Our training session had gone smoother than I had originally thought.

When I gave advice and pointed out flaws, instead of arguing with me, Eve just listened and seemed to absorb all the knowledge like a sponge. Maybe this was her hidden potential. Something she couldn't utilize in her pack because she wasn't given a chance.

I can really relate. I didn't discover my capabilities in hand-to-hand combat if it wasn't for a freak accident. Then I wasn't allowed to use it for the sake of fair play. But that is the thing. In a real battle, the enemy won't care if they play fair or not.

Of course, you can't expect someone to become a better combatant in just under an hour. She made some progress, that I admit. But even with that she is not yet ready for real battle.

I mostly showed her some defensive tactics. I believe that teaching her to defend herself is my first priority. And if I must be really honest, a part of me doesn't want to teach her the offensive side of combat. She is kind natured and innocent. Harming others shouldn't be her thing.

…...........

I think I would make a good rolemodel, if I had younger siblings.

We got a little bit time to spare after my brief crash course to close quarters combat, so I instructed her on how to improve her speech, which she seemed eager to learn. I didn't get to do that for long, as Elie loudly proclaimed that she had the map figured out.

And that brings us to the current situation, which is basically me and Eve following Elie like blind mice. Funny, isn't it?

”Are you sure you have the right way?”, I ask her. She just huffs.

”Oh yee of little faith, can't you have even the slightest bit of trust!”

Truthfully, I'm not so sure. I have navigated on many camping trips and only once gotten lost. If I have no clue where to go, how can she?

I ultimately decide to just follow her silently.

After about a ten minute trek, Elie stops.

”What are you stopping....”, The words are left hanging as I see that we were on the edge of the forest. There was a town not that far away. ”...for.”

”Well, look who got us out of the forest.”, Elie said with a smug grin.

”Fine, I was wrong. You were right.” I just sighed and admitted defeat. One thing was bugging me though. ”How did you do it?”

She looked at me and smiled mischievously. ”Woman's intuition.”

So we WERE following her like blind mice. Great to know. Not that I want to sound sexist but that is the worst excuse.... Of all time.

I looked at the town. So this was Ponyville? Seemed pretty normal. Peaceful even. It was a shame that we needed to crack that peace a little. I was already prepared for some odd looks, maybe even fear. I could take it, so could Elie, or so I think. Eve, I'm not so sure.

From what I've seen, ponies seem to act a bit hostile and suspicious towards diamond dogs. I can understand why, but some seem to take it a bit too far. I hope we'll be spared of that.

I silently groan as I see Elie already air skating on the ground towards Ponyville.

Yeah, she can skate on land like it was ice. Her legs are kind of floating a few inches off the ground, or something. That was an interesting discovery.

”We better get going before she causes too much panic.”, I said to Eve. She nodded. I walked forward but she stayed in place. I think I know why.

I stopped and looked back. ”Scared?”

A hesitant nod. Thought as much.

I walked back to her and offered her my arm. ”Just stay close to me and you will be fine.”

She looked at my arm for a few seconds. ”Okay.”, She finally muttered and wrapped her own arm around mine. She already looked a bit more relaxed, though still a bit tense.

We started walking slowly towards Ponyville, arm in arm. I couldn't help but notice Eve's nervousness. Even more troubling was that the town seemed silent. Had Elie not been seen yet?

”AAAAHHHHHHH!”

Well, that answered my guestion.

”That must be Elie's fault. Let's go.”, I said rather calmly.

We quickened our pace a bit and entered the town. It seemed empty. I concluded that the townsfolk must have been scared into their houses by Elie's sudden appearance, thinking she was somekind of monster attacking the town. I don't blame them, really.

”Take that you monster!”, I heard a voice say not too far from us.

I immidietly saw Elie dodging what looked like a pegasus charging at her like a suicide pilot. The pegasus was cyan colored and, I kid you not, had the most standing out hair- sorry, mane, I had seen so far. It quite literally had all the colors of a rainbow in it.

Elie proved to be very nimble, dodging all those attacks. She was practically dancing out of the way each time the pegasus charged, making good of her name as a Dancer.

”Ugh! Stay still, already!”, The cyan pegasus grunted and continued her attack.

”Nope, don't wanna.”, Elie said with a smug grin and arched her back so that her head was touching her heels. The pegasus missed by a longshot.

I had just stopped and looked at the scene. It felt like I was being ignored. Time to change that.

”What do you think you are doing?”, I asked loudly, while still keeping a calm tone.

”Trying not to get beat up, obviously.”, Elie replied and dodged another lunge.

I shook my head. ”We didn't come here to fight anyone.”

”What the heck are you talking about?”, She asked. ”I'm not fighting. Can't you see?”

”You are fighting in a passive way. Stop aggravating the pegasus!”, I commanded.

She just huffed and slid across the ground, twirling around like a figure skater. She stopped next to me. The pegasus looked at our trio.

”There's more of you things?”, She asked, eyeing us like we were some no good criminals. Why do I get that so much?

”Do you have to call us 'things'? I find that very racist.”, I said calmly. Didn't want to give a hostile image of myself, now did I?

It didn't work.

The pegasus sky bombed at me next, her hoof extended and ready for a strike. I shook my head slightly and prepared to intercept her hoof with my hand. This attack was too straight forward. The pegasus was fast, but way too predictable.

The very moment I felt her hoof touch my palm, I immidietly turned my wrist slightly and pushed. The following impact sent the pegasus flying backwards, spiraling around. She yelled as she did so. I was extra careful to launch her back to the sky and not use too much force. The last thing I wanted was to hospitalize someone.

The cyan pegasus stopped spinning and seemed to be suffering from a mild case of vertigo, as she came crashing down after flying to random directions. She seemed to be okay though.

”Was that really necessary?”, I asked the pegasus, who currently was wobbling back on her feet. Did I mention she was glaring daggers at me?

If looks could kill....

I'd already be dead.

I immidietly glanced at the Dancer next to me. ”What did you do?”, I asked in an eerily calm fashion.

”Umm...”, She rubbed the back of her head ackwardly. She DID do something, didn't she. ”I might have scared a few locals.” I shook my head. ”And stolen a few apples.” I gave her an displeased look, which she seemed to sense. ”What? I was hungry?”

Wait. Hold on.

”You got hungry?” She nodded. ”I have been her longer than you and I don't feel anything. How can you be hungry and I'm not.”, I asked, puzzled.

She just shrugged. ”I dunno. I just felt hungry and took a few apples.” I gave her another displeased look. ”I was going to pay for them.”, She quickly added.

Funny. Even though Elie, or anyone for that matter, couldn't see my face(if I had one), she could feel my gaze and it's nature. Interesting.

I turned to the pegasus. ”I apologise on her behalf. She's very sorry. Isn't she?”, I put pressure on 'very' and gave Elie a good death glare. She got shivers. Amusing.

The pegasus was still looking at us supiciously. ”What are you? Why did you come to Ponyville? If you are here to cause trouble, I'll put a stop to that.”

I highly doubt she'd be able to do that. If I used my swords, she would be dead already. But, because I am not an insane and merciless killer, or Shade, that is very unlikely to happen.

”Oh, I'm just a refugee from another world who is on a quest to discover and regain pieces of himself.”, I said matter-of-factly. Best thing? I didn't tell a single lie while saying that. And I kept a straight face.

If all goes well she will only think I'm insane. Hey, Shade can live with it, so can I!

…..

I'm so screwed.

What I said brought a look of suprise to her face, her eyes widening and her mouth was slightly agape. Not the reaction I was expecting, but oh well.

”You.... You are....”, She stuttered. That is simply adorable. ”A human?!”

The last part caught me off guard. How did this pegasus know of humans? From what I gathered, humans don't exist here. Is my information invalid? Better keep talking though.

”Was a human.”, I corrected her. Technically that was true. It wasn't a lie, so I could go with that.

”You mean like Griffin and Aoi?”

Foreign names. Other humans? Players in the game set by the gods? A likely possibility.

I need to know more. As they say, knowledge is power.

”Can't say I know these people. Pray tell, who are they?”, I ask politely.

”Well, Griffin is a griffin and Aoi is a wolf. Both of them are humans too.”, She said. Very vague, but I could go with it.

A griffin named Griffin? I would laugh or snicker at that, if my own name wasn't so weird. That guy must hate his life. I should meet him someday. We could talk about how bad namers our parents were.

”I see. Guess I am then. Am. Was. Doesn't matter, really.”

The pegasus landed on the ground. She rubbed the back of her head. ”Yeah, sorry about before. That friend of yours just scared all those ponies, and I just assumed.....” Her voice trailed away. I knew where this is going.

”Don't finish that sentence.”, I said. ”It is not for you to say.” I waited a moment. Nothing. I noticed Elie try to tiptoe away. I just pulled her back and pushed Elie forward. I gave her an 'do-what-you-should' look.

”Yeah.... Um.... I mean.... What I mean to say is.... It's kinda like.... You know.... Actually....”

Oh for the love of...

”Get on with it!”, I said.

”Fine, fine! I'm sorry.”, She said.

The cyan pegasus smiled a little. ”Nah, no biggie. It was me who attacked you first after all.”

I looked at Elie. ”Now was that so hard?”

She just shrugged. It was hard.

”My name's Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!”, The cyan pegasus, named Rainbow Dash(fitting, I know) said with pride.

At least she didn't cross over to being completely arrogant about it.

”Who are you guys?”, Rainbow Dash asked.

Introductions, GO!

”My name is Hollow. These with me are Elie and Eve.”

She looked confused. ”Umm, you said three names, right?” I nodded. ”Then why do I- AAHHHH!” She yelped suddenly and jumped back. ”Where did that diamond dog come from?”, She asked, vigilant. I glanced at Eve, who was partially hiding behind me.

How did she miss her? She was almost in plain sight for crying out loud!

”She has been here the entire time.” I tried to coax her to come forward a bit, which she eventually did, although hesitantly. ”This is Eve.”

I also started noticing something. My right arm was going numb. I glaced down to see what the problem was.

Well....

Let's just say the Eve had an suprisingly strong grip. If I had blood running through me, she was accidentally blocking it's flow to my arm completely. Was she really this nervous?

”Eve, you might want to ease up a little.”, I said gently. She looked at me. ”You are kind of crushing my arm.”

She looked at her own arm and saw what she was doing. She loosened her grip immidietly and looked very guilty. ”Sorry.”, she wispered.

I chuckled at this. ”No need. You are nervous, it's understandable.” I also gave her a reassuring pat on the back. It seemed to work to a certain point, as she seemed less tense.

I turned my attention back to Rainbow Dash, who was still looking pretty suspicious.

”I assure you, we won't be a problem for you or this town. We just came here in hopes of finding something.”, I explained.

She seemed to consider something. ”Looking for what?”

”A library or something similar.”

”Yeah, we got that. Why are you looking for it?”

”My knowledge of this world is limited. I wish to study it's history and such.”

”So egghead stuff.”, She said in a deadpan manner. It's information gathering. It's not nerdy. ”See that tree there?”, She said pointing at the large tree in the middle of the town. We were really close to it. I nodded. ”That's the library.”

Wait.... What?

A library in the tree? Why is that so easy to believe for me?

…..

Shade.

”I see.”, I say, keeping my tone neutral. ”Thank you. We'll try not to cause too much trouble.”

”No problem! But remember, I'm watching you.”, Rainbow Dash said half jokingly.

As our little group turned to walk to the library, when...

”NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! I WILL NOT APPROVE THIS!”, A loud yell came from inside the library. A male voice.

”WHY NOT?”, Yelled another that sounded female.

”BECAUSE I DO NOT SEE HOW THIS CAN FUNCTION PROPERLY!”

All of us, me and Eve, Elie and Rainbow Dash ran to the library door when we heard the shouting. We opened the door and rushed in to check what was happening..

.... It was not what I expected.

So, We finally arrive in ponyille, and already our heroes are caught in some missunderstandings. Good that those are resolved. But what is happening in the library? Here's a hint: It involves books. 'Till next time!

Personal opinion here: I didn't like how this turned out. I don't know why. Maybe I'll redo this chapter someday.

I'm also considering starting another chess-verse story just for the heck of it and because I got some good setups. I got three character candidates and I just can't decide which one I should go with. Annoying!

Here 'till I drop

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