Author's Notes:

Three things about this chapter.
1) Zecora is here, but DOESN'T rhyme. I'm not too good at trying to make sure every line rhymes.
2) The area with the asterisk is a sex scene. I'm not good at writing one, but if anyone wants to try their hand, just ask.
3) There is no number 3 (Kazuchika Okada New Japan Pro Wrestling reference)

“Honey, you know I'm going to leave next week, right?”

“I know. Mating season,” Octavia replied

“This time, I'm leaving due to the girls. The last thing I want is to end up committing incest with my daughters. All I ask is you all be careful. If you do have sex with another male, make sure he uses one of these,” Brian said withdrawing a box of condoms “These should prevent any of you from getting pregnant.”

“I understand. If anything, perhaps it may be the three of us and Vinyl, but I'll make sure any males use these,” she replied

A week later Brian strapped his demonic butterfly swords to his forelegs as he prepared to leave for the week. Before heading to the Everfree Forest, he had someone to meet with.

“Dad, we're in serious need of help,” Melody said with lust in her voice

“See you next week,” he said with a salute before teleporting

He managed to teleport into Celestia’s R&D room in the castle, and saw the man he was looking for. Creeping up behind Knight Shield, Brian used one hoof to cover his mouth as he dragged his friend out of the room.

“Go to the Everfree Forest if you don't want to suffer death by snu snu,” Brian whispered as Deltorix nodded

Brian teleported to the forest followed by Deltorix, unaware a few others had the exact same idea.

● SHINING ARMOR ●

“Bye, Cady. Bye Flurry. I'll see you next week after you calm down.”

Shining knew he needed to be far away and decided to head to the Everfree Forest. He would rather deal with a timberwolf then with his family this time of year.

● BRIAN ●

The two alicorns found a clearing and were startled when they heard the bush rustle.

“Speak friend, or else,” Brian said drawing a blade

“Shining Armor. I come in peace, with others,” Shining said leading three others into the clearing

For safety, Brian put up a shield around the area so nothing would happen. He did know of a cave that if empty would make a decent shelter for everyone.

“Perhaps we should introduce ourselves? I'm Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire,” Shining said

“Knight Shield, head of Research and Development at the princesses’ castle,” Deltorix said

“Prince Brian Dragnov, head of the Midnight guard.”

“I'm Cien Oros, Midnight guard recruit,” Cien said

“Carmichael Locke, also Midnight recruit,” Carmichael said

“Francis Paine,” he said quickly though muffled

“Could you repeat that,” Shining asked

“Francis Paine. I hate saying my name because of how girly it sounds. If you're wondering, my dad is Dead Ringer, the coroner. I got my cutie mark pulling stunts,” Francis said removing the mask

“With the mask, you remind me of a movie character from home. The guy's name was ‘Hannibal’. Perhaps you could use that as a nickname,” Brian said withdrawing his phone with the image

“He looks pretty cool. I'm guessing he was a villain? I wouldn't mind introducing myself as Hannibal,” Francis said cheerfully

“Cien, I saw the sparring match you had against my daughter. You performed well, but could use a little refining.”

“You saw that? I'm sorry,” Cien said

“Don't be. The six members of the guard will be taught swordsmanship as a last resort.”

“We're here for the same reason, right,” Cien asked

“Family,” Brian, Shining and Carmichael said in unison

“I have the worst of us. The princesses and the guards,” Deltorix said

“And you and I just don't want to be there,” Hannibal replied

“Changing the subject, what are we going to about food and shelter,” Shining asked

“As to shelter, there's a cave nearby. If it's unoccupied, we'll use it. Food is what we find for now.”

Brian led the group to the cave and had everyone stay behind as he summoned a lightning bolt in his hoof to light up the interior. Having not spotted anything, gave the all clear to the others.

“Before we do anything else, we need to find some big rocks and dry twigs.”

The others departed and returned a short time later with the requested objects. Brian and Knight Shield arranged the rocks inside the cave as a makeshift fire pit with the twigs in the middle and put up a shield around the cave to prevent unwanted visitors.

“How are we going to light this,” Carmichael asked

“With this,” Brian said withdrawing a Zippo lighter “Portable fire.”

“And you said food is what we find? I saw some fruit trees we could pick a from,” Hannibal said

That night the group ate what they could and headed to bed. In the morning, they found a pond they could quickly bath in before adding more food for the day.

*● OCTAVIA ●

“Mom, we need help,” Melody complained

“Dad's not here and I haven't seen a lot of males,” Harmony added

“Vinyl and I will do whatever we can to help you girls.”

“Thanks mom,” they said in unison*

● BRIAN ●

“So, how do you think the other males are doing,” Carmichael asked innocently

“Hopefully most left the town. Otherwise, the remains are probably suffering “death by snu snu’.”

“Whenever I die, that's how I want to go,” Knight Shield joked

“What is ‘snu snu’,” Cien asked curiously

“You already know. Think about why we're here.”

“Another word for sex,” Hannibal guessed

“Sort of. It's from a cartoon from when I was human.”

“You were human? How'd you get here,” Carmichael asked

“Long story. Discord sent me.”

“Could you show us what you looked like,” Cien asked

“Here. There's a few of me in this,” Brian said withdrawing his phone

“So those are what Twilight and the others look like on the other side,” Shining said
“Who are these three?”

“Quake, Thorn and Dusk,” Brian said sadly

“Judging by your voice, this is a moment you have sad memories of,” Shining said

“You could say that. Del, here, knows what happened. I'm not exactly wanting to revisit that moment.”

“Who's ‘Del’,” Carmichael asked

“I am. When I was human, I went by Deltorix before being sent to Equestria. Brian is the only one permitted to call me that. To everyone else, it's Knight Shield,” Del replied

The day passed by slowly as there wasn't much that could be done. Brian withdrew a pair of wooden staffs from his pouch to train with. Holding one in his hooves, he stood on his hind legs and moved with ease.

“Could you teach me sword fighting,” Cien asked

“Sure. You do have a decent form. Grab the other staff and I'll teach you.”

Throughout the rest of the day Brian and Cien trained as the latter was getting better. Instead of showing off, Cien focused more on trying to disable his opponent by attacking the legs.

“Good job. You are learning well having only a few hours training.”

“Well, I have taught myself about swords. I've seen your sword before and wanted to learn. Once I reached the proper age, I wanted to join the guard, so I could be accepted into yours,” Cien explained

“I wish you the best of luck. Unfortunately, the selection is entirely randomized so I don't know the exact members of the guard.”

“Why,” Carmichael asked “Why do that?”

“Simple. I don't want any bias. For example, my daughter Harmony is in your class. If I selected her, regardless of her abilities, someone will complain. Same if the three of you were picked outright. By having a number assigned to everyone, I select the six based on that. In fact, only two people know the actual names.”

“That is actually the best way to select. When you have no idea as to who the others are, no one can complain,” Shining said

“Food's here,” Deltorix said as he brought some fruit

For the second day in a row, the six of them had fruit and various leaves to eat for dinner. Secretly, some hoped something would happen to break the monotony of food.

As morning broke on the third day of the male's self-imposed ‘exile’, the two alicorns went out to talk when they heard movement before Shining arrived with the others.

“Something's there. I sensed another presence,” Knight Shield said

“The rest of you stay back. I'll take care of it if it attacks,” Brian said drawing a single blade

As he said that, a manticore jumped out to attack the group. Brian noticed it was black and much bigger than normal. Out of habit he bowed to his opponent and was surprised when the manticore lowered his head as well. The manticore leapt as Brian closed the distance and stabbed the creature in the chest, directly in the heart. As he withdrew the blade, any blood that was present was absorbed into the sword.

“Blessed be this manticore for the life he led. May you run free in Paradise. Amen,” Brian prayed

“What are you going to do with the remains,” Shining asked

“We were blessed with this. It's best not to let anything go to waste.”

“We're vegetarians, not cannibals,” Shining retorted

“Two of us were humans. Humans are omnivores. Besides, would you want to attract other predators to us?”

“Point taken. Just this once we will eat meat. What about the rest of it,” Shining asked reluctantly

“I’m keeping the fur. You might want to leave.”

Brian carefully slit above the paws and around the mane and with surgical precision managed to remove the entire fur without any damage to it. Once that was done, he used magic to create a small water source and cleaned the fur before hanging it on a tree branch to dry. Before heading back to the others, Brian collected some fruit to go with the meal.

“That looks pretty good. Didn't know you ever skinned something before,” Knight Shield joked

“Just was lucky. Besides you know this was the first time.”

“How are we going to eat this? Raw meat doesn't sound good,” Cien asked

“I'll cut the meat off and we'll cook it over the fire. Besides, with the shield, no one can bother us.”

“What shield? There are two alicorns and two unicorns here. No one casted a shield,” Carmichael asked

“I casted the shield when we entered. My magic is different in the way that it doesn't leave a trace around my horn or anything else. Would you really want to see a black orb?”

“Not really. It could be taken the wrong way,” Carmichael replied

Brian withdrew a blade and cut off a couple chunks of meat and threw them on the fire to cook. It may not be the best, but food was food and everyone was satisfied with the meal.

“I won't make a habit of it, but that was good. Thank you, Brian,” Shining said

“You're welcome. Whatever we don’t eat goes to the timberwolves. Waste not, want not.”

The rest of the week passed the same way as Brian trained all three in swordsmanship and they continued to eat the meat for dinner. On Sunday and the final day of their exile, Brian took the remaining meat and left the cave and headed into the forest.

“I come in peace with an offering of food for you to enjoy,” Brian said with a bow

Brian watched as the alpha bowed back and left the area and returned to the cave. On his way back, he stopped and grabbed some fruit and leaves for everyone to enjoy before they left the forest.

Monday morning everyone ate and cleaned up and got ready to leave. Brian doused the fire and threw on the manticore hide as the group left. Waiting for them in Ponyville was Luna and Celestia, Twilight and the others along with Octavia and his daughters, not to mention the remaining females in town.

“Why is there a manticore in Ponyville,” Twilight asked

“Last time I checked, I'm not a manticore.”

“Why do you have that,” Celestia
demanded

“I killed it.”

“I sense there is more to it then that. Greetings, I am Zecora,” a zebra mare said

“I sensed something wanted to attack and Brian said he'd handle it,” Knight Shield replied

“I drew my blade as the manticore appeared. I bowed to it out of habit as it mirrored my action and attacked. I was faster and ended him cleanly with one blow. Afterwards, I said a prayer over the body and hoped he would be at peace. I skinned him and the six of us consumed the flesh.”

“That was very noble of you. By blessing the body, you guaranteed the spirit would enter Paradise and by consuming the flesh, each of you have a portion of his spirit dwelling inside you as well,” Zecora replied

“Perhaps another time, I have something that can enter you,” Celestia said slyly

“I need an adult.”

“My dear Brian. I am an adult,” Celestia said lustfully as Knight Shield laughed

“Oh, fuck you Del,” Brian said giving his friend the Bras d'honneur

“Hey, maybe she should give you the same treatment I received,” Deltorix replied

“I have to joke every once in a while,” Celestia said

“Not funny.”

“Trollestia strikes again,” Knight Shield
joked to everyone's confusion

“If you would allow me to borrow the hide for a few hours, I can make it waterproof for you,” Zecora suggested

“If it wouldn't be too much trouble to do so. I would very much appreciate it,” Brian said with a bow

“It is no trouble at all. I've never had royalty bow to me before,” Zecora said

“It was a habit from when I was human in martial arts. Bowing to one's elders is a sign of respect.”

Brian handed the hide over to Zecora and she returned it a few hours later. While she would not go into detail about the process, he had a second stop to make before it was complete.

“Brian, what do I owe the pleasure,” Rarity asked

“I was hoping you could assist me in adding a couple buckles on the hide to keep it in place.”

“Of course. Where did you want them mounted,” she asked

“On the limbs as that should be around my body.”

“Please place it on the models and I'll retrieve the materials,” she said

While she was gone, he reached into the pouch and removed a surgical needle and heavy-duty Kevlar thread.

“Here. You might need these to attach the buckles.”

“Thank you darling. You are right about needing different needles. This is the first time working with actual fur before. I just hope Fluttershy isn't too mad,” she said

As Rarity said that, the door opened and a certain yellow pegasus entered the boutique.

“Brian, how could you,” Fluttershy demanded

“Protect myself and others? Yes, I did kill it, but I treated the manticore with the most respect. To pass on his spirit to another is an honor. Had I not done something, it would have attracted others that could cause problems. What we didn't eat went to a den of timberwolves. With many of the animals in the Everfree Forest being carnivores, something would eventually consume the body.”

“Why skin it, though? Was that a sick trophy for you,” Fluttershy asked angrily

“Again; to keep his spirit alive. Even if I use it during winter, the manticore can rest well knowing his death was for naught. He lived a good life. In fact, to meet a black manticore is actually unheard of as they are extremely rare.”

“Then why kill it, instead of letting it live,” she asked

“It was an elder. An old warrior wanting death in a final battle. If I did not finish it, something else surely would have. At home, many cultures had that idea about the eldest wanting one final battle to die heroic.”

“If that was the case, then perhaps it was best that he died,” she said calmer “Sorry about yelling at you.”

“It's alright. I have nothing but respect for others and hate to see them mistreated.”

“It's done, darling. Try it on,” Rarity said handing him the fur, having ignored the conversation

Brian stuck the fur on and used his magic to fasten the buckles. Looking in the mirror, he saw the mane fit in place around his horn and cover it. The rest of the fur draped around his body covering almost every inch of him.

“Thank you very much,” he said pulling a few bits out of his bag

“You're welcome, Brian. Keep the coins,” Rarity said

“I insist. For all the work you have done for me, I needed to repay you.”

“Very well. I accept,” she replied

Brian headed home and threw the cloak on before going inside. His daughters immediately hugged him as he walked in.

“Dad, you're home,” Melody said

“We missed you,” Harmony said

“Enjoy the day off as tomorrow you go back to training.”

“I know. Thank you for helping us out mom,” Harmony replied

“I don't want to know what transpired.”

The rest of the day transpired without incident as everyone enjoyed the day together before Harmony left to continue her training.