-Ponyville Library-
*Knock Knock* Spike dropped what he was doing and went over to the door, wondering who it could be at this time of night.
"Hello?" He opened the door. Standing there was AppleJack and Rarity. My body was on AppleJack's back, unconscious and limp.
"Do you know where Twilight is? This pony fell unconscious during his party and we were wondering is Twilight would know how to take care of it." Rarity said in a worried fashion.
"Yeah, and we don' know what got inta the little fella. He was fine one moment an' then he jus' sorta fell over in pain. Twi' would know what ta do." AppleJack piped up. "The others are cleaning up after tha' party. Kinda fell apart after the guest of honor... well... ya know."
-Twilight's Bedroom-
Twilight had gone up to her room prior to this, when Spike came in she was laying in bed, he inhaled, just about to wake her up.
"I'm awake, Spike." He heard her voice say.
"Well, you're kinda needed downstairs. Somepony passed out and Rarity and AppleJack brought him here."
She looked up from her bed. "What's his name?"
Spike had hoped against all odds she would not have asked it. He knew whatever happened between them was not good, and that if she knew who it was before she went downstairs (where the presence of other ponies would prevent her from saying no) she would most certainly refuse. However, she had asked, and he knew he wouldn't be able to lie.
"Leon..." He said, fiddling with his thumbs.
"Oh... Well I can't not help a pony in need I guess..." she got up from her bed, and slowly walked over to the door. Somewhat quitely, she said, "Thanks for telling me Spike."
"Oh, no problem!" Spike said, not catching the trace of sadness in Twilight's words. He was too busy being happy Twilight didn't refuse to help out the poor unicorn downstairs.
-Downstairs-
"Oh there you are Twi!" The orange pony spoke up. "I was worried about you!"
Twilight quickly hurried downstairs. "Is he okay?" She looked at my senseless body, but couldn't see anything that would have caused me to become incapacitated.
"No idea, he's been out for about half an hour. I know it is late, but..." Rarity said.
She felt his forehead, it was burning up. "Owlicious!" Twilight called to her faithful nocturnal pet, "Can I get a cold towel please?"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of him here." she transported my body upstairs to a guest bedroom she had prepared after the slumber party with Rarity and Applejack.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of him."
-Location Unknown-
...forgive...
I just decided my fate. Whatever I was going to have to do, I would do it. An ornate wooden door appeared.
"When you are ready... proceed through the door."
I stood there for a moment, mentally preparing myself for what awaited outside of the door, and began to walk toward the door. It opened by itself, showing only a bright light on the other side. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and took the final steps forward, and when I opened them, I saw the one pony I needed to talk to the most.
-Ponyville Library, Guest Room-
I saw I was back to my pony form, lying in a bed.
She saw me, and then she looked down, almost as if she were ashamed of what had happened earlier. She had been sitting in the corner of the room, several books about herbal remedies and illnesses surrounded her. No doubt she was reading them because of me, a cold towel was sitting on top of my forehead.
"Sorry..." I said to her. She looked up, confused as to why I would be the one apologizing to her. "Listen, I was an idiot. I came up to you hoping I could get all the answers I needed, but I never really gave you the chance to understand what was going on. I brought it up so suddenly that I can understand why you acted the way you did. I shouldn't have been as angry as I was."
"No, it wasn't your fault Leon. If I were as afraid and confused... If I had place everything on one pony... If I had been let down like you were..." Her voice trailed off.
"I forgive you Twilight. Were you the one to take care of me?"
"My friends brought you to me, I simply tried to keep down the fever you had. In fact, you should probably get more sleep, its still only about midnight."
"No... I think I need to get up." I had a slight headache that got much worse as I stood up, but one of my legs had been laying awkwardly and it had fallen asleep, so I decided that standing was still the better option. I needed to wake it up.
"Huh? What's with y-" She began to say, with a confused look on her face.
Just then, Spike burst into the room. "Twilight, Pr- Princess Celestia is here!"
"WHAT?" Twilight looked shocked. "Here? Now? Why?"
"I-I dunno!" He stammered out. Twilight rushed out of the room, forgetting my existence almost altogether, Spike followed behind.
I stood there, unsure of what to think. She was the Princess of the Sun. How was it she was here at a local library? I exited the room and stood at the top of the staircase in front of the main room of the library. There stood the princess with ethereal aura about her. As I stood there, gazing upon this horse which had the characteristic wings of a pegasus and the unicorn's signature horn, I realized that Twilight was referred to as her "student". I had begun to listen in on their conversation.
The first words I comprehended were from Twilight, "Yeah, we did end up forgiving each other, but only after he lost consciousness at his welcome party. My friends brought him here ad I started taking care of him. I can't figure out what caused him to get knocked out, but I'm reading though all the books I can to figure it out. He just woke up a bit ago and he forgave me for what I did."
"Calm down," the princess quieted her student, "I assume that's him up there is it not? Why don't we ask him what he thinks about all of this. Right Leon?" She gestured toward me with one of her wings and smiled gently.
I wasn't sure how to react, so I stood there with a dumbfounded look on my face.
"Its okay, come join us down here." The princess urged. Twilight turned around and gave me a reassuring smile.
I walked down the staircase, and at the royalty's feet, I bowed, "Sorry for eavesdropping. I had no intention to."
The princess laughed, "Well I came here to talk with you. I have a few questions of my own to ask." She smiled, "And based on what my student Twilight's story, you have plenty to ask yourself. Don't worry about formalities, it is just us three, after all."
"Of course!" I smiled and got back up.
We settled down on the floor, sitting equal distances from each other, and began to talk.
Almost immediately after we got comfortable, I looked over at Twilight, "Do you think you could give me a chance to explain what has happened to me today?"
I began to explain how the day began as a human, and how I had lost my life to the hands of a stranger with a gun. Twilight interrupted me almost immediately.
"What is a gun? You mentioned it before... but I have no idea what it is." She seemed curious.
"It is a tool of death. It ends the lives of humans and animals with just the push of the button by making a piece of metal fly so fast it kills whatever it is pointed at." Twilight's face was one of complete worry, a tool like that would have horrible consequences if it fell into the wrong hands. She knew that this time one had, and she was horrified it had been used against another human.
"I'll let the subject of this end here." The princess said, a concerned look on her face.
I gave a reassuring smile. "I don't like the idea of it being in this world either, so I'll keep it a secret." I continued on with my story, cleverly avoiding the parts about the mysterious "god", and explaining all I had learned and saw in Equestria. When it finally ended, the princess sat there pondering the story for a moment. Twilight, however, seemed preoccupied with something else entirely.
"You didn't explain one thing. I get why your cutie mark when you got here, meant you didn't know much. That's why it was a red question mark. But why is it so different now? When I placed you in bed it was still the same. I was going to ask this in the room you were sleeping in before the Princess came." I was suprized, as was the Princess. I turned around and looked at my rear-end while the princess inquired to Twilight about my previous cutie mark. Instead of the red question mark from before, I saw several dark blue clouds just noticeable through my black fur, and among the center of them, a beam of yellow light coming through the clouds and fading away. I hadn't noticed this drastic change in looks until this moment. Then again, I rarely stare at my ass.
... you may... tell them... the truth...
I looked upwards, as if somehow I would be able to confirm with him that I was not hearing wrong. I thought I was supposed to keep it a secret...
...Do not worry, these two are trustworthy... You may find powerful allies in them yet...
"I left out a part of my story." They both stopped discussing what could possibly have cause my cutie mark to change and turned to face me.
"But it is so impossible, I'm not going to say a word until you both agree to believe what I say, even before I tell you anything."
Both mares were confused, but after what had occurred already, Twilight immediately consented. The Princess waited a moment, more out of pondering what I had to say than pondering her answer to the question, and then also agreed readily.
I took a deep breath and recited what I had seen and heard in the place that God resided.