A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Fan Fiction

Written by: Goober Trooper

With assistance from: Ozpakko & Icrus Team 402

I understand that much time has passed since I finished unraveling the poorly written text of the previous journal entry. However, many things have cropped up and fallen down in my life, as such happens from time to time. I apologize immensely if this tale meant much to yourself and that you despaired over it's possible demise. I make no commitments that the next entry will be here sooner or these... Speculations concerning the Other Side will be written swiftly either. Although I can promise you that I will continue to toil on sharing this tale with you unless I myself perish. I will also provide my apologies if the length of this section is rather offsetting... I intend for following chapters to be smaller, but not larger than this.

March 14th - The Other Side

Rarity was on watch. It was a dark and cold night. Not many stars could be seen and the moon dimly glowed through the cloud bank that had drifted in. A cold breeze began to blow through the abandoned facility. The swift wind pierced Rarity's fur, causing her body to shiver involuntarily.

"Brrrr. The weather seems to be changing. If I must remain on watch I would rather not freeze." Rarity murmured, as she stood to enter the Warehouse.

She resolved to bring her sleeping bag outside with her, and to curl up inside of it while she peered out into the night. She quietly approached her snoozing friends, and attempted to levitate the sleeping bag outside. She was not successful on her first attempt, and the coldness briefly enclosed her soul once again. She was successful on her second try, of course, but old habits are never easily forgotten. She placed the sleeping bag on the left side of the door, and unzipped it with magic.

After some struggling she was sitting on her hinds wrapped in her sleeping bag. Her head was covered by the dark purple bag, but her horn physically held it aloft so she could peer out into the night for any sign of hostility. Rarity shifted and relaxed into her bag. It was becoming incredibly cozy and comfy, when abruptly the rain began to fall. No thunder, or sprinkling preceded the change of weather. Just sudden water from the sky. Rarity emitted a quick gasp and fumbled for a way out of her sleeping bag. She quickly focused and unzipped the bag with telekinesis. Once outside of the bag the chilling rain struck her fur, and caused another shiver to ripple across her back. She snatched up the bag with her mouth and dashed into the shelter of the Warehouse.

Her friends had begun to stir. The rain had fallen through the hole above where they slept. It either made their bags damp and caused them to wake, or the water fell directly onto their heads which peeked out at the openings. Rarity plopped her bag down near the new crate. It was only damp in a few places, and would dry out quickly once day came. The other five ponies also dragged, or levitated in Twilight's case, their sleeping materials over to where Rarity stood. Rarity passed them as she trotted over to retrieve her pad.

Rainbow Dash carried her bag under her left wing, and pad beneath the right. She grumbled to Pinkie Pie about the rain disturbing her from dreaming, and Pinkie nodded empathetically to her. Twilight Sparkle muttered under her breath as she passed Rarity, and kept her eyes locked on the items she was transporting, while Applejack and Fluttershy carried their belongings quietly over to the new spot. When Rarity had obtained her pad, and returned it to where she had placed her bag the others had already deployed their sleeping material. Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were crawling back into their bags, but Applejack approached Rarity as she tossed her pad down.

"I find it kind of funny that ya jinxed us." Applejack started with a short chuckle.

Rarity frowned for a moment, as she determined if AJ was teasing or being sincere.

"There's no such thing as jinxes! It's just a bunch of phooey." Twilight spoke up from her lavender sleeping bag.

Applejack slanted her mouth and raised her eyebrows in an uncertain look, while Rarity giggled as she found amusement in AJ's expression and Twilight's typical response. Applejack assumed a normal expression again, as Rarity's mirth came to a quick end.

Rarity took this under consideration for a moment. Her eyebrows tilted towards each other, and her mouth became an uneven line. Her ears rotated to face left and right, while her tail swished as she thought.

"I appreciate the offer Applejack, but it's still a few hours before mine's ends, and I'm certainly capable of making it to the end of my shift. I would feel absolutely awful if you had to fulfill my duties and your own." Rarity replied.

"Indeed. I won't be far, though. Good night, Applejack." Rarity responded as she turned about.

Applejack nodded, and turned back to her own sleeping bag. She crawled inside and swiftly fell into slumber.

Rarity levitated her sleeping bag over to herself. She fumbled once again, but was met with success eventually none the less. She wrapped the purple bag around herself, and glanced about the dark Warehouse. There was no sound besides the dull clatter and platter of rain impacting the metal roof above, and there was no movement besides the wind. As the early morning hours came about Rarity was barely keeping her eyelids open, and wearily plodded over to Applejack. She nudged her awake, then placed her sleeping bag onto the right side of where Twilight slept. She clumsily crawled inside and slept without any troubles.

Applejack patrolled the Warehouse, as she diligently watched the building's entryways. Nothing eventful occurred during the early morning hours. The wind had moved on, and the rain made a slow, soft pitter sound on the roof high above. AJ carried the few scraps of rubbish that they had previously missed over to the Trash Heap.

"Gonna have t' talk t' the girls about what they wanna do with all this garbage." Applejack said, as she heaved another chunk of metal that she carried on her back up and over her head.

A warm orange, yellow glow slowly began to shoot through the numerous cracks on the east end of the building signaling that the sun had begun to rise. Applejack eagerly trotted over to one of the holes in the eastern walls to view the sunrise.

The sun glowed vibrantly through the clouds, and drizzling rain. The lumpy streams of orange and yellow that the rising sun created on the clouds oddly reminded Applejack of orange sherbert ice cream. Her heart ached briefly as she recalled that flavor of ice cream being Apple Bloom's favorite. Needless to say, she missed her family. Even if she was just gone a few days. AJ continued to behold the glorious sunrise for several long moments, but once the sun rose she stood and walked over to the kitchen. After obtaining a cup of water, Applejack sat in her chair, and mulled over how to dispose of the garbage heap.

"We can bury a bunch of it, but I haven' seen a plot of dirt since we've gotten here. And there's a bunch of garbage in thar that we can't bury. Like those plastic box things, and the metal stuff. That won't decompose. Migh' have t' talk this over as a group."

While Applejack waited for her friends to wake, she retrieved her tooth paste and brushes from her saddlebags, and began her morning routine. She placed her hat down next to the small plastic tub, and squeezed a little tooth paste onto her toothbrush. She picked up the brush with the crook between the ankle and hoof, then scrubbed her teeth clean. After placing her toothbrush and paste away she casually combed her mane and tail, then tossed the scrunchies back onto the ends of them. She scooped up her hat and returned to her chair, sitting there until her friends arose.

Eventually they did. When they began to awake AJ quickly began warming a pot of water as they went about their waking rituals. While the water boiled Applejack retrieved the crowbar from where it was leaning against the first crate with her mouth, and brought it over to the newer box. Fortunately, the midsection of the tool had a cushion that faintly tasted of strawberries. She slid the flattened end of the tool into the crack along the top, and pried open the box. The crate made a sharp snap, and Applejack tossed the lid over with a push from her left hoof. It made a clattering thud, as she leaned in to investigate what the box contained.

On the left side of the crate were four gallon jugs of water. To the right were more coffee grounds, coca packets, and tea bags. Along with twelve Quacker Oatmeal packages of varying flavors, potato stew ingredients, various fruits and vegetables, and more sandwich fixings, again. Below all of this were more meager construction supplies. It was the same amount and items that they had been shipped previously.

"Awh shucks. Rainbow's gonna be a bit antsy when she see's this." AJ thought, as her vision slid over two six packs of Canterlot Cider. She could only assume one of them was intended for the previous evening, and the other for today.

"Looks like we got oatmeal fer breakfast t' day!" Applejack hollered to the other mares, when she had turned her head to face them.

They hastily finished anything they were occupied with, and walked over to see what they had been shipped.

"Oh! Do we have bubble gum flavored oatmeal? I love bubble gum flavored oatmeal!" Pinkie Pie said in typical joyousness, as she bounced to peer over the heads of the other ponies to see if the crate held the item she desired.

She slowly ended her bouncing, as she noticed the other five staring at her with peculiar expressions. Pinkie raised her eyebrows, and her mouth slid to the left as she regarded their expressions.

"You're um... I mean I, uh, didn't expect you to be so... Happy?" Twilight replied uncertainly.

"I'm not outta the Candy Cane Forest just yet, but I can't just be a sad napkin either. There's a time and place for sadness, and I'll have to stick with it until I get there!" Pinkie replied, but her expression fell into a sad smile at the end.

The five other mares glanced to each other, but Rarity put a decisive end to the silence before it became awkward.

"Pinkie Pie does have a point. What exactly do we have in there, Applejack?" She inquired.

Applejack's jaw fell in an attempt to reply, but Rainbow Dash quickly made a complaint.

"Don't let that get to ya. That means we'll have double the cider tonight!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

"As I was goin' t' say..." Applejack began with a slight point to her tone. "They're in a box so..." Applejack looked to Twilight. "If ya could levitate it on out we could answer those questions."

"If I do what I plan on accomplishing today, then I'll need as much of my magic as I can keep." Twilight responded with an apologetic look.

Applejack raised an eyebrow and shrugged, then looked over her left shoulder to Rarity.

Rarity nodded as she slid between Rainbow Dash and Applejack to levitate the box out of the crate, and place it behind the group. It was a simple white cardboard box. However, it bore the logo of a mallard sporting a white wig with the words Quacker Oats stamped around the picture. Rarity started to levitate the packets of oatmeal out of the box, and glanced at the flavors as they passed her nose.

"There is... Apple Cinnamon, Peach, Maple Brown Sugar, Walnut and..." Rarity paused as she stared at one of the typical brown packets. She spun it around to show the others the dark pink text that was printed onto it.

"REALLY!? Yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay!" Pinkie exclaimed. She snatched them out of Rarity's telekinetic grasp and dashed into the kitchen.

"Oh, and we have a Banana Bread flavor. Who desires which?" Rarity informed and inquired.

"Uhm... I'll take the Apple Cinnamon. Unless somepony else wants it." Fluttershy spoke up meekly.

Nopony interjected, and Rarity sent the two packages of oatmeal that Fluttershy had requested her way. Fluttershy collected them with her teeth, and walked towards Pinkie Pie.

She too took the packages in the same manner as Fluttershy, and joined her in the Kitchen.

Upon receiving her packets, Rainbow instead flew over to where the others were gathering around the stove.

"That leaves the Walnut and Maple Brown Sugar. Which do you want, Applejack?" Rarity queried.

"Well... I don't know. Go ahead and take what ya want." AJ answered with uncertainty and a swish of her tail.

"No, dear, I insist. I honestly don't mind having what's left." Rarity responded.

"Maple Brown Sugar it is for me then." Applejack replied, as she walked over to the box and collected the two packets.

"Mighty generous of ya lettin' us all pick first." AJ said around the oatmeal packages.

"Thank you." Rarity responded with a smile. She levitated her desired packets before herself, as she and Applejack trotted into the Kitchen.

The water Applejack put on earlier was now welly heated. The six ponies scurried about as they searched for bowls to pour their oats into, which would, of course, be followed by water. It didn't take long before they were all seated around the table with bowls of oatmeal and cups of hot coca, coffee, or tea.

"What do we have planned for today, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, before she took a sip from her tea.

Twilight swallowed the spoonful of oatmeal that was in her mouth, and knocked aside a few strands of her mane that had fallen across her field of vision.

"I plan on drawing a map, and making my own observations from that building Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found yesterday." Twilight replied.

"Oh! Oh! Can I come? I wanna come! Will we get to meet more humans? Please can I come?!" Pinkie Pie spoke up ecstatically, with pink oatmeal smeared around her mouth.

Twilight smiled lightly with mild amusement when she noticed the oatmeal around Pinkie's mouth.

"Yes, you can come. Although I'm not sure if we'll go out of our way to meet anypo-... Anybody. Even if we do... It might be best if we avoid them. Seeing as how they can... Act to each other. Which is why I'd like to take Fluttershy along. You're pretty good at avoiding ponies. Right?" Twilight said, as she regarded Fluttershy at the end.

"I, um, guess so..." Fluttershy replied. She took another scoop from her oatmeal and slowly chewed it with an expression that lacked confidence.

"Alright, but what about the rest of us?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she pointed to her chest with her right hoof and a furrowed brow.

"I was hoping you'd be willing to stay and help Applejack and Rarity out with patching this place up. Especially the roof." Twilight Sparkle answered, with a quick glance to the hole above where they had slept the previous night.

"Okay." Rainbow replied with a quick shrug, then redirected her attention back to devouring her breakfast.

"Twi' ya know we're gonna 'ave t' talk with these humans at some point." Applejack pointed out, as she scraped some oatmeal out of her bowl.

Twilight's mouth slid into a slant and her eyebrows became uneven, as she adopted a worried expression.

"Maybe, but if they can so easily... Kill each other, then what will prevent them from doing the same to us? They may even be more inclined to do so when they're afraid of who we are!" Twilight replied.

Twilight was suddenly conflicted with worry, fear, and alarm. This was displayed when she looked over to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie noticed the glance, and quickly finished the food that was in her mouth.

"Yea! I met a human the other night! It was like, I heard voices so I thought 'Oh humans! Yay! I get to meet a human!' So I got up and snuck all super speedy sneaky like, over to this metal dumpster thingy like this..." Pinkie Pie bounced out of her chairs, and demonstrated how she sneaked over to the dumpster two nights ago.

"I saw this short lil' human guy coming my way so I jumped into that dumpster metal thingy, and waited for him to get close. Once he did I jumped out and said 'Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! Party planner extraordinaire! Who are you?' And he got all freaked out! His jaw dropped and his eye's nearly popped out of his head! It was priceless! Then he got up and ran away screaming. It's really funny looking back on it now." Pinkie Pie explained in usual extreme speed with a brief giggle at the end.

There was a pause in the eating as the mares interpreted what Pinkie recounted at a slightly slower speed.

"Wait! Is this guy gonna come back? We have no idea what they might do now that they know we're here! Why didn't you tell us sooner!?" Rainbow Dash shouted with hostility. Her face changed to confused anger.

She could only work with what she knew, and she knew that these people cared little for each other from what Pinkie had shared with them yesterday, and just by seeing the world they lived in she easily guessed they cared even less about that. Rainbow feared what might occur if these individuals applied their disregard to life and negligence to herself and her friends, but being afraid offended her self esteem. This offense, and concern mashed into anger which leaked out in her voice.

"I thought Pinkie would tell you, and it didn't occur to me to tell you when she didn't!" Twilight responded hotly, as she became offended with seemingly unjust anger.

"I had plenty of other things on my mind that day, and just forgot! Sorry!" She mentioned.

"You should have told us once you realized Pinkie wasn't going too! We need to know these things so we're not all taken by surprise when some of these Aliens-"

"Come in looking for another deck of cards! Or whatever worthless item they're willing to kill over!" Rainbow retorted.

"I didn't feel it was my place to tell you all, and if Pinkie Pie didn't think it was necessary to inform you, then so be it!" Twilight retaliated.

"Then you could have taken some precautions of your own without needing to tell us!" Dash argued.

Twilight began to respond, but Fluttershy chose to intercede at this moment before the argument got to far out of hoof.

"It's that... Animals don't like to return to things they're afraid of, and I know I don't like too either. So... Maybe it's the same with humans?" Fluttershy explained.

"Yes... I was going to get to something like that." Twilight replied tersely towards Rainbow Dash.

"Hey, don't start fightin' again." Applejack swiftly interceded before the argument could resume.

"Yes. Stop your petty, ridiculous fighting and solve this reasonably." Rarity said in support of Applejack.

Twilight Sparkle let out a tense breath as she adopted a professional appearance, and attempted to calm herself for the explanation.

"After Pinkie Pie informed me of this incident, I spent several moments determining and hypothesizing if we were in any danger." Twilight began.

Rainbow Dash made to speak, but she halted the action when Applejack sent her a pointed glare.

"I concluded that his reaction was of unbelief and fear. Not only because he was being jumped at night by a pink pony, but a talking one no less! Celestia did say that the ponies here were not intelligent. I'm not certain about what that means, but given this human's reaction I believe that they do not speak or appear the same way as us, at least. Furthermore, since he was the only individual to see Pinkie Pie, and he hardly believed what he saw himself, I would imagine that the human would have a difficult, if not impossible, time convincing another of what he witnessed. In which case, we were not in any danger." Twilight finished.

Rainbow Dash had crossed her forelegs, and scowled at her nearly finished oatmeal.

Twilight's features softened from the professional appearance she had taken, as she continued.

"I should have taken some form of precautions in the least, but I'm glad I didn't need to." Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash put away her sulking appearance, and took on one that was more apologetic.

"Yeah, I shouldn't have erupted either... Sorry about that." Rainbow Dash apologized.

"It's alright." Twilight replied with a small grin, being glad they were able to resolve the conflict.

A small collective sigh was released from the other four as it became apparent that the argument had concluded.

"If Twi's right, then we got a lot t' do today. Let's finish this up, and get goin'." Applejack said, as she began finishing off her meal.

The others nodded or spoke some agreement and dug in to their food. Once they finished their oatmeal Rarity levitated the bowls and utensils over to the tub that served as a sink. She continued to use her magic to bring a water jug to fill the tub, and a towel to wash the dishes with, along with soap. Twilight approached Rarity as she began scrubbing the remnants of their meal out of the bowl.

"Oh, I'll be fine. Go ahead and get yourself ready." Rarity replied with a smile.

"Alright, but don't hesitate to come ask me if you do." Twilight said, as she turned to prepare herself for the day.

Twilight and the rest started their morning routine. The majority of them simply brushed their teeth and combed their manes. However, Twilight applied a meager amount of cosmetics, while Applejack simply sat idly and waited for them to finish. When Rarity had finished cleaning the dishes she too prepared herself. Of course, she took much longer than the rest, but it wasn't more than fifteen minutes before they were all stand or sitting around the table, expectantly regarding the The Purple Unicorn sat in her own chair. It appeared she was mulling thoughts over, and hadn't taken notice to the expectance being placed upon her.

Applejack lightly tapped the table a few times which subtly broke Twilight's attention to her mind. She belatedly noticed the expressions and shined a sheepish smile to her companions.

"Oh! Sorry." She started apologetically. "Uhm. My plan for today... Like, I said at breakfast, Fluttershy will guide me and Pinkie to the building she and Rainbow found yesterday. From there I'll draw a map of our area. I expect it to take plenty of time. So we'll pack lunches before we leave. I plan to be back well before sunset, though." Twilight stated.

"Certainly, you don't plan to go out in that rain unprotected, darling?" Rarity queried with raised eyebrows. Her mouth was also slightly to the right, which completed her expression of concern.

"No, uh, of course not. Do you have anything in mind that could help with that?" Twilight asked, hopeful that Rarity might be able to cover that small detail which she had overlooked.

"Well. I do believe I could do something with one of our tarps. I might be able to cut out some basic cloaks that may just keep the rain off." Rarity replied.

"That should work fine, thanks." Twilight Sparkle responded with relief and gratefulness.

"Your very welcome. I'll go ahead and start working on that now." Rarity said with slightly dismissive note to her tone, as her mind set onto the task.

Rarity turned and trotted over to the pile of materials they had created the previous evening, and began her search for the sharp slice of metal.

"And you wanna have us work on this dump, right?" Rainbow Dash spoke up with a quick gesture the build around them.

"Yes. If you can patch that hole over where we were sleeping, with the other tarp, that'd be excellent." Twilight replied.

"Excellent! I'll go get our things together. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie could you two please make us some lunches?" Twilight Sparkle requested.

"Yeppers!" Pinkie Pie chirped as she bounced over to the crate to retrieve the items, while Fluttershy followed her quietly.

Twilight turned to gather her notepad and pen, then place those items in her saddlebags.

"Migh' as well wait fer them to clear out before we begin tryin' t' work." Applejack said to Rainbow who merely shrugged in reply.

Although she abruptly looked back to Applejack just as suddenly as the thought had occurred to her.

"Hey! AJ, we could play toss a ball around or somethin' while we wait for them to leave." Dash suggested with a good amount of eagerness.

"Sure, why not?" AJ replied with mild interest, as she followed Rainbow over to her saddlebags.

They retrieved the blue bouncy ball. Rainbow tossed it with her teeth, while Applejack tried to swat it back to Dash with her tail.

While the others waited or prepared for departure, Rarity stretched the blue tarp to it's limits. She examined it with the critical eye that only an experienced and naturally talented designer could possess. She had made so many clothes for her friends in the past few years that she had their dimensions memorized. Pinkie was slightly wider than the other ponies. Definitely not fat, but closer to plump as working in a pastry shop certainly results in. Fluttershy was petite but not thin. Her wings made her appear wider, than she really was. Twilight was slightly above average size for a Unicorn, but she did have a small slouch as she regularly, but unintentionally, practiced bad posture. This made her appear to be more around average height.

After a few fumbles, Rarity used magic to begin making her cuts with this rough information, and the more specific measurements in mind. The shape that she was creating resembled an hourglass, but the top was much more round and wider than the lower half. She swiftly sliced three cloaks out of the tarp, and levitated them to the side. Once they were extracted from the main tarp she levitated them off to the side and folded them several times. This formed a hood, and defined the shape of the cloaks. They each had subtle differences which would account for each pony's slightly different shape, although they all needed to share one common feature.

Rarity made two small holes at the base of the hood on each blue cloak. She then searched the area for string, or anything that would suffice. She quickly scanned through the Trash Heap, and settled on three pieces of black wire. She successfully used telekinesis to carry these wires, and the cloaks before her as she trotted back to the Kitchen. As she carried the six items her heart felt a little exasperated; Similar to how one would feel as they started to run out of breath after running a long distance. Rarity increased her pace so she could allow herself to end the flow of Inner Magic sooner.

Twilight had retrieved her notepad and pen, then packed them into her sidebags. She placed the bags onto her back, and trotted back to the Kitchen where Fluttershy and Pinkie had finished making their sandwiches.

"All done! Here ya go." Pinkie replied, as she held a sandwich aloft before Twilight's face.

Twilight flinched at the sudden presence of her lunch, but she used magic to store the item in her bags. She noticed that Pinkie and Fluttershy had already retrieved their bags, and had done the same with their sandwiches.

"We also have some of these fruits and vegetables." Fluttershy mentioned. She made a brief gesture with her right wing to some apple, carrots, oranges, bananas, and corncobs.

"Excellent. We'll take a couple of these with us too then." Twilight replied, as she levitated an apple and carrot into her saddlebags.

Pinkie grabbed an orange and corncob, while Fluttershy chose a carrot and banana. Twilight then regarded them once they had placed their desired food into their bags.

"It's one matter flying high above any danger. It's another walking the streets that could hold people who could murder you over the slightest thing..." Fluttershy mentally whimpered.

They diverted their attention to Rarity, as she trotted towards them with their cloaks floating around her.

"That was pretty quick." Twilight commented with an impressed tone and expression.

Rarity nodded, as she adorned each of the ponies with their blue plastic water-resistant cloaks. They covered their backs and sides, but the front was left open as the hood protected their heads.

"It's not a problem at all, dear. I just have to put the wires on, and you'll be all set." Rarity responded.

She levitated the wires through the holes, and tied them off. This fastened the cloak together, and prevented it from sliding off.

"It is pretty rudimentary, but it'll protect you from the rain. Although, it may get sticky and uncomfortable if you sweat beneath it." Rarity informed.

Twilight turned and started walking towards the doors with Pinkie and Fluttershy following close behind.

"See ya!" Rainbow shouted. She waved with her right hoof, when she noticed them leaving.

Applejack stooped to the retrieve the bouncy ball she had failed to return to Dash. When she heard Rainbow Dash's goodbye she raised her head and glanced over her left shoulder in the direction of the other ponies.

Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie also said their goodbyes to the other two, as they walked out of the Warehouse.

Applejack collected the ball with her nose, and carefully carried it to Rainbow Dash's bags. She tossed it onto her light blue sleeping bag, then turned to the others.

Rainbow Dash gently flapped towards the same destination, while Rarity walked in pursuit.

Twilight cringed as she followed Pinkie and Fluttershy down an alley only a few blocks away from the Warehouse. Excessive amounts of putrid garbage was piled along the sides of the very narrow pathway they traveled through. She traveled behind the others and could not observe their reactions, but she assumed they had similar expressions.

"The amount of waste here is... Abhorrent. I figured that the garbage back in the Warehouse was due to it being abandoned, but so much litter fills these alleyways and is strewn across the streets... What happened here? Where are the public services? Why is nothing being maintained? Why are there so many buildings, but no sign of humans to inhabit them? The sooner we can find a trustworthy human to talk to the better... Of course. How would it be better if we found one later?" She pondered, as she walked behind Pinkie Pie with her gaze locked onto the ground before her.

The three ponies halted abruptly as Fluttershy sharply inhaled and swiftly backpedaled into Pinkie. Twilight was far enough back to see a possible collision between herself and Pinkie Pie's rear quarters, and hastily took a step backwards to avoid smacking into them. Fluttershy turned about to regard Twilight, while Pinkie stepped out of her way to stand on the side and complete the three mare huddle.

She hid half of her face behind her prominent forelock while her tail swished twice nervously.

"I-I don't know if it was female or not, but it was to the right and across the street." Fluttershy mumbled.

Pinkie moved to see for herself, but Twilight raised her right foreleg to stop Pinkie and swiftly spoke urgently.

"Pinkie! Wait. We need to watch it first, and see if we can determine if it will be hostile towards us. Then we can decide if we want to approach it or not."

"Why do you keep saying she or he is an it? It's not like they're an animal you know." Pinkie replied with a short eye roll, and a small grin.

"Because we don't know if it's either male or female, and there's only one way to find that out." Twilight responded, as she stepped around Pinkie and trotted passed Fluttershy to the end of the alley.

Twilight Sparkle lowered herself until she was a few inches, or several centimeters, off the ground and crawled with unintentional but humorously exaggerated caution as she peeked around the corner. A quarter of a block down she spotted one of the most ragged and shabby individuals that she might ever know.

A bipedal being with stained gray pants, and a badly blemished white rain jacket, with the hood pulled over to protect it's head, was pushing a shopping cart down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street as Fluttershy had informed. It walked with a strange limp that almost seemed deliberate. It's left leg would lag behind, then hastily be brought forward as if it forgot to move the appendage. The shopping cart was full of various items, but with the distance it was hard to discern what they were. The larger objects appeared to be a package of what was presumably toilet paper, a large stuffed cyan and white elephant, and full white and black plastic garbage bags. Another item that was stored on the undercarriage of the shopping cart was a blue and silver cardboard box that might be opened on the opposing end.

"I don't see anything dangerous about this guy." Pinkie commented, as she looked to her right to regard Twilight.

"I agree, and even if it-" Twilight noticed the start of change in Pinkie's expression and swiftly corrected herself before the transformation of her features could complete.

"Even if this person had a weapon that limp wouldn't allow him to get close to us... Assuming the human would want to attack us, anyways." She finished.

"So, you ready to make a new friend?" Pinkie Pie chirped with a chunk of the eagerness she had displayed earlier. She abruptly locked her legs into a standing position, and walked out of the alley and into the street.

Twilight's lower jaw hung for a moment as she intended to say a few sentences before Pinkie acted, but she reunited her teeth and rotated her head to look over her left shoulder to Fluttershy. She had stood behind them with loose knees that the butterflies of anxiety caused. She slowly nodded to Twilight to confirm her suspicions that she did hear the brief interchange between Pinkie and herself. With that, she stood and followed Pinkie out of the alley who was already walking at a steady pace across the street. Twilight trotted along side her Pink friend once she had caught up.

"Let's just be cautious. Even if this person doesn't look menacing they very well may be... Like Parasprites." Twilight advised.

"The point is still the same, but I don't recall ever asking you as to how you were aware of the danger that those fuzzy things possessed." Twilight Sparkle said and noted

She hastily trotted onto the left side of Twilight as they turned right onto the sidewalk to approach the human directly. She raised her eyes to observe the human as they approached it. The person had halted and was watching their approach. She could not see it's expression over the distance, but she figured it was one of befuddled belief, as she noticed it raise it's left extremity and wipe at were she assumed it's eyes resided.

"Ar- Are you sure this is a good idea? Pinkie's seen one of these people k-kill somepon- someone." Fluttershy continued with notes of concern in her voice.

"I hope so, Fluttershy... We all have questions about this place, and as much as I would like to find the answers on my own we simply don't have the time to uncover them by ourselves. So we must resort to asking... Besides we can't stay hidden forever. If we're to complete our task we have to reveal ourselves to them at some point. Any matter, this human seems to be crippled, and therefor unlikely to be capable of harming us." Twilight Sparkle answered.

Twilight noticed Fluttershy physically attempt to swallow her anxiety, as they neared the human. She guessed only a few minutes had passed during the time they had left the alleyway and halted a small distance before the person. It was slightly larger than she had expected. Their heads were several inches above the shopping cart, but the individual was still significantly taller than themselves. She swiftly glanced through the contents of the cart which contained only a few sealed and unlabeled tin cans. She also briefly observed the blue cardboard box that resided underneath the cart. It was labeled with light lettering, although she couldn't quite make out what was printed. The box had a few pictures of blue cans that bore the same label.

"Interesting... I haven't seen any, or many, cans like this back in Equestria. There must be a magnificent amount of differences between our species. Hah! Of course there are just look at this thing!"

She raised and lowered her gaze as she regarded the human. Now that they were closer she noticed that the person had a weak sloppy black beard. This confirmed for Twilight that the human was in fact male. His colorful eyes were set well apart from each other, and his nose was surprisingly small. The muscles in his face were seemingly set in a confused and distracted expression, giving the impression of misunderstanding and incomprehension.

Twilight looked up to the human with raised eyebrows and a slight frown as she regarded him with uncertainty. Acting hastily, she chose to preform the introductions before Pinkie could leap at the opportunity, physically or not.

"Uhm, Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my companions: Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. We've... Been sent here by our monarch, Princess Celestia, to aid this planet in the troubles that it has recently begun to encounter. Could you please direct us to whoever the local authorities are?" Twilight introduced and requested with obvious nervousness. She belatedly slid a small smile into her anxious expression in hopes that it would soften the strange tension between themselves and the human.

She was mildly surprised and impressed that the human had not reacted radically. In fact, the individual seemed to be intrigued with them, although it was difficult to discern through his befuddled appearance. The human continued to delay his response, but of course, he eventually did. When he spoke his voice tumbled out of his mouth in a thick tone. His words seemed awfully incoherently incomplete, and difficult to comprehend. Although it was clear that it was full of fascination.

Twilight brought her brows together in abrupt confusion, as she attempted to decipher the words. The steady pattering of light rain on her hood proved to affect her hearing slightly. She quickly glanced to her left and right to note the reactions of Fluttershy and Pinkie. Fluttershy squinted and frowned as she also regarded the human with poor understanding, but it seemed that some of her nervousness was beginning to depart, considering that she was interested in the proceedings and not fleeing. Pinkie on the other hoof had her head tilted to the right as she scratched her chin with her left hoof. Her eyebrows were lifted, and her bright blue irises reflected intrigue.

"Uhm. Pardon me, but I didn't quite get all of that." Twilight replied with befuddlement coating her voice.

The human sighed with what seemed to be a well measured amount of depressing frustration... It made her consider if he encountered this issue frequently. Regardless, he carefully pronounced each word again in an attempt to repeat himself, although they were met with marginal success.

"I... Just told you. I'm Twilight Sparkle, she's Pinkie, and she's Fluttershy." Twilight pointed to each of her companions in turn, and spoke with a tone that was suited to those perceived to possess below average intelligence.

Twilight tilted her head to the right, her appearance displayed that she desperately wanted to understand, but was having difficulty doing so. Although Pinkie merely squinted at him scrutinizing him as if there was something familiar with him that she couldn't quite place her hoof on.

The human slumped the top of his torso, which Twilight guessed to be his shoulders, in a sigh of defeat and held out one of his upper appendage. He rotated the end of his left extremity upwards then moved the appendages on his right extremity across the flat and open area of his left in what was similar to a walking motion which he slowly brought to a stop. He raised his head from where he was observing his hands, and sent a glance of uncertainty. It appeared to ask a question, one that asked if they had understood what he displayed.

"Does it mean slow? Or slowly stop? Slow down? Walking?" Pinkie guessed rapidly.

He shook his head, nodded hesitantly, then shook his head twice more as answers to each of her guesses.

Twilight observed carefully, she was definitely intrigued and fascinated as to what this might lead to. The human nodded swiftly, but not with any sense of eagerness that Pinkie had. He maintained a hopeless and tired expression, but he straightened the end of his right appendage and brought the side of it down onto the left extremity, then repeated the walking motion once more, and again followed it with the side of the right extremity landing on the open left.

"Oh! I know this! I think I got it!" Pinkie spoke with continued, if not sightly more, energy.

The individual raised his eyebrows in interest as he regarded Pinkie Pie, but Pinkie did not meet his eyes. Instead, she directed her own eyes to Twilight's.

"This must be a form of Metaphorapthy! You know, the language that mute ponies use!" Pinkie informed eagerly.

Complete comprehension enlightened Twilight's mind. She made a small grin as she planted the side of her right hoof between her eyes, and let out of a breath of minor self-disappointment.

"Of course! He obviously has a issue with speaking, and therefor he relies mostly on a form of non-verbal communication!" Twilight Sparkle mentally realized.

"Who are you kidding? I make sense all the time! But I think I know what we need to do here. Just leave it to me!"

Twilight glanced to Fluttershy with a lack of surety, but the pegasus simply shrugged.

"We can always stop her if she starts doing anything strange." Fluttershy whispered with more confidence than she possessed on the approach.

Out of the edge of her vision, she noticed the human titled his head toward Twilight and nod smoothly, as if to agree with what was spoken.

"It's simple! We just give him your notepad and pen and have him write what he wants to say!" Pinkie replied.

Twilight slowly nodded approval of the idea, and glanced up to the human who was squinting at her with confusion.

"With our m-mouths or m-magic." Fluttershy murmured. She shifted with slight nervousness as attention was drawn onto her. Her tail thoughtlessly swished to further display the anxiousness.

"So much for getting comfortable around the human." Twilight thought with a mental shrug.

Although she was satisfied with Fluttershy's response and twisted to her left, nosed open the flap to her saddlebags, and retrieved the notepad and pen with her teeth. She took a few steps forward, and navigated rather confidently around the human's cart. She was fairly assured that the human had no hostile intentions, and content with her own abilities to stop him even if he did suddenly develop some. Twilight raised her head and offered the writing materials to the human who cautiously accepted them.

Twilight took a step backwards, as the human fumbled with the notepad and pencil. Inwardly, it mildly amused her that the pen and pad appeared fairly small in the human's claw-like appendages. With some clumsiness the human opened up to a random page in the middle and began carefully scribbling into the notepad at a speed that most ponies had trouble reaching. After a brief moment, he held out the notepad for Twilight to view. He leaned over it slightly to protect the susceptible pages from the weather.

She swiftly step forward. Her speed being influenced by a perfect mixture of mild excitement, a little curiosity, and a moderate amount of anxiousness. As she squinted at the paper, a wince of confusion rippled across her features as it flowed from her eyebrows down to her curling lips.

"My name is Ellid. I haven't seen any horses like you before. How can you talk? Why are you so small? Where did you come from?"

"I don't know... I haven't seen this language before." She replied with a quick shake of her head.

Pinkie Pie leaned in and skimmed through the message several times. She too adopted a baffled expression. Twilight glanced up to the human, who's mouth had fallen open slightly as he stared down at them with eyebrows crashing together in an expression that was easily perceived as minor despair.

"I don't know what it says either!" Pinkie spoke up with disappointment, as she realized her breakthrough and solution had failed to another language barrier.

"This is ridiculous! We speak the same language, yet right in another? Here's a human we might be able to get answers from, and we're stopped by this?! No, there must be another solution..." Twilight exclaimed within her mind.

As Twilight attempted to discover another solution, the human simply sighed, and closed the notepad. He rammed the pen through the circular metal bind and held it towards Twilight. He gently tossed it upwards and down in a gesture for her to take it. Twilight's attention was quickly obtained and she retrieved the pad. When she placed it back into her saddlebags the human nodded abruptly to them and gripped his cart with shivering hands. He pushed against it's load and started off.

"Wait! Perhaps we can think of another solution." Pinkie called, as she trotted behind him.

"No 'oint. Yo- can- un'ers'and me. I'm 'etting 'old, 'yways." The individual said, with gruff annoyance.

"You're right, sir! We can understand you! I'm not sure about you getting old though..." Pinkie Pie spoke excitedly, with hopes that she was making progress with the individual.

" 'At's my pah-oint e'ctly. Yo- ca... 'An... KU AN'." The human sighed again, and shook his head with apparent frustration.

"I can' 'alk whale! We can' comm'nic'te!" The individual said with a tone that matched his expression perfectly.

"You can talk whale!?" Pinkie Pie began excitedly, before quickly changing to a deeper and more drawn out pitch. "Doooooeess eeettt soooouuuunndd ssoooommmtthhiiiinnnggg lllliiiiikkkkeee tthhhhiiiiisssse?"

The human halted and turned about to give Pinkie a look that was borderline rage, but he remained silent and continued limping forward at a gradually increasing pace.

Pinkie started to trot after him, but halted when she became aware of Fluttershy's outstretched foreleg that intersected her path. Pinkie Pie brought her head up to regard the pegasus. She noticed Twilight lingering by Fluttershy's side.

"It might not a good idea to keep... bothering this human." Fluttershy murmured. She retracted her leg when it was apparent that Pinkie Pie would stay.

"Don't you remember how things turned out with Cranky? He was peeved too, but we worked things out!" Pinkie replied with usual chirpiness.

"Pinkie Pie... I don't think you have any soul mates to spare here, and besides it's a completely different situation." Fluttershy continued to caution.

"Maybe... but we won't find out unless I get to know him better!" Pinkie responded, as she took off with a quick hop after the human.

The human's limp prevented him from going fast, but the delay did allow him to a put a slight distance between himself and the strange horses. Although Pinkie quickly closed the gap with a floaty trot after him.

"I T'ld yo- to go awa-" The scraggly man replied. His tone was thick with apparent anger.

"Did you just say I was beautiful?! How sweet!" Pinkie Pie's smile grew, and she quietly took in a breath to prepare herself for singing.

The individual tumbled about and slammed the back of his hand across Pinkie Pie's cheek in a mildly powerful slap, which effectively halted the song and expressed his anger. Pinkie Pie staggered backwards, her jaw dropping open, ears rotating backwards, face wrinkling in a wince of pain, and tail flexing upward with shock. She could feel the lower rim of her eyes becoming moist with tears.

Pinkie looked up to the face of the partner of her momentary one-sided friendship with an expression of despair and shock with hints of betrayal, fear, sadness, and disbelief being found in the eyes. The heavily contorted face that held the epitome of rage turned away from her and began pushing his cart at a speedy limping pace.

She sat down onto her rear and watched as the man became progressively smaller as distance increased. She dully heard her friends approaching. She closed her mouth only for it to fall open again. Her stomach rolled and burned with the pain of rejection and shocking despair. Her heart had turned dull and cold. She felt her consciousness receding to the back of her mind, as the entire experience became surreal. This was foreign... This was new. Rejection. She labored to be everyone's friend. To be liked by all, but now she had been denied. She had failed, hadn't she? She failed her goal in life, and that was to make everyone smile. She had created anger and enmity. She had not created joy and happiness. She had failed.

Her head tilted downwards toward the ground, as two tears trickled down the sides of her face. Fluttershy and Twilight had arrived. She could feel their sympathetic looks and heartfelt sadness, without needing to see. Fluttershy sat down next to her and wrapped her right wing around Pinkie in a comforting embrace. The warmth and security that a hug with a Pegasi's wing was hard to beat.

"Don't take the blame. You tried, even against what we advised, to fulfill your goal, and that's to see everypony smile... Right?"

"You stayed with what you believed, your personal purpose, and cause." Fluttershy finished.

"Be happy and proud that you stayed true to yourself... Even if you were denied success. It's just that! Somepo- Someone else denied you success! You didn't fail, and you didn't fall short. You did what has always worked; the only variable was the human. The blame goes to him not yourself." Twilight contributed.

Pinkie Pie smiled slightly, and glanced over to Twilight. She had a hesitant grin, but her eyes expressed confidence in what she was speaking. It wasn't empty words designed to hopefully make her feel better, it was genuine support that she knew could only be found in a friend. She began to stand, as she nodded her appreciation to Fluttershy. Pinkie knew she could doubt herself, but she had learned not to doubt her friends. They had an outside perspective which was usually more accurate than her own, as it could easily be tainted with her own emotions.

"You guys are swell. Thank you both so much!" Pinkie replied with gratefulness inhabiting her tone.

Fluttershy smiled and responded with a simple nod, while Twilight gave a simple reply.

"Of course! It's merely our duty as friends." Twilight's grin had firmed into place with no traces of hesitation.

Pinkie looked down the street in search of the human, although there was no sight of him. She assumed he had taken a turn somewhere along the road.

"We had better get going... We've wasted enough time here." Twilight muttered, as the mood drifted back down.

"Lead us on then, my friend!" Pinkie Pie urged with a quick and brief one legged hug.

Fluttershy smiled and trotted down the sidewalk, taking the first right available and leading her companions down yet another alleyway.

Fluttershy halted the group to peer around the corner of another dirty, dull, and damp building. She quickly glanced over her right shoulder to view her friends. Pinkie Pie swayed rather happily although the movement seemed tethered, as if she hadn't fully recovered from her rejection of friendship, but was thinking optimistically about the situation. Twilight was looking past Fluttershy with little interest in what she was seeing. It was apparent that her attention was trapped within the musings of her own mind, as would happen often when she was presented with new situations.

Although nothing new was really occurring in their current situation. They had been repeating the same process quite a few times, dash across a street, trot down an alley, and cautiously peek for any humans. If none presented themselves they continued on their way.

Twilight Sparkle nodded, as she directed her attention onto Fluttershy and regarded her with a raised eyebrow and an inquiring expression.

"Alright, and I assume those are the woods you were in yesterday?" Twilight Sparkle queried, with a nod to the bare trees and bushes across the street.

Twilight paused for a moment. She stared past Fluttershy and into the woods, then abruptly broke out of the gaze and regarded her winged friend with a confused appearance.

"I continue to find the lack of humans very... Strange. Why are there so many buildings, yet so few beings to inhabit them? Why are they in such poor and repulsive condition? All this filth and- and garbage. It's gross! Why would anything want to live here?" Twilight Sparkle spoke with befuddled disgust.

Twilight stepped to her right and faced leftwards to allow herself the ability to regard both Fluttershy and Pinkie. Turning her gaze to the left, she regarded Pinkie Pie with confused skepticism.

"You sure about that? After what just happened, and what you've seen? You're putting a lot of trust into this species." Twilight Sparkle responded.

Pinkie paused for a moment and allowed her mouth to open slightly. She began to tap the side of her jaw with her right hoof, as she pondered an answer. She seemingly settled on one hastily and voiced it.

"Not all of them can be big meanie pantses. We haven't met enough to say they're all like that! We could just be meeting the wrong people..." After another moment of though, she continued. "The kiddies weren't evil, either."

"That may be true, but it's not easy to talk to these humans given what we've seen. They don't tolerate a whole lot and are easily prone to anger it seems. First, one kills a child over a deck of cards, then we have another human who easily resorts to physical harm to resolve a problem, and can hardly tolerate or have the patience to solve any problem. Should we really try to associate with individuals that will commit such crimes, or are so prone to being aggressive? Speaking of crimes, where is the law enforcement or government? Are they doing anything about this?"

"Isn't there a form of law here? Oh! And we're supposed to have this world saved within a week! Such a cake walk!" Twilight finished. She released small sigh that sounded to Pinkie similar to a personal surrender. Her ears flattened latterly as she frowned and glanced to her friends with eyes filled with worry.

"Lookie here, Twilight. We haven't seen enough humans to know if they're all like this. We have to continue talking to them and trying until we know if they're all so easily rustled or devilish." Pinkie said with a particular rhythm to her voice. "You can't worry about these questions too much either. We'll find the right ones, and they'll answer all your questions."

Twilight acknowledged the opposing opinion with a slow nod. It made sense and was certainly a valid reason to continue interacting with these humans, but she failed to vocalize this before Fluttershy spoke up.

"I'd rather not go looking for anymore humans, but I want to agree with Pinkie a bit... We were hasty to judge Zecora and we had very little to go off of. I'm worried that we could be starting to make that mistake again." A sheepish grin slid onto her features. "I'd just rather not be a center of attention when it comes to talking to them."

"Don't fret! Even if the human we end up finding is a meanie scary spookie poop, then the rest of us can put him right." She reassured with a grin.

Fluttershy smiled in return, and Pinkie was satisfied with another accomplished mission.

A light smile rested across Twilight's face, as she regarded both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

"Those are both valid reasons. I'll keep them in mind..." Twilight Sparkle replied with ambiguity. "Regardless, I guess we better keep going. It's already starting to get late into the morning." She finished with a glance to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded in response, and moved to exit the alley. She peered around the corner once more, then glanced back to her right. Twilight assumed she was satisfied with the lack of humans as she swiftly turned left and trotted out onto the sidewalk. Twilight pursued her and Pinkie hoped along behind the unicorn as they neared their destination.

Fluttershy led Pinkie and Twilight into yet another alley. The sides were lined with dumpsters and toters. All of which overflowed with trash that littered the ground between each other. There was a thin path in the center that the rubbish had not yet contaminated. She led her companions down this small path.

"This is the worst one yet." Twilight commented as she shift her gaze across the garbage filled alley.

About a quarter of the way down the alley she slowly stopped and turned to face her friends.

"This is it." She spoke, as she glanced to the white and red building to her left.

"It looks like a candy cane!" Pinkie remarked, but her expression fell briefly. "Awh... I want a candy cane."

"Thanks for guiding us here, Fluttershy. Now we need to find a way to the top." Twilight said with a grateful note in her voice.

"Oh! Let's take a lookie over at that door." Pinkie suggested, when she spotted a white door halfway down the alleyway.

"Uh, Pinkie..." Twilight said with a tone of warning, and an apprehensive expression.

Pinkie Pie heedlessly skipped over to the door, while Fluttershy and Twilight followed at a walk.

Fluttershy noticed several large swathes of the paint had pealed off leaving the wood exposed, along with traces of rot occurring. However, this did not discourage Pinkie from raising a hoof and knocking on the door.

Fluttershy glanced to Twilight Sparkle with a slightly nervous look. Fluttershy acknowledged that she may not have too many issues when they had met a human, as long as she wasn't where human place it's attention, but she still had no desire to find one of these unpredictable people. Although, Twilight merely released a disappointed sigh. Twilight shook her head and implanted a hoof between her eyes to further display her emotions.

Pinkie swayed with what appeared to be some form of happy confidence or merely anxiety leaving her body, as she waited for someone to answer the door. The moment was tense for Fluttershy. After a minute, she felt a sense of hope that there may not be anyone home, and with that hope she released a small breath of relief but Pinkie knocked again. She brought back in the breath she released and continued to endure the taut moment. Pinkie instead began to hum, whether it was out of joy or nervousness Fluttersy couldn't guess.

After two more moments Fluttershy released her contained breath when it had became apparent that nobody was residing in this structure Pinkie turned to face them, and raised her front shoulders in a shrug.

"We're going to have to find another way to the roof. I'd rather not go through a stranger's home just to stand on their roof." Twilight stated, as she turned away from the door.

The other two ponies followed Twilight, as she searched the alley for an alternate route to the roof of the building. It was less than a minute before they found their solution. Twilight looked up to a metal walkway that was above the group. Fluttershy copied the action. The walkway wound back and forth all the way to the top. There was a ladder at the far end However, it was easily six feet (Or two meters) above them. It was withdrawn and needed to be lowered to be used.

"It'll have to." Twilight responded. She took several steps, and faced the ladder.

"I'm very reluctant to use telekinesis to lower the ladder; Seeing as I will need to draw precisely for an extended length of time. Teleporting would also drain too much of my Inner Reserves of magic to be practical. So do either of you have any ideas of a non-magical means of lowering this ladder?" Twilight stated to and asked of her companions. She ended the statement with a swift gesture to their method of ascension.

"We could stand on top of each other and try pulling it down." Pinkie suggested with a brief frown and quick shrug.

The obvious occurred to Fluttershy as Twilight turned to regard any propositions she may contain.

Fluttershy made a small smile, as Twilight's approval and excitement pleased herself. She flapped up to the fire escape, and flew over the railing to land on the metal walkway. She took a step forward and balanced on her hind legs, as she placed her front hooves onto the top of the ladder. She gave it a timid shove downwards. Of course, it didn't budge. She doubted her ability to push the ladder down, but she took a breath and gathered her strength for another attempt. She sent a mild shove down onto the ladder. Against her own expectations, the ladder gave and with much clanging it slid down to the other ponies. However, most of her weight resided on the ladder when it began it's descent. This resulted in her tumbling out into the air and flipping onto her back, as she plummeted towards the ground.

"Aaahh!" Fluttershy cried. Cold damp air shot down her throat as she inhaled to release her shout of surprise.

Most of her weight resided on the ladder when it began to fall. This resulted in her stumbling out into open air, flipping onto her back, and plummeting towards the ground.

Twilight Sparkle released a gasp, and hastily focused to catch the falling pegasus. Instinctively, she grasped for Outer Magic that did not exist. Instead, she was filled with loneliness. Her awareness dimmed. She was alone in a typical deep, dark void. A shiver slid across her spine as she halted her attempt at magic. She felt her expression shift to desperation, as she glanced to Pinkie with hope that she could respond to the emergency.

Pinkie Pie's jaw unhinged slightly in surprise before she regarded Twilight. She expected her to use magic and save Fluttershy, but when she noticed the expression of horror that morphed her face she realized that Twilight had failed. Pinkie executed the first action that came to mind. She leaped forward with her front hooves extended to catch Fluttershy, but she had sprung to far forward and Fluttershy landed onto her back.

Pinkie gasped air back into her lungs, but the foul smell of the garbage pile she had landed on accompanied it and caused her to gag.

Fluttershy quickly rolled off of Pinkie, but she remained close to the ground. She glanced over Pinkie with concern to ensure that her own light body had not caused any physical harm. She breathed in to voice her concern, but the vile air flashed through her nostrils forcing her to gag along with Pinkie.

Pinkie quickly stood and nodded several times to Fluttershy. They stumbled off of the rubbish pile together to face Twilight Sparkle. She managed to mix several expression into one. Her eyes had a grateful yet sad tinge to them, her lips were curled in a small frown, and her eyebrows were drawn towards themselves in a sign of concern.

When Fluttershy had managed to stop gagging, and fill her lungs with marginally cleaner air she voiced her previous concerns.

Fluttershy whimpered as she stared down at her friend with no knowledge of what she should be doing, but the Pink Earth Pony stood and stumbled to her left and right momentarily. She regained her balance, and raked in lungfuls of oxygen to replaced the foul air in her lungs. Once Pinkie had apparently recovered she abruptly released a giggle and smiled to her friends.

"Oh good! I'm sorry for falling on you... I lost my balance, and uhm..." Fluttershy's said, before her voice trailed away.

"I'm the one who should be most sorry here." Twilight spoke up with a mildly depressed tone.

Fluttershy glanced to Pinkie who was regarding Twilight with an incredulous expression. When Fluttershy turned her eyes back to The Unicorn she too had changed her appearance to confusion.

"I failed! I attempted to stop your fall, but I failed... Pinkie was fast enough and put herself in place to cushion your landing, but I-" Twilight replied, but Pinkie interrupted her.

"Stop being silly, Twilight! Fluttershy's fine and neither of us blame you. So don't be all waddy saddy and blame yourself."

"You're worrying about enough as it is... This isn't necessary for you to be concerned with." Fluttershy assured. She followed up the sentiment with a genuine smile in an effort to help relieve her.

Twilight sighed and it seemed that as the breath left her mouth her desire to argue fled with it. Her shoulders relaxed momentarily as if a minor invisible weight was taken away from them. Although she still carried a depressed expression, but she pushed it aside when she raised and turned her head to view the walkway.

Twilight wrapped her front hooves onto the third rung from the bottom and precariously pulled herself up. She then hastily balanced her rear legs on the thin bar below her. This left Twilight in an awkward position, as it suddenly became apparent that the ladder was not designed for use by a creature such as herself. The next wrung was too far above her head for her to grasp, and it was difficult to raise her rear legs to the next bar beneath her but, fortunately, not impossible. She was folded into a silly V shape, which caused her back to ache and her fore-hooves to burn with a raw pain as she gripped the bar in this awkward position.

Twilight Sparkle released a shuddering breath, and collected her strength. She pushed with her rear legs, and flailed for the next bar above her with her fore-hooves. She began to lose her balance, but was able to catch the next wrung. She proceeded like this. Scrunching up, pushing upwards with her back legs, then desperately clutching the next bar for what seemed like several minutes until she managed to scramble onto the fire escape. Sprawling out onto the walkway, she started panting for a moment until she had recovered from the awkward and fairly strenuous climb. After that moment passed she turned her head to the side.

Fluttershy chose to flutter upwards and join Twilight on the metal staircase. The Unicorn stood and gave a light nod to Fluttershy as she turned to watch Pinkie climb the ladder in a similar manner. She seemed to have more success and quickly joined them.

"Whew! That's not easy!" Pinkie Pie said, as she swiped sweat away from behind her ears.

"Yeah, my hooves still hurt from gripping the bars so tight." Twilight Sparkle agreed.

She took the first step towards the stairs, as she led Twilight and Fluttershy to the roof.

Fluttershy was the last to leap onto the rooftop. Pinkie was darting around the rooftop as she investigated the new location, while Twilight held her writing materials between her teeth. Her forelegs were placed onto the southern rim of the building, as she scrutinized the streets and structures around her. Fluttershy trotted over to the west side of the building and peered over to observe the river bottoms. With a weak hope that she might be able to spot the large willow from the previous day.

There were the typical metal machines that were in abundance, but in obvious derelict conditions, along the side of the roads. Stray pieces of paper clung to the grey and black earth as the drizzling rain soaked them. Fluttershy gazed to her left. The sight was similar in that direction, the only difference being a small group of wet pigeons quenching their thirst in a filthy puddle. On her right hoof side the street bore the common cracks and holes that all the roads in this place seemed to possess, but she briefly saw two humans push their way into the forest.

She couldn't see what the first one wore before it had gone, but the other that followed him sported a black hoodie. Fluttershy opened her mouth and began to turn to the others to share what she noticed, but she saw at the edge of her vision that they had quickly disappeared into the thick brush. She decided to restrain herself, as there was now nothing to see. She turned about, and sought one of the drier spots on the roof. Where she planned to pass the few hours that separated her from lunch.

Twilight slid her saddlebags off her back, nosed open the flap, and withdrew the notepad and pen. She briefly placed the notepad and pen onto the wet roof, as she stored her bags in one of the dry areas underneath an air conditioning unit. She returned and scooped up her notepad and pen, clenching them between her teeth as she scrutinized the city before herself. Block after block of single or multistory buildings expanded out in every direction besides the west. Twilight squinted through the drizzling rain as she gauged distances.

She plopped the notepad before herself and laid down with it. Her rear legs were curled underneath and her front legs were planted on either side of the notepad. She shifted as she did her best to shield the notepad from the persistent mist. Twilight glanced back up to the city and squinted once more. Her eyebrows came together and her mouth made a small frown in concentration. She sought to temporarily memorize what her eyes observed. Once satisfied that she was becoming familiar with what she viewed, she gathered her Inner Magic and levitated the pen and began to draw a map to the best of her ability. Occasionally, she took another glance upwards to refresh her memory or to confirm a suspicion.

Regardless of how many times Pinkie twisted the knob, and pushed the door it remained immobile. Neither was she about to buck the door like Applejack would a tree. She assumed that this was someone's property after all, and she easily imagined that they would be horribly displeased if she damaged their door. Besides piles of bird poop and empty faded light blue cans, which held an image of baked beans, there was nothing interesting on the rooftop. After a couple minutes she joined Fluttershy who had found shelter next to one of the air conditioning units. They waited in quiet conversation.

After about a score of minutes a sudden shout drew the attention of the three ponies on the rooftop.

"What! I don't know anything about these. I'm as stumped as you are!" A male voice shouted in an offended tone from the street.

Twilight canceled her magic, and dashed over to the west side of the building where the voice originated from. On the opposite side of the street and several yards to the right were two humans. The one on the right had white skin, and bore a blue shirt. He had his upper appendages crossed as he regarded the other with a posture of skepticism.

The second individual, who was on the left, had darker skin and was clothed in a black hoodie. They both bore packs on their backs. The blue shirted human had a metal rod protruding from his pack, while the second had a short wooden pole appearing out of his own. However, the second individual held aloft two feathers in a posture of dramatic defiance. One was cream yellow the other sky blue. Twilight could not mistake the source of these feathers. She turned to Fluttershy, who had crept over with Pinkie, and were peering over the edge also. Twilight saw the Pegasus gulp and glance in her direction. Fear was a dominate emotion in her expression.

Twilight Sparkle also carried a worried look, while Pinkie looked down at the humans with an intrigued appearance. She did that strange act with her right eye that somehow made it seem larger than the other. Twilight glanced back towards the humans. They had begun to jog across the street, but they angled northwards and away from their perch. Of course, they did not glance upwards to notice them. When the humans had been lost from their sight they turned away from the structure's edge.

"I'm- I'm sorry, Twilight. It didn't occur to me that others would find our feathers." Fluttershy muttered apologetically.

"Neither did I. It's alright, Fluttershy." Twilight responded. "They didn't seem to know where they could have come from either."

Fluttershy nodded and walked back to her somewhat sheltered resting spot. Pinkie joined her there briefly, but stood and meandered around the roof for sometime.

As Twilight slowly walked over to her notepad and pen she relaxed her expression and pondered this brief event.

"This raises a few questions... Do they not have Pegasi here or colored birds? Certainly they have colored birds of some sort, but then we must also take into account the amount of knowledge these individuals possess... And if the conidtion this place is in, these humans may not have much. So it could be possible that these individuals are unfamiliar with the species of any colored birds within their region, but what of Pegasi? We will never know for sure what unintelligent species of Equines live here unless we ask... If we didn't have to be so cautious around this volatile species we could answer our own questions!"

She glanced across the town once more to refresh her temporary memory, as the cold breeze buffeted against her facial features. She flinched and glared through the mist that followed the wind. She telekinetically took up her pen, once satisfied that the image of the soggy city would be implanted into her brain long enough. She shifted into a position that better shielded the notepad and started drawing the first few blocks that she could recall.

"All done." Twilight said to her companions, as she joined Pinkie and Fluttershy in the shelter the latter had found earlier.

It was well into the lunch hour when the rain had finally started to relent. Twilight had finally finished her cartography session her finished product was a crude map, but she hoped it would give them a better idea of where they were when navigating the streets. Pinkie and Fluttershy had already brought out their lunches and had begun to consume them when Twilight settled in.

Using her magic, she levitated her own lunch out of her saddlebags, and in a few moments she joined them in the consumption of food. Pinkie grasped the top and bottom of her corncob with her hooves as she devoured it with messy eagerness. Twilight also held her sandwich in her hooves as she ate it, while Fluttershy nibbled at her carrot with haste as she held it with the sides of her hooves.

"Oh, what I would give for a nice warm cup of that lemon herbal tea..." Fluttershy spoke wistfully with unfocused eyes that held an expression of longing.

"I agree, that was certainly a good tea we had on Monday." Twilight replied, although with significantly less wist.

They directed their attention to eating for a short while until Pinkie manage to lift her head away from the corncob.

"How'd that map turn out, Twilight?" Pinkie queried, before she stole another mouthful of corn from the cob.

Twilight munched on her sandwich, as she levitated the page she had drawn the map onto out of the saddlebag she had stored it within when she finished. She showed the map to Pinkie; Who examined it thoroughly before taking another bite out of her corncob. Pinkie nodded to Twilight to signify that she had finished viewing the map. She quickly levitated the paper back into the pouch before it became more wet than it already was. Although it's preservation was not the only reason. An exhausted feeling had begun to slowly reveal itself. To plague her soul whenever she used magic.

"Apparently, maintaining a weak teleknesis spell for a few hours drains the Inner Magic reserves... Hopefully this will create a reference that will allow me to gauge my inner reserves of magic." Twilight thought quickly before Pinkie spoke up once again.

"Ish preffy gud." Specks of corn spewed out, as Pinkie Pie replied through the full mouth.

Twilight inwardly cringed, but chose to not mention the poor manners. She took another bite from her sandwich, and swallowed it before responding.

"What it really needs is some color. Just add a bunch of colors and it'll be great! Everything is better with more colors."

"Well... I guess it could use some. It might help if I added a legend, and dignified the streets a bit more." Twilight agreed.

Twilight Sparkle brought her sandwich up and ate another bite, while Pinkie turned to regard Fluttershy.

"I- I think she's doing fine. There isn't much that can go wrong with feeding animals, is there? I did tell her that I would repay her if she hired somepony else to do it instead too." Fluttershy replied.

Twilight released a relieved puff of breath. Somewhere in the bowels of her worries Derpy wrecking Ponyville with Fluttershy's horde of animals was one of them. The possibility that she may have hired a more... Capable pony to care for the creatures relieved her slightly.

"Ponies don't give her enough credit for how reliable she can be. Just like everypony else she'll make a few teensy mistakes occasionally."

"I don't find anvil props very teensy." Twilight commented, as the memory of the pain caused was recalled. "Neither does her reputation for miss-delivering mail sound very reliable."

"Well... We all make mistakes, Twilight. Ya know, the bad will always overcast all the good that we do, and Derpy's had some pretty bad accidents which overshadowed all the success she's had. So ponies opinion's of her are clouded, and when everypony else thinks your a failure you end up acting like one. She's actually very reliable at delivering mail. It doesn't always end up where it's supposed to go, but she gets it somewhere!" Pinkie answered with a grin, although it temporarily shifted to a sadness tinged frown when she continued.

"Although it's easy to become downtrotted when everypony expects you to preform mistakes."

"I- I don't think I've pondered it that much... Although, you are correct. We do tend to easily remember the mistakes and bad actions others preform rather than the good." Twilight responded.

Pinkie nodded, but chose to change the subject. Her happy posture returned to her as she made another inquiry

"No. I'd rather not... I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth attempting to save these violent creatures." Twilight Sparkle answered.

She gestured with her right hoof to the alleyway they had climbed out of earlier. Fluttershy had chosen to sit close to the rim of the structure, which allowed her to glance down into the alley with ease.

Pinkie's eyebrows shot up with interest. Twilight noticed this, and spoke up before the Earth Pony could stand.

"Don't try talking to them just yet! Let's make sure they aren't... Aggressive." Twilight cautioned.

"Yes... We'll watch these longer." Twilight replied with a rather shifty expression.

Pinkie regarded her skeptically but nodded her compliance. She stood and trotted over the Northern edge of the building. Fluttershy rotated to her right and also peered down into the alley, while Twilight slowly approached the side and looked over it herself. She did not locate the humans immediately, but when Fluttershy noticed this she nudged her from the right. She glanced over to Fluttershy who pointed to their left.

The same humans from earlier were hunched over on the sidewalk. Their upper extremities rested on their lower ones as they seemed to pant. The one that bore the blue long sleeved shirt now wore a green shirt on top of it, while nothing had changed concerning the other individual. Green on Blue raised his head and spoke some words to Black. Of course, he didn't speak loud enough to be heard four stories up, but Black shook his head in response. Green on Blue seemed satisfied with his answer and briefly lowered his head. However, the head snapped back up as he presumably heard something. He looked back to Black and they hastily moved into the alley.

Green and Blue spoke again to Black, but their voices were low and couldn't be heard. Black openly disagreed with what was spoken, and Green on Blue adopted an angered posture. He started to speak angrily with his companion.

"I don't want to see how this ends." Fluttershy whimpered, as she ducked behind the rim of their building. She laid her head onto the ground, and covered her eyes with her hooves.

Black began to shake his head, then Green and Blue suddenly leaped towards him. He pushed Black against the wall and reached for the large wood stick that protruded from his back. It became apparent that Green on Blue was shorter than Black, and could not reach what he desired.

"What the hell, man?! I'm not going to support your cowardly endeavors!" Black spoke loudly, as he pushed Green and Blue off him.

Green on Blue reached up and withdrew an iron pipe from his pack. Twilight expected their fight to begin.

"Should I intervene? The Princess did tell us to spread all that was good, and peace is good... But is with worth saving and spreading good to those who so easily slay each other? Wouldn't such be beyond hope?" Twilight thought with internal friction. She took a breath, but hesitated shouting down to them. Fortunately, they chose not to clash.

Black did not draw his bat, and Green on Blue did not charge him. Instead, he turned back to the alleyway entrance, and leaned against the wall of the red brick building across from their own. He only stood there a moment before stepping around the corner and swinging his pipe. He disappeared from view when he did so. Twilight directed her attention to Black. He stared at the ground for a moment, then glanced back up to the street. His posture had changed. It seemed similar to determination mixed with anxiety. He reached up and withdrew the wood stick, which turned out to be a bat, and cautiously walked out onto the sidewalk. He turned northwards as he followed Green and Blue. They disappeared from sight for a short while, but Black shouted from just around the corner.

Twilight's ears flattened to her sides, her mouth twisted into a cringe, and her tail twitched as the cringe formed.

"No! I should have done something! My lack of action and hesitation has caused the death of one of them! Even if all these humans are out to kill each other I should have at least tried to halt such!" Twilight mentally cried in despair.

"No..." Pinkie breathed. Her mouth had slid into a dismal frown and her ears laid flat as they faced the back of her skull.

Green on Blue tossed his pipe to his left side, as he slid against the wall and sat on a small pile of garbage. He gripped his thighs as he stared across the alleyway. Black also entered the alley shortly after him, breaking their expectations, and chose to sit across from him. Twilight noted that they were completely unperturbed with sitting in rubbish. She turned her head towards Pinkie to comment on this, but was instantly tackled by the Pink Pony, knocking them both out of sight.

"Pinkie! What-!?" Twilight began in a hoarse whisper, but she halted when another male voice shouted.

Twilight assumed this new voice was Green on Blue, but her mind swiftly slid into panic.

"No, no, no! We can't have been seen! Did it- he see us? Is he talking about us?" Twilight briefly rambled mentally in panic.

"He was starting to look upwards, and I didn't have time to tell you to duck, so I chose this instead, but I guuess that might've made us just a liiitlle more visible." She replied.

"Then we need to leave. It's obvious that these individuals are aggressive. Let's get our things and go as quickly as possible." Twilight said, her whispering occasionally being punctured by her voice reaching higher notes.

Fluttershy was still cowering, but she raised her hooves and revealed teal eyes with small pupils that had shrunken from fright. She had heard Pinkie stepped away from Twilight, and with a low posture trot over the the air conditioning unit where their gear was stashed. Twilight and Fluttershy followed her in a similar manner. As they dragged their packs out from underneath the large metal box, a faint pooming was heard from a long distance. It reoccurred only a few times, before it was only being heard again in memory. They regarded each other with worried expressions tainted with curiosity.

"I don't know, but there isn't time to find out. Come on, we have to find a way off of here!" Twilight responded, as she levitated her cloak off herself.

She folded it sloppily out of haste and stuffed it into a saddlebag. The sudden exposure to cold air chilled her, but her fright for flight prevented her from dwelling on that discomfort. Fluttershy and Pinkie mimicked Twilight. The former being as neat as speed allowed, while Pinkie simply stuffed the cloak into her bag. It didn't fit entirely, and parts of the blue cloak spewed out the sides even after it was strapped closed.

"You know what it is! I know you know! You can't keep it from me. I'll find out eventually. That's how it always happens! You can't hide things from me!" Blue and Green yelled again, but in this instance it seemed directed towards Black.

"What are these people!? If they're not aggressive are they mentally mad? Are we being hunted by a lunatic? No. He can't be a lunatic... But he's insane either way!" Twilight thought, which fueled her fright and plunged her mind to the edges of panic.

"I don't know! I swear!" Black spoke loudly in a defensive tone. He continued to speak in a lowered voice that prevented her from understanding his words.

The humans continued to speak tense and heatedly towards each other, but Twilight did not delay their need to depart to discern what they were discussing. She searched with panicky haste for another fire escape off of the structure, but Pinkie halted her search as she called to Twilight.

Twilight Sparkled nodded, regardless if they were looking at herself or not, and swiftly trotted over to where Fluttershy and Pinkie stood by the door that granted entrance to the roof.

"Why haven't you opened it yet?" Twilight demanded, upon her arrival. Her panic continued to subtly slide into her tone.

Pinkie's raised eyebrows and slightly open mouth hung in small frown that displayed that she was nervous but not outright scared yet.

Twilight sighed and examined the gray metal door. There was absolutely nothing peculiar about it. There was a small lock underneath the knob, and two rusted hinges on the right side of the door. Twilight remembered reading about locks a long time ago, but the memory was now faded as a result to it's lack of need, leaving her only able to recall the basic gist of how locks functioned. And If the door was locked Twilight concluded that may as well try to unlock it with magic.

Twilight quickly sought for her Inner Magic reserves and focused them onto the workings of the lock. She used telekinesis to shift the mechanism within in hopes that she would unlock the door. There was a dull clink as the lock changed state.

Pinkie gripped the doorknob with a hoof and attempted to turn it, but now it didn't even move slightly.

"Argh! We need to get out of here! We can't have this many delays." Twilight groaned with frustration.

Again she used telekinesis, and thrashed the inner workings of the lock. There were several small metallic snaps as the innards of the lock were broken.

Pinkie grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, then pushed against the door. The knob moved, but the door did not open.

"What could possibly be the issue!?" Twilight Sparkle growled, as her eyebrows drew together, her ears twitched backwards, and her tail unconsciously swished several times.

She restudied the entire door her eyes slid over the rusted hinges. It did not occur to her that they would be the issue. Twilight gathered her strength, and reared onto her hind legs. She was about to release her frustration and fright by pounding the door into submission, but Fluttershy swiftly spoke up.

Twilight restrained her irritation and dropped her forelegs back onto the roof. She regarded Fluttershy with intrigue edged with panic.

"Who? The humans?" Twilight asked in a slightly calmer voice, as she grappled onto the familiar feeling of curiosity to still the flurry of panicked emotions within herself.

"Then let's skedaddle on out of here!" Pinkie said eagerly, as she made for the fire escape.

Twilight and Fluttershy followed her hurriedly. They traversed the metal staircases, slid down the ladder, and ran back the way they had come hours before towards the safety of the Warehouse.

Twilight was leading the retreat back to their abode. Assuming her memory wasn't failing her they should only have a few more blocks to go. But they had been running for a short while, and the others were starting slow along with herself. She noticed her own strides becoming less efficient. Each one covering less filthy concrete than the previous. Her breaths began to sting her lungs, as she inhaled and exhaled far more rapidly than she should be. She set her eyes on the end of the alley, and settled on a brief break there. She slowly came to a stop, then trotted in a half circle so she faced her friends, as she rested onto her haunches.

Fluttershy had been able to keep close to Twilight. She was breathing fairly hard, but not as labored as the Unicorn's. Twilight blamed the lightweightness of Pegasi and their wings for her being able to complete such. There were a few damp spots behind her ears, and along her back where the sweat had collected. The Pegasus sat down before Twilight, as Pinkie doggedly trotted up to join them.

Pinkie was in, surprisingly, worse condition. Her fur was damp along her back, behind her ears, and along her lower jaw line for the same reason as Fluttershy's. Her breathing was incredibly labored, but she carried a slight smile and a sharp determined look in her bright eyes. She plopped down onto her rear legs next to Fluttershy in a posture similar to theirs.

"You look proud of something, Pinkie." Twilight asked, with eyebrows raised and drawn together.

"Yeppers..! I'm happy... That I was able to push myself... And keep up with you two." Pinkie spoke between pants.

"Yes... That was definitely a long run. Although, not as difficult as the time we had to flee from those Sand Worms." Fluttershy agreed and mentioned.

Twilight nodded her agreement as well, as she remembered the journey to the deserts of Zebrica not so long ago.

"I'm often wondering... how we get out of those situations so easily..." Twilight Sparkle spoke, although the mildly labored breathing created gaps in the sentence.

Twilight glanced over to where Pinkie had been resting before, but she had stood and trotted a few feet off. She turned her head back towards Fluttershy.

"A conversation for another time perhaps... Let's go entertain the pony who lives to entertain us." Twilight spoke with a faint smile, as she stood and trotted towards Pinkie.

As Twilight arrived, Pinkie briefly glanced over her left shoulder to view them approach.

In reply, Pinkie lowered her snout towards a purple object, then quickly scooped it up with a hoof. She held it up close for Twilight to view.

Twilight examined the object with annoyed interest, as the proximity to the filthy object was undesirable. She quickly pulled her head back, as she observed the object further. Her annoyance rapidly transformed into shock when she recognized what she was gazing upon.

It was a plastic lavender unicorn with sparse amounts of hair that merely signified where the mane and tail used to be. Twilight would have tossed it aside as any child's toy if not for the fact that she shared the same cutie mark with the toy.

"No, Pinkie... This isn't weird. This is just freaky beyond all belief!" Twilight mentally replied.

"Uh, Pinkie... Can- Can I see that for a moment?" Twilight verbally responded. Her voice shuddered with unnerved curiosity.

Twilight disregarded how little magic remained in herself, and chose to levitate the replica before her eyes to. She scrutinized it with a critical eye that reflected fright.

The toy was smeared in the same filth and grime that covered everything in this repulsive place. Only the head seemed to be capable of limited movement, and it was even more apparent that much hair was missing from the mane and tail. Twilight rotated the toy onto it's back as she examined it's belly. There was some faded print, but one line of text remained legible.

Twilight's mouth slowly fell open and her breaths came and went at a slightly faster pace as she studied this troubling toy.

"What is this...? What does this mean? Why is there a toy of me on a planet that I have never been to before!? This- It doesn't make any sense! Maybe... Maybe it's just a coincidence? Yeah! That's it! This is all some strange coincidence! I mean honestly. How many lavender ponies are there with purple hair, and a cutie mark about magic and stars? Thousands, right? Nope. Nuh uh. Just me. Only one. Yea. Definitely a coincidence. Oh! Stop it, Twilight! Just think rationally. There's a reasonable explanation for this all. You just have to stop worrying about seeing yourself as a toy on a planet that you didn't even know could exist! See? Simple!" Twilight loosely babbled in her mind.

Fluttershy had stepped close to her companion when she noticed the dismayed expression that dominated her face.

Twilight's right eyelid twitched twice as she stared vacantly at the ground. The toy had unconsciously tumbled out of her telekinetic grasp.

"Y-y-yea..." Twilight stuttered. She violently shook her head to cast off the thoughts that plagued her, but it was a worthless effort.

"What does this mean? There has to be an explanation for this! How can they have toys of me on a planet that has no knowledge of my existence!" Twilight continued to seek a reasonable answer.

"Can't you see!? This is me...! Me! How do they have a toy of me! On a planet that I've never- That I didn't even- How!?" Twilight replied in a voice that was high in pitch, faltering fright, and confusion.

"Shh-sh-sh-ssshhhh..." Fluttershy soothed in a tone that she would use to pacify terrified creatures. "Calm down... It'll be okay. Just relax and we'll talk this through together."

Twilight fell back onto her rump, and breathed deeply in an attempt to regain control of herself, as she stared at the ground. Fluttershy knelt next to her and in an attempt to comfort her she reached over, and hugged Twilight with her left wing.

"Whadda ya think of this, Twilight?" Pinkie asked as she looked down at them both with sympathy.

"I- I Don't know what to think or say about it. I didn't even know this planet existed a few days ago! And now I discover that they know about me, at least. At least two guys out there already knows of our existence, another can easily suspect a new creature, but that can't have been the first time they've seen us! They've already had toys! Toys! Of me! Or maybe us! But... Why make toys of us? You don't make toys of just anypony! Let alone on a planet that they don't exist on!" Twilight replied in hasty speed, and a panicky tone.

"There, there, Twilight. It'll be alright. It's just coincidence. That's all." Fluttershy assured in a calm voice.

Twilight tightened her brows and pressed her lips together. As she attempted to take command of her emotions.

"I can't sit here and wallow in this... Wallowing doesn't solve. Rationality does. Focus." Twilight mentally ordered, but an image of the accursed toy appeared when she spoke focus in her mind. She mentally stomped a hoof down on the emotions that tried to curl up and over take her resolution to not be over taken by emotions.

"It can't be coincidence... " Twilight responded. "How many ponies do you know that have their mane a deep purple with a few dark pink highlights? How many ponies have a lavender or purple coat with a magic and astronomy related cutie mark? I only know of one, Fluttershy."

"It can still be coincidence, though. It can be... Unsettling that they have a toy that looks very similar to you, but there isn't a way that they could have known about you. That's why we must be content with coincidence." Fluttershy assured.

"We could always, like... Ask a human. One that miiight not be borderline insane or evilishy?" Pinkie suggested.

"No... But we have to try, Twilight. That's what we're here for!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"The longer we're here the more I begin to doubt the Princess' judgement. It's not that I doubt our capabilities, but I worry that Celestia may be wrong. That this planet is lost. The people that live here are either too violent or insane to reason with. I'd rather save this discussion for tonight though... When everypony is present" Twilight Sparkle spoke morosely.

"Thanks Fluttershy, but we need to get going. We have quite a bit to discuss back at the Warehouse." Twilight Sparkle spoke.

Fluttershy nodded in response and folded her wing against herself as she stood. Twilight pushed herself upwards and joined her companions.

"Do either of you have any water? I'm pretty thirsty." Pinkie asked, with a quick glance to each of the ponies.

Now that water was mentioned, Twilight felt a desire for some even though she wasn't incredibly thirsty.

"No..." Twilight replied. She looked towards Fluttershy with a hopeful expression that expected the opposite.

"Argh! I can't believe we forgot to pack water." She said with aggravation mostly directed towards herself.

"It's not much to worry about, we're not very far away from our abode, anyways." Fluttershy stated.

Twilight Sparkle glanced to Pinkie to observe her reaction and display an apologetic expression.

Pinkie Pie didn't seem bothered by this shortcoming, and instead, worked her jaw for moment before swallowing.

"Let's get going then!" She chirped, although there was a hint of a rasp laying underneath the notes of her voice.

Twilight nodded, and hastily levitated the toy clone into her left saddlebag before trotting out of the alley in direction of the Warehouse. Pinkie and Fluttershy swiftly followed her closely, as they headed for their temporary home with eagerness.

"So... Where will we begin?" Rarity asked her friends once they had arrived at the crate.

"Migh' as well start with that bothersome hole. It's startin' to get awfully wet in here." Applejack replied.

"Shouldn't we wait for that rain to die down a bit? I don't know about you guys, but I don't wanna go out and work in that if I have to." Rainbow Dash suggested.

"That is a good point..." Rarity answered. She shuddered as the memory of a particular slumber party from many years ago resurfaced.

"Shucks, we can't get all pansy cause of a lil' rain. This place's gonna get wetter and colder the longer we wait." Applejack reasoned. "Besides, we can make a fire and some hot drinks if we get too cold."

Rarity glanced from the left to the right and back again her mouth was scrunched into an awkward line of uncertainty.

Rainbow raised her eyebrows and briefly lifted her shoulders in a shrug, which displayed her lack of care for the subject.

"Well, I say we get that tarp, levitate it on up over that hole, then weigh down the corners with some of the heavier trash that we collected yesterday." Applejack explained.

"I still prefer working in conditions that didn't result in me getting wet. As if I'm not filthy enough yet!" Rarity responded with sudden heat, that only a troubled night's sleep could provide.

Applejack was slightly offset by the sudden hostility, but hastily chose not to reply in the same manner.

"It's alrigh', I need yer magic t' do this. So ya can have yer way with that." Applejack said quickly, as she accept Rarity's term.

"Well let's get started then. What do you want me to do, AJ?" Rainbow Dash inquired. She was eager to get this done with and catch up on lost sleep.

"Let's get on over t' the stuff we'll use first, and then I'll tell ya." AJ answered.

Rarity and Rainbow followed Applejack over to eight weighted metal and wood objects. Folded tidily next to them was the blue tarp. Applejack gestured to the tarp first, then to the other objects as she mentioned them in her explanation.

"Rainbow, ya'll be carryin' the tarp up thar first. Then Rarity'll unfold it and straigh'en it out. Once it covers the hole, she'll hold it thar nice and tight, then you'll fly back around and carry some of these heavier piece of metal and wood. Thar's four of each as ya can see. They're light enough for ya to carry, but should be heavy enough t' hold the tarp in place. So put 'em on the corners and the sides in between the corners. Ya, both got that?" Applejack finished.

"Yea." Rainbow Dash said simply, as she walked over to the tarp and scooped it up with her hooves.

"Yes." Rarity responded with a swift nod. Her eyes followed the tarp, as she prepared herself for the simple magic she would need to preform soon.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings twice and was airborne with the tarp. She glared through the drizzling rain as she flew upwards too the hole. She quickly became wet and soggy, as the water clung to her fur and hair. She hovered just above the hole, and called down to Rarity. Who stood to the side of the hole and away from the small pond, that had been created through the continuous rain.

"Use your magic already!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as she shook her head to cast off the rain that slid into her eyes.

Rarity nodded and drew her magic from within herself and manipulated the tarp out of Rainbow Dash's grasp. Rarity unfolded the tarp as she lowered it to cover the hole. Once she had blocked the rain she made the tarp taut as to prevent the rain from pooling into any crevices or depressions, but after some time the feeling of weariness had returned to plague her heart.

She recalled Twilight comparing it to holding one's breath, and when the contained oxygen had begun to deplete the nerves activate a gradual sense of dull pain that forces one to breathe. Whether or not the oxygen was very close to depletion. Rarity knew this meant that she had some reserves of magic left, but she had not practiced her limits as she had with her lungs. This resulted in her not knowing exactly how much she did retain.

"Be quick, Dash! I do not know how much magic I have within me!" Rarity called up to her.

Although she was out of sight of the other ponies. Rainbow Dash nodded her acknowledgement and lived up to the last piece of her name, as she dashed down from the sloped roof and back into the Warehouse. She gathered one of the heavier pieces of wood. It was long and awkward to carry, but she hastily brought it out onto the roof. Dash placed the squarish board onto the top left corner of the tarp and flew back into the Warehouse. She repeated this process seven times, and during the entire duration the unshakeable emotion of absolute loss afflicted her.

Rarity released a relief filled breath once Rainbow Dash called down that the tarp was secure. Even after she had finished her withdraw of magic, and had restricted it to within herself once more, Rarity was still burdened with what felt similar to a physically worn heart.

"Everythin' alrigh'?" Applejack inquired. She had stood next to the Unicorn and had noticed her change of stature.

Rarity's back was slumped,and her head hung lower than what was typical for her. It appeared as if she had returned home from a day's worth of manual labor with a minimal amount of breaks.

"For now, yes. I'm afraid I won't be able to do much else with magic today. Holding that tarp tight, and fashioning those cloaks for the other three seemed to have taxed my magical reserves to near their end." Rarity replied with a tired tone.

"I see... You go onnahead and take care of yerself now." Applejack responded with a note of concern. Rarity nodded appreciatively in return and walked slowly back to the chairs near the Kitchen.

Rainbow Dash returned from outside and landed before the Earth Pony. She vigorously shook off any water that still clutched to her fur. The liquid splattered everywhere around the pegasus.

Rainbow Dash chuckled along with her friend. When Rainbow had finished shaking the water from her body Applejack peered over her hoof towards Dash. She caught a glimpse of the color spectrum rippling through the droplets of water that floated through the air. Of course, it was briefly seen and Applejack wasn't certain if it was the same trick that Rainbow Dash preformed to one-up Trixie many years before.

"So what do we do now, and where's she going?" Rainbow Dash asked, then queried once she had spotted Rarity walking to where their bags were gathered.

"I think she's almost out of her magic. She seemed pretty tuckered out." Applejack replied. "And as fer yer first question, we're gonna patch some of the holes in the walls. I'll be holdin' the boards in place, while you nail 'em in with the hammer." AJ answered.

She followed Applejack to the box that had been sent this morning, and gathered the tool and supplies they needed to accomplish their task. They patrolled the walls of the Warehouse and stopped to repair the more significant breaches. Although, their work wasn't as precise as what was preformed yesterday, it still completed the same objective. Even if it was aesthetically pleasing.

Rarity had obtained a comfy position in her chair at the Table. She had taken an opportunity that she did not believe she would have, and had retrieved her Suit Design, Sketch Pad, and Designer Pencil from her saddle-satchels. She focused on drawing alternate methods of producing the Suit that were more possible than what was already provided, but she failed to be satisfied with any of them.

The three ponies had begun to finish up the sandwiches, and their choice of fruit and vegetables. There wasn't much for them to discuss, and they had consumed their meal in briefly interrupted periods of silence. Rainbow Dash was the first to finish her lunch, and stood to carry her plate back into the Kitchen.

"I hope we don't get sent sandwiches again. This is getting boring." Dash said to the others.

"I agree, but I'm afraid we can't choose what we will receive." Rarity responded.

"Uh huh. Well I know Pinkie'd have a good idea fer Celestia if she's the one sendin' the food after all." Applejack commented.

"Speaking of her, it is odd having a meal without them isn't it?" Rarity mentioned.

"I guess so... Ya think they'll be fine out thar on their own?" AJ replied with mild concern.

"Yea, they'll be fine. It's not like anything bad has happened to us on the countless other adventures we've had to deal with over the years." Rainbow Dash spoke up, with typical cocky confidence.

"But all of those've been in Equestria." Applejack replied before she stuffed what little remained of her last carrot into her mouth.

"So? What's the difference? We've been stuck in thousands of desperate situations, and in the end we get out of them fine." Rainbow replied with some exasperated exaggeration.

"Certainly not thousands, but we do see your point, Rainbow Dash. Although, that isn't an excuse for recklessness." Rarity replied.

"The point is, we should be safe in our abilities at this point... We've dealt with a lot." Rainbow replied, as she tossed her plate into one of the tubs.

Applejack also stood and carried her plate over to the makeshift kitchen sink. Rarity did the same shortly afterwards.

"Well, I'm gonna catch up on my napping." Rainbow Dash said, as she made her way towards her sleeping bag.

"Now hold on a moment, there is somethin' that we need t' discuss first, and yer argument at breakfast made me ferget it." Applejack spoke in what she intended as a non-accusing tone, but she was not entirely successful.

Rainbow released an annoyed sigh and turned back to face Applejack with an expectant frown and eyebrows that formed a long and low U. Rarity also regarded Applejack with a similar expression. Both of her eyebrows were slightly perked upwards, and her mouth also made a slight frown. Although, it appeared to be more of a small pout.

"It's that garbage heap over thar." Applejack replied, with a nod the to filthy and rank pile of rubbish. "We gotta do somethin' about it. A lot of it we can bury, but I haven't seen a plot of dirt since we've gotten here."

Rainbow Dash lost her previous expression, and adopted a more concerned and thoughtful appearance. She still maintained the frown, but it had shifted more to the left side of her head. Her eyebrows also dipped towards each other.

"Oh, that's simple! Once we establish tidings with these... Humans we'll merely inquire where their trash collection agencies are, and take it over to one of them." Rarity responded.

"I don't think that's how it works here, Rarity. Pretty much everywhere is overflowing with garbage. They might've filled up their places to toss trash, and are just leaving it everywhere. So I say we just leave it where it is." Rainbow Dash answered.

"No! We can't leave it 'ere, Dash. I'm not sure about you, but I ain't too fond of livin' next to a pile of garbage that's only a few yards away from where I sleep." Applejack replied with a look of minor disappointment.

"I don't care, I came here to help them out of a crisis not pick up their trash. That's what they do with their trash. Why should I change it?" Rainbow said to Applejack her tone was similar to her message, and lacked much care for the subject.

" 'Cause it ain't healthy. No way does some creature want t' live in their own muck. It's downright disgustin'! If we can help 'em in that regard, then we're doin' our mission." Applejack replied, her frustration had started to become more apparent.

"I do find it ironic that Rainbow Dash is complaining more about dealing with rubbish, than myself." Rarity commented with slightly amused expression.

"What do you expect me to do about it, anyways?" Rainbow Dash asked Applejack, with an angered expression. Although, her tone did not replicate her appearance.

"I was hopin' you'd have an idea, or at least be willin' t' help. But I see you got neither." Applejack replied with thick disappointment.

"I don't know! Bother Rarity about it. She can probably make a statue out of it all. I need to catch up on my sleep." Rainbow responded with a careless tone, and began turn about to return to her bedding.

"Make a statue..." Applejack mumbled. She only had to consider the idea briefly before the memory of that infamous slumber party resolved their small crisis.

"Rainbow, that's it!" Applejack exclaimed. Her eyes where bright with excitement and appreciation.

Rainbow rounded to regard the Earth Pony once more with an expression of complete confusion.

"S'cuse me, I thought it was obvious." Applejack began with a lightly apologetic tone in her voice. "But ya see Rarity has a spell that can turn branches into decorations. So why not the same with garbage?" Applejack explained.

"I didn't know she could do that." Rainbow replied with a slightly impressed note.

"Well, I'm not sure if it will work on different materials, but I'll ponder this. It still seems that I will not be preforming much magic for the rest of the day. Maybe small and simple levitation here and there, but we may have to wait until tomorrow morning before I can attend to this task... Albeit begrudgingly." Rarity responded.

"Alright. Thanks, Rare. I guess ya can go take yer nap, Rainbow." Applejack said to the Cyan Pegasus.

"Gee. Thanks for the permission." Rainbow Dash replied, but she chuckled lightly at the end to indicate she wasn't entirely serious with the comment.

Applejack gave a small grin to Dash, but turned away from the other ponies and trotted around the Warehouse to ensure that they hadn't overlooked any garbage. If she found some she brought it to the Trash Heap.

Rainbow turned around once more and finally made it to her sleeping bag. She crashed on top of it, and attempted to gain several moments of rest.

Rarity returned to her spot at the table, and continued toiling away at the Suit. She began to make some progress with the design of the seams, but she realized that the manner that they started was horribly wrong. She released a frustrated sigh, flipped to another page in her sketch pad, and started once again.

Rainbow Dash swore that no time had passed, when a lightly toned yell echoed throughout the Warehouse.

Applejack and Rarity also halted what they were preforming. They called greetings to their companions who had returned, and trotted over to greet them. Rainbow Dash, followed at a more groggy pace.

Twilight regarded Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash with a trademark sheepish expression. Her eyebrows were raised to uneven levels. Her right being higher, than the left. Twilight's ear's were also flat, as they pointed to the left and right. Along with the corners of her mouth being raised in an uncertain grin.

"That ain't suspicious at all." Applejack noted mentally, as she now regarded Twilight with skepticism.

"Do share with us what was so interesting." Rarity inquired. She came to the same conclusion as Applejack, but chose not to display the skepticism.

"Can... Can it wait until dinner? We're all parched, and have had nothing to drink since we've departed." Twilight requested. She let her nervous appearance slide, as she adopted a desperate look that convincingly portrayed their predicament.

"Oh! Of course." Rarity responded, as she and Applejack stepped out of their way and followed them into the Kitchen.

While the others satisfied their thirst Applejack decided it would be best to start the stew as soon as possible due to it's long cooking time.

"Uh, I'm not so-" Rainbow began to reply. Her head with was turned slightly to the left and she bit her lip, as she regarded Applejack with uncertainty.

"Ah, come on! Thar can't be much that can go wrong with makin' a stew. It's pretty easy." Applejack responded with a grin, as she looked over her shoulder to speak to Dash.

While Applejack and Rainbow Dash retrieved the items to prepare the potato stew from the crate. Twilight's group had quenched their thirsts and started to relax in their chairs or at the table. Pinkie had clambered to her chair which, without any surprise, was pink like herself but a few shades darker. Twilight approached the Party Pony after she had sated her own dry throat.

"That suggestion you made earlier about the colors... Do you have coloring materials?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Hmmm. I don't remember packing any, but I might have some!" Pinkie replied.

Pinkie Pie leaped out of her seat and trotted over to where they had relocated their materials in the early morning. Twilight followed her to the same location.

"Alrighty! Let's just take a quick look inside." Pinkie said, she nosed open the flap of one of the partypacks.

Pinkie Pie promptly pushed her head into the saddlebags in an attempt to find and retrieve the items she sought. Unfortunately, her head obeyed logic and was not able to fit into the significantly smaller bag. She quickly brought her head out of the pack and regarded Twilight with a distraught expression.

"Why can't I look inside the bag? I've always been able to peek inside my bag and bring out whatever I want." Pinkie spoke with a dismayed tone.

"I- I dunno, Pinkie. We're in a different place, and Celestia said that some things we took for granted may not exist here." Twilight responded with empathy.

"Awh. Oh well!" Pinkie said, as she overcame the mildly offsetting discovery. She searched around in the bags with her right hoof.

She occasionally brought out a packet of balloons or streamers but no crayons, colored pencils, or markers were found.

"I'm sorry, Twilight! I didn't pack any this time. I was sure I had some in here..." Pinkie Pie stared at the packs peculiarly.

She didn't move for a while, and Twilight took an opportunity quietly walk away. As she left Pinkie to ponder why her packs did not hold as much as they had back in Equestria.

"I guess, I can use different shades of black to indicate the roads and buildings better. Perhaps, color in the buildings, but that might use up a lot of ink, and I don't think I'll be able to get anymore while I'm here. Then again, it's not likely that I'll deplete my ink. I wasn't able to fit a whole lot on that piece of paper, anyways." Twilight concluded in her mind, as she walked back to where she had slipped off her sidebags.

She returned to the small circle of six chairs, and grabbed the flap of the left bag with her teeth and pulled it open. She still used her teeth to snatch the folded paper and pen, then carry it over to the table. Twilight chose to sit beside Rarity, who had already returned to her sketch pad, and was toiling away at yet another possible route for designing the accursed suit.

"Are you still working on that suit?" Twilight inquired, after she sat in Fluttershy's chair and had placed the paper and pen onto the table.

Rarity didn't respond immediately and finished carefully drawing a wavy line before she did. She relaxed her intense expression of concentration, and released her telekinetic grip on her designer pen. She placed it neatly next to the pad, and looked to her left to regard Twilight.

"Yes. I may as well do something with my spare time." Rarity replied. She still retained some of the intense expression, but it slowly faded away.

"Oh. How's it coming along, if you don't mind my asking?" Twilight Sparkle, cautiously asked.

"I am making a little progress. I've resolved to redesign the suit in a way that I can create it. The suit will still appear the same, of course. It'll just be fashioned in a different manner, than what was originally in the design." Rarity explained.

"You're correct, it isn't very simple. If I deviate too far from the original concept, then it'll appear much different. Perhaps, not at first but if more attention is given to the details, then it would become abundantly obvious, and I would not desire to attend to the issues that could create." Rarity said.

"Would that be the map you set out to make?" Rarity queried, with a curious note and expression.

"Yeah. It's, uh, eheh, pretty crude. I'm trying to make it a bit more... Defined. Right now it's just a bunch of squares." Twilight responded.

Rarity was intrigued with the map, but when she noticed how Twilight felt about said map it was clear that she was not comfortable about sharing something that probably appeared pathetic.

"I can understand if you want to complete your project before sharing it. I need to return to my own work, anyways." Rarity spoke, as she placed her focus onto her sketch pad. She resumed the levitation of her designer pencil and continued to toil away at her work.

"Whew. I'm not sure if I could handle Rarity falling into frenzy over how disgusting this 'map' looks." Twilight thought with relief as she prepared for her work.

She used a small dose of magic to unfold the map, then scooped up the pen into her mouth and clicked it with her tongue. Twilight began carefully scribble for some time, as she shaded the streets and forest different shades of black. Rarity went through a few more sheets of paper during this time, and Applejack occasionally raised her voice to Rainbow Dash, as she committed some mistake or another. Fluttershy had gone outside to investigate their immediate surroundings for anything that pertained to her interests, while Pinkie strolled around the Warehouse with her partypacks and casually tossed streamers and small party decorations of various colors all about the Warehouse.

" 'Ey! Watch it with those... Party decerations?" Applejack spoke up, as a stray streamer landed near the blazing burner and ignited. She raised her head to regard Pinkie Pie.

"Wha' are you doin' ineeways, Pinkay?" Rainbow Dash said through the large plastic spoon in her mouth.

Pinkie could not resist at directing laughter towards Rainbow's expression. The curious look she bore with both eyebrows raised, and the ends of her mouth brought down in a frown around the spoon between her teeth.

"Wash show funnay? Ah whai..." Dash started to inquire, but she quickly realized what was amusing and spat the spoon off to the side of the cooking area.

Pinkie finished her amusement with a giggle, while Applejack hid a grin behind a curled hoof.

"I was adding a little color to the place. Whaddaya think?" Pinkie asked, as she made a wide gesture with her right hoof to the Warehouse.

There was a chaotic spread of yellow, red, blue, green, purple, and pink specks across a good portion of the Warehouse. They mostly laid on the floor or hung onto the walls. None of them had reached the rafters or inhabited the walkways.

"I, uh... guess it's nice." Rainbow replied hesitantly, and with an uncertainly glance to AJ.

"Well it looks pretty messy, and we're gonna have t' clean it up when we start takin' care of that Trash Heap. But it's good that yer tryin' to make this place look better in any way ya can." Applejack responded with a grin.

"Aww. You're no fun, AJ. Thanks anyways though!" Pinkie said with a smile, and she hopped away to spread more pastel particles across the building.

Applejack brought her attention back to their task. Rainbow had returned the spoon to the pot and was stirring the stew with an absolutely bored expression.

"Rainbow! Ya can stop stirrin' the stew. It's almost done, and we gotta let it sit fer a couple minutes." Applejack ordered.

"Alright, alright. You don't have to be so snappy about it." Dash grumbled, as she pulled the spoon out of the pot and tossed it into a nearby tub.

"I'm just makin' sure it turns out all right. We don't want another package of salt in our stew." Applejack responded.

"You only said to add a little salt, and I didn't pour the whole packet in." Rainbow replied.

"Well, 'a little' usually means gettin' a spoon and addin' it that way. Not grabbin' the whole pack and just pourin' it in thar." Applejack said with amusement.

Applejack chuckled as she grabbed the spoon Rainbow Dash had just placed and held it in the crook of her hoof. She scooped out a spoonful of the stew and blew on it several times. Once it had cooled to a level that Applejack was satisfied with she carefully took a sip. AJ's lips puckered as she briefly displayed a sour expression but it swiftly passed.

"It's gotta lot of salt in it, that's fer sure, but it's still edible." Applejack commented before she returned the spoon to it's former location.

"Could have just cooked it yourself, you know." Rainbow Dash mumbled, but the words remained under her breath.

The few minutes that they needed to wait arrived and departed quickly, and Applejack called her friends over to receive their dinner. Twilight and Rarity cleared their spots at the table by levitating their projects off to their bags, and answered the summons to supper. Fluttershy had returned just a moment before Applejack had made her call, and she followed Pinkie Pie into the Kitchen. Each of the ponies collected their bowls and spoons, then placed them on the table only to return to the kitchen to retrieve their drinks. The six took their spots at the table and finally settled in to enjoy their hot meal.

"Mmmmm. This is exactly what a mare needs on a cold day such as this one." Rarity mentioned as she inhaled the warm soothing scent of the stew.

"Yea! It smells super duper delightfully delectably delicious!" Pinkie praised before she brought her mouth down to her soup and shot the stew a with burst of breath.

Applejack grinned sheepishly to the others, and Rainbow Dash avoided eye contact as she swirled her stew with a spoon.

Pinkie took a quick slurp from her soup straight from the bowl, then raised her head to regard the others.

"Tasty!" Pinkie Pie said. She lowered her head again to continue rapidly sipping the soup out of her bowl.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash waited with anxious appearances, as the other three ponies tasted the stew.

Rarity curled her lips and quietly smacked her lips, but she continued to eat the stew. Fluttershy flinched briefly, then swiftly regained her composure. She raised her eyebrows and drew them closer together in an uncertain expression as she regarded the stew. Twilight cringed when the stew reached her taste buds. It was easily seen that she forced herself to swallow the spoonful.

Applejack looked over to Rainbow Dash with an expectant expression. Her head was tilted forward as she pursed her lips and raised her right eyebrow. Rainbow noticed the glance and regarded the Farmer. Applejack gave a quick nod to the other ponies with an expression that could easily be read.

Rainbow initially reacted with an appearance of surprise, but she also sent Applejack a discernible look.

All of them were staring at Rainbow Dash or Applejack. They had observed the wordless communication between them and were now regarding them with unique expressions of confusion. Twilight's mouth was open in a manner that suggested she had intended to say something, but had faltered when she had taken notice. She quickly resumed what she wanted to say.

"Yea abou' that... We accidentallay added a lil' too much salt." Applejack sent a sharp look to Rainbow. "We're very sorry if ya don't like it, but thar's a couple veggies and fruits left if ya want to eat those instead."

"I don't have a problem with it! It's super tasty!" Pinkie appraised. She hastily returned her attention back to slurping her stew.

"Don't worry yourself. It's fine, dear. A little more salt never killed anything." Rarity responded. She chuckled briefly after swallowing another spoonful of stew. "Besides, I've had years to get accustomed to Sweetie Bell's cooking."

"It used to be fairly terrible, but with much practice, and even more guidance if I might add, she can actually cook quite a few things now. Even if she's still infamous for the horrific messes she makes during cooking the results are always good."

The conversation for the meal ended there, as all of the ponies directed their attention to the meal. There might have been varied levels of enjoyment but each of them was equally hungry.

"Even if the flavor was lacking it certainly was filling, and if everypony's finished eating I'll take your utensils and bowls into the Kitchen." Twilight commented and offered when she had finished. She hoped out of her chair with her own eating materials in a teleknetic grasp.

By then the other six had finished eating, and eagerly accepted Twilight's offer. As Twilight collected more plasticware her soul continually felt strained, but she managed to carry all the dishes into one of the kitchen tubs before her magic began to falter.

"I've never felt this tired before. I've only felt a small portion of this weariness after using a lot of magic or advanced complicated complex-compound-composite-conglomerate level spells, like time travel. I hope IMagic isn't too similar to muscles. It'd feel really bad to wake up with a sore soul, or would that be a sore magic muscle?" Twilight Sparkle briefly chuckled briefly with amusement concerning the concept of a magic muscle.

" 'Ey Twi'. While yer up can ya get those cases of cider? Then we'll talk abou' what happened while ya'll were out an about." Applejack requested and informed.

Twilight Sparkle mashed her lips together and brought them to the left side of her face and raised her eyebrows as she regarded Applejack hesitantly.

"I hope you don't expect me to levitate them, I'm nearly depleted on magic. I'll go ahead and get them though." Twilight replied.

"Oh. I'll help you then." Fluttershy said, before she stepped out of her seat and walked around the table to join Twilight.

"Thank you, it's appreciated." Twilight responded with grateful notes in her tone.

Twilight went ahead to the crate while Fluttershy circumnavigated the table. She waited briefly for Fluttershy to join her at the worn box. Using their teeth, they lifted the six packs out of the crate by their cardboard handles, and carried them back to the others. Twilight and Fluttershy resumed their positions at the table, while the other four snagged their share of the Canterlot Cider. Twilight barely noticed Pinkie Pie make a grab for a third bottle, but a vicious glare from Rainbow Dash effectively halted the action.

A small orchestra of bottles opening abruptly began as AJ and RD resorted to their teeth as means to accomplish the task. However, somepony retrieved a bottle opener from the kitchen, while the two were away retrieving the beverages. Presumably Pinkie Pie, as it was currently in her possession. She held the bottle between her hooves, and worked the opener in her mouth. She belatedly joined the chorus of depressurizing bottles, and passed the tool to Rarity.

Rarity studied the opener for a moment. There was a strange shine on the end of the devices that reflected the opaque world around them. She accepted this reflecting shine as spittle, and resolved to use a small amount of magic on the opposite end of the spittle to levitate the opener to Twilight, using magic as an alternative for bottle opening.

Twilight opted for a different approach. When the bottle opener landed before herself, she grabbed a napkin, that was placed at each of their seats before the meal, with her mouth. She tossed it onto the bottle opener, and rubbed it across the simple device to dry it. Collecting the tool with her teeth she placed it into position and opened the bottle with a swift jerk of the head. She repeated the process on her other bottle, and hastily dried the opener before sliding it down to Fluttershy.

When all the bottles were opened, and the first sips taken from them, or cups that they had been poured into, Rainbow Dash raised her eyes up from her precious cider and voiced an incredibly articulate question.

Twilight Sparkle nodded slowly, she stared down at the table as she ordered the words she wanted to speak in her mind.

"I doubt our Princess's decision for sending us here. It was fairly obvious she only knew a vague sense of the poverty that is here, and believed we could handle it. Sadly, it is not. I believe it is far worse, than she realized..." Twilight proceed to inform them of their encounters with the human they had encountered, and the two individuals they observed in the alley. Along with her speculations concerning them. There was silence for a brief moment as the others contemplated what was shared. Applejack spoke first.

"So what yer sayin' is that these humans are hyper-aggressive, and that Celestia may not have known this?"

Twilight nodded acknowledgment to Applejack's question before taking a long drink from her cider, quenching a minor thirst that had developed from speaking at length.

"I still think we can't judge an entire race of beings by just three- four people!" Pinkie Pie piped up.

"I'm working with what I've got, Pinkie... I haven't, and probably never will. See the entire human species. Therefor, I must make educated guesses based on what I have encountered. Which isn't good, as you have seen." Twilight Sparkle answered.

"I think I'm in agreement with Pinkie on this one... We've been hasty t' judge others in the past, and this migh' be reoccurring here." Applejack stated.

"But Applejack, if all these people are crazy or out to get each other, then how would inserting ourselves into the chaos help them? It won't! It'll just endanger ourselves. Our priority should be returning home. Not risking ourselves for a species, that's ridiculously violent" Rainbow Dash declared, with a hard stare at Applejack.

Applejack scoffed momentarily and cocked her head back as she regarded the Cyan Pegasus.

"I can see why you'd take that position, considerin' what ya asked the Princess before we left." Applejack retorted.

Rainbow Dash squinted briefly, before adopting an expression of mild shock, then twisting it into minor anger. Her response matched her appearance.

"I didn't even know they'd be hostile! I just wanted to know why the Princess would want us to go to this planet, and help these... people."

"I'm not sayin' ya did. What I'm tryin' to say is that you don't even want to be here or care about the humans, and yer usin' this as an excuse fer those desires." Applejack replied with subtle heat.

Rainbow Dash sat up in her chair, and placed her front hooves on the table as she viewed Applejack with complete anger.

"I still could have chosen not to come, right!? And here I am! So I have to care about these guys." Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. She dropped her eyes from Applejack's, and shifted briefly before returning them to their previous height.

"It wouldn't be very loyal of me..." Rainbow Dash continued in a somber tone. "If you all went off on an expedition that needed me, and I just simply turn it down. But I'm there for you guys. It might suck sometimes, but in the end I'm always glad that I am. Besides, why would I pass up an awesome adventure with friends to match the awesomeness of it all?" She finished with a more upbeat tone and grin, as she slid her gaze around the table.

Applejack pressed her lips together, and lowered her head. Rainbow Dash caught what may have been shame spreading across AJ's features, before it was hidden from view. Although they returned to full view after a quick drink of cider.

"I'm sorry fer accusin' ya, and jumpin' to that conclusion, Rainbow. I guess, this proves my point. Maybe we're just jumpin' to conclusions, and we need to keep given em chances until we leave." Applejack apologized and suggest.

"I agree... But could I, um, please stay behind when we do?" Fluttershy spoke with a sheepish smile.

The other five turned to regard her when she began speaking, and quickly tumbled into quiet laughter or chuckling.

"I... kinda agree with AJ." Rainbow started after the amusement had faded. "I mean, I think we should focus on keeping ourselves safe instead of being too risky when it comes to 'saving' these guys. If it means we hunker down until we go, then that's what we should do." Dash replied.

Rarity also nodded her agreement, with the others, and turned expectantly to receive Twilight's response.

"You're all right. We have to do our best. This is our task and we have to at least try, but not carelessly like Rainbow Dash has cautioned. These creatures are certainly dangerous, and we must be wary with them... But that's not all that we need to discuss tonight." Twilight said, as she stood and trotted to her saddlebags.

Twilight nosed the left flap open and stared at the purple replica. She momentarily considered carrying the object between her teeth, but hastily decided that such an item covered in filth would not be welcomed by the tongue. As an alternative, she resorted to using what she imagined was a small pool of magic remaining within herself. Levitating the toy out of her bag, she carried it before herself and solemnly placed it onto the table, as she climbed back into her seat. She glanced around the table to view the reactions of her companions.

Rarity's nose was shriveled as she observed the object with repulsion, while Applejack tilted her eyebrows towards each other and tightened her lips in an analytical gaze. Rainbow Dash simply squinted at it with confusion. Fluttershy and Pinkie merely glanced to each other, before viewing the expressions of the others.

"Is that what I think it is...?" Applejack spoke, as she dragged her gaze off the toy to regard Twilight.

"Yeah, what is it?" Rainbow Dash quickly put in, before Twilight brought in a breath to reply with.

Twilight Sparkle glanced to Applejack before dropping her eyes down onto the toy, and pushing it towards AJ with a shove from her hoof.

"Most likely." Twilight answered. "We found it on our return trip. It was certainly a... startling find."

Applejack leaned forward and collected the putrid purple plastic pony with her hooves. She rotated it between them, as she observed it from all angles before placing it down and sliding it to Rainbow Dash.

"Ya know what this means, right?" Applejack questioned, as she regarded the librarian who seemed to be mildly perturbed.

"I'm... Not sure Applejack. It's uncanny, even if it's in poor condition it's unmistakably me, or it's just coincidence that they happened to make a pony that appears similar to me. Who knows? We'll probably never find out." Twilight responded.

"Well, just anypo- anyone!" Pinkie Pie cheerful expression faulted, as it was briefly replaced by an annoyed frown. As if her habit of mentioning other sentient beings as ponies had started to annoy her, when the beings in question were not ponies.

"I mean," Pinkie continued. "They live here right? They should know what's what, or have a better idea than us."

Twilight Sparkle slowly nodded agreement, although she swiftly stiffened as a possible issue with this persistent suggestion occurred to her.

"It will depend on who we ask. If my guess is correct that this is a toy, then it is likely that... Well, a good portion of people may not be aware of what it is depending on the demographic that it was marketed too."

"That shouldn't be too hard to find out." Fluttershy spoke, followed by a short giggle. "What is hard is imagining colts, like Snips or Snails, playing with butterfly toys. I think that might slim down who these toys were sold too."

There were a few nods and a murmured assent or two. Twilight noticed that the toy wasn't being scrutinized anymore.

Rainbow complied with a small nod, and slid the toy to Twilight with a slight shove from her front right hoof. Twilight nodded her thanks, before taking a long drink from her second bottle of cider. She pushed the bottle away from her when she emptied it and leaned back in her chair.

"You alright Twi'? Yer lookin' pretty tired." Applejack questioned with concern.

"It's been a tiring day... I'm thinking about going to bed soon." Twilight replied.

"Before ya do, we gotta decide on who's on watch t'night." Applejack reminded. "I'd suggest that ya be exempted though, considerin' how tired ya appear t' be."

As the others agreed, Twilight opened her mouth to protest but slowly closed it, remembering that when you're given a gift it's best not to complain about it, and that the giver may know what's best for you.

"Of course darling," Rarity started. "And now I will be bold enough to suggest who goes first on watch tonight..."

Rarity slid her gaze across the table to not only observe the expressions of her companions, but to also create an effect of suspense and drama. She relished the moment for these did not come often. When her vision centered onto Rainbow Dash she noticed a pained expression quickly pass through her features. She briefly raised the side of her hoof up to her forehead. Rarity allowed a sly smile to creep into place on her lips, as she continued moving her sight. She guessed that Rainbow Dash had discovered the mistake in allowing Twilight to not take a place on watch, as this forced her into the slot she would have assumed.

Beauty sleep is a precious thing after all. When such is denied due to another's laziness it is best to redeem it at the earliest opportunity. It isn't revenge persay... Merely reacquiring what was lost or stolen.

She redirected her gaze to the Cyan Pony. She could see Rainbow Dash quietly groan, as she lowered her eyes to the table. Rarity continued to smile, and attempted to put meaning into her eyes that displayed the reasons behind this drama. She noticed Dash glance up from her staring contest with the table. Her eyes connected with Rarity's.

Rainbow Dash noticed the look in the eyes of the Unicorn across from her. The appearance of triumph and proud vengeance... It only generated emotions of resentment within Rainbow, but this skirmish of wit wasn't her area of expertise. The temptation to fall into heedless rage was present, but the one for thoughtless arguing was stronger. But she knew neither of those desires was the solution. Rage would be uncalled for, and an argument had already occurred between her and AJ another was the last thing the others would want. Rainbow Dash glared to Rarity.

"Of course, I'll take the watch." Rainbow Dash replied with the recently created emotions taking a subtle place in her tone, and hopefully leak out of her soul.

Abruptly, a lesson came to the center of her mind's attention. She had learned many of them with her friends through the past several years, but she had cherished this one with a few others. No matter how small or far the fall. When you land what counts is how you bounce back from it. If you stay crushed from the impact you will never advance, and nearly never be able to succeed again.

Rainbow Dash fully raised her head and smiled brightly towards Rarity, dispelling the emotions she harbored previously. A solution to her predicament had invaded her mind, and the eagerness to employ it made her beam. She put on her typical cocky confidence and started another response.

"You've made a good call, Rarity. We wouldn't want somepony on duty that wasn't capable or unconcerned, unlike me. Keeping you guys safe is one of my highest priorities, and I'm glad to be acting on it." Rainbow rubbed her chest with her right hoof in a slightly arrogant manner.

Rarity's smile crumbled and a subtle glare replaced the snarky joy she had enjoyed before. She had not anticipated Rainbow Dash being able to counter with civil spite. She quickly began scheming of a way to respond similarly. Although she hastily realized that her goal would be achieved regardless of continued conflict which made such unnecessary.

"So, ah... Who's goin' t' be takin' the first watch since we're lettin' Twi' off this evening?" Applejack spoke up, in an attempt to divert the tension she observed building between Dash and Rarity.

"Guess that settles that... 'Shy, you gonna be taking the second shift again?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she took command of the conversation.

"Alright. I can take the fourth one." Rainbow said, but Rarity was swift to respond.

Rainbow squinted at the unicorn. She briefly considered arguing for the spot, but at this point it didn't matter much to her. She had a duty to uphold for her friends she may as well get it over with first.

To be honest with herself, she just wanted some sleep. The day was definitely drawing to close, and the cold was beginning to penetrate the thin protection their Warehouse provided. She glanced to her friends. She couldn't tell if they felt the dull tingle of cold on their upper backs. Although Fluttershy's wings were raised slightly, as she rolled them in their sockets. Maybe in an attempt to warm the area.

"So that means I'll take the third spot, and AJ gets the fifth while Twilight just crashes through the whole night." Rainbow continued, as she brought her mind back onto the topic at hoof.

"Sounds super splendid to me!" Pinkie spoke up. She took a quick swig from her cider to finish it off, then stretched her back before leaping out of her chair and bouncing over to Twilight.

"You hangin' in there?" Pinkie Pie asked as she stooped to speak with the Librarian.

Twilight Sparkle was resting her head onto the table with her eyes half closed. Like everyone else, she had already finished both of her bottles of cider.

"Uhm... Twilight, how does drawing a map make you so tired?" Fluttershy questioned with a slightly tilted head to further display her curiosity.

Twilight Sparkle glanced over to the inquiring pony. She fully opened her eyes as she did so.

"Well maps have to be precise. Mine's is hardly close to accurate since I lack the instruments... But I did what I could. And that meant erasing every single majorly crooked line and redrawing it until it was satisfactorily straight." She answered.

"Oh! Thaaat's why you took so long!" Pinkie Pie said with understanding covering her voice.

"Well, I don't think thar's anything left fer us t' discuss." Applejack spoke up. "Pinkie, ya think ya got everything handled while we go hit the hay?"

"Yeppers! You all take care of yourselves while Pinkie keeps an eye out for ya!" Pinkie chirped in reply.

"Thanks Pinkie Pie... It's appreciated." Twilight mumbled as she sluggishly stood from her chair. The other four also shared their thanks. Pinkie smiled in reply and nodded her acknowledgement of their thankfulness.

As they started standing and moving towards their items, a blazing bright light abruptly filled the Warehouse, as yet another crate was delivered. The ponies directed their eyes away from the light until it had subsided. When it did, they observed the box with mild curiosity. Nothing was out of the ordinary with it, so they proceed with readying themselves for sleep.

As other five went about their business of preparing their beds or bodies for sleep, Pinkie gathered the empty cider bottles of the table to toss them into the pile of rubbish at the end of their Warehouse. When that was completed she trotted over to the Kitchen with her usual happy spring punctuating her steps. She quickly went about partially filling a pot with a small amount water, and retrieved a packet of hot chocolate. While it boiled she obtained a cup and poured the powder into it. When a few minutes had passed steam began to profusely pour out of the spout. She carefully poured the water into her cup by firmly gripping the cushioned handle with her teeth. She quickly stirred the water and cocoa powder together and cautiously carried the cup to her place at the table.

She sat back in her chair as she waited for the beverage to cool down to an enjoyable temperature. She casually slid her gaze across her friends as she observed how they were preparing for sleep.

Twilight was already curling up in her sleeping bag. This allowed Pinkie to wondered if the others gave her priority when it came to preparing themselves for bed so she would be able to reach the bags first. Rarity was organizing her sleeping area, and conversing with Fluttershy as she did so. Fluttershy was also preparing her sleeping bag and pad for use, and occasionally assisting Rarity with some minor issue. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both brushing their teeth at a ridiculously fast pace.

"Maaaybe they're seeing who can brush their teeth the fastest? How silly of them!" Pinkie thought with mildly amused curiosity.

She raised the hot chocolate to her mouth and tentatively sipped from the mug. It was still hot but not scaldingly so. Although the hot liquid fired down her throat in an sudden swallow as a forgotten chore was abruptly remembered. The damp rain cloak was still contained in her saddlebags, and needed to be removed before mildew infested.

Pinkie Pie quickly landed her mug back onto the table and hopped out of her and trotted over to where she, Fluttershy, and Twilight had stored their bags upon their return. A thought quickly passed through her mind. It was possible Fluttershy and Twilight may have also forgotten to remove their cloaks. Pinkie quickly glanced around to confirm this. She saw no blue cloaks hanging up to dry. Shrugging, she lowered her head and nosed open the flap to her bag, and withdrew a damp cloak. She carried it between her teeth to one of the old crates, and laid it out. She returned to the other bags and also carried the cloaks those contained and placed them near her own with hopes that they will have dried when morning comes around.

She returned to her mug of hot chocolate. Taking a long swig of the deliciously warm beverage, she glanced up to where her friends would be laying down to sleep. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were settling in, while Rarity and Fluttershy finished adding curlers or removing extensions. Pinkie had never seen Fluttershy without her tail extenders. It was a little odd seeing her with a slightly shorter tail, but it wasn't a real significant difference.

Being honest with herself, Pinkie Pie thought there wasn't a need for the extensions, which did bring a question under her consideration. What was the reason for them if they weren't needed? Her tail wasn't so short that extensions were needed for it to be accept by others. It seemed just barely shorter than average. Something a pony would only notice if she study it for a moment. Pinkie resolved to ask her this question sometime in the future.

By the time the warmth of her hot cocoa filled her belly the five others had either fallen into sleep or were almost embraced by it. Pinkie quietly sighed as she stepped out of her chair and trotted to one of the doors that led outside. Her expression slowly fell to a neutral state. Now that nopony expected her to be happy and bubbly she could relax and rest as she watched for any indicators of danger. A small grin slid onto her features as she trotted past her friends. The sight of five ponies curled up in sleeping bags breathing lightly in slumber was too adorable to resist. Although it faded quickly enough as she stepped outside.

It was significantly colder outside. The sudden change in temperature caused bumps to rise underneath her coat and hairs to prickle. She took a right as she exited the door and headed for one of the more open areas of the compound. Knowing it would be silly to stand out in the open, Pinkie Pie sat in the shadows of their Warehouse as she kept watch for intruders. She slowly scanned the area before her.

The moonlight illuminated cracked concrete and dark patches of weeds clambered out of the small chasms. The ground was slightly damp, and the few puddles that refused to evaporate during the day reflected the cloudy sky and unfamiliar moon. Innate black clumps of garbage spotted the space, although the amount here was significantly less when compared to the other parts of the city she had seen.

Pinkie's mind became dull as the boredom of guard duty began to set in. Her scans gradually became shorter until she eventually lingered on one patch of weeds. Although, she made a conscious effort to keep her ears attentive to any deliberate additions to the naturally quiet sounds of night. She raised the side of her hoof to cover her mouth as she released a small yawn. Her mind slowly entered the state of recollection that occurs when one is tired and bored, but unable to sleep. The moment when random memories are brought to attention for brief or extensive consideration.

The moment when Celestia announced that they were to set off for another planet. The disbelief, excitement and apprehension that followed. When Twilight informed her of their summons to Canterlot and the elated happiness that followed. One of their more recent gatherings at Sugercube Corner and the good stories and times shared then. The train ride to Canterlot and the building of excitement and apprehension of visiting a desired location. Arriving on Earth with miserable mental pain. A pair of moist glasses dominated Pinkie's mental vision.

A dull, cold ache throbbed around Pinkie's soul. An ache that she wasn't unfamiliar with. Pinkie pressed her eyelids together, then blinked rapidly several times to keep tears inside of herself. She was accustomed to loss. To new and old friends; Both in age and time. She tried to be friends with everypony. She nearly always ways. Everyone likes a happy, bubbly pony. They're easy to get along with and their odd quirks are endearing.

"Friendships never die... As long as we work to keep them alive." Pinkie thought with a depressing tone.

But she knew better. The friendship that was shared may not end, but those that inhabit it do. A brief bombardment of images of the many friends that had become lifeless assaulted her mind's sight. She failed to halt it, but neither did she desire to. They had to be remembered some how... Still and empty ponies with sobbing family and friends all around. Most of them old, but occasionally younger ones appeared. Pinkie recalled usually standing off to the side and quietly weeping during these times. Always respecting the closer friends and family's space to their loved ones. It never ceased to startle her how clearly she remembered each death and funeral. It always seems as if it was just yesterday when it happened... As they have always said.

The assault ended with the image of pink legs wrapped around a child's head. A human child. Who's head was bloody and cracked. Who's glasses were filled with tears. Who's life was barely with in him... who was barely a friend, but a friend none the less.

Pinkie forced her eyelashes together again, and held them tight. Her eyebrows tilted towards one another and her mouth was curved into a frown. She wanted to feel the pain. She wanted to wallow and mourn for lost friends. All of them, but she pushed against the familiar pain and sorrow that surrounded her mind and soul. She knew she could not fall into despair again. She had to stay upbeat, happy, and capable, for those around her that still lived needed her.

But she was a vessel for their memories. She had to keep sailing. If not for herself, but for them.

Alleys

by Goober_Trooper

March 14th - The Other Side