Just a fair warning, there is gore and death in this chapter.
"So where are you taking us?" I asked Luna.
"We are taking you to a training area designed for combat simulation. You will be using it to learn how to control your powers."
"And how long will this take?"
"That usually depends on the individual. We are only going to teach you two spells. One of them is simple, the other not so much."
"What about me? While you're teaching them magic, or whatever the hell it is, I have wings." Ni said.
"Yes, we will get Twilight Sparkle to teach these three magic. I will teach you how to fly."
I have no idea why, but I was slightly disappointed when she said she wouldn't be training us.
"We are here." Luna said.
We were looking through a window at a very large room around the size of two football fields side by side. It was completely empty save for a few training dummies.
"This is where we train our royal guards in the ways of combat spells and flight. You four will use it to learn how to control your powers."
"I have a question." Doc said.
"Which is?"
"How long does this transformation last? Are we always going to be ponies?"
"No. The transformation will last either until you go back to your world, or my sister and I decide to cancel the spell. There are ways to make it permanent, but we doubt you would want that."
"Yeah, thanks for that at least." He replied with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
I kicked him in his left foreleg to make him fall down.
"Ah! Dafuq Donutt?!" He whined.
"Watch the sarcasm around the one who can decide if you remain a pony or not."
"We appreciate the gesture Mister...Donutt, but we can handle a little sarcasm." Luna said.
"Alright, in that case, that was for fun." I said with a smirk.
Doc gave me a 'wtf' face, and Luna suppressed a laugh.
"Get up Doc, we're going inside the training room." Ni said.
Doc groaned and got up.
Luna led us to a large set of double doors and touched her horn to it. The doors glowed a dark blue color and opened. She trotted inside, and we followed behind.
She led us to the middle of the room and spoke. "We have Twilight Sparkle on her way down here. She will arrive momentarily."
"If you don't mind me asking..." I said.
"Speak your mind, please."
I nodded. "Well, just what happened to cause a war between you and the griffins? From what I've heard, your country was peaceful, yet here you are preparing four foreign soldiers for war. Could you at least tell us what you're going to make us kill for?"
She closed her eyes. "We suppose that you four do deserve an answer to that, since you are going to fight for us. Very well."
She took a breath, and spoke. "It started about six years ago. We were recovering from Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony then. At the time, we had an embassy in the griffin's land. Discord's magic you see, was spread further than we had thought. He might not have intended for something like the following to happen, but it did nonetheless. His magic was so strong, that it was felt even in the kingdom of the griffins. By the time it had reached there though, his magic was erratic, or even destructive. It caused several disasters to occur there. Famines starved entire villages, earthquakes destroyed cities, and even their leader, Hawk Eye, had fallen ill with an unknown illness. Within a month, he passed. Their new leader, who succeeded Hawk Eye through brutal means, blamed the ponies for their sorrows."
She looked at the ground and continued. "We of course, denied these accusations, claiming that it was indeed Discord's fault, intentional or not. They didn't believe us, and instead of seeking diplomatic relations, some griffins stormed the embassy there. There were over fifty ponies in there, and only two survived to tell the tale. One of them soon passed due to health complications from the same unknown disease that had stricken their late leader. The last pony that survived requested to have a name change, and be moved to a new location, in fear of the griffins returning for them. Much of Equestria wasn't sure on how to respond to this. They were unprepared for such carnage. There was panic everywhere, and the unrest didn't seem to go down with time. It was thanks to the efforts Twilight Sparkle and her friends that order was restored."
"And when things calmed down a little, what did you do?" I asked.
"Naturally, the griffin government claimed they had nothing to do with the massacre, and said they would 'not stop at any cost to find the murderers responsible.' They sent over ambassadors filled with lies, but we knew better. Three years ago, something else happened. There was a skirmish over the ocean between some pegasi warriors and the griffins. There were nine casualties. Six on their side, and three on ours. Once again, their leader, Razor Talon, claimed treachery. We did our best to convince them that we had no intention of taking lives, but sadly, they didn't believe us. Tensions remained strained for some time, until one of their ambassadors, Sharp Claw, intervened. He actually seemed like the first griffin that cared about peace."
"Sharp Claw? We ran across him in the forest when we first arrived."
"Yes, I think he once told us that he enjoys flying at night in that forest. We have no idea why anypony would actually want to do such a thing, but he does. Anyways, Sharp Claw was actually supposed to be the successor to the throne after Hawk Eye passed, but Razor Talon used trickery and bribery to rob Sharp Claw of his title."
"Seems like no matter where you go, there's going to be underhanded tactics in politics. This place isn't as peaceful as it seems."
"Sadly, you are correct. Anyways, things had managed to remain calm since then, well, until thirty minutes ago. We don't think war can be avoided this time, which is why we need your help." Her tone turned slightly sad.
"Are you sure you want to do this Ni?" Doc asked.
"I don't think we really have a choice in the matter. Either we fight against the griffins, or we're stuck here." He replied.
"We...know this is a lot to ask of you four. Please know that we deeply appreciate you helping us."
"You're welcome. Now what spells are we being taught?" I said.
"You should ask Twilight Sparkle herself. Here she is."
We turned around and saw Twilight trotting over.
"Now, we shall take Ni and teach him how to fly. Good luck to you Twilight Sparkle." Luna said before nodding to her.
Luna and Ni trotted off to another side of the room, leaving Shits, Doc, and myself with Twilight.
"Alright, the first spell I'm going to teach you three is basic levitation. Most unicorns learn this by the time they are three, so it shouldn't be too hard." She pulled out three rubber balls from her bag and set them in front of us. "Now I want you three to close your eyes and picture the ball in front of you in your mind. Once you have, it should be the only thing you see there. Now I want you to imagine that there is a wind powerful enough to keep it around four feet off of the ground."
I did as she said, and kept calm about it. Twilight didn't say anything for about half a minute. "Hey Twilight, are we doing it right?" I asked with my eyes still closed.
"Ah! Get me the fuck down!" I heard Doc yell.
I opened my eyes and saw that Doc was levitating! Wait, Tickle Shits still has his eyes closed. Is he...doing this?
"Shits!" I yelled, breaking his concentration and causing him to drop Doc on his face.
"Did I do it?" He asked.
"Uhh, yeah. You certainly did. I...I want you to close your eyes again. This time I want you to picture lifting up your friend Doc." Twilight said.
"Why? What happened?"
"Just do it, please."
Shits shrugged and closed his eyes. His horn began to glow white like the color of his coat, and once again, Doc was lifted off of the ground.
"Damnit Shits, put me down!" Doc yelled.
While his eyes were still closed, Shits smiled. "Poor choice of words."
"Oh fu-" Doc got off before Shits let him go, making him fall on his face.
Shits and I laughed, but Twilight sat there, stunned.
"You alright Twilight?" I asked.
She regained focus and spoke. "Not really. Your friend Towns shouldn't have even been able to lift the ball his first try, but he lifts up another pony instead! This is amazing! How did you do it?" She asked Shits.
He shrugged. "I just did what you told me to do with the ball, except with Doc, because I thought it would be funnier."
"Go to hell." Doc said while getting up.
"I don't think you get it. I wasn't even able to do something like that until my fifth try. You're not even originally a pony, yet you manage the feat of levitating another pony! I-I'm completely awestruck!"
"Big surprise, I'm awesome."
"I uh, I want you two to stay here and keep practicing on levitating the rubber balls. I'm going to go over here with Towns and give him a slightly modified lesson."
"Got it." I replied.
Twilight and Shits trotted over to another section, leaving me and Doc to ourselves.
"How the hell is he that special?" Doc asked in a whiny voice.
"I think you're just mad because he made you faceplant twice." I said.
"Yeah? Well...yeah, you're right. He'll apologize when his sorry ass gets injured though."
"Certainly not to you, because I don't think you know how to treat ponies."
"That is something I've not thought about yet. I guess I should ask Twilight when she gets back, huh?"
"Yeah, that sounds like it would help. I don't want you screwing up when we're in battle and accidentally kill one of us."
"I guess we'll work on our levitation while Twilight is away."
"Not like we have a choice, thanks to the special guy over there. Oh well, bitching won't help."
"I don't believe this..."
"That is why you fail."
"Oh ha ha."
After about an hour or so, we were able to lift up the ball with little effort. After another hour, we just decided to throw the rubber balls at each other.
I looked across the room to check on the lieutenant's progress, and saw him flying in loops. Some were a little messed up, but still impressive.
I turned around and saw Twilight trotting back over. "Sorry about the wait, but I just had to test Towns some more. We had to wait for a little while though, because he burned out his horn by lifting you up twice." She finished, looking at Doc.
"Wait, we can get burnout?" I asked.
She nodded. "You can, but only by pushing your limits. You'll be fine as long as you stay within your boundaries. Right now I've got Towns lifting up multiple objects at once." She turned to Doc. "Also, after I finish helping you out with your magic, I'll take you to a unicorn doctor to teach you a few things about pony anatomy."
Doc nodded. "Sounds good. By the way, we got levitating these rubber balls down. What's next?"
"Now, you'll try something more difficult to levitate. I want you to-"
"Oh wait! I just realized something." I said, cutting Twilight off.
"What?" Doc asked.
"What are we going to do when we run out of ammo?"
"Well, we do have a large supply, but not enough to last a war. Now there's a problem."
"Hey Twilight, is there some kind of duplication spell?"
"Let me think for a second...oh yeah! There actually is a duplication spell! But there is one problem. Because the spell takes so much to cast, you can only duplicate something once before getting burnout. Also, you can only duplicate nonliving things, and anything bigger than a pony is too much to duplicate for an average pony."
"How long does burnout last?"
"About twelve hours."
"Well I guess we'll have to conserve our ammo. Can you teach us that duplication spell though?"
"I suppose I could. This spell will take some time to accomplish, but I'll help you the best I can."
"Thanks, because we won't be able to do much without ammunition."
We looked up and saw that the lieutenant and Luna were coming back down. Ni landed in front of me, and Luna next to Ni.
"Very good Lieutenant Ni. We shall continue training tomorrow. The same goes for the rest of you. Get some rest."
"I'll show you guys to your rooms. I guess I'll stay in Canterlot a little while as well, since I need to teach you more magic." Twilight said.
We nodded and started to follow her out.
"We would like to speak with you for a moment Donutt." Luna said just as I got to the doors.
I nodded to them and they went on ahead. I turned back and trotted over to the princess.
"Need something Princess Luna?"
"Will you answer a question for us?"
"If you answer one of mine."
"That is fair. Our question is this; why do really want to fight for Equestria?"
"So I was pretty transparent huh?"
"Not so much. You have everypony, including my sister believing what you said. We know better. Why do you truly wish to help us?"
I sighed. "Well, if you want my complete honesty-"
"We do."
"Then I guess there are two reasons why I'm doing this. I assume Twilight told you the story I told her about myself on the train?"
She nodded. "Yes, we were saddened to hear of such a thing."
"Have you formed an opinion on me yet?"
"No. We believe that when given the chance, that a pony should be judged based on what they do with a second chance, and not their first." She looked at the ground sadly. "We know what it is like to have done something terrible in the past."
"Then you also know that people don't forget what happened. All you can do is do your best to make up for it. I'll never seek an excuse for something like what I did. I murdered someone, and it doesn't matter how evil he was, the fact remains the same. That is one reason why I'm helping. I'm looking for a form of repentance, if I'm honest with myself."
"And your second reason?"
"It's nice to fight for something other than myself or for a country that takes me for granted. Don't get me wrong, I love my country, and I'd give my life in a heartbeat for it. It's just that some of the people there don't really care what you did. They think anyone that joins the military is an automatic murderer, when we're actually over there, watching our friends die one by fucking one so they have the right to do what they're doing!...Sorry, I lost my temper."
"It's alright. We think it is good to have passion. You have answered our question, and now we shall answer yours."
"Okay. Is there any reason you never say 'I' or 'me'? You talk as if there are two of you."
"Yes, we suppose that is a reasonable question. Technically speaking, there are two of us. There are two minds in this one body."
"Huh, well why are there two minds in there?"
She looked at the ground. "It is a painful thing to talk about."
"You don't have to tell me. You did answer my first question after all. If you ever wanna tell me, I guess I'm here to talk."
She smiled a little. "We thank you. ….Might we know your real name?"
"Heh, Donutt a little too weird? That's fair I guess. It's Hunter."
"Thank you for answering our questions Hunter. We will show you up to your room now."
I nodded and followed her out of the training room. We trotted around several corners, took many stairs, and finally arrived at the door to my room.
"Well, I guess this will keep me from exploring."
"Don't worry, it is easy to know where you're going after your tenth year."
I laughed. "I'm not sure if I'll be staying that long. It's time for me to get some rest, so I guess I'll see you in the morning."
"Maybe. We are usually resting in the morning. We must go now, good night."
" 'Night." I said before yawning.
She nodded and trotted away.
When she was gone, I opened the double doors to my room, and holy hell was this thing big. Across from the door, there is a balcony behind a set of glass doors. The room was furnished with expensive looking things, such as carpet, wall ornaments, dressers, and even the bedspread. The bed was probably the best part of it all though. It was bigger than a king size bed, and hopefully very comfy. It's been a long time since I've slept in a bed anywhere close to this.
With slight difficulty, I took my gear off and set it on the ground next to my bed, and put my M9 sidearm under my pillow. It never hurts to be careful, right?
After that was finished, I jumped on the bed and instantly went into pure euphoria. This was the most comfy thing I've ever fucking been on! The only way I could imagine it being even more comfy, is if it were made of cloud. I pulled up the covers and closed my eyes to get my first good night's rest in forever.
I jumped slightly at the sound of knocking at my door.
Or not...
"What? Who is it?"
"It's your lieutenant."
"Aw come on Ni, I'm friggin tired."
"Tough shit, now open up."
I groaned and trotted over to the door to open it.
When I did, he let himself in and trotted over to my bed.
"What did you want?" I asked.
"Let's go explore the city a bit. I can't sleep and I need something to do."
"You want to keep me up because you can't sleep?"
"Yep. Any more questions pink boy?"
"I'm light red, and no, I don't. Just a second I guess." I said before grabbing my M9 and putting it in my holster.
"Expecting trouble?"
"It is wartime."
"Glad to see you're staying prepared. I am too." He said before pulling out his custom made Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum. Six chambers of pure death. Shoot a deck of cards with it, and they will disintegrate before your eyes.
"Damn I wish I had one of those." I commented.
"It kicks like a mule on steroids, that's for sure." He holstered the beauty and spoke again. "Let's go if you're ready."
"Do you know how to get out of this labyrinth of a castle?"
"Yea, I paid attention, unlike you. Just follow me."
I nodded and followed him out of my room, and through the castle. We found the exit, and trotted outside. The two guards on each side of the doors nodded to us, and we continued into town.
As we wandered around for a while, we only saw a few other ponies. It's to be expected I suppose, considering it's somewhere around midnight. The ponies we passed looked at us suspiciously, but I guess it makes sense since we are wearing our gear around town.
"Are we doing anything in particular here?" I asked.
"Finally, I found what I was looking for!" He said, ignoring my question, yet answering it at the same time.
I looked up at the building in front of me. The name of the building is called 'Whiskey's Whiskey'. Huh, that's certainly creative.
"Wait, so you brought me out in the middle of the night to find a bar?"
"Got a problem with that?"
"Hell no! I'm pissed you didn't tell me earlier!"
He grinned. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to hear you bitch, but that didn't work. Come on, lets get a drink."
I nodded and we trotted inside. The place was decorated with all kinds of Irish related stuff.
We went up to the bar in the middle, and took a seat on some stools.
A green pony trotted over to us. "Welcome to me bar lads, name's Whiskey. What can I get for ya?" He said in an Irish accent.
"What would you recommend?" Ni asked.
Whiskey smiled. "I was hopin' you'd ask. I make me own special kind of drink."
He reached under the bar and pulled out various containers containing various kinds of alcohol, and mixed them faster than my eyes could keep up.
When he finished, he slid a couple of glasses over to me and Ni. They contained a green liquid.
"Drink up lads, that's my own special recipe."
Me and Ni held up our glasses, and took a swig, then set them back down. Not bad, it tastes like a special kind of kool aid, with a good kick.
"That's some good stuff there Whiskey." Ni complimented.
"Yeah, this is very good." I added.
"Thanks lads. I-"
"You two, tell us what you know about Equestria's plans for war!" A large griffin said as he got up from a table across the room, accompanied by three slightly smaller griffins.
We continued to drink Whiskey's special drink, ignoring the griffin.
"What were you about to say Whiskey?" Ni asked.
"Hey! We saw you enter the palace! Either answer the question, or feel this blade!" The griffin yelled, unsheathing a sword.
"Can't we enjoy a drink in peace fellas?" I said.
The big one responded by destroying my glass with his sword, then pressing it against my neck. "Last chance pony. Answer, or die."
"I'm going to warn you one time, and one time only. You never do three things around me; threaten me, threaten my team, or destroy my fucking drink! You've already done all three of those, so you should consider yourself lucky to still be breathing. You have five seconds to back off, and leave right now." I said.
"Hahaha! You think you can scare us pony?!"
"One."
"You have some nerve to be talking with a sword at your neck!"
"Two."
"The three of you, press your swords against the other's neck."
They nodded and did what they were told.
"Three."
"This is your last chance ponies!"
"Four."
"Kill them!"
"Five."
I used my magic and fired off a round from my M9 straight into the griffin's head, dropping him instantly. Ni fired off a round from his magnum, and completely obliterated the head of one of the griffins.
The other two were smart enough to drop their swords and try to fly through the door. I was faster though. I placed two shots in each of their wings, making them collapse on the ground.
I trotted up to one of them. "Now, how about you tell me why you're here, and I don't do to you what we did to those two over there." I said, motioning to two of the griffin's corpses.
"Donutt, calm down. They can't do anything now." Ni said.
I ignored him. I pressed my gun to the head of the griffin on my right and pulled the trigger with no feeling, splattering his brains all over his friend next to him.
"Donutt! What the fuck?!" Ni yelled.
I pressed my gun up to the last remaining griffin. "Talk. Now."
"O-okay! I'll tell you everything! Just don't hurt me!"
"You have thirty seconds."
"We-we were told to come here to Canterlot and spy on the place and obtain any information we could."
"On whose orders?"
"..."
I pressed the gun against his head harder.
"Ahh! It was Emperor Razor Talon! It was his direct orders! Please don't kill me! I just took this mission because of the pay! I need the money to pay for medicine for my sick dad!"
"Welcome to war." I said as my magic on the trigger tightened.
I felt a sharp pain on my face, and fell to the ground.
I shook my head and looked around. I saw three dead griffins, and a fourth covered in brains and terrified.
"Did...I do this?" I asked.
"Sorry for that, but most of it anyway. What the hell happened to you there Donutt?" Ni said.
"I...don't know. When the big guy pressed his sword against my neck, I blacked out."
He helped me up and spoke. "We'll discuss this later. Right now, we need to turn this griffin in for questioning." He said, looking at the terrified looking griffin. "Sorry about the mess Whiskey."
"It's no trouble I guess. They were here to hurt you anyways. Your friend over there is a cold bastard."
"It's something I haven't seen before. Thanks for the drinks." Ni said before helping me carry the griffin, who had now passed out, outside.
We found a guard, and explained the situation, leaving out a few details. He took the griffin and got a few more guards to check out the bar.
We left them to do their thing and headed back towards the palace.
The expected question came up. "What the hell happened? Why did you do what you did back there?" Ni asked.
"I'm really not sure. When that sword was at my neck, I felt this consuming rage, like I wanted to kill everything in sight. I blacked out after that, and the next thing I know, I'm on the ground next to three dead griffins, and another griffin with brains all over him."
"We'll keep the details of this to ourselves for now. Come on, you deserve to rest now."
We got to my room eventually, and I trotted inside with my head filled with questions. Am I going insane? I've never lost it like that before. I might have a slight problem with outbursts every now and then, but nothing that severe. And why did it sound like my rage was talking to me? And here I was looking forward to a peaceful sleep...
I'm getting lazier and lazier guys. I worked on the first half of this for about a week, then decided today it needed to get done, so I finished the other half in about two or three hours. Anywho, what do you guys think? Some messed up shit is going down with Donutt, and it's more than stress. I'll leave you to speculate now. Now I must go to sleep and recharge my ever-decreasing sanity.
Chuck Norris fact of the day: The only way to tickle Chuck Norris is to douse him in kerosene and light him on fire with a welding torch.
