A Mirror of Stars

by Cyberdutchman

Ch. 11: The First Evening

"Fluttershy! Please! I'm not going to eat your pets!"

His words went unheeded as a flash of pink and yellow disappeared behind the door to the girl's bathroom.

"Damn it," muttered Liam.

"Dude..."

Liam slowly turned to find the other six all giving him sidelong glances, every one of them turned slightly away as if ready to run. The only ones that didn't look squeamish or frightened were Pinkie and Applejack. Liam could tell for AJ this was just another mark against him and knew he'd have to deal with it later. He wasn't sure why Pinkie seemed the same way but he'd take anything.

"That's just so wrong," Dash said, her face scrunched up in disgust.

Liam sighed and glanced back at the shut door. He'd just have to give her time to get over the gut reaction. He started towards them but stopped when they all took a step back. He threw up his hands in frustration, almost snarling at them as he felt his good faith efforts begin to come crashing down over the most inconsequential of issues.

"Oh come on! I'm not some sort of monster! Humans- well, my humans anyway -are omnivores! You're seriously telling me you're not?"

Rarity heaved a little, covering her mouth daintily with a hand. Twilight and Sunset had similar choking reactions while Dash just stuck out her tongue in disgust. Applejack gave him a cold look while Pinkie's was more sad than anything else. Liam suddenly realized he needed to tread very, very carefully if he wanted to salvage the situation. But first he had to be certain of something.

"Okay, can someone show me their teeth?"

"E-Excuse me?" Rarity stammered, clamping her hand more firmly over her mouth and muffling her words to near incomprehension.

"Why do you want to see our t-teeth?" asked Twilight.

"I just want to check something," Liam replied patiently.

Twilight glanced around at her friends before stepping forward a little. She opened her mouth and spread her cheek apart with her fingers. " 'ere, how's 'hat?" she asked clumsily.

Liam's eyes shot open at what he saw. "No canines... you don't have any canines... jeez, you really are herbivores. What the..."

"Why would she have dogs in her mouth?" a confused Pinkie asked. Dash paled and everyone took a step back.

Liam's hand hit his face hard enough to leave a red print for a few seconds. He quickly pulled open his own cheek and pointed at the four offending teeth. " 'ese! Canine teeth!"

"Gah! You have fangs! Heck, the rest of them are sharp too!" cried out Dash in shock. "What the heck?! How did we not notice that?"

"I don't know! You'd think between the spaceship, metal men, alternate universes, and exploding doohickeys we'd have noticed something really weird like extra pointy teeth!" Pinkie exclaimed in agreement. Everyone else paused to blink a few times as they all came to the same awkward conclusion.

"Anyway, they're not fangs. Well, I guess technically they would be in mammal anatomy-" Liam started to correct himself before catching himself. "Not important! The point is, we're not the same kind of humans like I'd thought. I'd guessed maybe it was going to be cultural but... well, I guess not. Hoo boy..." he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Everyone was silent for a long time after, the only sound to be heard coming from the muffled sobs behind the bathroom door. Eventually Liam put up his hands placatingly.

"Listen, I know this was a bit shocking- for all of us actually -but it doesn't have to be a problem. Like I said, I can make a go of it off the vegetarian selection just fine. I'll just have to make sure I get enough nuts and protein sources."

And hope I don't go stir crazy without things like chicken and steak and pork and bacon-... oh god... BACON. I won't make it! he moaned to himself despondently.

Sunset's voice broke him from his brooding. "So you don't need to eat, you know, meat?" she asked cautiously.

Liam shook his head. "I just need a source of protein, same as you all. If nuts and veggies get me that then fine. So... are we good?"

The six present all looked to each other. Pinkie nodded with some enthusiasm while Applejack gave her a disapproving frown. The other four hesitantly nodded along with Pinkie, though it was easy to see they still had major reservations.

"Okay, great. Now can someone go in and convince Fluttershy it's safe for her and her pets before anyone else gets involved? I do NOT want this detail making its way into the rumor mill."

Sunset sighed and made her way to the door. "Sure, I'll get her." She gave Liam a wide berth as she passed, like he was some sort of chained dog and she was making sure to stay out of reach. She paused with her hand on the handle and turned back to him. "Just... try not to look too predatory when she comes out alright?"

Liam gave her the most intense half-lidded look he'd ever summoned for anyone. "I want you to reexamine that sentence and tell me what's wrong with it."

"What?" Sunset frowned for a moment before blushing brightly. "No, I didn't- That's not what I meant! I-" She was interrupted by Rainbow Dash laughing her heart out.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry Liam, but Sunset just moved you up from 'Old Man' to 'Pervy Old Man'."

Sunset blushed still brighter and quickly ducked into the bathroom, leaving Liam staring at the featureless door in horror. He slowly turned, locking his eyes on Rainbow Dash in a deadpan stare.

"Ehehe...heh...sorry," apologized Dash with a nervous grin.

"...Dash."

"...yeah?"

"...I don't know when, I don't know where, and I don't know how, but I am going to get you back for that," Liam stated evenly. He turned his head to show her his ear and the tiny bump of the speaker and mic in it. "That just got recorded and logged across our network along with everything else I hear. At some point Jax is going to hear it. When he does, you're never going to hear the end of it from me."

Dash's expression tried to decide between a mixture of delight in realizing she had an accomplice to her upping of the prank stakes and complete dread at what might await her. In the end, it went for a goofy grin and nod.

"Wait, you've been recording everything we say?" asked Twilight.

"Figures. Hasn't exactly had a lot of respect for other personal boundaries," Applejack added.

"Hey, that happened on accident-" Liam began before closing his mouth with a click. Applejack fixed him with the most immolating glare he'd ever seen and it was only through sheer application of will on his part that he didn't burst into flames on the spot. "Nevermind."

"What?" Twilight looked between the two in confusion.

"No-" Rarity began before pursing her lips shut. Applejack spun around to stare at her accusingly but got only blank innocence and incomprehension in return.

"Amative!" Pinkie cried out suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. "Are we not playing the single word conversation game?"

"No, we were talking about-... why are you recording everything?" asked Twilight.

"Secondary feature reasons. It's how I keep in touch with Will and the others and also let's them know what's going on around me. It just also happens to record all of that along with those conversations so they can review it later if needed."

"Oh. Huh, makes sense. I'm just amazed you made something like that so small," she said quietly, stepping closer and leaning in to peer at the tiny hidden device.

"Mechanical design may be our strong suite but we're not slouches in the rest," Liam replied with a small grin.

He enjoyed talking with Twilight. In a lot of ways it was like talking with one of his doubles, all concerns and troubles melting away in the face of a technical problem or oddity to examine. Thankfully it appeared she was the same, all her concerns about him forgotten for the moment. The others, minus Applejack as usual, closed in around her as well just as a faint creak alerted them to the bathroom door opening. Fluttershy came out with her hands held tightly to her chest, guided by Sunset's hands on her shoulders.

"Fluttershy, I'm-" Liam began, stopping when Fluttershy furiously shook her head. Her eyes were large and fearful and locked onto his like opposing magnets. His raised his hands and she backed into Sunset, causing her to exhale with a loud "oof".

"I-I-It's fine! I k-know you can't help it, it's just in your nature. I just need some TIME-" she almost shrieked as reached up to massage the bridge of his nose. He froze and slowly lowered the offending hand. "...-just... would you mind not coming by the shelter? F-For a while I mean?" With every word, every tearful sniff, Liam felt his spirit plummet deeper and deeper. "I'm afraid the animals will get nervous if there's a carni- a carnivo-... I'm sorry," she cried before turning and walking swiftly away from the group.

"Fluttershy, wait!" Sunset called after her. She gave Liam a look he couldn't completely describe, a shifting mix of anger, sorrow, recrimination, and apology among many others, before following after her friend. His shoulders slumped as he watched them round the nearest corner in the hall.

"We better go talk to her. We'll catch you later," Dash told him, tapping him once on the shoulder as they passed, "Old Man." Her heart wasn't really in the joke though and he didn't have the reserves of emotional energy left to respond in kind.

"I'm sorry about all that. Fluttershy's just concerned about the safety of her animal friends," Rarity said softly. Liam turned to look at her and she quickly waved her hands in front of her. "Not that they wouldn't be safe around you! I just meant-"

"It's fine Rarity, I understood. I just... I never expected to find something like this," he said, motioning towards his jaw, "becoming a major issue."

Pinkie slapped him on the back with a gleeful snicker. "Don't worry Liam, we just need to put enough cakes and fruity leafy goodness through you to convince her you're not some mean beastie out to eat up defenseless grannies. Thankfully, you've got Master Chef Pinkie on the case! No rock candy left unturned, no preparation method left untried. Will it be difficult? Yes! Will it be painful?" She paused to consider. "Maybe! But that's what antacids are for! You will beg, you will moan, and then you will beg for more!"

Pinkie skipped down the hallways after her friends, crying out the names of various edible or supposedly edible concoctions, manically giggling between them the whole way. After she rounded the corner only he and Rarity remained.

"Well, I can honestly say that these last few minutes have been some of the most memorable I've had, and believe me that's saying something," Rarity said before coughing lightly into her hand. "So, what are your classes for the afternoon?"

"Hmmm? Oh, uh... Physics, History, and Pre-Calc."

Rarity clapped her hands quickly a few times. "Excellent! We all have the same last period as you!"

Liam's eyebrow inched its way skyward. "All of us? I'm calling Principal-or-Vice-Principal-scheming on that one."

"Perhaps, but I think it's marvelously convenient so why not go along with it?"

Liam twitched his head towards her in acquiescence. "Yeah, can't hurt I suppose. I hope..."

Rarity smoothed out her skirt and turned to face him. "Perhaps it might be best if you used the next two classes to think of anything else that might be... disconcerting to learn? Get it all out of the way at once."

He gave her a skeptical grimace. "My dietary history wasn't even on my 'probable issues' radar. We're just going to have to get used to blundering into these things for awhile until I can find a book that conveniently lists all the taboo things for your world," he said with a sigh.

Rarity brought her hand up to her chin, tapping a finger against it a few times. Eventually she stopped, holding the finger there for a few seconds before reaching out and cautiously placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Listen, I know you've been delaying having this talk with us- ah ah ah! No, don't say anything," she replied swiftly as he prepared to counter her statement. "We're not blind darling, and given your incident and what you've told us just today I think I have some idea why you've done so." She shivered a little and fixed him with a knowing look. "We all have things we'd prefer to forget that aren't pleasant to revisit. And you're right, there probably will be another 'boo boo' or two like your, um, tastes. But we would really like to hear more from you. The last few days have been very... unusual and just a tad stressful," she chuckled, "and you're still very much a stranger in so many ways. Making things a little less strange and unknown would go a long ways towards helping us get you home I think."

Liam considered her words but gave no answer one way or the other. He still wasn't certain what the best way to proceed was, especially after recent revelations. Rarity seemed to pick up on his conflict and patted him gently before heading off after her friends.

"Just something to consider. We'll see you in class. And try to stay out of any more trouble, hmm?"

"I'll add it to the list," he said with a chuckle, then headed off in the other direction towards his own classes.

---

"Thanks Granny!" Applebloom said cheerfully to her grandmother.

"Y'all go find yer friends. Looks like Ah've got something to take care of," Granny Smith replied, looking over her head.

Applebloom turned to see what she was talking about and saw her sister and her friends enter the cafeteria followed by Liam. She was about to wave to them when she noticed they all seemed very anxious.

"Go on now, I need to remind someone of something important," Granny said, shooing her onward. She nodded and made her way towards her friends, glancing over her shoulder again when she heard her Grandmother's voice over the rest of the cafeteria noise.

"Well would ya look at what we've got here..."

"Applebloom! Come on, we need to show you something!"

Applebloom spun back around to face the familiar voice, smiling as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle waved her over.

"You've gotta see this!" Scootaloo exclaimed excitedly.

"Why, what is it?" Applebloom asked curiously.

"Our last video! It's gotten really popular!" Sweetie Belle answered with a huge grin, handing her phone over for Applebloom to see.

"Wait, really?" she asked in astonishment. She took the phone and squinted at the screen. Sure enough, it had a couple hundred likes, more than they'd ever gotten before. She resisted the urge to scroll down to the comments. That never went well, no matter how much anyone like the video. "That's so cool! But... what was so different about that one?" She hit the play button to watch it again.

"Mostly everyone said that the camera stuff looked really good. They were talking about lighting and angles and stuff like that," Scootaloo answered as they watched the screen. "Hey, we should do more stuff at your farm if everyone thinks it looks nice!"

Applebloom winced, causing her friends to give her nearly matching confused looks.

"You okay Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked her.

"We, uh, can't use the farm for awhile." That would lead to questions about the giant hole in the middle of it and where it came from. She was fairly certain Liam's and Granny's request for secrecy applied to her friends as well. She didn't want to risk finding out, not when Granny was likely to take it real poorly if she messed up.

Sweetie Belle slumped forward in her seat. "Awwww. Why not? I wanted to try making a better video than that one."

Applebloom cast around for a good excuse without much luck. "We, uh, we... we had to replace the floor."

"What, all of it?"

A tap on her shoulder saved her from whatever she'd been about to try to pass off.

"Hey Applebloom, who's that sitting with your sister and her friends?" asked Scootaloo.

Applebloom turned, searching for her sister's hat for a second or two before spotting it and the person in question. "Oh, that's Liam. He's... a guest. At the farm. Visitin'."

"...while you're replacing the floor?" Sweetie asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Applebloom nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! He's, uh, helping with the work! That's why he's visiting!"

"Huh," Sweetie Belle said, seemingly convinced of her story. Applebloom let out a mental sigh of relief at her ruse's success.

"Liam? Kind of a weird name," Scootaloo said around a bite of her burger, head cocked to the side. "What's he like?"

"Oh? Why the sudden interest?" Sweetie Belle asked with a sly grin. "Does someone have a C.R.U.S.H. on the new guy?" She prodded Scootaloo in the side, eliciting a startled squeak from her target.

Scootaloo's eyes popped open wide and she choked and coughed on her lunch for a second or two. "What? No! No, I don't have a crush on him! I don't even know him! Besides, he's the same age as your sister right?" she asked Applebloom desperately.

"Heck of a lot older than that..." she muttered out loud, watching her sister and her friends talking with Liam. They were all tense, with concerned or surprised expressions.

"Wait, he is? How much older is he?" asked Scootaloo.

"Huh?" Applebloom gave her a confused glance. Then she remembered what she'd just accidentally blurted out loud. "Oh! Uh, like a year or two. I think."

"Shouldn't he have graduated then?" asked Scootaloo, looking over Applebloom at her sister's table.

"He, uh-"

A sudden cry interrupted them, causing them and most of the rest of the cafeteria to look about in surprise. At the far table where her sister was sitting Fluttershy suddenly jumped up and ran from the room, tears streaming from her face, her sobs broken up by sudden bouts of gasping and shuddering. Applebloom shared a confused look with her friends then turned back around when Sweetie Belle silently pointed towards her sister's table. Liam had jumped up from the table as well and was following after Fluttershy, his face tight and focused. He was soon followed by the rest of their group, earning confused looks from the rest of the cafeteria. Most of them shrugged it off once they were out of sight and went back to their own conversations.

"What was that about?" Scootaloo asked no one in particular.

"I don't know." Sweetie Belle looked at them. "But we should find out. He might be another magical monster that looks like a normal guy, like those Sirens," she added conspiratorially.

"Or he could be a normal guy that said the wrong thing," Scootaloo suggested. "That's way more likely right?"

"Right, Ah'm sure he's not something weird like that. Why would mah Sis be sittin' with him if he was?" Applebloom replied, trying to redirect the conversation. She didn't want her sister to catch them if they spied on them. She didn't want Liam to know either for that matter. Both of them could be scary in their own way.

"Oh come on!" Sweetie Belle implored her. "Don't you want to know more about him if he's staying with you?"

"I don't need ta spy on him to learn that stuff," Applebloom deflected.

"Has he made Fluttershy cry before while he was there?" asked Sweetie Belle, undeterred.

"Well no, he hasn't," she replied, uncertain where her friend was going with this.

"Then aren't you curious about what he could have said or done to upset her and not our sisters or the rest of their friends?"

"Wait, what? No, course I ain't. Why would I be?" Applebloom asked her, thoroughly confused now.

"Because it might turn out he's not evil but just a big jerk. A big jerk that's staying at your place and taking advantage of your family," Sweetie Belle explained.

Applebloom gave her a deadpan stare. "Trust me, he ain't." Granny's probably takin' advantage of him by guiltin' them into doing more than just fix the stuff they broke at this point. Ah still remember that poor cable serviceman, she remembered silently.

"Huh. I, uh, actually kinda want to go now too," Scootaloo replied, holding her hand up a little. Applebloom gave her a disappointed glower then sighed.

"Aw come on Scoot, why?"

"Because it would be more fun than just sitting here eating? Plus you never know, we might hear something surprising."

Applebloom was about to counter that but then remembered who it was they were talking about and where he came from. "Fine, but we gotta stay hidden."

The three quickly rushed out to the hall, stopping to drop their trays off so Granny wouldn't scold them again, and looked around for any sign of the group. The loud slam of a door drew their attention and they quietly made their way to the end of the hall. Applebloom peaked around a little but had to stop herself falling forward as Scootaloo then Sweetie Belle piled in on top of her, both of them leaning into her to get a look as well. She pushed herself up with her arms and turned to glare at them out of the corner of her eye.

"Would ya kindly-"

"Fluttershy! Please! I'm not going to eat your pets!"

The three nearly fell over one another in their desperation to get away from the corner before backing up against the row of lockers. Applebloom's heart was pounding in her chest.

Oh mah God, they are evil!

"D-did he just s-say 'eat her pets'?" Sweetie Belle said, arms tucked around her knees tightly.

"Uh huh..." Scootaloo answered breathlessly, eyes as wide as they could go.

"Applebloom! You've got a maniac STAYING AT YOUR HOUSE!" Sweetie Belle hissed at her. Applebloom froze, slowly twisting her eyes to look at her terrified friend. "Ohmygoshwhatareyougoingtodo?" Sweetie asked breathlessly before freezing herself. "What are WE going to do?! He's here at school with us!"

Scootaloo frowned at her and shook her by the shoulders. "Hold up Sweetie, he just said he wasn't going to eat her pets! We don't know what they were talking about to make him say that. No one would actually do that, not even a Piscivore. "

"A what?" Applebloom asked, her concentration suddenly broken by surprise grammar.

"One of those people that eats fish and stuff," Scootaloo answered swiftly, briefly crawling over her to look around the corner again.

"Oh," she stated, sticking out her tongue in disgust. She frowned and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before turning her eyes back to her friend. "How'd you know that?"

Scootaloo ducked back and glanced at her. "Read it in a history book from the library when we were doing that Founding Day project."

"Oh-"

"Quiet!" Sweetie Belle hissed as loud, raucous laughter echoed through the hall before slowing ebbing away again awkwardly. Applebloom recognized Rainbow Dash's voice as the one laughing followed by softer voices she couldn't place. The three poked their heads around again to see what was going on and quickly withdrew again.

"Oh jeez, what was with his face?" asked Scootaloo, her own face scrunched up in confusion and concern. "He looked like he'd seen a ghost or something."

"I told you, he's crazy!" Sweetie Belle hissed in response. She faced Applebloom and grabbed her shoulders. "Applebloom, you've got to get him away from your house!" she said while shaking her. "He might go after your animals!"

"Sweetie Belle, we don't know-"

Applebloom didn't hear anything else she said. Her mind was now firmly stuck in a waking nightmare. One where three giant shadowy figures with glowing blue eyes stalked into their barn in the dark while a smaller fourth stood behind them, it's dark outline growing fuzzier and hunched over as she watched. It stalked forward, growling softly and licking its lips before rearing its head back and letting out a soul tearing howl, fangs protruding from its mouth and claws adorning its fingers. It looked back down and locked her with a set of glowing green eyes. Then it lunged forward.

No, they wouldn't! They're not the same! We were with them the whole weekend and they didn't do a thing! she thought desperately, shaking her head to banish the terrible scene.

But you're not there now, a terrible whisper in the back of her mind reminded her.

"Ah- Ah've gotta go!" she said quietly, picking herself up off the floor and sprinting for the end of the hall. Scootlaoo tried to make a grab for her but missed her by mere inchs.

"Wait- Applebloom, hold up!" she called out frustratedly. "Dang it Sweetie Belle, you got her worked up..."

Applebloom didn't hear her. Her entire world currently consisted of the door below the glowing red exit sign and the miles long path from there to her home.

---

Will placed down the freshly hewn applewood log, courtesy of the destroyed trees from their landing, next to the coil of wire. He stretched, feeling the faint jerks and twitches of his body realigning and groaned, though not out of any real relief or need. He didn't have a real sense of pain, just a series of strain sensors placed all over his skeleton and muscles that altered faint currents going into his crystalline brain whenever they were stressed. Over time he'd come to associate the faint tingle they gave him with his remembered senses. Despite that he still didn't have an overall sense of touch, and forget taste or scent. But it didn't impede him, not after a few months shy of a century of experience. At this point muscle memory made up for everything he lacked.

"Is that the last one?" Albrecht asked, looking up from the clipboard in his hands.

"Yeah, that's it," he replied, looking down the road at the line of poles stuck into the ground along the side and the wire strung between them. "Still surprised Granny wouldn't let us bury it."

Albrecht made a mark on his board then looked at him. "It makes a kind of sense. It's easy for us to dig the trench but hard for them. If they ever have to do repairs they can easily see where they need to work if it's above ground."

Will grimaced. "Yeah, but they wouldn't have to do many repairs if we buried it. We'd seal the tube as well as anyone else if not better. Plus we're free labor. If they ever want to bury it later it will cost an arm and a leg."

"True, but not our call," Albrecht countered, pointing his pencil at him.

"Yeah. Doesn't mean it doesn't bother me,"

Albrecht nodded nonchalantly. "We're just perfectionists-"

<"Guys!">

They both winced as one of their voices boomed in their artificial ears. Will flipped down the visor he'd left attached to his temples and turned on the Augmented Reality display. A small notice in the corner alerted him it was Alphonse that had all but blown out his ear drums. He tensed up, wondering what could have possibly gone wrong this time. The possibility that they might have finally gotten a lucky break didn't even cross his mind.

<"You need to hear this. We're going to need to rethink, well... everything!"> Alphonse said in a mix of aggravation and exasperation.

Will pressed the activation tabs in his neck for his internal mic. "Okay, patch it through." He released his grip and looked at Albrecht. He gave him a shrug in return and put a hand over one ear lobe to block out the ambient sound. Will did the same and waited. There was a brief hiss of static followed by Rainbow Dash's scratchy voice.

"Maybe he's one of those religious wackos..."

Will's eyes slowly widened ever more as the minutes passed and the playback went on. He cringed as Fluttershy cried and his jaw dropped slightly at the revelation about the humans of this new world. He did find a brief moment of mirth when Dash dropped her joke at Liam's expense, but it was far outweighed by the implications and possibilities of what they'd just heard. Eventually the recording ended, leaving the line silent as he and Albrecht shared a matching overwhelmed whistle together.

"Okay, throw out the playbook. And the movies while you're at it. These people are officially aliens," Albrecht said, hand at his throat mic.

<"Doesn't really affect us but..."> Alphonse began.

"But it's going to make things difficult for Liam on so many levels. Forget about being found out, now we have to worry if he can even stay fed here! There's no telling if their diet has the amounts of protein and vitamins he needs. Hell, they may naturally make some of the vitamins our humans can't and don't have them in their diet at all!"

Albrecht cursed and kicked the dirt after coming to the same conclusion. Matching grumbles over the comms told the same story for Alphonse.

<"I'll get a tightbeam link to Celestia and see what they've got in the way of meat and dietary supplements, especially the B's and fats. If we're lucky the tilapia in the aquaculture system are still doing well. We made need to breed an army of them soon.">

"Sounds good Al," Will said with a nod. He turned back to look at the house, shielding his eyes against the noon glare with one hand and the other held against his neck. "I'll check the house, gets some samples of the food to preserve. Put them in the first drone to the ship and have them check what's in them so we can see what we may be missing in required nutrients."

"Got it," Albrecht replied before closing his comm line and picking up his clipboard.

"Alphonse, we've officially made too many assumptions about this place. Get a link into whatever they have for internet and start reading the whole of it. Biology, society, history, everything. EVERYTHING."

<"Got it,>" Alphonse replied before logging off, perfectly mirroring Albrecht.

Will took his hand away from his throat and looked back at Albrecht. "Can you handle the last installation while I get the stuff?"

Albrecht nodded and waved him away, putting down his clipboard and picking up the coil of telephone wire and the post. Will swung his arms around to put himself back in the work mindset and turned back towards the house.

"Alright, time to raid...the...fridge..." he trailed off slowly. He tilted his head to the side in growing confusion and softly muttered a single word.

"Applebloom?"

The young girl was racing up the hill towards the house, clothes soaked with sweat and pants legs and shoes covered with dust and dirt.

Will cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at her. "Applebloom!"

She froze, her head swiveling to stare at him wide eyed. Will began to feel his confusion dissipate in the face of his rising unease.

"What's going on? Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

She stared at him for a second more before sprinting towards the barn even faster than when she'd first shown up and slammed the door closed behind her. A few seconds later a cacophony of sounds arose from within including crashing pans, tearing fabric, and a veritable panoply of animal cries, all topped off at the end by a chicken loudly squawking "Bagawk!" before silence once again descended.

Will stared at the barn for a full minute, his head tilting over to the side glacially as he did. He slowly turned to look at Albrecht who did the same in turn.

"The fuck was that?"

"I have noooo idea. But recent experience tells me it can't be good," Will replied then sighed. "Come on, let's go see what Murphy has in store for us."

---

Fluttershy walked into her final class, or rather, stumbled into her final class of the day after being pushed gently from the waist by Rarity. As she crossed the threshold she caught herself quickly and froze. Her eyes searched the room of red, green, purple, pink, blue, rainbow, and yellow hair until settling on the single patch of dark brown, sitting in the back of the middle row between Rainbow and Pinkie and directly behind Twilight, Sunset, and Applejack.

"Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy's eyes flicked towards the front of the class. The Calculus teacher, Root Mean, was giving her "a look". She was a tall, thin woman nearly as aged as Granny Smith, with deep silver hair and a skin tone close to Rarity's. She was wearing her trademark navy dress with it's gold leaves trim and a pair of golden framed half-moon glasses. She might've look like a cheerful, whimsical granny with her wardrobe choice but she had a sharp tongue and a no-nonsense demeanor that didn't appreciate humor much.

"Y-Yes Ms. Mean?"

"Take your seat before you're late. Same for you Ms. Rarity."

"Yes ma'am," replied Rarity, quickly taking a seat in the closest open seat near their group, right next to Applejack. Fluttershy realized that the only seat available for her now was on the opposite side away from the door next to Sunset... and in front of Liam where she couldn't see him.

"Ms. Fluttershy? Ms. Fluttershy!"

"Eeeeep!" Fluttershy shivered, her eyes drawn again to her last period teacher.

"Take your seat. Please." Root Mean said, twitching one eyebrow minutely higher.

"Okay..." Fluttershy slowly made her way around the back of the room, catching glances from other students, particularly the boys. It only made for a more oppressive atmosphere. One pair of eyes though wasn't watching or leering. A pair at the back of the room slowly turned her way, locking her with its presence. Cool and depressive, like a cold wind blowing across a snowy plain. The watcher straightened his back slowly and leaned towards her. She froze, suddenly understanding why deer would stop in headlights. To move was to invite attack from the unknown.

He paused as well then sighed and returned to his slouched position. Fluttershy slowly moved again, skirting the walls as much as she could, until she had to move in front of him and lose him from sight. She crept forward, trying to keep him in her peripheral the whole-

"MS. FLUTTERSHY. IS THERE A PROBLEM?"

Fluttershy dove into her chair, ruffling her dress into a complete mess then completed the look by frantically shaking her head, causing her hair to fly everywhere.

"No- ptew!" she spat out a mouthful of hair. "No Ma'am!"

Root Mean fixed her with a strong glower then turned around again and began going over the syllabus. "We're going to be covering a lot of ground this year so you'll need to get off to a strong start. Simply completing the homework won't be enough-"

"Fluttershy."

Fluttershy shut her eyes for a moment then turned her head to look back out of the corner of her eye. Liam was hunched over his desk, giving her what she could only describe as "a look" with his mouth pinched to one side and an eyebrow hiked up questioningly. He looked the same as he had for every other day she'd seen him, the normal guy in khaki cargo shorts and a soft blue plaid button down shirt over a plain white tee. Then he opened his mouth to speak to her again and his fangs appeared, ready to rip and tear through the flesh of a living creature. His tongue moved across them a little as he spoke, as if he was licking his chops. She inhaled and shrunk away before she began to have a panic attack.

"I- ...haaaaa," he sighed from behind her. She risked a look back to find him hunched over a set of notebooks writing furiously in them, brow pinched together. She would have called it focus if it weren't for the slight narrowing of his eyes and mouth into a thin line. Those said annoyance.

Fluttershy clenched her eyes shut again, ashamed of how she was acting but feeling justified in it as well. He was still the same person she'd stuck up for the last few days, still the same sad soul she was sure she'd glimpsed behind his cool and dismissive surface. But his habits, his way of life at the expense of other creatures... she wanted to get past it and back to where things had been but there simply wasn't any way! How could he have ever done that and not felt ashamed of himself? How could he sit there now looking at her like she was the problem? What he'd done was inhumane and unnatural for a living, feeling person!

She clenched her fists as an ember of anger deep inside her began to gorge itself on her feelings of betrayal and disgust. She shivered, new tears springing forth as she clenched her eyes tighter.

"Hey, you okay?" a softer voice asked from her side. She opened her eyes and glanced to her side. Sunset leaned over the aisle between them, her face lined with concern, and squeezed her arm gently. "You know we'd never let anything bad happen to your friends right?" Fluttershy felt a faint flicker of happiness that Sunset at least understood where she was coming from. She laid a hand over her friends and returned the gentle squeeze.

"I know. Thanks," she said in reply. She thought she heard a faint snort from behind them but when she glanced back Liam was still locked into whatever he was working on.

"He's already said he'll switch to a normal diet while he's here," whispered Sunset. "You should try to talk to him."

"About what?" Fluttershy asked, dipping her head in anguish. "How can I talk to him about eating other living creatures?"

Sunset winced and looked about the room for a moment in thought. She looked back and held up a finger. "Why not think of it like this? Timberwolves and cats and animals like them have to eat meat right? It's just part of their diet. It's the same for him, right?"

Fluttershy gave her a very unconvinced look. "Except you just told me he could switch to a normal diet without trouble. That means he's had to option to do so his whole life and chose not to! That's even worse!"

Sunset scrunched her face up and turned away as her words came back to bite her. "That's not quite what I meant but..."

"Just a heads up, but I can hear everything you're saying."

The two of them dropped their heads and looked over their shoulders as they were somewhat loudly interrupted. He had paused in his writing without changing position, only tilting his eyes up to look at them. His mouth was quirked to the side in amusement but that was the only part of his face showing any humor.

"Mr. ...Harcourt, correct?" a sharp voice asked, breaking the hold his glare held over her.

Liam turned his head up this time to look past them and they did the same. At the front of the class Ms. Root Mean was glowering at him over crossed arms while the rest of the class were watching as discreetly as they could manage.

"Yes," Liam answered.

"Am I boring you young man?" she asked, tapping the a finger against her arm.

"No, I'm just taking notes and asked Fluttershy and Sunset to clarify something," Liam replied, tapping his pencil against the notebooks.

"Oh really? Since you've been taking such thorough notes, perhaps you'd care to come up to the board and solve this example problem I've just finished writing then?" she said, pointing a dry erase marker at him. Fluttershy inhaled sharply. Nearly a quarter of the board was covered in neat writing with symbols and operators she'd never seen before.

"Oh come on, she just said that was end of the year stuff!" Rainbow Dash hissed. "Not cool."

Fluttershy heard a pained wince from her side. A quick glance told her even Sunset, probably the second best if not equal of Twilight when it came to math in their group, didn't know what to make of the equation. With a sinking feeling she risked a look back at the target of Mean's "lesson" for the class. Whatever else she might have thought of him at that moment she didn't enjoy watching anyone get put on the spot. Not when it was the subject of so many of her worst nightmares and the cause of many sleepless nights.

But Liam just sighed, causing Mean to narrow her eyes and pinch her lips together disapprovingly. He got up from his seat and calmly walked towards the front of the classroom, putting out his hand. Root Mean slowly lowered the marker into his hand then stepped back and crossed her arms again. Liam studied it for a few seconds then frowned and looked back at their teacher.

"Wait, isn't this full on Calculus?"

Root Mean looked over her glasses at him. "Indeed, I mentioned that this would be what you can expect to see on the optional placement exam for your university classes. If you're quite done wasting our time then please take your seat and-"

"Hold on, give me a few more seconds," he interrupted, looking to the board again. "Please. I think I can figure this out."

Root Mean narrowed her eyes even further, clearly not believing a word he was saying, then swept her hand toward the board invitingly. "By all means. I asked you to solve it so I'm not going to stop you from doing so."

Liam nodded slightly, rubbing his chin as he examined the board back and forth. Then he paused, tilting his head to the side. He uncapped the marker and began writing... and kept on writing. Line after line of letters and brackets and symbols. As the seconds rushed by, leading to minutes, Root Mean's eyes grew larger and larger and her arms slowly went slack, barely holding each other up in front of her. Liam paused for a moment, cocking his head aside again. He looked up at the board and ran his eyes across it quickly before perking up and erasing a term or two and replacing them then went back to where he'd left off. Another minute or so later and he finished, swiping the marker off the board with a small flourish.

"Almost lost my place there. Didn't expect to see a Dirac Delta in the transform," he said while flashing Mean a brief but surprisingly genuine smile. A genuine and above all toothy smile that looked a lot like a cat staring down its trapped prey in glee. "Haven't had a challenge like that in a while."

"A Dir- ah, well, yes, good spotting. It's not that common," Root Mean said. "Your-" she began, raising up her hand towards her mouth before dropping it again. She shook her head sharply then fixed him with a piercing stare. "Tell me Mr. Harcourt, why are you in this class if you already know how to solve formulas like this?"

"I was home schooled for a looong time so I'm having to repeat some stuff I've learned for administrative reasons," he answered without really answering. Fluttershy immediately understood what he meant though. So did her friends given Rainbow Dash's barely constrained snickering.

"Oh man, I don't think that's ever happened to her in... ever!" she whispered from behind. "I wish I could have recorded that-"

"Ms. Dash."

A desk behind her squeaked from a brief, terror filled jerk across the floor, like one would expect to hear from someone trying to hide behind said desk in a hurry. "... yes Ms. Mean?"

"Since you seem to think you have this down as well as Mr. Harcourt here perhaps you can solve another problem for us? Something from this class's curricula this time?"

"I- I uhhh..."

"Should I take that to mean you aren't completely familiar with the material?"

"I... yes," a defeated Rainbow Dash answered.

"Perhaps it would be best then if you paid more attention and spent less time 'giggling' over someone else's scholastic achievement."

"Yes Ms. Mean."

Fluttershy winced softly. It was like listening to a puppy getting scolded.

"Excellent," Root Mean snipped before turning back to Liam "Mr. Harcourt, thank you for completing the problem. Please take your seat again if you wouldn't mind." Fluttershy was surprised to hear an unfamiliar undertone of respect in the voice of one of CHS's most notoriously strict teachers. Though it was an uncertain and uneasy respect if anything.

Liam calmly walked back to his seat and sat down. Twilight alternated looking at him and his handiwork on the board, visibly impressed. The rest of Fluttershy's friends all chuckled, giggled, or shook their heads at how he'd turned the tables. Well, all except Rainbow Dash.

"Show off..." she muttered grumpily. Liam looked back at her and flashed her another of those toothy smiles. "Gah, stop that!"

"You think that's impressive, remind me to show you the math for wormhole generation and stabilization," he whispered to her before looking back at his notebooks.

"Laugh it up. We'll see if you're still laughing after I get you on the field," Dash whispered back to him, though without much malice.

Liam didn't rise to her challenge, instead just shaking his head and returning to his writing, a faint smirk gracing his lips. Fluttershy forced herself to chuckle along at the display as well but now felt even more uneasy than she had when she walked in. Nothing that he'd done had been uncalled for or even impolite. But something about the whole affair put her in mind of a cat trapping an unsuspecting mouse just to toy with it.

---

The bell went off suddenly, breaking the focused silence that had fallen over the classroom as Root Mean completed her intro lecture for Pre-Calc. Students began hurriedly putting away their things and pulling out their music players, same systems, and phones. While most made a beeline for the door a few stayed behind to gather around a set of seven seats at the back of the classroom. Root Mean huffed slightly at the commotion, though a few students who turned to look would later swear they'd seen the faintest hint of a smile on her face. Or so the legend would soon say anyway.

"That was amazing! How'd you learn all that from home?" asked a gangly mauve skinned boy with large glasses fixed with tape over the nose and suspenders. Liam was certain he'd seen him in the series at some point but couldn't remember if he was ever named.

"Oh, uh..." he began, trying to think of a good answer when a light went off in his head. "just a lot of focused study. Didn't do much with civics or history so I'm a little behind in those at this point. One of the reasons I'm here now instead of there still." That was good! Now he had a decent alibi for his lack of knowledge of their world!

"So have you always lived in Canterlot?" another girl with an almost normal skin tone asked. She had green hair in a pixie cut and a very punk wardrobe consisting of a pink tee with a band logo under a faded thin leather jacket, green plaid skirt with a loose belt, and fingerless motorcycle gloves. A memory of getting a Green Day poster from way, way back in middle school suddenly popped into his mind.

Hey now, no stereotyping. There's only a ninety eight percent chance she'd be hooked on them as soon as she heard Welcome to Paradise, he thought to himself.

"Yeah, been here forever..." he trailed off, inclining his head towards her.

"Oh, Cherry Crash."

Liam forced himself to not roll his eyes. My next question for the girls is how the heck people get named around here...

"Good to meet you Cherry."

"Yeah, back at you, uh, Lima right?"

I've been demoted to bean. Fantastic.

"Liam actually," he corrected with an only mildly forced smile.

Cherry Crash put her hands on her hips and nodded. "Liam... huh, cool! So why were you homeschooled? Never met anyone before that did that."

"Not sure, just what my parents wanted."

"Huh. So, did you really get into a fight with Blitz and Laurel earlier-"

"Liam!"

He looked around Cherry Crash to the classroom door. Applejack stood in the open frame with her arms crossed, giving him a very pointed look.

"If ya don't get yer butt moving then we're leavin' ya behind."

Liam rolled his eyes and waved her off. "Yeah, I'm coming," he told her, packing his things in his bag. He paused to look at Cherry. "I did, through no fault of my own. Ask them why they did it if you want the story because I don't have one for you." She gave him a confused look then shrugged and went back to her own desk. The couple of students that had stuck around to talk to him began filing out as well, giving him and Applejack curious looks as they did. Applejack's frown made them find interest in other things very quickly.

"I swear, if they start any funny rumors..."

"Come on, give it a rest Applejack," Liam said with a sigh. "Where are the others?"

Applejack grimaced then tossed a thumb over her shoulder. "At the office. Ya wanted to see the principal didn't ya?"

"Yeah, I did. Let's go."

The pair walked through the school, separated by more than arms length the whole way. Neither spoke to the other and Applejack gave out only cursory replies to the students that greeted her.

Jeez, is she going to be like this as long as we're here? Liam wondered as they approached the main office. She needs to mellow out soon or people are going to start abandoning her. Hell, even her friends seem tired with her mood now! He didn't have any idea how to repair the sort of rift that had opened between them, not when he knew full well where it came from. He could only hope that seeing the farm restored would do the trick. As he opened the door he was suddenly assaulted by an out-thrust blue hand.

"Okay, I have to give it to ya, that was a decent prank you pulled Old Man."

Liam looked up at Rainbow Dash's grin with a raised brow. "Oh no, that wasn't it. That was you sticking your foot in your mouth right after I didn't do the same. You've got no one to blame but yourself for that. My payback will be sweet and above all very, very cold. And now even worse since you just called me it again," he added with a smirk.

"Wha- oh come on! And stop doing that! Wish you hadn't pointed out your teeth..." Dash exclaimed with a shiver. Around her Sunset, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack all gave him disapproving looks. Fluttershy was nowhere to be found.

Liam forced his mouth closed with a faint click of teeth on teeth. "Nevermind," he muttered. "Is Celestia here?"

"Yeah, she and Luna are talking to someone right now," replied Twilight.

Liam listened closely and found he could just hear the faintest of murmurs coming from beyond the closed door. "Great... more waiting-"

"IF I EVER FIND YOU ON SCHOOL PROPERTY OR HARASSING STUDENTS AGAIN I WILL PERSONALLY SHOVE THAT PHONE SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU'LL HAVE TO LEARN TO SPEAK THROUGH IT!"

The door nearly vibrated with the volume of the shout coming from the other side. The seven present backed away quickly as heavy footfalls approached. The door slammed open and a scruffy looking man with key lime skin and grey blue hair fell out into the waiting area with them. He picked himself up quickly, dusting off his denim shirt and tweed jacket and resetting his thick rimmed black glasses on his nose then turned around just as Luna marched up to the open doorway.

"You can't keep hiding it, eventually you're going to slip up! This school has had more 'broken gas lines' and 'theater performances' than any other school in the country, let alone the county!" he said, making angry air quotations with his fingers. "One of these days the truth will come out! You can't keep playing at innocence forever! ...and give me back my phone-"

He was cut off by Luna chucking a black smartphone into his face.

"This is a high school you conspiracy nut! Go bother a politician somewhere and maybe do your actual job!" Luna whirled about and slammed the door behind her.

The stranger glared at the door for a moment then pulled his glasses off, grimacing at the way they loosely hung together at the nosepiece. He put them back on and gingerly adjusted them then stooped low to pick up his phone and paused, looking at the group around him as if just noticing them for the first time.

"Whatever they tell you, and I don't care what it is, don't trust them," he growled as he picked the phone up off the floor. "Don't trust a word they say!" he all but shouted towards the now closed office door before shoving Luna's improvised projectile into his jacket pocket and stalking out of the room.

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT HARASSING- Luna yelled as she burst from the room again only to freeze upon seeing them. "Oh, um... huhhhhh" she sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Is there, um, is there something I can help you all with?" Her eyes darted around the group and Liam could almost see her adding up the individuals present and coming to the conclusion that she really hoped there wasn't by the expression on her face.

"Uhhhhh... who was that?" asked Sunset.

"Buried Truth, a local journalist. Or at least that's what he would tell you," she said dismissively.

"What was he doing here?" Liam asked, paranoia sending a chill up his spine.

Vice-Principal Luna looked his way, taking a moment or two to answer.

"He's been 'investigating' the events of the last year or so," she answered, giving the girls a knowing look. Sunset's head spun around in the direction of the entrance and the portal then back to Luna.

"Is-"

Luna held up a hand and shook her head. "Worry not, he has no idea and he's not going to."

Sunset sighed in relief.

"What exactly has he been asking about?" Twilight asked nervously.

"The same things they always do," Luna said with a roll of her eyes. "What happened to the front of the school, what happened to the statue of the Stallion, and what's with all these videos on MyStable?"

Liam clenched his eyes shut. I refuse to believe they named it that. Where are the hidden cameras? Who would create a prank this long and complex? I bet it was Jax. Him and Will. They probably planned for this to go right up till my hundreth then have whoever's playing Pinkie hit me with the cake. Please let that be the truth and not that someone here seriously named their social networking site My-fucking-Stable.

"Ah thought we took care of that, didn't we?" Applejack asked, looking at Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie pulled out her phone and raced her fingers across it too fast to track. Then she held it out for Applejack to see. "Yup, still the most popular video of them all!"

Liam leaned in, causing Applejack to lean away with a grunt, and peered at the screen. On it was a scene he'd never thought he'd ever actually see in real life. Sunset, standing before a hovering Twilight Sparkle held aloft by wicked indigo wings, her eyes framed by glowing energy and her hair blown up around a shimmering ephemeral horn by unseen winds. On the ground behind them was a tear in the world, electric and distorted around the edges like a soap bubble, beyond which he saw a perfect blue sky and trace clouds.

That last sight alone almost caused him to hyperventilate on the spot. Oh god, no, not now. I can barely deal with this fuckery, I do NOT need to add that to it! he thought frantically, pulling back away from the screen for a moment.

Then Sunset stepped forward, legs set firmly apart and hands held close to her chest Pinkie's phone speakers weren't clear enough to make out the words being said, but Liam had exactly zero doubt he knew them already. Then she lifted her hand over her head and brought it down swiftly, releasing a blinding flash of light that- repeated again?

Liam blinked as the screen danced for a second then froze, followed by a loud declaration of "Phooey." Suddenly the screen went black, followed by a rolling comedic tune and a title card: "Magical Mayhem. BLOOPERS!"

What.

The screen went back to the frozen image for a second before replacing it with a very different scene. The same ending shot of Sunset and Twilight, only this time in what he assumed was the school gym with Sunset on the ground surrounded by flash bulbs and lights and Twilight hanging from a couple lines over a huge pile of foam squares on top of a line of mattresses. Both were wearing black leotards that covered almost everything but their heads, allowing their hair to be done up in near matches to what it looked like in their empowered forms, with each suit covered in white balls. All of it was set against a backdrop of green curtains and matching green paper on the floor.

"Twilight, the line is 'I can have everything I want!', not 'I will have everything I want!'," Rarity's voice called out before she walked into the shot. "We're going for contrast darling, not bratty despot." Twilight, both on screen and next to him, cringed. "Ahehe... oops?" the screen Twilight responded. Rarity shook her head then turned towards the camera. "Let's take it from the top!" she called out.

"Sorry dear, but we needed to make it believable," Rarity said behind him, placing a hand on the actual Twilight's shoulder.

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. The idea was Pinkie's and mine after all. I'm good," she replied unconvincingly.

Liam wasn't paying attention to them though, not really, not when he was so entranced by the screen. The next shot was Sunset falling to the ground then asking about danger pay, the one after Pinkie floating into the air surrounded by a pink aura only to drop a little as a line holding her up snapped.

I've seen this... it's the fake blooper reel- well, real blooper reel now. But how? Why? What the...

"Uhhhh... what did I just watch?" he asked carefully.

"Just Pinkie and Twilight being awesome!" Rainbow Dash declared.

"Indeed, it was an excellent way to cast doubt on all of the other videos that popped up first," Vice-Principal Luna said. "Did they not tell you of what happened before you came to this side?"

Liam blinked and put his mind into overdrive, trying to remember if Pinkie had mentioned the Friendship Games after the portal in their first car trip. He wasn't sure so he gave a matching answer. "I think so?"

"Huh? Who told him?" Dash asked, scratching her head.

"Pinkie Pie," Twilight replied. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"Oh, well no wonder he's so confused. Okay, so you'll love this," Dash said to him with a grin. "After the games everyone in the videos started getting a lot of calls from weirdos and news people who just would not stop bugging us. The school really started not liking Twilight for a while after that." Her eyes darkened for a moment.

"Jerks," she grunted. "So then Pinkie mentions to Twilight that it was weird people believed the videos so fast because they usually took forever to believe her because they keep looking for however she does what she does."

Dash gave him a half lidded look. "They're not the only ones. Anyway, that got Twilight thinking. So she came to us and said 'Girls, we need to tell everybody the videos are real but it was all fake!'. We thought she'd snapped or eaten one of Pinkie's experiments or something."

"Hey, I was excited at finding a solution," pouted Twilight.

"Miss Dash, perhaps you can wrap this up? School hours are nearly over and we need to lock up the office to take care of some pressing matters," suggested Vice Principal Luna while tapping her watch.

Dash let out a disgruntled sigh. "Fine. Anyway, we made a video showing us pretending to make a video of the stuff that happened and BAM! Everyone stopped believing it was real!"

Liam stared at her wide eyed. That's the most implausible plausible deniability I've ever heard of. I bet there are cell videos from at least five different angles! He shook his head and thought about it again. Though it would be easier to believe than magic existing. Or at least back home it would. Guess people here are just predisposed to believe what they want to believe ...and I'm honestly glad for that. Worst comes to worst we can make a bigfoot video of Will if they ever get spotted.

He let out an amused snort at the mental image of the imposing legionnaire stuffed into a cheap monster suit.

"What's so funny?" asked Pinkie.

Liam shook his head. "Just thinking that despite the differences we've found I'm still seeing more similarities. No idea what to make of that of course," he added with a roll of his eyes.

"We all share the same batter, but ours was baked into a pie dish while yours was baked into a box," Pinkie said with a sagely frown, nodding her head as if she'd just said something deeply meaningful. For all he knew, she had and he just didn't have the capacity to understand it. Then again, down that road lay madness so perhaps it was best he didn't.

"Excuse me, is there a particular reason you all are here?" asked Luna impatiently. "I need to go lodge a complaint with the police department before Truth begins thinking it's permissible to accost students in a school."

"Wait, what precisely did he do?" asked Rarity.

Luna's face set into a grimace. "I suppose it would be best if you all knew so you can be on the lookout. He was on campus just before lunch posing as a college recruiter and recorded his conversations with students. He singled out some in particular who were in the video. I can only imagine where he got them, but he had files with materials related to their preferred universities he used to lure them into talking with him. We only found out after one girl was brought to tears when he got frustrated and told her she'd never make it in unless she told him exactly what happened and her friends came to us to complain. We blocked his calls so this time he tried a more direct approach."

Liam grunted under his breath. Now doesn't that sound familiar. He cast his eyes up in contemplation. Wonder if that guy ever regained the use of his hands after Will got a hold of him... I know we had to pay the medical bills but that's all I remember. He noticed that the room had gone deathly silent during his musings.

"That's completely reprehensible! He should be ashamed of himself!" Rarity declared angrily.

"Come on, that has to be illegal!" Dash growled.

Luna shook her head. "Unfortunately no, it's not. Skirting the bounds by the thinnest of hairs, but not actually against the law. Believe me, I checked," she grumbled.

"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye out for the creep," Sunset told her confidently.

"I appreciate that," Luna replied with a nod. "Now if you'll excuse me-"

"Wait, I wanted to discuss how we were going to study the por-" Liam began before Luna cut him off with a sharp look.

"Mr. Harcourt, another time. I have a responsibility to our students to see that man barred from these grounds."

And I have a responsibility to half a million souls. You're not winning this one. "Principal Celestia then-"

"-is talking with the district attorney to see if there are any legal options available to us other than barring him from the grounds for disturbing the peace. It can wait Mr. Harcourt," she said, pushing past him towards the door.

There are lives on the line you-

A pair of hands from two different people grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. "Sorry to bother you Vice-Principal Luna," Sunset said from his right.

"He's just very eager to start working," Rarity added from his left.

"I understand and it is commendable," replied Luna, "We'll be sure to make time for you tomorrow Mr. Harcourt. Please stop by before classes start and we'll try to set up an appointment. Tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

Liam frowned at her, his teeth grinding against each other as he debated his best course of action. He eventually settled on one and sighed, popping his shoulders up a little to let the girls know he didn't need to be restrained anymore. Not that I needed to be in the first place... he thought with some annoyance.

"Sure, that will be fine," he replied as Sunset and Rarity took their hands off him. "Tomorrow."

Luna nodded and walked briskly out of the room, determination etched into the lines of her face. One of the reasons he'd decided not to argue the point with her.

"Sorry you didn't get to make your super sciencey plans with them," said Pinkie.

"We could stay until the Principal finishes her call," Twilight. "Maybe she'd be willing to listen to your plan then?"

Liam shook his head. "No, I thought about it and it will likely take weeks to figure out even the most basic aspects of your portal. Reverse engineering it even longer. A day isn't going to have that big an impact."

"That's... surprising to hear," said Twilight carefully. "You've been kindaaaaa... single minded about it."

Liam looked at the ground. "I still am. Nothing- nothing -matters more. But if there's one thing I am its a realist. It's true that the sooner we get started the sooner we're finished but that does not mean it's going to be shorter or easier. The work will take what it takes," he said with a sigh. "Something you'll learn when you get older."

"Awwww, cheer up!" said Pinkie, "This just means you'll have another day to spend making friends and having fun!"

Liam gave her a deadpan look. "I was assaulted by two students and possibly created a permanent rift between myself and Fluttershy over something I have no control over. Today has not been what I would call 'fun'."

Pinkie shrugged. "So you're in the red today. Just means we'll have to work twice as hard tomorrow to bring you back up into a net positive level of fun and happiness. As for Fluttershy," she murmured, tapping a finger against her lip while squinting at the ceiling. "Hmmmmm...we'll work on it," she decided with a shrug. "She just needs to remember you're a friend."

Liam rolled his eyes, though he couldn't help but grin a little. "Just... don't go overboard for my sake. I'm here to work, not to have fun. I appreciate the sentiment though."

"Hmmmm... since you can't talk to the Luna or Celestia today why don't we go take a closer look at the portal? It may give you ideas about what you want to look at in detail or talk to them about," Twilight suggested.

"Indeed, that sounds like a marvelous idea," Rarity added in agreement. "Something to take all our minds off of today's stress and fatigue- darling, what's so funny?"

Liam shook his head. "Nothing, engineering joke. That sounds like a great idea Twilight. I wanted to talk to you and Sunset about the equipment we'll be using anyway so we'll do that on the way over."

"I-... sure, don't think there's much else we can do," Sunset said with a faint grimace. Liam gave her a quick glance out of the corner of his eye.

No idea what that's about either. He chuckled to himself. That should be my new motto here. 'I don't understand anything so screw everything, I'm going home.' He rolled his eyes at his bad joke as the rest of the girls filed out of the office ahead of him.

The walk to the front of the school and the statue was mercifully uneventful apart from some small talk about how classes had gone, complete with a revisit of their shared final period and his antics in there. Honestly, he'd enjoyed that class simply because he remembered it. The others he'd done nothing besides putting together lists of things for the team off planet to begin producing for them and some ideas to check with regards to the portal. A small part of him took some joy in Rarity and Pinkie ribbing Rainbow Dash for her own role in making the class memorable. Thankfully none of that didn't include any further discussion of the two asshats he'd run into or their revelation from lunch. It wasn't long before they were pushing open the main doors of the school and stepping out into the hot evening of late summer Canterlot.

"So you think you got the gist of it now?" he asked Sunset and Twilight who were currently walking with him while the rest of the group talked on their own just a foot or two away.

"Yeah, I'm just amazed at what you've got with you honestly. Why would you have a better lab than most colleges on an 'embassy' ship?" asked Sunset.

Liam held up a finger. "We have a driving principle within the Legion. Every ship larger than a shuttle, roughly anything with a crew of about ten, was designed to be able to entirely restart the Legion from anywhere. Every one has the tool suite needed to build a manufacturing base and create more Legionnaires. We've got three star systems besides our own where we sent a large construction ship to begin the process there like we did in our own." He paused and shook his hand side to side. "Well, two I should say. One turned out to be a dud with no planets or asteroids to work with."

Twilight turned to him excitedly. "So that's what you meant by 'getting our industrial base up and going again'! I thought you were just going to try to repair the Celestia and go home with that but... you sent it out there to rebuild, didn't you?"

He nodded and said, "Yeah, they'll start tearing apart some rocks for the basics and start with the equipment we need to work on the portal here. After that they'll be spending time building up ships and personnel in case we need more to make our own portal happen."

"Wait, there're gonna be more'a ya?!"

Liam closed his eyes tightly. "You won't ever see them Applejack, there's no need for them to come down to the planet. They'll be staying on our ships."

"They better not! The five'a ya are already more'n enough," she replied grouchily.

"C-could we maybe, you know-" Twilight began then paused when he started chuckling.

"Twilight, I promise you that if we still haven't figured out the portal by the point they're up and running then you're all invited to the launching of the first new ship. Least I can do for all the help you've given us."

Twilight's grin threatened to split her face as she bounced up and down on her toes.

"Oh sweet!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "That will be so cool! First people on a real starship-"

"Pass. Yer not getting me anywhere near one of those things," Applejack interjected, to no surprise to him.

Twilight turned to face her in shocked disappointment. "Applejack, you can't! When else are you going to get a chance-"

"Okay, change of subject," he muttered to himself. "On to..." he trailed off, staring ahead at THE object of all his focus. He could hear the girls talking but every sound was muted. He'd only given it a glance the last time he'd come here with Sunset and Rarity. Now...

The sun was still high in the sky, though the first reddish glow of evening was beginning to descend. The statue was gone still, only a pair of small protrusions on the top of the pedestal marking where it had stood. Below that... was nothing. The front surface facing the school looked like plain stone, the same as the rest of the base. He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but certainly something.

He began walking towards it, step after step, purposeful in his stride. He paused now and then, looking around at the school and the grounds, tilting from one side to the other, trying to get a hint of what was currently hidden from his comprehension. The closer he got and still saw nothing out of the ordinary the more wary and uncomfortable he began to grow. Around ten meters from it he began to feel his skin crawl, as if he'd suddenly gotten a mild case of full body pins and needles. He moved another meter closer and felt a chill pass over him, stopping him in his tracks while he shivered briefly. He frowned and pushed forward more slowly this time. Another meter and a sense of nervous anxiety began to overtake him. The air felt charged with something he couldn't describe and his body ached with it. He glanced down for a moment then immediately did a double take. The hairs on his arms were standing straight up but far more worryingly they were surrounded by tiny motes of red light. He held up his arm and moved it closer to the pedestal, eyes widening as the motes grew stronger. He leaned forward and a spark passed between his fingers, causing him to curse and withdraw it. He stared down at his now shaking arm then looked back at the featureless face of stone not five meters ahead of him. Slowly, one step after the other, he backed away from it. Distant voices flitted about him saying words he failed to fully register.

"Liam? Hey, Liam, what's wrong?"

"Darling, is something the matter?

"Hey, y'all alright? What the heck is he doin'..."

"Looks like he's practicing for the drama club. Oooh! I wonder if they asked him to join! I bet he'd be great! I knew he'd make friends in no time!"

"I don't think that's it Pinkie...

He jumped as a hand fell lightly upon his shoulder. He spun around to find Sunset holding him in a very worried gaze. "Liam? What's wrong?"

His mouth moved wordlessly for a second as his brain tried to process information rationally again. He anxiously leaned away from her, trying to get more space around him. Unfortunately this moved him closer to the statue again and the sudden rush of hostile sensations jolted his mind back to life.

"Fine! I-I'm fine... I'm... not doing that again," he said, stepping forward past her and away from the pedestal before falling to his knees. She gave him a very confused look then turned her head back and forth between him and the base of the broken statue.

"Liam, what happened? You look terrible," she asked, placing a steadying hand on his shoulder again.

He shook his head, holding her gaze with pleading eyes.

"Not here. We- we need to go. Something- ...something coming off that thing was making my senses go nuts."

Sunset recoiled in surprise and turned to stare at the portal. The rest of her friends rushed over as they began backing away from it.

"Liam? Darling, what's wrong? Liam! Sunset, what's going on? What happened?" Rarity asked, putting a hand on his shaking back. He tensed at the contact against his still burning skin, slowly relaxing as the electric tingle began to dissipate.

"I don't know, he said the portal was making him feel something bad or..." she said with a quick shrug.

"Dude, you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked

Liam shook his head then coughed and wheezed. "No, no I'm not. Whatever that thing is, it's putting out some kind of field that's making my skin crawl. The closer I got the more intense it became."

"Wait, what?"

Liam willed himself to look at the source of his pain through clenched eyes. "I'm betting it's putting out a huge electric field. Expansion fields were popping up all around me. That or something more exotic like..." He realized he'd just inadvertently given away the operation method of their tech and prayed that none of them noticed.

"You think it could be from the magic?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Liam went rigid, even his small shakes diminishing to near nothing. He stared at the ground, thinking, debating, denying. After a second or two...

"Maybe."

Sunset and Twilight helped steady him as he rose to his feet. He turned to glare at the statue's base again and stopped when he noticed a number of bystanders and local residents watching him with concern as they walked past the school.

"Get me back to the others."

"Liam, darling, you're hardly in shape to go anywhere right-"

"Rarity, stop. Help me get somewhere away from that thing and out of sight. Please," he begged her and the others.

Her eyes widened for a moment. "Right. We'll get you back to the farm. Applejack, my car's closer, we'll meet you there. Go ahead and find your brother and sister, let them know what's happening."

Applejack nodded without a word. Even she seemed unnerved and concerned over what had happened to him.

"Sunset, Rainbow Dash, could you help me with him?" Rarity asked as she headed for the front parking lot. The two requested each pulled one of his arms over their shoulders and started walking after her. Liam nudged Sunset on her back with his right elbow.

"My phone, in the pocket. Call Will, let him know we're coming," he requested when she looked at him.

She nodded then reached a hand down into his cargo shorts side pocket and pulled it out.

"You've got it locked."

"It's a pattern swipe. From the bottom middle go up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right. Don't worry about B, A, or start," he said with a faint grin as his senses began slackening. He was suddenly completely exhausted where only a minute or two ago he'd had nothing but energy.

"What?" Sunset asked only to inhale sharply when she saw his state. "Oh shoot! Up, up, down, down... got it. Contacts... there! Come on, come on... Will! It's Sunset, we're bringing Liam home- I don't know, he had a bad reaction to getting close to the portal... no, no idea what it was-"

Liam didn't hear anything more, having finally losing his war of attrition against unconsciousness.

---

"All forces stand down to readiness level four, return to your original posts," General Thistle said into the operations room microphone. He released the mic button and turned around, presenting his deep scowl to Keeper Watch. "Looks like that's one thing we don't have to worry about at least."

"Indeed. It's what we expected but it's a relief to see that nothing's changed after that fiasco with Magic," she said as around them the clamor of the last few minutes began to die down. Lesser operators and functionaries began to return to their posts outside of the darkened room and alarms that had been blaring moments early cut out, leaving the cavernous space almost deathly quiet. From her position at the back she watched the huge monitor at the front of the room. The center of the screen showed a view from a hidden camera in a tree across from the front of the school. Around it smaller windows tracked individuals and couples wandering past. At first glance they all looked normal until you looked more closely and noticed that they all would touch their right ear from time to time and their clothes bulged ever so slightly around their backs and hips. They began to move away from the school, breaking off to go to homes, restaurants, and other usual stops for "normal" people. That out of the way she turned a small and very rare grin to the General.

"He can't pass through that link anymore than our 'guest' can."

Thistle nodded and rubbed his chin. "Though it might have solved a number of our problems if he had made it. The other side would be far better equipped to-"

Keeper Watch strode up to Thistle fast enough to leave a faint breeze. A of the closest people to them made a point of being very interested in their own duties as she pointed a finger up at him, just below his chin.

"Nothing- NOTHING -ever crosses over to that side. Is that clear? This is the frontline and we will fight It here," she hissed, jabbing her outstretched finger down at the floor. "Is. That. Clear?"

General Thistle didn't budge an inch, only slightly raising an eyebrow at her.

"Crystal, Keeper."

Watch scrutinized him for a few more seconds than stepped back and turned towards a side room. "Good. Do you have that report prepared on where on Earth that damn airship might have gotten to?"

Thistle nodded and followed her. "We have some theories of probable hiding locations based upon its trajectory before we lost it outside the city. As long as it stays separated from the Primary I believe we can afford to divert some resources towards locating it. Especially when he seems unaware of his intended purpose here."

"Small blessings for sure, thank Harmony," Watch agreed. "Even better that he's isolated himself in order to curry favor with the Paragons now-"

"Ma'am."

Watch turned, frowning at the interruption. It was about the most unwise thing she could think of for anyone to do at the moment and intended to let them know. She stopped though when she saw the target of her ire: a pink skinned girl with wavy goldenrod hair tied from the bangs back into a short ponytail while the sides were left to hang to below her ears. A very young look but it suited her face. It was that same face though that stopped her berating the young woman. Her eyes were anxious and red, as if she'd recently been crying, and her mouth trembled a little.

"Yes, Communications Specialist Song?" she asked the shaking girl, quickly glancing down at her uniform's insignia above her left breast to get her name and rank. She noted with sympathy that she was a recent transfer from headquarters and almost certainly had no way of knowing what she was getting herself into.

"A-Agent Trapper is h-here at your request Keeper?" she stammered. Watch's eyes widened the smallest of fractions.

"Wait, Trapper is here? Watch, you brought that maniac to Canterlot?" Thistle demanded.

"I see, thank you for informing me Specialist. Where is he now?" she asked darkly.

Specialist Song, full name Cherished Song as noted on her insignia, swallowed and glanced between her and Thistle. Mostly towards Thistle she noted with mild annoyance. "Specialist Song?"

"H-He's in the barracks-"

"Watch! If he's so much as-" Thistle hissed at her.

She held up a hand and sighed before giving him a look. "Anything he does is his my responsibility, I am aware. Thank you, Specialist Song. You are dismissed. And please feel free to go out of your way to avoid the Agent in the future," she said gently with a small, sad smile.

Cherished Song's eyes teared up and she sniffed, giving Watch a grateful smile and textbook salute before heading off quickly. In the opposite direction from the barracks Watch noted with growing anger.

General Thistle watched her go then glared at Watch out of the corner of his eye. "She won't be the last, not by a long shot, not now that that thing is here."

"I know, that's why I intend to send him out again immediately."

Thistle frowned and turned to her, arms crossed over his chest. "And where exactly will that be?"

"Out 'hunting' the Target."

Thistle's eyes shot open. He clenched his fists and dropped them to his sides. "That is sick Watch. That is absolutely sick."

Watch glared back at him. "Yes, but we don't have many other options. I was given authority by the council to enact the isolation plan and I intend to carry it out in the most effective manner I can. Trapper has the most ideal set of skills to be found in a single operative. I could get the same without him but would need two or three agents, any one of whom could tip our hand or slip up. Trapper won't, that's what he's famous for."

Thistle slowly twisted his head from side to side then angrily stuck a finger into her shoulder. "No Watch, he's famous for his crimes which the Council sees fit to forgive again and again."

"Because he always gets results," Watch replied. "Right now? Under these circumstances? That's what we need."

"Watch, I'm telling you this now. If I can pin a single act, a single misstep to him then I will bury him so deep he won't see the light of day again."

Watch reached out and grabbed his finger then threw it back at him. "After this is over you can do as you like but not a moment before, not without my explicit command. Operational authority now rests in me by the latest Council decree."

Thistle narrowed his eyes. "Hmm. So it does. Convenient."

Watch rolled her eyes and gave him a lidded glare. "Just send your report on the ship to my office. I have a tool to go shape and a weapon to be aimed."

Watch spun on her heels and headed out of the dark command center. She strode quickly and purposefully, parting the crowds in the hall without a word on sheer presence alone. It was no more than a minute later that she found herself outside the door to her office. She went to input her code into the enlarged door handle then froze as her touch caused it to swing inwards slightly.

"Welcome back Keeper. Hope all the fuss wasn't over anything too serious."

Watch closed her eyes and marshaled the deep frown from her face before opening the door and stepping through. Seated in her chair, legs hanging over one arm while he lounged against the other, was Trapper. Not his original name but one he had chosen for himself which said everything Watch needed to understand him. He lolled his head back against her seat with a Cheshire grin and waved a pale white skinned hand lazily. The other hand he swept once through his unruly, almost windswept silver hair letting it fall back down to the base of his neck then hung the hand over the backrest. In contrast to his his disheveled grooming his white and blue dress uniform was spotless and sharp, which somehow made him look even more predatory. Though that was nothing compared to the effect his eyes had. They had a greyish silver tone in a near match to his hair but it was hard to tell. He showed very little of them, choosing instead to leave them in a permanently narrowed state that made him look more akin to a cat than the young man he was.

"Get out of my seat Agent," Watch said icily.

"Sure thing Ma'am." Trapper slowly unfolded himself from her chair and in the strangest manner she'd ever witnessed and seemed to flow in a perpetual fall. He stopped when he met the wall and pooled against it in a relaxed lean, hands in his pants pockets and that grin still on his face.

"You read the briefing?" Watch said as she walked to her seat and made a show of brushing it off a few times before sitting down in it.

Trapper shook his head side to side lazily as if he head simply floated on his shoulders without any connection. "No."

Watch pinned him with a glare. "Excuse me?"

"Reading those things doesn't tell you anything. They always leave out the details I need. So I just wait to hear them."

Watch tapped her finger against her desk a few times then pulled out a bound folder and tossed it to him. "Your target. We need his abilities revealed and his plans outed to neutralize him with minimum risk to our security. Your priorities should be finding out what abilities he's been granted as well as locations he will frequent that we can make use of in that order. Luckily for you a major thorn in our side recently left, leaving him much more exposed." He paused in undoing the binding and gave her a sullen look.

"I don't do 'thorns'."

Watch smirked ever so slightly at his petulant whining. Despite his skill he had all the impatience and ego of his age and none of the presence of mind to conceal it. "We'll be handling that angle, you'll be doing what you do best." That seemed to cheer him up and his grin reappeared as he finished undoing the cord around the folder and removed it's contents. He scanned the first page then flicked his eyes back towards her.

"Really? This? He's the most normal person looking I've ever seen. And somehow you seriously don't even have a single clue about what he can do? He hasn't made a single move since he got here? If this is all you've got for me then send me back. I was doing way more interesting work out in the frontier," he said discontentedly while waving the page in the air. Watch raised an eyebrow then rested her elbows on her desk and leaned her chin into her clasped hands.

"Read the rest before you go spouting off anything more."

Trapper gave her an intensely put-upon look then glanced down at the second page. He let out a long whistle and tapped a finger against it. "Huh. Okay, that's new," he said, flipping a few more pages. "So he's got some fancy toys. Still doesn't seem up to my tastes, why not get your soldier boys to handle-" he paused as he flipped through the last few pages. His eyes widened and his grin grew. "I'll take the job."

"Good. You didn't have a choice. You've been reassigned under my chain of command, pursuant to orders given by myself or through intermediaries speaking under my authority."

"Yeah yeah, sure," Trapper said distractedly, flipping a couple pages back and forth. His grin had reached a level that was actually beginning to make Watch feel uncomfortable. He looked back up at her and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. His eyes were if anything narrowed even more while his grin had almost reached his ears.

"When do I start?"

"Soon, no more than a few days, next Monday at the latest. We're establishing your background and credentials now and putting the required documents in place so no questions are asked."

Trapper nodded. "Sure, I don't mind waiting. Just gives me more time to plan and do some prep work," he said, tapping his finger against one of the documents again. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence afterwards which seemed to drag on forever. Watch was about to tell him he was dismissed when his stomach rumbled loudly. He looked down in surprise then chuckled.

"Forgot it was getting close to the dinner call. Mind if I take this?" Trapper asked, flapping the folder back and forth.

"A copy has been left in your quarters," Watch answered, holding out her hand for her original set.

Trapper pouted a little as he returned it to her then slowly turned about and headed for the door. "Guess I'll go do some reading until dinner's ready then. Good thing I have something to hold me over," he said, pulling something out of his pocket and unwrapping the plastic wrap around it. Almost immediately a pungent odor filled her large office like a poison cloud. Watch forced herself not to heave but couldn't keep her lip from twitching in absolute disgust and loathing. Trapper bit a large chunk off the offending item, chewing slowly with obvious enjoyment then swallowed. He moaned in the back of his throat then pointed it towards her.

"Want some jerky?"

"Get out Trapper," Watch snarled.

Trapper snorted and turned around, popping the remainder into his mouth. "Suit yourself Keeper. Looking forward to working with you!" he called out as the door closed behind him.

Watch's hands balled into fists as she rose from her seat and made her way to the room's controls, setting the air controls to max to try to remove the lingering scent of his depravity from her office. She skulked back to her seat and dropped bodily into her chair. She spent the next five minutes trying to write her post-action report on the evening's incident while ignoring her screaming senses until she finally couldn't take anymore. She slammed a fist down on her desk and glared at her office door, her pupils mere pinpricks.

"SAVAGES!"

---

Liam awoke to a never ending series of jarring motions that made his body throw up complaint after complaint. This was closely followed by a splitting headache as his brain threw up its non-existent hands in frustration and began shouting back at the rest of him. He groaned with the effort of trying to raise his head and let it fall back again.

Solid effort, take ten, you've earned it, he told himself.

Another sharp bump dashed any hopes he had of resting again and he opened an aching eye to see just what the hell was going on. He immediately regretted it when a beam of blazing red light scoured itself across his retina. He clenched it shut again with a hiss.

"Motherfu-"

"He's awake! Liam, how are you feeling?"

He opened his other eye the merest sliver and directed it towards the sound. Sunset Shimmer was twisted around in the passenger seat of a car he didn't recognize, though judging by the additional styling on the market interior he didn't think he'd need more than one guess to get to get it right. The other voice that joined Sunset's made it a pretty safe bet as well.

"Oh my, that's a relief! You've been out for the better part of a half hour and we were beginning to worry," Rarity said while briefly glancing over her shoulder before quickly facing forward again. Liam opened his other eye, making sure to keep it out of the death ray of doom it had been subjected to, and looked out the window. Red light flickered through a haze of holes set against a hazy darkness. His brain activated a few more cells and he realized it was a near complete tunnel of trees they were driving through. An application of memory combined with their very rough ride told him they were on the final stretch to Sweet Apple Acres. He let his head fall back with a sigh, closing his eyes tightly against the red glow trying to creep through his eyelids.

"It's fine, just feel like I got hit by a truck. A truck made of tazers that's on fire but still a truck. Get hit by one you've been hit by them all."

Sunset chuckled with a relieved undertone. "If you're feeling snarky it can't be too bad then."

Liam snorted. "Sunset, I could be missing limbs and still find the energy to be snarky about it. Did you get a hold of Will?"

"I did," her voice said in his darkened world. "He and the others are waiting for us. Applejack stayed to wait for her siblings and I think the rest aren't too far behind."

"Good... that's good," he said with a tired exhalation then grunted a little as he started to sit up.

"Darling, what on Earth do you think you're doing? Lie back down this instant! This is hardly the time to be pushing yourself!" Rarity said, glancing back at him in her rear view mirror.

"I'm good enough for this and I'd rather they saw me sitting upright when we get there."

"Liam, if this is about making some stupidly stubborn macho show of strength to your friends then I swear I will knock you out again myself and use you as a dummy for my next dress!" Rarity proclaimed loudly, her hands gripping the wheel tight enough he could hear the fabric stretching.

"No, nothing like that. Sheesh. I just want them to know what shape I'm in so they don't needlessly worry when we show up. Otherwise they'll cart me off like an invalid."

Rarity grumbled faintly but didn't add anything more. The remainder of the drive was silent, Rarity and Sunset occasionally looking back at him and he smiling in return as much as he could to reassure them, the rest of the time leaning against the door to steady himself and trying not to grunt or groan in aching pain. After what felt like far longer than it probably was the trees parted. Liam squinted against the sudden increase in evening sun, just making out the small white farmhouse perched atop the hill overlooking the valley and the black and steel figures standing out in front of it. He chuckled to himself as his eyes fell upon a small stockpile of boxes, kits, and what looked like an impromptu stretcher made out of a couple logs and some fabric from somewhere next to them.

Pessimists and worrywarts, the lot of them. No idea where they get it from, he thought with another small chuckle, causing Sunset to look over her shoulder. Liam shook his head. "It's good, just amused at how predictable they can be."

Sunset looked back out the front as they began the climb up the dirt path towards the summit then turned to him again with a small smile. "They seem to really care about you. You've got good friends."

Liam rolled his eyes and gave her a very snarky grin. "They had better! If they didn't care about me then we've got way bigger problems than just being stranded here! That would be a textbook case of self-loathing!"

Rarity frowned for a moment then said, "I can't decide if that was narcissistic or self deprecating."

Liam laughed heartily, or at least tried to until it turned into a jovial coughing fit. "With us? Probably both at the same time," he finally replied as they pulled to a stop. He sighed as Will rushed up to the car and pulled open the door.

"Liam, how bad-"

He waved Will off and gave him a half-lidded smirk. "I'm not dead yet so no, you can't take over."

Will let out a relieved whistle, or at least as close to a whistle as a Legionnaire could make. It was closer to a the sound a bottle made when you blew across the top than anything a flesh and blood human could make. "Oh good, he'll make it. No more responsibilities for me today. You need any help?"

Liam shook his head and pulled himself painfully out of the backseat. Sunset and Rarity got out and offered to help him but he waved them off as well. He needed to see what state he was in for himself. After that he would decide if he needed to be carried in or not. He winced as his feet refused to work properly, each feeling like a block of lead that he had to sling forward for each step.

Okay, so maybe a little bit stupidly stubborn. Too late to go back on it now though.

He made it to the bottom of the steps when Rarity's phone began playing an unfamiliar orchestral piece. "Applejack, we made it to- hold on, what? Darling, what's wrong? I can barely- wait, who's gone missing?"

Rarity gasped loudly, drawing all of their attentions back to her. "What about my sister?! Is she- oh thank heavens. Wait, I didn't mean!- Yes, I understand. We haven't seen her, no-"

Sunset leaned in towards her with a very worried expression. "Rarity, what's wrong? What's happened to Applejack?"

Rarity put her hand over her phone and looked at her with perhaps even more worry. "Applejack can't find Applebloom anywhere at school and no one's seen her since lunch. Sweetie Belle and their friend Scootaloo said she ran out of the building but they don't know why."

"Oh no... that's not good. Do they have any idea where she might have-"

"Actually... she's, uh... she's here," Will said sheepishly.

"She's- I beg your pardon?" Rarity asked incredulously then put her phone back to her mouth. "Applejack, wait- no, she's here... no, we don't know why. Will was just saying-... Applejack, calm down!"

"Will... what happened?" asked Liam as he turned to glower at his first double. He was in no mood to be dealing with anything that even hinted at being a pointless misunderstanding and the way Will had said that reeked of pointlessness and misunderstanding.

Will sighed and beckoned them towards the barn. "Come on, she's in here."

The Liam followed him with Sunset and Rarity, Albrecht, and Alphonse bringing up the rear. A glance over his shoulder confirmed they were acting the same as Will and his scowl deepened. Will yanked a half of the large barn door open, only to be greeted by a shrill cry from out of the dark beyond it.

"I told ya to git! Y'all aren't eatin' any of our animals, ya hear me?! Yer not gettin' another one as long as Ah'm breathin'!"

Liam's face morphed into complete blankness as his eyes adjusted to the dark. Most everything in the barn had been moved to the center, forming a barricading ring into which every animal from Sweet Apple Acres had been shoved it seemed, mostly by stacking smaller atop the larger. At the front of the pile, bedecked in pans, sheet metal, and sacks of grain was a wide eyed and fearful Applebloom. The image was completed by the large sauce pan stuck over her head like a helmet and the far-too-large-for-her-to-wield pitchfork in her hands. Liam held the image in his mind for a second before turning around and summing the day up in a single, all encompassing word...

"Nope."

... then began walking towards the house, completing ignoring the pain in his legs and arms as he climbed the steps up to the front door.

"Liam-" Sunset began.

"Nope," he cut her off as he got to the porch.

"Liam!" Rarity called out.

"Nope!" he called back, yanking the door open into the darkened house with it's still boarded up windows.

"Liam..." Will called out tiredly from outside.

"NOPE! he yelled back as he ascended the stairs to the second story and the guest room he'd been granted by Granny Smith.

He opened the door and slammed it shut in a single fluid motion, not bothering to look back to make sure it had closed before making a beeline for the armored cases and suitcases he'd brought from the Celestia. He opened one after the next, spilling their contents on the floor as he searched through them with restless abandon. He paused as he found what he'd been searching for. He stood back up holding a clean crystal glass in one hand and a bottle of amber liquid in the other, the label on the front declaring it to be the finest of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey recipe. He turned towards the dresser to place the glass down then stopped with his arm outstretched, stared back and forth between it and the bottle in his other hand a few times, then chucked the glass over his head where it landed with a soft thud in a pile of clothes. After a moment of frustrating effort and much cursing he uncorked the bottle then brought it to his lips and took a long, heavy draught from it. He coughed once then wheezed as the spirit began to work it's magic on his empty stomach and tired mind. Somewhere within the depths of his chaotic and rapidly inebriated whirlwind of thoughts a simple idea formed itself.

I expected going to the damn school would bring up bad memories of shitty people and things I can't understand knocking me on my ass but nooooooooo, it had to be a complete repeat crammed into DAY ONE. FUCK YOU MURPHY, FUCK YOU.

He took another pull from the bottle, coughed again, then held it up to examine it. He tilted his head this way and that then held up his other hand and extended a single digit, waving it back and forth in front of him. He nodded in satisfaction then stoppered the bottle and dropped it into the pile of clothes next to his feet where it clinked dangerously against the glass that had also happened to land there. Then, with all the grace and poise of a professional ballet dancer, he spun about and landed face first on the bed. Within ten seconds he was dead to this world and its utter insanity.

---

Sunset jumped off the sofa as Will walked down the stairs. He talked in hushed whispers with the other two Legionnaires then shook his head and plopped into the single arm chair in the room, causing it to sag and creak dangerously for a moment, while they headed back out through the front door.

"How is he?" asked Rarity

Will sighed. "He's sleeping it off. Not sure how well rested he'll be in the morning though. How's Applebloom?"

"We got some blankets and pillows and eventually got her to fall asleep in there," Sunset said, hugging her chest as she remembered how exhausted and shaky the girl had still been even after she finally got her to calm down.

Will let his head fall back against the seat in relief, eyes staring up at the ceiling. "Good. That's... that's good."

"How did Applebloom find out about his diet though?" Sunset wondered aloud.

"She must have heard at least part of our conversation. Probably sneaking along after us when we left the cafeteria. I'll have to have a talk with Sweetie. I have a sneaking suspicion about who thought that was a fun idea," Rarity replied with a frown.

"Not that it really matters. Cat's out of the bag now," Will groaned.

"Now darling, we don't know that for sure. From the sound of things Applebloom must have run here from school on her own. That's a good six or seven miles or more through some very hilly terrain. Poor thing..."

Will covered his eyes. "She wouldn't even let us bring any water or food to her. Whenever she saw any of us and it was a fresh screaming fit. We were maybe thirty minutes away from calling an ambulance then making ourselves scarce when you arrived."

"Oh my word..." Rarity whispered in horror. "What in heaven's name could have possessed her to do something like this?"

Will lowered his hand and gave her a deadpan stare. "I think the screams of 'don't eat our animals' leave little to the imagination, don't you?"

Rarity blushed faintly but shook her head all the same. "No- well, I mean yes, obviously she's upset at that but-... why such a strong reaction from her?"

Will threw up his hands. "How should I know?! So far her family seems to be a case study in sudden mental snaps! Next thing we know Granny will kick us out because Liam thought her favorite recipe tastes like crap or something!"

"Will!" Rarity exclaimed.

"No, not now. I'm not in the mood," he said, skulking back up the stairs wit his head held low. Sunset grimaced at the sound of a door opening and closing followed by some muffled shouting before silence fell again.

This is way out of my league, she thought despondently. This isn't some simple argument to resolve... they're just too different and everyone's on edge because of it. I need help. Her eyes focused with determination as she pulled her backpack over to her and pulled out a large red book emblazoned with a glowing sun on the cover. She flipped to the next unused page and pressed her pencil against it.

Dear Princess Twilight...

Author's Note:

Me: Oh man, I'm going to have so much free time over the long winter break from work! I should be able to pump out at least a chapter each for Mirror and Steelheart!

Life: Listen, I'mma let you finish buuuuuut... here's the flu, here's more winter car troubles, here's friend circle drama, here's surprise family visits, and here's a slow connection at your parent's house. Oh and more of your friends are getting married just to age you.

Me:

Update 1/10/18: Added an extra section to the end that I felt was needed to transition into the next chapter more effectively.

Comments

[King_Sinbad]

Meat eaters must stick together.

[Cyberdutchman]

8655580

Meat eaters must stick together.

On it's own that comment is good; with that avatar all I can hear is a never ending stream of "bratwurst, schnitzel, und WORLD WAR THREEEEEEEEEEEE~" with the Team Four Star's Major voice. Bravo, you made my night lmao

[Dinode]

Is Fluttershy the thorn? Also, seriously, can't they see that he's trying to get back to his home world as soon as possible? I get his powers come from an apparently evil source, but still.

Is there going to be a time skip? Because if it takes a few weeks to get a fake identity for Trapper, then it'll be a long time before we see what he's supposed to do, and he seems important.

[Cyberdutchman]

8655988

Is Fluttershy the thorn?

They're watching him, but not that closely, not yet. There would be a lot of risk in trying to have someone tail him close enough to hear everything he says without getting noticed and bugging the school would have it's own form of risks. Rather, there was another problem they were facing that just seemed to vanish into the night sky on them. A rather large problem.

Is there going to be a time skip?

There may be time skips here and there of a day or two but I don't intend to jump entire weeks. There's plenty that needs to happen in that time