.”

“If he was willing to push himself to exhaustion like this then obviously Dustan feels that this threat must be close. Merlene did he give us a time frame?” Mystic asked taking all this seriously unlike some.

“Look I get he is worried, but an unknown threat that could happen any time?” Sturdy, the pegasus builder, spoke up with a worried tone. “I think he is overworked and over worried about nothing.”

His friend though looked torn. “Well considering our proximity to Ponyville and the amount of unusual activity, perhaps he has subconsciously found a pattern.”

“Regardless.” The one who called the meeting said. “My Lord was very worried. We all know for about the last week he has been training with me intensely but before that he was training on his own as well.”

“You are indeed correct Merlene.” The Zebracan breed of mare stated. “Whatever has urged Dustan to rush it comes from what he has foreseen.”

A grumble from the large dragon in the room called the attention of all there. “Whatever the reason, two things are for sure. One: This supposed trouble that Warner has perceived has motivated him to improve even more than ever before. The last month has shown marked improvements in his physical and magical capabilities.” The mummers of those gathered offered no argument there. “Two: He is in the process of burning himself out.” That got the varied response of some agreeing, some not, and finally there were those that didn’t understand at all. “He is working himself too hard. Merlene how many times could he spar a day during the start of his training with you?”

The guard wren took a moment to think about it but eventually she came to a conclusion. “We could average with minimal breaks around fifteen bouts a day.”

Nodding as he himself watched and could confirm that the earth colored drake asked the next question. “How many did he do today before collapsing?”

Merlene seemed to pick up on it now. “Three.”

“Exactly.” Flexing an arm he looked at them all. “Working out produces various chemicals in the body, not to mention wear and tear, stress, and exhaustion all of which take time to recover from. His curative abilities, while impressive, only removes the wear and tear as well as possibly some of the chemicals; it is hard to tell honestly. Problem is, stress doesn’t vanish nor does exhaustion and because of that his body collapsed.”

Silence rang out in the room for a good solid minute and wasn’t broken till Zecora spoke up. “So, I suppose my job will be to brew something to help him rest tomorrow. By tomorrow morning I should have the proper ratio, I will just need some herbs from the forest that I can borrow.”

“Add something to keep him asleep. Give his body time to recover.” A loud popping sound came from Sturdy as he got up and stretched. “Let his mind de-stress as well.”

“Agreed but that means his body will continue to function while he is asleep, what then?” At Eden’s question all those present froze.

Except for one. “It is my duty to serve and protect My Lord so I will.”

“Are you sure Merlene...it’s kinda gross.” While Mystic was right Merlene saw it differently.

“There is nothing gross about doing one’s duty. It’s an honor to serve My Lord even at one of his lowest points.” The Wren soon took flight and went out of the room calling the meeting to a close.

All but one left the room, that one was Tremor. Moving to a nearby window he took sight of the guards being trained down below. They were keeping to the movements and schedule that had been asked of them since their fight against Dustan where he proved his superiority.

‘Something has you spooked. Something big.’ The compressed dragon mused to himself. ‘I have watched and judged you to be a rational being, you have made calm and collected choices while not losing sight of your morals and virtues in nearly all you have done, even if it went against what others would have done. I do not believe you are in error here. You keep secrets that much is obvious, so what secret is it that alerts you to the coming terror?’ Sighing to himself and cracking his neck. “I am getting too old to have that old Maredarin saying pop up now of all times. ‘May you live in interesting times’ I hope that you have not been cursed with such a fate Dustan. Otherwise we are all in trouble.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry this chapter is so late and untimely for what I used to do. So many things irl have happened, so many depressing events. I won't detail them as I rather not drag you all down with it but I am going to try to get back to writing more and more. I won't say that I am going to be good on uploads, but I am going to try a bit more then I have been.

Thank you all for sticking with me.